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lavenderfluorite14 · 2 months

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A Taste of Plums | Astarion x Female!Tav

Chapter 6: Found

Summary: A stranger from Astarion’s past changes everything.

Chapter Warnings: Blood, gore, violence, panic attacks, murder, brief nudity. Full tag list on AO3.

Read on AO3. 1.2.3.4.5

“What’s that awful smell?” Tav winces, covering her nose.

“Powdered ironvine. An old hunter’s trick,” a deep, friendly voice calls out to them. A man emerges from the fog, approaching them with confidence and purpose. Twin braids are woven through his hair, each framing his scarred, but kind, face. A thick mustache sits above his lip. “Most monsters will think twice before making a meal of me,” he laughs jovially. Astarion prickles with disdain.

“You’re a monster hunter? I’m surprised. I thought all Gur were vagrant cutthroats,” Astarion taunts. Tav shoots him a disbelieving look but says nothing. He meets her eye, unashamed.

“And more! We steal your chickens, curse your crops, seduce your daughters, the list goes on,” he waves off Astarion’s cruel words effortlessly. “I wish I had half the power settled folk think I do. Alas, I am just Gandrel, a simple wanderer and monster hunter.” Astarion’s hackles begin to rise. Something feels off, but he has no idea what it is. A Gur alone and so far from Baldur’s Gate could not be good news.

“I assume you want to kill the hag?” Tav asks.

“Or make a deal with her,” Astarion suggests. “You probably think you can outfox the old dear,” he adds patronizingly. Tav shoots him another exasperated look but Astarion holds his ground. He knows the Gur people better than she ever will.

“Right, but very wrong. I’m hunting a vampire spawn, much less impressive than a hag.” The bottom of Astarion’s stomach falls away. “His name is Astarion, but I-" Every single one of his senses heightens in a sickening rush, his world narrowing to a horrible pinprick.

Cazador has found him. Cazador hired this bastard to hunt him down and drag him back to Baldur’s Gate like the dog he is. Astarion glances over at Tav, terrified of her response, but Tav has barely reacted at all. She seems merely puzzled, her arms crossed, her head tilted, her eyebrows quirked in mild surprise.

“Only a spawn? Pity. Not like it’s a real vampire,” Tav jokes. It’s Astarion’s turn to shoot her a disbelieving glare.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure a vampire spawn could still rip out your throat, if he felt like it,” Astarion returns smoothly. Tav snorts.

“He is right, unfortunately. They are only weak when compared to their masters. During the day we have the advantage, but at night, when they hunt, you won’t find a more deadly quarry,” the man warns.

“Yes, I’m sure they can creep right up on you,” Tav says pointedly to Astarion.

“We’ve all survived so far. Let’s focus on that,” he quips. Gods, it was one time. She can’t honestly still be upset about that night. She’d certainly loved the follow-up.

“Still, the threat is real. It would be wise to post guards at night,” the man says, sternly this time. “You should be taking this more seriously,” he chastises Tav directly.

“I agree, the threat is real,” Astarion rounds on Tav. “And we should do something about it.” His eyes bore into hers, silently begging her to understand. There is a pulsing behind his eye and he feels something tug against his psyche. It presses against him urgently, but doesn’t force itself inside. He gets the distinct impression that it is knocking, as if on a door. Curious, he tentatively opens his mind to the touch.

Astarion, what is going on!?

It’s Tav. In the sanctity of her mind, she can’t disguise her cold alarm. In the privacy of his, he can’t control his whirlwind of terror.

Cazador sent him. He wants me back.

His unfiltered panic crashes over her in a wave of adrenaline.

The Gur needs to die.

His mind presses insistently back into Tav’s, desperate. Her mind accepts him, enveloping him in a gentle rush of warmth. A deep shudder wracks him, but Tav’s mind holds him as he trembles.

Then he will die, she responds.

As if one, Astarion and Tav draw their weapons. The movement severs their psionic connection but Astarion feels the thunder of her heartbeat, the heat of her body beside him, and he instinctively knows she will attack with him. Gale and Shadowheart quickly follow suit behind them. Gandrel recoils, drawing a gilded crossbow.

“It cannot be?” He sputters.

“It can,” Astarion snarls as he lunges forward, aiming for the man’s abdomen. Gandrel dodges nimbly, firing an ensnaring bolt towards Astarion. It strikes him in the chest and thorny vines begin curling out of the arrow, wrapping painfully around Astarion. He struggles viciously but the vines quickly pin him to the ground, binding his wrists, hands, and feet. The thorns dig into his exposed skin, tearing at his flesh as he squirms. From somewhere far away, he thinks he can hear someone screaming his name.

His hands may be pinned but he still has his daggers. He nimbly flips one in his hand and begins sawing at the vine around his wrist. He quickly slices through it, then tears through the rest of the vine with a jerk of his forearms. With his hands now free, he begins slashing at any vine he can reach. As he works, he becomes aware of the sounds of battle. A fire bolt lands somewhere behind him, erupting in a burst of heat. The back of his neck prickles, a telltale sign that Shadowheart has unleashed a blast of shadowy energy. A hand clasps his shoulder and he recoils violently, nearly stabbing Tav.

“Get up!” She cries, ripping the bramble around his chest off of him. As she pulls him up, she whispers a quick healing spell and his flesh begins to knit back together. Astarion uncorks a healing potion with his teeth and chugs it.

Shadowheart and Gale have cornered Gandrel against a rock, blocking him from advancing towards Astarion. When Gandrel sees that Astarion is free he immediately fires another arrow, which Astarion barely dodges. Astarion grabs an invisibility potion and throws it back, disappearing into thin air.

“Why do you want to kill Astarion?” Tav demands. Astarion creeps forward, soundlessly inching his way toward them. Gandrel tenses, gripping his crossbow tightly. He scans the area carefully, waiting for Astarion to give himself away.

“My orders are to capture him, not kill him,”

“Why? Where will you take him?”

“I will tell you if you give him to me.”

Astarion strikes. He plunges both of his daggers into Gandrel’s chest, breaking his invisibility. They pierce his heart, tearing through the delicate muscle, rending the organ irreparably. Astarion watches the light fade from Gandrel’s eyes as he crashes backward to the ground, landing in a bloody heap. The soft green moss of the swamp floor cradles his lifeless body gently. In death, there seems to be something profoundly sad about his eyes.

Astarion stands over him, panting hard. He doesn’t need to breathe but his body remembers, sucking in air that doesn’t soothe him. The Gur is dead. He’s safe. He’s safe. He’s safe. He’s safe. He’s safe. Small tremors ripple uncontrollably through him. His ears begin to ring. He can tell they are talking to him, at him, about him, but he can’t hear anything through the soft buzz.

“-to stand by one’s friends in the face of danger,” Gale’s cheerful voice eventually cuts through the white noise, bringing him back to himself, and he reaches a trembling hand into his pack to grab a rag. He wipes his bloody blades down thoroughly with the rough cloth. The fabric is familiar and the repetitive motion is somewhat soothing.

“Here,” Tav says, coming up beside him. She hands him a potion, which he snatches from her hands. The sweet healing liquid slides down his throat, warming him with its magic. He feels a little better. Tav takes the bottle back, presumably to reuse later, and he is overwhelmed by a surge of feeling that has to be a lingering effect of the potion. She had fought for him. At just his word she had taken up arms to protect him. He had touched the inside of her mind and it-

“Do you need any more?” Tav asks, offering him another potion.

“I don’t need your help!” Astarion jerks away from her touch. “Go fuss over someone else if you need something to do. I just want to go back to camp and take a nice hot bath,” he laments, forcing himself away from her and storming back towards camp.

“Astarion, wait!” Tav cries as she rushes to catch up, hastily falling into step beside him. “So, a monster hunter is tracking you?” She asks as delicately as she can.

“Not anymore. Which is all that matters, really,” he sniffs, affecting haughty carelessness.

“But why was he hunting you? What did you-" “I didn’t do anything!” Astarion interrupts vehemently. She has no idea, no right to judge him. Even if she cares. He takes a deep breath, then another.

“It’s Cazador.” he finally says. Their group comes to a halt, circling him. It could almost be described as protective if he were any other person and this was any other situation.

“Do you mean Cazador Szarr? I’ve read about him in the histories,” Gale pipes up.

“The very same,” Astarion confirms.

“If what I have read is true, he’s quite the piece of work,” Gale adds, grimacing.

“I’m sure it is true.” Astarion pauses, weighing each of them. Gale, proud and powerful. Shadowheart, the scion of a dark goddess, judgmental yet kind. Wyll, bold. Karlach, strong. Lae’Zel, fierce. He doesn’t want to tell them. But as he looks into the eyes of the people, friends another voice softly insists, who have fought beside him, broken proverbial bread with him, kept watch with him, and who now have killed for him, a deep instinct urges him to speak. He looks at Tav, longing to join with her mind again, but his parasite doesn’t stir. Tav, who defended him so readily, as if there was no other course of action worth considering. As if he's precious.

If Cazador is hunting him then they deserve to know. They are now in danger too.

“Cazador Szarr is the patriarch of a vampire coven in Baldur’s Gate. He’s a monster obsessed with power. Not political power, mind you, but power over people. He sired me about 200 years ago and has kept me as a slave ever since.” His shame hangs heavy in the air.

“You are sure Cazador is behind this?” Tav asks.

“It was him, I’m sure. Only Cazador would know to send the Gur after me.” It was too perfect. There could be no other explanation. “It was a group of Gur who attacked me that night in Baldur’s Gate. I would have died had Cazador not appeared and saved me.”

“Saved you by turning you into a vampire slave?” Gale questions.

“Well, he failed to mention the slave clause at the time!” Astarion spits sarcastically.

“That seems rather convenient,” Shadowheart observes. “Cazador must have suspiciously good timing.”

“Maybe. Or maybe he was simply drawn to the scent of blood.” Astarion dismisses this idea, even as it nags at him.

It’s a thought he has considered numerous times over the years. But he has no proof that Cazador targeted him specifically, beyond his uncanny timing. If he had, he would have done more with Astarion, surely? Astarion would have been special. He had certainly never asked him about any possible political connections Astarion must have once had as a magistrate, nor had Cazador made any use of them, to his knowledge. According to Cazador, the only thing that made Astarion worth keeping around was his handsome looks. And his pretty screams.

But maybe that was Cazador’s game. Take someone beautiful and powerful and reduce them to a pathetic, ugly, wretch.

“But why send the Gur at all? To remind you of that night?” Tav wonders, her clear voice interrupting his reverie. “Perhaps. He probably thought it was funny,” Astarion says. Cazador had always had a bad sense of humor. “The point is, I have a history with them,” Astarion continues. “Cazador is sending me a message. He is reminding me of his power. Even in the middle of nowhere, he can reach me.” Astarion begins to pace, deep in thought.

“But why would monster hunters serve Cazador? He’s a vampire!” Tav presses.

“They may have no idea who they are working for. Cazador likely paid someone to pay someone to call in a favor, and here we are,” Astarion explains. “He doesn’t do simple plans. Not if he has a complex one that pits a dozen enemies against each other.”

How many times had he pitted his own spawn against one another, purely for his amusement and their degradation?

“No, this hunter is a message. He wants me back.” He rakes his fingers through his hair, ruining his already ruined curls.

“I know this seems bad. But you are safe with me,” Tav promises. She gestures to Gale and Shadowheart. “With us.” Gale murmurs in agreement and Shadowheart nods silently. Astarion jerks to a stop, whirling to face them.

“Safe? You think I’m safe?” he shouts. He advances on Tav. “Do you know the power a vampire lord possesses?” He condescends. Tav opens her mouth to speak but he interrupts her, gesticulating wildly. “Because he can change shape, turn into mist, call wolves to do his bidding, shrug off blows like they are nothing!” He invades her space, lowering his voice threateningly. “He can walk into camp tonight and kill you with his bare hands. And you’d be lucky if death was the worst thing that happened to you.” Tav flinches, closing her mouth quickly, but she doesn’t look away. She silently holds his furious gaze, taking everything he throws at her. Astarion’s lip curls at her defiance.

“Can he do that? Just walk into our camp?” Shadowheart interjects.

“Probably not," Astarion slowly concedes. He has to rest in his crypt during the day. I’ve never known him to leave Baldur’s Gate. But he has no end of lackeys. He has plenty of souls to command.”

“Vampires aren’t invincible. We could still take him,” Tav insists. Astarion’s throat constricts, bobbing involuntarily. It’s all he’s ever wanted to hear. But now that Tav has said it, he doesn’t think it’s true. He clenches his fists, his arms trembling with repressed emotion.

“You’re not listening. You don’t know him. You don’t understand,” Astarion whispers. She’s never been a slave, has never been at someone else’s brutal mercy. He doesn’t know how to make her see without cracking himself open and bleeding all over her. And even then, she will still do whatever she wants.

“Just trust me when I say we need to be careful,” Astarion says, turning away. “We just need to be vigilant, keep our wits about us. And kill any monster hunter on sight.” Astarion begins the long march back to camp again, charging forward alone, leaving the others to catch up.

A hot bath was not waiting for them back at camp. Instead, they have to make do with the cold rush of a nearby stream. Touching running water again had been a marvelous novelty at first, but bathing in it remained awful. What he wouldn’t do for a heated tub and fragrant soap.

Despite the chill, the silt, and the fish, Astarion takes his time. They only have one thin grimy bar of soap between them but there’s still enough for Astarion to work into a fine lather, slipping the suds over himself in a filmy embrace. He uses a clean rag as a washcloth, gently exfoliating his torn skin. His cuts and scrapes from battle sting a bit, but it’s nothing he isn’t used to. They will heal quickly.

Such tender touches are grounding. It’s a relief to wash the filth of the day away. Caring for his scarred corpse of a body provided Astarion with a deep comfort he rarely found anywhere else.

Cazador had almost found him. He had been this close to getting captured, this close to going back. Only but for the grace of Tav goes he.

Vampires aren’t invincible. We could still take him.

As if his siblings hadn’t spent over a century trying. As if they hadn’t spent sleepless days holed up in the dormitory, crafting plan after plan to end their torment. Astarion never helped them. It never worked. Cazador always won.

The endless black of the tomb. The unbreakable silence, the hunger pains that never dulled. His split, bleeding nails, his shredded vocal folds, his matted curls, his sweaty, stinking body, the teardrops endlessly dripping down his face, the loneliness, the aching, bitter loneliness-

Vampires aren’t invincible. We could still take him.

Who does Tav think she is? Does she honestly believe that a bard has a serious chance against the most powerful vampire his ancient coven has ever seen? What is she going to do, play Cazador a song?

He imagines it. He imagines Tav, perched on the small stage in the ballroom, playing an elegant tune on her violin as Cazador sits on his throne, bored. When she finishes, Cazador’s lips curl and he claps a slow, unamused clap.

“I suppose you would like to be paid for that pittance of a song, little bard,” Cazador would jeer. He wouldn’t learn Tav’s name.

Tav smiles through her teeth and nods so Cazador produces a gold coin from his purse, holding it aloft between his fingers. Tav trots over and as she reaches for the coin, Cazador grabs her wrist and yanks her towards him. He roughly fists his claws in her hair, wrenching Tav’s head back so that her pretty throat is bared for him. Tav screams but Astarion is rooted to the spot, magically compelled to watch as Cazador tears into her throat with relish. His first punishment. Tav chokes on her own blood as Cazador rips open her jugular-

Karlach unleashes a roar of rage as she swings her ax in a high arc, burying her blade in Cazador’s back. Then a Hold Monster spell wrenches Cazador away from Tav, who bashes him across the face with her violin. Her precious instrument splinters into bits, the shards slicing Cazador’s face open. Shadowheart whispers a healing spell, then conjures a searing ball of daylight that scalds his eyes and burns his flesh. Gale launches a fireball the size of a small star into the air, engulfing Cazador’s ghouls and wolves in fire while Lae’Zel picks off the stragglers. Wyll drives a radiantly enchanted stake through Cazador’s chest as Astarion, who is gloriously free, goes in for the final strike, decapitating Cazador with a hard, righteous swing of his sword. Blood spurts from his neck as his ugly head bounces dully across the marble floor. Cazador Szarr is dead.

It’s an old fantasy, but there are new elements now. Killing Cazador has never seemed so possible. And Astarion’s days are currently filled with impossibility possibilities. He can walk in the sun. He can drink whatever blood he wants. He can telepathically link his mind with his companions, one of whom likes him. Perhaps this would be the best chance he would ever get.

Vampires aren’t invincible. We could still take him.

Later that night, a mostly dry Astarion pours himself a glass of tepid wine and picks a spot by the fire to lounge. He flips open one of the many novels he’s stolen along the way and begins reading.

“Hey, soldier.” Karlach plops down beside him. “Whatcha got there?”

“The Realm According to Bumpo and a glass of Chultan Fireswill,�� he grimaces. “Both are terrible.”

Karlach laughs a jolly, boisterous sound. A content beat passes between them. “Look, I heard about what happened today,” she confesses.

“News travels fast, I see.” Astarion sneers. “Who was it? Shadowheart? Gale?” His face darkens. “Tav?”

“That’s not important. Look, I just wanted to say that I’m here for you. We all are, if you’ll let us.”

Astarion shuts the book with a snap. “Who can you possibly help, Karlach? You can’t even help yourself.”

“You wanna try that again, you posh prick?” She retorts.

Astarion sulks. He sighs. He swirls his wine agitatedly. “I just don’t think any of you understand the magnitude of a vampire lord’s power,” Astarion finally says.

“Sure. Because what do I know about escaping from an all-powerful master?” She says. Astarion glumly stares back at her. “Alright, you don’t have to believe me, the Archdevil Zariel’s Lapdog. But talk to Wyll, yeah? Our resident monster hunter probably has a few ideas.” Karlach dares to wink at him.

“That’s hilarious, the monster hunter helping the monster,” Astarion says sullenly. “You should consider becoming a bard. I’m sure Tav can give you a few tips.”

Karlach guffaws. “No thanks. I prefer to do the fighting, not the talking.”

“And thank goodness you do,” Astarion replies. It’s snide, but he means it as a compliment. Karlach takes it as one.

“Speaking of Tav, you should talk to her too. She’s not as shaken up as you, but today clearly rattled her.”

“I am not shaken up!” He hisses. Karlach gives him a searing look. “Fine. I’ll smooth down her ruffled feathers.” He was planning on it anyway.

“Good. And then, when you’re ready, talk to Wyll.” She stands, ready to leave. “I want to be your friend, Fangs. Us escaped slaves have to stick together, don’t they?”

Astarion swallows thickly. He supposes they do.

Tav is not in her tent. Astarion scans the camp and quickly spots her deep in conversation with Gale. He can’t quite pick up every detail of their hushed conversation, but he catches snippets. Something about “magical items” and “urgent.” He taps his foot impatiently as he waits for whatever that is to be done. When Tav eventually leaves she seems perplexed, worry heavy on her brow. She wanders over to the fire and begins sorting through her pack, cataloging all the treasures they snatched from the hag’s lair.

He tries once more to touch his mind to hers. He stares at her, willing something to happen, but nothing does. The tadpole is silent.

Tav had protected him. And she had done it without a second thought. She is the reason why he isn’t bound and gagged, on his way back to the Szarr palace at this very moment. First the Tieflings, then Karlach, then Mayrina, and now him. Again.

Why was Tav so eager to risk her own life for other people? Doesn’t she know that it could get her killed or worse? He supposes it doesn’t really matter why. Now that he has calmed down, he can see this for the opportunity it is.

He would much rather find a way to control the tadpoles than confront Cazador, but if Cazador is hunting him then he may not have a choice in the matter. His worst fear is true. He needs allies more than ever now. And Tav had so generously offered her services.

He does not feel grateful. How pathetic to need charity. In fact, he knows exactly how he can pay her back.

As he stares at Tav, who is quietly organizing her pack by the fire, his faltering will finally crystallizes into cold, perfect determination. He will seduce her, romance her, make her feel like she is the only girl in the world. And after he has given her the night of her life, positively ruined her for anyone else, he’ll begin whispering in her ear. He will become her lover, her confidant. And then she will become his puppet. That was more than a fair trade. He will have a gorgeous meal, his space will be guaranteed in their little group, at the top where he belongs, and then somehow, he doesn’t know how, but, somehow, Tav will waltz their merry band back to Baldur’s Gate and drive a stake right through Cazador Szarr’s heart. For him. Afterwards, well, Tav had served her purpose. Then he could truly do as he pleased. Perhaps he will keep her around afterwards, if she’s useful enough.

Astarion smiles a wide, real smile and finishes his wine, wincing at the cheap, bitter taste.

At that moment Tav looks up from her supplies and catches him staring. He raises his empty goblet to her and she waves back, a warm smile softening her lovely features.

This is going to be so easy, he thinks, sauntering over.

#astarion #astarion fanfic #a taste of plums #astarion longfic #the night shift

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ravenstargames · 1 year

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✦ Lost in Limbo 2022 wrap up

As the end of the year approaches, we wanted to look back at these past months to let everything really sink in. We people sometimes forget how hard we have worked to get to where we are and tend to focus instead on what's still left to do, on what is missing—so I think the best way to remind us of how far we've come is to write down some achieved milestones and some goals for next year!

We wanted to first and foremost thank you all again for the overwhelming support we have received in the short time we have been active on socials. We weren't expecting it whatsoever, and the huge welcome you all gave us is everything we could ever dream of! 💜

This is another long post of what has been done and what's to come, so feel free to skip it if you want to! We hope you finish this year surrounded by love and that your start of 2023 is full of energy and good vibes!

✦ One of the most important milestones of the year was our social media release.

As we worked on the game this past year, there were times where we thought it would never happen. It was never the right time for one reason or another, and the world seemed to throw a punch at us whenever we were about to take the plunge. To be here writing this post doesn't feel real yet!

The week prior and the first week of our social media release on Twitter was frantic for the team; designing the many posts, planning them and the objects game, writing everything down...Plus the anxiety of what would the response be. I'm sure a lot of fellow devs reading this (specially those like us who are working on their first project) can relate to that feeling.

And then the response came, and in almost two months we have exceeded all expectations we had. We tried to be realistic with them, so waking up each day to comments, likes, asks on tumblr, even DM's from professionals wanting to work with us was just...ah. There's something indescribable about putting something you love out there and have people be interested in being part of that love. I could cry. So let's just jump to the next milestone before I keep writing :').

✦ We had our visual identity established! Our GUI is on the way and it's looking amazing so far! We have Re.Alice to thank for that 💜

✦The script for the demo is done!

The first draft was oficially finished September 2021, and I have been editing it since. There were major changes done as Lost in Limbo's story and characters kept evolving, and to this day I'm still doing some changes to perfection it as much as possible. I write a lot and I'm trying not to do that, so I found myself deleting as many "useless" scenes as possible. Right now the demo sits at 33.168 words!

✦All the sprites for the LIs were finished!

We finished Pride, our last one, back in April. As a fun fact (which was absolutely not fun for all of us), we wrote down some fixes to be done to the sprites one week before the social media release. It was little things like a piece of clothing, move this to the left...and then the sprites were basically revamped in the spawn of a week. Specially the faces. We had grown so much as artists since the day we finished them, so Rachel started doing some edits and one thing led to another...And all LIs got plastic surgery! We'll show you the before and after someday, haha.

The sprites are all full bodies so as we saw ourselves overworked, we decided to just edit them from the waist up for the social media posts. Thankfully not all of them needed their lower body fixed—except for Envy, who had no legs. There were no legs under his clothing layer. Now there are. They were our first character designed and the first sprite to be done, so obviously the poor thing had the most flaws.

✦All routes were outlined!

Every LI has a more or less established route, and the main story of the game is slowly blooming into something really strong.

If any, Ara is the one I'm most unsure about as the writer, because I have so many ideas for her that could work! I'm sure a lot of things will change, even for the most solid routes, as we progress and specially as I keep writing, but it will always be for the better!

✦We started coding!

This past month I have been toying with Ren'py and so far everything is coming along great. Right now there's around 4k words coded with the respective music, sound effects, transitions...I have been learning along the way and there's still a lot of things for me to learn and investigate, so it's taking a while. My goal is to have the demo fully coded with placeholders so when all the assets are done, it'll be just swapping files!

We initially settled on Unity but then questions arised, so we decided to work with Ren'py at least for the demo, and then move to Unity if the game needs it.

✦We made a teaser trailer!

Yep! There's a teaser trailer for LiL! We were ahead of the curve with this one because initially we were going to post the teaser as soon as the game was announced, but then we decided it would be best to save it for the demo release. It's an animated teaser of the events of the demo (among other stuff)! As the demo release approaches we will surely edit it some more (I almost descended to madness thanks to After Effects, but here I am) but we are very happy with it right now.

✦And some extras!

We finished our two first supporting/secondary characters and are working on the third! In the demo, there's a total amount of six secondary characters you'll meet!

We worked on some backgrounds! It may sound silly, but this has been an uphill battle for us most of the year. We have four backgrounds ready to be painted, and we'll have one last concept done before the 31st!

We met amazing people. Personally, if I could tell the Seyl from a year ago that she'd be talking to a lot of devs she admires, she would laugh at my face. What do you have to say now, huh?! But on a serious note; it takes me the world to just find the courage to even leave a comment to someone I admire, and managing Lost in Limbo's accounts has given me the push I needed to just stop thinking about the many what-ifs that are never going to happen and just make the possitive thoughts and emotions I feel inside something real. Daily reminder to let the people you love and admire know!!

You thought the post was over? No! YOU ARE TRAPPED HERE FOREVER!

Ahem. Here are some of the goals we'd like to meet in 2023!

✦Finish all the assets for the demo!

The most obvious one! We have a calendar planned for the entire lenght of 2023, but life gets in the middle, three of us are studying a master degree that is testing our sanity, and there will be, of course, unexpected problems along the way. So we'll deal with them as they come!

There's still expression charts to finish, secondary character's sprites to make, backgrounds to paint and animate, CGs, key and promotional art...But we'll get there! And hopefully you all will be here with us to see the process!

✦Open a ko-fi page!

As you may know, Lost in Limbo is a passion project made by four friends who have no money and no future prospects. Rachel and I have been working as freelance artists for a long while now, but it's hard to work on LiL, work on our commissions to support it financially (and getting work is getting harder), and focus on our master degree, which also asks a lot from us.

So far, everything Lost in Limbo has needed that we couldn't provide ourselves with the quality we wanted has been paid out of our dusty pockets, so one of our goals next year is to open a ko-fi page so everyone who may be interested in supporting the project until the Kickstarter drops can do so! 💜

✦The demo? The demo.

This point is dependent on the first one, because if we do not manage to finish all the assets, we will not be able to release the demo by the end of 2023. If everything goes smoothly and as planned, we'll have all the assets done before the last three months of 2023, and we'll use those three remaining months to sort out everything else. This is the most possitive prospect we could think of, so there's a chance we won't make it.

We are adamant not to rush the demo release no matter what, but we will work as hard as we can to make it happen as soon as possible. There's a lot to be done; I'd like the demo script to be proofreaded, we would love the demo to be at least partially voiced, we will have to get the demo tested for bugs...

We know reading this is kind of sad, but we want to be honest with you all. We are the first ones who want to see the demo out there and who want you all to experience the world we have created, but we don't want to sacrifice quality because of it. What we can promise is that you'll get regular updates and that you are all welcome to ask us anything, anytime, about the game, the process, or about us.

✦Be more active in the community!

To end on a positive note, something we'd like to do next year is be more active in the indiedev community. There's a lot of places and ways for indiedevs to interact, but we haven't felt ready to join them yet. We have been following and silently admiring so many projects for so long that the thought of being in the same space as them sometimes feels overwhelming (blame it on social anxiety), but the brief time we have been managing these accounts, we have been given a lot of love and support from other devs, and we want to give it back. We know we will be welcomed when we decide to take the step! Thank you all so much, from the Ravenstar team, for giving us and our project a chance! 💜

✦Stop confusing 'in' with 'on' and viceversa.

Because in is like inside and on is like on top, but sometimes that's not it, and for non-native speakers is confusing as hell and I want to stop googling every two seconds

What a year has been! From starting the project around July 2021 to being here doing a wrap up of 2022, it doesn't feel real yet. And there's so much more to come! Thank you all so much for believing in us and in Lost in Limbo, for taking your time to write a comment or an ask, leave a like, or even just reading our posts.

This final toast goes to my team; to Rachel, Astro and Kayden for being amazing people full of love and creativity. Thank you for a year of passion, hard work and laughter every step of the way. Lost in Limbo could have never been what it is today without the three of you.

Let's all make 2023 something great! 💜🥂 See you all next year!

#lost in limbo #visual novel #amare #otome #indiedev #i almost accidentally deleted the whole post and my soul left my body for a minute

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chaifootsteps · 9 months

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oh yeah you mentioned on one of your posts if viv has ever apologized for anything. she *did* make an apology on Nov 2 2018.

imo she had valid frustrations, i can understand where she's coming from. and back when i first saw it, the sympathy i felt from reading this entire apology was what gave me enough rationale to give her a second chance to show she's changed and do something great with hazbin and helluva. but nowadays i've lost confidence in her execution of hazbin/helluva and have a hard time giving her full sympathy as a person knowing how she continues to act. all that said, even when i first read this and had more sympathy i still felt it *does* read less as an apology and more as an "i'm sorry *you* were offended" type of apology if ykwim. like she's apologizing for some things but at the same time takes little responsibility and instead casts blame back onto the audience, which isn't the greatest.

Yeah, I know I try to keep Vivzie/Glitchedpuppet comparisons to a minimum and I've already made one today, but damned if this doesn't remind me of a patented Glip apology. Throw in a sprinkling of the word "feelings" and make it eight times as long and it would be a dead ringer.

"Sorry you think I'm the spawn of the devil and that you're such a stupid easily offended asshole, I made mistakes and am learning and growing as a person [lie], don't harass anyone unless it's someone I don't like. Also I totally didn't steal any of my material from anyone."

#rockanroller #vivziepop critical #actual blog post

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anxresi · 2 years

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Hmm Imma take a minute to answer this post...

It’s not ‘bad’ characters I don’t appreciate, its ‘bad’ writing. If you want the audience to think Chloe’s evil, I dunno... maybe not make her such a great superhero, don’t have her show her emotional side to demonstrate she has a conscience, don’t let her have so many close relationships with people she genuinely cares about, don’t give her two sh*tty parents so that people will sympathize with her behavior, but most of all... DON’T MAKE HER 14 YEARS OLD!

Generally, children that age aren’t ‘evil incarnate’, a fact that Thomas seemingly wants us to forget in his disturbing grudge against a teenager and in the disgraceful bio written for her on the official Miraculous website. Compare her entry with Hawkmoth’s, and you’ll probably come away thinking she’s the spawn of Satan and he’s just a mild-mannered guy with a totally plausible reason for causing city-wide terrorism. In fact f*ck it, I’m gonna post the pics again...

Spot the difference. One is full of barely-hidden condemnation and spite, the other... just a standard description (it doesn’t even mention his terrible parenting, talk about a whitewash!) In fact, by implying that Gabriel is threatening murder and mayhem in Paris because he wants to ‘bring his wife back to life’, the one who wrote it is almost giving him praise for his inexcusable actions. ‘Oh, you were responsible for nearly 100 incidences of violent possession and manipulation, as well as almost bringing the entire country to its knees, but you did it all for your comatose lover! Ssoooo romantic! All charges dropped! In fact here... take this medal, a million euros, the key to the city.....’

You might thing I’m joking, but when you read and re-read those two passages, who can possibly say? No chance of ANY redemption for Chloe, she’ll ALWAYS be a brat (apart from the plentiful moments in the first three seasons when she wasn’t) and then later they introduce a ‘perfect’ half-sister for her to show her newly ramped-up horrible attitude in an even starker light. What a lot of nice people Zag has working for them; that they would choose to downplay a murderous madman’s actions in favor of hyping up a troubled teenager’s angst so that SHE becomes the ‘lost cause’. Not the career criminal. Bless their hearts.

So, yea. I appear to have gone off track a bit here in my lengthy tirade, but the bottom line is: you CANNOT give a character like Chloe all this fascinating complexity and these sympathetic moments so we feel for her plight, and then do an about-face and expect us all to hate her indiscriminately! And then compound your error by suddenly making her a MUCH more horrible individual in S4 even compared to S1 to emphasize the new dynamic, as if we have such bad memories we’ve forgotten all her development the past three seasons which has just been unceremoniously dumped. If she’d been an ‘evil’ character from the start and consistently stayed that way throughout, I think MAYBE you’d have a point. But we all know that consistency is not something this show does, and by giving us a relatable and interesting character for the vast majority of the show, then pretending none of that ever happened and she was ‘bad to the bone’ and shallow all along ain’t gonna wash I’m afraid. Lastly, giving her superhero role and best traits to a ‘surprise sister’ introduced from nowhere only adds insult to injury.

Enough said. F*ck this show. I mean that with utmost sincerity. Ciao. ^^

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #chloe bourgeois #Queen Bee #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #ml salt #ml #mary-zoe #disney

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221bshrlocked · 3 years

Text

Show Me Your True Colors

Pairing: Marcus Pike x Fem!Reader

Words: 14092 (I swear this was supposed to be a short oneshot but it got out of hand. I'm so so sorry.)

Warnings: 28% smut, 72% plot. Penetrative, unprotected sex (wrap the shlong before you king kong my dudes). Oral (male and female receiving). Fingering and Squirting due to overstimulation. Some dom/sub elements but not full-on. Creampie. Rough handling (e.g. hair-pulling, spanking, hand-binding, some more hair-pulling). I think that's all?!

Inspired by these posts [x] [x] and by this lovely artist. Thanks @danniburgh for humoring me with my thots.

A/N: I came back from my temporary hiatus to post this because I couldn't wait. And now I shall return to my little corner again. Sorry guys these school/administrative issues are taking longer to deal with so I'm for the most part still away. This is not beta'd. Let me know how I'm doing in the comments please and reblogs are always appreciated. Enjoy. And you can add yourself to the taglist here.

It’s such a different atmosphere, from what he remembers at least. It’s been so long since he stepped foot on a university campus, and he can’t help but smile at the spectrum of personalities all around him. While some students lounge underneath the trees and on the grass, others ran hastily to their courses. Those were probably freshmen.

As he makes his way through the campus, he has to look at his phone numerous times to figure out where exactly he was going. That’s definitely one thing he didn’t miss about being in school, the fact that he was shit in directions and how he almost always got lost during the beginning of each semester.

When he does finally find the art history department, he silences his phone and heads to the first office he can find.

“Good afternoon, my name is Nicola. How can I help you?”

“Hi Nicola, I’m here to see Dr. Y/N Y/L/N. I was wondering if you could direct me to her office please?” Marcus smiles as he unbuttons his suit jacket, not realizing that his FBI tag was now visible to the world.

“She’s currently in one of her lectures, you could-” Marcus follows Nicola’s line of sight when she grows quiet and groans when he sees that she noticed his FBI tag.

“Please, she’s not in trouble. I am part of the FBI Art Crime Team, and I’m actually coming to ask if we could get her professional opinion on an artifact. Just need her to consult on something.” He smiles at Nicola and waits for her expression to relax before he continues.

“Do you mind telling me which lecture hall she’s in?”

“Y-yes, she’s in H140. Make a right at the door and it’s the hall all the way at the end.”

“Thank you Nicola, have a good day.” Marcus nods at her before he buttons his jacket again to avoid any suspicious, terrified looks as he makes his way to the lecture hall. He walks quietly, avoiding the students walking past him as they exit the rooms. When he reaches the door, he turns the knob slowly to not make any noise, hoping that he wasn’t being too disruptive once he walks in. As he shuts it behind him and looks around, his eyes almost fall out of their sockets.

There are at least 250, maybe 300 students filling the seats of the room. He awkwardly smiles when some students look to the side and see him standing at the foot of the door. He quickly takes a seat and says nothing as the students return their attention to the large projected screen. Marcus hears what he assumes is your voice through the large speakers but he can’t place your position. As he looks at the projected images, he finally catches you through his peripheral vision as you step off the railing near the exit doors at the front of the room.

“Because of this association with the gods, many amulets used to ward off the evil eye include depictions of mythological figures and deities who are almost, if not always, female. To the Greeks and Romans, the most common fascinations with an evil eye were women in any shape or form. They were thought to have the most powerful and harmful gaze that might kill if eye contact was established. That’s basically me telling you to never look me in the eye or else I will curse the cow of your second cousin twice removed.” Laughter reverberates off the walls at your joke and only grows louder when you whisper, “just kidding...or am I?” Marcus can’t help but smile at your jokes, watching with fascination as you move up and down the stairs of one side of the lecture hall once you continue to speak.

