#it really does come down to him owning up to it and consciously changing

[thoughtsfromlayla]

Chapter Four - Discordant

Summary: Morpheus seems to take a turn for the better, but a person cannot change overnight. How does it feel to finally give him a taste of his own medicine? How does it feel to go back to square one, once again?

Notes: ~6.1k words, Please don't stare at the eclipse with your blind eyes, I just didn't know how to write protective solar glasses into this AU ok

Warnings/Tags: Morpheus is trying, it's not working, two deaths of side characters, miscommunication/misinterpretation (?), reader gets their feelings hurt again cause I can't stop writing angst

Tag list is open! Just let me know :)

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Discordant (adj.) - not in agreement or harmony, to be at variance

How do you face Morpheus again after that? The simple answer is you don’t, well you try not to. However, when you go to breakfast the next morning, it’s a surprise to you that Morpheus is there waiting for you. Breakfast is less formal than dinner, yet here you were, sharing a meal with him right by your side. 

Tension is thick in the air, the only sounds are that of cutlery on plates. You chew your fruit slowly while consciously trying not to look at Morpheus. This was horrible; you need wine, or something to dull your mental ability so you didn’t have to be fully here. 

Your throat was still raw from the day before, and the food only seems to make it worse, scraping itself down your throat as you swallow. 

“I’m finished,” You rasp and go to stand from your spot.

“Wait,” He stands abruptly, the glass on the table rattling with the sudden movement. You’re determined to leave but his fingers grab onto your wrist.   

“What?” You frown at him, the warmth of his fingers spreading across your arm. 

“There is a gala coming up. The Summer Eclipse Gala, please will you attend with me?”

“Do I have a choice?” You ask, not meeting his eyes. Instead you stare at how he gently holds onto you. His thumb smooths across the tender part of your wrist when he answers. 

“Not really,” He says in a low voice. There was some regret laced in his answer, but you didn’t want to pay attention to that. 

“Then that is my answer.” You sigh as you turn away. Morpheus’ hand is still around your wrist and even with a slight tug, he doesn’t release you. “Let go.” 

“Should we… talk about yesterday?” He says hesitantly. “What is there to say?” You reply back, your voice losing itself again at the very end. When your husband doesn’t answer, you pull your arm away more forcefully. This time, he lets you go. “Precisely.” You leave, your heart pounding as you so easily defy him. 

The rest of the week was spent doing exactly what he had been doing to you for the past couple of months. Which is to say, avoiding him at all points possible. You try to hide in the library, but that proves futile as he easily seeks you out there. The studio and many bookshelves do little to hide you, ironically.

The only place he doesn’t dare find you is your garden. Even he could understand the importance of that sanctuary to you. And though the flowers certainly seem to enjoy the summer sun, you couldn’t say the same. The heat had started to become unbearable and it had been days since your last visit there. 

When he asks for you to dine with him, you decline and lock yourself in your room. Your stomach rumbles until Matthew sneaks you a leftover biscuit, but it was better than confronting him. At a certain point, embarrassment of letting your true feelings show turn to resentment once more. 

Why did he suddenly feel entitled to your time? 

“The King brought you this, Your Majesty,” Agnes says one morning as she enters your room. One of the maids holds a large box, decorated with a beautiful red bow. 

You take a hold of it, albeit a bit hesitant, and unravel the gift. When you lift the lid, you’re greeted with something you have never seen before. The dress was a beautiful golden yellow, with gems that represented the sun inlaid amongst the sweetheart bodice. Lacey loops come off the bodice in a delicate design that would wrap around your upper arms. The bottom skirting was decorated with glittering swirls and the fabric soft to the touch. 

“Oh! It looks lovely,” Agnes compliments with a soft gasp. She’s looking over your shoulder as you continue to stare at the dress. 

“Hmm, I can’t deny it either. It looks beautiful,” You sigh as you run your fingers through the soft fabric. Your fingers come across a piece of paper with a note. 

Please do me the honor and wear this tonight. Written in Morpheus’ handwriting. 

“And so shall you, your grace, when you wear it today,” Your lady’s maid hums.

Right… the gala is today. It seems your plan of avoiding Morpheus would have to come to an end. But, you still have the rest of the day to yourself, best to start savoring it. You start with a bath, with extra Natterhorn milk per your request, and something else to calm your nerves. After which, Agnes starts pampering you to get you ready for the event. 

Hands are grabbing at you at every angle, tugging, brushing, wiping. You felt like a marionette puppet as they direct you on where to step, where to hold your hands so that they may dress you accordingly. 

“Agnes,” You gasp as she gives you another sharp tug. “I request you loosen this horrid corset for my sake.”

“Apologies, Your Majesty,” She says, giving one last tug and tying the knot, more than less ignoring your request. 

In the end, both you and Agnes are huffing and puffing when you’re finally done. You watch as Agnes puts on a pair of white cotton gloves and reaches into a wooden box you didn’t have the liberty of noticing before. From it, she produces an ornate crown. 

It pairs with your dress nicely, a warm gold with white gems. The points of the head piece  were a bit excessive, but your inner judgment was cut short when you realized it was supposed to represent the sun. When Agnes places it on your head, you grimace at the weight of it. 

“Forgive me, Your Majesty, but it is part of the uniform,” Agnes apologizes once again as she notices your contorted face. 

“It is not your fault, do not fret. You did well,” You grunt as you step away from the mirror. Agnes is positively gushing as she looks you over. Her beaming increases as you give your compliments to her hard work. 

Despite the heavy crown, the dress itself was light and made for easy movement. Agnes opens the door and you follow the entourage of silver knights as they lead you from the comforts of your bedroom. Matthew’s presence settles your nerves a bit as you feel his protective presence three paces behind. 

“Are you excited, boss lady?” You hear him ask with a smile hidden behind his helmet. He had recently polished his black armor and you’re sure if you turn around now, you could see your reflection. 

“In all honesty, Matthew? For the event, yes. For seeing my husband again, no.” You pause as the unified metal footsteps descend to the first floor of the castle. “What of you?”

“If I get to see Jessamy again…” He says beneath his breath, quiet enough that you almost didn’t hear it.

You can see the sunlight from the entrance and you’re about to ask Matthew to repeat himself. However, the silver knights stop on the final set of stairs, leaving you standing at the intersection that leads to Morpheus’ wing. He comes down in time with your steps and meets you in the middle.

Morpheus is dressed in his typical black, simply more detailed than usual. He switches his flowing robe for an off shoulder cape that only reaches his mid thighs. His black tunic and pants were dusted with silver and dark blue, giving the illusion of the night sky at certain angles. Sitting comfortably on his head was a crown: silver with curving onyx gems that resembled the moon. 

He’s close enough now to take you in your full glory. The dress he bought for you was the correct choice. It hugs your figure in all the right places; the dress was, after all, altered to your size. When the fleeting rays of sunlight come through the large window, it reflects off your dress and illuminates you. The Sun only shares a portion of His light, but you’ve managed to take it and make it your own. 

“You look radiant,” He breathes the truth as he comes closer to you. You notice his finger twitch as he resists the urge to touch you. 

“Save your falsities for someone else,” You snap, surprising yourself even. The crown was way too heavy on your head for pretenses. 

“Very well… but we should at least pretend to like each other for the guests tonight.” Morpheus offers his arm to you and turns, the breeze from the entrance coming through the hallway. 

“Then let us begin,” You reply as you hook your hand to his arm. 

Crossing the castle threshold, the eclipse was already beginning to start. The trees rustle in the gentle late spring wind, its shades creating crescent shadows on the ground. You’re able to enjoy it from afar as the two of you walk the distance to the grand ballroom. 

Slowly, daylight surrenders to night and the nocturnal critters emerge from their slumber. Crickets chirp, fireflies float around you, and moths fan their wings in the moonlight. The smell of petrichor turns heavy once more as you reenter the castle, the doors opening wide with an announcement of your and Morpheus’ arrival. The silver knights part, Matthew leaves your side, as does Jessamy, as Morpheus leads you to the center of the ballroom. 

“Welcome, esteemed guests of the Dreaming. Tonight, we shall once again celebrate the astral lovers of Sun and Moon,” An announcer bellows into a horn. Cheers and unified clapping follow. “During Totality of the eclipse, we welcome you to witness the first dance of the night, to be shared with King Morpheus and Queen Consort Y/N.”

A fanfare plays and the crowd turns to the open ceiling, watching with shielded eyes as the moon slowly clips into place. Night dominates the sky, the moon blocking the sun except for the defining ring around it. Footmen scurry around as they quickly light the abundance of candles and chandeliers they could reach. 

The grand ballroom gleams with the light of a thousand crystal chandeliers as you and Morpheus turn towards each other. The light fractures and creates halos across the marble flooring and stone pillars. Morpheus bows and you curtsy low, and the action reminds you of your wedding night. Slowly, he clasps his hand over yours gently and a firm arm wraps around your waist. 

The string ensemble starts and you try to fight the smile that creeps on your lips as you’re easily pulled in time with his steps. Morpheus smiles as he studies your face closely. You're dancing once again.

The candle light seems to be absorbed into your figure as you glow under its warm light. Spinning hand in hand with your husband, you’ve long since given up holding back your smile. You’re grinning, radiant and warm like the sun. 

You and Morpheus glide across the ballroom floor, floating like stars amongst the clouds. He is fluid in his movements and leads the dance easily. You hold on tight as the lights begin to blur together, all together have you forgotten how heavy your crown was. To onlookers, the two of you were beacons of elegance and the definition of harmony. 

The music stops and you’re face to face with Morpheus, breathing hard. The sound of applause is muffled in the background of your mind. Morpheus looks pristine as well, perfectly composed as he softly gazes at you through starry eyes. You’re the first to break eye contact, the raw emotions he tries to show you too much for now. You can see that he is trying to be better, but after months of neglect, one dance is hardly enough to make up for it. 

Morpheus doesn’t try to hide his emotions, and with deflated shoulders, leads you quietly to the matching thrones at the front of the ballroom. There, they stand high and mighty, dark, and carved with intricate designs of stars and ravens. You see Jessamy and Matthew waiting for the two of you there and some relief returns to you knowing that Matthew would be there to watch over you. 

The roofless ballroom makes it hard to believe that it is only noon. Save for the ring of sun, the sky was casted in perpetual night. The stars make their appearance, as they always do, and accompany their moon, twinkling with admiration at viewing the people of the Dreaming early today. Even the critters of the night came out from their slumber, and if you listened carefully enough, you could hear their chirps and songs of night past the orchestra. 

The throne is stiff and uncomfortable to sit in. When you glance over at Morpheus, he takes to it easily, spreading across the throne like a lounging cat. His presence fills the space and it’s easy to see how he is so perfectly fit for this role. 

An emissary comes before you and bows, the lady on his arm following suit. He wears his best for the ceremony and when he speaks, it smells of rich alcohol and fruits. 

“Congratulations on your marriage, Your Majesties. As emissary of the Kingdom of Kreya, we wish you a wonderful Solar Eclipse celebration,” The man smiles at the two of you and you smile back.

You take another glance at Morpheus and see his jaw ticking in the low candlelight. A second passes and he still doesn’t respond. 

“Thank you, we hope to visit Kreya soon,” You reply instead. It has been long since you’ve heard a rumor of your failing marriage. At the very least it’s good to know that to people looking in, there was nothing wrong between you and Morpheus. 

This is what he wanted, was it not?

From his perspective, your urge to take control basked you in a new light that he’s never seen before. Your response seems to snap him out of whatever deep thoughts he had and a cough brings him back to the present. Or, if he wanted to be honest with himself; your presence brings him back to the present. 

Others follow in his footsteps, giving their congratulations, their salutations from their kingdoms, and other comments they wished to address to you. Morpheus and you take turns responding, each one vague and surface level. 

The last emissary was a face you knew all too well. Soft brown curls wrap around a kind face. She dawns on flowy fabric of white and gold and a cape made of olive leaves. Calliope smiles when she sets her eyes on you, and you hear Matthew’s armor clink as he attempts to move from his post. The promise he made early into your relationship is evident in his mind. 

A subtle hand rise from you was enough to stop him and the black knight settles back. The tension remains thick as she ascends the steps. She bows and speaks. 

“I congratulate the King and Queen of the Dreaming on their union. From Boeotia, my sisters and I give out blessings for a bountiful year.” Calliope speaks to you specifically, and even when there is no ill intention written on her face, something ugly deep within you dares not to look at her. 

The pain and suffering you had to endure, half of the reason is because of her. Your anger and despair leave you and instead reveal itself as its true form. Is it jealousy? Perhaps. You’ve long since stopped fighting it. Your bracelet tightens around your wrist once more, as it’s always done when it doesn’t agree with your thoughts. 

“Thank you…” Morpheus responds to her. It was your turn to respond, but you still couldn’t bring yourself to speak to her. 

Calliope opens her mouth again, as if to add something else, but stops herself after some hesitancy. It’s not before long that Calliope accepts the short answer and leaves you. An even shorter amount of time for a footman to come to you and Morpheus with goblets of wine that you all too eagerly grab at.

If it weren’t for your position, you’re sure you would be drunk beyond comprehension. It is a tradition of the celebration: to relieve oneself from their physical bodies and dance amongst the Eclipse. And you can only do that by drinking until your body can’t understand the physical world anymore. 

The dark wine glitters as you swirl it around in the silver goblet, and you feel the tingling sensation as it goes down your throat. Other nobles mingle with each other, the occasional ping of glasses touching echos in the large room.

Squinting, you notice a certain blond standing alone in the corner, his dark glasses still covering his eyes. He is talking to some other man, his charismatic smile never disappearing, even when he takes another sip from his glass. As if sensing your gaze, he turns to you and raises his glass in your direction. You were the first to break eye contact, taking another sip of your own drink. You see Lucienne and Hob enjoying themselves at the snack table, watching as Lucienne looks away when Hob stuffs several cookies into his coat pocket. 

The alcohol was potent, leaving you feeling light and dizzy, but a sudden commotion on the other side of the room leaves me sober. Yelling and clashing of metal against metal piques your interest as the ballroom doors slam open. 

“I apologize, we-we tried to stop him!” A silver knight huffs out, chasing after the man who barged in. 

A calm hand from Morpheus quiets him and the knight stops. The elderly man is still charging towards the two of you, dancers parting quickly from the marble floor as they watch. 

“Where is she?” The man asks—or demands, more accurately, standing strong in the center of the dancefloor. He wears red, unblemished armor that stands out like a sore thumb against the Dreaming’s more subtle colors. 

“Whoever you seek is not here, stranger,” Morpheus’ voice booms across the room. 

“You, Teleute, will bring back my dead son. I will kill you if it means I will get him back…” He bravely points at your husband, completely ignoring his statement. 

You and Morpheus share a quick glance at each other. Yours is riddled in confusion, what could this random man possibly want with his sister? Morpheus shares with you a more concerned look as he finally pieces together the information.

He recalls the conversation he had with the Corinthian under old moonlight about a madman named Rodrick Burgess. Briefly, his eyes meet with Corinthian on the far end of the room, who seems all the more pleased that his target has waltzed right into his grasp. The Corinthian had taken a small break in his chase so he could attend the festival. In the end, it seemingly works out for him anyways. 

“Are you challenging the throne?” Morpheus accuses, looking down at him. You hear the shifting of feet as Jessamy and Matthew squirm with anticipation. 

Morpheus remembers once more of his nightmare regarding this specific man and you. How you laid cold in his arms, blood blemishing each portion of your body. That no matter how much he wipes away at it, the blood continues to seep and stain into your clothes. His hand slowly ghosts over yours and covers your fingers. He feels the quickening pulse underneath his fingers and allows himself a moment of peace for your still beating pulse. 

“I am challenging Teleute,” Rodrick repeats. 

“Death of the Endless is not here. I will accept your challenge in her stead.” You’re not sure where the courage was coming from. Perhaps it is how Morpheus is gently holding onto you. Or, more likely, how the alcohol is coursing through your system. That seems to be the more logical reason… right? “Who do you wish to be your champion?” 

“I am my own champion, the Great Magus Rodrick Burgess.” He brings forth his sword, covered in elaborate jewels. 

“Sir Matthew?” You call, head held high. The weight of the crown is no longer an issue for you. 

“Yes, Your Majesty?” Matthew responds immediately. 

“You will be my champion.” You declare. “You will not disappoint.” It is your first order as queen. 

You watch with fixed eyes as Matthew crosses to the dance floor. The white marble is a stark contrast against his black armor. Your hand turns and interlaces with Morpheus’ as Matthew draws his sword.

It’s longer and broader than Rodrick’s and even before the fight begins, you know Matthew would be slower than his opponent. But your belief in him is strong and unyielding. 

The two knights face each other, their stances ready. Murmurs from onlookers hush around the room, the tension as thick as the wine they drink. 

Rodrick moves first, his impatience showing easily as he lunges for Matthew’s heart. Your champion gracefully steps to the side, bringing up his broadsword in a low arch to parry the attack. 

Blade against blade, the metals gleam in the low candlelight. The symphony changes from a string quartet to that of steel. The two knights dance around each other in the intense duel as both display their mastery of the blade. 

An unhonorable heavy strike to the head from Rodrick leaves Matthew dazed. It’s enough for the blunt of his blade to strike at the young knight’s helmet. You watch with an agape mouth as the force is enough to knock off Matthew’s helmet, the helm flying across the floor. Your grip in Morpheus’ hand tightens as the anticipation grows. 

Matthew is quick to be back on his feet, his black hair tousled from the fight. You catch glimpses of his determined face as he returns to the duel. Each block that Matthew predicts, each strike that he parries leaves Rodrick flustered.

Matthew notices, and when Rodrick was starting to lose strength, he advances with a series of long arching and forceful blows. You and Morpheus watch as Rodrick meekly holds his denting blade up in defense.

With a powerful kick to the chest, the Great Magus crashes to the ground, his sword falling from his hand as the last of his energy leaves him. Matthew advances still, dragging his broadsword on the ground. The teeth-grating sound of metal on marble igniting sparks. 

Your knight points the sword at Rodrick’s throat, panting from exertion. “Yield,” Matthew commands.  

“I will not!” Rodrick spits at him, pushing the imposing blade away from his throat.

“Yield!” Matthew shouts, bringing the blade back and pushing pressure onto the side of his neck. A thin string of warm blood follows the cut.

Rodrick looks around the room, conscious of how the people around him start to whisper about his loss. He makes eye contact with you and glares at his defeat. 

“I yield,” He says hesitantly as his eyes remain on yours. 

You swallow thickly as silver knights drag him out of the ballroom, your eyes following him. Rodrick was glaring at you until he could no longer see you, his cheeks still flushed from the duel and from the embarrassment of losing. 

You let go of Morpheus’ hand, wiping your palm against the softness of your dress to get rid of the excessive sweat that started to accumulate. You go to grab at your wine again, finishing the rest with large gulps to calm your nerves. The alcohol is quick to work its magic as it seeps into your system.

“Congratulations on your victory, champion,” You grin when Matthew comes back to your side. “Where’s your helmet?”

“I, uh, can’t find it…” He mutters, embarrassed. He scratches at his hair as his cheeks flush red. 

You smile once more as Matthew’s true personality shows itself again. He was quite young to be a knight, and his face had left the battle without any scars; a testament to his effectiveness. A server comes by and tops off the goblet with more glittering wine. 

Morpheus hovers a hand over his own cup as a silent decline for more alcohol. Meanwhile you were more than inclined to continue drinking. The excitement of the day is already taking its effect on you. When you set your drink back down, you notice that no one is enjoying the gala anymore.

They stand to the side, muttering to themselves behind open feather fans. No one is drinking, or feasting, and they share unsure glances with each other. The duel was a mood killer for the festivities. 

You take another slow sip from your wine, what should you do? You watch through slightly lidded eyes as Morpheus stands from his seat. His hand falls before yours in a silent invitation of another dance. Baffled, you silently stare at the upright hand. Morpheus wants another dance?

Should you? When a bird has been locked in a cage for so long, even when presented with the opportunity of flight, it often finds itself staying. It takes comfort in what the bird knows. The outside world is dangerous, after all. 

“Please,” He whispers when he notices you hesitating. You see his other fingers twitch against his leg, a tic that you’ve long since noticed he does whenever he is nervous. You place the goblet down and grab onto his hand lightly. One more dance wouldn’t hurt. 

Before you leave, you turn to Matthew with a smile. “You should go dance, too. You’ve done well to deserve it tonight.” 

Matthew all but perks up at your invitation, his eyes darting to Morpheus, who simply nods in approval of his request. 

The two of you take to the floor and amidst the onlookers and mutterers, for once, you only notice Morpheus. “I trust you,” You say slowly.

Morpheus nods before he places a gentle hand on your waist and leads the dance once more. The music is romantic somber as the two of you glide across the floor. 

Nobles and invitees around you stop whispering amongst themselves and enjoy the spectacle. Soon enough, more and more couples return to the dance floor. 