“Now, I know what some of you are thinking...isn’t that a bit sexist? Well, to the ancients, no. And to us, it’s kind of a meh thing. I know that doesn’t sound very feminist of me but it all comes down to the culture and the ancient practices that carried over. Just remember that it wasn’t because they were women, it was because they were thought to be powerful...a glass half-full kinda thing.” Marcus watches you closely as you maintain your focus on the students before you switch the slide and stand in the middle of the stairway with your back towards the projector.

“So, we find goddesses such as Erinnyes or the Furies associated with the evil eye because of their avenging nature. Their heads were covered in serpents and their eyes were always bloodshot and one of the Furies by the name of Megaera was considered in late antiquity as the personification of envy and whose eyes were the most envious and deadly of all the Furies. She was described by poets as baskanon omma pherousa...bearing the evil eye. Naturally, many children in late antiquity constantly wore amulets of stone galactite to protect them from the eyes of Megaera, and sometimes even wore necklaces with her face on it to counteract the evil eye of someone else and have her curse the ones who tried to harm them. Basically, the ancients were playing a game of tag with the evil eye.” You descend the stairs and walk to the other side of the hall, and Marcus feels his chest tighten with how much confidence you exude, not just through your words but with how you carry yourself as well.

“Perhaps the most famous of these dangerous women is Medusa who was one of the Gorgones in Greek mythology. The Gorgones were one of many female beings such as the Harpies, the Erinnyes, the Graiae, and the Keres, who were said to be grim-faced, and who held horrible looks. Briefly, the story tells of how she was one of the most beautiful women to ever walk the earth and later became hateful-looking by Athena as punishment for being raped by Poseidon in the middle of the huntress’ temple. Her hair became serpents and she was so furious that anyone who would look at her would turn into stone...at least that is the version you will hear from the “all-knowing” male scholars within this field. But, and I know I’m going on a rant here, if you’re like me, you’re more likely to argue that Athena pretended to hate Medusa. The serpents were no punishment! The goddess looked at the poor woman and gave her a weapon to use against men because unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything to avenge her...not only because she didn’t get along with Poseidon but also because he was a god as well. Anyway, back to Medusa’s amazing power which I would love to have so I could use it whenever I’m talking to some professors in this department...don’t quote me on that.” Again, Marcus chuckles at your side commentary and notices how calm and enjoyable the atmosphere of the lecture is. If only he had professors like you when he was in university.

“Even after she was decapitated by Perseus, her powers were very much alive and it is said that Athena placed Medusa’s image on her shield, once Perseus returned it, in order to use it when she hunted. This suggests that depictions of her severed head held apotropaic power and like earlier, one could use a creature who held the power of the evil eye against another being who is said to use the evil eye. Following this principle of similia similibus, it is not surprising that most of the amulets found in Greece and Rome contained illustrations of Medusa’s decapitated head on them. What was once the possessor of the evil eye became a protective symbol against the very same thing.” Just as you are about to continue with the next image, an alarm goes off and Marcus frowns in shock at how inconsiderate it was that phones weren’t silenced. But his surprise only heightens when he sees you running down the steps to your desk and picking up the phone sitting in the middle of the table.

“Ahhhh man, we were just about to get to the cavalier. That’s okay. Remember, the second response is due first thing on Friday. If you can’t turn it in during class, shoot me an email and we can work something out with my TAs. Go forth my clever spawns!” Marcus stands up and glues himself to the wall when he sees students emptying the lecture hall, his eyes on your form at the front of the class. He hopes you don’t leave out of the front exit and begins to make his way to you through the multitude of undergrads leaving. When he reaches your desk, he stands to the side until you finish chatting with one of the students and begins to collect your work.

“Dr. Y/L/N?”

“Please, it’s just Y/N. Who are you and how can I help you today?” You almost do a double take when you look up from your bag and see the man standing in front of you. To say that you were starstruck by the man in front of you would have been the understatement of the century.

“I’m Special Agent Marcus Pike,” he holds out his FBI tag for you and watches as you raise an eyebrow at him before you swing your bag across your shoulders and motion for him to follow you out of the hall.

“I would like to put it on record that I do not, in fact, wish to turn any of my colleagues to stone.” You joke, and Marcus senses that you are perhaps nervous at seeing his tag.

“Believe me, I would like to do that to some of mine as well...but no, not why I’m here.” Marcus clips the tag below his jacket as he walks with you.

“May I ask what I have done that caught the FBI’s attention?” You walk ahead of him, and ask him if it was okay for him to head over to your office with you.

“I’m with the FBI Art Crime Team and I’m here on a request. We would like to consult you on an open investigation and I came here to ask what your availability is.” Marcus follows you up the stairs, barely forcing his eyes to remain on your feet instead of elsewhere.

“Oh, me? That’s...wow. Of all the things I thought I would accomplish in my life, that’s definitely not one of them. May I ask what it is you need my opinion on?” You push open the doorway of the staircase and point at your office across the quiet hall.

“Unfortunately, there is a lot of paperwork you need to fill out before we get to work so I can’t disclose anything about the case until you sign in.” Marcus steps into the office behind you and watches as you set your things down before you move to your desk. He can’t help but feel his muscles loosen at the sight of the bookshelves across your room.

“This is probably the most exciting thing to happen to me all year long so yes, hundred percent. I’m available for the rest of the day today as well as tomorrow and Friday after lecture which ends at the same time as today’s.” You beam up at him as you take two books out of your bag and replace them with a folder that was sitting in the middle of your desk. Marcus looks at you quizzically, marveling at how much easier this was going. He genuinely thought he was going to meet with someone who was probably a bit proud and perhaps as much of an asshole as his previous professors but you were so much different than anyone he’s ever met within this field.

“Are you sure? I understand if you need to take a week or two-”

“No please, you’ll be saving me from faculty lunches and two seminars by colleagues that I genuinely cannot fucking stand- oh, sorry. Sorry, didn’t mean to-” You swing your leather bag around your shoulder again and shut the blinds of the windows before you walk to the door.

“Please, you don’t have to worry about that with me.” Marcus chuckles at the excitement rolling off of you and bites his lower lip when he watches you quickly fix your hair.

“I might need to have lunch on the way to your office though if that’s okay?” You take a plastic container out of your bag and smile sheepishly at him as you lock your door.

“Wow...is your bag bigger on the inside or something? And, yeah fine by me.” He pushes his hands into his pockets again and walks next to you, a little corner in his heart gradually filling with hope letting him know that he should be cautious. He didn’t want a repeat of last time.

You both chat briefly on your way to headquarters and Marcus apologizes every time he looks over and sees you struggling with your food. By the time you make it to the building, Marcus can tell you are a bit nervous and he assures you once more that this was merely a consultation.

“Wait how did you even find me?” You take your jacket off along with everything in your pockets, laying them down near your bag as they go through the scanner. Marcus passes through with his badge and waits for you on the other side, picking up your things as you put your jacket back on.

“I made some calls and a friend suggested to get in touch with you because of your expertise.”

“Oh now we’re getting somewhere. You have a Greek artifact don’t you?” Marcus halts in his steps and looks over to you as he shuts his eyes in irritation. He should have watched what he said.

“S-sorry I couldn’t help it. I’ll stop until I fill out whatever paperwork you have for me.” You take your things from him and walk quietly as he leads you to the elevators.

“I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s not personal, it’s just-”

“Business I know. I know. I’m so used to watching this kind of stuff in movies that I tend to forget it’s all fake and you’re...the real deal.” You hope he doesn’t see the way your eyes trail over his taller form, silently cursing yourself when you meet his eyes and notice how he’s already staring at you with a smile.

“Sorry.” You apologize again and look straight ahead, hands tightening around the leather strap when you realize that he’s still looking at you.

Marcus fists the hands in his pockets to prevent himself from saying anything else that might make you uncomfortable, and he looks at the increasing numbers as they reach his floor. A loud ring signals your arrival and Marcus stretches out his hand so you could walk ahead of him. You wait until he tells you where to go and say nothing when he stops for a second and whispers something to another agent.

When you arrive at his office, you stand to the side and wait for him to tell you what to do.

“What’re you doing all the way over there? Come here.” Marcus calls you over to his desk and smiles, hoping to put you a little at ease. You step towards him and set your stuff on the floor as you sit opposite him on one of the two chairs. He pulls out a couple of files and sets them in front of you in four different piles.

“That’s a lot of paperwork.” You chuckle nervously as you take out a pen from your bag.

“I know, I’m sorry. But that’s why I’m here. These are the building rules and your signature is basically you telling us you’ll abide by all of them.”

“I don’t know any of them.” You respond immediately, and rub harshly at the pen between your fingers.

“I’ll be with you at all times so you don’t have to worry about that.” His smile throws you off guard and you nod before you sign the highlighted areas.

“And these are you swearing that you will tell no one of whatever you see, hear, do, etc. within the building.” You nod and sign through the stapled paperwork before sliding them his way.

“We’re almost done. These two are like the second pile but they have to do with this case specifically. And they extend to outside the premises, meaning that if I or another agent on the case tells you anything that has to do with your work here today while we’re grabbing coffee from across the street, you can’t say it to a living soul.” Marcus points at the four highlighted boxes and tells you to sign the date next to them as well.

“So I can say it to my dead cousin?” You ask as you sign the two papers and hand them to him, unable to hold your laughter when he shakes his head as he pushes the last pile towards you.

“I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

“Can’t help it.”

“And finally, these are you swearing that whatever you tell us today, be it an opinion, a fact, or anything else, is the absolute truth. Basically, you’re not fucking with us.” You raise an eyebrow at his choice in words and he shrugs his shoulders as he motions for the empty spaces again. When you’re done, Marcus collects all the files and places them in a folder before he unlocks his desk and pushes them inside.

“I don’t ever want to see my signature again.” You whisper as he leads you out of the office towards a conference room. He holds the door for you and nods ahead, waiting for you to step in before he shuts the door behind him and turns around. You try to ignore the hand pushing on your lower back as you walk in and spot three gentlemen and one woman standing towards the end of the long table.

“Wow, that was quick.” The female agent is first to speak and you say nothing as Marcus introduces you to them.

“Thank you for coming on such a short notice.”

“Of course. This is very exciting for me so I’m happy to help in any way.” You shake her hand and stand to the side as Marcus motions for you to sit down.

“This is Lydia, Ethan, Henry, and Noah.” Marcus points to each member of his team as he pulls out a chair next to you and sits down.

“It’s nice to meet you.” You nod towards them and look at the folder that Lydia hands to you. Marcus says something as you flip open the folder but you can’t respond, eyes almost falling out of their sockets as you take in the large image on the page. You look up at Marcus and everyone else before you return your attention to the picture.

“You recognize what this is then?” Ethan breaks the silence and watches as you move through the pages quickly.

“Umm, that seems like an oversimplification but yes.” You continue to study the images in front of you for another few minutes before you set them down and look up at Marcus.

“Some explanation would really help me out right now.” You tap softly on the papers, and your mind conjures up the wildest possible stories behind the images currently displayed in front of you.

“Oh right yes. We received a tip from the Smithsonian’s acquisitions department about a man trying to sell them this artifact for three million dollars,” Marcus notices your eyes widen but he continues, “but they’re not sure if it’s stolen or not. And he refuses to cooperate.”

“Which is where you come in. Have you seen anything like this before and if so, where?” Lydia stares at you as you return your attention to the pictures again.

“And the Smithsonian can’t confirm this?”

“Far from it. Marcus here is just afraid they’ll eventually get greedy and do anything to get their hands on it.” You look next to you and watch a faint blush take over the agent’s handsome features.

“I mean I don’t blame you. There are a bunch of real assholes in this field.” You laugh when he gives Lydia a ‘told you’ look.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to help you if I don’t see the actual pendant.” You shut the folder and push it away from you.

“That might be a problem.” Henry takes his glasses off and proceeds to clean them as he looks at his co-workers.

“Why? Do you not have it anymore?” Your heart skips a beat at the prospect of the FBI losing such an object.

“Oh no we have it. Our guy is afraid we’ll switch it out with a fake so he refuses to hand it to us unless he’s in the same room.”

“That’s funny. Is there a rule that says I can’t look at it while this man is in the room?” You ask Marcus and he can’t help but notice how giddy you’re being all of a sudden. Your excitement is almost palpable and he wills himself to focus on the question and not how you bite your lower lip as you wait for him.

“I mean…”

“You’re all going to be in the room aren’t you?” You cut him off before he says anything and when they all nod, you turn to Marcus once more and wait for his response.

“I guess it’s fine.” Marcus reluctantly answers before he asks Ethan and Noah to bring the man from the interrogation room he’s been in for the past couple of hours. Lydia and Henry let you in on more details and Marcus watches as you furrow your eyebrows in focus, occasionally cutting them off to ask them a question.

Fifteen minutes later and a knock on the door breaks you out of your haze. You look up just as Ethan and Noah walk in with a man in front of them. You say nothing as they bring him to your side of the room and set him down across from you.

“How many times do I have to tell you, I didn’t steal it. I found it!” Your ears perk at his comment but you say nothing as he crosses his arms and narrows his eyes at you.

“May I see it?” You ask before anyone else says anything and the man continues to stare at you before he ignores your question.

“Please, I’m just here to confirm your story. I know for a fact there isn’t a museum out there that has this.” You notice the hardened expression on Henry’s face but he says nothing. A few long moments pass by and the man shifts to take something out of the inside his jacket. You inhale deeply and watch as he unwraps the cloth before he places the small pendant on the table in front of you.

“May I?” You ask again and if Marcus didn’t know any better, he’d think that you’re just trying to put the man at ease. If you were nervous around five FBI agents and you did nothing wrong, then his little thief must have been scared shitless.

When the man nods, you bring out a pair of gloves from your handbag and put them on, forcing yourself to remain calm as you pick up the pendant.

“What a beautiful work of art you are baby. Red jasper, my favorite!” Your excited words break the silence and you look up at the man in front of you with a smile, feeling your hands sweat when he slowly returns the expression.

Got you.

“Greek is marvelous...crystal clear, grammatically correct, unique placement.” It’s as silent as a cemetery and Marcus watches you closely as you narrow your eyes and adjust the stone under the light. If he wasn’t dealing with a criminal and a potentially stolen artifact, he would have told you how beautiful you looked when you were deep in the middle of a task.

“Hmm, what is this 6th century-ish spell? Oh my bad, no no no, I tend to mix them up sometimes. It’s definitely a 7th century formula.” You make an awkward face and watch as Lydia shakes her head at your little mix up.

“Now, let’s see what you got on the other side sweetheart.” You carefully turn the amulet around in the palm of your hand and barely hold back from gasping dramatically.

“My god...what a goddamn sight...oh oops sorry, that was probably blasphemous. A perfectly etched crucifixion...cross with 4 sides, with a plaque at the top...and of course, can’t forget the clothed Christ. The detail on this is truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen, down to the ‘Iesous Xristos Theou Yios Sotare’ around the figure. Where did you say you found it again?” You casually ask as you continue to inspect the stone, almost laughing when the man responds immediately to your question.

“Mount Athos.” Marcus turns to his team in shock. You’d managed to get the information out of him so easily while they spent an entire day trying to get him to say anything. It was a little funny how at ease the man seemed now, leaning forward towards you as you flipped the stone around.

“Ohh the hub of Eastern monasteries. Boy is this the most valuable artifact I’ve ever had the pleasure of looking at then.” You set it down on the cloth and wrap it up before taking your gloves off and leaning back on the chair.

“See, told you its one of a kind. No one’s ever found anything like it before.” The man beams at you before he takes the object and puts it back in his jacket.

“Oh yeah it’s one of a kind alright...because it’s the most fake amulet I’ve ever had the misfortune of examining. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been this disappointed in my life. And here I thought another one of these was out there. Did you even bother to do any research on this?” You frown at him and cross your arms in irritation, completely missing Marcus’ reaction and how he turns to Lydia to confirm that yes, you just said that it was a fake artifact.

“W-what?”

“I’d love to know where you got the red jasper because you could have fooled me with that. Let’s break this down shall we? The Greek is perfect, too perfect if I’m being honest. You never have grammatically correct syntax etched on a magical amulet, let alone proper diction. Oh and you should have probably used Classical Greek instead of modern Greek, like were you even trying? Really bad move to use a 7th century formula with a non-altered 6th century spell. The formula didn’t even exist yet!” You tilt your head to the side and watch as the man in front of you begins to fidget. His smile is replaced with a shocked expression and you watch as it slowly becomes angry.

Marcus was speechless. He never saw this coming and was looking at you with a mixture of awe and surprise at the turn of events. He could only stare at you as he took in your energy, the same confidence and intelligence he saw earlier in the day when he walked into your lecture.

“As for the back, you never get 4-sided crosses with these, only three, and the head of Christ makes up the fourth which you don’t actually see because of his head. No plaque, too detailed and non-existent in protection spells. Christ is always nude on magical amulets by the way...yes it’s weird, but it’s a fucking amulet and he was just some extra deity. And finally, never, ever, write out ‘Iesous Xristos Theou Yios Sotare.’ You write the acronym IXOYE.” You flip open the folder that was in front of you and grab a sharpie from Marcus’ file, circling the first letter of each Greek word and holding it up as if he was one of your students and you were trying to lecture him.

“Don’t even get me started on your provenance. Mount Athos? I mean for fuck’s sake, Constanza would have been a better option. At least we actually found amulets out there. How much was he asking for this?” You turn to Marcus and completely miss the starstruck eyes he’s giving you. When you raise an eyebrow at him, he finally realizes that you asked him a question.

“Uhhh 3 mil.”

“Oh boy...yeah, this is worth jack shit. Wouldn’t even do it’s intended job if you actually wore it as a protection pendant.” You watch as the man’s expression changes from anger to outrage and you barely have any time to push away your chair and hide behind Marcus before the man tries to jump on top of the table towards you. It takes Ethan and Noah approximately five seconds to tackle him down before they take him out of the room. You watch as they reach for the amulet in his pocket and give it to Henry just as they push him out.

You’re still coming down from the adrenaline rush when Marcus turns around and asks you if you are alright. As soon as you see the gun in his hands, your hold on his jacket tightens and you gulp nervously when you meet his eyes. He apologizes quickly once he sees where you’re looking and quickly puts the gun back in its holster.

“You okay?” Marcus holds your wrist and rubs his thumb over your pulse point until you begin to relax. You fix your jacket and take a deep breath before you meet his eyes, almost gasping when you see how dark and oddly calming they are.

“Didn’t think a consultation would get this exciting but uhh, yeah I’m good. I think.” You try to laugh it off but looking at the object in Henry’s hand makes you realize that the last five minutes did really happen and you actually managed to piss off someone to the point where he tried to attack you.

“And we were worried it was stolen…” Lydia shakes her head when she takes the amulet and swirls it around in her hand.

“I might be wrong but I think you should try to find out who made it, especially because of the red jasper. This came real close to a fake. And you should also try to date it as well...there might be more of these out there.” You smile when Lydia agrees and collects the folders on the table, thanking you on her way out.

“My pleasure...apart from that last bit.” You laugh it off and watch as she exits the conference room with Henry.

“So…” You turn to Marcus and whisper a quick thank you when he hands you your bag.

“So, this definitely wasn’t what I had in mind when I asked you to consult on this case. I- I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that this happened. It’s not always like this, I promise. The exciting stuff usually happens when we find guys like him in abandoned warehouses.” Marcus continues to word vomit as he leads you back to his office.

“It’s okay really. My advisor always warned me about this.”

“About working with the FBI?”

“No no, about rambling so much that I piss off someone to the point where they try to kill me.” You’re taken aback by Marcus’ laugh and can’t help but giggle along with him as he leans back in his chair and continues to laugh.

“I hope that doesn’t mean you won’t work with us again?” There’s something in his voice that doesn’t ease the butterflies in your stomach and you place your hand on your chest dramatically as you bat your eyes at him.

“Why Agent Pike, are you trying to recruit me to the FBI?” You ask sarcastically and watch as he shrugs his shoulders before shutting off his computer and standing up.

“Just a consult here and there, should we meet another Greco-Roman artifact? Or...a fake one I guess.” You swallow the lump in your throat when you see the way he’s looking at you and hope that you’re not misreading any signs.

“Can I take you out to dinner? As a thank you and an apology for putting your life in danger?” Marcus is reluctant to ask but he takes the leap of faith and hopes that you wouldn’t reject him.

“I- actually...in all honesty, I don’t think I’ll do well in public after that whole thing.” You gesture towards the outside offices, and Marcus nods in disappointment and contemplates on whether he should ask you to dinner some other time. You never give him a chance to follow-up though.

“How about take-out at my place?” You stand up and smile when you see his eyes beam with excitement as he fixes his tie and motions towards the door.

“Lead the way doctor.” You flush under the title and walk ahead so he doesn’t notice the obvious effect he’s having on you. You glance at Marcus every now and then as you make your way out of the building and towards his car.

You chat about random things as he drives through the busy streets, and you feel your heart skip a beat when he says something scandalous about your favorite Impressionist artwork, not because of the comment but because of the way he winks at you as he slides his hand to your thighs and nudges them to let you know he was just joking. You hope that Marcus asks for your number by the end of the night, maybe even invite you to dinner again, because if you’re being honest, it’s been a while since you met a decent guy and he’s been checking all of your boxes all day long.

Kind. Intelligent. Hard-working. Funny. And of course, attractive. There was something about the way he smiles and you kept on replaying the moment he hid you behind him and continued to ask if you were alright.

“What do you mean you don’t like Bal du moulin de la Galette? It’s one of the most magnificent paintings out there. Best of Renoir’s if you ask me.” You unlock the door and switch on the lights, throwing your coat and bag on the wall before telling Marcus to make himself at him. He takes his jacket off and hangs it as well, turning around to continue his argument.

“Listen, I’m just not a crowd kind of guy. I’m more of a Paris Street, Rainy Day man okay so-”

“Why am I not surprised by that?” You laugh as you bring him a cup of water, hoping you were being subtle as you continued to check out the gun resting in his holster. Shaking your head, you take your phone out again and tell him that it’ll take you a few minutes to order pizza since neither of you can make up your mind.

Marcus looks around when you walk away to place the order, his eyes taking in the three bookshelves behind your couch. It’s almost as if the office space wasn’t enough so you had to make more room for all of your textbooks and novels. Maybe it was the other way around…

He takes a sip of water and glances to the side, instantly choking on the liquid when his eyes zero in on the three watercolor paintings hanging above your television. Marcus blinks rapidly and rubs his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things. He approaches the wall and looks between the three artworks, unable to tear his gaze away. He notices new details every time he focuses on a different corner of each painting, and his pants suddenly feel uncomfortable when he shifts closer.

“Pizza will be here in thirty-ish minutes and-” You almost drop the phone when Marcus jumps back and almost trips over his own feet. “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” When you walk closer and see the blush creeping down his neck, you can’t help but giggle and glance at your paintings, almost as if you were taunting him into commenting on your choice in decoration.

“These are...interesting.” Marcus avoids looking at them when you stand next to him, merely pointing to the side as he looks at you.

“Oh no...here we go. I know what that means. You don’t like them?” You tilt your head to the side and hold back from smiling when he takes a long sip of water before he sets down the glass.

“N-no no, that’s not...I didn’t mean- I just...it’s a bold choice.” His stutter makes you laugh even harder and you apologize when his blush deepens. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh. It’s always really funny when people come over because I get all kinds of reactions but you’re definitely the first guy that doesn’t call me a slut because I have pornographic paintings hanging in my living room.”

“Why not? The Dutch lords and the Italian merchants did it, why can’t you?” Marcus is almost offended by the remark and he forgets all about the awkwardness of the paintings when he sees you nod aggressively in agreement.

“Exactly!? Why is a guy allowed to hang an Odalisque in his home but I can’t hang some BDSM scenes?” You take the glass from the table and ask him if he wants more. Marcus shakes his head and quickly attempts to fix himself through his pants before you return.

“So you like them then?” You lounge on one chair and wait for Marcus to sit on the couch before you ask him.

“It’s a different aesthetic I think, and it somehow goes well with your bookshelves. Something about textbooks and nude paintings depicting sex just goes together...can’t explain how. And kudos to the artist too! The brushstrokes, the layering, the complementary colors...the scenes and positions are so natural. They’re perfect combinations. Did you pick them or did you commission them?”

“Oh I commissioned two of them. The third was just too good to not order. I’ll ask you this then, which ones do you think I commissioned?” Marcus glances to the canvases again and grows quiet for a few moments, his eyes switching from one painting to another before he meets your gaze.

“I think you commissioned the two on the left.”

“Why?” You try to hide how impressed you are by how he correctly figured you out, almost cringing when the question leaves your mouth before you could stop yourself. As much as you enjoy where this conversation was going, you really hope this wouldn’t lead to some misogynistic response on his part. Just as Marcus is about to respond, the doorbell rings and you tell him you’ll be right back.

Marcus thanks the heavens that the pizza arrives because he isn’t sure how he could respond to that question without accidentally giving his train of thoughts away. When you come back with plates and napkins, Marcus thanks you and proceeds to separate the pizza slices.

“It was the closest I could get to owning something that resembled the area I study.” You say through chewing and Marcus furrows his eyebrows, silently asking you to elaborate on your comment.

“Nudity I mean. I can’t afford sculptures so I settled with these.”

“They are beautiful. And the positions are-” Marcus stops abruptly when he realizes that his inner monologue just rolled off of his tongue.

“Go on, what were you going to say?”

“I- uh, I just think that the positions are intimate. And they become more intimate the longer you look at them.” He chews faster when you nod and take another slice of pizza.

“You have a favorite?” You ask and pretend you aren’t paying attention to every single word he says. You get the sense that he has a lot to say about the paintings but is choosing to hold back so you don’t get the wrong idea about why he is having dinner with you in your apartment after only knowing you for a few hours.

“Definitely the middle one.” His answer surprises you, especially because the one on the right has handcuffs and you genuinely thought he’d be into that because of his line of work.

“Really? Why?”

“Oh...I- this might sound weird but I think the scene is intense and- and close? Private? I’m not sure what it is I’m trying to say but the fact that she’s completely nude except for the panties around her thighs while he’s fully clothed and is focusing on her pleasure is- it’s intimate. And the hand on her back is a mixture of dominance and care, like he’s letting her know that she has his undivided attention but she has to behave for him.” You’re not sure when exactly you stopped eating and you clear your throat when you realize that Marcus was looking at you to gauge your reaction.

“Y-yeah that...ahuh.” Something about the way he says the word ‘behave’ twists your insides and you immediately stand up and head to the kitchen, whispering something about needing to wash down the food with something. Marcus eats quietly and hopes he hasn’t just made things even more awkward. When you come back and hand him a glass of red wine, Marcus relaxes and continues to eat.

“Have you ever drawn something like this?” You shake your head as you take a sip of the wine, laying against the back of the couch and crossing your legs.

“I wish. Human anatomy is so fascinating I think. I sometimes get this adrenaline rush when I look at the far right one and I tell myself that I’ll sketch all the risque and open positions I can think of but then I remember how long it would take me to finish one piece and I- I don’t have time for that sadly.”

“You can always start out with simpler ones? Maybe solo pieces, and move up from there.” Marcus mirrors you and sits back with the wine glass in his hand.

“Yeah, but I just love this kind of genre so much. It needs to be passionate, and sexy and out there you know.” Marcus smiles at the energetic response, feeling much more relaxed now that he’s had a cup of wine and found chatting about your choice in decoration less awkward.

“I get you. It’s why that lifestyle is interesting to so many people. The whole dynamic, whether we’re talking about the figures in the scene or actual partners, is based on that trust. You- you have to create that sense of trust and comfort for the scene to be enjoyable...pleasurable. It’s not as easy as some think it to be. As a Dom, you have to be aware of your partner at all times and the effect you have on them. And the same goes for a Sub too. You need to ensure that your Dom knows how much trust you put in them and the level of dedication that’s going into the scene. Both parties are depending on each other and it’s- it’s amazing.” Marcus smiles when he notices the intensity swimming in your eyes and he gives you a few seconds to collect your bearings before he asks his next question.

“Would you draw something as intimate as that?” He breaks the silence and watches your train of thought come and go.

“Would you?” You throw the question right back at him, holding in a breath when you see him lean forward with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“I would...but only if I have the right model.” Marcus doesn’t know where all of this is coming from but he can’t find it in himself to break whatever bubble the two of you found yourselves in. You’re silent for a few moments, long enough for Marcus to think that maybe, just maybe, he’s crossed the line.

But then you’re smiling at him mischievously, chugging down the rest of the wine before standing up and heading towards the hallway.

“I have an easel and some 16x20 papers lying around...I hope you don’t mind working with chalk.” You throw back at him before you walk down the hallway and Marcus has to give himself a quick pep talk before he follows you. He slowly makes his way into your bedroom and stands at the doorstep until you allow him to come in.

“I think the lighting is best in this corner but you’ll be the one working so sit wherever you prefer.” You bring over a chair and set it in front of the easel before you grab the large box of supplies and pull out all the chalk sticks that you have. Marcus nods in silence as he pushes the easel closer to your bed and begins to choose which of the chalk sticks he wants. There is a variety of shapes and sizes, and he’s not sure if he should start out bold or if he should ease himself into this. It’s been a while since he’s drawn a model and he really doesn’t want to screw up, especially because it is you.

Marcus is so busy preparing his workstation that he doesn’t notice you stripping off your clothes. You keep your eyes on him and find the little scrunch he does with his eyebrows when he focuses on something endearing. Taking a deep breath, you take off your bra and panties before laying on the bed and getting in a comfortable position. Your movements are minimal, and you stretch out your legs in wait for him. You fight the part of you that’s yelling at you to cover yourself and keep your focus on him to gauge his reaction.

“Pose however you want and we can work on the postures once we-” The words die in his throat as soon as he looks up from the easel and sees your state of dress, or lack thereof. The thick chalk stick he’s holding between his fingers snaps in half and breaks the blanket of silence that fell on the room. He visibly gulps and doesn’t try to hide the way his eyes trail down your form slowly before they return to look into your dilated ones. Marcus knows for a fact that the image of your heaving chest and hardened nipples will forever be etched in his mind.

“I- uhh, are you...c-comfortable?” He hates how much he’s stuttering and you smile at him when you notice how he is focusing on the wall behind you and not you.

You look around for a few moments, grabbing a couple of pillows and placing them behind your back before you stretch out one leg and bend the other one to your chest. Marcus almost chokes on his breath when he sees how open you are being with him but he says nothing and turns his attention to the blank piece of paper underneath his hand.

“I’m ready.” Your voice brings him out of his stupor and he nods briefly as he tries to reason with himself. He cannot draw you unless he looks at you. But he is well aware of the hardening predicament he’s currently suffering from and he’s sure you probably noticed by now the effect you were having on him.

“I won’t tell you how to do your job Agent, but artists usually have to look at the models they’re drawing to...you know, draw them.” Marcus rolls his eyes at the teasing remark, briefly glancing at you with a raised eyebrow before he begins to softly outline the shape of your shoulders. His cock twitches in his pants and he tries his hardest to not squirm too much in his seat. But every time his eyes move towards your nude form laying not five feet away from him, he silently curses himself and pretends he’s fine and that he isn’t imagining pushing you down and shoving his tongue deep into your wet cunt.

“Are you usually this quiet when you’re sketching, Agent Pike?” Something about the way you’re addressing him makes him clench his jaw tightly and he unintentionally whispers a little louder than he intends in response.

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

Your giggles let him know that you heard his remark and he is sure his face is growing a deeper shade of red but he shrugs his shoulders and ignores your obvious amusement. Marcus swallows the lump in his throat as he shifts his focus below your neck, parting his lips when he notices the tilt of your head from his peripheral vision as he ceases all movement and continues to stare at your chest.

“Oh sorry, is my arm in the way,” you lower your arms and move them behind you to support your weight, never breaking eye contact with him as you rock your bent leg back and forth and give him a full view of your most intimate parts.

Marcus is almost shaking in his seat at the sight of your breasts, unaware that he’s harshly rubbing the chalk stick with his thumb the more your leg sways to the side and reveals the outer folds of your pussy.

“P-perfect, thank you.” He whispers and returns to the sheet in front of him, biting into his lower lip as he rolls the chalk across and sketches the curves of your breasts. For a moment, he forgets what he is doing and narrows his eyes at the shapes in front of him before he smudges the black material across to shade in the skin. He looks back and forth for a couple of minutes until he’s happy with the shading of your body.

You marvel at how he’s managing to keep it together for this long when all you can think about is begging for him to fuck you into the mattress. You thought it would be easy for him to break but ever the gentleman, he takes the task seriously and tries his hardest to not dwell on your skin for longer than necessary.

A thought comes through your mind and you smile to yourself as you shift your bent leg to the side and move the other one until it falls from the side of the bed. You stare at him and hope this is what finally does the trick. And you don’t have to wait for too long because the next time Marcus looks at you, he takes a double-take and doesn’t bother to hide how he’s only focusing on the skin between your thighs.

“I thought it would be easier for you, you know. Easier access and everything.” You’re not sure what you’re going on about but you can tell that it’s taking every ounce of control in his body to not pounce on you. You hold your breath when Marcus stands up and meets your eyes, and you think this is it. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for.

But then he’s freeing the paper from the easel and moving towards you, his expression never once giving his plan away. You gulp when he kneels at the foot of your bed and sets the paper between your thighs.

“You’re right, easier access,” Marcus says as he brings the chalk down on the paper and sketches your thighs, not bothering for propriety as his eyes zero in on your slit. You know you’re wet and you can feel slick easing down your folds but you don’t move a muscle, watching him as he expertly outlines your skin before he rubs the chalk with his thumb to shade the area again.

“It’s not quite how I want it…” His remark makes you shiver and you’re about to beg him to forgo the sketch when he leans forward and nudges your legs apart, perhaps a little carelessly, before he collects your arousal with his middle finger and swipes it across your folds. You’re shocked by the turn of events and barely hold back from moaning as he dips the clean finger into your pussy and rubs your walls for a few more seconds, his soft brown eyes turning dangerous as pushes his finger a little deeper and bites his lower lip when he feels you clenching around him. Marcus turns his attention back to you, his jaw tensing when he sees sheer bliss etched on your expression. Your little gasps are music to his ears and just as he feels your hips moving against him, he pulls his hand away.

You watch him like a hawk as he inspects his finger, gasping when he smudges at the chalk on the sketch to create darker shades around your center.

“Hmm, that’s more like it.” Marcus turns to you and smirks when he sees your parted lips turn into a frown.

“Do you not like it?” He feigns ignorance and raises an eyebrow when your frown deepens as you move back into your pillows. You lean back but continue to hold his gaze as you part your thighs and lazily stroke your cunt. Marcus slowly puts down the paper and chalk onto the floor and stands up just as you begin to pinch your nipples.

“Please…” Your whispered plea shoots straight to his cock and he laughs when it turns into a whine once he makes his way to the bathroom in your room. He says nothing as he quickly washes his hands and dries them before moving back and standing next to your bed.

You don’t stop touching yourself, hoping the needy sight of you is all the push he needs to take what he wants.

“What’s your safeword doctor?” Marcus keeps his hands in his pockets as he trails his eyes down your shivering body. He’s itching to touch you but he remains still and waits for confirmation that you do, in fact, want this as much as him. A part of him knows that the two of you should probably slow down and perhaps discuss whatever this is before you go any further. But it feels right being here with you. And he doesn’t want to give it up just yet.

“J-Jasper.” Your voice breaks when you see the hunger swimming in his eyes and you shift to the center of your bed as Marcus kicks off his shoes before taking off his socks.

“Hmm.” Marcus hums as he takes off the holster from his belt and quietly places the gun on your nightstand. When he turns back and sees you watching the gun and increasing your movements, he groans down at you before walking around the bed.

“Maybe another time baby...when you and I are a little more acquainted with each other.” You flush at the implications behind his words and nod at him. You watch as he begins to roll up his sleeves and your anticipation grows with each inch of skin he reveals.

“You look so pretty sweetheart, all needy and desperate for my touch. Do you want to cum baby?” Marcus asks teasingly and you nod frantically as you begin to push two fingers into your cunt.

“Nuh uh, use your words. I’ll let it go this time but from now on, you use your words if you want something from me.” His tone is less gentle and your inner walls spasm at the thought of hearing that same commanding voice telling you to get on your knees for him.

“S-sorry yes...yes please. I- I want to cum, please.” Marcus smiles in amusement as he steps closer to the bed until his knees touch the mattress.

“Good girl. Now, if you really want to cum, then you better come here and suck me off. Be a good girl for me and show me what that sweet fucking mouth of yours can do.” His chest puffs out proudly when he sees how quickly you’re moving to please him. You lay on your stomach and palm him through his pants, moaning along with him when you find him hard and ready for you.

“May I undress you?”

“Go on sweetheart, take what you want.” Marcus caresses your cheek as you excitedly unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants. He doesn’t dare look away as you shove his pants down his thighs before leaning forward and nuzzling your nose into the bulge of his boxer briefs.

“Fuck baby, are you trying to kill me?” You giggle and shake your head in response, purposely rubbing his length with your nose just before you feel his fingers combing through your hair and tugging on it.

“Remember sweetheart...bad girls don’t get to cum. Stop your teasing before I shove my cock down your throat.” Marcus pulls on your hair harshly and groans when he sees you smiling up at him.

“Is that a promise Agent Pike?” You know you’re pushing his buttons and don’t hold back from gasping his name as he rolls you onto your back and aggressively pushes his boxer briefs down far enough to free his cock. He’s not really a vain man but seeing you lick your lips and inch closer to him as you stare at his hard dick makes him just a little cocky.

“Go on baby, open your mouth. Part those pretty fucking lips for me.” Marcus pats your lips softly and shivers when you respond to him right before you shut your eyes and wait for him to give you his cock.

“Yes sir.”

His knees buckle for a second the moment you take his tip into your mouth and suck on it. Marcus is torn between throwing his head back to enjoy the softness of your mouth and keeping his eyes on you as you suck on his cock. He leans forward and bites his cheek when you relax your throat and take more of his cock down your throat.

“P-part your legs for me baby please. Let me- oh fuck, your mouth is made of magic sweetheart. Let me- let me see how wet that pretty cunt is.” Marcus is already breathing heavily and he furrows his eyebrows in focus, not wanting to end this night early. You swallow around him a few times and hum when you feel his hand cupping your breasts while the other rests around your throat.

Taking a deep breath through your nose, you try to take him down as deep as possible just as you part your thighs and begin to play with your pussy. Marcus groans and swears above you as you work him expertly and he can’t hold back from pushing the palm of his hand a little harder on your throat. He can feel his cock passing across your pharynx and moans your name over and over again when he looks down and sees drool rolling down your cheeks.

“Ahh fuck oh god, s-sweetheart you’re a fucking dream. W-where have you been all my life?” Marcus continues to kneed at your tits, but when he gets a little irritated when he sees your fingers rubbing your clit. Without warning, he leans forward as far as he can and slaps your hand away, replacing it with his own and biting his cheek when he finds you soaking.

“Shit baby, you’re so wet. Is this all for me?” You hum around him and twitch in surprise when you feel two of his thick fingers pushing past your wet folds and into your cunt. You’re already so close to coming from his teasing and you whimper when he nudges your thighs apart aggressively.

“Keep those legs open for me baby. Shit, the smell of you is fucking intoxicating. Fuck, that it’s, get on your hands and knees for me.” Marcus moves away and silences you with one look when you start to whine and reach for his cock.

“Unless you want to call it a night, you’ll get on your fucking hands and knees for me. Shit baby I’ve wanted to shove my tongue in that pussy as soon as you stripped for me.” He never breaks eye contact as he kicks away his pants and briefs before he makes quick work of his shirt. You quickly turn around and bite into your wrist as you get on all fours and try to look at him through your elbow. You reach down and ease two fingers into your cunt as you take in his broad shoulders and lean form. You swear his muscles flex the longer you stare at him and when you finally look at him, you’re a little embarrassed at being caught openly ogling him.

“Look at you, like a bitch in heat.” Regret rolls off of him as soon as he registers what he just said. An apology is on the tip of his tongue but then you’re arching your back and shifting closer to him, giving him a show as you curve your knuckles to try and hit that sweet spot inside of you.

“Oh aren’t you the prettiest sweetheart in the world.” You moan his name when he caresses your back and kneels behind you, laying soft kisses across your back as he palms and lightly smacks your ass. Marcus removes your hand away slowly but not before licking your fingers and humming around them as the taste of you fills his mouth.

“Marcus please...I- I need you inside me.”

“What do you need from me? You want my tongue and fingers? Or do you think this cunt is ready to take my cock?” Marcus nips at your skin and pushes a hand on your lower back when you try and move away from him.

“W-whatever you want...just- need to feel you inside me. I don’t care, please. Oh fuck...please.” You squeal when Marcus spreads your cheeks apart and spits on your slit right before licking across your cunt. You fist your hands into the sheets and bite down on your wrist when you feel his nose nudge at your entrance as his tongue flicks your engorged clit.

“Good answer sweetheart,” you hear him whisper just as he kisses across your folds and dips his tongue into your core. You’re already shaking with need and rock back against him, hoping he’d end your agony and give you his fingers as well. Marcus is losing his mind and he tries his hardest to focus on pleasuring you. But it’s so hard to hold back when you’re whimpering at his touch and shoving your pussy in his face to get more friction.

“Stop moving,” Marcus growls against you, and you cry out his name when his palms land on your ass cheeks three consecutive times before he rubs the reddening skin.

“Oh god, your tongue feels so good Marcus. D-don’t stop, please. I want to cum, l-let me cum. You’re so fucking- ahh s-shit.” You think you feel him smile against you as he pushes two fingers into your pussy but you can’t be sure because you suddenly feel full. Fuck, and it’s only his fingers.

“Jesus Christ sweetheart, you’re so fucking tight. Can’t wait to feel you around my cock.” He slowly parts you with his fingers and groans when he feels you squeezing his fingers. When you try to move against him again, Marcus slithers his hand across your back and grabs your neck, pushing your face into the bed as he leans over to whisper in your ears.

“You’re being such a bad girl tonight. I won’t give you another warning baby. Move again and I won’t fuck you.” You shiver when you hear his hoarse voice on your ears, grasping the pillows as hard as you can when he pushes his fingers as deep as possible and curls his knuckles.

“N-no please...I’m s-sorry- ahh gahd I’ll stop. I’ll stop.” Marcus is pleased with the effect he’s clearly having on you and almost gives in. But he wants you to cum before he takes you. From the looks of it, you aren’t looking for anything gentle, and with how hard he is, has been for the entire day, he doesn’t have the self-control to be anything but rough.

“Good girl...sweet fucking girl.” You force yourself to remain immobile as you feel him reaching deeper and applying more pressure on your spongy walls. The hand on your neck moves to your back and massages your heated skin. It takes you a while to realize that he’s reenacting the paintings in your living room and the thought shakes you to your core. Before you can even warn him, you feel a familiar pressure growing in the depths of your stomach and your heart hammers in your chest as you lose yourself to the sudden swelling sensation. You gasp his name over and over again as you cum around his fingers, and Marcus fists his hand in your hair when he feels you shuddering beneath him.

He’s shocked at how quickly you unravel at his ministrations and he doesn’t look away as he brushes his thumb against your clit and watches your body fight to not move away from him.

“M-Marcus wait- I...too much.” You can barely form a coherent sentence, let alone a thought, and you bite into the sheets when you feel his scruff scratch your skin deliciously as he licks off your juices.

“Use your safeword sweetheart and I’ll stop. But you came without asking so now I have to punish you...fuck, you taste as good as you smell baby, shit, maybe even better.” Marcus slows down but continues to move his digits across your tightening walls and when you say nothing, he sits up and twists his hand, waiting for your breathing to slow down before he begins to fuck you with his fingers.

“Oh oh f-fuck I- Marcus M-Marcus oh god...yes please fuck ahh I- I’m…” You try to warn him but he doesn’t slow down once, continuing his assault on your abused cunt until he feels you tightening around him again.

“Beg!”

“Can I- oh god, can I cum? Please fuck, I- I can’t s-stah ahh fuck.” You reach around and dig your nails into the hand fisting in your hair. You try to warn him again of what’s about to happen but he doesn’t give you a chance, picking up the pace just as he curves his digits and rubs at your sensitive spot.

“Drench me baby.” It’s all you need to fall over the edge again and your vision whites out as you convulse around him. Marcus smiles proudly when you listen to his command but his expression changes to one of awe when he feels you gush around his hand and wet his arm and thighs. He doesn’t stop once, completely captivated by the sight of your juices flowing around him so easily. When you try to move up the bed, Marcus lets go of your neck and pushes down on your lower back to keep you still. The damp spot beneath you is growing and something primal takes over Marcus. He wants nothing more than to soak the entire bed.

But he snaps out of his haze when you cry out his name and beg him to slow down. He looks at you as he gradually comes to a halt but keeps his fingers in your pussy. Marcus massages your muscles as he eases his wet fingers out of you and carefully maneuvers you until you’re laying on your back. You hiss at the sudden feeling of emptiness and almost jump away when you feel his tongue passing across the skin of your thighs. When you finally have enough mind to look at him, you’re taken aback by the sheer bliss written on his face as he closes his eyes and cleans you up. Your eyes widen in horror and embarrassment when you look at his glistening skin and you call for him shyly to grab his attention.

“I-I’m so sorry...I- I’ve never-”

“Don’t you dare apologize. That was the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen and the fact that I’m the first to make you squirt...best feedback I’ve ever gotten.” Marcus cuts you off as he licks at his forearm and fingers before he sits up behind you. You find his gaze much more intense than before and you hide behind your arm to avoid it.

“Marcus, stop.” He laughs at your sudden shyness and leans over to pull your arms away from your face.

“Please baby, don’t hide from me. Please.” You feel exposed underneath him and it’s a stupid thought considering what the two of you have been doing so far. But something about the way he’s staring at you with those deep, brown, soulful eyes makes you want to hide under the sheets. But instead, you take his hand and pull him close until he’s flush against you.

“K-kiss me.” You watch as his expression intensifies just as he leans forward and molds his lips with yours. You expected him to be rough but the way he parts his lips and allows you access to his mouth leaves you breathless. His scruff and mustache heighten the sensation and you instantly shove your tongue in his mouth when he melts against you. You hum when you finally taste yourself on his tongue and Marcus growls as the kiss grows more desperate. Just as you run out of breath, Marcus pulls away and holds back from smiling when you chase after him.

“Sweetheart, c-can I have you?” You’re amazed by how he’s still asking you if you want to do this even after the events of the past hour or so.

“Yes, please.” You respond as you push him off to resume your previous position again. Marcus feels his cock harden at the sight of you on your knees for him. But the moment shatters into a million pieces when he looks down and realizes that he doesn’t have any condoms.

“Fuck.” He hisses and begins to move away when he feels your hands reach for his thighs to stop him.

“What? What is it?”

“I- I didn’t think this would...I don’t have any condoms baby.” You stare at him for a few seconds before you break the silence and hope he doesn’t think any less of you. “I was tested after the last time and I’m clear. A-are you?” Marcus pins you with his eyes as he nods along. “I’m clean too...and, it’s been a while.” He hates to admit that last bit but he wants you to know that this, whatever it is, is serious.

“Same.” Your answer surprises him and he’s about to ask how that’s possible but forgets the question when you shift closer to him and dig your nails into his thighs to grab his attention.

“Fuck me.” The vulgar request sounds so pure rolling off of your tongue and Marcus pushes your knees wide open and settles between them. You continue to stare at him with hunger in your eyes as he strokes his cock a few times before he slides it across your wet slit. You’re already so sensitive from earlier but you can’t care less because you’ve only wanted to feel him inside you for the better half of the day. Marcus bites his lower lip and grasps your hips with one hand as he positions himself against your entrance and slowly pushes past your wet folds. He feels your walls already clenching around him and he hesitates for a moment as he moves his hands across your back to try and get you to loosen up.

“F-fuck...relax sweetheart. Relax for me please. I- I don’t- oh god, h-how are you this tight?” Your walls flutter around him when his hoarse, almost pained voice sounds through the room. “You’re doing so good baby, taking my cock in that pretty little cunt. Fuck, that’s it. Let me in sweetheart...could make you feel so good. Shit, that’s it.” Marcus cooes above you as he feels you slowly sucking him in. You sigh heavily when he finally sheathes himself completely inside you and it’s not until a few moments later that you realize he hasn’t moved a muscle.

“Marcus, m-move. Fuck, just- move.” Your impatient groans make him twitch inside you and the two of you hiss when his hips jut forward at your gasped requests. His hands hold onto you a little harshly, squeezing the skin of your hips and making you giddy at the thought of seeing those bruises the following day.

“Just wait...please baby I- I don’t want to hurt you. You feel so fucking good around me and- and I...oh fuck, f-fuck...squeezing the shit out of me. Please I-”

“Fuck. Me.” You turn your head around enough to look at him and find the sight of his sweaty forehead and furrowed eyebrows intoxicating. He can sense your eyes on him and reluctantly looks down at you when you pronounce those two words, watching as you pierce him with a harsh gaze as you roll your hips against him.

“I- are you…”

“Fucking please...take what you want.” The desperate tone of your voice breaks him and he pulls away until the tip of his cock is nudged in between your folds before he snaps his hips forward aggressively.

You shut your eyes and cry into your pillows as Marcus lets go and pounds into you. He’s no longer trying to hold back and you feel proud of the effect you have on him. Thinking back to the past hour, you realize that Marcus was going out of his way to control himself and not hurt you. But with every brush of his cock against your inner walls, with every groaned swear word and whispered affirmation, you can’t help but beg for him to fuck you harder. To take you like a crazed man. Because now that you’ve had a taste of what he’s capable of, you don’t want him to ease up on you.

“Shit baby, you’re perfect. Fucking perfect. Your cunt is begging for my cock sweetheart. Can you feel how deep I am? How deep this tight pussy is sucking me in?” Marcus nudges your knees a little farther apart as he plunges into you over and over again. You’re a moaning mess beneath him and as you try to reach back to hold onto his hands, Marcus lets go of your hips and grabs your wrists, using them as leverage to fuck you deeper.

You scream his name as his thrusts become relentless, the resonating sound of skin against skin reminding you of how sore you were going to feel for the rest of the week. You can’t really pay attention to what he’s saying anymore, choosing to focus on the way his dick fills you up completely and hits your special spot with precision. The thought of knowing that you’re at this man’s mercy and that he’s using you like he owns you makes you shudder and Marcus doesn’t realize you’re coming around him until he feels a pressure push out of you. He looks down and watches your cunt gushes on his cock and thighs again, the sight somehow even prettier the second time than the first.

He waits until you’re no longer convulsing in his arms before he thrusts his cock back into your pussy. Marcus leans down and wraps his arms around your front to bring you flush against his chest. Marcus brushes your hair aside and nuzzles into your neck as he begins to roll his hips against your ass, trying to drive his cock into you even further without hurting you. You reach around and pull on his hair when he bites on the juncture of your neck.

“You’re amazing, sweetheart.” The confession feels more intimate than anything he’s said to you thus far and you throw your head back and smile when his hands roam your front and settle on your navel.

“Marcus...please.”

“What do you need, baby? I’ll give you anything. Tell me...oh god, I- I’m so close.” Marcus kisses across your shoulder as one hand cups your breasts while the other descends to your clit. He feels you convulse around him but he doesn’t move his hand away, wanting to feel you cum one last time around his cock.

“I- I need you to cum for me...cum inside me. Fill me up baby...wanna feel you so deep inside me. Make a mess of my cunt. Please.”

“C-can you give me another?” He’s breathless, his pace faltering when he feels your walls squeeze around him tightly with every pass of his cock against your heated core.

‘I- I don’t think I can...too much baby.”

“Please, for me. Cum for me o-one last time...oh god, I’m close sweetheart. B-but I wanna cum with you. Please oh fuck- oh god, I- I’m fucking coming.” He growls into the crook of your neck as he rubs at your clit harshly, crying your name like a prayer as he feels you milk him dry. His thrusts are desperate and you pull on his hair harder than you intend when you feel his cum fill you up. Marcus can barely breathe as he shoots his seed deep in your pussy and feels you pulse around him. He continues to buck against you, the caveman mindset telling him to breed you and fill you up until you can’t take it anymore.

He stays motionless for a few minutes before he finally registers that you probably need to rest. As carefully as possible, Marcus pulls out and cradles your body against him as he lays you on your back. He looks down at you and smiles when he sees the mess he’s made between your thighs. He tries to get off the bed to bring you a cup of water and grab a wet towel when you reach out and pull him by his wrist.

“I need to clean you up sweetheart.” He tries to reason with you but you shake your head and pull harder on his hand so he could sit next to you.

“No just- come here. I need you. Please.” Marcus doesn’t have to be told twice. He lays down next to you and kisses your forehead when you cuddle into his arms. He draws circles on your shoulder and back when he feels your fingers play with his chest hair.

“Are you alright baby?” Marcus asks and pulls his head back when you hum a soft ‘yes.’ He searches your expression for any sign of discomfort, and when he finds none, he rests his head back again and lets you explore his skin.

“Hmm...did you know that hair was used in some ancient spells to ensure that the desired outcome occurred?” You break the silence after a while and Marcus furrows his eyebrows at you when you look up from his chest and meet his face.

“Uhh should I be worried Y/N?” He asks almost immediately and laughs when you panic and try to retract what you just said.

“Oh god sorry that- I didn’t mean...Jesus, I still need to work on my bedside manner.”

“I was kidding sweetheart. I actually enjoy listening to people talking about their interests, it’s a little calming. And no, I didn’t know that. What kind of spells are we talking about here?” You’re surprised by his response but say nothing and continue to follow the soft trail of hairs down his chest.

“Well, there are lots of curses that didn’t need hair but it was better if they were added...for efficacy and such. But the most common spells that required little curls like these were love spells, which technically are also curses but it sounds better when you say that it’s just a spell.”

“Are you trying to tell me something doctor?” Marcus can’t help but tease you again and he snorts when you sit up on your elbow and try to justify what you just said. He pulls you back into his arms and brushes your hair aside to take a better look at you.

“Oh no no, I just- I tend to think about this stuff at random times. Sorry. I swear I’m too much of a wimp to actually try anything. You never know if the desired outcome has any side effects...”

“No need to apologize baby. Besides, I don’t think you’ll ever need love magic with me.” The admission is out before he can stop himself and he cringes at himself, hoping that you don’t misunderstand him.

“Oh yeah, and why is that Agent Pike?” The hint of amusement in your tone lets him know that you didn’t mind teasing him back and he blinks a few times at the ceiling before he turns to gaze into your eyes.

“Well, you’re doing fine on your own being this amazing human being. You’re mesmerizing when you’re lecturing, you’re confident in your skills and knowledge, your intelligence is- I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface with the case today. And you’re the prettiest little thing I’ve ever seen...we could work a bit on your art choices but-”

“Hey!” You slap his shoulder and try to slither away from him but he’s too quick and wraps his arms around you before you can get off the bed.

“I’m kidding, I'm kidding...your art choices are the cherry on top.” Marcus nudges your nose with his and leans down to kiss you. He smiles when you moan beneath him. But the kiss is cut short when you push him away suddenly and narrow your eyes at him.

“You never told me how you knew which ones I commissioned.”

“Ugh no please, you’re going to think I’m a pervert.” Marcus falls back on the bed and tries to hide behind his arms.

“Oh yeah?” You slowly trail your hand down his stomach and wrap it around his cock. It’s all Marcus needs to lower his arm and look down to where you’re touching him. He shuts his eyes and lets his head fall back when you lean forward and nip at his jaw.

“B-baby fuck...oh god, please. I- I need a few more minutes and-”

“Tell me, please.” You cut him off with a bite to the shoulder, giggling when he thrusts up into your loose hold to get more friction.

“I- I was picturing the two of us...fuck, re-reenacting those scenes and those two jumped out more...more than the third.” He can barely speak through the haze you’ve put him in, and moans your name when you reach down and fondle his balls just as you whisper in his ears.

“How scandalous of you Agent Pike!”

“Sweetheart, please.” Marcus whines for you, the arm around your back pulling you flush to him and giving him perfect access to your breasts. He wraps his lips around one nipple and softly sucks on it as you continue to stroke his cock.

“Hmm, I like the sound of you begging...baby. Tell me, do you by any chance have your handcuffs on you?” The question catches him off guard, and he pulls away to look at you, finding a different kind of fire dancing behind your eyes.

“Fuck…I- uhh, they’re in the car. W-wait where are you going?” Marcus regrets his answer as soon as you let go of him and jump off of the bed. He watches as you run to the bathroom without answering him, only to return a few seconds later with bright red handcuffs clanking between your fingers.

“To get my own set Agent. Like you said, you and I need to get acquainted.” You unlock them as you walk back to the bed and straddle his thighs. Marcus looks at you with adoration and softly nods at you when you silently ask him if you could cuff him to the headboard of your bed.

“I’m yours sweetheart, take what you want.”

Taglist (some aren't working):

@pastel-0-princess @feelmyroarrrr @libbymouse @its--fandom--darling @spideysimpossiblegirl @princess76179 @cheekygeek05 @miraclesoflove @purple-mango @freeshavocadoooo @metalarmsandmanbuns @acthenerd @greeneyedblondie44 @cannedsoupsucks @purplepascal042 @talesfromtheguild @f0rever15elf @vibin-hippie @onesmokinbabe @leaiorganas @words-way-of-life @kideyz @lovesickmadsadpoet @niall7inches @rosiefridayrogersunday @tati-adventures @sleep-tight1 @itsfreeekinbats @cybergroupie @vibin-hippie @marsplsstop @fan-of-encouragement @evelynseventyr

#marcus pike x reader #marcus pike/reader #marcus pike #marcus pike fanfiction #the mentalist #pedro pascal #yall don't understand how much I love this fucking character #he's literally the softest #and he deserves the world #ugh #anyway

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mythiccheroacademia · 4 years

Note

The whole time traveling children has me feelin some type of way tbh. Imagine Mirio, Kaminari, and Tamaki walking into their respective rooms and there are just small children vibing. Mirio with his daughter, Kaminari with a daughter and Tamaki with a son. 😭

as i said, parent!bnha is SUPERIOR

A/N: So, instead of making these separate asks, I’m just going to make it one giant post. I thought it would be easier that way. Probably the only post that’ll have more than three characters lol

Warnings: none

Kaminari Denki:

when kaminari walked into his room, he didn't expect to see two children on his bed fighting like wild animals

the younger girl was totally beating the boy’s ass tho

kinda embarrassing bc she’s gotta be like, seven, at most

as if it’s not the weirdest thing he’s seen (bc it’s not) he rushes in to break them apart

he manages to separate them with his arms

the boy with yellow hair snaps his jaws at his sister’s fingers

“hey! bad! no biting!” he scolds

the little girl blows a raspberry and taunts “yeah! papa says no biting!”

the older sibling just rolls his eyes “rat”

meanwhile, denki is literally malfunctioning

papa?

PAPA? HUH???

the only person’s pants (and heart) he’s been trying to get in to for the past three months was y/n’s and he sure as hell would remember if he did

he didn't have kids

especially one that was his age

“sorry! you two are cute, but i’m not your pops”

thus, they begin to tell denki about how they mayhaps followed him and their mother into a dangerous mission and got hit with a time travel quirk

denki just nods his head

tbh, he’s not that weirded out

weirder things have happened

but, he does have one question

“who’s the lucky woman?”

coincidentally, you bust into his dorm room, wet from a recent prank and head steaming with anger

“Kaminari Denki!”

his son juts a thumb over to you

“the woman that’s about to murder you”

“oh say less”

his life literally couldn't get any better

before you get the chance to throttle him, the little girl jumps in your arms and your anger is immediately quelled

“hey mommy! i just wanna let you know that it was [son’s name]’s fault that we followed you when you told us not to”

“WHAT!?”

you’re to busy trying to get them from killing each other to comprehend anything that’s going on

kaminari is in a love-struck gaze bc hot damn, he won the jackpot, huh?

if he wasn't in love with you before, he’s in love with you now

you and your feral children

it was nice being God’s favorite

Kirishima Eijirou:

funny thing was

kirishima woke up from his afternoon nap with his mini-me in his arms!

at first, he was really confused as to why there was an 8 yr old boy with spiky teeth and (your hair texture) black hair on his bed

he thought he was dreaming

then the little boy bit his nose and grinned like he had done the funniest thing in the world

“WAKE UP DADDY! WE GOTTA GET SWOL TODAY”

did he get hit with some duplication quirk?

and what was that he said...daddy?

as in, father?

kirishima is wide awake now, but before he can ask the kid what’s going on, the boy is up and making use of his punching bag

he decides it wouldn't hurt to get a morning work out in, so he decides to humor the kid

after a mini workout, kirishima is in near tears as the boy tries to flex the little muscles he has

eventually, he gets the kid to tell him what happened and finds out he was hit with a time travel quirk of some sort

instead of being weirded out, kirishima is ESCTATIC

he has a family in the future

he’s so excited and proud that he just has to show his son off to his friends!

the first thing he does is go and bother bakusquad in the common room

he’s bragging like shit to them and his ego swells as they all swoon over how cute and handsome the kid is

you and bakugo come out of the kitchen to see what all the commotion is about and the little boy excitedly runs to you and jumps into your arms

“momma! you’re here! you’re so pretty! why’d you marry daddy when he looks so unswol?”

it’s silent before bakugo fucking dies of laughter

“y-you finally let shitty hair hit it? and got knocked up?? LMAO”

everyone’s dying and kirishima wants to die

he can’t believe this was how his long-term crush on you was getting outted

by an 8 yr old boy

so not manly

you look confused before you put the pieces together

the kid did look like you and kirishima

you want to console kirishima about the crush that you lowkey knew he had on you, but your son was one step ahead of you

with a gracious smile, he hits bakugo’s head

hard

“what the fuck kid!?”

“don’t make fun of daddy, uncle bakugo! at least daddy didn’t faint at his wedding″

Bakugo’s contemplating murder and everyone’s rolling on the floor

“WE BEEN KNEW YOU WERE THE BIGGEST SIMP”

even ten years later, bakugo still holds a grudge against your son

Togata Mirio:

i’m about to kill y’all w this one

since year one, mirio has been feigning over you

but 1) you were too dumb to notice 2) you both were really busy with, y’know, school and 3) he lowkey gave up bc he thought you deserved better

so imagine his surprise when he sees this four year old girl on his bed

and she looks like you with his features

mirio might not be the brightest crayon in the crayon box

but he’s got eyes

and it wasn't like he’s memorized your features to the T

the tiny girl is swinging her legs absent-mindedly before exploding with happiness when he sees him

she runs to mirio and he catches her with open arms

“daddy! daddy! i got hit with the coolest quirk at school today!”

proceeds to tell him about her best friend discovered her quirk and it was a teleportation quirk

mirio can’t help but giggle along with her even tho he knew it was a scary situation for the parents

speaking of which...

he innocently asks her who’s the mom

“mommy is the prettiest mommy in the world! she has e/c eyes, hair like me, and the most beautiful s/c skin! her name is togata y/n!”

if he wasn't geeking before, he’s geeking now

not only did he manage to marry you, but you let him be your baby daddy?

him?

big bet

mirio doesn't even care at this point

he’s parading around UA with the fattest smile as he introduces his daughter to damn near everyone

everyone’s freaking out bc wtf when did mirio get someone pregnant??

maybe he should've explained himself, but he sees you at your locker and makes a b-line for you

“good morning, y/n!”

he doesn't notice that you slam your locker close and hide the confession letter you wrote to him behind your back

you’re a stuttering mess and he’s too busy basking in the fact that he’s holding y’alls child

y’all look like a mess

but he’s ready to lay it on thick when the little girl kisses your nose and cheers,

“mommy, i missed you”

he explains the situation

you cant help but smile, “you know this could potentially ruin the timeline?”

and you feel like melting as he gives you the softest smile

“there’s no way I’m letting that happen. not when i end up with the woman i’m in love with. we’ll just have to twist fate together”

and twist it you did

Tamaki Amajiki:

tamaki wasn't the bravest person ever

and he knew his crippling anxiety got in the way of a lot

but he had never been more proud of himself for managing to invite you to his room

it was supposed to be a study date

despite how bold you normally were, he took comfort in how nervous you seemed

now, you two were leaning in, about to kiss

and then a voice from behind interrupts

“uh, am i interrupting something?”

you two let out the ugliest squeal and jump 50 feet away from each other

you’re all over the place, trying to explain the situation

tamaki’s heart is barely beating at this point

it takes the kid, who looks about 16, about thirty minutes to calm you down and revive tamaki

explains that he’s from the future and a descendant of tamaki’s family

decides to leave out that you two are his parents so he doesn't risk possibly erasing himself from the space continuum

that would be bad

despite how surprised you two were, you two take it rather well

you three spend the day together bc you and tamaki feel this weird sense of responsibility for the guy even though he’s only two years younger

the boy is trying his hardest not to expose himself, but it’s so hard

you two are asking him everything from his favorite food to if he has any siblings

he’s good at pretending that he’s cool, calm, and collected, but he wants nothing more than to jump into his parents’ arms and cry about how scared he is of messing up

but he won’t

bc he’s a strong boy

but he slips up

“how far are you down the future?” tamaki asks

“uh, about like 100 years or so--”

“you’re lying”

the kid nearly chokes on his food as his father blinks at him

you try and scold tamaki but he continues

“i don’t mean to be mean, but your nose twitches when you lie. y/n does the same thing”

that’s when the jazz record stops and everyone is staring at one another

“....wait”

this time, you nearly pass out

y’all had a kid together???

THE HELL??

the boy, coincidentally, starts fading and he thinks he fucked up

now he’s full out sobbing into the both of your chests, scared that he’s disappearing

despite the news, you and tamaki calm down, look at each other, and hold your son

“don’t you worry, baby” you coo, kissing his fading hair

“i have a feeling we’ll see you quite soon” tamaki comforts, closing his eyes

Bakugo Katsuki:

bakugo finally understood when his mom said

“the meaner you are to your parents, the nastier your kids will be to you”

he regretted being such a demon bc his kid was literally the spawn of satan

katsuki didn’t need an explanation to know that that...thing was his kid

he looked damn near identical to him with features that he couldn't quite place

but anyways, that wasn't the focus rn

rn, he was trying to figure out a way to keep that animal caged

as soon as katsuki took his eyes off him, the six yr old ran out the door as fast as his little legs could carry him

“catch me if you can, you old bastard!”

yup, it was his kid

“GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE FUCKER”

his son is blasting his way through the halls, skillfully evading Katsuki’s grabbing hands

he’s wildly laughing as he flips and turns through the doors, watching with glee as his father falls on his face

multiple times

the small boy latches on to a cupboard and smirks

“no wonder mom always beats your ass! you weak!”

katsuki nearly looks like the devil, eyes white, and face red with fury

his pride suffering by the second

he’s about to cuss the kids to hell when you come out of the kitchen, confused

you were about to ask why katsuki looked like a rat with rabies before you caught sight of a basket of fruit teetering on the edge of the cabinet, above the little boy’s head

“look out--”

the basket falls on the kid’s head and he’s on the floor, reeling from the hit

katsuki would've normally laughed his ass off, but he felt kind of...concerned?

he watches you run towards the child who’s trying his hardest not to cry

the boy holds his head, fat tears in his eyes as you pick him up and coddle over him

“i’m sorry, baby. I'm sorry i didnt get there in time”

cue the waterworks

the boy is full-on sobbing into your chest about how his head hurts

you bounce him and kiss his forehead as katsuki checks over the red bump

“you’ll be okay, brat” he comforts, voice softer than usual

in that moment, katsuki can’t help but notice how much a family y’all look like rn

then the dots start connecting and he goes

oh shit

so, maybe, he’s had a tiny crush on you

and it didn’t help that you two were friends with benefits bc yall were horny teenagers

but who knew he’d get the balls to ask you out on a proper date one day

he was such a simp for you gosh it was ugly

“you have to be more careful from now on,” you say to the boy

the brat suddenly looks innocent and katsuki wants to throw him

“sorry, mommy. i’ll be gooder”

the look on your face is priceless

bakugo uses it as a chance to kiss you

“huh?”

“i guess now’s a good time to tell you that i want to be your dick on demand but with feelings and shit, dumbass”

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feanorianethicsdepartment · 3 years

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heeey! so back when @eirianerisdar posted chapter 12 of their fic the ransom of the house of fëanor - that’s the one where they finally let the brothers hellspawn and their idiot dad out of the void, but they have to throw elrond in, all very sad - i thought up my own somewhat fluffier vastly dumber au for the end of that chapter. in honour of the fic being finished, i’ve decided to write up the various scattershot ideas i’ve had for it, with the caveat that i’ll be working off my own slightly different background headcanons

the divergence point is roughly when elrond announces that he’s totally going into the void now, for realsies, the local ainur are nodding solemnly, and the fëanorians are running preliminary can-we-take-them calculations. except for maedhros, who’s very sad to hear that they must sacrifice his nephew to the eternal dark for their freedom, ‘tis truly a shame, they will honour his memory and GET THE BOAT, BOYS

or, the original elf mad scientist, his murderous blood-hungry spawn, a guy who’s extremely grouchy about not getting to do his dramatic self-sacrifice, and their somewhat-less-reluctant-than-he-should-be getaway driver go on the lam

how they got away from the valar:

námo: already knew this was going to happen, but it’s not like anyone ever listens to him, is it? in the moment, was a little more concerned with how morgoth had started belly-crawling towards the doors of night

manwë: never wanted to throw elrond into the void in the first place, and has been silently hoping elrond would call his bluff for the past week. the children are all safe and inside like they should be, and isn’t that what really matters?

eönwë: no it isn’t boss the fëanorians are a completely unpredictable wildcard we cannot afford to let them run around unsupervised!!! would probably have at least delayed the family hellspawn until backup could arrive, except

olórin: realised what maedhros was planning almost immediately and had to consciously force down a shit-eating grin. as soon as the brothers started moving, divetackled eönwë

[from a note attached to a harpoon lodged outside the highest window on the white tower of the isle of seabirds]

elwing - it went better than i expected, honestly. the sons of fëanor took about as much offense to elrond’s plan as everyone else has, except when words didn’t work they resorted to action. they dragged him onto vingilot and i followed them, and then we cast off together. we’ve set sail for as far away from the doors of night as we can get. i’m coming with them, of course, i’m not letting these lunatics crash my baby

i’m not entirely certain when we’ll be back? the fëanorians seem worried the valar might come after us, which wouldn’t surprise me, really. i’m taking us out towards middle-earth, we’ll see where we go after that. they’re all screaming at each other and running across the deck, i’m not convinced they have much of a plan. elrond is yelling too, he’s arguing with either caranthir or curufin, can’t tell which. the one i suspect is maglor has wrapped himself around his neck and refuses to let go. our son is alive and healthy and not in the eternal darkness, and for that, at least, i am grateful

the redhead who’s co-opted the harpoons says we’re coming up on your tower. no one’s done anything to threaten me or elrond, or even looked at the silmaril. there’s something nice about sailing with a crew again, no matter who it is. i love you, and i’ll be back as soon as i can - eärendil

[from a note attached to a harpoon found among the ruins of a house in the tirion stonecarvers’ district]

you were right, nerdanel. you were right about everything, and i was wrong. i’m sorry. the boys and i are going on another adventure right now, but we’ll come back to you someday, i promise

[from the same note, in much neater handwriting]

tell tyelpë i love him, and also that the coordinates are [rest torn off]

the first sign of this mess that reaches arda is the morning and evening star disappearing from the sky. gondorian astronomers, haradren scholars, avarin priests all stare flummoxed as the star of high hope simply fails to appear before the sun. no matter how unsuperstitous they are everyone agrees this is a really bad omen, and all across the globe the high halls of power tremble in fear over the new horror this must portend

the first sign of this mess that reaches the shire (except for that one took who’s really into astrology) is when eight-year-old elanor gardner rushes into bag end the next day, all ‘dad! dad! there are elves in the woods!’

sam is pretty chuffed to hear this. the fair folk don’t pass through the shire half as often as they used to, and it’s been some years since he heard their song. if they’re in the neighbourhood, why, it’d only be polite to say hello, wish them luck on their journey, hand them a letter. he packs up a nice tuck-box full of goodies to share, and then sam and elanor (and frodo, who’s going through a following-his-big-sister-around-and-copying-everything-she-does phase) set out to meet the elves

first they hear the shouting. then they see the smoke

at the end of the path his daughter leads him down, sam finds the wreckage of what looks like a crashed boat strewn across the forest, still faintly smouldering. at least a dozen elves are rushing between and up the trees, yelling at each other in the angriest quenya he’s ever heard. in the middle of the impact crater stands a blonde elf carrying a stone that shines like the phial of galadriel, wailing something sam knows just enough sindarin to recognise as ‘MY SHIIIIIIIIIP’

as sam’s gaze pans over the unfolding catastrophe, his eyes land on one of the last elves he’d expected to see, master elrond. elrond is rubbing his temple, groaning like someone who knows he’s the most responsible person around and really wishes he wasn’t. a vaguely familiar sketchy-as-fuck elf is clinging onto his shoulders, in a not-dissimilar way to how frodo-lad is currently riding on sam. elrond catches sam’s gaze

‘greetings, master samwise,’ says the wisest elf-lord of the west, ignoring the scuffle that’s breaking out behind him. ‘i must apologise for my relations’

(fëanor and elanor become fast friends, teaching each other their languages and exploring the shire together. absolutely no one else is okay with this)

fëanor, dragging an incredibly-put-upon elrond around the citadel of minas tirith: grandbabies!

fëanor, marvelling over the embroidery arwen is showing him: great-grandbabies!

fëanor, carrying a tiny giggling eldarion all the way up the tower of gondor: great-great-grandbabies!

fëanor, staring fixedly at an increasingly apprehensive aragorn: great-great-great...

celegorm, on dad-watching duty: actually if you lay the maths out it’s very likely every human in middle-earth is descended... from... elros... fuck

fëanor: has gone completely still

fëanor: massive grin spreading across his face, eyes sparkling like the two trees brought back to life

fëanor: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

#feanor is basically that one hishe darth vader 'i have a SON' skit brought to life change my mind #i love the demographic-math everyone-in-me-is-descended-from-elros thing and i'll bring it up at every possible opportunity #i'm sorry eirian i needed to exorcise the brain worms #anyway #my terrible fic #fic #house of feanor #elrond #earendil #feanor #samwise #elanor #pretty much all my fic content for this fandom is stupid feanorian aus i'm sorry #the sons of feanor do indeed get a bag end breakfast. it is deeply weird for everybody #they're also way way way too eager to potentially fight the eagles #feanor is having the time of his goddamn life and doesn't care what he breaks along the way #earendil may be exploiting the opportunity to talk to humans again #and elrond is the designated driver more or less by default. poor guy #they go on adventures. elrond gets to see his kids again. shit happens #i figure elwing eventually catches up with them but there's pretty much no way i can make a scene with her and the feanorians funny #the cool calm lady of the white tower front is going up FULL FORCE #also idk what's up with those coordinates curvo told tyelpe about but there's no way they don't lead to chaos

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behindheremeraldeyes · 3 years

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title: the next step is love

summary: Modern AU - It’s Sakura’s birthday, and after the party, she’s left to take care of the mess of dirty plates and glasses. Luckily, she’s not alone, but he can’t really stay forever, right?

a/n: Okay, this story was supposed to have come out way earlier, but I changed the plot so many times that I just couldn’t finish it for her birthday... The original idea was so different, and perhaps, I end up writing it another time when the inspiration strikes again (seriously, it was a nice one). Anyway, I hope you can still enjoy this one! As always, my fluff side took over me and I just had to make something simple and domestic for the Queen’s bday! Hope you enjoy it, and please, let me know what you think! (also, this is un-betta’d. I wanted to post this asap because I’m working on a different project, so... bear with me)

“Thank you for coming! ‘Careful on your way home!”