The orchestra is quick to change its tune and an upbeat swell of strings has everyone clapping and jumping around in a country dance. Your smile brightens your face once more as you witness how your small dance was enough to bring people together. 

You part from Morpheus as a new dance partner whisks you away for the next portion of the song. You grab onto your dance partner as you watch Morpheus spin with a new partner of his own, a soft smile gracing his lips as he witnesses your lingering gaze.

“Enjoying the ball, Your Majesty?” The new voice interrupts your thoughts. Your head turns to your new dance partner and you feel yourself jump in the middle of a spin. 

“Corinthian,” You greet curtly, smile dropping. 

“Hello again, Your Majesty.” He grins down at you, sunglasses still on. A silence follows and you’re desperate to change partners again.

“It seems you and His Majesty have started to become amiable with each other. I heard rumors that your marriage was in rocky waters.” He whispers into your ear as he spins you again. 

“They’re just rumors,” You lie again. 

The Corinthian hums, easily reading between the lines of your statement. “Well, well, would you look at that?”

Corinthian focuses his attention behind you and you turn to match his gaze. Couples waltz around you, but your eyes immediately seek out Morpheus. Your newly healed heart shatters as you watch Morpheus and Calliope spin across the dance floor. The two of them look beautiful together, her light colors clashing with his darker ones is a sight out of the romances you’ve read in your books. 

Were dance partners always supposed to be that close to each other? Their gazes lock with each other as they share private words amongst themselves. Morpheus says something that causes Calliope to smile, something that lights up her entire figure in delight. 

“Perhaps the rumors are quite true,” Corinthian chuckles. 

You let go of him as if he suddenly caught on fire. “I need some air… Please excuse me.” 

The Corinthian doesn’t try to stop you as you weave your way through the dancing couples. Before you leave the ballroom, you briefly overhear a conversation between Mervyn and Matthew. 

“Huh, I thought you were some beast with how you were swinging that piece of crap around. But you’re just some normal kid,” Mervyn scoffs as he lights another cigarette. 

Matthew scratches his head in confusion, the refound helmet rests between his arm and torso. It is liberating to not have to wear it for a while, and he can smell the food more clearly like this.

“Actually, I’m 1/16 pure Ravenfolk on my mother's side. Not so normal now, huh, Mervyn?” Matthew brags with a high head. 

“Pah!” The pumpkin man scoffs again, a cloud of smoke following him. “And Jessamy is pure Ravenfolk so what you got to say about that!”

You’re sure you see smoke steaming out of your knight’s ears and his face turns bright red. It’s a conversation you would have loved to entertain, but in your emotions, you don’t linger long. The door is right there and you escape from all the distracted gazes.

By muscle memory, your feet take you to your garden sanctuary. The summer sun is no longer an issue for you as the night wind calms your fraying nerves. You run your fingers along the petals of night flowers and watch as they sway in tandem with the tides. 

You take a seat on a nearby stone bench, watching the eclipse reflection in the small pond of your garden. An uncomfortable feeling like stone settles in your throat as you push down a hiccup. Silent tears still make it past your eyes. 

You wipe away your tears with the back of your hand as you silently berate yourself for always crying. Taking a deep breath, you close your eyes and try to relax your over eccentric heart. The rustling of leaves and citrus smell of flowers calm your nerves quite well. 

You hear a rustle that feels out of place and a presence behind you and you sigh deeply. 

“Not now, Matthew. I really just want to be alone,” You indirectly ask your knight for solitude. 

“Not Matthew,” The presence spits out the name and you gasp as you feel the cold metal of his blade against your throat. 

Rodrick.

How could you forget his voice? You don’t move as you watch him circle in front of you. The point of the dagger in his hands remains pointed at your throat. You swallow your nerves, the slight movement enough to scratch your skin against the sharp blade. 

“You embarrassed me. In front of all of your citizens,” Rodrick begins to monologue. It’s hard to make out his face in the dark light and the angle at which you sat, but the glare he emitted was easy to feel.

“No, you embarrassed yourself. Who told you killing someone else would bring back your dead son?” You ask to distract him. Your eyes dart around your space as you try to find a path to run away from him, or something that can hinder him while you find help. 

“The ruler I serve said so. And I believe in their word.” He continues.

“Who? Desire of the Endless?” You scoff as you look at his red armor. The lustful color and crest he bore on his chest plate was easy enough to piece together. “Have you ever considered your ruler is merely using you as bait?”

“They would never,” Rodrick says back in disbelief. The blade dips slightly for a moment as he backs away. 

You take that slight moment as your chance, grabbing at the layers of your dress and sprinting back towards the castle.

“Matthew!” You scream at the top of your lungs and you pray that it's heard past the music. 

Hedges and thorned flowers scrape at you and get caught in your dress. The sound of pounding feet catches up to you and a yelp leaves your lips as Rodricks tackles you to the ground. Your crown dislodges itself from your head at the impact and you’re screaming as you fight back as best as you can. 

His hands come around your throat and you grab at his wrist in panic. Rasping breaths leave you in huffs as he squeezes harder and harder. The edges of your vision start to go black as the lack of oxygen leaves your body wanting. 

“M-Morpheus,” You call out weakly. 

“No one can hear you now, you pathetic queen. No one can help you—”

The weight is lifted off of you abruptly and you turn on hands and knees as you intake as much air as you possibly could. You turn back around and stand on wobbly legs and watch as two silhouettes fight each other. One, you knew to be Rodrick but the other was new. The person was armor clad in silver, so it was neither Morpheus nor Matthew. One moment, Rodrick was standing, and the next he fell to the ground in a slump. 

“Come, let’s get you back to the palace, Your Majesty,” Your savior comes closer to you. The dagger that Rodrick had threatened you with is still in her hands. 

“Who are you?” You ask as she takes your hand and begins a fast walk away from the dead body. 

“You may call me Gault, Your Majesty.” Her pace is faster than yours and in your still shocked state, you fall to the ground. Gault turns around quickly and bends to help you up from the elbow. 

“Jessamy, subdue her,” You hear Morpheus' voice nearby. The sound of armor accompanying him. 

“What?” You question as you fall back to the ground. Matthew is by your side in no time, holding you up steadily. 

You watch with confusion as Jessamy holds both of Gault’s hands behind her back and kicks her knee in so that she kneels to the ground. 

“Forgive me, for not coming sooner,” Morpheus whispers to you. He unclips the half cape he wore and drapes it over your shoulders. Your abrasive run through the gardens leaves you more exposed than what would have been considered appropriate. 

“Wait, no, stop,” You interject as he returns his attention to Gault. 

Morpheus ignores you, insisting to himself that your ramblings were from shock. It’s obvious to him that Gault was going to hurt you. As soon as he noticed that you weren’t in the ballroom anymore, he was quick to leave the dance and come looking for you. 

To find you being hovered by one of his own soldiers with the weapon in her hand was evident enough in his eyes of treason. You looked horrible, your dress in shambles and thin cuts scattered across your body. 

“I was protecting the queen,” Gault states the truth slowly. “I had no intention of hurting her. I merely wish to keep her from harm.”

“Listen to her, my lord. Please, I beg you, she is speaking the truth,” You plead once more. The hold that Matthew has on you shifts from protection to restriction as you try to fight against him. 

Morpheus ignores you once more, and while your cries hurt him, bringing you justice will satiate the pain. “You do not get to decide what I saw with my own eyes. How do you think you should be punished for the attempt on my queen’s life?”

Gault pushes her head up higher even as the realization dawns on her. “I am not afraid.”

“You should be.” Morpheus stalks closer to her.

“I will rather die afraid than knowing I lived without truth, my lord.” You hear Gault whisper. 

Morpheus doesn’t bother with a response. The shadows of the eclipse seem to elongate his shadow as he paths closer to her. Your pleas once again fall on deaf ears and tears sting your face red. Your screams have turned raw in your throat as you helplessly watch.

In the darkness of the eclipse, you barely register the sound of Morpheus unsheathing Jessamy’s blade from her scabbard. You don’t see it, but you feel it—the sticky warmth of blood splattering across your face. The iron taste rests heavy on your tongue as your mouth falls open in a gasp. It mixes with the wine and creates a concoction that makes you dry heave in the grass. 

You hear it, too. As Gault doesn’t die from the first strike and her blood effectively drowns her as she tries to breathe. Morpheus swings again and the head thuds to the ground, her body following quickly after as Jessamy lets her go. 

Your scream echoes across the vastness of the night.

Ah, Morpheus you walking red flag you. Also, I'm not going to lie, idk how to redeem Dream boy over here after this chapter cause wtf is this bitch on (I know I wrote him but what the fuck?)

Someone tell me I did good, it's summer and I no longer get academic validation

♡ Yours, Layla

Tags: @dnarez @arunawayheart @acdassenza @ella33 @karma-is-a-god @bluespecs14 @boo8008 @dragon-kazansky @i-voluntears @deniixlovezelda

#the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #morpheus x reader #the sandman fanfic #dream of the endless x reader #dream x reader #the sandman x reader #sandman x reader #destined dreams of love

[dwtdog]

george could have a backbone and acknowledge his actions and apologise and not try to get out of it and then i’d see some redeem-ability for him

i’ll never be able to fully hate them but fandom won’t forgive and i can’t blame them at all. best case scenario they accept the death of “fandom” and continue yt for casual fans

yep my thoughts exactly. i find it very hard to see ANYONE as irredeemable, although i do think people who are abusive don't deserve audiences where they have access to vulnerable fans

#at the moment i find it hard to condemn drm or sap #with everything out in the open it still feels like their worst crimes r being grgs friends #to me. it seems like he made a terrible terrible mistake #and theres nothign he can do to fix it except improve himself and do all he can to help the women he affected #it really does come down to him owning up to it and consciously changing #and before i get called a hypocrite #id say the same thing about ccs like wilbur- they can improve #but that doesnt mean they should have an #audience #idk im still trying to sort out all my thoughts honestly #open to discussion just pls be kind this is a sensitive subject for me #cw abuse #cq.asks

[zenokei]

— the sun has set ; michael kaiser.

starring :: michael kaiser x reader

wc :: 800

tags :: hurt/comfort, reverse comfort, nightmares, implied self harm and abuse, kaisers backstory (brief)

synopsis :: michael kaiser often times has nightmares about his past, and you’re the only one who seems to not mind his outbursts.

when michael kaiser has days where the weight of his life seems to overcome his resolve, there will be no doubt that on that night, scenes of his past come and haunt him. agonizing nightmares keeping him pinned onto nothing but illusion as he chokes on awaiting tears in his sleep. it’s unbearable, really: constant tossing and turning without his consciousness, harsh clutching of his blanket, and the straining furrow of his eyebrows—and it hasn’t changed ever since.

well, perhaps it’s been bearable from the moment you’ve been by his side when he sleeps.

“mihya,” you call softly, “come on, wake up.” 

drenched in sweat, kaiser gasps as his eyes open to darkness. he reaches out for what’s closest to him, and to his advantage, it’s you. “you’re with me.” you mumble, fingers combing through his hair—not stopping until you feel his body’s tension loosen up, even for a little bit. “i’m with you.” from his head that’s buried on your abdomen, he looks up; breath still undeniably trembling with frustration and anxiety.

“you- what time is it?” it’s too quiet around you both, the busy streets outside sounding empty–only the sound of light rain echoing is out. “it doesn’t matter, rest up again. i’m right here.” when kaiser realizes he’s overslept from the initial nap he took many, many hours ago, he feels around for his phone.

12:39am. 

“liebling, sorry- you should be the one asleep. i’ve had plenty already.” suddenly, kaiser rushes off the bed, slightly stumbling as he does so. the abrupt loss of his presence creates a frown on your face. knowing his usual ways when facing a nightmare of such level, kaiser isolates himself. 

“mihya,” you call out, voice still kind as ever, yet he doesn’t look back.

“mihya,” you call once more, and you’re standing up from the bed, going after him.

“michael!” now, he looks at you: eyes in disbelief when you tug on his arm with force. “let me go. i’m going for a walk.” he pulls back, but you don’t let him. “not tonight, stay inside.” although you knew what to be expecting, the sheer anger and pain in his voice has you wincing. “it’s too fucking suffocating here right now- damn it, don’t touch me!” as kaiser hears his own words when you reluctantly let go of his arm, his body slumps down to the floor.

his back is against the doorframe, legs tucked onto his chest like a pitiful child as his head is hung low. looking down at him, your breath shudders for a moment. you assume–rather you’re fairly certain that kaiser’s nightmare still lingers in his eyes. him mistaking you for someone that would hurt him is most likely. 

so you take his pace, sitting down in front of him on the cold ground even if he doesn’t dare look at you. “out of all people, why you?” kaiser tiredly whispers, arms muffling his voice. “me?” you whisper back, copying the way he’s sitting, although it only differs as your eyes are locked on him. “why did i think you were him? you’re not him.” kaiser’s voice is small, hands tentatively tapping on his skin as he trembles. “mn. i’m not. it was just a nightmare, mihya.” once more, his breath is uneven, and it’s bothering you more.

“it’s not about that! why am i always thinking about that bastard, even though there’s no reason? even in my fucking sleep, i see him! what the fuck is up with that?” you only hum, feeling sorrow come undone from kaiser’s body. “am i not free? despite everything i’ve done to leave that shitty place?” when you see kaiser’s hand itch to grasp at his neck, you quickly intervene. concern washes over you when you notice just how glossy kaiser’s cheeks are, its faint shine is reflecting under the dim light. 

“mihya, you’re with me. are you not? that should answer everything.”

you gently lean your body towards his, and kaiser’s head rests itself on the warmth of your neck. “but-” his frustrated sobs are getting covered up by you. “no. nothing more, nothing less, mihya. i’m with you, and you’re with me.” his arms heavily grip on your shirt, fingers trembling as he tightly embraces you. “it was only a bad day,” you whisper in his hair, lovingly hushing him to only listen to your lone voice. “mihya, it’s okay.” kaiser’s body is still shivering under your hold, tears dampening your collarbone as it seems to not give in anytime soon. but that’s fine.

“we can stay here like this, or maybe go back to sleep if you’d like that instead.” the palms of your hand gently pry his face from your shoulder, and it continues to caress it as kaiser sniffles. “what do you think?” the burden in kaiser’s mind dissipates to your palm, its weight getting heavier as he pushes his head onto it. 

“stay,” and you will. with a tender thumb that wipes away his tears, it consoles him, making kaiser feel the most humane as he’s ever felt.

“okay.” you smile at him, before pulling him back into an embrace that kaiser will never take for granted.   

© zenokei | do not repost, copy, or use my works.

#blue lock #michael kaiser x reader #kaiser michael x reader #bllk #blue lock x reader #kaiser x reader #bllk x reader #michael kaiser #kaiser michael #blue lock imagines #michael kaiser x you #zenokei | works #fanfiction

[silkjade]

STILL WITH HEARTS BEATING

alhaitham x reader ⤀ warnings: gn!reader, insecurity issues, fear of vulnerability, hurt/comfort, selfship coded a/n: a vent drabble, so everything is super self indulgent + reader is based on me lol

“tell me atlas. what is heavier: the world or its people’s hearts?” — darshana suresh

although he prefers to keep his nose buried in a book, alhaitham is still as perceptive as ever, taking note of all the minuscule changes in your demeanor, even whilst you don a mask to stifle your woes.

he sees it first in the wistful sighs scattered amongst your too calm breaths, in your crafted smile, too practiced to be natural, and the strained words that fall too heavily out your lips, each in a race to prove that everything is normal and fine—that any anomalous behavior might only be the ramifications of an exhausting day.

your name rolls so naturally off his tongue, as he reaches out to you, catching your wrist before you can disappear into the bedroom and sleep away your swallowed emotions.

“are you alright?”

he asks out of courtesy, but to him, the signs are clear as day: the sharp inhale and slow exhale as you rally to fabricate another facade, chin tilted just a smidge too high as you turn to face him, dull eyes glistening with the remnants of unshed tears, forced to retreat by the winged flutter of your lashes.

to him, the signs are clear as day that you are not, that you are only putting on a brave face, something which he finds odd within the threshold of your shared home.

“just tired is all,” you reply, speaking in half truths. after all, it's exhausting trying to keep up appearances when all you wish to do, is to curl into yourself and rot into your bed.

you flash him a quick smile, small and devoid of warmth; a lame imposter to the very one he’s grown so terribly fond of.

he repeats your name, this time softer, brows knitted with equal parts skepticism and concern at your empty words. filled with even emptier spirit, he notes.

nonchalant, rehearsed, refined—and yet, he can hear the melancholia that spills into your tone. see the downward twitch of your lead-laden lips and the watery shift of your eyes as you avert your gaze in self-consciousness.

“you don’t have to hide from me,” he murmurs, and you want to believe him, want to believe that you’re brave enough to lay down your defenses, that you can trust him to hold your porcelain heart in his hands without threat of endangerment.

you open your mouth to speak, but not a sound comes out as the words turn to bile in your throat. to swallow the bitter liquid, or to spit your heart out and lay it bare for him to see. for alhaitham, who is more than just an akademiya giant, but a cornerstone of sumeru itself: brilliant and brave, kind in spite of his unconventional displays. the sun who shines by the heat of his own radiance.

his moon, he calls you. and yet the moon does not glow; the moon whose only light is a reflection of the sun.

you purse your lips, internally willing yourself to believe that these tears will not spill. it'd be egregious—like coughing up blood when you too have a reputation to uphold, a certain presence to be perceived. for even the moon, who shines by grace of borrowed light, is steadfast in its quiet elegance.

“it’s fine,” you insist, “really.” it’s heavy under the weight of your pride, but at least your heart is safe here in your chest, isolated and tucked away.

you push until he relents, relaxing his grip around your wrist. good, you think, he's given up. but then why does it so painfully squeeze your heart in a way you cannot convey—like a hair-lined fracture upon your brittle bones.

but alhaitham is no fool; he intends to prove he’d catch you before you can shatter, freeing your wrist, only so that he might pull you into his arms instead. there is no shortage to the vast infinity of words he can say, but matters of the heart have never been his forte… and so he hopes that his actions might speak more profoundly than his words.

the sudden impact blows your eyes wide with surprise, tears already threatening to spill from the solace of just his embrace. there are no sounds other than his steady heart and even breaths, no scent besides the faded woody fragrance of his cologne. it's safe here, cocooned in his arms, and you think that for a moment, perhaps everything is and will be fine.

you relax against him, basking in his warmth, as you rest into the crook of his neck, absentmindedly staring at the patterns on the floor.

“you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” he whispers, “but please don’t hide from me.”

your hands, pressed flush against his chest, curl into themselves, relieved that he cannot see the tears welling in your eyes. he does, however, feel that first crystalline droplet that slides freely down your cheeks, melting into the fabric of his clothes as more follow. alhaitham runs his fingers through your hair, while his other hand hugs you by the small of your back, holding you ever closer. the occasional sob racks your body, silent and reluctant, but it’s a start.

a heart is a complex web of earnest emotions, floridly woven into secrets he cannot fault you for keeping locked away in a vault. perhaps one day, you’d rely on him, let him in to share the burden. and if he should be so lucky, perhaps you'd deem him worthy to be your home, so that you might rest with him, without armor. as for now, he’ll gladly cushion your fall, give you a soft place to land.

in the night’s dark embrace, the moon’s milky light paints patterns through the stained glass window of your bedroom, and behind you, your lover’s arms stay wrapped around your waist, holding you close beneath the blankets.

“… alhaitham?” your voice is delicate, spun from silk amidst the quiet of the night.

“hmm?” he peaks an eye open at the unfamiliar use of his full name.

“if I ask you something, do you promise to answer honestly?”

“I don’t see any reason not to.” The low vibrations of his tone tickles your skin as he replies with a kiss to your shoulder.

“am I…,” you hesitate, voice wavering as you contemplate whether words whispered into the wind might write itself into stone. “am I… enough for you?”

the seconds seem to stand still, as if all the world and even the sky itself, were holding its breath in bated anticipation.

finally, a creak cuts through the silence as the bed shifts alongside alhaitham, who now hovers over you, his body and arms trapping you in between. the intensity of his gaze prompts you to look away, but he reaches for your chin, holding you gently so that you have nowhere to look, save for his technicolored eyes.

enough for him? is that what you were upset about? what a shame, he thinks.

“If you could only see what I see,” he murmurs, with a kiss to your forehead. his moon, his stars, his entire night sky, who guides him in the dark.

“intelligent, intuitive, independent,” he murmurs, kissing along your jaw, and down your neck in between each word. “outspoken and fiercely strong. beautiful, capable of anything…”

alhaitham glances up, only satisfied once the insecurity is dispelled from your features, replaced by an absolute reassurance.