The sound of the door clicking shut reverberates across her entire apartment, and it only takes one second for that smiley expression to fade from her face. Her right hand is still placed over the door-knob, and for a brief moment, she closes her eyes, letting out a deep sigh in pure contentment. The last guests are finally on their merry way home now, and at last, she can stop worrying about things such as making sure no one’s feeling left out or re-filling toilet paper. Even if they’re all good friends, her perfectionist mind can’t simply allow her to enjoy the night without worrying about those details.

After turning the key, her hand moves to massage the back of her neck, and finally, she sets her toes free from her black heels. A mix of relief and calmness spreads all over her body, as a soft smile takes over her cherry-colored lips. This, perhaps, might be her favorite part of her birthday parties— or any party, for the matter— because, right now, she can finally savor all the things she's prepared for the night. The food, the decoration, the soothing music...

Oh, what a dream, she thinks, at first, before looking around with her lazy eyes and frowning at the scene. If only all of that mess could magically disappear by the time she wakes up tomorrow morning.

A sigh escapes her lungs as she makes her way back to the center of the hurricane that is her living room. Just like last year, she starts wondering why on earth she let Ino convince her to host her own birthday party instead of going out for a couple of drinks like most people do. Though the pinkette really enjoys having her friends over for a couple of hours, she can’t deny that the day after March 28th is probably the most tiring of the year. Sakura knows she's barely gonna get any sleep tonight, and by the time her alarm goes off around 5:30, she will certainly need at least 1 liter of coffee in order to go through her shift without falling asleep.

In theory, she could leave all that mess for tomorrow, sure, but thanks to her cleaning compulsion, that’s not really an option for her.

If only she could be a little more like Naruto...

Still, as she shakes her pink head, Sakura decides there’s no use in thinking about it tonight. That’s a problem for her future-self, and even if she’s probably going to regret that decision in the morning, right now, this is her moment. She can drink a full glass of champagne while eating another piece of her strawberry cake, and the best part is that she can do it all while enjoying the company of the only one whose presence will never be a bother to her.

Once she finally reaches her kitchen, the pinkette is fast to register the dirty dishes laying around the counter. There are way more glasses than the number of people she invited for the party, but for a brief moment, she forgets that she’s the owner of that mess. Her emerald eyes automatically drift towards the sink, and her heart skips a beat at the scene playing in front of her.

Not even in her wildest, teenage-ish dreams would she have ever pictured Uchiha Sasuke doing her dishes after her birthday party. Though she knows she’s the one who’s technically responsible for all of that, it’s inevitable for her to be entertained by how focused he seems to be while attempting to remove that lipstick stain from the cup.

How lovely, she ponders, bitting her lower lip in order to suppress a chuckle.

Too bad she can’t just keep watching him for the rest of the night.

“You know, even if I appreciate both your help and the view, you don’t have to do this, Sasuke-kun.” Sakura says, picking up some of the plates laying around and walking towards the sink. She’s standing by his side now, his tall body towering over hers, almost a head taller. The expression decorating his features remains unaltered, and she notices how he slowly moves to give her some space next to him. “You can go rest, if you want.”

“Do you want me to go leave?” He asks, unaltered, while scrubbing another knife.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” She answers, grabbing a piece of cloth to dry the cutlery he has already washed. “I just don’t want you to do something you don’t want just because it’s my birthday or anything like that. It’s fine, really. I can do it alone.”

“Hn, It’s faster if we do it together.” He stops, a sly smirk taking over the corner of his lips as he closes the tap. His eyes are on hers, now, and she can feel her chest warming up in response. “Unless you wanna do it all by yourself.”

“Nope.” She says, promptly, handing him another dirty spoon and he’s quick to resume what he was doing. Her eyes watch the way the water runs through his fingers, and oddly, she can’t help but find that amusing. “If you’re willing to help, who am I to say no, right?”

A giggle escapes her lips when she hears the ‘tch’ that escaped from his lips, and eventually, they fall in a comfortable silence that is only disturbed by the clanking of the dishes touching each other. Every now and then, their fingers brush when he hands her the plates, and though she can still feel the sparks, those simple touches are no longer enough to make her blush in embarrassment as they used to.

His touch is no longer a stranger to her skin. His presence and his warmth have long been registered by her subconscious, marking every cell of her body with his constant presence. It’s been over 5 springs since their childish love finally bloomed into a serious relationship, and by now, both Sasuke and Sakura have grown used to one another. It goes beyond carnal desires or any poor excuse for a casual company, for their hearts share a connection deeper than words could ever describe.

Blame it on the fact that they used to be good friends before or even fate itself, but it’s impossible to deny the fact that they’ve reached the apex of their young love-life, to the point where doing the dishes together feels wholesome in ways neither of them can explain. There’s a sense of domesticity and mutual understanding shared in between unspoken words, and perhaps, that’s why it works so well for them as a couple. Even if they’re very different people, with different routines and personalities, they make it work.

They have enough trust, love and companionship to last for a life-time.

And though that should be enough—hell, that should be more than enough— Sakura can’t help but feel that there’s still something missing.

Something she can’t quite pin-point, but something that makes perfect moments lose their magic, for she knows they just won’t last. Even now, as they’re doing the dishes and making small conversation about how the party went, deep inside, her heart is heavy because she knows that once those dishes are clean, it will all be over and she will be left alone in her apartment before midnight strikes.

No matter how hard she tries, their moments together have their life-spawn shortened by the common laws of the universe, for every time there’s that stupid parting moment in which they both have to go separate ways. It’s painful for her to watch him disappear in the distance, and even if he doesn’t really express it with words, she can see the light in his eyes fading whenever they have to say goodbye. It’s always a new ‘good night’ and never a constant ‘good morning’ for them, and after so long, she’s sick and tired of this.

Perhaps, it’s just her tired-self speaking too loud in her head or even the few drinks she had during the party, but tonight, she doesn’t want the world to stand between them. Tonight, Sakura will break the natural laws, not caring about the consequences of finally taking the next step.

It’s still her birthday, after all. That has to count for something.

Her heart is beating faster now that she has made up her mind, and she realizes that she’s shaking when she picks another fork from his hands. She’s swallowing dry, and if not for the make up in her face, she knows he would be able to see a crimson blush decorating her cheeks. It’s now or never, she thinks. And before she has the chance to talk herself out of it, Haruno Sakura decides to act.

“Uhm... Sasuke-kun.” She starts, her voice shaky as his name slips from her tongue. Clearly, she forgot to think about the proper way of actually saying what she wanted, choosing instead to improvise— something she’s never really been good at. “I was thinking... Why don’t you spend the night here? You don’t have to go home after this.”

“Don’t even think about going to sleep, Sakura. You’re not leaving all of this mess to me.”

“Oi, that’s not what I meant!” She scolded him, a pout taking over her expression. “Shannarou, I just don’t want you to go home all alone at such late hours. Besides, is it wrong for a girl to want to stay with her boyfriend for the night?”

“You pervert.” He smirks, earning an elbow to his ribs in response. For someone so small, it’s undeniable that his girlfriend has some sort of abnormal strength people like her shouldn’t possess.

“Shut up. That’s not what I meant either! I just... I just don’t want you to leave, that’s all.”

Her words come out a little too low, but high enough so that he can hear them. Her voice sounded an octave too-melancholic, and perhaps, that was what made him actually take her offer seriously. “Hn, I guess I could. I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I can go home once when you leave for the hospital.”

“Really?” Sakura starts, a smile now threatening to take over her features. Though she still had to convey her real plan, that was already a win. A small one, but a win, nonetheless. “Well, you don’t have to leave that early if you don’t want to. You can just...stay. Maybe even wait for me to get home from the hospital and then we could eat dinner together.”

“What?” His eyes widen at her idea, and right now, she can’t really tell if his surprised expression is good or bad. “Aren’t you going to stay there until late tomorrow?”

“Well, probably, but you can stay here... is that a problem?”

”It’s not really a problem, but... I just don’t want to abuse your hospitality. It’s still your apartment, Sakura.” He scratches the back of his neck, and she could see that he was truly concerned about his manners. His mother has taught him how to be a gentleman, and even if she loves that about him, right now, she wishes he could let loose and just take her offer.

She bites her lower lip at his words, a puff of annoyance inflating her cheeks at his answer. Her boyfriend’s has never been good at reading her signs, and now, when not even she’s understanding them, the pinkette is starting to freak out.

Things are not going as planned— not that she actually planned anything to begin with. Her head is spiraling as she watches the snow-ball being created by her messy words, and slowly, she can feel her chance slipping through her fingers. If she doesn’t say it now, Sakura’s going to miss her opportunity, and who knows what’s going to happen to them. Will they break up? Will he think she’s not interested in a long-term commitment? Will they never do the dishes again?

No, she’s overthinking again. They have a solid relationship that has been built over the years and she’s not going to ruin it all in one night because she’s acting like a coward. She’s a modern, independent woman. A doctor, damn it. She has done a lot of things that were harder than asking her boyfriend to move in with her.

She can do it. She will do it.

“Sasuke-kun!” Her voice is determined now, her eyes filled with a different fire in them. This is it. No backing out now. “I need to ask you something important. It’s about our future together.”

“Okay... I’m listening.” He states, a little taken aback by her sudden burst. He stops what he’s doing, his dark irises now looking into her emerald ones. They’re holding a certain hope in them, and if anything, she was not expecting him to be paying that much attention to her. She’s feeling pressured by them, intimidated even. Her knees are shaking, her lips are trembling and her mind is suddenly blank.

She can’t do it. Nope. Not with those eyes staring into her soul.

“I-I... I...” Her heart is beating faster, and she feels like it will burst out of her chest any minute now. She’s going to faint, she can tell it.

“What is it, Sakura?”

“I-I...” She swallows, then, sighing as courage escapes her body. The pinkette has chickened out, finally opting for her ever-reliable plan B. “Naruto is an idiot, right?”

“... Yes.” He starts, his brows furrowing in confusion. “But what does that have to do with our future?”

“E-Everything! I mean, did you see how drunk he was tonight? Thank god Sai offered himself to take him home tonight, but we can rely on that forever. As his best friends, we have to do something about it. He lives far from both of us and we need a plan whenever we have a drinking night together.”

A moment of palpable tension grows between them, and right now, she’s sure he can hear her heart beating like crazy inside her chest. I’m an idiot, she thinks, holding back the urge to lower her head and cry. Sakura has just ruined everything, and right now, she’s going to have to pretend to actually care about where Naruto crashes when he’s drunk just so her boyfriend doesn’t think she’s completely crazy.

Ugh, those damn eyes of his. Why do they have to be so *freaking beautiful?

Thankfully, they can also read her like an open book.

“Hn, you’re right.” He says, finally breaking the silence that surrounded them. His voice is calm and understanding, as always, and she can feel her heart settling down at that. If anything, at least, his reaction isn’t bad or anything. “I guess we will have to have a spare room for him when we move in together.”

“Yeah, sure. A spare room when we—“ Her mind stops. Her hands freeze while holding the cloth and her green eyes widen. Her lips part slightly, but no word dares coming out of them.

Did he... Did he just say what she thinks he said?

She doesn’t know what kind of face she’s making right now, but if anything, she’s completely dumbfounded by his words. Sure, it’s not like he’s making a move tonight or anything, but he did say the words, right? Move in together. The three words she was trying so hard to get out of her chest, simply rolled out of his tongue as if it is the most logical thing in the world— and perhaps, it is. He says them in a way as if that decision won’t change their lives forever. As if it won’t affect their routine and the amount of food they have to buy at the grocery store.

It’s a decision that goes beyond a drawer filled with socks or an extra tooth-brush. And even if he sounds as calm as ever, she knows he’s aware of all that, because, if anything, Uchiha Sasuke doesn’t do anything based on impulse. He’s the kind of man who thinks things through and studies every possibility before making a decision.

So that means...

“Sasuke-kun... Are you suggesting that we move in together?”

“Aa.” He nods, no hesitation in his voice. “Weren’t you trying to say the same?”

“I-I... I was?” She says, sounding more like a question, to which he simply quirks an eyebrow in inquiry. If anything, that was not the moment for doubts anymore. “I mean, yes! That was exactly what I was trying to say.”

“Good. Then it’s settled.”

“Is it? Really?” She asks, hope now running through her veins and lighting up her entire system.

“Yes. It’s only natural for people like us, right?”

“Yeah...” He cheeks grow warmer, and her chest suddenly feels lighter. At last, he took the words out of her. “It’s settled, then.”

At last, their days of saying goodbye are counted and now they can enjoy each other from dawn to dusk.

A smile slowly makes its way to her eyes, and she can’t help but switch her attention to him. Sasuke is now looking at her, a soft expression taking over his face. She’s bewildered right now as she looks at the man who will be living with her. Totally and completely marveled, and more in love with him than she has ever been before in her life.

He understands her unsaid words and they share similar ideas regarding their past, present and future.

They are in love, and now, they’re ready to share the same roof above their pretty, little heads.

“You’re still staying with me tonight, right?”

“Tch.You really are a pervert, Sakura.”

He splashes her face with some water from the sink and her giggles fill her kitchen with joy. They’re young and in love, and for now, that’s all they need to take the next step towards their future together.

the end

#Sasusaku #sasusaku fanfiction #Sasusaku fanfic #sasusaku fic #myssfics

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mylifeisactuallyamess · 3 years

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Epilogue

General Hux x Female Reader/Kylo Ren x Female Reader

A/N: This is it. The last time I will post about this story (unless I visit them in a one shot.) I am so sad but so grateful at the same time, this fic got a lovely following and I appreacite anyone who took the time to comment/like/reblog any or all chapters. This fic spawned from a Writer Wednesday prompt months ago, so thank you @autumnleaves1991-blog for posting that picture of the brick arch and pond all those weeks ago! Here we go!

Warnings: PTSD mentions, war mentions, none of them are ok.

Word Count: 2284

Read the Epilogue here on AO3

Masterlist

The air was crisp, carrying the tang of the salty sea and wrapping it around you, ruffling your dress. You shielded your eyes against the dipping sun, seeing the light refract off the water as it heaved below you, the sounds of the waves crashing into the cliffs boomed up to you creating a sound like thunder. The tide was high and that meant they’d be back any moment. You looked back at the cottage behind you, the white walls and the pretty flowers were picture perfect, it was everything you’d ever dreamed, the makeshift hangar sat to the side and it housed the X-Wing you had from your time with the Resistance. Next to it was another larger more recognisable ship, you had some visitors and you needed to prepare Armitage before he saw them.

A giggle carried on the breeze that swirled around you and your face softened into a smile, first you could only see your daughter's head on the path as they came up the steep hill, her long bright red hair caught in the wind, the long tresses flowing around her and glowing with the bright light of the sun. She was giggling, looking down as she plastered her hands all over your poor husband's face. You stifled a laugh as he pretended to stumble, or maybe he really did because she kept shoving her fingers in his eyes.

“Phasma! I can’t see!” You heard him cry followed by more peals of laughter as she continued her assault. “Oh look! It’s Mummy. Hold on!” She squealed as he began to run, holding her legs in place on his shoulders, so she bounced happily full of laughter and smiles until he came to a stop before you. His chest heaved and he let out a loud huff. “You’re getting a bit heavy, little one!”

“Shush Daddy, I am not.” You cocked an eyebrow making a mental note of how much she sounded like her father. Armitage leaned in and gave you a kiss on the lips.

“Who’s here?” He asked quietly.

“Well, it’s Poe, Finn, Rose, Mitaka and….” You paused, not sure if he wanted to hear his name or not.

“And?” He pressed.

“And Ben.” You saw the blank expression fall over his face and you inwardly sighed. “Look they’re not here to cause trouble, the war is over, it has been for a few years now.” You ran a hand through your daughter's hair as she clutched your leg. “We barely see anyone. It's nice for them to drop by.” He moved away, putting a hand in his pocket while using the other to run through his hair. Even after all this time he kept it in the same style, just a habit you guessed or maybe he’d just never experienced another style.

“There’s a reason we don’t see anyone,” he said stiffly. You dragged Phasma with you, coming to stand next to him.

“Armitage, do you forget how I was the one who discovered Finn and Rose. I brought them to you.”

“And I ordered them to be executed and Finn…” he glanced down at his daughter. His hand resting on top of yours in her hair as she gazed at him with big green eyes. You knew he wanted to say Finn killed Phasma, but you felt like pointing out the war was responsible for everything that had happened. All these people had been puppets for someone else, made to believe in something that ultimately influenced their actions and choices.

“It’s over now.” You needed him to acknowledge that, the war was over. You supposed it would have been harder for him than the rest, being brought up and beaten into a person who should always strive for glory and control. Finn managed to break free, even Ben but then he had a loving family for the first few years of his life. He had a taste of normality, as did Poe, Rose had her sister until the evacuation of D’Qar. But Hux had no one, except Phasma and Mitaka and even then he was their General, their leader. He was alone for so long you didn’t know how to get him to see they were all just people now. What they had all been through was horrific, you just knew for Armitage, it was harder to adjust. He didn’t say anything else and you crouched down to Phasma’s level.

“There are some very special people in our house to meet you including Uncle Mitaka.”

“Me kaka?” She screamed in glee, fisting her hands under her chin in joy before tearing off to the house. Hux watched her go, a strange expression on his face. You stood, taking his hand and holding it tight. You made him look at you, feeling the stubble on his cheeks which he let grow now. The red dusting covered his chin and cheeks making him look rugged and even more handsome.

“They wouldn’t have come if they were going to be rude or start a fight or accuse you of things that happened years ago. They are here to see us, as a family. If they can forgive Ben they can forgive you.”

“But Ben is clearly a new man now…” he started and you cut him off by putting a hand over his mouth.

“And look at you. No uniform, no hat, you have a daughter, Armitage, you live in a bloody cottage.” He sighed against your hand and you knew you had won this round.

You stepped away from the cliff edge tugging on his hand and he reluctantly came with you, dragging his feet slightly. You went through the back door Phasma had left open and shut out the dusk that was settling on the cliffs around the cottage. Voices plus your daughter's laughter came from the main living area and you squeezed Hux’s hand reassuringly before walking in. A chorus of greetings met you both and even though you’d said hello before you went round and hugged them all again, pleased to see Hux shaking hands with Poe and Finn. You held your breath when it came to Ben who was sitting in your biggest armchair with Phasma perched on his lap.

“Armitage,” Ben said and held out his hand. The moment stretched for longer than you liked but eventually your husband reached out and shook it. Everybody sighed with relief and you asked if anyone wanted a drink, taking Hux with you into the kitchen. He helped you prepare some drinks in silence, listening to laughter and banter from the others mingled with your daughter's cries of joy as someone was clearly tickling her. Hux carried the drinks and you handed them out, a pleased feeling began to fill your chest as Poe engaged him in conversation. Mitaka stoked the fire and a flare of heat blazed into the room making it more cosy.

“How has he been?” Dopheld asked you quietly.

“The nightmares seem to have eased, it helps that he has Phasma with him nearly all of the time,” you looked over seeing Armitage still in conversation with Poe, your daughter now nestled in his arms sucking her thumb as she gazed at the curly haired pilot. “She seems to know what he needs when he needs it.” You felt a hand on your shoulder and threw a smile at Finn. “Hey you, how’s the Trooper Rehoming going?” He shrugged.

“There were a few we managed to trace back to their families but the majority have made their own settlement out on Yavin 4. You should come visit sometime.” He offered.

“I’d like that but…” your gaze flickered to Armitage. “Maybe it will be just me and Phasma….” You trailed off making a face. “Maybe not,” you chuckled.

“You would all be welcome,” he reassured you before heading over to sit with Rose. Your gaze drifted to Ben who seemed captivated by the fire, but you recognised the signs. The clenching of his fists, the tightness in his jaw, the vase on your mantelpiece fell and shattered drawing everyone’s attention. The fire flared behind you and you looked up to see Hux clutching Phasma to him and backing away slowly. Poe went to approach Ben as the very walls of your house began to shake matching the quivering of your insides but you threw out a silent hand to stop the pilot. You didn’t say Ben’s name, not wanting to startle him instead you crouched before him, placing a calming hand over his forearm and his hazel gaze swung to you.

“Come on, I need you to look at my X-Wing. I think it has a faulty fuel line, Armitage says the circuit breakers are burnt out but we aren’t mechanics.” You could hear the house settling as you pulled his attention away from his thoughts. You didn’t wait for an answer, taking Ben’s hand and shooting a look at Hux. He wasn’t happy, you could see it in his face and the set of his shoulders but you’d rather Ben put his mind to good use than accidentally destroying your house. He had to duck slightly through the low doorways as he followed you outside. Your feet didn’t falter, you’d travelled this path so many times in the dark when you couldn’t sleep. Every time you’d calmed Armitage from a nightmare you had come in here, just to tinker to take your mind off everything. Sometimes it worked, other times you came in here and cried, releasing your pent up emotion alone.

“Here,” you gestured to the hangar and stepped aside. “Wreck it, tinker with it, just don’t ruin the inside of my house, please.” He nodded, moving to touch your tools on the bench gently with his finger tips.

“You come in here often.” It wasn’t a question.

“It is my place to spend time on my own and process everything that happened,” you confessed knowing you couldn’t hide anything from him. “I am coping better than Armitage.”

“Are you though?” He asked bluntly and you blinked. You thought you were, dealing with Phasma kept you occupied during the day, you stayed up late most nights keeping an eye on Armitage so you didn’t have much thought space until you knew he was ok.

“Yes, I am keeping myself busy.” Ben smirked at your reply.

“Looking after two other people does not mean you are coping.”

“Yeah well, someone’s got to do it.” You turned and walked back to the cottage. The conversation was still flowing in the living area but you walked past to go to the kitchen and maybe prepare some food. Armitage appeared within moments, he tried to hide his displeasure but you could read him like a book.

“How’s Phasma?” You asked.

“Asleep on Mitaka.” He replied and you nodded, opening the cupboards trying to find your guests something to eat but you didn’t realise your hands were shaking until Hux gently slid his over yours. “It’s ok,” he whispered, coming up behind you. “He will be gone soon.”

“I really wanted to be ok with him, I just want to be ok.” You looked up as Mitaka appeared at the kitchen door and you smiled at the way Phasma’s arms hung over his shoulder, her little face buried in his neck and he pointed to the stairs. “Just take her straight up, she’ll stay asleep when you lay her down.” He nodded and slowly made his way up the wooden steps. You quickly wiped your damp cheek but Poe then appeared and you felt Hux’s increasing frustration that he couldn’t comfort you in private.

“We’re going to head off in a bit, we need to drop Finn off at the settlement. Do you guys need anything? I need to swing this way on the back so I can grab some supplies?” You nodded enthusiastically, already rattling off a list, since the X-Wing refused to start, you were stuck with what you could find here and in the small local market.

“Ok wow, maybe I’ll get you some spare parts for that ship of yours, if you want I can bring BB8 next time?”

“No need.” Rumbled Ben as he stood in the doorway. “I fixed it, loose connection so it couldn’t connect to the engines.”

“Thank you Ben. Alright out go, too many massive men near my tiny kitchen,” you ushered them out, including Mitaka when he chose that moment to come down the stairs. Finn and Rose were already outside looking up at the stars as everyone filed out and the goodbyes started. Ben was last, enveloping you in a big hug with a quick knowing squeeze before he headed to the Falcon. Poe clapped Armitage on the shoulder promising he’d visit more often, Mitaka echoing his sentiment.

“Just be careful, all of you,” you called. They all waved as they disappeared up the ramp and you felt Armitage put his arm around your shoulders.

“As much as I disliked them all at one time, I’m glad they visited,” he said in a soft tone.

“I’m sorry, but seeing Ben slip like that….” You put a hand to your throat feeling the familiar constriction in your chest. “Just brought back memories,” you whispered.

“We’re all broken, one way or another.” You looked up at your husband. “But I wouldn’t want to try and repair myself with anyone else.”

“I love you Armitage.”

“And I love you and our quiet life and our daughter.” You leaned into him accepting the kiss before letting him lead you back inside the warmth of your cottage.

After all, war does not determine who is right. Only who is left.

#general hux x female reader #armitage hux x female reader #star wars fanfiction #echoes of the heart #kylo ren x female reader #armitage hux x you #general hux x you #my writing #mylifeisactuallyamess

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miaclemeverett · 3 years

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Wilbur, Fundy, and Purpled were interviewed for this great article on the Dream SMP and the Minecraft community! Full article below the cut.

"Minecraft" launched over a decade ago and the video game is as popular as ever. With over 126 million players worldwide, the voxel-based survival game drops adventurers into a world where they can craft, build, explore, destroy, and create to their heart's content. Aided by tools, blocks, and creativity, the simple sandbox world allows anyone on PC, console, or smartphone the chance to project their own feelings and creations directly into their virtual space.

"As long as you have the mind for it, you can really just do anything," 17-year-old "Minecraft" YouTuber Purpled, who has 700,000 subscribers, told Insider. "Because of how simple Minecraft is and how easy it is to build with it, you can create whatever you want."

In recent years, Microsoft's never-ending game has evolved into a tool for content creators to express themselves, leading to high-profile collaborations with some of YouTube's biggest personalities. By creating their own private "Minecraft" servers, creators have been able to craft ornate worlds and stories that they can explore in streams and videos, immersing fans in a cinematic-style universe.

Minecraft has a long history on YouTube

"Minecraft's" versatility has made it an incredibly popular game for content creators and influencers. In 2012, a change in YouTube's algorithm promoting watch time over video clicks led to a renaissance of "Let's Players" who recorded themselves reacting and playing their favorite games. "Minecraft" was one of the most successful, spawning some of the largest channels of the time like SkyDoesMinecraft (11.3 million subscribers) and Tobuscus (6.25 million subs).

Though the popularity of "Minecraft" remained fairly steady, content about the title waned a bit over the next decade either due to content fatigue or newer titles like "Fortnite" taking the spotlight. 2020 flipped the title back into the forefront, with both streamers and YouTubers capitalizing on the title's popularity.

The biggest breakout star for "Minecraft" in the past few years is Dream, an expert, faceless player with a neon-green avatar with over 17 million YouTube subscribers. YouTube labeled him the second overall content creator of the year and his streams consistently pull in a quarter of a million people.

In May of 2020, Dream decided to create a small, private server for his friends to play around in. This SMP server, or "survival multiplayer," started off with only a handful of content creators being invited. Soon, the server would expand to over 30 members, bringing in millions of views from fans who chronicle every moment of the lore the creators eventually created.

Viewership on Twitch of "Minecraft" content went from 17 million hours watched in January 2020 to 74 million in January of 2021, according to data from analytics company Rainmaker.gg.

How the Dream SMP grew from a private server with friends to a cultural milestone

Purpled has been playing "Minecraft" for the past eight years and is a high-ranking player in a multiplayer game mode called "Bed Wars." He had started talking to Dream in the summer of 2019, when the pair were both small, mutual fans.

"When the SMP was in its infancy, I just asked him if there was any room because he said how it's just for friends and if a friend wants to join, they can," Purpled said. "So I asked him, he said, 'Sure.' He sent me the IP and I was in."

The server was originally just a place to create and hangout, with no intention of creating an overarching story or plot.

Fundy, a 19-year-old Dutch YouTuber with 2.7 million subscribers joined when only a handful of other creators were on."I had talked to Dream on a few occasions, out-of-the-blue Dream sent me a message about a survival world that they had going on. It was very small at first," Fundy said. "I thought it could be a fun little side-project I could stream every now and then on Twitch, so I decided to join."

Fundy joined in the early days alongside Wilbur Soot, a 23-year-old YouTuber with 3.8 million subscribers. Soot, after attempting to create an "illegal potion shop" on the server, decided to establish a nation of non-Americans players called L'Manberg. Soot said he wrote a "treatment" for how the formation of his country would go, creating an official canon that fans could follow along with.

"I was invited into the Dream SMP near its inception but I only joined fully when I had an idea for building a country in 'Minecraft'," Soot said. "I write up a series of plot hooks and points that should tie together, however we improv dialogue and comedy throughout to take us from point to point."

These streams and pieces of content all had a canon that could be followed and consumed like a television show. L'Manberg eventually started a war against Dream for its independence, staging a rebellion chronicled in YouTube videos with millions of views.

These streams and videos aren't just randoms in "Minecraft" trying to defeat the end-game Ender Dragon — these are performers putting on a show that their fans can't miss. As the lore expanded, so did the rules needed to keep a sense of continuity and order. For example, each player only has three lives before they are removed and deleted from the server.

"It went from a casual survival game to a whole story-line filled with plots and twists," Fundy said. "Role-playing at this point is a key-feature of the Dream SMP, some parts are scripted, some parts are improv, and some parts are 'non-canon,' where it is just counted as a standard 'Minecraft' server."

The fan communities have risen up and made their voices heard

Over the next few months, the lore and world would continue to grow and so would the fan base. Hundreds of thousands of viewers would tune in for these streams, trying to keep up with the lore and content. To help catalog the story, a network of fans established themselves as lore keepers, documenting each moment for those that had to miss a stream.

The "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" account on Twitter has established itself as one of the most popular locations to find all this content and lore on social media. Starting in December 2020, the account has grown to over 147,000 users with just a team of seven administrators, ages 14-17, in different locations around the world, posting updates and stream notifications for fans. "Minecraft" is a game that appeals to all ages, but the audience for this content tends to skew younger, with 41 percent of Twitch's user base being 16 to 24, according to GlobalWebIndex.

"You can tell they're all friends and it's a lot more lighthearted in general and it shows," mod on the "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" Twitter account eclaire said over chat app Discord. "When it's not lore you see them actually having good chemistry and it really pulls you in because it almost feels like being pulled into a friend group."

User SamHQ first started the fan account with a couple of friends from high school but the group quickly expanded after the account tweeted that they needed more fans of certain streamers to join. She is online and runs the account "24/7" but "it's just like answering a text."

"When I started the account I knew lots of people who couldn't catch up because of work or school," SamHQ said. "So I gathered friends to help and now people rely on us when someone's streaming or to catch up with the lore when they can't watch."

For the fans that run the update account, keeping up with the Dream SMP isn't dissimilar to following the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a long-running television show. Characters come and go, but the improv and roleplay stay.

"The Dream SMP did something really special — taking an original idea, creating new things that have never been seen on 'Minecraft' and incorporating them with humor and characters that you can become easily attached with," mod NotAlex said.

Though other SMP roleplay servers, like EarthSMP and SMPLive, have been created over the years, none have been as successful or popular as the Dream SMP.

Finding a fan base on the Dream SMP can lead to major growth.

For the performers on the server, addressing fans and their responses comes with the territory.

"The Dream SMP viewers are very important to the Dream SMP, and the fact that they openly speak their mind about how a certain stream went only helps the streamers improve," Fundy said. "It's basically an instant review of what was liked and what wasn't."

Like most major fandoms with a young audience, fanfiction of these streamers has popped up online. Dozens of Dream fics and drawings exist online, some going a bit far and putting underage characters together. Dream responded on Twitter to those "ships," writing that they shouldn't "ship creators that are uncomfortable with it, and especially not minors."

The Dream stans, or the super fans, also tend to be very vocal online about the SMP. Hashtags on Twitter like #dreamnotfound and #dreamfanart consistently break-through to the trending page, confusing those who have no idea this world exists. The most ferocious of stans sometimes overstep the boundary between polite disagreement and outright harassment. This vocal minority has sent death threats and waves of harassment at those who criticize or disagree with their favorite content creators.

The growth and future of these channels is in large part due to the Dream SMP server

The popularity of Dream SMP has helped grow the content creators that take part in it. Since joining the server, Purpled is gaining three times as many subscribers a month on YouTube and has been introduced to an entirely new fan base. His streams used to pull in 3,000 viewers but now his average is closer to 35,000 to 40,000 viewers.

"Some people think of them as obsessive or stalker fans, but those are people that really like to talk about certain creators and really get invested in things," Purpled said. "And it's really nice because they care a lot more and connect more with the creator than the content."

These creators understand the power of the fan base and know that they come for the content.

"I think the Dream SMP is popular thanks to the brilliant creators and funny improv moments," Soot said. "I think we'll be seeing the emergence of a huge wave of roleplay-centric gaming communities."

#wilbur soot #fundy #purpled #dream smp

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redstaratmorning · 3 years

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Headcanons and Musings of Pirate-y And Plunderous Proportions: Astarion Says What

Synopsis: Random musings and ramblings regarding and spawning from the differences between how Astarion says just one word, depending on your choices—“What?” This got very long and touches not only on Astarion’s difference in presentation in aforementioned moment, but also some discussion-thoughts to chuck onto the dashboard regarding some other elements of Astarion’s content thus far in Early Access, and some thoughts to add onto others’ speculations and wonderings (I did not save sources so pardon the lack of proper citation, oops. We’re going informal here anyway.) Spoilers for Chapter 1 BG3 scenes, plot, etc, under the cut in case someone hasn’t filtered out the tags. Trigger warning/content warning: some discussion of heavy topics is mentioned and explored, including starvation, abuse/torture, and trauma. Other topics of note for summarization include speculation on Astarion’s largely unknown as-of-early-access background and a touch of his possible pre-vampire morality leanings, possible mental state/trauma reaction in a couple of scenes, and vague speculation on Larian’s gameplan for Astarion’s arc ending. Gather thy party and venture forward, for here be dragons and lots o’ text, matey! [/stereotypical pirate accent]

“What?” Just that one word, between the goblin party and the tiefling party. If Larian keeps the body language and tone presentation more or less where it’s at now in Early Access, they are worlds apart and delightfully up for interpretation of just what’s going on in our favorite vampire spawn’s head. This won’t be an in-depth post about all the tonal and body language differences, just picking out a few due to personal constraints (ie too broke to buy this game currently.) Edit: And also a lot of other thoughts and ramblings tacked on, lol. On the one hand we have him at the goblin party, where he seems much more superficially comfortable there, knows what’s going on and knows what to expect—it feels like he’s done this kind of scene a hundred times before. The comfort of familiarity. Did Cazador throw “parties”, much like how he “invited” Astarion to dine with him? I wouldn’t be surprised if he mingled at regular dinner parties either before his turning, or perhaps after when he’s ordered to hunt for Cazador’s evening repast. I doubt the goblin party has anything as potentially horrific as what Cazador would have lined up on the nightly basis, which is why Astarion isn’t aggro’d: he’s in a position of power at this party after all, not a powerless one. A conquering hero, as he describes the MC. A Precarious position, as it turns out.

Circling back to that one word though, the way he says “what” in that scene after he propositions the MC and the MC picks the “Maybe. If you say please” line feels like Astarion’s response could be interpreted as pretty abrupt. On guard, perhaps, squaring up, offended, even perhaps lowkey challenging/hostile. Expressing social displeasure and possibly staring down the MC mayhaps? Could be, especially if Astarion’s body language remains as it is rigged now in-scene with that step forward, his shoulders shifting, the lack of a smile, that assessing glare, all combined with that flat tone of voice. The animation could just be temporary and subject to change, but if it does end up as more or less the final version of that moment’s depiction, it’s pretty interesting as a shift. I’d read it as potentially “not actually truly comfortable in this situation, just familiar and numb to it all”, especially when combined with some of his other earlier potential lines at the goblin party, such as the following: Astarion: So, what are we drinking to? Other than a pile of corpses. MC: That’s not funny. Astarion: Oh don’t be so sour - It’s a party. You did what you had to. Don’t be ashamed that you did it well. MC: I wish things had turned out differently. Astarion: And I wish I was drinking out of the skulls of everyone who’s ever wronged me. Life is tough. Although that’s not to say we can’t have a little fun. This supports the whole “has been through his personal hell and has adapted to survive it albeit not unscathed” story Larian seems to be going for with him quite nicely in the little tells and details. A sort of “take what joy you can even amidst the dark situation surrounding us” trauma-induced adaptation, coupled together with actual enjoyment on his part for killing. It’d be easy to say Astarion is moreso in his element at the goblin party, and to a degree he is—it’s one he is well practiced with in his current mindset. Compare now how he acts at the tiefling party—we can all agree he’s not having a good time, our friendly neighborhood vampire sulking in particular over the fact that “there’s a worm in [his] brain, [he’s] surrounded by idiots, and all [he] has to drink is wine that tastes like vinegar.” But the delightful thing is he’s complaining so vividly about it. The wine likely is worse at the tiefling party, seeing as they’re refugees, and the goblins had previously captured a duke whom they likely stole loot from and under orders from Minthara et al stored said goods elsewhere for a later date (likely some of said goods were consumed at the party if it happened. Edit: Shadowheart’s drunk dialogue at the goblin party mentions the goblin’s wine there being good, poor dear. Fascinating hints at her story and character in that scene though.) This is assuming Astarion is drinking wine at the goblin party, of course. He may very well be drinking something red and full-bodied there, just not made from grapes. But even in his complaints and presentation, he seems arguably more relaxed and less on guard compared to his demeanor at the goblin party. Let’s be honest, he doesn’t view goblins as equals or stimulating company judging by his various voice lines expressing his disdain, distrust and overall low opinion of them as vermin among other things. The fact that he’s willing to call the tiefling refugees idiots while in earshot of them? Definitely doesn’t respect them as a group—though he has a less negatively opined line regarding them earlier on if the caged goblin (Sazza) is killed,—which is not surprising given that MC and company at the time of the party just saved them from certain death. Astarion’s reaction however also reads as potentially at ease enough to say what he’s thinking. He’s not going to get murdered for saying so, and there aren’t any punishing power games at play with the refugees and do-gooders he’s found himself surrounded by. There aren’t any hedonistic shenanigans going on and the drinks are terrible, so it’s not an entertaining party for him, but one could make an argument that Astarion might actually be feeling more secure or at least less threatened-as-is/was-his-accepted-ongoing-norm there. Which might mean he’s feeling quite out of place, or even just not...entirely engaged with what’s going on around him and even within him as far as emotional states go. Would he casually pull the same stunt at the goblin party? If you’re a bastard to him, yes, but that’s not in the same emotional vein as his dialogue during the tiefling party at all. Loyalty from the goblins is fickle, the goblins worship the Absolute and those that are chosen by the Absolute—so long as said Chosen remain powerful enough to subjugate them and is in favor. Astarion knows this kind of power structure well: ruling by fear and power. With the tieflings? It’s not superiors-and-subordinates, it’s just...people. People celebrating surviving an event that could’ve very well and most likely would’ve ended in their deaths. Will he get to celebrate like that one day? That could very well be a painful and bleak thing to consider, and not something he wants to contemplate as of yet, based on his dialogue lines that demonstrate his fear of Cazador. How’s he supposed to get lost in the fun and revelry if the wine doesn’t even taste good to him? I don’t know wines, but I’m guessing from what little I do know and what I’ve read of flavor descriptors for wines hyped as good, it might actually be bad wine based on the adjective “sharp” when mixed with the rest of the description if the MC takes a sip. Sharp seems to suggest too many tannins, or maybe improper storage so the wine actually did turn to taste a bit more like vinegar, or maybe not enough sugar in the grapes used, perhaps? To be fair, I do believe there’s a non-conversation line somewhere of Astarion’s regarding solid food tasting terrible to him, but I can’t verify that so a pinch of salt there. Still, if his taste buds are aligned with regular living mortal ones for wine at least, RIP Astarion, he’s stuck with a terrible drink for the foreseeable night. Unless, of course, you know. ;D Compared to the tieflings, the goblins as a whole? As a group they’re a scraped together army of pillagers hungry for destruction and spoils. They don’t have ANY loyalty to you—in addition to being willing to betray you via murder immediately despite working with them when Sazza first brings you back to meet Minthara, there’s also when Minthara potentially opts to try to kill you post-goblin-party. If you persuade her not to, Minthara does mention “do not return to the goblin camp, as far as they were concerned you were destined to die tonight.” This is not a group to get chummy with, obviously. Doesn’t say good things about the Absolute’s followers in general, either, or the Absolute depending on if Minthara’s being honest about the Absolute intending that the MC dies after razing the grove. Minthara could just be lying to serve her own ends and is out to destroy any rivals for the Absolute’s favor, after all, I can’t verify that from dialogue exploration at present. So it’s not surprising that this is not a group Astarion is going to let his guard down around I’m sure, or around an MC that sided with the goblins, because fortunes can shift like the wind in a scene like that, and I think his utter lack of surprise at Minthara trying to kill you all (whether or not the MC had a romp with her) is potentially spawned because he recognizes this fact. He’s been here before, in another time, another place, with different faces, but he’s seen this play before. And the MC is just another face for the same old role of a player in this rat race for power when they side with the goblins, aren’t they? The difference this time though is: will they succeed and make it to the top? Is Astarion betting on the winning horse, or not? Far less reason and far more motivation to not be emotionally invested in anyone or anything around him because it’s survival of the fittest, and the most ruthless will be the ones who win—the MC just reinforced that perspective for Astarion, in slaughtering the tieflings. But Astarion isn’t fully corrupted yet, despite however much Cazador has twisted and tormented him so. Isn’t it fascinating, that the MC, one of the first people Astarion can actually interact with relatively freely without Cazador’s puppeteering influence hanging over him quite so acutely, is someone who might very well and very likely will have a huge impact on how Astarion develops and sees the world? For better or for worse, the MC will shape all the companions’ futures and perspectives it seems, depending on their choices. On a meta note, isn’t that thrillingly fascinating and engaging work by Larian Studios? Bravo, honestly. Continuing, for Astarion this could very well just feel like a better but complimentary and thematically continuous segment of the nightmare that is his existence under Cazador as it goes on: he’s a vampire now, and the world is only ever a power struggle between the strong and the weak, and he knows better than to ever be weak again. Kindness and virtue belonged to Before. Before he died, before he turned, before he was taken. Those are things in stories and fairy tales now, that belong to other people, other places and times, other lives—things that belong to the living, not the undead. Sentimentality, more universally-accepted morality, all of those Good™-aligned or softer feelings can feel like they have no place in his world now, on this darker path. But he knows what they are, not just in theory I think, but also perhaps knowing from memory and experience, however distant and faint. The way he speaks on many occasions has subtext that could very well suggest he wasn’t without a better side through implication and emotion. Which is not to say I think he was a shining paragon of virtue before he died—guessing based off of the dev team’s writing of him so far, I’m expecting nuanced and complex but ultimately very human (or elf if you’re being fantasy-based technical) morality with both merits and flaws, for polarizing opinions in the fandom. That being said, I’m holding off judgment on what kind of person he was before he was turned for now despite reading about pre-early-access, preliminary ideas the dev team had for his background. The reason I’m waiting to see what the dev team puts into the game for his backstory of Before, is because some of his datamined lines could be taken in a couple of different ways, and some of his emotional responses as is currently don’t track as truly Machiavellian or I’d say malevolent in nature for manipulation or otherwise. Granted, not all Evil™ acts stem from intentions to be malevolent. Sometimes people do evil both in-game and in life without really intending to, or recognizing that they do, nor seeing the harm they have caused or will cause (I’m looking at you, Mayrina.) Manipulative yes, but so far it’s looked like it’s for defensive purposes in a world that is out to hurt or kill him if given any opportunity whatsoever. Personally I actually wouldn’t even say he’s been really manipulative at all, but your mileage may vary. He lies because he’s afraid you’re going to murder him for being a vampire, and because he doesn’t want to reveal the cause of two centuries’ worth of trauma to someone he just met and likely can’t predict if they’re emotionally safe for him to interact with. Note: “emotionally safe” does not necessarily denote being sympathetic here, so much as “will their response cause me pain in some fashion?” from Astarion’s point of view, which does not necessarily require the MC to be mean to him though obviously that wouldn’t help. We touch upon why sympathy can hurt later on in this essay. And why would he expect sympathy in the other instance, regarding revealing that he’s a vampire? How often would we not murder strange vampires we just met in DND-worlds? Is that not a common response and practice in Faerun for the most part? They’re on the list of acceptable prey for a monster hunter to be kidnapped and taken to who knows what fate (probably nothing good we’re sure), and who would come rescue them? In all actuality: No one. If he wasn’t a companion he’d easily just be one more random encounter to kill—as he and all the companions are in the right circumstances, *cough cough* like when sacrificing anyone to Boooal *cough.* Astarion’s had little cracked moments where he seems to be showing genuine vulnerability, and I’d say he likely displays real genuine emotion plenty of times, just not all the time. While the vulnerable moments could be a ploy, were he the type to actually be fully acting, I’m disinclined to bet that he’d act in the way he does during those moments if he planned them out or even improvised. It could be a mix of both, where it’s both true but also an act of manipulation. Were it the last option, that would require more exploration of his character in various situations to determine imo. I still doubt that though. I think he’s a little too raw and real in his pain, anger, and aggression to say he’s being malevolently manipulative at the end of the day, at least thus far in chapter one. The MC’s choices may change and influence that, on the Evil™ route. I’ve been following some of the fantastic dash discussions on Astarion’s reaction to when the MC tries to comfort him (because of course I have, I’m here for BG3 content and Astarion content especially, aren’t we all here for the same party in his tag? Also hello fellow Astarion stans! :D I hope everyone’s having a good day), and if some of these datamined lines from Pjenn’s blog post are actually implemented and kept as canonical [link], specifically the ones Astarion says regarding heroes, I do think it ties in very strongly with some of what other folks have said regarding his recoiling reaction. Copy-pasted the potential dialogue lines of interest below: Astarion: Heroes. |said with disgust| Astarion: Heroes had two centuries to save me from my torture, but not one came knocking. Astarion: The strong had two centuries to pluck me from torture, but no one came. No, it was the mind flayers that rescued me. Astarion: I spent centuries as the victim of a corrupt man. It was the mind flayers that plucked me away from that. I very much enjoyed all the takes on Astarion’s potential motivations in his response, and I do want to chuck another idea into the fray that supports the vein of ideas that have him being truly afraid and then angry at the MC in that scene, with the speculation including those possible hero lines above as influence. Specifically, I’d like to bring in an outside comparison to part of Molly Grue’s reaction to seeing the Unicorn from The Last Unicorn animated movie for the first time, transcribed below: The Unicorn: I’m here now. Molly: [Bitter laugh] Oh? And where were you twenty years ago? Ten years ago? Where were you when I was new? When I was one of those innocent, young maidens you always come to? How dare you. How DARE you come to me now, when I am this. [begins to cry, heartbroken] Consider Astarion being shown kindness when he is now away from Cazador, not fully free or safe yet but not currently actively fully suffering Cazador’s torment all up close and personal. Consider that only on that very night before he was snatched up by the mindflayers, which might’ve been anywhere from only a day to a handful of days before this conversation about his nightmare, he was going out to falsely smile and lure some innocent—(“No innocents. You have my word.”)—or perhaps not so innocent, beautiful soul back to Cazador’s mansion to very likely die or be turned. How often must he do so? Is it every night he is ordered to go out and condemn someone else to that unfortunate fate? Do you think Cazador killed them cleanly? Quickly? Why would he, instead of agonizingly grinding out any last traces of sympathy his spawn might have through the guilt that they are the ones who “choose” who suffers and likely dies at Cazador’s hands that night? To give the illusion of choice is one abuse/torture tactic that can be used to break a soul that we see often in games: choose who suffers or dies. Cazador is unquestionably a personality who enjoys the psychological aspect of tormenting his victims, as evidenced by giving Astarion the “choice” to be either flayed or to “dine” on a rotting, dead rat, as well as other mentions of how he puts thought into torturing those around him. Astarion is still so fresh from his torment,—torment that is still technically on-going with the very real threats of resuming once more—he is emotionally bleeding enough arterial blood at the seams to fill a sea. His actions, words, and emotions so often metaphorically smell of blood, and not because he’s a vampire and the traditional role of a vampire being a predator among humanoids ironically enough, but because being a vampire spawn means Cazador. And Cazador means horror. Astarion has survived, yes, and it’s been hell. He’s still in hell, because he isn’t free yet. Not truly. It’s a desperate gasp of air, this taste of freedom, to dream that he could be free of Cazador. Imagine his feelings when he’s now in something like freedom, a reminder of what could be, what his life might’ve and likely was like once upon a time, an uncertain here-and-now where he has the possibility—just a possibility, and an unlikely one at that for most ordinary or less-than-ordinary people, not a certainty—of being free, and he’s just admitted to the horror that is Cazador. Admitted in this moment how much Cazador frightens him, how much just the thought of Cazador frightens him, how much the possibility he might be sent back to his master and having his previous tormented existence resumed truly frightens him. And the MC reaches out in sympathy. In acknowledgement that what Astarion has been through is horrifying. To look at this horror and say it is pain, and terror, and awful, that it isn’t normal. It isn’t something to ignore. It isn’t something to pretend is just everyday same old, same old, to numb and take off the edge as much as one can. That Astarion’s pain and fear aren’t to be sought out for entertainment or at best to be willfully neglected in an act of malice. That stark moment of contrast, like night and day, could bring the pain of two hundred years crashing down inside his head, all compressed into one moment. Feelings he tried so hard to survive through, ignore perhaps, suppress: fear, helplessness, loneliness, misery, anger, sorrow, hatred, pain, anxiety, distress, need. Memories, of so many instances that hurt in that moment and then continued to hurt for so long afterwards. How much must it hurt him, wound him, to lift his head for air and have a perspective outside of his suffering that is sympathetic...but knowing that nobody came to save him. That perhaps, no one ever will, if he loses this so-called freedom and is dragged back under. That those that care, cannot help you. And that those that can help, do not care. Why would anyone help him at this point after all? He’s a vampire spawn. A classically defined monster in the eyes of society, and he knows it. (”I’m not some monster!” / ”At best, I was sure you’d say no. More likely you’d ram a stake through my ribs.”) He must have been truly desperate in his starvation to chance anyone finding out he’s a vampire in the party. Not surprising, he can’t rest at the end of the day like the other companions can. He has to expend extra energy at that point to find food discreetly after fighting all day, and subpar food at that. (”Animal blood tastes like muck.” verification needed, it’s a conversational line in some branch of the morning-after he asks to bite the MC the first time) He’s not eating breakfast, snacks or lunch during the day, and he isn’t guaranteed to find food while hunting in the woods. Game might be scarce, he can be wounded or exhausted after a long day of fighting, and he wasn’t starting out in the peak of health to begin with either. He is a vampire spawn yes and apparently can take down large game such as boars to drain them, but that is a rough existence to condemn anyone to mechanically speaking. He knows what he’s risking, regardless of his int stat. But he takes that risk anyway. The character who is so survival driven, risking a very high likelihood of expulsion at best or death as the much-more-likely worst outcome of this attempt? His bite isn’t painless, and pain can wake a person up readily enough if they aren’t a deep sleeper, and how deep a sleeper are most people when in an uncertain and unfamiliar wilderness, potentially while hungry and cold, with the fretting fear of a agonizing death looming over their head? Even accounting for a lack of mental clarity from hunger and exhaustion and other factors, I find it deeply unlikely that Astarion is unaware of how big a risk he’s taking with the odds are stacked against him, rogue class or not. And even if he’s just thrown out of the group? He’s alone. Vulnerable. A target to be hunted by a much bigger, meaner predator. One that won’t kill him quickly, we can guess. His odds are much lower, on his own. Specifically his odds of not being dragged back to Cazador...assuming the MC doesn’t just turn him over to Gandrel. How terrifying is it to imagine that your suffering will never end, to be told it will never end, and then you are reminded of what it is like to not suffer for a time. To have felt the painful hope that maybe there is a possibility that you could escape an existence of torment...but knowing you very well might not? It is desperately bleak. It is no great leap of the imagination to hear Astarion saying—(or more likely thinking because this would be terribly vulnerable...but he might say something when pushed because he’s so full of sharp edges and bleeding insides still)—something similar to Molly Grue’s line in his own fashion, is it? Astarion: “[Bitterly laughing, mockingly so. As he speaks his tone breaks, an edge of raw, desperate hysteria slipping through, attached to centuries of pain turned to anger] And where were you two hundred years ago? A hundred years ago? Where were you when I still desperately thought in the deepest parts of my heart that someone might come? When I still had hope? Astarion: [his voice turns low and venomous, raising in volume and accusation before finishing with a break on the final word “this”, a tonal admittance of how distraught and self-aware he is of what he’s had to do, of what he’s had to become to survive] How dare you. How DARE you say this to me now, when I am this.” (the above lines are entirely fictional and are not from any in-game, data-mined, or otherwise official source or content) He’s been made to do so many terrible things, even just based off of the few lines we have heard in early access he’s been through so much horror. An hour of torture, a day, a month is so incredibly long. It can have such lasting impact on a person—PTSD, as we know it in this day and age. A year? Five years, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred? An elf he may be, but from a human perspective...he’s been tortured for lifetimes. Even as an elf, two hundred years is a long time. More than long enough to seriously alter how someone’s brain works—people are both amazingly resilient, but also so incredibly fragile. Cazador has had all this time to play with Astarion’s brain, honestly I find it impressive Astarion has any sense of self left after all this time. That he’s still driven to survive, that he still feels anything at all. (”It doesn’t look broken. But then again, none of us do.”) It doesn’t surprise me that he’s intensely bitter when encountering the “paladins” of Tyr—(ie Anders and company if you know who I mean—and was that a Dragon Age 2 reference? If not that is an amazing coincidence with the whole Anders-Justice-Vengeance-Demon thing there)—if the MC asks something to the tune of “Don’t you wish someone had helped you when you needed it?” Oh. Oh that had to be a painful question for him. Astarion had his basic needs denied and abused, to ask if he wished that someone had helped him when he needed that and more, and no one came? Why was he denied but the paladins get help? Why does he have to be the hero when no one came for him, when no one very well might come for him when he might still very well be in dire straits in the near future? I can see the possible desire to inspire sympathy intended in the question from the MC, but it can be so utterly without sympathy to ask that in some contexts, and in Astarion’s case it is. He was being abused and controlled without any way out—Anders and his cohorts opted into the deal with Zariel for personal reasons, not as far as I know under threat of imminent death, and they are relatively capable of fulfilling their end of the bargain barring their current injuries at the time. They certainly have more freedom of choice than Astarion and other vampire spawn ever did, and they were not being tortured right then and there. Warlocks, referring to Anders and co., might even have the option to get out of deals, a la Wyll’s personal questline hook thus far. Astarion can’t get out of his servitude from Cazador. Cazador holds all the cards, makes all the decisions, has all of the power. To compare Astarion’s situation to his face with that of the “paladins”? I’m surprised he wasn’t spitting fury, honestly. They still have normal elements to their day to day life, despite their devil’s deal. They are not being tormented on the daily—yet. They are not in hell—yet. They can get out. They have the possibility. A possibility Astarion didn’t—until now. And isn’t that the most fucked up thing, that it wasn’t a force of Good™ that saved him, but an even bigger monster than Cazador himself? He was saved—by mindflayers, intending some fate that was likely worse for him than before. Even when the Absolute’s hand begins to be revealed in all this, he is still a pawn among monstrous masters. What heroes there are in the world, won’t come for him. They never did before, and they didn’t now. Heroes are for other people, for realities aside from his own. They are for other people, living Other lives. Not his life. Forces of Good™ swooping in to save the day, to correct the wrongs of the world and to make things Right™ just isn’t his normal. Not anymore, if ever it was. His normal was warped by Cazador a long time ago. Is it a stretch of the imagination that if Cazador twisted “dinner” to be a choice between consuming a rotting, putrid rat corpse or being flayed on a nightly basis, turning “poetry” into the memory of a “sonnet” carved into Astarion’s back with a razor over the course of an entire night full of Astarion’s own pained screams? Is it hard to imagine that Cazador also took pleasure in turning other ordinary situations one might encounter in normal life into nightmare versions as well for Astarion and his other spawn? One illithid mind-power option shows Cazador controlling Astarion by holding his chin, though without any further context. Cazador wouldn’t have had to do more than that to invoke terror, after a certain point in time. It seems highly unlikely the gesture wasn’t followed up with more pain, though. Perhaps in that moment when he speaks of his nightmare in the first conversation and the MC reaches out to him in sympathy...Astarion was reminded of something. Multiple somethings, multiple moments, when Cazador reached out to him oh so casually, and it ended in pain and terror. The way the camera is framed as of the current time in early access, the way he flinches away crying “No!” so quiet and low, his eyes wide and staring just so, how he goes so far as to pull back almost entirely out of frame and the camera slowly pans to follow him? Perhaps that is just a stand-in scene, but as it is, even now, it emphasizes that he is I would argue genuinely afraid, and reflexively responding in what is likely his first opportunity to freely respond to his traumatically induced fear. The first opportunity where he wasn’t supernaturally compelled to do exactly as Cazador ordered him to, the first opportunity where he was likely not going to be tormented further for expressing his fear, for having his main tormentor laugh and delight in his distress. The first instance where he for a split second let his guard down, and didn’t expect to be hurt—until the MC reached for him, echoing possible memories of what happened last time someone (Cazador) did that. It’s not Cazador reaching for him. But...it is not Cazador. He doesn’t have to worry about Cazador hurting him right that second, but...will the MC hurt him, like Cazador did? Will they make it look like they’re going to help him, that he can trust them, and then betray him? (”How can you be so cruel?” / “It [Raphael playing games] reminds me of Cazador, taunting his slaves with hope when he knew the game was rigged.”) But they scared him. They scared him, and perhaps for a moment he was back there, in another time and place, where he knows, where he remembers, vividly, perhaps even recently, what normally would have happened to him. And how dare they make him feel that. (“I can do without reliving that particular night, thank you.” [Nightmare about Cazador dialogue, a separate scene if you miss the insight check from the first post-nightmare camp discussion I believe.]) He’s so raw and upset, both aggressive and defensive when he speaks about his nightmares in quite a few of his lines, asking and waiting to explain just why his nightmares are truly so terrifying, especially in the second-nightmare conversation. The way he speaks there, and in other scenes, makes me very disinclined to interpret him as actively intending evil in general so much as having been shaped to be ruthless through a centuries-long trial by fire that he isn’t free and clear of yet. Based off of how he reacts on more than one occasion, I’m personally inclined to take a leaf from Wyll’s book and say I do think he has more than just potential to be good. “Good™” being relative of course to his situation and undead-life—Astarion has GREAT potential as a character to explore not only what it means to be Evil™ aligned, but also what people on the meta perceive as evil, as well as what prejudices we may carry from that labeling. He is I think very much an excellent walking morality test and ironically a mirror for the player’s character. What kind of person is the MC, in how they treat and interact with him. He is a complicated and morally-entangled character, and it is so very easy to only read him in the here and now within the stark, daylight context of societal’s average norms without looking at the very real, very recent nightmarish Twilight Zone reality he’s lived in that echoes through his words and story thus far. It’s a marvelous bit of echoing reality and real life here by Larian, truth be told: how do you tell people about your life, when it’s been a ceaseless, unending nightmare? With smiles, witticisms, and the occasional polished lie that bleeds out pain, for some folks anyway, including Astarion. He says he’s having more fun at the goblin party, but at the tiefling party? That’s probably the first time he’s been at a normal party where he hasn’t had to obey and fear Cazador’s orders and inevitable torment during or afterwards. That’s the first time in his entire undead existence when he’s been in a social situation like this without being afraid, hurt, or manipulated. It’s not a fun party on its own by his standards, but it is a safe party for him. In a way though, safety can be boring. A luxury, yes, but in this case? For him, boring. And boring...might very well be irritating, in an anxiety-turned-irritation fashion, because he’s not being tormented right this very moment. He should be finding something to enjoy, because in his normal everyday routine? In the day to day that he would expect, that his subconscious expects out of habit? Opportunity for any form of enjoyment must be rare indeed, twisted and tainted by Cazador’s ever looming shadow over every minute of Astarion’s vampiric existence so far. It could be anxiety-inducing, to not seek pleasure or some form of happiness or comfort while there is opportunity for it, in what one perceives as a respite from constant, on-going suffering. (”Why do you insist on exhuming the past?” - when you ask about his past in camp, after you know he’s a vampire. An unpleasant reminder of an unpleasant past, why would he want to dwell on it? He has enough pain to last him multiple lifetimes. Literally.) From the deep, deep depths of prolonged suffering, it can potentially take a great deal more intensity of sensation to feel anything at all, let alone something approaching happiness. (”For the first time in two hundred years, I felt happy.” [presumed Astarion-origin line after drinking from a sleeping companion] / “I feel strong. I feel...happy!” [after MC succeeds in persuading Astarion to stop drinking from their neck after giving him permission to do so.]) This isn’t even taking into consideration how vampirism might have impacted Astarion’s psychology on a metabolic/biochemical level, so to speak. Where Larian goes with that is still to be determined, though my money’s on they give him more a murderous edge and natural inclination—not unlike a Beast-lite version of bloodlust from Vampire: The Masquerade— but still keep his core traits very much human rather than supernaturally-alien/2D-cut-out-monstrous. (Or elvhen, if we’re being fantasy-world-linguistically technical here again.) Touching on the matter of monstrous behavior though...It is a powerfully understated moment of casual cruelty that Larian allows the MC to decide once and once only, if Astarion may also drink from people or only animals. It’s so fitting I don’t believe it to be coincidence that he was a magistrate in his backstory—isn’t the MC passing a judgement too on him, a sentence to change his life for the foreseeable future, possibly forever without realizing or perhaps not caring about the full extent of their actions? And one cannot forget Wyll’s comment about the rat diet. Oh, can you not hear the resonating parallel real life pain from how those ignorant of another’s hurts might unintentionally mock the person and hurt them so? How some might apply their own morality from their own life experiences, without looking at the full extent of the consequences of their actions? A life and perspective that more likely has never been tested under the lash and upon the rack of some of life’s worst possible realities? Even if Wyll and the MC don’t mean to be, it is so very, very cruel. It is beautifully painful, Abdirak and the goddess Loviatar would be proud. (”My mind is finally clear. I feel strong. I feel...happy!”) To be denied not just better food, but the ability to think clearly, to feel well, the actuality of being happy as a norm? It is so very hollow an existence to feel so constantly weak of both body and mind, and oh isn’t it just the richest thing, that an MC might echo Cazador’s choice and power over Astarion thusly? It’s enough to make one laugh an Evil Laugh™ of appreciation at just how unthinkingly, horribly cruel a person can potentially be while playing a Good™ character. This is actually a level of genius on Larian’s part that I wonder how many in the audience will actually look at and appreciate the subtle horror of. The horror that we do this too, in real life, sometimes without ever knowing the seemingly small, far-reaching ripples of harm an unthinking phrase or comment can do when we don’t take another’s reality into consideration—that we don’t know what it is we don’t know. It is a fine piece of storytelling, to offer up a story with so many facets to reflect upon. It’s so beautifully crafted that Astarion speaks and dresses like a noble, that he can so easily be perceived as a person of privilege at first glance should one merely look at some of his surface behaviors and inclinations—remnant trappings of his distant past most likely, from once upon a time. It’s a delightful reveal and subversion that he, I think we can safely say, isn’t that. Perhaps he was, once, but he isn’t at this point in his life, not anymore. Appearances are deceiving, and doesn’t that just tie so nicely right into some of Astarion’s potential themes and behaviors? The lies that crack open as truth and pain come bleeding out from underneath? I do wonder how many of Larian’s audience have known hunger—and not known when the next meal will happen, what it might be, if it will have strings attached? The kind of hunger that follows you everywhere, that roots down into your bones and hollows out a home there forever more? It changes how a person sees things, how they act, how they think, even when they’re removed from being hungry all the time. One doesn’t need to be skin and bones to feel like one is starving constantly,—(I very much enjoy that headcanon just to clarify, I’m not intending to throw shade in any of this or future rambling)—to be kept on a hollow diet of empty calories that are enough to keep your heart pumping, but your body struggles because it doesn’t have the nutrients it needs in the amounts it needs? To feel your mind fog over with exhaustion and blanketed despair, a primal and low level desperation whittled down into a tired and numb, anxious background static from adrenal fatigue? Miscellaneous aches, pains and problems that seem unrelated but in reality, if only you knew, were because your body can’t function the way it should ideally, because you don’t have what you truly need? A very real problem in real life, for far too many people. And oh, the beautiful, casual, so very human monstrousness Larian lets us exercise here, knowing or unknowing. It is such a powerful, understated cluster of ideas. And I think Larian knew—someone on the dev team did their homework on both traditional starvation but also what one might call masked-starvation as no doubt other tumblr folks have also speculated, just based off of what we’ve seen and because of that Happy buff Astarion gets when he uses his Vampiric Bite ability in combat. It fits right into his whole theme of “what makes a monster and what makes a man?” (Sing the bells of Notre Dame~♪) But not necessarily asking that question only of him. Rather, asking it also of the MC. This fits into the game’s whole theme with the tadpoles, the choice of using the power and turning into “Something More Beautiful” as Minthara put it, of taking the darker path, it all fits so very well. I just want to applaud this because it’s not a major story-beat moment. It’s a companion-side-quest moment. It’s going to be for the most part seen as a combat-game-mechanic and head-canon defining moment, deciding if Astarion may feed on people or not. I doubt we’d see Larian actually changing Astarion’s demeanor much in how he delivers lines with a “allowed to drink people blood” code flag, as cool as that might be. It very well could factor into later outcomes but for voice acting I doubt they’ll make an entire second/third/etc set of each line spawning from that one seemingly small choice. It makes me very hopeful that Larian can handle such weighty themes so deftly thus far—we’ll have to wait and see if they can stick the landing once the game is finished, but boy oh boy their nuance and delivery so far is strong as steel and sharp as a double-edged sword right out of the gate. The studio is in a fantastic position to explore and to challenge people’s thoughts and ideas regarding character builds like Astarion’s imo, depending on how the dev team chooses to play it out. Seeing some of Gale and Shadowheart’s dialogue trees from the goblin party, I have high hopes that the dev team will allow a great deal of exploration and flexibility all across the moral spectrums, not only allowing us the option to drag the more seen-as-good-aligned characters down paths of moral corruption,—(note: I’m including Shadowheart in more neutral-ish territory for now but the fact that she seems to feel emotionally ill—guilty, one could say—at the goblin party and is busy trying to get drunk to drown that feeling out suggests to me she Definitely does have a more good-aligned moral compass to a nuanced degree)—but also the chance to drag more seen-as-evil-aligned characters along the path to more traditionally good endings and persuade them to see the benefits of playing nice with others per more classic Good™ societal rules (subjectively speaking ofc.) But Larian is also in a very precarious place too—speaking strictly of just the one character as the focus of this essay, Astarion resonates very easily through that very real fear, pain, anger, bitterness and so many other emotions as a result of what he has survived, is still surviving through, and struggling against: trauma. How bitter indeed would it be should a character—that people with very deep, real pain can relate to—not get at least the option for a well-crafted, hopeful and merciful epilogue? Oh the sympathetic pain that Larian could reap could be pain of the very worst kind, if they condemn him to only death and darkness with bleak endings that lack nuance and care. I’ve seen some posts where people worry about Astarion not potentially having a good ending, with possible unspoken implications that he might be railroaded into betraying the MC. I’d like to say that I think a lot of his subtext, even looking at the instances where he lies and the datamined details of the voice-acting-directions, would run counter to railroading him to only ever betraying the MC. I think straight betrayal is going to run as mostly antithetical to his core themes in a way. He might betray your MC—but it will likely be because the MC betrayed him first in a myriad of small ways, or in a big way. Approval-rating-system based choices are a very real possibility too, separately or as a part of the equation naturally, in addition to your major in-game choices. That would also include the scenario of betrayal through using the tadpole powers enough to be mind-controlled into having no will of his own, much like the other characters, including the MC. I do think we have plenty of good, solid reason to be very hopeful that he will have a possible good continuation—not ending. A continuation where he manages to free himself from Cazador with the help of his companions or perhaps dare he even say friends, manages to begin the process of healing the immediate pains of his trauma and learning how to truly live with all that he’s been through and all that he’s done, to have the possibility of not only living but living both happily and well for the most part? Who knows what else Larian Studios might have in the works for him and the other companions, as well as the MC and the story of Baldur’s Gate 3. But good outcomes for all seems like it very likely could happen, for all of the companions. His wiki page’s summary tagline hook in particular offers up that implied promise from the developers to the audience, I would say, “Astarion prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light, but can he leave his wicked past behind?” What that promise is, varies from creator to creator. In this case, based on the wording, I would say that potentially implies a satisfyingly well-crafted and engaging story wherein we find out and determine if the answer to that question is yes or no, and in a DND-based RPG full of choices that have an impact on the people and world around you? In a game genre that has a history of multiple, varied endings for your companions based on how you play? That checks out. Larian so far has been handling things admirably well in my opinion, and I’m willing to invest emotionally in this story they’re telling with the trust that they will deliver a good continuation and conclusion. But on the off-chance that somehow Astarion’s endings all turn out painful and tragic on the meta for the fanbase, that the associated intentional or unintentional messages wound and grieve those who recognize and resonate most strongly with the pains he has felt? On that off-chance, in that instance where we are left bereft and disappointed because of what happened to him or any of the companions or the story itself should somehow things go awry, then it would be your right to ask Larian the very same question Astarion asked you once: How can you be so cruel?