"… which I knew from the moment you made me fall completely in love with you."

he peppers your face with little kisses, and you can’t help but let out a soft laugh, almost embarrassed. “haitham…”

alhaitham pauses at your first genuine smile of the night. “I mean every word. you’re more than enough, just as you are. and no one should be able to take that away from you, so…”

he rolls back into bed, pulling you with him as he goes, so that you might drift to sleep with your head rested atop his chest, listening to the steady tune of his heart, as it sings to you in your dreams.

a/n2: this was actually vry therapeutic but i did not intend for it to get this long, and so i m a bit embarrassed (don’t perceive) however if u have made it this far, as always, thank u for reading ♡

© silkjade — do not steal, plagiarize, translate or repost any content onto any other platform

#— 𝓼𝓲𝓰𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓙. ༯ #alhaitham x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #al haitham x reader #alhaitham x you #genshin drabbles #genshin impact drabbles #alhaitham comfort #alhaitham x reader comfort #alhaitham x reader fluff #alhaitham fluff #genshin fluff #genshin comfort #genshin impact x you #genshin x you

[sp1cy-t0ss]

Antares

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45534721

The first thing Nightwing hears upon regaining consciousness is ominous chanting. A man’s voice rings out over the rest, ranting about an Eternal King, infinite power, and -- oh boy -- sacrifices. He tunes it out to assess the situation.

He’s in an old warehouse. Robin’s here too, looking even more annoyed than Nightwing feels, and both of them have their hands and ankles bound in rope. His comm is on silent, just as he left it, like an idiot. The ranting man and his followers in matching robes are gathered around a ritual circle in the middle of the floor. Yeah, that tells him all he needs to know. They need to get out, now.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly when the leader finishes his speech and turns to them.

“So,” the man asks with a cruel smile. “Which of you ‘heroes’ will have the honor of bringing our Lord to this plane?” 

“I will.” Robin’s voice is sharp, unyielding. 

The man is obviously surprised to receive an actual answer to his taunt, but obliges. He pulls Robin away without another word.

“What?! No! Robin, you can’t--” Nightwing’s protest is cut off with a punch to the stomach from one of the robed lackeys.

“I have my reasons, Nightwing; it must be me.” Robin’s face reveals nothing, but he gives a subtle hand signal: I have a plan.

Nightwing forces himself to calm down. They’ll get out of this. He just has to trust his Robin. While everyone’s eyes are off him, he quietly works at the amateur knots.

The leader drags Robin into the circle without a fight. He raises a jeweled dagger, intentions clear... 

But Robin is faster. He bites his own wrist, hard, and spits his blood into the circle. The runes light up in terrible Lazarus green, and Robin pushes himself upright with a malicious grin.

The lead cultist scrambles back from the circle and into a deep bow. The chanting stops as his minions follow suit. Robin continues to look far too smug for his situation. Nightwing feels a headache coming on somewhere under his renewed panic.

This is his plan?! 

There’s a blinding flash of light. When the spots clear from Nightwing’s vision, the Eternal King is floating in the circle, mere feet from the bound Robin.

The Eternal King isn’t quite the grotesque horror he expected. Their body is a glittering black void, a sleek humanoid shadow with misty white hair and bright, bright eyes of toxic green. A cold fog rolls off of their body in waves.

“Antares,” the shadow rumbles, and Nightwing feels static thrum in his bones with the sound. The room is painfully cold, but the King doesn’t seem aggressive yet. Maybe they really can bargain their way out of this mess.

Robin doesn’t flinch. He looks the Eternal King right in the eyes, utterly fearless, and smirks. “Hello, Beloved.”

What?

The King stares silently, floating closer. For a long moment, no one moves. No one speaks.

“My lord, does the sacrifice please you?” The ringleader cuts in, standing up with a greedy gleam in his eyes. 

Something in the air changes as the King turns toward the man. Something cold, electric, heavy under the skin. Nightwing suppresses a shiver as he works through the last of the rope.

“You d̵̢̛a̵̼̽ṙ̴͎e̵͙̐.”

The leader pales and falls to his knees. “My Lord, if this offering is insufficient, we have another--”

The King s̴̱̖̺̺̓͊̕̕ć̵͇͇͔̈r̴̥͐e̸̥̬͌̂̌̊a̴̭̔̓̀̔͘m̵̯͑̋͌͠s̵̗̤̻̭̍̿, a furious howl that blurs Nightwing’s vision and claws his ears. The sound is everywhere, driving him to his knees. Growing shadows seem to absorb his little brother just as Nightwing realizes he’s blacking out. 

They’re falling, they’re falling someone help they’re screaming he’s screaming make it stop dead on impact blood and bones make it stop make it STOP--

When he comes back to himself, it’s quiet. Nightwing blinks tears from his eyes, gasping for frigid air that pierces his lungs like knives. The floor outside the circle is covered in blood splatter. The cultists have all been struck down, and many aren’t moving. 

But he’s not looking at them.

Because the monster is coiled around Robin like a snake, eyes burning as it surveys the room. Robin seems unharmed for now, but he has to get his baby brother away from that thing.

He steps forward, and those endless green eyes lock onto him. It snarls at his approach, revealing multiple rows of teeth. Claws subtly tighten on Robin’s shoulders. Nightwing sinks into a combat stance, and the creature braces itself to leap.

Pure, animal instinct screams that Nightwing won’t survive this fight.. It doesn’t matter. He’ll give his all like he always has, and Robin can escape. The others will find a way to take it down. He just has to buy time.

“Dove, it’s alright.”

To Nightwing’s amazement, the creature freezes. It turns to look at Robin, warbling in apparent confusion before turning back to Nightwing with a hiss.

Robin grabs its face in both hands and forces it to look at him. “No. That���s Nightwing, remember? He will not harm us. I am safe. We are safe.” His voice is steady, soothing as he gently presses their foreheads together. A spark of awareness slowly returns to ‘Dove’s’ eyes.

“Come back to me.”

The monster sags in Robin’s grip, slowly folding in on itself until a nearly-human teen with snowy white hair is left floating gently in its place.

Robin smiles, gentle and shockingly warm. “There you are.”

‘Dove’ is shaking. Their eyes are locked on Robin, as though he’s the only thing in their universe. “Antares,” they breathe, before wrapping Robin in a tight hug.

Robin briefly looks to Dick, gesturing toward the cultists. He then returns his attention to the distraught being, resting his chin on their head and both hands on their back. The obvious dismissal makes Nightwing uneasy, but the kid has a point. They'll just have to check him for hypnosis or mind control back at the Cave.

Now that Nightwing is actually looking at the cultists, their injuries are horrific. Deep lacerations, stab wounds, frostbite, severed limbs...none of them seem likely to die with medical treatment, but every last one is maimed. 

The ringleader is worst of all. His eyes are gouged out, and his hands ripped off and cauterized by the same unearthly frost that burns scattered marks into his skin. An unfamiliar symbol has been clawed into his chest. 

Nightwing looks back to the circle, where Dove is quietly sobbing. Their face is tucked securely into Robin’s neck, and Nightwing hears whispers of I was scared and can’t lose you too.  

This is the same person?

By the time the cultists are all secured and the police have been called, Dove seems to have calmed down. Time to play the diplomat. Again. 

Damn, maybe Steph has a point about Eldest Daughter Syndrome.

“I, uh, hate to interrupt, but we should probably get out of here, yeah? GCPD will be here in a couple minutes,” he proposes with a friendly smile.

Dove wipes their eyes. “Right.” Then they look around the room and wince. “Uhm, sorry you? Had to see that? I...panicked. You’re okay though, right? Not hurt or anything?” The question is disarmingly earnest, and there’s nothing but concern in their eyes. Hm.

“Nah, not a scratch,” Nightwing dismisses. Then he remembers he’s apparently talking to a king. “Thank you for saving Robin, Your Highness,” he adds with a bow of his head. 

“Nuh-uh, no titles. Gross.” The King makes a face, then smiles with renewed cheer. “Call me Phantom. He/him, ghost, and general pain in the ass, at your service!” He floats higher and punctuates his announcement with a midair flip. “You might as well know, since we’re gonna be seeing each other a lot now.”

Crap. “I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Nightwing ventures.

‘Phantom’ exchanges a meaningful look with Robin. Nightwing barely has time to register the mischief on both their faces before Robin pulls the being down into a kiss. 

A deep kiss now. Really deep. Yeah, they’ve definitely forgotten he’s here.

When they finally separate, Robin looks quite satisfied. Phantom, however, sticks out a forked tongue and scrunches his face. “Blech, blood. What did you...” His eyes land on Robin’s still-bloody wrist, then the droplets still in the circle. 

“You didn’t.” A grin creeps across his face. “You have me on soul speed dial and you still hijacked a whole-ass summoning!”

“Tt. I was making a point.” Robin crosses his arms.

Phantom cackles. “You are literally the most dramatic person I’ve ever met!” he crows.

Robin raises an eyebrow and gestures to the warehouse full of mangled cultists. Phantom opens his mouth to retort, but it’s at this point that Nightwing finally manages to pull his jaw off the floor and speak. 

“Robin,” he says with deliberate calm. “What the fuck.”

And then they hear police sirens. Fantastic.

“Crap. Don’t worry, I got it!” Phantom declares as he rips a green hole in existence. Robin is unfazed, which is rapidly getting less and less surprising.

A woman in the corner stirs. Phantom makes a ‘one moment’ gesture before he stalks over and yanks her forward with a growl. “You’ve kept your tongue for a reason. Spread the word: Robin is mine.” (Robin stands taller, obviously pleased by that extremely concerning statement.)  The woman nods frantically, and Phantom drops her to the ground. 

Without further preamble, Phantom zips back over and shoves both vigilantes through the rip.

Just like that, they’re all in Damian’s bedroom. The two boys immediately sit together on the edge of the bed, while Dick remains standing. Dick doesn’t even know where to begin, so he can only give a helpless ‘why’ sort of gesture. Thankfully, Damian seems to take pity on him.

“Richard, this insufferable fool is my Beloved. His name is Danny, and he is seventeen.” Then he smirks. “You may refer to him as High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms; The Tyrant’s Bane, True Balance, Son Of Stars, Pride of Time, Death’s Chosen--”

The ghost groans dramatically, flopping across Damian’s lap like a wet noodle. “Oh my gawd, Dames, why would you tell him that?”

"It is very important that Richard recognizes your position and authority.” Damian says, not even trying to sound convincing.

Danny reaches up and pushes at Damian’s face. It brings to mind a pair of cats, especially with Damian doing his best to look annoyed instead of fond. “Betrayal! I want a divorce!”

That’s the last straw. Dick chokes on his own spit and has to thump his chest a few times to breathe right again. With monumental effort, he manages to wheeze out a strangled “Are you MaRriEd?!”

Danny tries to sputter out a reply, but Dick is distracted by Damian laughing. It’s a low, light sound, with no attempt made to disguise it. 

“Of course not,” Damian says. He cards a hand through Danny’s hair, the other boy sighing contently and looking up at him with adoring neon eyes. “We've only courted for seven months now. It will be another three years before we wed.” 

Dick is just. Gonna ignore that last bit. For his own sanity. “Wait, how did you keep a whole boyfriend secret for seven months? In this family?” 

“Bribery.” “Threats.”

Yeah, that sounds about right. Babs and Duke probably know then.

“Cool, good to know. One more question.” Well, more like a billion, but he may as well start with an icebreaker before the inevitable interrogation. Besides, it’s a big brother's duty to embarrass his siblings. “Why Dove?”

Damian says nothing, but his deep blush is almost audible.

“Because I’m cute and fluffy!” Danny chirps.

“Hardly,” Damian scoffs. “It’s because you are raucously annoying and constantly crash into windows.”

Literally everything about this situation is baffling, but Danny looks so offended that Dick can’t help but laugh.

“You lying asshole!” Danny screeches.

Damian turns to Dick. “He attempted to use a grapple three times and broke eleven windows; four of them with his face. I have videos.” Danny gasps, the two start bickering, and Dick is left to his thoughts once more. 

Even as the pair separate to point fingers and trade increasingly creative insults, their body language is completely relaxed. As much as Dick is panicking about a powerful undead monarch around their family, Damian is happy. He has been for months, now that Dick thinks about it. He’s been loosening up a little, leaving the manor more, and even mentioning a few new friends (though he refuses to use the word.)

Whoever or whatever Danny is, he’s been good for him.

“Well,” Dick cuts in, interrupting an inventive declaration about overripe cheese. “We’ll obviously need to talk about this. But for what it’s worth,” he smiles. “I’m happy for you, Baby Bat.” 

With that said, Dick walks out of the bedroom. Danny gives him a grateful smile, and a quiet thank you, Richard can be heard as he closes the door behind him.

Dick walks away at a leisurely pace until he reaches the end of the hallway, where he promptly breaks into a sprint toward the Cave. Checking the Batcomputer to make sure Damian hasn’t noticed the planted bug yet, he turns on his comms. Unsurprisingly, the entire family is yelling and demanding answers.

Well, at least he won’t be the only one having a heart attack tonight.

#dp x dc #dead serious #they're 16 and 17 #danny says he wants a divorce at every mild inconvenience #danny has dozens of titles and damian has memorized every last one entirely to annoy him #they alternate between adorable cats and those heckling muppets #spice writes #dc x dp #danny x damian

[mollysolo]

You’ve Bewitched Me

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky accidentally falls asleep on your shoulder on his train ride home and it leads to something very unexpected.

Warnings: Bucky and the reader not knowing each other at first, Bucky falling asleep on the readers shoulder, awkwardness/nervousness, strangers to friends-ish to lovers, Bucky being old & not the best at using technology, kissing, implied smut, mentions of aftercare, Bucky gets hurt during a mission

Word Count: 8.4k

a/n: i hope y’all like this!

the gif below does not belong to me

You spaced out a little as you sat down in the train that would eventually take you to your stop. You were feeling incredibly tired in this moment after all of the work you’d had to complete during your shift today. All you wanted was to get home, eat dinner, take a shower, change into your pajamas then go to sleep. And while you were very tired, you still maintained your consciousness, not wanting to fall asleep around a bunch of strangers.

You were still aware of your surroundings and the stop announcements overhead but you were spaced out enough that at first you didn’t notice the gorgeous man who sat down next to you in the last free seat.

Bucky briefly looked at you as he sat down, noticing the spaced out look on your face and the earbuds in your ears. Which he could hear the sound of music by a more recent artist whom he had probably never heard of coming out of.

Moments later once you had seen this man in your peripheral vision, you allowed yourself to take a peak at him after you had blinked a few times, your curiosity getting the best of you for a second. And when your eyes did meet him, they widened a little bit. He was gorgeous, you had never seen someone as attractive as him.

And if you were being honest with yourself, you didn’t really think much of him taking the last empty seat that just so happened to be next to you. You were used to seeing the cars just filled with people this time of day.

So you put your attention back onto the window across from you, taking your eyes off of the man who was still sat to your left and looking at the scenery that passed the train instead. But you noticed the longer you two sat there, waiting for your stops, the more his eyelids had began to droop.

He fought sleep for a few minutes before letting his body finally rest. And when he did fall asleep, he stirred a little bit and began to rest his head on your shoulder, causing you to freeze up like a deer in headlights. You peaked over at him again, he was completely asleep now and probably didn’t fall asleep on you on purpose, this reassuring thought making your shoulders relax a bit.

And while you didn’t know this man, you decided that you would wake him up a few stops before your own, hoping that he wouldn’t be too far from his stop when you did wake him up. But you froze up again when he unknowingly snuggled into you in his unconscious state. Which caused you to make another decision.

When you did wake him up, you would only say that he fell asleep on you if it came up. You wouldn’t include the part where he began to cuddle with you, for his sake.

As you sat there with him, you couldn’t help but start to fall in love with this man. Even though you knew nothing about him, not even his name. You hoped you’d get the confidence to introduce yourself to him after you woke him up.

———————————

About ten minutes later, you were now three stops away from your stop and it was now the time for you to wake up the very attractive man sleeping on your shoulder. You hoped your interaction wouldn’t be too awkward once he did wake up.

First, you took you paused your music and took your headphones out. Then, you started to gently poke at his shoulder that was not pressed to you and you quietly spoke to him, “Excuse me.” you said a couple times as you kept poking his shoulder, causing him to abruptly wake up.

And as he woke up, his head still lingered on your shoulder for a few more seconds before he moved it. He then looked over at you again once he was fully conscious, “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” he said, a bit of an awkward tone to his voice as he looked at you.

You softly smiled at him and in that moment he felt as though he had been bewitched by you and your beauty. “It’s alright. Don’t worry about it.” you replied, that soft smile still on your face, making him feel a little at ease.

He awkwardly smiled back at you, still feeling bad for falling asleep on you. But you didn’t really mind whatsoever, accidents happen. You then stuck your hand out and spoke to him again, “I’m (y/n), by the way.” you told him, introducing yourself with a friendly tone to your voice. He smiled to himself at the sound of your name, liking the way it sounded in his head.

He took your hand in his and shook it for a few seconds before letting go. And while your hand was in his, you noticed that besides the pair of gloves he was wearing, his hands were a lot bigger than yours. Which caused butterflies to appear in your stomach because of that very thought.

He nodded, “I’m Bucky. It’s nice to meet you.” he replied once he had let go of your hand, trying to sound friendly as well like Sam had suggested. But he just ended up sounding awkward, making you smile at him again.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Bucky.” you said as you looked into his enchanting blue eyes, liking the way his name sounded when you said it.

And after hearing the most recent overhead stop announcement, he felt calm with the idea that he wouldn’t have to be awkwardly sat next to you, this beautiful stranger for much longer.

But when his stop was announced and he stood up from his seat, so did you. You awkwardly smiled at each other as the train came to a stop and you held onto the metal bar above your heads.

And before you went off to the exit closest to your apartment, you waved goodbye to Bucky, “Bye, Bucky.” you said while you sent another smile and wink his way, causing his cheeks to heat up a bit.

He silently waved back at you with a soft smile on his own face before turning back around. Under other circumstances, he would’ve liked to interact with you more. But given the awkward way you two met, he decided to keep the rest of your interaction short and sweet.

But he promised himself that if he ever did see you on the train again that he’d talk to you more, he’d start the conversation and hopefully at some point he would get the courage to ask for your number.

Why on earth would a super solider like him could get nervous over asking someone out? Bucky thought as he continued to walk towards his exit.

But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. No one had taken romantic interest in him since the 40’s and he didn’t really know what to do about it. Especially when someone as beautiful as you was being so kind to him and treating him like he was a normal person. He liked that about you.

While you walked to your apartment, you thought of how Bucky looked at you like you were an actual person and not something for him to eat. He treated you with actual respect, even if he was a bit awkward. And though he was doing the bare minimum, you still liked that about him.

If you did end up seeing him again, maybe you’d actually give romance a chance this time around. And if Bucky was interested in you in that way, maybe he would be different compared to the men you’ve gone out with in the past. But for now, all you could do was hope that your love life would actually go the way you wanted it to.

———————————

The following morning when you got on the train again to head to work, you saw Bucky again, the sight of him making you smile. This time, he was sitting by himself with a book in his hands and the only free seat was next to him.

And before you went to sit down, you let yourself admire him for a few seconds. In the morning sunlight, his eyes looked like the most beautiful crystal you would ever see. Everything about this man bewitched you, in every sense of the word.

You then quickly walked over to the empty seat next to Bucky before anyone could claim it. And when you did sit down, Bucky looked up as he saw you coming in his peripheral vision and he had recognized the scent of your perfume. This time, he smiled at you and spoke to you first, causing a fluttery feeling to bloom in your chest.

“Hey. It’s nice to see you again.” he said to you, the dark timbre in his voice causing goosebumps to appear on your arms, making you feel glad that you were wearing a long sleeve shirt today.

“Hi, Bucky. It’s nice to see you again too.” you replied, instantly smiling back at the gorgeous man sitting next to you.

As for a majority of the ride, the two of you continued your conversion and got to know a little more about each other. Where you were from, how old you were, what you did for a living. And surprisingly when Bucky revealed what he did for a living, you weren’t too shocked as his face had seemed familiar to you and you had noticed how hard his left shoulder had felt when you had poked it the day before.

Bucky felt a bit relieved to know that you weren’t that shocked now that you knew exactly who he was, he didn’t want you to be afraid of him. But before Bucky knew it, he had just a few more minutes left until his stop. So he decided to be brave and ask you for your number, wanting to wait a little while longer until he asked you out on a date. He didn’t want to come off as creep after all, but you’d never see him in that way.

He then turned his body slightly so that it was facing yours, “Sorry if this comes off too strong, but I was wondering if I could possibly get your number? I know we still barely know each other, but I really like you, (y/n) and I’d like to get to know you better if that’s okay with you?” he asked you as he raised his eyebrows in anticipation.

You smiled at him as he nervously asked you this. To see a man as attractive and powerful as him act nervous was cute to you. It showed that he wasn’t above everyone like the news portrayed him to be.

You nodded with a smile, “Sure, Bucky. I really like you too.” you answered, your own nervousness popping up as you spoke to him.

“Okay cool.” he quickly said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, opened the contacts app and handed his phone to you.

You slowly took his phone from him, not wanting to risk dropping it and as you did, your hands brushed up against each other. And while it may have been 7am, this simple touch made you feel as if your whole body was on fire and your hands shook a little, showing Bucky the affect he had on you.