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #spoilers #bg3 spoilers #Astarion #character study #long post #very long post #eXtreme rambling ahoy #speculation #congrats if you can read this all #totally understandable if it's too much text tho #it's long enough and rambly enough that it wandered away from the limits I intended #because I have FEELINGS about this gremlin vampire man #cackles madly #maybe the vampire will stop haunting my brain for a bit now #I have other things to do #aside from writing long contemplation pieces #prepare the angst-grapple-hooks crewmates #why yes I'm going to make silly jokes about pirates and sailing and the like #no I do not have any depth to my knowledge base about such things #I just like their hats man #arr #also not looking to make anyone feel bad or invalidate their hcs or opinions #just want good vibes for all #and more cakes for all #metaphorically speaking #the cake is not a lie tho #well #metaphorically it's not a lie

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beelieveinfandom · 3 years

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Convo from the 18+ discord about a very silly star wars crossover I wanted to share.

gremgeous the gem pillar Just had a GREAT idea for a star wars crossover Just dipper visiting the star wars universe for whatever reason (multiverse vacation maybe? Idk. Dipper maybe dusted off that old portal in a fit of nostalgia or smth) and palpatine finds him and tries to tempt alcor to his side by offering him power Standard stuff for the sith really Except Well If you offer a demon unspecified power, in what form are they going to take it if not in the one who is offering's soul? Biggest and best tasting power boost there is, really! And then maybe he takes over the empty shell of a body afterwards which may or may not grant him force acess and alcor has a grand old time making a mess out of running the republic (or at least running lose in the senate) This is like... early prequals or pre-preauals era maybe. When palpafucker is still undercover and being all covert and unsuspicious and stuff I call this.... "palpatines penechance for grand speeches and unspecific ominous statements to try and seem all powerful and cool and dramatic fuck him over" Or in shorter terms ... . "There's a demon lose in the senate" And it basically runs like that one john mullaney bit With a side dashing of that one journak 3 thing where bill posesses a guy, messes with a roman army and then makes a guys head explode Also like nobody knows who alcor is or that hes even there bc theres no demons or dream demons in star wars (that i know of) so he gets the run of the place Even moreso than back home in gravity falls bc no one knows magic, its all "force this" and "force that" Dippered probably spends a lot of time nerding out over the different alien species since they dont have those back in his dimension (theyve got aliens but theyre different kinds) and also about the laser swords (just like the one Grunkle Ford made for them all (Ford, Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Soos, Grenda, Candy, Grendas boyfriend, Pacifica, and even waddles and gompers) back in 2017! Good times, good times.)

swbeeworm oh this sounds like fun

gremgeous the gem pillar Right???

swbeeworm if i was familiar enough with the star wars universe to write anything in it i'd give this a shot

gremgeous the gem pillar right???

swbeeworm like i know star wars?? but i don't know star wars n i have to know something to be confident in writing it

gremgeous the gem pillar Sadly everything i know comes from time travel fixit and semi-salty pro-jedi meta

swbeeworm but just.... the sheer chaotic potential of this...

gremgeous the gem pillar Gosh yes....... Oh its be so good..........

swbeeworm oh mood it would be

gremgeous the gem pillar @Abigor u like star wars too gimme ur thooooughts When ur awake and have them to give

swbeeworm ugh i should. probably not be awake, i have stuff to do tomorrow n i have a headache but this is fun to think about

gremgeous the gem pillar I had another thing thats fun to think abt too Clone wars era, alcors there and everyon thinks hes a brand new sith player b/c gold eyes

swbeeworm just the shenanigans. the bullshittery. the sheer what-le-fuck reactions of everyone from the senate to the jedi to the people ooooooooo

gremgeous the gem pillar YES!!! Exactly.

gremgeous the gem pillar Oooooh jedi can do mind things i wonder what alcor wpuld feel like to them

swbeeworm my first instinctive responses were: 1) constant Screaming and a whirlwind mishmash of colors/concepts/etc that makes everyone who 'looks' too long start bleeding thru the nose/eyes 2) wii music on loop and these are VERY different prompts to have back to back but that's what i got

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDHSGGSHD I LOVE IT Oh what if its both at the same time Ajdhegdhdj what rven is the music like in star wars anyway

swbeeworm the fkin,,,, cantina music

gremgeous the gem pillar Like how would they react when confronted w wii music

swbeeworm is the equivalent i would think

gremgeous the gem pillar Do they even have the same sorts of instruments do they even know what electronic music is

swbeeworm just. that spawned another Thought imagine that the cantina music from That One Scene is the sw-equivalent of the wii music and just. just imagine that same scene playing but with wii music on loop in the background

gremgeous the gem pillar Gosh "wii music on loop" i love it AODHDHSHSJD

swbeeworm it would probably FIT they have the same vibe

gremgeous the gem pillar Im crying Mits so good

swbeeworm sdjlksdafj i saw a post the other day that was talking abt the music there n how it kept playing on loop n the poster joked that it might have been like,, the john mulaney salt-pepper-diner-story situation which is only tangentially related to this topic but i had to recall it

gremgeous the gem pillar AJSHH i love that Gosh ok i feel like take 1 would fit with the new sith in town scenario And take 2 fits with theres a demon lose in the senate

swbeeworm sfsdkfjh yES

gremgeous the gem pillar But how FUCKING HILARIOUS would it be if in the senate story its the former, and in the oh so serious sith story its the wii music on loop im akdhsjdvsjdhsjbd

swbeeworm ASLDJSLKFJ plEASE take 1: gritty, serious, angst, deadly miscommunications--and fucking wii music on loop take 2: lighthearted, cracky, shenanigans and bullshittery--and fucking bleeding out the eyes if you try n read the guy talk about dissonance

gremgeous the gem pillar "Big scary sith! Look at the yellow eyes! What dastardly plots cpuld he be thinking/partaking in....." [Hard cut to alcor pov/inside alcors head] wii music plays as he stares off into space during a supposedly very important meeting

gremgeous the gem pillar OH I DO LOVE THE DISSONANCE Gsjdgysgsvsjgd wheeze its so good i love it

swbeeworm me tooooo .....for the sith one. would ppl see blue fire n think lightning

gremgeous the gem pillar Theyd probably think its some other secret sith technique

swbeeworm fair enough

gremgeous the gem pillar Everyone thinks one of the other sith lines that was supposedly wiped out had it since this sith deffs aint the line of bane- even the cirrent sith wanna know where alcors popped in from "Lightning was the bane line specialty.... guess where ever this kids guys from fire was theirs"

swbeeworm= adjlsdfkjlfkjf the shenanigans n bullshittery one imagine alcor-as-palpatine just. going incorporeal, still visible but not able to be touched, and the jedi go from "what the fuck is going on" to "why the fuck is he a force ghost"

gremgeous the gem pillar AJSGSHSGSHSA

swbeeworm alcor, who'd done it only bc his ~ornate robes~ had got so caught/tangled on something he could only get free by phasing through it: ??????

gremgeous the gem pillar wheeze Alcor: how the fuck did this guy move around in these AJDHSGDH ALCOR NOT KNOWING ABOUT THE SITH- SHOWS UP TO THE SENATE IN THE SITH ROBES

swbeeworm asdlkjsfkjsdfdf

gremgeous the gem pillar CALLS IT A "FASHION STATEMENT" WHEN CALLED OUT ON IT

swbeeworm a fASHION STATEMENT YES alcor: :blobsweats: alcor: what the FUCK is a sith alcor: and why do they have better style than the jedi

gremgeous the gem pillar WHEEZE He doesnt know jack shit abt the jedi or anything hes just vibing!!!!!!

swbeeworm yesssssss

gremgeous the gem pillar AJDGSGGDJS YOU KNOW WHATVWPUKD BE EVEN BETTER ALCOR THINKS THE SITH LOOK IS TACKY AF

swbeeworm alcor: no listen. listen. i picked these space robes out of my space wardrobe because they looked cool, not because i'm part of some. some space cult ljflskdajfslkdfjsd

gremgeous the gem pillar BUT HE STILL THINKS ITS BETTER THAN THE JEDI

swbeeworm that's even better

gremgeous the gem pillar space cult im HOWLING

swbeeworm you KNOW he'd be so excited at being in space this DORK

gremgeous the gem pillar Ph gosh imagine it starts out all dark and serious and angsty and creepy in the whole beginning exchange But as soon as the day after alcor takes up palps role hits it takes a sharp turn into crack terriotry

gremgeous the gem pillar OH HE WOULD

swbeeworm yESSSS

gremgeous the gem pillar Alcor takes one look at dooku and is like "youre the only one aroynd here with any sort of fashion sense" "And its HORRIBLE"

swbeeworm sljflskdjfsd

gremgeous the gem pillar Just roasts him And by extension everyone else too

swbeeworm dooku has NO IDEA what's going on but at this point ""palpatine"" or whatever's taken over him is ten minutes into a rant abt the layers on layers of boring robes jedi wear and at this point he'll take the backhanded compliment about his own style

gremgeous the gem pillar Akehdsjfssksgsjd

swbeeworm just to shut him up

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDHDJDGDJDHD Alco goes on a 30 minute rant on why suits are SO much more professional

swbeeworm snaps "palpatine" into a suit and goes "...except maybe for this guy idk if anything could make him look good"

gremgeous the gem pillar And its more of a backhanded insukt than a backhanded compliment but anything to shut the guy up, right?

swbeeworm how much we roasting palpatine here

gremgeous the gem pillar To a blackened crisp

swbeeworm as it should be

gremgeous the gem pillar Its better than his wrinkly old rasin look anyday

swbeeworm lskjdlsakjfdf agreed

gremgeous the gem pillar Be hard NOT to improve on that honestly But the dude sinks so low i bet hed somehow manage it

swbeeworm --alcor getting fed up w palpatine's body and just. showing up to the senate meetings, full alcor, eyes n his normal face n everything, in palpatine's robes, and when someone rightfully asks him who the hell is he, he just deadpans "i'd think by this point you'd recognize your own chancellor" and just straight insists he's palpatine (and has the knowledge to back it up) every time someone sputters

gremgeous the gem pillar Also i included the bit abt the journal 3 thing bc my saga of alcor repeating bill's patterns, behaviors, and ideas unknowlingly and without awareness that that is what he is doing shall continue >:3c

gremgeous the gem pillar AODHAJDBAKWJHEVEJDJDHSHSHSJWOWKJEHEE I LOVE IT OH HOW I LOVE OT ALSOWHSKJDISOSOAJAIW Oh gosh what if he fuckin

swbeeworm because at this point it's less about blending in and more about trolling the whole senate and being as distracting as possible because with everyone paying attention to his trolling theyre less likely to notice the bills for clone rights n abolishing slavery n such that he's pushing thru in the background misdirection at its finest

gremgeous the gem pillar I was gonna say a thing abt alcor replacing palps b4 the election and so they did elect alcor to chancelorhoood But it might be funnier if he took him over AFTER abd still says that bit abt recognizing their own chancellor Oh gosh in that secind scenario it would be hilarious if the jedi are all :blobglare: @alcor except for obi-wan who is all like "i am looking away" bc at least THIS guy (whiever the hell he is) has stopped being such a creep abt anakin

swbeeworm the jedi are sent in to figure out wtf is going on and. they, unfortunately, bewilderingly, confirm that this is the same person as the chancellor who'd been showing up recently??? same wii music/bleeding effect??

swbeeworm alcor, finding appointments with some random jedi kid on palpatine's calendar: wtf why is this creep trying to meet with a kid alone, yeah how about i cancel that

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDJDJD Alcor, looking at palpatibes planner: "every day i am more and more glad that i ate thig guys soul" "Like i knew it was oily but im suprised i havent got an upset stomach from it yet"

swbeeworm sjlskdfjsdf alcor the next day, after finding stuff abt the order 66 chip things, gagging: "i spoke too soon"

gremgeous the gem pillar Obi-wan to the council: hmm? Yes this is totally the chancellor, i know this because of all the previous meetings and close relationship he has had with my padawan which you allowed and helped facillitate- "Palpatine":[has a completley different body type, height, and face. Plus he actually has hair and is maybe even floating a little but its hard to be sure in those black and gold robes- and with a completely different voice] oh, yeah, totally, Im the chancellor and i totally know who this guy and that kid is yup yup yup-

gremgeous the gem pillar [UGLY LAUGHTER] AkdjskkdkdjsysAODJSJEUEIEIIEF

swbeeworm ASDKAFDF "palpatine": [grins with very sharp teeth at a nervous senator] council: "okay that is NOT normal" obi-wan, deadpan: "i'm sorry, it sounds like you're discriminating against non-human beings? that's not very jedi of you now is it"

gremgeous the gem pillar ALDHDJDHD Wait wait no what if its "This is completely normal behavior. I, as a human, know this for certain" "I can do this too, but i dont, because it is impolite, but hes the chancellor he can do whatever he wants"

swbeeworm asldksajflksdfjsdf;jsdf yes yes beautiful

gremgeous the gem pillar Alcor and obi-wan team up to be passive agressive at everyone who allowed palps and anakin to hang out ABOUT them letting an unsupervised minor chill w a suoer duper old guy Shoulda had a chaperone at LEAST Butalso

swbeeworm the other humans on the council: "uh, actually-" obi-wan: [manages to sip tea (which he shouldn't even have access to in a council meeting btw) with an aggressively polite smile and silent Threat] the other humans: "....um."

gremgeous the gem pillar "Thats not very jedi of you now is it" AODHSJSIDHALSVD IM HOWLING I LOVE IT THE SASS wheeze*

swbeeworm i live for obi-wan sass it gives me LIFE

gremgeous the gem pillar SAME oh its so good Love that one post where obj-wan is on tatooine and calls all the force ghosts to view his powperpoint presentation about how letting palps have acess to analin was a bad idea as hed been saying all along-

swbeeworm u need to know i wrote this with the "that's not very plus ultra of you" meme, which is a bnha offshoot of the "that's not very cash money of you" meme, in my head on repeat

gremgeous the gem pillar Ph him terrorizing all the people palpatine had in his pocket...... Ok this is veering into even MORE crack territory but at some poibt alcor replaces, uh, whats the dudes name, palps second in command - mess something-or-other? - with a nightmare Not just ANY nightmare But a DIFFERENT nightmare each day

swbeeworm ASDLSDFKLDJF PLEASE

gremgeous the gem pillar They took it upon themselves to go on rotation They couldn't decide who should go when alcor proposed the idea so its everyone One at a time They dont even look REMOTELY human Or like anything the galaxy has ever known or seen And theres no "secretive supernatural species" excuse for them to fall back on here lmao

swbeeworm random dude: "what is that???" alcor, cheerful: "that's my assistant" rd: "is that--is that supposed to be a sheep?" alcor: "no they're my assistant" nightmare: [sound that, if you ignore the reverb and microphone-screeching and kazoo effects, might be a "baaa"] alcor: [smiles aggressively wider with sharp teeth] rd: [sweats nervously]

gremgeous the gem pillar ALDJDKSIEJEHAJWJWHEI Obi-wan: i am still l :eyes:king away Anakin: oooh, the wool is so soft master. Come feel it! Obi-wan: really? Ooh youre right The council: ....

swbeeworm rd: "okay but this is a DIFFERENT one than yesterday right?? right???" alcor: "i have absolutely no idea what you're talking about :)" obi-wan, still with tea he should not have, this time with space whiskey mixed in: "sir i think you might be seeing things, they are clearly the same individual as yesterday"

gremgeous the gem pillar Mace: ...hrm it is quite soft- The rest of the council: ??? When did he get-

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDJDJDHDHD JUST LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH ALDJDHFJF

swbeeworm obi-wan looking mace dead in the eye and chugging his spiked tea which is more whiskey than tea at this point: "how dare you accuse me of lying. me, after everything i've done for this council. i am betrayed. heartbroken. never shall trust again. i am leaving until i recover" -and promptly fucks off on a vacation with anakin

gremgeous the gem pillar The jedi start getting a LOT more missions about busting slave rings and giving aid in the outer rim - plus some more dimplomacy docused ones in regards to solving teeaties instead of putting down rebellions

-alcor shows up on the vacation with zero explanation and obi-wan at this point is like "fuck it why not" -a nightmare takes his place in palpatine's robes in the senate for the week they're gone

gremgeous the gem pillar ALSJSHDJDJSKDHEE Weirdly enough some of the more corrupt senators go missing after that week No one knows what hapoebed to them but the robes the "chancellor" wore that week have some awfully suspicious stains WAIT WAIT WHAT IF ITS NOT A NIGHTMARE WHAT IF ITS GOMPERS alcor didn't even ASK gompers to be there he was planning to not even warn anyone n just vanish but gompers just SHOWED UP the nightmares were the ones who put the robes on him

gremgeous the gem pillar Alcor doesn't even KNOW gomoers is there He gets back after the week and is like "what the heck" The nightmares are pretty proud of themselves for that one

swbeeworm the nightmares, collectively: "this is gonna be HILARIOUS" alcor, halfway across the galaxy, sees a newsfeed of a senate meeting with gompers in the robes in his place, and spits his drink clear across the room

he's only mad because he didn't think of it in the first place

gremgeous the gem pillar wheeze Hes proud of them

swbeeworm he IS

gremgeous the gem pillar Its so HILARIOUS

swbeeworm i pity anyone trying to read this mess later but i hope we at least make them laugh once

gremgeous the gem pillar Same Its such a joy Alcor teaches anakin the secret to mabel juice

swbeeworm oh no

gremgeous the gem pillar Only the children thank him The minders.... not so much

swbeeworm alcor: "okay so what i'm hearing is, the adult jedi have been making Stupid Decisions and not paying as much attention to the kids, as evidenced by them letting that one kid have meetings one on one with the creepy older guy i stopped putting effort into impersonating a month ago. so, clearly what needs to happen is something that forces the adults to pay attention to the kids and start keeping a closer eye on them, but it can't be something that actually hurts the kids because then i'd feel bad" alcor: "...." alcor: :blobamused:

gremgeous the gem pillar akdhdjsgshsjhdsjdjdj

swbeeworm alcor in a totally not suspicious trench coat and sunglasses: "hey. hey, kid. you wanna try some mabel juice?"

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDJDJDJDLFKFIFJIF WHEEZE "With the creepy older guy i stopped putting effort into impersonating a month ago" ALDJDBDJDJDDHDHDJDJDJDJDJDJDJSJDJEJEJE

gremgeous the gem pillar AKSJSHDJDJF

swbeeworm star wars kids: "mr chancellor why are you wearing that" alcor: "because i think it's funny" kids: "it isn't" alcor: "look do you want the juice or not"

gremgeous the gem pillar I LOVE ALL OF THAT LOOK DO YOU WANT THE JUICE OR NOT

swbeeworm i am having WAY too much fun with this ldjsldkfjdsf;

gremgeous the gem pillar "Were not supposed to take drugs from strangersl" "Its not- just take it!"

Hooooh man thats so funny Oh gosh Alcor uses a different time/date system

Than the star wars one

swbeeworm ooooooo yes

gremgeous the gem pillar Nit super sure where im going with this but.... Pretty sure he woukdnt know the star wars one At all Maybe the in-umuverse knockoff calendar maybe Hes wnough of a nerd to have that memorized But the star wars proper one

No, no i dont think he knows that one

swbeeworm nope no chance

gremgeous the gem pillar Omg yes

gremgeous the gem pillar Well its a good thing we have this..... and the mistaken sith version too :blobamused:

WAIT WAIT QAIT FLASH OF INSPIRATION ALCOR GIVING ANAKIN THE STRANGER DANGER PPT

swbeeworm i have 1 scene i can think of that actually almost made my friend cry and i have 1 au scene of a different au of mine where a character who canonically dies and gets brought back to life...doesn't come back (which is extra angst bc this is a Ghost Seeing Fic) and both of these i wrote at like 3-4am

swbeeworm SDFJKSDLFSJf YES :blobamused:

gremgeous the gem pillar Alcor: "you know, i usually save this one for the kids who followed the stranger with the nice candy into the alleyway and end up as sacrifices but I feel like you could benefit from it too"

swbeeworm alcor: "no talking to suspicious ppl" anakin: "except you right?" alcor: "....in any other situation i'd say no but if i say that you're just gonna up and leave (i see that grin thanks very much) so in this one singular personal case it is fine that you trust my very suspicious self"

gremgeous the gem pillar AKSJSJDJJD "My very suspicious self" Aksjdhdd

swbeeworm obi-wan, straight up knocking back shots now: "the man has a point anakin"

gremgeous the gem pillar Haha nice Obi-wan is taking notes Hes also re-inventing alcoholic mabel juice He weaseled the recipie out of the kids

swbeeworm asldfkjsdlkfjd imagine if somehow SIDIOUS CAME BACK and tries to take back over the senate but everyone at this point is used to alcor and one of two things happens: 1) they assume this is alcor messing with them with a clone/double (they don't know how he'd do it but at this point given his "assistants", the goat that somehow made more eloquent speeches than the "human", and the other things involved, they wouldn't put it past him) and just ignore him 2) they look between the real palpatine who'd been pushing thru some very sketchy bills, and between alcor who's been sneaking through law after law protecting all kinds of sentients, and they turn back to palpatine and go "how dare you impersonate the chancellor" and kick him out

swbeeworm at this point he deserves it tbh

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDJDJDHFDJDJDJD Ok i preffer him dead and gone and forgotten in favor of alcor (its what he deserves) but oh those are hilarious

swbeeworm agreed to both counts alsdjalsdk

gremgeous the gem pillar ESPECIALLY if the senate chooses to keep alcor over palps XD Ph man we can work that into him being dead and gone too- alcor starts dispersing the power and the other half of the senate w bail and padme are like "yeah seems legit" along w obi-wan The jedi only put like, a token effort into investigating and are more put out by trying to figure out what happened to the real palpatine and all his past shady dealings than exposing the current "palpatine" for a fake

swbeeworm palpatine: "excuse me?? i am the chancellor of this republic" councilmembers, with the same deadpan as alcor's been pulling on them all year: "sir, i think you're confused. this is the chancellor" [points to alcor, in palpatine's robes from his closet, making no attempt to hide his lack of resemblance to palpatine, with a nightmare at his side wearing a small top hat that proclaims its position as "chancellor's assistant"] palpatine: [screams of frustration]

gremgeous the gem pillar Once they reaize the shift in mission assignments can be attributed to new palp

gremgeous the gem pillar AKDJDJDJSJSJSBEJSJSJSHSJSKS

swbeeworm yesss this

gremgeous the gem pillar I wanna say maul gets the joy and pleasure of offibg palpatine the second time in that version

swbeeworm FINALLY they get a chance to pull one back over on someone, pass along the suffering a little bit

swbeeworm oh definitely

oh shit we've been at this for an hour

gremgeous the gem pillar Maul comes back and offs palps and evrryone is jist like "Maul!!! How?!?" And completley ignore the palpatibe corpse 2.0 Ajdhhd so we have Niiiight book

Also from a tumblr post the phrase "your pal friendpatine" is hilarious and i think yall shoukd enjoy it too As is "SOMEHOW... MAUL RETURNS" Both taken from the same post lol Okokok so switchibg tracks for a bit Revisiting Some groundwork for the mistaken sith version Alcor is there..... because al-v was there first, made friends with the droid army mid clone war, and caled his dad in to help Which puts alcors initial point of contact as the separost foot soldiers

gremgeous the gem pillar No matter what the dominant language alcor has most recently been using OH OH OH ALCOR WITH ACESS TO OTHER UNIVERSE SLANG CONFUSING ALL THE SENATE WITH HIS NONSENSICAL PHRASES AND IDIOMS AND SLANG/PROFANITY LIKE "over the moon" AND "hot belgian waffles" AND "fuck" "Palpatine": [drops paperwork he JUST spent so much time disorganizing (as in putting in a dissaray)] FUCK Senator: .... sir, what is a 'fuck' "Palpatine": ......... im not explaining that to you Or conversley he makes smth up Alcor, upon realizing the most common swear word is "kriff': yeaht hats stupid im not saying that Alcor mercilessly roasting the star wars profanity And how stupid they all sound. This one is great for the al-v and alcor make friend w a droid army and maybe-sorta steal them while massivelt confusing and mystifying everyone along the way, bc why not add a language barrier on top of all the other assumptions and misunderstandings >:D But also at the same time it would make sense for him to have got thw local language in an infodump somewhere along the line (maybe an older version) if its located in a different galaxy but the same universe........... but also what if theyre just suoer far away so he didnt get priority acess...... or even if he traveled back in time ............. [Shrug] idk Mwanwhile inexplicably having the same language is hilarious in the demon lose in the senate ons but also imagine alcor pretending to be palpatine while unable to speak the common tongue lolol I know it wouldnt work (he has to be able to understand palpatine on some level to take MASSIVE advantage of him and eat his soul) but it is hilarious to think abt the shenanigans............ OH GOSH ALCOR TAKING CONTROL OF THE SENAT BUT BEING UNABLE TO R E A D AKDBSKSKJFF Okokok Imagine the basic/english language inexplicably being the same structure w a few different words and concepts...... when spoken And completley different when written down SO ALCOR CAN SPEAK BUT HE CANT READ Meanwhile in mistaken for a sith land alcor either doesnt have any knowledge of the local language or else gets a SUPER OLD AND POSSIBLE DEAD LANGUAGE in an infodump (to help feed the misunderstandings and rumors and future clashes w the sith and the jedi hehhehheh) bc semi-omniscience is not total omniscience and so is not everything and, once again, is not very helpful But ill leave off for tonight on the thought of alcor, lose in the senate, in the seat of the chancellor, lord of all paperwork for the galactic republic....... and able to read NONE of it And barely understands it too (demons are not ones for politics, Brian the Organ Duck and his 200 year sucessful presidency run aside) (his is soemthing of the exception, not the rule.) Meanwhile all those humanitarian aid bills and the like are all being passed by bail and padmes group all over the place bc their strange and inexplicable source of resistance was devoured like, a week ago Not ones to look a gift horse in ths mouth until AFTER they get what they want the group passes a ton of bills without delay - and manages to break up a few monopolies along the way Now im not saying that "palpatine" suddenly acting off and the bills facing a lot less resistance is a noticeable coincidence...... and around the same time he stops asking after anakin ............... but im totally saying they notice it and realize its probably, absolutely, not a coincidence and theyre not going to say anything bc they like this new "palpatine" better. Despite all the other mindbending weirdness and mindfuckery going on there The jedi are only mad abt alcor bc a few of their own started bleeding from the eyes nose and ears when they tried to investigate initially so theyre a little ticked off abt that, which, fair.

Also the blantant lying and lack of trying on alcors part is a little insulting to them as a whole ("does he think we'll really fall for that") and is slightly concerning to them ("who the heck is this, someone is inpersonating the chancellor of the ENTIRE REPUBLIC-" Which is, admittedly, a little concern worthy) but if the council is honest (or some of the council anyway) with themselves its pretty much the darn best entertainmnt theyve had in a good long while, headaches aside, sot ehyll focus more on the okd palpatines dissapernace and dealings than the new "palpatine" so long as he doesnt start doing anything ACTIVELY damaging to the republic. A little mischief doesnt technically count as harm- and hey theys preffer to find the og chancellor b4 upsetting and potnetially causing the new one to do smth drastic by attsmpting to out him (not that alcor would, its so much funnier to deny everything to their faces while blatantly lying but they dont know that. So caution (and stress) it is)

#Transcendence AU #Discord Convo

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speechlessxx · 4 years

Text

Requite (Andy Barber x Reader)

Summary: A visitation to a prison invites new emotions.

Warnings: slight CHEATING (it’s a kiss and like feelings), slight SPOILERS, for Defending Jacob, language, implied AGE GAP, this was just a brainstorm I had, unrequited requited love kinda not really (if that makes sense), mentions of ABUSE

Word Count: 2.5k

Hope you enjoy!

READ PART 2 HERE

It wasn’t your place – and you knew that. So, why were you here – trembling in front of a glass barrier and fumbling with the cord of the telephone in your hands?

The man in front of you looked tired and rugged. The years he spent behind bars evident all over his face. But when you looked in this murderer’s eyes, you couldn’t help but see Andy’s. They were the same pristine blue shade. The only difference was that Andy’s were warm, inviting, and full of light whereas the man in front of you looked as if the light had been snuffed out of him – perhaps it was never there to begin with.

“You’re the wife?” He asked. He looked you up and down and cocked an eyebrow up. “You’re younger than I expected.”

“I’m not his wife,” you muttered.

“So, what are you, then?” The man gave you an amused look. He was taunting you, trying to make you snap. Your eyes narrowed at his words.

“That’s not your concern.”

“Then why are you here, honey?” You cringed at the pet name. You remembered your abusive father coo that very word at you to apologize for laying his hands on you. You remembered your husband do the same.

Why were you there?

Andy was your friend… of kinds. He was a neighbor in your picture-perfect suburban neighborhood. However, you were treated like an outcast among the other suburban ladies. You always attended parties and gatherings with, or without, your husband. And in the crowds, you always felt so alone.

You were young – still in your twenties – and married to a wealthy businessman that was old enough to be your father’s younger brother. You pretended you couldn’t hear the gossip – the whispers and snickers calling you a “gold-digger” or a “trophy wife”. You married because you needed financial stability to pay off your student loans. You couldn’t do it on your salary alone. Afraid no one else would love you or help you, you said yes to the first wealthy sleaze that got down on one knee.

You tried to make your marriage as picture-perfect as your neighborhood. To strangers, it was. You were good at framing. Your framework made it impossible for others to see the truth behind the photos.

You were a doting wife to a man who was always gone on “business trips” to Vegas with a barely legal bottle blonde on his arm. When you finally got the courage to call him out for his numerous affairs, he threw one of his foreign beer bottles at you. It smashed against the wall, beer staining the paint and scratching it up as small shards of the glass cut your skin. It followed with a “honey, I’m so sorry” which reminded you of your father’s abuse.

After then, the incidents gradually got worse. He’d hurl things your way when he grew aggravated with you. Then, he began to throw punches. He held you down by your wrists before when you threatened to walk out. You felt like your adolescent self again. Instead of your father beating you, your abuser became your husband.

It was Andy, your next-door neighbor, who first asked you about the finger-shaped bruises wrapped around your wrists. You played it off, calling yourself a klutz, but Andy saw right through it. When the bruises, marks, and cuts became a staple of your appearance, Andy knew something was wrong. You weren’t clumsy. You were being hurt.

He confronted you about it. He was relentless in trying to get an answer from you. One night he heard crashes and screams from your home. He rushed over although Laurie had told him to stay out of it and call the police instead. He reasoned that if you were in danger and something were to have happened to you, he’d feel responsible. He found you crying in your living room, picture frames smashed and your coffee table demolished, a dining room chair was lodged into it. You had a bruise forming on your temple, a bloody cut on your cheekbone, and you were cradling your arm to your chest. Your husband had driven off in his luxury car. Whatever doubt he had about the abuse vanished. The scene itself answered all his questions.

It was Andy who saved you from the dangerous home. It was Andy who helped you with your divorce.

After your divorce, your husband took off, leaving you the house and alimony checks. As your injuries slowly healed, you slowly built a relationship with the Barber family – primarily Andy. He’d often check in on you and invite you over, trying to make that big house of yours feel less lonely.

“I’m here for Andy,” you finally answered. You stared into the man’s eyes.

“Oh?” The man sneered. His teeth were yellow, maybe even rotting. He smirked at you. “You’re here about his boy.”

“Jacob’s a good a kid,” you nodded. You babysat and often drove the Barbers’ son to and from school when Andy asked. Aside from his standoffish and strange behavior (one time you swerved around a dead cat and Jacob seemed so fixated on the animal), he was a good kid.

“So, I’ve heard… But good kids don’t become murder suspects.”

“He’s innocent until proven guilty,” you frowned. “Why won’t you do it? Andy just wants you to swab your mouth. It’s easy. Hell, you don’t even have to do it, the guard will.” He crossed his arms and leaned forward to the glass. His stare was unwavering and cold – just like your father’s… just like your husband’s. “You want to punish Andy.”

“He won’t help me and he knows he can. He doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that I’m his father.”

“You haven’t given him a good reason to,” you snapped. “Andy’s a good man. A better man than most will ever be. And he’s a damn good father. He wouldn’t even have come down here if it weren’t for Jacob.”

“You talk like you’re in love with the man.” He smirked. He leaned back on his chair as he studied you. “You are, aren’t you?”

“That’s not your concern.”

He laughed. It boomed and made you flinch. You looked down at your hands. You weren’t trembling anymore. In fact, you were just frustrated. How can a kind, compassionate man like Andy be the spawn of this heartless killer?

“What kind of a good man turns his back on his own father,” the man asked.

“He turned his back on a murderer.”

“And you don’t think he won’t do the same to his son?”

“Jacob’s innocent until proven guilty,” you repeated. “What will it take to get you to do it?” He smirked at you and you felt a wave of disgust as you remembered the reason he was here in the first place. “Not like that, you sicko.”

“I’ll do it,” he nodded.

“What?” You stared at him in disbelief. He repeated the three words. You frowned at him. “Just a second ago – “

“It’s good Andy has someone on his side. Arguing for him. Defending him and his son.” He smiled, wickedly. “Too bad you aren’t the wife, huh? How is his wife? Laurie, is it?”

“I’m not as close to her as I am to Andy,” you admitted.

“I wonder why you two are so close that you’re willing to drive up here to talk to me.” The man gave you a knowing look.

“It’s not like that!”

“Okay, okay, calm down, honey,” he chuckled.

“You’re not fucking with me? You’re actually going to do it?”

“I will,” he nodded. “You got a spark in you, honey… It’s a shame you aren’t the wife. I’ll do it for my son.”

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Barber,” you muttered and popped the telephone back onto its stand. There was no reason to stick around and hear his taunts.

You did what you came there to do.

-=+=-

Andy was relieved and a bit confused. Joanna had informed him that his father agreed to the swab. After the brief conversation that the father and son had, his father had made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the trial – that he didn’t want to help Jacob. So, what made him change his mind?

He remembered talking to you about it. You were the first person he saw on his way back from seeing his father. He unloaded his frustrations on you, and you sat and listened to him. It reminded you of the times when you would confide in Andy about the abuse you endured from your father and your husband. It was the least you could do.

“Go inside. Tell your mom about the fish,” Andy told Jacob as the two began to unload the car. His son nodded and began to make his way to their front door. With a frown, Jacob looked over and saw his dad hastily walk towards your home. He shrugged before going inside.

Andy walked past the “For Sale” sign posted outside your lawn next to your mailbox. He frowned at the sign. When did you plan on leaving?

He knocked on your front door a few times and even rung the doorbell. He stood outside for a few long moments and just as he sighed and turned to leave, you opened the door.

“Sorry!” You apologized. Your hair was tied up and your forehead had a sheen of sweat.

“No worries… Mind if I come in?”

You widened the door and gestured for Andy to come inside. He gave you a small smile and a nod as he stepped through the door. The walls weren’t as decorated as he remembered. You must’ve taken down the picture frames. It made sense. Your husband was out of your life. Why keep the memories around? The hardwood floors were littered with boxes. Some were taped shut and had words scribbled on their sides – “kitchen”, “bedroom”, “donations”, etc.

“Sorry about the mess,” you muttered when you noticed that he was looking around the house.

“It’s not a problem, (Y/N), really,” Andy grinned.

“What can I do for you, Andy?”

“I think you’ve done enough.”

“What?” You frowned.

“You spoke to my father?” He asked. His tone was angry – or at least you registered it as so. Your eyes widened as you desperately looked around the room – staring at anything but Andy’s eyes. You crossed your arms as you tried to pull into yourself. It was a reaction you had when your husband raised his voice at you, an indicator that his patience was wearing thin and you were going to need an ice pack later. Andy’s brows furrowed in realization – you often held that posture whenever you spoke of your husband’s abuse. “I’m sorry… I’m not upset or anything, (Y/N). I just wanted to know why…”

You relaxed your arms as you found the courage to look at Andy. They did have the same eyes. “For you… and for Jacob,” you rushed. “I know it wasn’t my place, but you were so upset about it… I figured I could… I could give it a shot? Maybe talk some sense into him or convince him? I dunno… You helped me when I was in a tough spot, I thought I should at least try to return the favor.”

“You didn’t need to,” Andy shook his head. “But thank you.” You smiled at him and nodded. “No, really, thank you,” Andy sighed. To your surprise – and maybe even his – he wrapped his arms around you. You felt your cheeks flush as your ear was pressed against his chest. Andy’s chin rested at the top of your head.

You two stayed like that for a few minutes – it felt like eternity. You had forgotten what it felt like to be held, to be cared for, and appreciated. Perhaps Andy was the first man in your life that made you feel safe and you were grateful. Maybe that’s where your crush stemmed from. Andy was a kind man and an amazing father – things that were missing from your own life.

In turn, Andy had forgotten how it felt to hold someone. His and Laurie’s intimacy had been challenged for years now and their marriage took another hit with Jacob’s upcoming trial. He remembered how much he wanted to help you and get you out of your abusive marriage. It was a distraction from his own marriage that was slowly falling apart.

“You’re moving?” Andy asked after the long beats of silence.

“Yeah,” you said. “Nothing’s really keeping me in town anymore.”

Andy felt a pang in his chest. Nothing keeping you in town? Sure, your divorce was finalized – your husband had skipped town when his abuse came to light – but nothing was worth sticking around for?

“What about me?” Andy asked. It was wishful thinking, at best. Andy didn’t know why he asked the question. He had no justification for his next action either.

When you looked up at him with confusion, you had the intentions of asking him what he meant. But Andy leaned in and kissed you. His eyes were closed as his lips pressed against yours while yours were wide open with shock. But the kiss was sweet, gentle – you don’t remember being kissed like this. With your hands pressed against his chest, you meant to push him off and pull away, but your body refused – it loved the affection even if it was just an in-the-moment action on Andy’s behalf (he wasn’t sure if it was), but the kiss was nice.

Instead, your eyes fluttered closed and your hands went up to his cheeks. His beard was rough against your lips and hands, but you didn’t mind. You began to kiss him back, allowing yourself to get lost in the moment.

Then your brain and your conscience flared up. Just as sudden as the kiss began, it was abruptly cut short. Your mind made you pull away and with wide eyes, both you and Andy unwrapped yourselves from each other.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, taking a step back.

“No, no,” Andy shook his head. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have – “

“It was nothing, okay?”

Andy was taken back from your words. He wanted to argue – to tell you that it wasn’t nothing, that he felt something, and he was sure you felt it, too. But he stopped himself. He wasn’t thinking straight. The stress – whether it from his marriage or from the trial on the horizon, he didn’t know – was getting to him.

“Okay,” he finally agreed. “Nothing.”

“Okay,” you muttered. Arms crossing again. Your eyes darted around the room as you licked your lips. You could still taste him. “Well, um… you better get going.”

“Right,” Andy nodded. You walked him to the door and gave him a tight smile. “If you need any help with the moving or the packing, I’ll be happy to help. Repay the favor for the thing with my dad.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Andy,” you tried to smile. You closed the door after your farewells and a hand flew to cover your mouth. Tears brimming in your eyes.

You weren’t going to take him up on that offer. The guilt was already killing you. Although abuse was a major factor in your marriage’s demise, your husband cheating with much other women was the spark that started it all.

Now, here you were. You were the other woman.

READ PART 2 HERE

#andy barber imagine #andy barber #andy barber x reader #chris evans x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #chris evans #chris evans imagine #Requite #defending jacob #defending jacob imagine

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thejolexgroupchat · 4 years

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the one where they met in med school - part five

Jo is going through something and Alex is going to figure out what it is

Check out our Master List for parts 1-4 as well as other jolex fics we've been working on!

———

(May 2007)

Seattle Grace is a disaster zone full of lovesick, horny patients and doctors. It’s like Alex cannot turn a corner without finding someone hooking up or getting hit on. At first, he thinks he’s imagining things because there’s no way that Doctor Montgomery is staring at him like he’s a fresh piece of meat and she’s a hungry lion. They see each other almost everyday as he helps Ava recover and everyday the woman stares him down like she wants to jump him.

And that’s another thing, he was pretty sure that Ava is trying to hit on him too. He knew he was good looking and that his rare soft side has been on full display lately, but for fuck’s sake even his patients? Ava was easier to handle than Addison, but both women were giving him a run for his money.

“You know, I think she’s trying to get in your pants,” Ava’s voice startled him as he looked up from her chart, brows furrowing as he looked at her. “Doctor Montgomery. She keeps looking at you with those sex eyes, like if I wasn’t here she’d be all over you.”

Well at least he isn’t crazy… Alex heaved a sigh and closed the chart, meeting Ava’s eyes with a smirk, “She can stare all she wants, I am off the market and not interested in one of my superiors dragging me into a supply closet for a quick hookup.”

He could tell Ava was shocked. Who in this death trap isn’t by the fact that Doctor Evil Spawn is tied down? She paused for a moment before a laugh came out, eyes falling to her hands that lay over her swollen belly, “Figures, I knew you were too handsome to be single. Does she work here too? It seems like everyone in this hospital is screwing.”

“No she’s back in Boston, she’ll be here in a few weeks though,” just saying the words out loud makes Alex’s heart flutter. Both Jo and Lexie had been accepted to the next class of interns at Seattle Grace, meaning that as soon as they walked across the stage in June they’d be flying across the country to Seattle. “It’s been too damn long, we’ve been doing long distance for almost a year now.”

“A year? Do you see her ever? I’m sure you’re super busy here,” Ava seemed genuinely curious about Alex and Jo’s relationship, a refreshing take compared to his friends that only asked if he was getting laid or not.

“Yeah we’ve both been out to see each other a few times. I just went there in March actually. It’s not enough, though. It’s not the same,” his mind now occupied with thoughts of his girlfriend, Alex said goodbye to Ava and left her room. He wasn’t even through the doorway of an on-call room before he dialed Jo’s number and waited for her to answer. “Hey you, how’s your day?”

“Fine.”

The one word answer stopped Alex’s heart. Usually, Jo was more than ready to rant about classes or tell him something exciting that she saw on campus. Instead, her monotone voice and lack of words scared him.

So he did the only thing he could think of and decided to call Lexie. The phone went to voicemail twice before it was answered, “Alex what’s going? I’m at work.”

“What’s wrong princess? Bad day?”

“No it’s just been long,” Jo sighed, her voice seeming even further away. “I have a headache, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry babe, if it makes you feel better, one of my patients thinks that my boss is trying to screw me,” Alex’s voice was light hearted as he tried to cheer Jo up, but her frustrated sigh on the other end of the line told him that she didn’t find the situation amusing. “Look, I’m sorry. I thought it was a funny story but-”

“Hey, Lexie. I’m sorry, but is Jo okay?”

“What?” Lexie scrunched her face. “That’s why you’re calling me? I have to get back to the lab.”

“Don’t hang up! It’s just… I called her a few minutes ago and she was acting weird. She was giving me short answers and then she hung up on me. She sounded stressed and nervous. Not school stressed either. I’m worried,” Alex explained.

“I know you two have been together for years, but it still kind of freaks me out whenever I hear you talk like this… Now that you mention it though, Jo has been acting off. Normally she’s really chatty in the evenings, but lately she’s been distracted.”

"Did something happen?" Alex asked.

"Not that I know of… should I get off work early and go check on her?"

"No, it's fine. I'll take care of it. Thanks Lexie," Alex hung up the phone and decided to look for Bailey.

“I gotta go, I’ll call you later,” the line went dead before Alex could say anything else, leaving him to stare down at the phone in his hands in shock. No matter how angry or upset his girlfriend has been she’d never hung up on him like that, not even during their big blowout fight a few weeks before.

After a few minutes of running around the hospital, he finally found Bailey sitting behind the nursing station giving Izzie some instructions about a patient's post-op care, "Dr. Bailey can I speak with you for a moment?"

"Say what you need to say, Karev. Stevens and I are very busy today. I don't have time to waste," Bailey replied without looking up from her charts.

Alex looked up at Izzie who just shrugged and motioned for him to speak, "I need the rest of the day off, the next few days actually."

Bailey looked up from the chart she was writing in, an unimpressed expression on her face, "Excuse me?"

"I know we're swamped and I'm on Ava's case, but I really just need a couple days. There's been a family emergency and I need to catch the next flight to Boston," Alex looked at Bailey expectantly.

"Is everything okay?" Izzie asked, concerned.

"I don't know. I couldn't really get a lot of information over the phone, but I need to get to Boston as soon as possible. Please," Alex waited for a couple seconds for Dr. Bailey's response.

"You are lucky I like you," Bailey mumbled. "Go Karev, get out of here. You have three days. Call me if it's really bad and you need more."

Alex nodded in thanks and ran to the locker room to collect his things. By the time he arrived at the airport, an hour had passed since he left the hospital. He ran up to the ticket counter and asked for the next flight to Boston. It was pricey, but the plane would leave in an hour, meaning Alex had to be quick if he wanted to make it in time for boarding.

The rest of the time in between him getting to Boston was a blur. When his plane touched down, it was midnight on the east coast. He called a cab and hopped in, giving them Jo’s address. It was 12:37am when he finally arrived. Alex walked up the steps to the apartment and knocked on the door. There was a shuffling on the inside before the door opened.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jo’s eyes widened as she opened the door. She looked like shit, her eyes were red and puffy and she was dressed in one of Alex’s dark blue flannels and some pajama shorts.

“I was worried about you, you didn’t sound okay when I called,” Alex watched Jo’s bottom lip tremble as she held back tears, his hands coming up to hold her shoulders as she looked up at her. “Jo, what’s wrong?”

Jo tried to open her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Instead a sob broke from her throat, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks as Alex pulled her into his embrace. His hands rubbed her back slowly as he attempted to quiet her sobs.

“Jo what’re you- Alex? What the hell,” Alex looked up and met Lexie’s eyes behind Jo, hers softening as she glanced at her friend who was still crying. “She wouldn’t tell me anything, she’s been crying on and off since I got home.”

“Come on babe, let’s get you to bed,” Alex pulled back from Jo just long enough to hook his arms under her legs so he could carry her to her bedroom. She made no protests as she nuzzled further into Alex’s chest, her silence throwing him off as they settled into bed together. “I’ll be here in the morning, you just sleep.”

Jo’s sobs had turned into sniffles as she pressed her face into the crook of Alex’s neck. She was never a big cuddler when they would sleep together, most of the time Alex would be fighting her for room on the mattress as she starfished across it. That’s how Alex could tell something wasn’t right, the way that Jo was curled up into a ball pressed as close to him as possible told him everything he needed to know.

Somewhere around 3am, Alex felt Jo poke him in the side. He opened his eyes and looked at the face of the woman he loved only to find her usual joyful demeanor replaced with one of fear. He watched as Jo took a deep breath, “We need to go to the store.”

“The store? For what? Jo, it’s three in the morning. Is anything even open right now?” Alex furrowed his brow.

“There’s a twenty-four hour CVS a couple blocks away,” Jo lifted her head from its place on Alex’s chest and moved to get out of bed. “I just really need to get something from the store.”

“Jo, the store can wait. We can go in a few hours,” Alex tried reasoning with her.

“It can’t wait!” Jo exclaimed as tears began to trickle down her face again. “It can’t wait Alex. We need to go right now.”

“Okay, we’ll go now. Just calm down for me,” Alex placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to get dressed. Give me two minutes.”

By the time they arrived at CVS, it was 3:23am. Alex made a move to exit the car when Jo placed a hand on his arm, “No! Stay here. I’ll go alone.”

“What? No, Jo it’s three in the morning. I’m not letting you go into the store alone,” Alex protested.

“There’s nobody here. I will be fine,” Jo opened the car door. “Besides, I know how to take care of myself. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

Alex was extremely confused. He had no idea what the hell was wrong with his girlfriend, but he knew it wasn’t good. In the years he’d known her, Alex had never seen her like this. He tried racking his brain for any possible thing that could’ve led her to acting like this but he came up blank.

Jo entered the car with a plastic bag in her hands, breaking him from his thoughts. He looked over at her, “You good?”

“Yeah,” Jo’s voice and face despondent. “Just drive the car.”

“Okay…”

As they walked back into her apartment, Alex gave Jo a worried look. She’d been silent the entire car ride and Alex basically had to drag her up the stairs to the apartment. He sighed, “Jo, come on. It’s been hours since I got here and you still haven’t told me anything. I left the hospital early and asked for the next three days off because I know you are not okay. I know something is wrong and I’m worried about you. Please, I love you. I am here. Let me help you.”

Wiping a couple stray tears from her face, Jo pulled Alex into the bathroom and locked the door. She handed him the bag containing what she’d just purchased from CVS.

Alex’s eyes widened as he removed what was inside the bag, “Holy shit.”

“Yeah,” Jo swallowed nervously. She leaned against the sink and closed her eyes. “Now you know why I’m acting so weird… I’m freaking out here, Alex.”

Alex looked from the unopened pregnancy test box in his hand back to Jo, “It’s okay. Everything is going to be fine Jo. You’re going to take the test and I’m going to be right here the entire time. I’m not going anywhere, no matter what this test says.”

“Can you just… go in the hallway while I pee,” Jo’s voice was quiet and far away as she looked up at Alex. Their eyes met and they both took in the same expression of fear that the other wore.

Alex nodded and left the bathroom, sliding down the wall of the hallway as he waited for what seemed to be forever for Jo to finish. His mind was racing, heart hammering in his chest as he played the last two months over in his head. If Jo was… it had to have happened when he came out in March. They’d been careful, they were always careful, but the trip had been short and sweet and they’d spent most of their time in bed.

“It says wait three minutes,” Alex is startled out of his train of thought by Jo’s voice, her figure now standing in front of him with a solemn expression. She had thrown on one of his Iowa State sweatshirts in her haste to get out the door, the fabric hanging loosely off her body as she sat on the ground and dragged herself into Alex’s waiting arms. “I’m scared, Alex.”

“Hey if it is positive you’re already heading to Seattle in a few weeks anyways. We can work it out,” Alex brushed his fingers through Jo’s hair as he pulled her close, his lips pressing into her forehead. “I love you, no matter what happens I’m always gonna love you.”

Jo nodded her head, but didn’t speak anymore. Alex felt terrible, she’d probably been carrying this around for a few days by herself while he was clueless on the other side of the country. The past year had been hell on earth for him, but he took a little comfort in the fact that in just a few short weeks they’d be waking up next to each other again.

“I’m late, like stupid late, and I haven’t been able to keep food down all week,” Jo’s voice was muffled as she pressed herself further in Alex’s chest, his fingers rubbing against her back in slow circles as her breathing became more erratic. “I’m so freaking stupid, I can’t believe this. I’m so dumb.”

Brows furrowed, Alex looked down at his girlfriend in worry. He’d never seen her this upset about something, leading him to believe that an unexpected pregnancy wasn’t the only thing clouding her mind at the moment, “You’re not stupid, I was there too. If anything I’m the stupid one.”

Jo sniffled, one hand coming up to wipe at her cheeks as she met Alex’s gaze. He’d never seen her so devoid of emotion, her face blank as she blinked up at him, “I’m ruining your life. I should’ve just let you go to Seattle without being tied to me because now you’re gonna be stuck with me and all this shit. You don’t deserve any of this.”

Alex’s face softened, his hands coming up to cradle Jo’s face tenderly. She was sitting here waiting for the results of a pregnancy test and she was worried about him instead of herself.

“Babe, you didn’t ruin anything, you never could. I’m not here because you’re forcing me to, I’m here because I want to be and because I love you,” brushing back her hair, Alex leaned his forehead against Jo’s. “No matter what happens, nothings going to change how I feel about you. Okay?”

“Can… Can you go look? Please.”

Rising from the floor, Alex walked into the bathroom and stared down at the three tests laying across the counter. Hands braced on the countertop, he let out a sigh as he looked back to Jo.

“Negative. All three are negative.”

Jo released the breath she had been holding, “Oh thank God… okay… okay.”

Alex stood silent for a moment and watched as Jo allowed a few tears to slide down her face. He crouched down next to her, one of the tests in his hands, “See. They’re negative. You’re probably just stressed about finals. It’s all good, we’re okay.”

“I’m relieved that it’s negative. I really am. We can’t handle this right now,” Jo spoke after a couple moments of silence. She looked up at Alex, eyes shining with unshed tears. “But… Is it wrong that I’m a little disappointed, though?”

Alex raised his eyebrows in surprise at her words. He and Jo never really talked about kids. It wasn’t something that was on either one of their radars. They were content with just the two of them. Alex had always assumed that he and Jo would be together until one or both of them died from old age. He didn’t need anything other than to have her by his side.

On top of all that, he didn’t think Jo wanted kids. Neither of them had very good upbringings, but Jo definitely had it worse than he did. Even though she’d never verbalized it, he knew she was afraid of being a bad mom to their hypothetical child. He supposed it was similar to the fear he had about being a horrible father, given his own history with crappy dads.

Alex's mouth twitched slightly, "It's not wrong. There's nothing wrong with feeling disappointed."

"I know, but we've never talked about it," Jo shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't even know I wanted it until just now. I've never thought about it. I've always assumed that I'd never find someone who'd want to do that with me."

That's when Alex understood. Even after three years, Jo still expected that one day he'd leave her. She thought that one day, he'd find someone better—as if that person existed—and she'd be alone. Jo didn't understand the concept of forever, she'd never had anyone stick around. It was a bit of a wake up call for him. Alex realized that he'd never been clear with his intentions.

“I guess this is my fault,” Alex rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. “I’ve never said my intentions out loud because I thought they were all so obvious. I didn’t think they needed to be vocalized, but I’m not going anywhere. This ‘someone who would want to do that with you’ you thought you’d never find is me, Jo. I want it all with you. You are my home, and I never wanna go anywhere without you, do you hear me?”

Alex lifted Jo’s chin to make sure she was looking into his eyes. He noticed hers were full of tears and knew it was probably because nobody had ever said that to her before. Pulling her closer, he placed a kiss on her head, “And you don’t need to feel guilty about being disappointed.”

He moved his head so their foreheads touched, “Someday, when the right time comes, we’re gonna have a family to call our own. Until then, it’ll be just us, but we won’t need anybody else. We’re the only family we need, right? You and me,” Alex smiled, earning a smile and a chuckle from her. “We’re gonna have it all, Jo” he said.

“Someday,” Jo looked at him from the corner of her eyes with a shy smile.

Alex pulled her into a meaningful kiss, “Someday.”

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omegasshyghuleh6661ghosts · 4 years

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Prompt List

1: Person A is pregnant and is trying to get Person B to talk to the baby; Person B feels self-conscious, silly, ridiculous, etc. talking to A’s belly, and at first begins speaking jokingly, but soon gets very involved. Bonus points if A gets emotional.

2: Imagine person a of your otp is pregnant. they’re not very far along yet so they haven’t told person b. one night when a thinks b’s asleep they mumble something about what a great parent b will be.

3: Imagine Person A coming home from work only to find Person B and their kid(s) all cuddled up under a blanket fort, fast asleep [X]

4: Imagine person A of your OTP approaching person B really nervously to talk to them about something. B is unsure what to make of this until A finally comes out with what they wanted to talk about: they would like a child.

5: Imagine your OTP rushing to the hospital to see their niece/nephew being born.

6: Imagine your OTP’s child catching them dancing together like dorky parents.

7: Imagine that Person A is heavily pregnant and is laying on the couch. Person B comes and gives A a smooch on their belly, but at the exact spot and time where they kiss, the baby gives a huge kick. B is a little thrown off but they laugh and say, “That little shit just kicked me in the mouth!”

8: Imagine your OTP has a child. Now imagine that Person A of your OTP is being a complete dork in an attempt to make the usually sarcastic child laugh. The child then looks at Person B just shaking their head and saying “You married a dork, did you know that?”

9: Imagine your OTP welcoming a new baby. Person A would post lots of cute photos on social media gushing about how blessed they are and the exact times and weights, etc. and Person B would just post a photo of themselves holding the baby like ‘I spawned’.

10: Imagine your OTP snuggling in bed with their newborn baby between them.

11: Imagine your OTP picking out baby names

12: Imagine your OTP competing to get their baby to say “mama” or “dada” first and the baby ends up saying the dog’s name instead

13: Imagine half of your OTP carrying the sonogram around with them everywhere they go

14: Imagine your OTP hearing their baby giggle for the first time

15: Imagine your OTP spending their first Valentine’s day as parents

16: Imagine your OTP finding out they’re having twins

17: Person A of your OTP is up with the baby at night telling them how they met Person B while Person B listens quietly outside of the room

18: Imagine your otp taking their child trick-or-treating

19: Imagine half of your OTP finding the other half asleep with the baby asleep on their chest and stopping to take a picture

20: Imagine your OTP not being able to pull themselves away from their newborn’s side as they sleep

21: Imagine Person A of your OTP singing to their child as Person B secretly listens over the baby monitor.

22: Imagine person A of your OTP being put on bed rest and getting incredibly annoyed as person B waits on them hand and foot

23: Imagine Person A of your OTP telling Person B that they and their child are the best thing that has ever happened to them.

24: Imagine Person A of your OTP placing Person B’s hand on their stomach to feel their baby kick.

25: Imagine your OTP giving up on the chance to ever become parents, only to find out that Person A is pregnant.

26: Imagine your OTP reading their child a bedtime story.

27: Imagine your OTP telling their child that they’re going to have a younger sibling.

28: Imagine your otp seeing their baby for the first time. [X]

29: It’s New Years Eve, and your OTP has a baby. Friends/family/whoever come over to ring in the New Year. Early in the night, Person A puts the baby to sleep in their nursery, closing the door so the noise of the party doesn’t bother them. Close to midnight, the baby wakes up, and A goes to soothe them. Not wanting to miss getting a New Years kiss with their partner, Person B follows them up. At midnight, they have their New Years kiss with their baby in A’s arms, in the quiet of the nursery.

30: While Person A is doing ____ <insert some activity that usually happens before the magical moment of proposal> ready to propose, Person B decides that it’s a good time to drop the pregnancy bomb.

31: Write about the repercussions of an accidental pregnancy.

32: Your OTP cannot have a child between them biologically (for whatever reason!), and so Person A insists on adopting. Person B doesn’t want to adopt, but after much insistence, gives in. They go to see who they can adopt, and Person A is adamant that they adopt a baby. As soon as that baby is put into Person B’s arms, they melt and feel absolute love for this child.

33: Imagine your OTP’s child loving books, and reading them extremely fast. Person A makes them a promise that they’ll always buy them books as long as they’re a good kid, and ends up spending an abundance of money (much to Person B’s dismay)

34: Person A and Person B have finally decided that they feel ready and wanna try to have/adopt a child.

That emotional conversation was yesterday.

Today, Person A woke up and started making little dad jokes, saying little mom phrases, or being really parental in general.

Person B thinks it’s cute, of course. But after the third time Person A says “oops gonna move right on past ya” in the kitchen…. B is rethinking this whole “make my spouse/partner into a parent of my child” thing.

35: Some mornings, everything went absolutely according to plan, with a full bodied ease and smoothness. Other mornings, it was more like you’d been woken up by a two foot tall monster screaming twelve contradicting commands at you before collapsing to the floor because, no, there’s no such thing as a dinosaur waffle and Mommy doesn’t have the artistic skill to make one.

Today was definitely the latter.

36: “Woah woah woah, wait! You – you want a WHAT?”

“A kid, B, a kid. For God’s sake it’s not like I’m speaking Russian.”

37: “What the hell is that thing? Get it away from me!”

“Its just a baby?”

38: Imagine your OTP hours after they have welcomed their first child. Of course, they’re still at the hospital. Person A is asleep. Person B has some alone time with the baby. They didn’t allow themselves to cry or become very “sappy” earlier, but now that their partner is asleep, they don’t care. They let it all out.

Bonus: Person A is awake the whole time and hears everything, but pretends they are asleep. Whether or not they bring it up later is up to you.

39: “I’m a little scared, but overall? Excited.”

40: “Hey, come feel my stomach! They’re kicking.”

41: “We’ve been fighting over the wall colors for two days now. I want to make some sort of alien world on the walls, but they said that’s too much work. It’d be worth it.”

42: “So far, the only names I can think of just aren’t good enough.”

43: “Of course the first thing that turned out positive in my life would be a pregnancy test.”

44: Prompt: Imagine person A of your OTP is pregnant and having to put up with some kicks and squirms from the baby which are rather bothersome to A. B then sings to the baby which seems to calm it down or rather lull it to sleep.

45: “Let’s have a baby.”

46: Person A tries to think of an excuse as to why they aren’t drinking without letting Person B know that they are pregnant.

47: Write something that begins with a positive pregnancy test.

48:“This is your fault.”

49: “Take responsibility.”

50: One party finds out they’re pregnant while the other party is away/captured/missing. [X]

51: Sitting on the floor of a public bathroom holding a positive pregnancy test.

52: Denying they’re pregnant until they pass out (what from, you decide).

53: Hiding pregnancy from the other partner.

54: “Remember how I said I didn’t want kids?”

55: “I didn’t think we’d ever do it.”

56: “My parents are gonna be so happy.”

57: “My parents are gonna kill me.”

58: “I told Mom/Dad I’m pregnant, they kicked me out.”

59: “Do you think it’ll be a boy, or a girl?”

60: Baby kicks for the first time.

61: Discussing baby names.

62: Cuddling.

63: “You’re not fat, you’re pregnant, and even if you were fat, I don’t care. I love you.”

64: “I dunno if I’ll be a good Mom/Dad.”

65: “I’m emotional and pregnant, leave me alone.”

66: “Get them to settle down in there, will you?”

67: “Baby’s coming, now.”

68: “Don’t let go of my hand, okay?”

69: “You’re not going anywhere.”

70: “I can’t do this.”

71: “I’m so tired.”

72: A long and difficult labor, with a good or bad end.

73: “I’m going to kill you if you do this to me again.”

74: Parents relaxing with their newborn(s)/looking at them in awe.

75: “I will always protect you.”

76: “You can do this.”

77: Over the years, our relationship had evolved more than I could have ever imagined. We had started off as two dumb kids stumbling through adulthood together, sharing laughter and shouting matches. But now we had grown, still young at heart but well settled into the world around us. Things were placid and yet never boring with them. I wanted nothing more than to spend my days together forever.

Finally, I worked up the courage to buy them a ring.

78: A:*holding up marriage certificate* this is a legal contract that says you have to love me.

B:*smirking*what are the consequences?

*Nsfw or playfight ensues* [X]

79: Your OTP being really in love even when they are old , doing stuff that young couples do like having dates at different restaurants , staying up all night , talking about the sweet and the sour, some PDA like holding hands and kissing . Their children telling them about the fact that they are not young anymore but they don’t care .

80: Person A: you know what B? I am going to marry you one day.

Person B: *flattered, awkward, and sarcastic bc they're unsure of how to respond* heh— you’ll have to fight for my honor first.

Person A: okay!

Person B: ⚆ _ ⚆ wait what

81: But a soulmate au where markings blossom at the place they first touch you. It starts with a little prick, like a bug bite or a needle and this beautiful dark ink swirls around your arm after some stranger pushed past you. A static zap ricochets across your shoulder blades as that idiot you see around sometimes shoves you by your back, pale blue curves look like wings across your back. Then can you imagine the other person? That idiot having both his hands absolutely covered in this baby blue filigree, the other stranger with navy scrawled across their lower bicep and trailing down their inner forearm, just ugh like somebody with whimsical purple running up their finger but for gods sake, they just wanted a pen.

82: “Dear god, you’re beautiful.”

“No need to sound quite so surprised, we’ve only been married for the last decade.”

83: Imagine a soulmate au where whenever your soulmate listens to music, you can hear it too and the only way you can find them is when the music they’re listening to gets louder the closer you are to them.

84: Imagine a soulmate au where you can taste the things that they are eating or drinking and the only way you can find them is to find the places that serve that same kind of food or drink they’re eating/drinking.

85: Imagine a soulmate au where the heart in your chest is your soulmate’s and you can feel whatever they’re currently feeling and the only way you can find them is when it stops beating. Kind of like taking the “When I first met you, I swear I could feel my heart stop beating” literally.

86: Imagine a soulmate au where your level of talent at a hobby determines on how close you are to your soulmate.

87: Imagine a soulmate au where your dreams are a mixture of your soulmate’s past and present memories and the only way you know that you’ve met them is when you see yourself.

88: Imagine a soulmate au where everyone is given a book at birth with no pages in it and the only way the pages begin to magically appear is when they are finally born. Each chapter is linked to your soulmate’s age and the pages within that chapter represent a day of their life with a small collection of things that they have said throughout the day. The only way you will know that you’ve met your soulmate is when the pages stop appearing and the last thing that was said on the last page is actually the first word or sentence that they said to you.

89: Imagine a soulmate au where you’re given a necklace that changes to the colors of what they’re currently feeling and the temperature is linked to how close you are to them. For example, nothing being very far away, cold being closer, and warm being they’re right in front of you. But, whenever they take the necklace off of them, the connection is lost and you won’t know what they’re feeling or if you’ve even met each other.

90: the voice you hear your thoughts in is your soulmate’s but you don’t know who they are until you hear them speak for the first time

91: your soulmate’s initials are imprinted in your skin of your hand at birth and the letters burn more intensely as the day you meet them grows closer

92: you’ve only ever seen your soulmate in your dreams but you can never remember what they look like, the imaginary life you have with them picks up wherever it leaves off when you fall asleep again. but the dreams stop after you meet them, but you have no way of know who they are because you still can’t remember their face

93: your soulmate’s hair color is the color of your eyes. the color of your eyes also changes to match the color of their hair if they dye it

94: you think you have a sleepwalking problem but it’s really just the universe trying to bring you to your soulmate when your mind is disengaged

95: you’ve been sketching your soulmate’s face since you were old enough to pick up a pencil, the drawings become more realistic through the years as the day you meet comes near

96: you’re born with a band of your soulmate’s skin color tattooed in your skin

97: all of your dreams are your soulmate’s most significant memories from that given day

98:“Have I told you recently that you’re utterly gorgeous?”

“No,” they hummed, eyes soft and lips curled with amusement. “Remind me.”

99: Tol is reading a book and Smol is trying to get their attention

100: Smol has trouble reaching something on the top shelf so Tol has to help them

101: Smol/Tol is obsessed with Smol/Tol’s hands because of the size difference

102: Smol sometimes gets mistaken for a child and gets defensive so Tol has to calm them down

103: Tol and Smol have a habit of writing “Tol” and “Smol” on each other’s papers

104: Tol and Smol have a lot of the same classes and whenever Smol is sad, Tol gives them piggyback rides from class to class

105: Tol gets asked out a lot when Smol goes with them to bars so whenever a person flirts with Tol, Smol gets defensive and is ready to fight

106: Tol is always coming up behind Smol and kissing their head, hugging their waist, covering their eyes, etc. and despite it having started months (or years) ago, it still always surprises Smol

107: Tol is hogging the blankets, so Smol tries to roll them over, but after many failures, Smol just snuggles closer.

108: Smol tosses and turns in their sleep and usually ends up rolled up in the covers, leaving Tol in the cold, but Tol just smiles and cuddles their happy lil sushi roll

109: Smol has sleep problems and Tol tries to stay awake with them most nights and they soon run out of things to do, so they decide to try 2 AM baking

110: Tol is a kind, gentle sweetheart, and Smol is their adorable little ball of fire

111: Tol and Smol are dancing and Tol makes a joke about Smol’s size so Smol retaliates by pulling Toll down to their height and teasing them about being stronger [X]

112: Tol helps Smol clean their closet and starts flipping their shit over how tiny Smol’s clothes are. Bonus points if Tol calls Smol their “Little doll”

113: “You should totally pretend to propose to me,” their best friend said. “We can see if someone in the restaurant gives us free drinks. People love it when stuff like that happens.” My stomach flipped. I couldn’t even say I liked you, let alone propose - fake or not. “Why am I the one proposing? You do it. It was your idea.”

114: “Everyone thinks we’re a couple.” “I know.” “You know? It doesn’t bother you?” “Should it? Does it bother you? I mean, personally I think I could do worse as far as fake lovers go, but…”

115: “Look, attending prom without knowing how to dance was tragic the first time. I just can’t let you face that humiliation twice.” “Thanks.” The other held out a hand, a small smile on their lips. “Don’t worry, I’m a good teacher. Everyone says so.” They stifled a laugh.

116: “You’re ok, right? You’re not hurt?!”

“No, no, no, I’m fine! Totally fine, no, no, I’m fine.”

“Really? Because you’re repeating your words, you look pale, and you look like you’re about to topple over.”

“Yeah, you might wanna catch me.”

117: PALM KISSING.

118: Sitting next to someone, hands in one’s lap, leaning against them and kissing their shoulder

119: “The eyelid kiss is said to produce a unique sensation of an un-wordly nature, running from the base of the spine to the knees”

120: A kiss on the temple

121: Laying opposite directions on a couch, or with someone’s legs in their lap, kissing the knees or shins

122: Randomly while holding hands bringing joined hands together to kiss the back of the hand

123: Topless and face-down, a kiss on the shoulder blade [X]

124: The playful kiss on the tip of the nose

125 Laying on someone’s chest and kissing their sternum

126: Kissing the crown of the head

127: A kiss on the inside of the wrist

128: Behind someone who’s sitting down, leaning over to kiss the forehead (and potentially block their eyesight with hair falling in their face)

129: Kissing scars either shortly or long after they’ve healed

130: Standing behind someone, hugging them around the arms or the waist, and kissing the top edge of the shoulder

131: Kissing someone to stop them blurting out a secret/something they’ll regret

132: “Sorry, give me a sec-” they scrounged up their notes. Their hand trembled. “I wrote it down so this wouldn’t come out wrong. Sorry.” “You’re not dying, are you?” the best friend sounded worried. “What - no? No, I’m not dying. Nobody’s dying. Well, someone probably is. Every six seconds and all that but - no one we know. That I know about.” “It’s really, really cute when you start rambling.” They lost track of their notes a second time. Their skin went hot. “What?” “Will you go out with me?” “Did you just read my notes upside down?”

133: I kissed you like you were the centre of my gravity, everything in me drawn, falling falling falling always falling for you. A hand on the back of my neck, a dizzied breath as your thumb brushed an exposed slice of skin at my hip and then crept and settled upwards, warm and steady. Breathless, tentative, abruptly shy as our panting breaths chased the silence. Our eyes met. Yours - soft, a promise that if I fell I would always be caught. A smile tugged at the corners of your mouth. “Hey, you.” And then you kissed me again.

134:They started to creep out of bed, heart pounding, thoughts fogging their brain. Their friend flung out an arm without opening their eyes, catching them around the waist and reeling them back in. Their friend pressed a kiss to their neck. “Easy,” their friend murmured. “You don’t need to panic, it’s fine. Talk to me.”

135: “It’s funny, isn’t it.” They kept their eyes on their best friend’s hand, trailing idle patterns because it was easier than looking at their expression. “That we both knew, but never said anything.” “Never felt like it needed saying.” Their friend’s gaze was intent, and a finger teased over their lip, feather-light. “Would you like me to say it now?”

136: “I love you.”

“Ew, gross.”

“We’re married!”

Their partner grinned at them fondly and leaned in for a kiss.

“Ew.” Came the flat, secretly amused, nose wrinkled reply. “Gross.”

137: “I really want to kiss you right now”

“Then do it”

138: “Are you trying to seduce me?”

“That depends on if it’s working or not,” they replied with a lazy grin. Their head tilted, and they wet their lips a little nervously. “Is it?”

139: Baby, it’s cold outside: Things don’t go too well for both muse A and B when they decide to go on a little vacation together. Resting in a cabin together, our muses wake up to find out that - they can’t leave? During their slumber, a snow-storm had hit and blocked both the windows and doors, locking them inside! Do they stay positive about this situation and keep warm inside? Or do they try and find a way to somehow escape?

140: A spoonful of sugar: Catching a high fever, Muse A is too sick to even move from their bed. Muse B, worries about the other makes their way to their house only to see what horrible condition they are in! Ignoring the stubbornness of Muse A who insists they’re fine, Muse B is now determined to nurse them back to good health! Blankets, Ice-packs, warm soup in bed… anything that’ll get them back on their feet and well again.

141: Handful of flour: Muse A and Muse B decide to bake sweets in the kitchen! Muse A asks Muse B to get some flour from the cabinet, but instead of delivering it to them they instead take a handful and throw it right at Muse A - to which Muse A respond by throwing a handful right back at them!

142: Rain Rain, Go away; While Muse A is at Muse B’s house, a thunderstorm soon sweeps in and ruins their peaceful day together. Now this wouldn’t be a problem because their indoors; but Muse A is terrified of thunderstorms. The storm only escalates to the point where the power turns off, leaving them in the darkness and and surrounded by the loud clashes of thunder. Muse A begins panicking, and it’s up to Muse B to keep them calm and get their mind off of what is going on until the storm passes.

143: What happened?: Muse A and Muse B wake up after a long night of partying in bed naked with no memory of what happened the night before.

144: “Everyone thinks we’re a couple.”

“Well, we did sleep together.”

“Yes -literally. As in, just sleeping!”

“I’m wondering if your horror should insult me.”

“I - what - no -”

“-I enjoyed sleeping with you.”

“You find this far too funny.”

“Maybe I’m just flattered.”

And with that, they were speechless.

145: “Fuck it - do you wanna get married?”

146: “Your smile is beyond gorgeous… please, keep doing it.”