He subtly smirked at you as you created a new contact on your phone and typed in your number as well as your name before hitting save. And once you had given his phone back to him, he spoke again, “I’ll text you so that you have my number.” he told you.

He typed out the words “Hey, it’s Bucky!” and added a smiley emoji at the end then hit send. Seconds later you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket and you took it out, “Got it!” you made him known once you had turned your phone on and looked at your lock screen.

Then the moment he had been dreading all morning happened, his stop was announced and he would have to leave you and go to work. He dreaded this as he’d much rather talk to you all day then argue with Sam or awkwardly talk to Tony.

“Well, this is my stop.” he said to you as he stood up, prompting you to softly frown at him. You then looked up into his eyes from your seat, “Bye, handsome. I’ll text you, okay?” you replied, causing his cheeks to heat up again at the sound of the new nickname you had for him.

“Alright, doll. I’ll see you later.” he said with a wink before he exited the train, using this as his chance to make you feel all flustered. Which worked in his favor now that he knew about the affect he had on you.

And as you sadly watched him leave, you couldn’t help but think about what you two could become now that you were officially in each others lives.

And again you hoped that this would go the way you wanted it to. You wanted to have Bucky in your life in anyway that you could, even if you just ended up being friends. Even that would be enough for you. But you hoped more than anything that you and Bucky would eventually become lovers.

Before you got off at your own stop, you took a quick selfie and sent it to him. Following with the word “Hi!” and a smiley emoticon, the nervousness of a man like him actually being interested in you like this coursing through your body.

But you knew that you’d get over this nervousness eventually. At least, that’s what you were aiming for.

———————————

You and Bucky had sent a few texts to each other throughout the day, not wanting to bother the other person too much while you were working. But you both noticed as you worked, that you couldn’t wait to go home so that could possibly see each other on the train that evening.

But when Bucky got on the train that evening at 5:30pm which was a little after the time it was when you two first met the day before, you weren’t there. He waited a few stops and you still hadn’t shown up. So he texted you just to make sure that everything was alright.

Bucky: Is everything alright? You aren’t on the train ride home tonight.

You responded to his text a few minutes later, those butterflies reappearing in your stomach at the thought of him being worried about you. No guy you had been with in the past had actually cared enough about you to send this kind of text.

Y/N: I’m alright, don’t worry. I got caught up in some extra paperwork so my boss ordered an Uber to take me home. :)

Reading these words made Bucky let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He was relieved to know that everything was alright and you had just stayed late at work.

After being in his line of work for as long as he has, he easily worried about the people he cared about. Which was a small number, but still it would destroy him if you got hurt and he wasn’t there to protect you.

Bucky: Good, just wanted to make sure you were okay. Call me when you get home? 😊

Y/N: Of course, I’d miss talking you to you if I didn’t. I’m in the Uber now, I’ll talk to you soon. ❤️

Now, Bucky could really let himself relax on the way home. Which luckily was only a few minutes away now. And the second he did arrive at his stop, he quickly walked back to his apartment, not wanting to risk missing your call in the event that you got somehow got home before he did.

———————————

Once you got home twenty minutes after Bucky had initially gotten off of the train, you set your bag down by the door and took your shoes off before heading to sit on your couch.

And while you hadn’t known Bucky for long, you already missed his face. So as you got settled on your couch, you decided to FaceTime him instead, hoping that his friend Sam that he had mentioned had taught him how to use the app.

You wanted to feel closer to him even when you were both at home and tired from the day of work you’d had. You tapped on the camera icon next to his contact name and after a few rings, he answered, displaying that handsome face you had missed all day.

His phone moved around a little as he started to talk to you, “Doll? Can you see me?” he asked, making you laugh. Which was like the most beautiful symphony he had ever heard, he could truly listen to your voice and your laugh forever.

You continued to laugh as you answered his questions, “Yes, I can see you, Bucky.” you answered, just a smile lingering on your face now.

He laughed a little at himself, “Sorry, I’ve never used this app before.” he told you as he admired your beauty through his phone screen. You smiled at that, “That’s alright, don’t worry about it. You’ll get used to using it eventually.” you assured him as you stared right back at him.

For the rest of the call, you talked to each other about how your days had been. Bucky had talked about how he’d have to leave to go on a mission next Saturday but he’d try to get better with the whole FaceTime thing so that he could still talk to you and see your beautiful face. At least that’s how he put it, his compliment making you blush.

And you had complained to him about how you’d been tasked with dealing more paperwork. Bucky had assured you that you’d probably get a promotion after all of that hard work and he jokingly said that he would have a talk with your boss if you didn’t, making you laugh again.

The two of you FaceTimed for a little while longer while you made dinner for yourself in your own apartments and later ate together. But once you had both finished eating, you knew that it was time to end the call for the night.

You looked back at him on your phone screen and smiled, “Anyway, I gotta go shower and get ready for bed. But I’ll text you, Bucky.” you told him as you leaned on the doorframe to your bedroom.

You chuckled a little at the grumpy look that had appeared on his face when you told him you had to go. He liked talking to you this way, he liked talking to you in general. But he’d let you go for now, one question still weighing heavy on his mind.

“Alright but before you go, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.” he made known to you, making your eyebrows start to raise in anticipation like his had when he asked you for your number that morning.

“What is it, Bucky?” you asked him, feeling a bit impatient now that you knew that he had something he wanted to ask you.

“Well this isn’t how I’d prefer to do this but I’d rather not wait until Monday to see you again, I was wondering if you’d like to go out on a date with me tomorrow night?” he asked, making those pesky butterflies appear in your stomach yet again.

You nodded in response right away, “I’d love to, Bucky. I’ll text you my address later.” you answered, a cute smile of his own appearing on his face as you spoke.

Then after you said your drawn out goodbyes and hung up, you set your phone down on your bedside table and walked to your bathroom to take that shower you had mentioned to Bucky just minutes ago.

———————————

Upon re-entering your room after you had taken a shower, done your skincare routine and changed into your pajamas, you plopped yourself onto your bed and grabbed your phone from your bedside table.

You opened you and Bucky’s conversation again and sent him your address. He replied to your message almost right away with a selfie, which was very unlike him. He looked good, really good. In the photo, he was laying down on his bed looking at the camera with a subtle smirk on his lips.

And in this moment all you wanted to do was kiss him, but knew it was a little soon to be going after stuff like that with him. After all, you had only known each other for two days at this point. So you held yourself back a bit, at least for now.

Y/N: So handsome. 😮‍💨

He blushed at your message once he read it and in return you sent him a selfie of your own. Similar to him, your were laying in your bed and looking at the camera like he had been. But what you didn’t know is that seeing this photo of you, made Bucky feel as if his body had been set on fire, he felt like he was falling harder for you than he had been before. And your texts and FaceTime call only solidified this.

The more he looked at that photo of you, the more he felt like he could imagine what you would look like in his space or what you would look like when he finally kisses you for the first time. He hadn’t felt this way in years and now that he had you, he never wanted to let you go. He didn’t want anyone else. He just wanted you.

Bucky: Gorgeous, gorgeous girl.

What Bucky had sent back had made you feel all flustered for what felt like the millionth time since you two met. But you knew that it would probably be a good idea to go to bed now before you got ahead of yourself. You didn’t think it was the right moment to start sending Bucky the suggestive messages that you wanted to send when you hadn’t even kissed yet.

Y/N: Thank youuu.

Y/N: I’ll talk to you in the morning, Bucky. Goodnight ❤️

His next message made you smile, happy to see that the reserved man you had met on the train two days ago was starting to get more comfortable when talking to you.

Bucky: I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams, doll. ❤️

His new nickname for you made you feel as if you were bursting at the seems with the feelings you had for him. But before you thought about what he had called you too much and kept yourself up all night, you plugged your phone in, turned the lights in your room off, put your phone down and went to sleep.

That night you dreamed of Bucky and what your first date tomorrow night could hold. And when you awoke the next morning, you hoped that your date would would be as magical as that dream. But as long as you were with Bucky, you already knew it would be.

———————————

It was now 5pm on Saturday evening, the day of your date and Bucky had texted you that morning to tell you that he’d pick you up at 6pm. So before you ran out of too much time, you got out of bed and began to get ready for your first date with the handsome man.

You first did the makeup look that you thought suited your features the best and made you look beautiful, except for any lipstick as you hadn’t brushed your teeth yet. Then you retrieved a classy black dress from your closet that you’d had for a little while and put it on, quickly reaching behind yourself to zip it up.

And once it was comfortably situated on your body, you went over to your bathroom and started to style your hair. After playing around with possible hairstyles for a few minutes, you decided to go with just leaving all of your hair down once you had combed/brushed it out again.

And while you brushed your teeth, you slid your heels on, feeling extremely excited for the night ahead with Bucky. No one had ever made you feel the way Bucky did and you took that as a good sign that things between the two of you would work out. You were truly a fool for him and even though you had only known him for 3 days, you already felt like you were falling in love with him.

Bucky also thought about the love he already had for you as he got ready for tonight in his own apartment. He had put on a black on black suit that he hadn’t worn since Tony’s last gala a few months ago. He’d gotten a lot of compliments on it when he had worn it to that particular gala and he wanted to see what you thought when you saw him in it. He wanted to look good for you.

Right after he finished getting dressed, he went over to his bathroom and did his hair how he normally did it. His hair was a lot shorter than it used to be and he didn’t really have much to do with it now.

And as you had done, he then brushed his teeth and slipped his dress shoes on. Then sprayed some cologne on himself, grabbed his phone and headed out the door.

And while you were applying the finishing touches to your lipstick after you had sprayed some perfume onto yourself, someone knocked on your front door, signaling to you that Bucky was now here. So you grabbed your purse — with your phone in it — and quickly walked over to your front door.

When you opened the door — your purse hanging from your shoulder — Bucky’s jaw dropped in shock. He had never seen someone so beautiful, so ethereal, he never wanted to look away from you. He’d stare at you for years and years if he could.

“Hey.” you said to him, a soft smile on your lips after you did some admiring of your own. He looked incredible, so handsome and regal as he stood just outside your apartment with a bouquet of flowers in hand.

He took a deep breath, “Wow, Doll, look at you. You’re so beautiful.” he replied, his sweet compliments making you blush and shyly smile at him. He spoke up again a moment later, “Oh, these are for you by the way.” he said as he handed the flowers to you.

You grinned at him, “Thank you, Bucky. These are beautiful.” you said, unknowingly prompting him to compliment you again as you went to put them in your kitchen. “Not as beautiful as you, doll.” he said as you rejoined him at the doorway, then grabbing one of your hands and pressing a soft kiss to the back of it, making goosebumps appear on your arms.

“You ready to go?” you asked him as you began to wrap your hand around the part of your doorknob that faced the hallway. He nodded right away and briefly placed his hands in his pockets, “I’m ready when you are, sweet girl.” he replied, adding another nickname that made you smile at him again.

You then closed your front door behind you and locked it, “Alright then, let’s go.” you told him, gently taking his right hand in yours, giving it a gentle squeeze as a way of reassuring him about his metal arm. You did this because Bucky had gone without his usual black gloves tonight and you wanted him to know that you weren’t afraid of him or his arm.

He squeezed your hand back and led you down the hallway to the elevator he had taken up to the floor your apartment is on, silently telling you that he knew you weren’t afraid of him.

He stayed close to you the whole time you walked to his car, making you question why he rode the subway everyday if he had a car until you got inside and you saw the Stark logo on the big screen in the car. You assumed that he had borrowed it from Tony for tonight, which only made your heart swell with love. He just wanted this night to be perfect for the two of you.

———————————

After a short 15 minute drive, Bucky parked the car outside of a fancy looking restaurant. And once the car had been turned off, Bucky got out of the car, ran around to your side to open your door and help you get out.

The two of you held hands as you walked into the restaurant and up to the hostess’ podium. “James Barnes, table for two.” he simply said, prompting the hostess who had been standing there to check their reservation book for his name.

“Ah, Mr. Barnes. Right this way.” she said, motioning for the two of you to follow her to your table.

Your table was in a more quiet part of the restaurant, away from the loud groups of people that had come in that evening. Bucky held your hand the whole way there, even as the hostess set your menu’s down on the table.

“Your waiter will be with you soon. Enjoy!” she said with a friendly smile before walking back to the hostess’ podium in the front of the restaurant.

And before you could pull out your own chair and sit down, Bucky had appeared behind you and pulled your chair out for you. Then he slowly pushed it in until you were sat down after you had stood in front of it. Seconds later, he took his own seat across from you, the small light from the fake candle on the table bouncing off of his eyes as he looked at you.

“So, James.” you teasingly said as looked at him over your menu, a light smirk on your lips. He chuckled a little at your theatrics, “My name is actually James, but most people call me Bucky.” he explained, resulting in you nodding in response.

Just seven minutes later, your waiter for the night appeared and introduced themself before asking if you were ready to order. Which you were and once they had disappeared with your menus, Bucky reached over the table and took your hand in his as you two began to get to know each other better.

You told each other everything about yourselves, not feeling the need to hide anything from each other. Only briefly going silent when your waiter came back with your food or one of you took a bite of the meal you had ordered. And the more either of you talked, the more you both felt like you had known each other for years.

———————————

Two hours later, after your meals had been finished long ago and the two of you had just finished the desert you decided to share, Bucky had paid the bill and it was unfortunately time to leave. You didn’t want this date to ever end, you wanted to stay with Bucky forever.

He didn’t want to leave you either. Since Steve left him and went back to the past, Bucky really hadn’t felt understood or seen or liked but then you waltzed into his life and showed him what it was like to feel all of those things again. He never wanted to let go of you for as long as he lived.

After another short fifteen minute car ride, you two were back at your apartment building. And like he had done when you got to the restaurant, Bucky helped you get out of the car once more and he held his hand in yours while he took you back up to your apartment.

And when you did reach your apartment, you faced your front door for a moment then turned around to face Bucky agaun. “I don’t want you to leave.” you admitted with a groan, a sad look on your face as you looked at him.

He used your hand that was still in his to gently pull you closer to him. He placed his hands on your face and tipped your head up so that your eyes met his. “I know, I don’t want to leave you either, doll. But I promise that’s I’ll try to get good at the whole FaceTime thing so you don’t miss me too much.” he replied as he continued to hold your face in his hands.

You chuckled at that, “Okay.” you quietly said to him and placed your hands over his own, your thumbs stroking the backs of his hands.

Bucky’s eyes then went from your eyes down to your lips up to your eyes and back to your lips again. Feeling a bit impatient, you simply said, “Kiss me, Bucky. Please.” And before you could possibly do anything else, Bucky leaned down and pressed his lips to yours.

The moment his lips left yours, you felt the urge to chase them again and again. You couldn’t get over how good his lips felt against your own. But again, you didn’t want to get ahead of yourself this early into knowing him. So you pulled away from his lips again and settled on giving him one more kiss on his cheek instead, leaving a kiss print there because of your lipstick.

Bucky smiled at the feeling of your lips on his cheek and gave you one last kiss of his own tonight, this time on your forehead as he started to hold your hand again. “Goodnight, doll.” he said as started to walk away from you, not letting go of your hand until he was too far away to reach you.

“Goodnight, Bucky.” you replied, blowing him a kiss as he got closer and closer to the elevator. He caught the kiss and put it in his pocket, making that smile of yours that he loved so much reappear on your face.

At this point, you felt so lovesick whenever you saw or thought of him. You didn’t how much longer you could hold yourself back. All you wanted was him. He was all that you could have ever wanted and more.

———————————

Not long after Bucky had dropped you off, you had started to take your makeup off and while you were doing so, you heard your phone receive a text from Bucky. But you’d look at it later once you had gotten all of your makeup off and you were in your pajamas.

Once you had finished wiping all of your makeup off, you put some moisturizer on your finger tips and began to gently massage it into the skin on your face. You massaged any remaining product onto your neck and arms afterwards. You then slipped your dress off and threw it into your nearby laundry bin, discarding it a pair of shorts and a baggy t shirt instead.

Then you got under the covers on your bed and grabbed your phone again. Bucky had sent you a selfie he had taken in the car before he left. In the photo, the right side of his face was pointed towards the camera — the kiss print you had left there on display — and a grumpy look on his face.

You smiled at how cute he looked in the photo and hearted the message. Everything this man did made your stomach flip and you never wanted to let go of him or that feeling.

Y/N: Aww, that shade looks so good on you.

Your response made a smile of his own appear on his face as he read the way you teased him through a text. He was so in love with you already but he knew better than to tell you this now.

Bucky: Thanks, doll. 🙄

You admired the way he seemed to match your energy in this moment, not making anything awkward by any means. You liked the way he teased you back.

———————————

For the next six days until Bucky would have to leave for his mission, you spent as much time as possible together every single day whenever you had any free time.

You went out to lunch together multiple times, Bucky hung out at your place a couple times after work and you did the same at his place on a couple other days, you cuddled, kissed more, watched movies together.

But now it was Friday night and Bucky would have to leave for his mission in the morning. So, you decided to give him a special surprise tonight.

On the train ride home that evening, you told Bucky to come over to your place at 7pm because you had a surprise for him. That surprise being a black lacy lingerie set that you were currently hiding under a robe. You couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when you took the robe off.

And at 7pm like you had requested, Bucky showed up at your apartment, nervousness coursing through his system as he knocked on your front door a few times.

You opened the door moments later and leaned against the doorframe as you greeted him, “Hey.” you said, a smirk on your face.

You hadn’t even taken the robe off yet and Bucky’s jaw had already dropped. He was just so in awe of your beauty, even as you took his hand in yours and led the way to your bedroom, the lights throughout your home now on a dimmer setting.

When you reached your bedroom, he noticed that there were a few small fake candles sitting on both of your bedside tables and a speaker on your dresser that was quietly playing mood music. You then swapped places with him so that you were standing closer to the door instead and you placed a hand on his chest, gently pushing him back towards your bed.

“Lay down for me, Bucky.” you requested and he obeyed right away, eager to see what you were hiding under that robe.

You then closed your bedroom door behind you and started to untie the loose knot at your waist. And once the knot had been undone, you slowly slid the robe down your body until it hit the hardwood floor below you.

You looked so beautiful to Bucky in this moment, the lingerie set you were wearing hugged your curves in all the right ways and made you look perfect, like a dream come true. “Oh, doll. Come here.” he requested with a groan after he had swallowed thickly. And like he had, you obeyed this request right away.

You seductively walked over to him and started to straddle his lap, causing Bucky to sit up and place his hands on your hips before he then started to softly rub your sides with his large hands. You let out a soft moan as his hands went down to your ass and gave it a firm squeeze.

He placed his nose in the crook of your neck and inhaled, “You’re so beautiful, doll. I could just eat you.” he said as he pressed a passionate kiss to your lips.

His lips then trailed down from your lips to your jaw, to your neck, to your collarbone and over to your shoulder where he slid a finger under one of the straps, letting it snap against your skin.

You were already so wet for him and he had barely touched you. And going off of the way he felt under you whenever you moved your hips, he was already rock hard in his pants even though you had barely touched him.

“So what are you waiting for?” you asked him, awakening something feral in him as his pupils became even bigger.

———————————

Later that night after you and Bucky had both came multiple times, he began to take care of you. He first gently parted from you and got up from your bed, despite your whining and begging for him to stay in bed with you.

He put his boxers back on and went to your bathroom to retrieve a washcloth that he could wet with warm water in your sink.

Once rejoining you in your bedroom, he kneeled in front of you on your bed and gently parted your legs. Then as gently as he possibly could, he wiped you in between your legs, not wanting to make you feel overstimulated.

He left you for one more quick moment to hang the cloth up in your bathroom, mentally reminding himself to put it in to your laundry bin the next morning.

This time when he rejoined you in your bedroom, he slowly put your tired body under the covers and got under them as well. He pulled your body close to his, letting you rest your head and one of your hands on his chest while you put one of your legs over both of his and you let your sleepiness take over.

And once you were comfortable, he too got comfortable. And that night you fell asleep, safe in his arms, never feeling as safe or loved as you did when he held you.

———————————

The next morning, at 6am Bucky slowly slipped you out of his arms and headed back to his apartment to grab the bag he would need before he left for his mission. But before he left you, he got dressed, pressed a kiss to your forehead, left a note behind on the bedside table closest to you and of course put the washcloth he had used last night in your laundry bin.

And now that Bucky actually had someone to come home to, he promised himself that he would do everything in his power to be safe and come back to you, alive and in one piece.

You woke up not long after Bucky left as if you could detect his absence, your bed felt cold without him in it. But before you got too sad, you spotted the note he had left for you. It read:

(y/n),

I’m sorry I had to leave so soon, I needed to grab my go bag from my apartment before I left for that mission I told you about. I’ll see you soon, doll. I promise.

- Bucky

This note eased some of your worries. But you had to admit, you did still feel a bit worried for Bucky now that he was off on that mission.

What if he got seriously injured? What would you do if never came back to you? You didn’t have answers to either of those questions because you had already become too attached to Bucky to even think of what your life would be like without him in it.

———————————

A few days later after you had gotten home from work, you had gotten a call from a number you didn’t recognize so you let it go to voicemail. The voicemail the person attempting to contact you left appeared on your phone just a minute later.

And as you listened to it, your breath and hands became shaky, you started to tear up and anxiety coursed its way through your body. This couldn’t be happening, your worst nightmare had become reality.

The person who had left the voicemail said, “Hey, this is Sam, Bucky’s friend. Listen, we had to come home early because Bucky got stabbed, it was pretty bad. But he’s going to be fine, Dr. Banner was able to stop the bleeding and is stitching him right now in his apartment. I know you probably weren’t expecting this but Bucky insisted that I pick you up and take you to his apartment, you’re the only person he wants to see right now. I’ll meet you at the entrance to your building in 10.” Sam told you in his voicemail.

You were relieved to know that he was going to be okay but it still broke your heart to hear that Bucky had gotten hurt badly. You wished you could put a protective bubble around him so that he could never get hurt again. But you knew that injuries like this were part of his job and he probably wouldn’t want you to be worrying about him so much.

But there was no time to waste crying in your apartment, so you put a pair of sneakers on, grabbed your apartment keys and your phone and headed out the door to meet Sam downstairs. When you got into Sam’s car, he frowned at the look on your face. He felt bad that hearing what had happened to Bucky had made you feel so distraught.

As he started up his car again, he turned to you, “Hey, he’s going to be okay. Bucky’s been through much worse in the past and plus he’s got that super soldier serum in his veins to make him heal faster than either of us ever could.” Sam assured you, his joke about the super soldier serum making you chuckle a little.

———————————

Upon arriving at Bucky’s apartment building, Sam led the way up to Bucky’s apartment. He unlocked the door for you and let you in. But before he left, he said one more thing to you, “If either of you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me. Okay?” he said, his eyebrows raising a little bit.

You nodded and briefly tapped his shoulder twice with your hand, “I will. Thanks, Sam.” you replied, a soft smile on your face. He nodded back at you in response and you headed into Bucky’s apartment, closing and locking the door behind you.

You walked into what you assumed was his bedroom because it was the only room with any light in it. You slowly approached his bedside, Bucky was asleep and that Dr. Banner guy Sam had mentioned was gone so you assumed that everything was okay now.

You frowned as you looked down at him but you couldn’t bear to be apart from him any longer so you slipped your shoes off, turned the lamp next to him off and got under the covers with Bucky. Underneath the blanket, his shirt had rode up a little, revealing to you the stitches in the moonlight coming in through his curtains. Which caused your hands to get shaky again, but you assured yourself that he would be okay.

You didn’t want to wake him up after all him and his body had just gone through on that mission. So you just placed a light kiss on his cheek and went to sleep next to him.

———————————

The following morning, Bucky woke you up after he had turned over and saw you sleeping in his bed. He softly stroked your cheek with his thumb while he quietly spoke your name, “(y/n).” he said, repeating your name a few more times until you woke up.

And when you did, you sat up in his bed right away, taking his face in your hands and pressing a bruising kiss to his lips. “I’m so glad you’re okay. How are you feeling?” you asked him, a somewhat frantic tone to your voice.

He calmed you by slowly removing your hands from his face, placing his hands on your face instead and moving your head down a little so that you were looking directly into his eyes. “I’m alright, doll. You don’t have to worry about me.” he answered with a soft smile, causing you to let out a deep breath.

And as you spoke again, he started to stroke one of your cheeks with his thumb, “I just got so worried that I’d loose you, Bucky. I’m glad that you came back to me.” you explained, giving Bucky the need to slowly pull you into lap, still being careful with his stitches.

He smiled a little at the last sentence of your statement, “Me too. But you’ll never loose me, (y/n). I’ll always come back to you, as long as you’ll have me.” he assured you, his hand gently rubbing your back as you loosely wrapped your arms around his neck.

“I’ll always want you around, Bucky. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” you made known to him as your arms tightened around him and you started to hug him, Bucky’s rubbing on your back never stopping as you spoke to him and he eventually hugged you back.

He laughed at your theatrics, causing you to laugh with him. You then removed your head from where it was tucked next to his when you were hugging him and you looked into his eyes again, “I know we still haven’t known each other for that long. But after what happened to you, I can’t go on without saying this to you, even if you don’t say it back. I love you so, so much, Bucky. I need you to know that.” you confidently told him, mentally hoping that he would say it back and you hadn’t just made yourself look stupid.

Tears started to prick Bucky’s eyes when you said those special words to him. He then wrapped his arms around your ribs and pulled you even closer to him. “And I love you, doll. I have since the day we met, I swear.” he made known, making you tear up as well.

You then pressed another kiss to his lips before resting your forehead against his own, “Be my girl, (y/n). Please.” he begged, desperately wanting to call you his and have you call him yours.

“I already am.” you told him with another kiss to his cheek, prompting Bucky’s arms to reclaim their spot around your waist and pull you on top of him, making you yelp.

“Bucky!” you scolded, nervous that all of this movement would rip his stitches open. He chuckled at this nervousness, knowing that he was probably almost entirely healed because of the serum.

“I’m alright. You don’t need to worry about my stitches, sweetheart.” Bucky said, comforting you and making your worries disappear once more. “Okay, whatever you say.” you replied, dragging out that last word, causing Bucky to let out another laugh.

God, he was so in love with you.

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#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x fem!reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes oneshot #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes masterlist #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #marvel #marvel masterlist #marvel one shot #marvel fan fic #marvel fan fiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #marvel fic #james buchanan barnes #james buchanan barnes one shot #sebastian stan

[thewriterg]

♡︎nsfw alphabet♡︎

Pairing(s): Miles Morales x Fem!reader,

Summary: Miles Morales Nswf abc’s —flufftober day; 11—

Warning(s): Language, Kinks, college au, and all around NSFW lmao

A/n: —GIF’s aren’t mine— I’m feeling lazy today so *shrug

Aftercare

Miles 100% would want to clean you up even if you made him do all the work in his opinion his Miss deserves the best

(You Also better do your part 🤨)

Body Part

Miles favorite body part of yours is most definitely your hands the way you hold him and when you run them through his hair *chefs kiss

Miles favorite body part of himself will probably be his height like he likes how taller he is then you but you can still bring him to his knees yk?

Cum

He likes to cum inside you he starts going nuts as soon as you clench around him he’s also not against your mouth but kiss him and make him taste himself immediately he’s in love.

Dirty Secret

Just like the rest of the bug boys he wants you to use his own webs against him to tie him up lol

Experience

Probably Gwen and maybe like two other random frat party hook ups

Favorite position

Reverse cowgirl he likes to watch’s your boobs bounce up and down he also wants to see your face so missionary comes 2nd

Goofy

It honestly depends, if you’re letting off some steam or honestly want a intimate serious moment then he can be serious other than that he ready to here 101 sex jokes

Hair

He keeps himself trimmed doesn’t care about yours though he enjoys clear land or carpet :)

Intimacy

Miles is very intimate he could be naive in lots of thing but when your in the mood he catches on pretty fast and enjoys you while he can before you take over

Jack Off

He doesn’t really sees a reason to he has you and no one’s touches him better than you not even himself congratulations y/n he’s hooked

Kink

Praise.

Do I even need to elaborate?

Location

Boobs.

Motivation

When you wear skirts or tighter clothes that shows off your figure he looses his fucking shit and will shamelessly stare at you

No

Hard kinks like bodily fluids and pain not against love taps though

Oral

Miles loves rimming he loves rimming you and he loves when you rim him, he also loves some good bj’s and fingering

Place

Privacy.

Miles does not have any beef with Mr. Good ol’ bed room feeling fancy and need a change is scenery… shower

Quickie

Absolutely.

Miles his a college student he lives off of quickies

Risk

Not a big fan of the thought of being caught it just not something he’s particular or as static about

Sext

Once again college. student.

Miles knows his fair way around dirty talk and sexting and his more confident than In person

Toys

Miles understands that Toys aren’t the enemy they are friends to help but he doesn’t use them quite often

Unfair

You make up to 96% of teasing in your relationship

The other 4%; Miles Tipsy, Miles sleepy, Miles just being miles and rubbing

Volume

Very vocal.

Moans, whines, groans, mewls, you will hear everything

Wild Card

Once Miles were eating you out and was sure he begin to loose consciousness and of course you felt the limpness of his head

You will always be hesitant to face ride after that

X ray

6.5 to 7 inches

Spider genes

Yes

Mark. him. up.

Hickeys, harsh kissing marks, scratches on his back

He will indeed keep coming back to to remark him because he heals so fast

You two are fucking rabbits

Zzz

Unless Miles has had a particularly rough day he always waits for you to go to sleep first drawing shapes on your hip, tangles legs, head scratches, etc.

#miles molares #miles morales x reader #spiderman #spiderman x reader #spider man x you #spider man x y/n #avengers x reader #avengers x you #fluff #smut #romance #kinktober #flufftober #fall 2022 #fem!reader #i love you #thewriterg

[chocochipjewel]

Yapping about Belos and his ending excessively while also analysing him to the best of my ability under the cut

So given how much art of him I've reblogged by now, it really shouldn't come as a surprise that Belos is my favourite character from the Owl House.

I could talk about him for HOURSS but I just want to talk about 2 of my favourite moments of him to highlight the parts of him I love the most.

This moment in Hollow Mind, when he gets the key in his hand and you can see the light in his eyes. It's the only time his eyes have the distinct shine in them like every other character has all the time, and it's cause of the key he's holding. The key to the human realm is the only thing that gives him that shine cause it's the only thing he genuinely cares about. Everything he's doing is to go back home and revel in glory, which, while selfish, adds so much to his character. He's not doing this JUST for power, he became an Emperor just to tear his own creations down. I just find something extremely poetic about that.

And the second moment -

THIS MOMENT. THIS MOMENT IN KING'S TIDE AJDHSJSHSJS

I'm still mad these flashbacks were never brought up in any big way cause THEY REALLY SHOULD HAVE BUT AHSKSJS I'M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF.

Belos reliving his worst memories was always a concept that was going to be interesting because it's an insight into what really gets into the head of our main antagonist. What does the guy who is everyone else's worst fear have to fear. And the answer is himself.

The 3 memories he sees are him approaching Caleb with the knife, the actual murder as pictured above, and the creation of the grimwalkers.

What really gets me is that his eyes are wide when he recalls the first memory, but they look smaller in the second memory (in the screenshot). Maybe it's just the angle but I always interpreted it as his expression shifting to be one of genuine sadness for this particular memory. Because the mere fact that his most personal crime is also his worst memory is such an interesting concept. How does he live with that sort of guilt and worse, keep doing those same crimes but WORSE?

All of Hollow Mind could just be here really and I wouldn't complain. It's THE episode for Belos fans that really allowed us to dig into him, and the mere fact that he's consciously scratched off Caleb from all the happy memories as if to justify his own fratricide is a level of desperate coping that I just find so very interesting ajdjhsjjs

Not to mention that his inner self is a child, which, while a pretence by him, could still say something about how in his head, he still has not grown up and is still playing pretend, still playing witch hunter with every version of Caleb he creates, still playing god to finally achieve a fantasy so very childish and so frankly basic that it makes anyone watching from the outside think "wait, that's it? That's all this is for?" AND THAT'S THE POINT

Cause none of this needed to happen. None of this has a greater value than Philip trying to chase after lost dreams. All the plans he made, all his great power and his great empire amounts to nothing because he himself plans to destroy all of it to chase that childhood dream. Just like Luz, he entered the Boiling Isles to find a home, only his home was Caleb and he was never willing to love new things in the Isles, while Luz loved so much she literally changed the lives of everyone she met by loving them. And unlike Luz, Philip never grew out of that mindset, only burying it in layers and layers of lies and half truths.

In general, his relationship with Caleb is for sure the most interesting part of his character to me. The fact that he both repeatedly murders and repeatedly creates new grimwalkers in an endless cycle and then hallucinates Caleb looking at him with disdain implies so much about his dependancy on Caleb and the deepest parts of himself that know what he's doing is wrong. The parts that have broken free from the layers and layers of cognitive dissonance and have accepted that he was wrong, without any more justifications.

And now, to 'briefly' rant about him in season 3

Thanks to Them was juicy for character exploration, but I wish we actually got to see him react to the human realm properly. It's everything he's wanted, it's the one thing that still brings light into his life but the world he returned to would absolutely hate him. He's done all this for nothing. I wanted so badly to see how he copes with his guilt then, but they were short on time so I get it.

For the Future's hallucination scene makes this even more interesting cause of the depiction of him actually seriously suffering from something like hallucinations. It was dark as hell, and it was really interesting.

And then... WaD. All in all, a great finale. The only real big problem I had with it was Belos' ending.

After so much buildup to his depth and his motivations and his guilt and all his lies slowly collapsing around him, after everything he did to so many people, he deserved a better death. I don't think he didn't deserve death, I just think it happened too quick. Where was the final cathartsis from all his victims shunning him (Luz staring was perfect don't get me wrong, but the whole Hexsquad deserved to be there). Where was the moment he would finally no longer be able to lie to himself and he would be forced to accept that he did EVERYTHING he did, made all those great sacrifices, tortured so many people, just to fail and be at his victims' mercy after accomplishing nothing?

I understand the finale was juggling many MANY characters and plotpoints, but that's not stopping me from wishing for a better ending.

I wish I had had the motivation to draw something for this like I'd hoped, but a brief description about what kind of ending I'd have wanted will have to do.

I wish Luz saw his memories in the place in between with Papa Titan. It would reinforce her arc of feeling like they come from the same place too, if she saw Caleb leaving Philip and Philip's original goal of just wanting to get his brother back. I wish Luz saw all his "sad" memories and really started to question herself.

And then I would have wanted Papa Titan to shoot that down regardless, and then explain that while Belos may have started out a victim of his circumstances as an orphaned child in a cult, the Isles gave him chances to change. Memories of Philip in the Isles seeing Caleb happy, being given chances by witches, being given so many chances to change, and rejecting them accompanying this scene would be ideal. Really hammer in that he aas responsible for his own suffering and that he has absolutely no excuse for what he did to all his victims.

And then, in the final death scene, as he claims that as humans they are better than witches one last time, I wish the ghosts of all his victims showed up to prove him wrong. Every witch and grimwalker who choose to be better than him before they fell. Every member of the Hexsquad who believed in him and his regime at one point. Every single one of them a reminder of how his lies can't even convince himself anymore.

And finally, his own brother, a fellow human, who appears before him. I imagine Caleb looking at him with pity, almost sympathy, before a quiet acceptance comes onto his face and he turns away from him. He walks towards the crowd and chooses their side, next to Evelyn. Neither Caleb nor Luz say a single word. There is nothing left to be said to him anymore. Every single person on the Isles, human or witch, has turned against him now.

If anything could break his will, I think this would be it. I imagine him phasing through his different forms, trying to find a way to justify himself in each one, gradually desolving into desparate screams, before the boiling rain melts him away like in canon (except without the stomping please).

Aaaand that's it, no more notes. Thanks so much to all the Wittebane fans in the community who have kept his fanbase fed when the show didn't meet our standards and who prompted the line of thought that led to this post.

There are so many of you all who inspired and made my fandom experience fun and created so much out of just Philip, Caleb, and Evelyn (and all your OCs of course!!) so I'm just going to shoutout the ones I remember off the top of my head -

@talisman975

@jess-the-vampire

@calebsrottingcorpse

@owlyhouse

@anona1-mous

@captainmera

@moonmeg

@azure-blaze92

@a-magpie-in-the-bi

@a-magpie-in-gravesfield

This is no particular order and I'm surely missing more so this is by no means exhaustive, but this is just a shoutout for those who kept this fandom going. Y'all are the real troopers for sure.

That's all I got, but I'm posting some old Belos art soon! Cheers all, and may the terrible awful no good goo babygirl keep inspiring us for all the great art <3

#toh #the owl house #belosfanstakeover #emperor belos #philip wittebane #jewel talks about stuff #character analysis #watching and dreaming

[i-hear-a-sound]

Drakengard/NieR: Twin Theory, Part 1

The post ahead is… long. Insanely fucking long, and I’m certain half of it is incoherent. Oh well. It’s a Tuesday.

So, to preface:

This is all just theory.

Spoilers for NieR and Drakengard.

Homework:

(post regarding copied & cathedral city)

(post comparing adam, eve, and a secret third thing)

Good luck down here.

NieR Automata: Ending D. 

It’s the ending you get if you choose to play as 9S in the final boss. 9S kills A2 and incidentally gets himself killed when he falls on her sword. Dumb hoe.

However, when his memory data starts performing an emergency evacuation, he, and we, find ourselves fading into…

an “Ark.”

He first sees the red girl, N2, who explains to him the vague purpose of this ark. 

To take the memories of the “foolish machine life forms” and send them to another world, after they’d seen the androids and contemplated their own existence as machines. 

9S also sees Adam and Eve there, the ladder asleep and the former holding him. Adam asks 9S a simple question,

“Will you come with us?”

And If you choose to go onto the Ark, it’s assumed 9S’s memory & consciousness data become “part” of the Ark, traveling off to whatever… “world” they may be heading to. 

And if you stay. 

9S does not get on the Ark. the Ark flies off, without him.

And we actually get a follow-up to this ending. “Farewell” is a script that takes place sometime after Ending D, in which 2B wakes up but 9S does not. 

Though she tries everything she can to find a way to revive him, she eventually just… shuts down on her own, due to grief. 

(Except for in the final reading of this script, where the ending was changed and 9S wakes up— but you know what? Fuck you. I’m not making this any more complicated than it’s immediately about to get in like, 5 sentences.)

(Edit: we then got a follow up to that script that follows this scenario.         talk to your parents about it)

So… the Ark. About everything I just told you is about all we have on the Ark itself. 

The most we know is this: The Ark was created by Machines. It carries memory data that it will take to a different world. It

Memory data. 

…Memory data. 

Sorry. It’s just that… typing this all out right now, it’s starting to ring a bell. But I don’t know where that bell is, why it’s ringing. 

Holding memories. 

Storing memories. 

Machines storing memories This sounds familiar. 

But where else could I have heard this from?

I remember now. 

The Seeds.

In YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse, the NieR:Automata Final Fantasy 14 raid, something returned after over a decade and a half that totally took me off guard: the Seeds of Destruction. 

Introduced in the first Drakengard, they were “tools of the gods” that would appear when all seals were broken. While they were believed by humans to be holy items that would bring all living creatures, man or monster, to them in times of great peril, to guide them down a path of salvation— in reality, they just kinda did this

Creating extremely powerful monsters capable of carrying out the god’s one motive: the destruction of humanity. 

But back to the raid. In this collaboration the Seeds returned, and not only that, but they… well. 

In the 3rd raid, N2, the red girl I was talking about earlier and the “ego of the machine network”, goes up into a seed that’s inside of a portal, and becomes this… False Idol. 

Clearly meant to be derivative of the designs of The Queen Beast/Mother Angel & the Intoners. Always these gray bitches. 

Anyways. After you fight her, she makes this weird… light thing? which goes up into the sky, into the portal I mentioned earlier, and then… 

HM

We are dropped into a copied Tokyo, straight out of Drakengard 1.  

But…

Question. How?

How did we get here. Is it really just a copied Tokyo? How did it get copied? 

And if not, did we like… Time Travel? Did we…

Oh, I got sidetracked. My bad. We were talking about the seeds.

So at first, we see the seeds transform someone, this time a non-human. Nothing new, although I do find it strange how differently it changed N2 in comparison to how Furiae became… that. 

Perhaps it works differently for machines? …Put a pin in that for now. 

Anyways. I didn’t swerve this car just to talk to you about how stuff we already fucking knew was just used AGAIN. 

No, the very reason I brought up this whole raid at all, and got so sidetracked I nearly transitioned into a different topic, was because of this singular excerpt.  

Maybe I’m reading this wrong. Maybe I’m not. And if I’m not, then

these seeds are storing people’s memories. Hundreds of them. 

(Edit: I wasn’t reading this wrong :) )

Isn’t that just like what I described with the Ark? The Ark stores memory data, the seeds hold memories…

I mean, the description of what the Seeds were believed to be by humanity, along with Drakengard’s usage of various themes regarding religion, has always reminded me of one specific thing: Noah’s Ark. 

Noah’s. Ark. 

Ark. Seed. Seed. Ark. 

Perhaps, they are one and the same.

Perhaps… The Ark is a Seed. 

Surely not though, right? I mean… yeah, this is solid evidence, but it’s really the only evidence I can give you guys. There’s not much we know about the Seeds in all honesty, and there’s even less regarding the Ark, so it’s nearly impossible to find any other lead in 

?

Wait. 

Let’s go back for a second.

“Let the light in?” What light? 