147: “Whenever we’re together, I feel at home.”

148: “Will you say you love me? Pleeease?”

149: “Wait, don’t go! Can’t you stay the night?”

150: “Wow - you look… amazing.”

151: “*Puts hands over eyes from behind* Guess whooo?”

152: “I’m not jealous! It’s just… you’re mine!”

153: “I want to go on a date! I demand it!”

154: “We just met, this is crazy, I’m referencing a song… but call me maybe?”

155: “What? No! I wasn’t staring… I-I was looking at something behind you!”

156: “Do you want some? Here, open your mouth… I’ll feed you some!”

157: “It’s been a long day… here, let me give you a massage.”

158: “Is it alright if I call you princess?”

159: “It’s not like I like you or anything! … Okay, well- maybe I do.”

160: “I think your perfect. Even with your flaws, you’re nothing but perfect.”

161: “That was barely even a kiss! Do it again - please?”

162: “What? No. I wasn’t aiming for your hand. I was reaching for the, uh- popcorn.”

163: I have you shoved against the wall but now I can’t stop looking at your mouth

164: We were dancing but all of a sudden it’s a slow song and we’re standing here awkwardly staring at each other

165: I just told you I liked you but now I’m shy and say “never mind, forget it” and why are you looking at me like that?

166: We slept in the same bed for space reasons but now we’re just waking up and there’s something about your bleary eyes and mussed hair

167: It’s time to fight the boss and if I don’t tell you now, I might not live to tell you

168: Congratulations! One of your dreams has finally come true. Let me give you a big hug and wow, you’re warm…

169: Imagine your OTP with their new baby/babies. [X]

170: Oh, my God, I thought you were going to die. Please don’t ever scare me like that again.

171: We’re hiding from the authorities and it’s very close quarters in here, I can feel your body against mine.

172: Wait, my hero’s secret identity is… you? To be honest, I’d always kind of hoped…

173: You’ve said you’re going to leave, but I don’t want you to go and if I don’t say something now…

174: We were pretending to be lovers but I’m not pretending anymore and I have to know if you feel the same way

175: This wasn’t meant to be a date, but we’ve had such a good time and now it’s 2 a.m. and I should really go home…

176: Making the bed together

177: Tying his tie

178: Him/Her zipping your dress

179: Dropping hints so he'll give you his jacket

180: Watching sitcoms together

181: Being stuck at their house during a blizzard

182: Reading together by the fire

183: Building a fort together

184: Hold hands

185: Watching the classics

186: Slow dancing in the living room

187: Baking together

188: Passing notes in class

189: Borrowing his gloves and them being way too big

190: Take walks

191: Go on a picnic in the park

192: Drive through the city at night

193: Go on a road trip

194: Give each other handmade gifts

195: Go on a romantic vacation together

196: Sleep on a trampoline with blankets and pillows

197: Take a nap together

198: Go on a photography adventure

199: Play video games together

200: Have a beach date

201: Take a train somewhere

202: Spend a day in character as whomever the other chooses

203: Write sappy poems for each other

204: Clean together

205: Watch each other's favourite movies

206: Rent a tiny rowboat on a small pond and read sappy poetry to each other

207: Go to an amusement park together

208: Surprise each other with breakfast in bed

209: Go shopping together

210: Do art together

211: Play/Kiss in the rain

212: Take a steamy shower together

213: Take a soothing bubble bath together

214: Make traditions

215: Cuddle

216: Go to the movies

217: Pick outfits for each other

218: Sneak pictures of each other

219: Make bets together

220: Go on fancy dinner dates

221: Do couples' challenges together

222: Fall asleep together [X]

223: "See, I knew you'd be good with her."

224: Celebrate holidays together

225: "She makes me happier than anything I've ever known, and if I can have a part in making her happy again, that's all I want to do. That's all I want to do for the rest of my life."

226: “You have something in your hair - let me get it for you.”

227: “Hm? Oh, sorry. I couldn’t help but stare at you.”

228: “Um, would it be okay if I held your hand?”

229: “Shut up and kiss me already.”

230: “You’re the most important person in my life.”

231: “Are you tired? Here, I’ll carry you the rest of the way.”

232:“I’m not much of a chef, but… I really hope you like this.”

233:“Sorry for calling so late - I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

234: “I need you more than you need me.”

235: “I want to kiss you and hold your hand any time I want.”

236: “I can’t stop thinking about you… I can’t.”

237: “The truth is… I love you.”

238: “You like me more than you like them, right? Right?”

239: “Be mine. Please.”

240: “I am who I am because of you.”

241: “It’s been a long day… let’s take a bath together.”

242: “Wait, don’t pull away - I want to hug you for awhile longer.”

243: “Ah- I adore your laugh.”

244: “Stop that, it tickles!”

245: “Ouch, I bit my lip… kiss it better?”

246: “I don’t want to get up… I’m so warm beside you.”

247: “You’re so intoxicating to me.”

248: “Your eyes are amazing… do you know that?”

249: “You’re just so wonderful.”

250: “S-Stop looking at me like that! You’re making me blush…”

251: “Are you tired? Rest in your head in my lap.”

252: “You, Me, Order In, Netflix… waddya say?”

253: “I want to be more than just friends with you.”

254: Person A and Person B are decorating a gingerbread house when Person A accidentally breaks a piece causing the house to collapse. Person A is really sad and afraid that Person B will be mad at them but Person B has the idea to turn it into a post-apocalyptic gingerbread house so they work together to strategically destroy it even more.

255: Person A and Person B were supposed to go out for a date but a snow storm hits and they get snowed in. Person A is really sad about it so Person B builds them a blanket fort so they can spend the evening snuggling and watching Christmas movies together.

256: Stay together.

257: "They grow up so fast..."

258: I’ve never seen anything like the way you handled that. I’m just so moved.

259: Imagine your OTP coming up with a list of names for their children.

Bonus: when one of their children comes out as trans, they happily hand their child the list and say “here, in case you want inspiration”

260: Imagine A is planning a surprise birthday party for B, but when the day of the party comes and people start showing up, A realizes that instead of sending 30 invitations to B’s work office, they sent 30 invitations to a biker gang. So now A, C, D and E are running around town trying desperately to find a present good enough for B to still have a good birthday.

BONUS: A, C, D and E get home to find B partying it up with the bikers and having a great time

DOUBLE BONUS: when A decide to have kids, all of the bikers show up to their baby shower/push party, super excited to meet their baby/babies

261: The otp is at a party, A goes around giving hugs and kisses to all their friends and when they get to B. They whisper "Merry christmas" and give B a kiss on the lips. A then kisses their sleeping baby in B's arms whispering merry christmas.

262: “Honey, when the hell did you teach the fucking baby to swear?!” “I didn’t, sweetie” “Oh yeah, I’m fucking sure she invented all those hecking swear words”

263: Imagine Person A, the shorter member of your OTP, is pregnant. They were already having difficulties reaching things, but now reaching for things is nearly impossible, so Person B has to do a lot of retrieving of objects for Person A

264: Person A finds a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom garbage and flips out before going to find Person B, who sheepishly tells A that they didn’t know how to tell them the news.

265: Imagine your otp in the hospital because one of their family friends is having a baby. Does the situation make them want kids, or does it make them perfectly satisfied staying a duo?

266: Person A gets stopped in the shop because they’re (number of months) pregnant. The guards think that they’re shoplifting and Person B gets really angry and starts shouting about how they should know that Person A is pregnant.

267: Imagine person A of your OTP discovering they're pregnant by accident and not being afraid to reveal it to person B because they deeply love and trust person B not to spite them or leave them for being pregnant. (Because I see too many OTP prompts where the OTP is distrustful and scared of revealing such)

269: Your otp have a small child. Who runs around the toy stores suggesting “they would love this! Look at the buttons?!”, who knows that their baby is too young for such a toy, but a certain someone is apparently not too old.

269: Imagine your OTP going to adopt a child the day before thanksgiving.

Bonus: On thanksgiving, when the child is asked what they are thankful for, they respond by saying, “you two”, or something similar.

Bonus 2: B ends up in tears and A and the kid have to calm them down.

270: Write a story made up of journal entries.

Person C is the child of A and B. They’re going through relationship problems (as a teen or adult) and find a journal waiting for them from Parent A. The journal is the rough story of all the good and bad that took place between A and B. How they met, dated, broke up, then reconnected and fell back in love, told in A’s POV.

Bonus: C sends/gives the book back when their done reading it and B had no idea about it. B reads it and realizes just how much they went through with A.

How this ends is up to you.

271: Imagine person a hiding a wedding ring in an easter egg, expecting person b to find it but, instead a child finds it

272: Imagine Person A being hopelessly in love with Person B. They write a song for Person B.

273: Imagine your OTP going to a party together. They spend the whole night holding hands.

274: Imagine your OTP on a kiss cam.

275: Imagine Person A coming out to their parents, but it doesn’t go well. Person B hears about it and yells at A’s parents.

276: Imagine Person A (the innocent one) saying something sexual and Person B (the not so innocent one) gasping and lightly hitting their shoulder, telling them to watch their mouth.

277: “___, will you marry me?”

278: “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

279: “I always thought marriage was a dead end, but…with you, I think it’s worth a shot.”

280: “There’s something I want to ask you.”

281: “Remember that time when [significant moment]? It got me thinking…”

282: “I hate people. Except for you. So…be with me forever?”

283: “You’re all I need.”

284: “I know you’re mad at me right now, but I can’t wait any longer.”

285: “I’ve been carrying this around for months, waiting for the right moment. And I’ll tell you: there is no right moment. So I’m just going to ask you right now.”

286: “You made me a better person. And I want you to keep showing me things for the rest of our lives.”

287: “Let’s run away together.”

288: "It’s rather inconvenient that the coffee shop where they’re having their date is one comfy chair short of how many are in their group.

The obvious solution, of course, is for Person A (the one too slow to grab a seat) to sit on someone’s lap. But now, it seems the others are all arguing about who gets to hold A.

It’s a very nice argument to witness, at least to A, but an argument all the same."

289: "We're teachers and our students keep getting in trouble and causing general mayhem to try to get us together so let's just pretend to date so they stop doing that and whoops I think I kind of like you now"

290: Person A: “Why do I get the feeling that you’re about to tell me something I really don’t want to hear?”

Person B: “….Experience?”

291: Starting a friends with benefits relationship with your roommate quickly blurs some lines…

292: There are love letters coming in the mail but with nothing written on the outside, not even a name, so I always give them to you, because I just assume they’re for you because I think I’ve seen you holding one of the envelopes before and you’re the kind of person that has a secret admirer, definitely not me…

293: Person A sneaking things into the cart when Person B isn’t looking.

294: Person A and Person B losing each other in a store and trying to find each other.

295: Person A laughing at Person B because they spent more money at the food court than they did in any of the stores all day.

296: “Did you sleep last night? At all?”

297: “You don’t get to say anything to me!”

298: “Excuse me?”

299: “How is this my fault?”

300: “I don’t want to talk to you.”

301: “Move out of my way before I make you.”

302: “That isn’t an option.”

303: “You aren’t going anywhere.”

304: “You aren’t the boss of me.”

305: “What gives you the right?”

306: “Do that again and you’ll regret it.”

307: “Leave me alone!”

308: “I don’t care.”

309: “Come back here right now!”

310: “Go. You go and don’t even think about coming back here.”

311: “Do I make myself clear?”

312: “Control your anger or you’ll have me to worry about.”

313: “What did you just say to me?”

314: “I didn’t ask you to do that!”

315: “Get away from me!”

316: “Let go of me.”

317: “You’re such a dork.”

318: “Get over here, you doof.”

319: “Cheeky.”

320: “You’re so needy.”

321: “Kiss me again.”

322: “You’re so adorable!”

323: “Look at you… Goodness, you’re so cute.”

324: “I’m just so happy!”

325: “I can’t stop smiling.”

326: “I like that you make me laugh so much that my cheeks hurt.”

327: “You are being extra sweet today.”

328: “Oh, look at you!”

329: “Your eyes are so pretty.”

330: “I’m really happy that you’re here with me.”

331: “Thank you for staying with me.”

332: “I don’t think I’ve ever loved someone this much before.”

333: “I feel like I’m in the clouds when I’m with you.”

334: “You’re like my heroine.”

335: “I’m gonna tickle you if you don’t come over here.”

336: “My, oh my. You are such a beautiful creature.”

337: Person A: “How good of a mood are you in right now?”

Person B: “…..What did you do?”

338: “Go with me?” “As long as you hold my hand.”

339: “Is there a reason you’re blushing like that?”

340: “Have you seen my hoodie?” “Noo.” “You’re wearing it, aren’t you?”

341: “OH you’re jealous!”

342: “Can we stay like this forever?”

343: “Please just kiss me already.”

344: “I think you might be my soulmate.”

345: “Sleep over? Please?”

346: “Are we on a date right now?”

347: “I think I’m in love with you.”

348: “Are you flirting with me?” “You finally noticed?”

349: “Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

350: “I wish we could live together already.”

351: “They’re so cute when they’re asleep.”

352: “I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re beautiful.”

353: “You take my breath away,” “…” “y’know, like the song haha”

354: “Sharing is caring, now give me the hoodie!”

355: “But I’ve never told you that before.”

356: “Give me attention.”

357: “How is my wife more badass than me?”

358: “It’s your turn to make dinner.”

359: “Oh honey, I’d never be jealous of you.”

360: “That was kind of hot.”

361: Good morning kiss

362: Kiss on the forehead

363: Kiss on the nose

364: Kiss on the neck

365: Kiss on the back

366: Exhausted parents kiss

367: Hiding/hoping not to be caught kiss

368: Before Bed kiss

369: In Secret kiss

370: Public kiss

371: Against a wall kiss

372: When One Person’s Face Is Scrunched Up, And The Other One Kisses Their Lips/Nose/Forehead

373: Lazy Morning Kisses Before They’ve Even Opened Their Eyes, Still Mumbling Half-Incoherently, Not Wanting To Wake Up

374: Routine Kisses Where The Other Person Presents Their Cheek/Forehead For The Hello/Goodbye Kiss Without Even Looking Up From What They’re Doing

375: Kisses Meant To Distract The Other Person From Whatever They Were Intently Doing Top Of Head Kisses

376: Person A: “Did I ever mean anything to you?… Or was all of it a lie?”

Person B: “Everything I told you, everything you think you know about me, is a lie… But I never lied about my feelings for you.”

377: “Get out!”

“Please let me explain.”

“Out!”

378: “You and me, together. We’re unbeatable. We can go against all odds and come out on top.”

379: “Is it wrong for me to wish that they never grow up and I can keep my baby forever?”

“I kind of want that too.”

380: “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I am just… speechless. You look beautiful.”

381: “I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you.”

382: Person A: “I cannot put into words, just how much I want to stab him, right now.”

Person B: “……You could always draw a diagram.”

383: Concept: You can share senses with your soulmate.

384: Person A: “No ones ever brought me flowers before….”

Person B: “Do you not like them?”

Person A: “….I love them, thank you.”

385: Warm sunlight through a glass, sitting in the passenger seat, idle chatter, and passing greenery.

386: Person A: “……I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

Person B: “You should know by now, that I don’t care what anybody else thinks. I’ll always be on your side.”

387: Person A: ”There are easier ways of doing this, you know?”

Person B: “Yeah, but none of them are quite as fun, are they?”

388: “I’ve been pining after you for two years and you never even noticed.”

389: “Some things just take time.”

390: “Do you regret it?"

391: “Tell me this one thing and I’ll leave you alone.”

392: “I deserve whatever punishment you will give me.”

393: Person A: “Have I told you, I love you, lately?”

Person B: “You could always tell me again.”

394: Watching them sleep in the early morning.

395: Video calling them because they miss them.

396: Calling them during a panic attack, having them rush over to sooth them.

397: Person A: “What’s your most precious memory?”

Person B: “.....Honestly? That time when we sat in that shitty little car park late at night, eating those disgusting chips from the petrol station with the broken sign.”

Person A: “.....Seriously? Why?” Person B: “Because that was the first time I ever saw you smile for real.”

398: Having their baby, being completely over-protective of them.

399: Stealing their clothes, wearing them just to tease them.

400: Taking s/o to meet parents.

401: Coming to their aid after a nightmare.

402:Movie date, being slick and wrapping an arm over them during the middle of the movie.

403: Dropping them off at their house after date and kissing them goodnight.

404: Dancing/pumping their fist in the air in excitement because they finally kissed them.

405: Taking them to see a waterfall.

406: Waiting outside their door all night because they had a fight.

407: Painting them/drawing them while they sleep/pose for them.

408: Domestic life; helping them with their tie, their hair, handing them coffee before they leave for work.

409: Wrapped up in a sheet after a drunken night, flustered and trying to find their clothes while they watch you amusingly.

410: Waking up to them making you breakfast while half-naked.

411: Hands brushing against theirs in a moment of seriousness, unable to keep the smile from breaking out across their face.

412: Being utterly touch starved and too shy to ask to be held, so they resolve to brushing their fingers against a part of s/o’s skin, etc.

413: Being the overly protective one during the pregnancy, doing everything for their s/o.

414: "It's two in the morning, I'm drunk and need some goddamn french fries so open your goddamn door."

415: “Well, if you want my opinion -”

“We really don’t.”

416: Person A needs to leave for work, but Person B is hugging them from behind and just standing there. They can’t leave them.

417: “Fuck.”

“No.”

“Fuck!”

“Who taught the baby the fuck word?”

418: “I want this to be worth something to you. If it isn’t, then what’s the point?”

419: “You're braver than you think."

420: Cradling child close to their chest

421: Wrapping child in old blankets like a little burrito

422: “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

423: Distracting child with their favorite things (toys, comfort items, ect.)

424: “Nobody’s going to hurt you as long as I’m around.”

425: “I won’t rest until I have baby-proofed this entire house. Just you watch.”

426: “I’m a little worried. What if I’m not a good parent?”

427: “Their room needs to be exciting. I’m not painting it a generic plain color.”

428: “Don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else panic on the first day of school.”

429: Characters witness their baby’s first laugh

430: Person A is a Youtuber who is dating B, C, D, and E. Their channel is growing and they are hesitant to come out as a poly couple so they just pass it for a really good friendship. Thing is, internet being internet are starting shipping war. Some ships A and B, some B and C, some A and C, etc. It’s starting to do some shit and fights online. One day, they get tired of being asked questions about it and decide to come out as who they are. They make a video about how happy they are all together in a poly relationship. How do their fanbase and subscriber reacts is up to you!

431: Imagine Person A and B of your poly ship both helping Person C get through a bad bout of depression. What sort of things would they do for Person C to show that they care for them and want to support them? Is one more verbal with their support than the other?

432: Person (A) decides to plan a romantic dinner, thing is, while (A) prepares it, (B) and ( C) are upstairs, making out. Both are getting really into it but after a while, just when they were about to get serious, (A) calls them downstairs to eat.

(B) and ( C), frustrated a little from stopping there, tries their best to seduce their way into (A)’s pants for dinner. Saying cliche and cheesy things to try and convince (A) that they can be dinner~

433: “I’ve wanted this for so long.”

434: Person A will gladly tell you: There is nothing in the world quite so cute as Person B sitting in a rocking chair, holding a baby chick against their flannel (which Person A had been planning to steal, but this is far sweeter)

435: “Come to bed. I sleep better with you there.”

436: “Where did you get that scar from?"

437: “I love mummy.”

“What about me?”

“Just mummy.”

438: “Your brat keeps kicking me in the kidney.”

“How come you say they’re mine whenever they are doing that?”

439: "Have I done something wrong?"

440: “Looking back it’s like, like those days never existed.”

“And you?”

“No. I didn’t exist either.”

441: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

442: “Stay in bed a little longer. It is warm here.”

“Alright, five more minutes, then I have to get up.”

443: “Does it hurt here?”

“Everywhere hurts.”

444: “How do you always look so kissable?”

445: “Stomach bug?”

“No, morning sickness.”

446: "I feel safe in your arms."

447: "I dreamed about you last night, and woke up happy."

448: "I can't sleep. Can I stay here?"

449: “Does this feel good?”

450: She smiled down at the infant cradled in her arms, one tiny hand wrapped around her pinky finger. He was her little miracle.

451: "I'm so in love with you."

452: "You own my heart."

453: A: “Hey, before you doze off– I have a quick question?”

B: “Yeah, sure, what is it?”

A: “Would it be okay with you if I wake you up with kisses tomorrow? If that’d be uncomfortable for you, that’s totally cool, forget I even brought it up.”

454: “Are you nervous?”

“No… Should I be?”

455: Running into some of the family accidentally while running errands.

456: Bringing their partner(s) to a family function, but something like a graduation party where they won’t have to be the center of attention.

457: Visiting a grave/memorial with their partner(s)

458: Finally being alone after the meeting.

459: During foreplay, A always loved getting B visibly riled up. When B does get that riled up, though, they always kiss A far softer than they had been previously. It always confuses A a little bit, but it’s never a problem. In the middle of some heated kisses, A decides to ask: “Why do you always do that?” “Do– do what?” “You kiss me softest when you’re desperate.” “You deserve to be treated gently. I’d never let how bad I want you overcome how bad I want you to feel wanted.”

460: “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

461: Secret relationship and everyone knows

462: Person A listens to true crime podcasts all day and watches tons of videos about it, and they have to sleep cuddled up real close to Person B that night because they’re scared. Person B may tease them about it.

463: "What would you have said?"

464: “STOP BEING SO CUTE, IT’S NOT FAIR!”

465: “Listen, I enjoy this hug and all, but can you stop?”

466: “You’re the only one who gets to call me that, you know.”

467: “I’m not going to fuck you until you’ve come at least three times on my tongue and fingers.”

468: Person A: “….Please don’t leave me here alone.”

Person B: “Never.”

469: “You didn’t think I forgot, did you?”

470: “Damn these emotions.”

471: "Just another night, no sleep."

472: “I’m the youngest here, but no one would know it, what with the way you two act instead.”

473: “I would never let anyone hurt the ones I care about and that includes you.”

474: “Look at who I used to be and tell me I’m not better off how I am now.”

475: “Don’t be nervous, you can come closer.”

476: “I never took you for the romantic type, but I guess I stand corrected.”

477: “Don’t smile at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I make you happy.”

478: “This is far from the first time I’ve done something like this, so why are you so surprised?”

479: “I already knew. I was just waiting for you to confess finally.”

480: “Is it still a secret if I know about it?”

481: “You know, by hinting that you have secrets, you make everyone else that much more inclined to find out what you’re hiding, right?”

482: “You threatened my best friend, I do not feel too lovey dovey towards you right now!”

483: Your OTP(+) haven’t announced their relationship yet, but when a friend of theirs posts a picture with them kissing in the background, what happens?

484: “(Name), this is the girl of my dreams.”

485: “(Name)? Come on. Please, don’t be sad for me.”

486: “Are you asleep?” “Not anymore.”

487: “You made me breakfast in bed? What did you do this time?”

488: “I’ll carry you if I have to!”

489: “I didn’t understand the warmth of you until I couldn’t have it.”

490: “I had given up, but you came into my life and I brought myself back.”

491: “When did we become such a family?”

492: He’s going to be a great father

493: “Has anyone else noticed that we’ve color-coordinated with each other or is it just me?”

494: “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

495: Your character goes outside on a clear night. Looking up, they see a bright falling star streak across the sky. What wish do they make?

496: Person B: I got you these chocolates for Valentine's Day!! Person A: You're a little late, it's the day after Person C: They were half off

497: Imagine your OTP giving their child dating advice.

498: Imagine person A leaning on person B’s shoulder and asking if they’ve ever thought about raising kids with them and B replying that they’ve definitely thought about raising kids with them. Think about it.

499: Imagine person A of your OTP is about to meet person B’s parents for the first time. A has been nervous all day, grooming themselves, trying to make themselves look respectable and worthy of B for their parents.

B comes home in the evening to see how nervous A is, and kisses them and messes up their hair/untucks their shirt/just generally does something to make A look more like A, reassuring them because it was the real A that they fell in love with, and A that they want their parents to meet.

500: Where did they go on their honeymoon?

501: When did they decide to become parents?

502: How many kids do they want/have?

503: Who is the responsible parent?

504: Where do they for their date night?

505: Are they strict parents?

506: Do they go to parent teacher interviews?

507: How do they react to their first child going to kindergarten?

508: Where did they get married?

509: What traditions did they make together?

510: How do they decorate their kids room?

511: What are the family secrets?

512: What type of pet do they own?

513: Where do they take their kids on vacation?

514: “Did you feel him/her/them kick?”

515: “Do you think I’ll be a good mom/dad?”

516: “Babe, wake up. The baby is having a party in here! Give me your hand!”

517: “Hospital! Now!”

518: “Boy or Girl?”

519: “Can we name the baby after me?”

520: “Can you put the crib together?”

521: “Cuddle me now!”

522: “I’m pregnant…”

523: “I hope he/she has your eyes.”

524: “You want to paint the nursery what?!”

525: "So… i have some news.“

526: "Okay I just want to say that, yes, I have gained some weight… But it’s because I’m pregnant.”

527: "Better get your dad jokes ready.“

528: "Right here! Right here’s a foot!”

529: "The little one is quite active today.“

530: "Is that a hand?!”

531: "Maybe you should try reading a book to them?“

532: "Come watch my belly, it’s frickin crazy!”

533: "The top of the baby’s head is about… Here, and a foot is right this way.“

534: "Do you think the baby would be down if I ate some chipotle?”

535: "Coffee isn’t good for you while you’re pregnant or breast feeding, but damn I need some caffeine.“

536: "Watermelon with peanut butter sounds so great right now.”

537: “Honey you’re pregnant, that’s all baby. You look beautiful.”

538: “He/She is up again.”

539: “I’ll get the baby, you go back to sleep.”

540: “So sweet!”

541: “I have found your mini-me.”

542: “Babe!! We are out of formula…again!”

543: “Stop being a baby hog!”

544: “They’re gorgeous!!”

545:“This parent thing is hard!”

546: “You both are precious!”

547: “I love you both so so much!”

548: “Wake up, the baby needs you.”

549: “Momma’s little baby, yes you are.”

550:“Daddy’s little baby, yes you are.”

551: “That’s your son/daughter!”

552: “They are walking!”

553. “I love it when they fall asleep on me.”

554. “She/he keeps crying for you.”

555. “Can I hold them!”

556. “Can I pick their outfit out today?”

557. “Daddy’s little girl/boy.”

558. “Mummy’s little girl/boy.”

559. “She/he is never going to be allowed to date!”

560. “Was that a word?”

561. “This kid is gonna have a better childhood than I did.”

562: “Do you want a bed time story?”

563: “[mama/papa]’s got you.”

564: “Where did you put your blankie this time.”

565: “They have grown so much, it’s hard to believe how little they used to be.”

566: “I want another baby.”

567: “Stomach bug?”

“No, morning sickness.”

568: “You really are your [mother/father]’s child.”

569: Imagine Person A of your OT3 is pregnant and Person B and Person C take turns getting food in the middle of the night when Person A suddenly desires it.

570: “Stop wiggling! I need to get you changed!”

571: “You are perfect, my little [pet name].”

572: “Did you have a bad dream?”

“Uh huh.”

“Come on, get into bed with us, you can sleep in bed with us tonight.”

573: “Take a break. I’ll stay up with them, you need some sleep.”

574: Imagine person A of your OTP telling person B they are pregnant in the form of a baby-themed Christmas ornament.

575: Person A and B are engaged to be married and have decided that they want children in the future but want to wait for a while until after the wedding to try for them. They have a night alone before the big day and forget about it until their honeymoon when Person B is extremely tired the whole time and discovers that they’re expecting on the last day to the surprise of them and Person A.

576: Imagine Person A of your OT5 is pregnant and B, C, D and Person E take turns getting food in the middle of the night when Person A suddenly desires it.

577: Imagine your OT+ arguing about whether tea or coffee is better.

Odd Number Bonus: Person C is a hot cocoa lover.

578: Imagine your OT+ ending up in a hotel room with only one bed.

579: Little one jumping in puddles wearing rain boots.

580: Shopping for nursery furniture for little one.

581: Holding the little one for the first time.

582: Being immensely proud when little one takes their first steps alone.

583: Little one’s first reaction to seeing/feeling snow.

584: Singing nursery rhymes to get little one to sleep.

585: Finger painting with little one.

586: Little one getting food all over their face.

587: Going on a walk together with little one.

588: Picking out little one’s first Halloween costume.

589: Little one’s first birthday.

590: Little one’s first trip to the zoo or aquarium.

591: Showing little one a lightning bug for the first time.

592: Little one pulling on your hair with surprising strength.

593: Helping little one go down a slide at the park.

594: Tickling little one’s chubby thighs until they laugh.

595: Singing songs and rocking little one to sleep.

596: Reading a book with little one on your lap.

597: Having to show little one that the food tastes good by having some too.

598: Little one chasing after bubbles to pop them.

599: Playing peek-a-boo with little one.

600: Little one snuggling with a stuffed animal.

601: Having little one help mix cookie dough.

602: Little one eating a slice of fruit and getting juice all down their chin.

603: Kissing little one where they got hurt to make the pain go away.

604: Little one stripping their clothes and running around in their diaper.

605: Waking up to little one crying out in their sleep.

606: Little one biting everything they can stick in their mouth as they teethe.

607: Little one leaving sticky fingerprints on everything they touch.

608: Having little one help flip pancakes.

609: Giving little one a raspberry on their tummy after changing their diaper.

610: Watching little one go in and out of the kiddie pool.

611: Having little one wear their first formal wear.

612: Little one drifting off to sleep with a smile on their face.

613: Little one settling down after you finally figure out what they need.

614: Choosing little one’s name together.

615: Watching little one attempt to blow the seeds off a dandelion.

616: Little one getting in a laughing kick where everything is funny.

617: The first time little one picks their own outfit.

618: Little one chasing down the pet to rest their head on them and hold them tight.

619: Being unable to stay mad at little one when they give you puppy dog eyes.

620: Whoever let you be responsible for someone so small? Lay awake worrying about this.

621: Bath time gets so splashy you get used to just taking your clothes off.

622: Sending an urgent message to your partner to let them know the baby has laughed.

623: Your child is the most beautiful and precious thing in the world. Lay awake crying about this.

624: Let your child bite you to test their emerging teeth. Gaze upon the resulting tiny half-moon indentation on your skin with bemused adoration.

625: "My clothes look good on you.”

626: “Is that my shirt?”

627: “I’ve wanted this for so long.”

628: Person A will gladly tell you: There is nothing in the world quite so cute as Person B sitting in a rocking chair, holding their baby against their flannel (which Person A had been planning to steal, but this is far sweeter)

629: Imagine your OT5 trying for a baby

630: Person A of your OTP peels the “never loses suction” sticker off of a vacuum and sticks it on Person B’s forehead.

631: Person A keeps thinking Person C shoves them off of the bed intentionally in their sleep, only to realize it’s their dog that jumps onto the bed in the middle of the night, causing B to flail and accidentally shove someone off.

632: "I refuse to have a baby on Christmas."

633: "Please don't leave me."

634: “I don’t give a damn.” “You give so many damns, they’re visible from space.”

635: “Let me show you why you should stay in bed.”

636: “Can you help me with this zipper?”

637: “I bet you look even better with your clothes off.”

638: “Are you trying to turn me on right now? Because it’s working.”

639: “I’d hold on to something if I were you.”

640: “It seems you forgot to wear any underwear tonight.”

641: “I see you’ve started without me.”

642: “Wanna taste?”

643: “Less talking. More fucking.”

644: "You're really gonna make me beg for it?"

645: “I’m going to show you what a real fucking is.”

646: “Are you going to eye fuck me all night or are you going to do something about it?”

647: “You’re so sexy when you’re all hot and bothered.”

648: “Try to keep quiet. We don’t want to get caught.”

649: “Forget the bed. Let’s fuck right here.”

650: “Fuck, I love the sounds you make.”

651: “Does this/that feel good?”

652: “Please… Don’t stop.”

653: “Please. I need you. Now.”

654: “You’re bigger than I expected.”

655: “Get on your knees.”

656: “This cock isn’t gonna suck itself.”

657: “Maybe I’d rather take my time.”

658: “I just wanted a taste.”

659: “Is there anything you can’t do with that tongue?”

660: “Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?”

661: “Oh god, how can you manage to switch from cute to sexy in under a second?”

662: “I know all of your weaknesses.”

663: “Hm, no panties?”

664: “You heard me. Take. It. Off.”

665: “Angel in the streets, freak in the sheets.”

666: “If you don’t like my teasing then why are you moaning?”

667: “I’m gonna fuck you so hard that you forget you ever even met that asshole.”

668: “I know for a fact that you can be a hell of a lot louder than that.“

669: “You make a sound and it’s game over baby.”

670: "If I have to pull over, you won’t be able to walk for the next week.“

671: “Can you feel what you’re doing to me?”

672: “You’re not allowed to cum without my permission.”

673: “Fuck, that’s good.”

674: “Holy shit, you’re so fucking sexy like that.”

675: “How ‘bout you come and help me out, huh?”

676: “Don’t think I’m letting you get away with that, darling.”

677: “The things that I want to do to you, baby.”

678: “Dammit, we made a mess.”

679: “What do you mean not yet? You can’t expect me not to cum when you’re fucking me so good!”

680: “You’re going to regret that, sweetheart.”

681: “Were you dreaming about me again?”

682: “I can’t wait to taste you.”

683: “I want to see those pretty little lips wrapped around my cock.”

684: “You have no idea how good you make me feel.”

685: “Don’t make me take you home and punish you.”

686: “I’ve never wanted anyone to fuck me this badly.”

687: “You’re not going out in that outfit.”

688: “Don’t give me that look.”

689: “You’re more than just a one night stand.”

690: “Would you just shut up and kiss me already?”

691: “You want me to give you your book/phone/item back? Make me.”

692: “Like what you see?”

693: “We’re in public, you know.”

694: “I didn’t know you were so sensitive.”

695: “Don't be so rough. There can't be any marks.”

696: “I really don’t care. You still look hot and I’m trying not to kiss/fuck you senseless right now.”

697: “Are you sure? Once we start, I might not be able to stop.”

698: “No, I’m supposed to be making you feel good.”

699: “Make me.”

700: “Stop teasing me so much..”

701: “You’re in trouble now.”

702: “Take off your clothes.”

703: “I’m waiting.”

704: “Mine.”

705: “We cant do that here!”

706: “Behave.”

707: “What did you just say?”

708: “Come here.”

709: “Watch me.”

710: “I don’t want to hear your excuses anymore.”

711: “If you cant sleep… Then how about we have sex?”

712:“Don’t kink shame me.”

713: “If you interrupt me one more time, so help me god.”

714: “I’m going to put on some clothes before you say anything else.”

715: “Tell me what you want.”

716: “Bite me.”

717: “If you insist.”

718: “Could he make you feel as good as I do?”

719: “You’re not, um, wearing anything under that, are you..?”

720: “Are you trying to turn me on or are you really just that oblivious?”

721: “You taste like fucking candy.”

722: “The only way you’re getting off is on my thigh.”

723: “You make a sound and it's game over.”

724: “Just let me finish this/this level and I swear I'll go down on you until you cum at least three times.”

725: “If I have to stop what I’m doing, you won't be able to walk for the next week.”

726: “I could just pull your bikini bottoms to the side, no one will notice.”

727: “I haven’t even touched you and you’re already this wet.”

728: “Were you just masturbating?” “U-uh..no, I was just..”

729: “Want some help?”

730: “Shut up.”

731: “Why don’t you come over here and make me.”

732: “You’re so fucking hot when you’re mad.”

733: “We’re not just friends and you fucking know it.”

734: “C’mere, you can sit on my lap until I’m done working.”

735: “What? Does that feel good?”

736: “I’m not jealous! It's just… You’re mine!”

737: “If we get caught I’m blaming you.”

738: “We have to be quiet.”

739: “Tell me again.”

740: “You have no idea how much I want you.”

741: “Say it.”

742: “I’m gonna fuck you so hard that you forget you ever even met that asshole.”

743: “You better shut that pretty little mouth before I put it to work, doll.”

744: “I think that's the first time I’ve heard you moan… It was like a fucking melody.”

745: “I really want to kiss you right now.” “Then do it.”

746: “You’re not taking me to bed. Ever.”

747: “Who said it had to be on the bed?”

748: “She may seem like lollipops and rainbows but I bet behind closed doors she’s latex and whips.”

749: “Ah, he’s playing hard-to-get. That's cute.” 750: “For the love of fuck.”

#Writing prompts

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