What the hell is this referring to? The whole raid finished like, two years ago, and for that same amount of time I’ve genuinely had no idea what this “light” is. 

I mean, she does conjure up this sort of light that goes into the portal, and… then we go to Tokyo. Maybe that’s what it’s referring to? 

Let the light in… 

Light… 

Light.

Do not bring back the light. Do not bring back the vessel. Do not bring back the future. Do not bring it back.

Every beam of light is an invitation to death.

I’ve heard this before.

These two excerpts are from the World of Recycled Vessel DLC, in the diary of Nier/The Protagonist’s deceased mother. 

These are the last two lines in the diary. Both referencing this “light” with a… negative connotation?

Why. 

 And… wait, why am I going off on this? When I was talking about the Ark and The Seeds and whatnot I never once mentioned their connection to any sort of light. 

Because I never thought there was. Because I looked over it. 

I lie collapsed in a space of blinding white. The pain is... gone. The light envelops me. It's so warm.

My damage worsens. I start to lose my memories. The space fills up with pure white light. It's like being buried in snow.

These two excerpts are from 9S’ dialogue during Ending D— you know, the one where the Ark makes its “appearance.”

.

“A space of blinding white”, “the light envelops me”, “the space fills up with pure white light”.

…

Hm. 

I’m beginning to wonder if this “light” is, in some way… connected to memories? And a “space of pure white light”… that feels familiar. Really familiar. 

Real fucking familiar.

After being encroached upon, the light overflowed. Poured into, we overflowed, the connection has AWAKENED.

This is from decoded text in Automata, taking place after Ending A/B. I think it’s meant to describe Eve briefly connecting to 9S’ consciousness in some way? (Given there is a mention of a brother who “learned a lot from books.” Fact-check me though.)

The Pods decide to abandon the body after the personality data has been completely restored, and to destroy any machine life forms in the surrounding area. And at the very bottom of this story… 

<Vessel>

Do not bring back the vessel. 

The infection spreads through 2B's consciousness. She prays. Before death's footsteps reach her, she screams. Even if nobody hears me. 9S saved me. Within a crumbling memory, she bids farewell to 9S's consciousness data. I did feel a little bit lonely but now my h eart is filled with such wa rm li ght

Then there’s this. It’s the final line of “Voices from the Verge”, a short story from a Nier Fan-Festival in 2022. 

I think it’s meant to take place in the copied city— no, not the one we see in game, at least I don’t think— a different one. A different memory. 

A place to celebrate life and send off the deceased. A place of prayer. The city's records can be gleaned from within the tranquil light. A record of humanity's end. A history of machines copying a city. And also... the hesitance they felt. This city is a replica. A city built by machine lifeforms based on the siblings' memories of where they lived. And even the very siblings themselves were nothing but imitations born from memories.

“The city’s records can be gleaned from within the tranquil light”… “a city built by machine life forms based on the siblings’ memories of where they lived.”

“A history of machines copying a city. And also… the hesitance they felt.”

…um. How? 

If you’re thinking the “siblings” being referred to in this script are Adam and Eve… no. This city is meant to be a replica of Nier and Yonah’s memories. Hell, they themselves in this script are replicas made out of their own memories. 

God this shit’s fucking stupid to type

But… thing is. Again! How? How did the machines know what this city looked like? Sure, maybe it’s in one of their “records”, but even then. 

…Well. If we go back to the screenshot I showed you all earlier from the Dark Apocalypse raid, it mentions how the data in these Seeds are stored by “machines bearing the names of gods.”

These machines are possibly using the seeds to store people’s memories. 

And— hey. I mentioned earlier how the seeds can transform whatever enters it, but do you know what I neglected to add? 

They also

Copy.

Maybe this “light” can be connected to the seeds and the Ark as well. But what that means I… don’t really know right now.

So we have one connection. And now, possibly two. Are there any more connections I should know about?! 

In NieR: Replicant ver 1.22, Ending E, the— if I’m correct— “canon” ending, was finally added after only being contained in the guidebook “Grimoire Nier.”

And this is the achievement you receive at the very start of it.

It’s in hexadecimal. And thankfully, it’s already been translated. 

“Memory server”

“I can see the light”

Memory… server. 

I can see the light.

Memory. Server. I can see the light. 

The light. Memory server.

Light. Memories. Memories. Light. 

Light…

Light…

Light…

Light

A SPACE OF BLINDING WHITE. 

Fucking… finally. I get to talk about Drakengard 1. Most of the talk regarding this game is being saved for the part 2 of this post I’ll get to… eventually, but what I want to focus on here is this game’s ending D, and “The Great Time.” 

In this ending, Seere breaks his pact, unleashing the Queen Beast’s time(?) and enveloping the world with this… light. The great time. From it, a black tower also emerges. A tower. A… I’m gonna stop. Nope. Back on topic. 

But it wasn’t until the novella, “Magnitude Negative”, was fully translated that we finally got a better understanding of what this “time” is. 

It is everything. 

Every living creature. Every structure. Everything, everywhere, past, present, future.

And every 

single 

ending.

“He could see the shadows of crowds, coming and going. It was loud, all indifferent to all around them, and full of different interests. There were tall buildings whose likes he had never seen before, and vehicular machines that ran faster than horses. … Caim is crying, clinging to the dragon. ‘I have never seen you weep before.’ … The dragon states its name. ‘Angelus. My name is Angelus.’… Caim and the dragon are going to kill each other. ‘Caim. Our pact ends here.’ … ‘Miracles cannot be asked for.’ The Goddess, revived with the Seed of Resurrection, is destroying humanity. … Seere rests within a giant womb. In a strange place, but rather familiar all the same, the dragon fights against a song.”

“A strange place, but rather familiar all the same”…? That’s for part 2. 

But case is, everything is the Great Time. 

And it is

light. 

EDIT: FUCKING HELL I TOOK SO LONG TO FINISH THIS THAT REINCARNATION GOT ANOTHER UPDATE. AND I CAN ADD THIS SHIT. 

10H states that “The Cage”, which IIRC is where “all” of NieR: Reincarnation takes place, is inside of that… egg. It’s supposed to hold the “data” (memories asshole!!!!) of humanity until the time comes for them to… you know. Reincarnate. But it’s not meant to be there, it’s supposed to be on the Moon, why is it now on Earth. And

I FUCKING KNEW IT. I called it. I never verbalized it but I CALLED THIS BULLSHIT DAY… um….  While ago. Source: trust. 😁

Time is light. Light is memories. Memory server. Memories are recorded in the seeds. Memories are recorded in the ark. The ark is light. The seeds are light. The ark is a seed.

Hang on.

Who records the memories in the ark again? Machines… “Machines with the names of gods.” 

I don’t recall us ever meeting a machine of that kind of name? The closest would be Adam and Eve, of course, but one 1. They died and 2. Neither’s name derivations were gods. Adam and Eve were not gods.

And, hell, how the fuck did machines get their hands on the Seeds anyways? Even looking past the theory part, them being what is messing with the seeds is canon.

And— hang on! New question coming through, how the fuck did the Seeds get here?! 

This is thousands of years after Drakengard 1. Not only that, but these are TWO SEPARATE FUCKING UNIVERSES. Two timelines! 

The seeds are intrinsically tied to the watchers. Hell, watchers gradually transform into them over time in one of the novellas. 

How are the machines putting memories into the seeds? How did the seeds get here in the first place? With all this time talk, where does Ac

The aliens. 

I need to talk about the aliens.

The aliens of Automata are… fucking weird. 

Sit down, and listen. Look here look listen. Basically, in a franchise where giant scary gray babies exist, one’s that devour scary bitches and wreck havoc and shit, it’s not them that fully take out humanity— well, they likely do in their universe, but in NIER’S? It’s…

It’s fucking FETUS SHAPED ALIENS 

Aliens who time, and time, and TIME AGAIN we are told FUCKING SUCK!! They are traaaashh!!!

Their heads look like an asscrack. They look like if you fucked up a perfectly good turtle. And in all seriousness, they created machines so much smarter than them that they essentially doomed themselves by creating their own exterminators. Sure, they got control over the Kingdom of Night/North and South America, said control which only grew larger and larger as they began rapidly producing machines, but… that was honestly their only W. These fuckers suck. Clutch or kick. 

And Adam, the machine who, along with his brother, killed off the rest of the aliens, describes them as being… “infantile.”

And I paused. 

Infantile? 

Out of everything… that’s such a specific word. Infantile.

Infantile. Infant…ile. 

Infant. 

Like a baby. 

A 

baby. 

A

Wait. What did I say they looked like? 

Fetuses. The aliens… they look like fetuses. 

But not natural fetuses, no… no. Like if you took an infant and forced it to revert back into what it looked like in the womb. Gross, I know, but… just look at them.

Just. 

Look.

At. 

Them.  

Look at their skin. It’s… bumpy. Scaly. 

Scaly. 

I’m not trying to imply that they’re dragons. At least… not exactly.

No, what I am trying to imply, is that the answer as to what these things are has been staring me in the face the whole fucking time.

When the flower descended at the beginning of this story, dragons were not the only things that came down with it. 

Infantile, you say? 

This idea is, out of everything in “Twin Theory”, the one I’ve held onto the longest. It’s stupid, yeah— but just like with the Ark and the Seeds, and a certain third theory that still waits after this section— I started scripting, and evidence manifested*. 

*I looked shit up and fact-checked myself🦅🦅🚬

Anyways. Do I think the aliens are the watchers? NO. No, no, no. One fucker is a  tentacle ass bitch and the other belongs in a crib at the tenth circle of hell. But i do absolutely believe that a connection can be made. 

First of all, I want to look at the aliens’ ship. Look at it good and hard. Does it remind you of anything?

Maybe… A FUCKING FLOWER? 

Because that’s exactly what this looks like. Hell, the big ball in the middle would obviously remind one of a Seed itself… but that’s a little too silly for me. (Edit: You will soon see that I should’ve never doubted my gut.) Then again, the first time we see the seeds in the final fantasy collab is in the aliens’ ship and I… am going to stop myself from having a hernia :3. (Edit: You will soon see that I should’ve never doubted my gut)

Second. I want to look at Drakengard 1.3, specifically its ending. The whole novella is kinda… well, weird, and not in a good way weird most of the time, but its ending has always struck me as being particularly interesting. 

The dragons, who I will again mention are connected to the watchers— like— genetically, devour humanity. Their size increases in number and over time they begin to change shape. First slowly taking on the forms of “lumps of meat”, then the forms of babies, then a whole bunch of them fuse together to become… a seed. 

(This moment isn’t the only time we’ve seen entities fuse together to create a seed-like object, but… I’ll hold that thought off for now.) 

Anyways. What does any of this have to do with the Aliens?

Well. 

Take into consideration that the dragons only transformed because they were devouring humans. They had shit to eat. And given the fact that these dragons transformed into Watchers, I doubt it would be too much of a stretch to ponder whether or not Watchers themselves have this similar capability. 

But what about in Automata? A part in the timeline where… there are no humans left. There’s nothing to feed off of. Most of all, there’s no Queen. 

The Watchers’ entire “goal” in the first game was to break the seals and free the Queen Beast. There’s no humans left. What would they do now? 

…Start a pointless war between the next best thing? Build machines they can control with ease. Forge a logic virus that will perpetuate this war for as long as it can, with a notable trait of it being: red eyes. And create a manifestation of the machine’s own egos in the form of a little girl, so akin to the girl they made their high priestess so long ago. 

Edit: I continued to take too long to finish this theory and the nier concert happened. While the full script isn’t out yet, I was able to read an (I think) fairly decent summary that one part of caught my eye. 

2B and 9S discover a place known as “Eden”………. hehehehehheheheheeeeee… and it’s basically just a huge alien ship, iirc. Inside they find a transporter that opens into a white city, and after walking through it a lil bit they find a copied YoRHa bunker. 

Continuing their disastrous walkalong they find a bunch of dead machines in a… church…

ok….

(l was real!)

And also there, is a circle of Android corpses, surrounding a black orb.

It’s said that they formed this place as a “place of worship in their final moments”, and that the black orb likely comes from the aliens ship. 

And we know this.

Black orb! Never doubt your gut ever!

But given what I’ve already said about the aliens… hm. The thing powering their ship being in a place of worship in one’s final moments… 

speak not the watchers, write not the watchers…

Just a little idea. 

I may have explained all this “evidence” poorly, so sorry for that. But anyways.

If the aliens were connected to the watchers (and the dragons?), so many weird connections in Automata could possibly be explained.

The cult of the watchers’ emblem appearing on either of the twins’ tattoos? Connection. 

N2 resembling Manah? Connection. 

Logic virus being derivative of the Red Eye Disease? Connection. 

The Seeds of Destruction being in the NieR universe, specifically at the time of Automata, at all? C word. Connection. 

It could even explain why no other aliens ever… you know, showed up. These aliens were the only ones, because no more could be formed with the Queen dead, the dragons gone, and a lack of food. 

“The aliens look like if you took an infant and forced it to revert back into what it looked like in the womb.” And gave it… tentacles and scales.                   😁

But even with all that, this is still a theory that I’m going to continue working out the kinks in. Could the Aliens have ties to the Watchers? Maybe, but I still need a lot more evidence to fully make that conclusion. 

But for right now, it’s moreso food for thought. 

I wish I could say the same for the final theory I’m going to be discussing today. 

So we’ve talked about the Ark. Its existence is shrouded in mystery, but the conclusion I came to is that it is, in some form, a Seed of Destruction, used by machines to record memories and travel worlds. Both seem to be connected with this… “Light”, which I concluded is connected to “the Great Time”. 

Hell… just typing this out, I forgot another physical example of this light in action— 

This whole large group of machines merge to form a “seed”, and as light begins to build up inside of it, Adam is created. 

Does this light… create, as well? Put a pin in that… maybe. I don’t know. 

(Edit: I think it do..)

Anyways. Then, we discussed the Aliens. I theorized that they could have some connection to the Watchers of Drakengard, looking at all the strange ties the two species have with each other— from how the aliens’ ship suspiciously resembles a flower, to how the watchers’ most likely have the ability to change forms over time when strong enough. The conclusion I came to is that the possibility of the Aliens being the weakened remains of the Watchers after the extinction of both their Queen and humanity as a whole, is… well. It’s there. 

But there’s one thing we haven’t talked about yet, and I’m sure you all have an idea of what exactly that is. 

We’ve discussed two very perplexing entities in the Drakenier universe today, but there’s one last character I chose to leave as my final topic. One that, funnily enough, also has an A name. And is more mysterious than the two topics I’ve already gone over combined.

Accord. 

Accord is by far the most “mysterious” character in the entire Drakenier franchise, despite being one of the only characters to be mentioned by name in multiple games. 

It’s why it’s so hard to theorize about her. But there’s enough we do know about her that tells us she might as well be the most important character in the series. 

Accord is a recorder android, one who… well… records. Riveting script writing ☝️

She records singularities, entities with the capability of creating branches by altering timelines. Normally she doesn’t intervene and just records the singularity once the branch has been made. Her goal in this endeavor is to prevent a “Fall-Down”, the collapse of all timelines.

She can time travel, as while we first see her in the beginning of the timeline, Drakengard 3, she was actually created during the time of NieR: Automata, around 6230 or so, in the Kingdom of Night. She also has multiple clones of herself, all of which hold the same goal as the one we follow in D3. 

She also works a weapons shop and presumably even writes the weapons’ stories. She collects minerals from the old world(?) which she came from, and wields a large suitcase and phone. 

In Automata, it’s mentioned she supplied weapons to the resistance; in Replicant, it was added that Yonah actually met Accord; in the Automata anime, hidden(?) text is likely from Accord, aaaaaand…

That’s it. That’s all we know about this girl.

Yes, it sounds like a lot but it’s really… not. 

Specifically, two key things are unknown to us. Them being: 

•How does Accord time travel? 

•Who created Accord? 

And for so long, these two questions just kinda sat there in my mind. I had ideas but… nothing that big. 

I just assumed that, maybe, we haven’t seen how Accord time travels yet. And that Accord could just be a product of the Army of Humanity, connecting her back to YoRHa. 

But then… in a NieR: Reincarnation update… 

10 years after we last, physically saw her…

We got this: 

These three images are what prompted me to finally, finally, put this theory in its entirety into words. 

Because it got me thinking. 

Puppet? Why puppet? 

Yeah, stuff like “puppets” and “dolls” have been used in reference to androids, machines whatevs in this series before, but for some reason… reading it made me recall a very small detail. Something I’d always overlooked. 

The final fantasy collab… puppet… puppets’… What was the title of the 2nd raid again?

Ah. The Puppets’ Bunker. 

Now, why am I making such a big deal over Accord simply being referred to as “puppet” in this small section of a game? Why am I focused more on that than the fact that this is most likely teasing her return at all? 

Well… it’s the same reason I bring up the collab again. 

2P. 

She & the other P units are the primary antagonists of this specific raid. She’s a machine copy of 2B, with an inverted palette. 

And I’ve always been curious as to what the P in her name meant. Of course, it initially just meant “Second Player”— but Yoko Taro himself has since stated that there’s a double meaning to it. 

And after a while of thinking and thinking, someone suggested the P to mean… 

Puppet.

And shit blew my mind. It totally works! So I went with it, and then… 

It made me remember another thing. Back to Accord. 

Do you remember the post I made on Adam and Eve? Yes, the post where I dropped the maybe-possible-bombshell that Eve (and his brother, likely) could possibly have some sort of connection to Mikhail of Drakengard 3, at least visually— but do you know what I mentioned in kind of a side comment? 

Adam distinctly looks like Accord. And that was that. For a while, the only question I had regarding that was: “Why does Adam look like Accord?”

But what I realized after lots and lots of thinking… is that I should’ve been asking a different question. 

“How does Adam look like Accord?”!

Adam’s a machine. He was created by machines, created by aliens. If Accord was with the Army of Humanity, why does this machine share so much resemblance to her? 

I mean, fuck— if the Copied City he creates really does have ties to the Cathedral City in Drakengard 3,

why is Accord at the fucking Mercurius Gate?

You know, the place where all the world’s “knowledge” is stored, as well as… oh I don’t know, the fucking Flower. 

“Receptionist?” Strangely, that isn’t even the weirdest thing Accord’s been referred to. 

Just think back to that Reincarnation update. Accord is called a “puppet.” 

Why? 

I already just talked about “puppet” being possibly the double meaning of the P in “2P”, connecting the term to the mock androids/machines, but I didn’t even mention the usage of the word in Drakengard 3.

In one of the novellas, the dragons, specifically Michael, fought entities described as “Puppets”. This novella is one I’ve seen occasionally brought up in discussions regarding the Kingdom of Night, due to the existence of “dragon-like machines.” 

Hell JUST LOOK AT THEM SIDE BY SIDE. 

The first is the mechanical interior(?) of a YoRHa android, 2nd is… of course, what we see of Accord’s. Look at the rib area. For a while I assumed it looked like that because her arm had been blown off but… no. Shit’s clean and smooth. It was built that way.  It also seems as though Accord’s body is connected via… ball joints? 

Why is an Android from the future so… I don’t know. Old-fashioned? Mechanic?

Especially when compared to YoRHa androids. They bleed, she doesn’t. 

But. But but but. 

She’s… confirmed to be made DURING the period between Replicant and Automata, during the machine war. It’s one of the only things confirmed about her backstory, and yet every little thing about her would make you think otherwise. 

She’s built like a legitimate doll, not an Android. As such, she gets called a puppet. There are multiple identical copies of her and from what I’ve read it isn’t because she’s a line of… idk, Accords. Take a shot every time I say her name btw

She can time travel seemingly with as much ease as the universe allows her, and yet has to self engage special abilities like… run fast mode. 

Stuff that other Androids of her time period are shown to do naturally. 

But… that’s the only case for her. The only answer we have of who exactly created the first Accord is in YoRHa, the Army of Humanity. 

But. 

I. 

Don’t. 

Know. 

None of this makes sense, right? None of it. Nothing that I’ve just discussed should logically make sense if she was made by the Army of Humanity. 

But that’s the only option for her, right? That we know of? Right? 

Why is she closer to a machine than she is to any of the androids? 

Who? Is? Accord?

Then it hit me. A realization. 

Didn’t I… wait. What was the estimated year of Accord’s creation? 

…6230? 

Okay. And we know she was created in the Kingdom of Night… 

But. 

What? 

Hang on. Kingdom of Night… do we know anything about the kingdom of night? 

I mean… we know what it is. It’s North and South America, cast in an eternal state of Night. It’s the reason why in every NieR game, the sun never sets— it’s always set in the Kingdom of Day. 

We’ve never seen the Kingdom of Night. All we know is that Accord was made there… dragon machines fought against the machines inside there, and… oh… oh. 

Oh.

The Kingdom of Night.

North and South America?

…where the first machines were being mass produced. The first machines were made in the Kingdom of Night, in 5100.

The Army of Humanity never managed to gain control over that kingdom. In fact, in 7645 the aliens’ control over the kingdom of night had increased to 80%.

And Accord was created in 6230. 

In the kingdom of night.

In the kingdom of night

WHICH THE ALIENS HAD TOTAL OCCUPATION OVER, AND WERE USING TO BEGIN PRODUCING THEIR FIRST MACHINE LIFEFORMS. 

Accord isn’t a product of the Army of Humanity. Isn’t a product of humanity at all.

Accord didn’t come from YoRHa. 

Accord is a product of the aliens. 

She’s a machine!

I want to go back to the tower. Don’t worry, no more talk about time and seeds and light and arks and useless crap like that

At least, not for the next… I don’t fucking know. 1,000 words. Lol.     Lol😬

Do you remember what was inside the tower, aside from the ark itself? Aside from the countless copiesof B/E models? 

The library. 

An exact replica of Popola’s library, all the way back from Replicant. 

And I always saw this moment at its face value. Oh, it’s THE library. The library that holds all the records for the machines is a copy of the one from the other game. Cool.

Same thing with when Popola’s office appeared in both the game and the anime, though they both served mildly different purposes. 

But when I looked at these moments as I was writing this theory I thought… hm. Why here? 

So I did what every normal fan does and 

I read the Drakengard 3 complete guide. 

4/5ths of it. 

Long day. Thank you Accord’s Library.

But among the things I took note of, this page caught my eye: 

A page that’s Basically an outline of the timelines in Drakengard 1, 2 (told you it’s technically canon, bitch), and the first NieR. Done by accord. 

Let’s zoom in on NieR’s, actually. 

Atta boy. First of all, fucking banger of an image. Second of all, so… did…

Did an Accord meet Devola & Popola? Because if so… 

… it makes a lot more sense as to why the machines’ archives are stored in an identical copy of their library. 

What I’m getting at is that I think Accord had some involvement with the data recorded in the tower, or at least… the tower itself. 

Second of all. Let’s go back to the complete guide, and narrow our focus on its documentation of the games’ events— specifically, the branching phenomena. 

Something interesting that I noticed is that everything regarding either 

Accord 

Or

Branch activity at all

Is labeled as “Top Secret.”

And yeah, this is probably just for some cool flare or whatnot, but I really want to narrow down the Accord stuff in this. 

From what I was able to get translated off this page, I actually found some very interesting things.

To start, it’s described that the fact Accord is an android/machine/whatever the fuck at all is… prohibited information. That she was a “machine made from an advanced civilization in the Old World. Specifically… prohibited to be published.” It’s also described as being “an embarrassing secret.”

The “embarrassing secret” thing could honestly just be in Accord’s own words, but I don’t think the “prohibited” part is.

After all, it was also prohibited for Accord to intervene like she did in Ending D. 

So she’s prohibited from interfering with events in a timeline, as well as ever disclosing her identity as an Android/machine…which she also considers an “embarrassing secret.”

And we should also talk about the… the fucking… NieR Desktop PCs that have lore on them. I fucking hate this franchise. 

4198 AD Humanity's extinction is confirmed. All records relating to humans are moved to maximum-pirority folders, and backups are sent to regional quantum servers for safekeeping.

5012 AD An Attack by aliens from outer space is recorded. Numerous buildings and androids are destroyed, and some quantum servers are catastrophically damaged.

5155 AD Machine lifeforms created by these unidentified alien visitors launch an ark into space, resulting in a new divergence. An attempt is then made to sync up with servers from the past.

2021 AD Synchronization with past server is successful. As the original network was small and designed for personal use, expansion will be required. - Accord

First of all, quantum servers. Server. COUGH COUGH. Memory server. 

(Also, it’s mentioned that there is a quantum server in the Forest of Myth in another one of these… most likely being, Sleeping Beauty itself. Obvious.)

Anyways. 

Second of all… the ark launching causes a “divergence.” 

Not a branch, a divergence. There’s a difference between the two. 

It’s kind of hard to explain in words, but thankfully— the Complete Guide has a trusty visual aid. 

So the ark did breach off into separate timelines… and Accord doesn’t at all sound concerned.

In fact, she sounds like she fucking contributed to it. 

I might be totally tripping as I’m sure I’ve been this entire post but this all makes it sound like she herself was the one, or one of the ones, who recorded & stored all the records we see in Automata into the Ark. 

especially when you read what the other PC had to say.

2021 AD A certain manufacturer releases a high-spec personal computer. This model of PC, designed to receive perpetual updates via the network, is soon adopted across the globe.

2025 AD These PCs, now spread the world over, begin to link up and share data as part of a neural-networking experiment conducted by the manufacturer without the knowledge of its users.

2032 AD Large-scale data breaches and acts of cyberterrorism are carried out over the network, during which time information regarding Replicant technology is leaked. The experiment is soon halted, and the computers stop receiving updates.

3021 AD A thousand years after the experiment, consciousness data from these computers is detected on the network. The Collection and merging of this data is performed by the quantum server located in the Forest of Myth.

Hey, look. The times match up. 2021 AD, 2021 AD. 

But if we carry over the fact that this is all coming from Accord…

“These PCs, now spread the world over, begin to link up and share data as part of a neural-networking experiment conducted by the manufacturer without the knowledge of its users.”

Hm. 

Go back to Reincarnation. What did it say Accord’s purpose was?

This puppet’s goal

is to observe how humans live their lives. 

Maybe it’s just me. That’s a new one. 

One of the few things we’ve known about Accord, for sure, is her goal of recording singularities, branches, etc., all in order to prevent the collapse of all timelines. 

I don’t think we ever got “study human lives” in the equation. 

And so I thought. Maybe we did. Maybe I just looked over that answer, too. Maybe…

.

It was her original purpose? 

Okay. 

I’m sure one thing has been lingering in your head as you’ve read all this.

I’m gonna lead up to a big reveal that Accord is secretly a big bad evil, who is recording the world and beyond for the machines,and that we should watch out for her or some shit. 

I think the complete opposite.

Because while I said that she’s prohibited from ever interfering with events in a branch… which she is. 

Here’s the kicker.

She does it anyway. 

In ending D, Accord breaks that “rule” and runs in at the last second, ensuring that the flower would be sealed off in that branch. 

Why did she do this? Is she stupid? 

And the best answer we’re given is… firstly, Zero. 

Whatever feelings Zero made Accord feel while recording the events of Drakengard 3 were so strong that she went against that prohibition just to help her, even if it meant getting herself killed. 

And do you remember the “embarrassing secret” comment I brought up when discussing the information in the Complete Guide? How I concluded that that phrasing was likely coming from Accord’s own perspective? 

Perhaps she considers her identity as a “puppet from the old world” an “embarrassing secret”… because Accord isn’t affiliated with the machines anymore.

She’s been working against them. 

The most recent Reincarnation update as of this script revealed a shit ton of really, really important lore. 

The Cage is inside of a Seed. Humanity is planning on Reincarnating. 

But out of everything there’s one thing that I… genuinely did not see coming. It was probably the most obvious reveal out of everything, but still. 

After the Ark leaves, the machines who left on it begin assimilating everything. 

They start collecting data to an almost catastrophic degree, eradicating androids. Building a kingdom, taking over earth.

Not just earth— If I read it right, their goal is to completely dominate all timelines, all earths. That is, until a civil war between machines breaks out. 

And what occurs sometime after this is, presumably, NieR:Reincarnation. Inside of The Cage, a repurposed Seed of Destruction perhaps taken from the machines & used now to store the data of humanity so that they may one day resurrect. 

But here’s the real kicker. A seed taken from the machines? 

Yes. If I’m correct, the machines have access to the seeds. It could just be what is giving them the power to assimilate on such a catastrophic scale. 

And they’re bringing them across timelines… ah! You know what that sounds like? 

Exactly what I fucking said about the Ark. Shit’s clicking. I think. I could totally be wrong about this and if I am my bad. 

But let’s go back, back to Accord. Samurai Jaccord. Or something idk

When I brought up the two biggest questions regarding her mere existence, I skipped over one. 

“How does she time travel?” 

And the question always kind of nagged at me. It felt like an obvious answer but it just… wasn’t. 

Until I asked a different question. How does she copy herself? 

It’s brought up time and time again that there is no given answer as to how Accord just has so many… identical copies of herself. 

And while it would lead me to just believe she’s a line of machines, I… no. Because that’s not what it sounds like at all. 

It always just reads as though the original Accord found a way to copy herself on her own.

Copying herself… copy, copy… wait. We’ve seen something that copies. We’ve seen something capable of storing data. We’ve seen something capable of traveling across worlds. 

And just like that, I found my answer. She uses the Seeds to time travel and copy herself.

And how might she have initially gotten her hands on one of these seeds?

Well… perhaps, the machines. Whom she was very likely affiliated with, before this war.

She collected the data from humanity and stored it in the ark. Surely it wouldn’t be so hard for Accord to snatch it all back and put it into the Cage, right? 

After all… she’s said to come from the old world. Perhaps whatever was the first iteration of the Ark breaching… is the “Old World.” It’s said the machines built a kingdom. 

And at the end of this update, we see Pod fly towards a city in white. 

And do you know what this city fucking looks like? Guess. Just. Fucking. Guess. 

IT’S FUCKING CATHEDRAL CITY. 

It’s a time loop. It’s a time loop, and it’s not a new time loop— it’s been a time loop. And who the hell knows how long this shit has been going on. 

The Complete Guide mentioned that one specific entity was causing altercations to the “flow of time”— Accord! And no, that’s not a theory— the book legitimately states that Accord is causing changes in time itself.

Hell, if we’re going with the possibility that Accord uses the Seeds in some way to traverse time and space, perhaps she copies herself for every time she does it. For every jump in time, she’s replicated. 

And given the ending of Drakengard 3… Girl’s been going at it for a while.

A couple more things I’d like to bring up before we reach the “conclusive statement” of this post. 

I say Accord is a machine… what do I mean by that? Earlier I compared her appearance to Adam, does this mean I think Accord is moreso akin to him & Eve? 

No. Because like I also pointed out earlier, Accord isn’t organic like we see they are. She doesn’t bleed. Not even when Zero drives that sword straight through her abdomen in order to kill One. One bleeds, a fucking lot, nothing from Accord. I’m gonna quit talking about fictional characters bleeding. Anyways. 

No, I think it’s more likely that she’s closer to something like 2P and the P(uppet) units I mentioned earlier, or just… any regular machine. 

Secondly, let’s go back to Utahime Five. She’s only in it for like, what, a panel? But I feel as though this singular panel says a lot.

First of all, the Mercurius Gate is what “holds the knowledge of the world” in Drakengard 3. Accord is its “receptionist”, as we see, and she noticeably looks “younger” here. As young as, you know, a machine CAN be.

And if we take into consideration the Copied City’s connection to the Cathedral City, and perhaps now the Ark’s connection to the Mercurius Gate, it would make sense as to why Accord here is its receptionist. 

Perhaps this was her original function. A puppet who observes how humans live their lives, storing that data & then serving as its receptionist. Which would give her such an easy out to snatch some of that data back when the time came. 

But there’s another thing. How come she looks so much younger here? She’s a machine, I don’t think machines age like… people do? Unless there’s like… Robots 2005 logic you can apply here… 

which I doubt. I don’t know the answer to this one. And I don’t wanna just spew more bullshit I’ll probably be pulling out of my asshole. Continuing. 

Thirdly. What about in Automata? If Accord’s… you know… giving out weapons to the Resistance, as told to us in this line:

“Oh, the lady who owns the place sends ‘em over every once in a while. Her name’s Accord, and she’s the proprietor of this here business. I just tend to customers and keep all the repair devices humming. I only see her every few years, to be honest. She mostly just uses delivery drones to drop things off. I don’t know where she gets this stuff, but most if it’s in pretty good condition! Say, if you ever happen to run into her, say hello for me, all right?”

how could she be affiliated with the machines? 

Well. Like I said, the most likely answer to the time loop is that we aren’t seeing its first go-through. It’s been happening, and there are already a possible infinite amount of Accords in the… whatever zone. 

I wanna focus on two lines here. 

“I only see her every few years, to be honest. She mostly just uses delivery drones to drop things off.”

Her using delivery drones is… interesting. It makes sense. I imagine that in timelines that are, at least in certain ways, “going strong” she wants to minimize her interactions with the world to as limited as possible. 

Meanwhile in Drakengard 3, as shit was going to shit, Accord was just outright toying with Zero until eventually intervening during the fight with One. 

(Why she then was then showing things in her bag to Yonah I… don’t really know.)

Fourthly. 

Group B. 

From Sinoalice:

August 2 The origins of Group B is still largely unknown. It is believed they come from an undiscovered branch. I suspect the reason why they remained unnoticed for so long is because they have set up Recorders near Singularities to keep us away from them.

March 12 The last time there was a Cataclysm, it gave rise to a large number of Group B. They even have weaponry capable of countering our aerial weapons… things are getting out of hand. We’ve managed to keep them at bay so far, but if this situation continues, we will be completely overpowered.

June 5 It seems that we Recorder models, will need to adapt. The development of replaceable armament parts is progressing, but more investment is needed. Weapons distribution needs to be increased to facilitate memory recollection. There is lot of work to do.

August 8 The previous Recorder was destroyed by Group B. Since there is a possibility that it was captured, I’ll have to request assistance from the Association.

This Group B is something I didn’t really touch on ever due to having literally no fucking clue what it could be, but recently it was brought up again in the anime, so I’m bringing it up now. Because I think I might have an idea. 

The first bolded line. “I suspect the reason why they remained unnoticed for so long is because they have set up Recorders near Singularities to keep us away from them.” 

I think that Group B, in some way or another… is Accord. At least, variants of her that are more malicious.

Variants of her that are… still affiliated with the machines? Time is most likely all happening at once, in separate universes/timelines, and therefore while one group of accords are on our side, the other still is with the machines, from the “past.” I sound like a fucking flatlining heart rate monitor I’m so sorry. 

Anyways… shit. You know what just clicked? Everything in this makes sense. 

Do you remember Michael’s novella, when he and the other dragons were battling “puppets”/“insects”? 

That was Group B. It had to have been, given that we know there is some weird kind of connection between the dragons of Drakengard and the Dragons from the “Kingdom of Night”, and that these dragons in the kingdom were deployed to fight against machines and aliens inside the kingdom. 

And wanna know something? It’s parroted information, but the first of the Dragon machines and Accord were created around the same time, same area. But no matter how hard I try and convince myself otherwise, everything points to these two entities having not been originally created by the same entity.

And guess the fuck what? I’m not even theorizing about Accord being both group A and B, I’m just rewording actual canon. 

In Sinoalice, there are two characters, these two:

That Accord is said to be the “ancestor” of. Fucking.   They’re puppets. They are puppets with red eyes. And they’re fucked up little assholes.

And not only, but these two characters are also “mutated variants” of, what? Group B. Two characters are descendants of Accord & simultaneously variants of Group B, what conclusion does that leave? Accord and Group B are connected. Accord is Group A, the Accords still with the machines are Group B, Group A and Group B are both Accords. Circle A on your SpongeBob SquarePants punnet square worksheet and meet me after class

Going off of this, it’s said that Group B also has the capability to change forms based off parts they assimilate from other entities. And… hm. Hm!

If we apply that this same power hasn’t changed for Group A, then we just answered two questions regarding Accord. 

First thing. How I mentioned that she looks younger in Utahime Five compared to her appearances in everything else. If she has the ability to change forms due to whatever she “assimilates”, then that explains why she looks slightly older now.

(Could also possibly explain the existence of male accords too, like in the stage play? I don’t know bro…….. I’m deep but not that deep)

Secondly. Ancestors… ancestor… hm…

Could she be. Um. 

Could Accord have been the first “android-like” machine? And it’s because of this that she’s not as “advanced” as the ones we see, like Adam and Eve who are all but virtually organic beings? 

Perhaps that’s why Adam resembles her so fiercely. And fuck, I just realized— it’s not just Adam. It’s N2. 

And this time I promise I’m not just talking about black hair and pronouns. 

I’m talking about narrative framing. 

They’re basically inverses of each other. One’s trying to resurrect humanity while the other is actively pushing for its decimation on a dimensional scale. 

Actively pushing back against one another. Constantly observing. Constantly… watching. And both possibly created by entities who once did the same.

Fifthly. And at last, finally. 

What does Accord have to do with the Cage? 

Well. It’s something very, very interesting. 

The Cage, formerly situated on the moon before… for some reason… being found on Earth, is what’s keeping humanity alive. 

At least, their data. Their data from all timelines, if I recall. And from cameos we are given little breadcrumbs that tell us Accord is very likely its creator.

And this Cage, inside of a seed, is revealed to be what is intended to bring humanity back— to resurrect them. 

If this seed, this Cage, is destroyed— everything is destroyed. Humanity dies.

I fully believe that this event, the destruction of the cage— if it happens, this will be the Fall-Down. The destruction of all timelines. The destruction of humanity. 

And think about all the characters we see from the games in Reincarnation. 2B, A2, 9S. Nier, Kaine, Emil. Even fucking Zero herself.

It’s all their data. It’s not them, per se— just their data. Why’s Joker Persona 5 there? Ummmmmm shhhhhhhhhh 🤫 🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫

And you know what? I think I just solved another question I’ve had for ages. 

We know who took Angelus’ body. 

During the legion war, Angelus’ body is stolen from where it’s being kept and we just… genuinely do not know where the fuck it went. At all. Not a fucking clue. 

But do you know what I’m wondering now? Maybe Accord took it, and she’s in the cage. Because look at THIS. FUCKING. SCENE. 

While Yuzuki and Hina are going through this weird “gallery” of paintings (WHY IS IT ALWAYS FUCKING PAINTINGS BY THE WAY. maybe accord & adam were in the same art class), a FUCKING DRAGON FLIES OUT OF NOWHERE, GOES INTO THE PAINTING, AND DIES. Obviously it’s just a reference to the only thing in Drakengard 1 that ever gets referenced— but we’re already so fucking deep I can’t see shit. I’m going with it. 

And finally… finally, finally… I think I have everything. And if I’ve just confused the fuck out of you all for the last 7000+ words, allow me to attempt to amend that with my concluding…. bullet points

•The Ark the machines use to traverse time & space is a Seed of Destruction, in some shape or form, which we’ve seen them possess before. Seeds can also be used to store memories & “data”.

•The “light” frequently referenced throughout the series is most likely in reference to The Great Time. 

•The Aliens of Automata are most likely connected to the Watchers of Drakengard in some genetic way. 

•Accord is a machine, who stole data from humanity without their knowledge for the machines’ server.

•She later rebelled when their assimilation began and created the Cage.

•Accord uses the Seed(s) to copy herself & possibly time travel as well. 

•The humans of Midgard were always right; there is an Egg of Resurrection. 

And. That’s. EVERYTHING. 

Shit. Sorry if this all kind of fell apart near the end, this took waaaay too long to finish up and every time I got close new shit got revealed that I could add. YAY.

But anyways. Hope you guys liked my nonsense, and until next time,

Hold on.

I just realized something. 

…I think I was wrong. 

Like, completely wrong, about something. One thing. Completely wrong about one, small thing. 

Accord… isn’t the only character we see in these games that can travel across time and space.

…So does Caim.

At the end of Drakengard 1, ending E, he and Angelus send themselves and the Mother Angel (Queen Beast) across time into modern day Tokyo. This event is what would cause the NieR timeline to kickstart at all, bringing the origin of MASO as well as…

.

This event is what… caused NieR to occur. 

This… event… caused… NieR. 

This event caused NieR Replicant, which caused NieR Automata, in which the Ark was formed, in which the first Accord was created, in which assimilation began and kickstarted the time loop. 

And the real kicker? Remember when I brought up “Singularities”? Entities with the capabilities to cause branches and alter timelines. The ones that we know of include Zero, Two, and recently, Kaine— 

but with information given by Drakengard 3’s Complete Guide, we were given three more. These being, 

Nier, 

Nowe,

And CAIM. 

It’s confirmed. Thank fuck, by the way— one of the biggest portions of the original twin theory was me trying to prove that he was a Singularity at all, but little did I know the truth was right under my nose. Waiting. For ten years. I’m the smartest bitch on planet earth 

But there’s something… off, I feel. 

In every instance of a singularity taking effect that we’ve gotten to see they always stay on the same… I guess, “Earth.” The branch changes, I guess, but the earth really doesn’t.

I’m saying this, because

Caim branches into an entirely different world, and he brings the two beings that shall end yet another humanity with it.

I’d bet the Gods were sure happy about that. More humans to…

?

I’d bet the Gods were sure happy about that. 

What? Hang on. 

Look at that. 

These birds show up right before the Queen Beast falls into Tokyo. Birds have always been common imagery in these games, usually for symbolic purposes. 

But every time Drakengard 1 uses this kind of imagery it’s… weird. The birds are weird.

Especially inverse of this, the very beginning of the game:

It’s in the opening cutscene of Drakengard 1. Furiae says, “It begins.” 

(What begins? What does she already know…?)

And after a fade to white, we cut to a bird circling in the sky over the battlefield Caim is currently in. The very same one where he will be fatally wounded, forcing him to forge a pact with Angelus, the beginning of the end. 

It always struck me as odd as to why this shot was included. Why include such seemingly meaningless imagery as… you know, a bird flying. Like a bird can do. 

Well, that’s the thing with Drakengard 1. It’s by far the entry in this series with the heaviest religious imagery and theming.

And thus, with that in mind…

I looked it up. 

What is the significance of a bird circling in the sky?

Oh. 

So… It’s an Omen. 

It’s an Omen. 

A bird circling in the sky is considered an omen in certain religions.

A bird circling in the sky is considered an omen that God is either sending a message from beyond, or is watching over you. 

God is watching over you.

God is watching you. 

(watching me, watching you)

Hm. Hm! In the context of this series, that’s kind of…

interesting.

#MY BULLSHIT INACCURATE TEDIOUS AWFUL STUPID FUCKING THEORY IS BACK ON THE MENU #nier #drakengard #drakenier #square enix #yoko taro #drakengard 3 #drag on dragoon #dod #nier replicant #nier automata #nier reincarnation #twin theory #drakenier twin theory

[7ndipity]

First Kiss

Hoseok x Reader

Summary: Just a lil something about Hobi being the reader’s first kiss

Warnings: Suggestive, not proofread

A/N: Thanks to the lovely anon for requesting this! This honestly made me so soft, I just love Hobi so much!

Masterlist

Requests are open

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Hobi was an amazing boyfriend, you’d only been dating for about a month and you were already sure of that much. What had started out as an innocent friendship had quickly grown into something more, both of you confessing your feelings after only a few months on a night not so different from this one, camped out on the couch together for a movie night.

You’d been deliberating on saying something for the better part of the movie, finally deciding to just blurt it out. “I think I like you.”

Hobi had froze, turning to look at you wide eyed, a massive smile creeping across his face. “I think I like you too.”

That had been all either of you needed to become official, the shift in your dynamic not really changing that much beyond little things, like the way he always held your hand or called you his baby.

Now, instead of sitting on opposite ends of the sofa, you sat curled against his side with his arm around you as you watched a film together, feeling your eyes grow heavier until they finally fell closed, drifting off to sleep.

A sudden noise on the TV jolted you back to consciousness, making Hobi chuckle as he took in your confused expression.

“I’m sorry Baby, I should’ve turned it down after you dozed off so it wouldn’t wake you.” He said softly, rubbing your arm soothingly.

“I shouldn’t have fallen asleep in the first place.” You grumbled. “How long was I out?”

“Just a few minutes.” He said, smiling at your pouty expression.

“Sorry.” You apologized, sitting up a bit more.

“It’s okay, you looked cute.” He replied.

“Yeah?”

“Mhm.”

You were suddenly aware of how close you were to him, your attention being drawn to his lips before flicking back up to his eyes, a sudden desire stirring in your gut.

You’d told Hoseok when you first confessed about how you’d never really dated or kissed anyone before, and much to your relief, he’d been more than understanding, telling you how he was fine going at your pace with everything. Knowing he wouldn’t make a move unless you asked him to had been a comfort, but now, as you looked up at him, you decided there was no better time to voice your thoughts.

“Hobi?” You asked, slightly unsteady.

“Hmm?”

“Can you kiss me, please?”

His eyes lit up as he smiled down at you. “I’d love to.”

He shifted to face you, hands coming up to gently hold your cheek. “Close your eyes.” He whispered, leaning in slowly.

He started out gently, lips barely brushing along yours, lingering, almost hesitating for just a second before pressing fully against your own, feeling all your senses alight and making you melt into him.

Too soon, he moved to pull away, in order to check your reaction, earning a whine from you in response.

“More.” You requested, making him laugh again before leaning back into you, this time with a bit more force and intensity.

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you chased after his movements with your own, feeling a shiver go up your spine at the teasing swipe of his tongue across your bottom lip.

Eventually, you separated, breathing heavily and staring at each other in a slight daze.

“Was- was that okay?” He asked, sounding slightly hoarse.

You let out a small huff of laughter. “Do you really have to ask?” You asked, feeling the growing heat in your face.

“Yes.” He said, returning your giggles as he caught your hands, positively beaming at you. “I always want to know if you’re okay.”

“I’m okay.” You assured him.

“Good, so does that mean I can kiss you again?” He asked excitedly.

“You can kiss me anytime you want.” You replied, pulling him back in.

“You might regret saying that.” He teased.

“I’ll take my chances.” You breathed, claiming his lips again.

#hoseok fluff #hoseok scenarios #hoseok x y/n #hoseok x reader #hoseok drabble #hoseok blurb #hoseok reaction #hoseok reactions #bts scenarios #bts one shot #bts drabble #bts blurbs #bts blurb #bts fluff #bts x y/n #bts x reader #bts reaction #bts requests #7ndipity

[hoshologies]

2:47 am, vernon c.

genres &&. warnings — timestamp, fluff, established relationship &&. lapslock intended, vernon being a sweetheart.

word count — 1.1k

you’re woken up rather gently, as though the person brushing soft hands against you is intentionally trying to keep you in dreamland. of course, you don’t even need to open your eyes to know who it is because you have him mapped down to the callouses of his fingertips and the faded scent of the cologne he put on this morning before he left (not to mention he’s the only person who has the spare key to your apartment).

“vernon…?” you ask quietly, drawing in a breath to yawn. you stretch deeply and notice the weight and feel of the fabric of the duvet over your legs where it hadn’t been when you’d fallen asleep a while ago.

“hey, baby.” vernon’s voice is quiet and his breath is warm on your face, a physical manifestation of his words.

when you open your eyes, he’s knelt beside the bed, using one arm as a cushion for his chin while the other strokes gentle lines over your cheek, his palm warm and threatening to lull you back to sleep.

“what time is it?”

“almost three am. what time did you go to sleep?”

you shrug as best you can with one of your shoulders pressed into the mattress. “only about an hour or so ago i think. i was waiting for you to come home, but i guess i fell asleep.”

vernon’s sigh is quiet with something akin to remorse. his fingers press a little tighter into your cheek like he’s trying to physically convey whatever it is he’s feeling. “i meant to come home a lot earlier, but the guys wanted to stay out later than planned and someone had to help get them home. if hoshi hadn’t been requiring constant supervision, i would have let you know.”

you shake your head, doing your best to lean your cheek into his palm. vernon was always good about messaging you when plans changed or something happened, so while you’d been a little anxious when he didn’t text you that he was heading home, you figured it had been for a good reason; and, as expected, a drunk hoshi was always a good reason.

“it’s okay,” you whisper, letting your eyes fall shut, reveling in the rough warmth of vernon’s hand against you, thumb still painting those hypnotically comforting lines into you. “i guessed something came up, so i wasn’t too worried.”

you hear him let out an exhale that doubles as a laugh, that breathy chuckle of his. “were you planning on falling asleep? when i walked in, your phone was playing a random youtube video and you weren’t even under the covers.”

he laughs again when you shake your head and mumble “s’n accident. i really wanted to wait for you.” he mutters his own answer under his breath, something that sounds strangely like “so cute.” 

silence settles over the two of you, broken only by the sound of your breath rustling the duvet cover and the soft brush of skin against skin. you’re not quite sure how much time passes, too focused on fighting off sleep to enjoy more time with your boyfriend because truthfully, you can never get enough time with him. alas, eventually his hand departs, leaving a chill in its wake, and when you whine a little, he leans forward to press his forehead to yours.

“i’ll be right back, ‘kay? i just need to get ready for bed. i’ll make it quick, promise.”

and his word is always his bond; if he promises something, he always follows through. again, you’re not sure how long vernon is away because you’re caught floating somewhere between total consciousness and temporary oblivion. but he does return at some point because the lights turn off and then, with all the gentleness possible in the world, he slides into bed next to you. he scoots in close, draping one arm around your waist and tucking his nose into the crook of your neck.

“you waiting for me to get back so you can finally go back to bed?” he asks, his voice already heavy and rough with sleep. his breath sinks through the thick cotton of his sweater you “borrowed” (see: stole) when you had gotten ready for bed earlier in the night and that alone lulls you closer to slumber’s welcoming embrace.

you hum quietly in assent, looping your arm over his and intertwining your fingers against your sternum. he presses in impossibly closer, not a single part of the back of you that goes untouched. it’s as if he can’t get close enough to you and you’re not sure if it’s because he’s simply feeling more affectionate than usual or there’s still a little bit of alcohol lingering in his system. but with the weight and warmth of him against you, you can’t even complain.

“well, ‘m here now, so go back to sleep, baby.”

his fingers flex around yours, squeezing tight into your palm before relaxing a little. a way to say “i love you” without vocalizing it. he’s out like a light almost immediately, his breathing slow and steady at the nape of your neck, but while you’re exhausted too, you stay awake long enough to notice that between the time vernon came home and the moment you woke up, he’d plugged your cellphone in to charge it, covered you with the duvet, taken off the hairband you’d had on your wrist, rearranged your pillows just the way you like. 

it’s always the little things with him, things that only he remembers and responds to. out of every person you’ve been in a relationship with, it’s vernon who has shown you what love, real love, looks and feels like. just the thought of everything he did for you tonight in fifteen minutes of being home is enough to have your heart swelling with unadulterated adoration.

you tighten your fingers around his for just a moment, a reciprocal “i love you.” because how could you not love him when you were his first priority upon arriving home or when he holds you the way he’s holding you now, gentle and warm with his chest rising in shallow breaths against you.

you’ve discussed it before, the idea of being “it” for each other, but right now, as you’re finally allowing sleep to take over, you know with absolute certainty that he’s it. there is no other person on earth who could love you the way vernon does; this is what you want for the rest of your life, this is who you want to fall asleep and wake up with. it could never be anybody else.

© hoshologies 2023. do not translate, copy, or repost my work on any site.

#vernon x reader #seventeen x reader #svt x reader #chwe vernon x reader #kpop x reader #svt.fic #vernon.fic #timestamp.fic #writing.fic

[gabessquishytum]

in the spirit of sharing our appreciation, that bachelor ask was so good !!! I would read a whole long fic about that where maybe (bc whilst I love smut I am a slut for pining and angst) they don't fuck immediately, hob really does tell dream stories all whilst trying to ignore how looking at dream too long makes everything else fade away and give him butterflies or how dream begins to get surprisingly touchy feely as the week goes on but he can't possibly be interested in hob, after all he agreed to hear hob's success stories in the interest of believing he could meet his (female) true love on this show. (I've never seen the bachelor don't laugh lol) anyway it carries on like this, dream ramping up his affections, thinking he's being soooo obvious, he cannot believe hob is not taking the bait, when it hits him ! It's not that hob isn't picking up on dreams signals, he just. does not want that. so he suddenly stops (he's soooo embarrassed, of course hob knew what dream was doing, he probably knew all along 😖🤦🏻 he's just not into him) and then hob is like.... Have I done something to upset you? Etc anyway it all comes to a head and they fuck nasty, are missing alllll night and til early afternoon the next day when they emerge looking thoroughly well fucked, dream is actually amazingly pleasant?????? clearly just needed to release some tension.... And the show people are like. Uhhhh. You haven't been hitting it off with any of the contestants how are we supposed to explain all these fucking hickies on the show??? which is where hob as mystery contestant comes in. Anyway I didn't mean to write that much, just wanted to say that I looooooved that idea as someone who loves delicious angst and pining etc etc (which feels very on brand for our two centuries old idiots who've been on multiple dates, and yet...) It has sooo much potential !! I also liked it just as they wrote it, hob sucking dream off on the first night was so unexpected but a welcome change from the uncertainty and self consciousness of what I usually like. Just wanted to share how as an idea it really has legs - so thank you to them for sending it in, I really enjoyed it !! Would love to read more 💓

Thank you so much for developing this with a little angsty twist anon!!! I love it. Misunderstandings are so delicious. Can you imagine being another contestant watching all of this going down? Alsksjsjsj that's quality entertainment tbh. And I just really love the idea of hopeless romantic Hob working on this show because he's sooo into romance and shmoopy love stories - and he ends up in his own love story which is spiralling like crazy, getting so dramatic, causing Hob so much angst. It's all worth it of course. Falling in love with Dream was really the best thing Hob ever could have done <3

#the sandman #dreamling #nsft

[bumpkinspice0]

Parallels: Chapter 4

Miguel O'Hara x Spider!FemReader

No use of y/n

Rating: Explicit (Minors DNI!!!)

Word Count: 2564

Summary: Miguel calls you into the tower for a mysterious one on one meeting.

Warnings: Descriptions of blood being drawn, Needles (I tried to be as vague as possible, I don't now how this works), Tension, lil kisses No smut this time. Don't worry, we make up for it in the next one ;)

Previous

Series Masterlist

AO3

Chapter 4

Business as Usual

You crawl further into the dark corridor just outside the Spider Tower lobby. You bring your knees to your chest with a heavy sigh. Miguel had called you in personally. Rather than go directly to his wing you found a dark little corner to hide in. You wouldn’t have to talk to him if he couldn't find you. Genius.

Then again, if you didn’t want to talk to him you would have just stayed in your own dimension. Christ, you jumped so fucking fast when you got the alert from Lyla, you didn’t even change into your suit. An actual meeting with Miguel. One-on-one. Isn’t that what you wanted?

Apparently not. 

As soon as you stepped into the tower all your confidence wilted like a cut flower. He’s probably furious with you. How could he not be after how you left him in the training room? Still, it was pretty hilarious.

You just had to let your cocky pride take the wheel.

One week had passed since then, he was probably weighing all the cons about actually letting you stay. He was the head honcho and you were a distraction to him. He’d made that abundantly clear. You know a leader like Miguel wouldn’t hesitate to remove any obstacles in his path.

So, here you were hiding in the dark spaces of the tower, too nervous to go to his office but too anxious for an answer to go home.

“You know I can just tell him you’re here and he’ll come find you, right?” Lyla illuminates in front of you. 

“ Have you told him I’m here?” you ask, a pit forming in your stomach.

“Not yet,” She glances down at her nonexistent nails. You always felt she had a personality all her own. She couldn’t just simply be a program. A complete consciousness beyond the yellow pixels— maybe.

You sigh into your hands, “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

“Didn’t say. Just told me to call you right away.”

“That sounds like trouble,” You lean back against the wall.

“Everything does when it comes from Miguel,” she glitches to your side. “Only one way to find out?”

You stare at the light just beyond your little hiding space. At the countless spider people just like you doing their part to save what they can. Was all of this about to be ripped away from you? 

“He really didn’t tell you what it’s about?” you ask the AI companion. 

“I literally just told you everything he told me.” she looks annoyed, with every right to be.

You pick yourself up with a groan. You’re a big girl. A freaking superhero. You’d faced mad scientists, hundreds of armed henchmen, and literal monsters. You could have a regular adult conversation with Miguel fucking O’Hara.

___

Well, you just traded the only other dark corridor of the tower for another. Miguel’s wing was the darkest-lit science lab you’d ever seen. Dozens of machines and seemingly long abandoned experiments lined the walls. Several small spider-like robots scurry about the place, attending to whatever their programmed tasks were.

The automatic door shuts behind you, blocking off any of the remaining ambient white light from the citadel. Your eyes quickly adjust to the dim red lighting of this apparent mad science lab.  This was the house of a man that liked to stay busy. Was running a multi-dimensional superhuman strike force just not enough? 

You take a deep breath and walk further into the belly of the beast. 

“Hello?” you call out into the seemingly endless room of science projects and low lighting. Your spider-sense was a faint hum in the back of your head. He was nearby, but not close. Honestly, why did he call you in if he wasn’t going to be here? Unprofessional.

You come to the open, and seemingly only well-lit, part of the room. A platform a few feet above the ground stood in the center. Several monitors and a swivel chair adorned the odd structure. Was that his… desk? 

You hop up on the platform, calling out his name in hopes of any kind of reply. Still nothing. Well, you’re sure he wouldn’t mind if you waited for him here— near all of his computers, top-secret paperwork, and personal effects.

You take a spin on the desk chair, getting a basic cursory glance at everything. Security footage of the tower, various problem points in the multiverse, and some equations you don’t understand. All in all— disappointingly boring.

Then something catches your eye at the corner of his desk, it’s small and neon green. A vile of some sort, loaded into an injection gun. Upon closer inspection there were several of them all lined up on a wheel, each one no larger than your thumb, holding what looked like pure poison. Something in you said this was more than just one of his little side projects. It was here on his desk, dozens of them ready to be loaded into an injector gun. 

Before you can inspect further, the low hum in your head bursts into a panic alarm. He’s here. A  loud thud rings out behind you and you turn to see him standing in the center of the platform— heavy shadows cased across his face making him look more menacing. 

“Hola, arañita ,” he greets you emotionlessly.

You shrink in the chair, “Uh, hi.”

“Making yourself comfortable I see,” he scoffs, turning to his monitors. He deactivates a few, “You know, if you wanted to snoop you could have just asked Lyla.”

“She’d rat me out in a minute,” you chuckle, mostly to yourself.

“Sounds like you're ratting yourself out,” he says, nonchalantly.

Touché.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have snooped around your creepy room if you were actually here when you called me.” You retort.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have started attending to the million other tasks on my plate if you’d have actually come when I asked instead of hiding around in the tower for an hour,” He turns to face you, his face still stern and cold. Ah, so he knew you were getting cold feet.

Touché again.

Regardless of how good his comebacks were, he was still infuriating. “You know, I’m not some dog, O’Hara. You can’t just keep me at your beck and call.” You’re getting more defensive than you’d like. 

“Mhm,” he lazily raises his eyebrows, “And yet here you are.”

“Fuck. You.” Well, this was going just as swimmingly as expected. You take a moment to gather yourself, burying your face in your hands and taking a deep breath. You’re a superhero. You’re fucking Spider-woman. “Why did you call me, Miguel?”

“I need your blood,” He says without hesitation. 

Well, that was… what?

“Dude,” you immediately swivel away, “I thought the vampire thing was a joke.”

“What vampire thi— For experiments.” he clarifies, as if that made it any less weird, “I need to conduct some experiments on both of our genetics.”

You pause for a moment. “You’re gonna see why we feel this way around each other?”

He jumps off the platform and starts rummaging around a nearby table. Several of his little robots come to assist him on the tabletop, “I’d like to know why. Wouldn’t you?”

“I mean, yeah I guess,” You swing down to meet him, “I really do, actually. I just thought… you called me here to yell at me. I thought you were mad at me.”

“I am mad at you,” He says without stopping his digging or granting you the decency of eye contact, “Made Lyla call a fire drill so I could get back to my room. I really liked those sweats, by the way. You owe me a pair.”

You’ve never had to work so hard to hold back a laugh in your life.

“Well, you owed me a new suit like a month ago, so consider us even,” you lean on his workstation. He’s unboxing various medical supplies from a kit. Test tubes, iodine… a needle. Blood for experiments, right. God you fucking hated needles.

“You could have gotten a new suit on the 43rd floor,” He starts to label the various test tubes, “We have everyone’s designs downloaded. Lyla can scan your body and have a new one made for you in 10 minutes. I assumed you would have gone there.”

“We have a freaking tailor?!”

“It’s in the handbook.”

“No one reads handbooks.”

“And look how that worked out for you,” he tuts as he rounds the desk. You think you catch a small glimpse of him smiling to himself. Just a glimpse. All his supplies were neatly lined up on a white cloth. He turns on a light, illuminating a blue leather-bound medical chair. He gestures to it, “Sit. Please.”

You walk around the desk and take a seat in the chair. You roll up your sleeve and sheepishly place your arm on the armrest. He kneels at your side. The gloves of his suit phased away. He wraps a small band around your upper arm and gently runs his fingers over the crease of your elbow, locating the optimal vein. Despite how clinical all of his actions are, your spider sense immediately jumps as soon as he touches you.

He glances up at you, “You feel that too, huh?”

“That obvious?” You cover your face with your free hand, only slightly mortified.

“Less obvious when it happens to both of us at the same time,” He starts rubbing a small swatch of iodine over the area. 

“Have you done this before?” you ask, suddenly feeling more sheepish than earlier.

“I’m a geneticist,” He answers plainly. A long pause was your reply, “Yes, many times. You’re in good hands,” He clarifies.   

“I don’t like needles,” you admit.

“No one does. I’ll make it quick, I promise,” He says with all the confidence in the world. His calm demeanor was admittedly working in your anxiety's favor. He reaches over and a small robot brings the tubes and needle to his hand. He places them on a small table next to you. He begins unwrapping the sterile supplies, glancing up at you, “Why were you hiding in the tower?”

So he’s making small talk to distract you. He has a decent bedside manner, who knew? 

“I… thought you were gonna fire me.”

He pauses his work, glancing at you again, “Fire you? From the strike force?”

Admittedly, a wave of relief washes over you when you see the faint confusion on his face.

“I mean yeah. I don’t think it’s that unreasonable a conclusion.” You sigh, slouching down further in the chair, “I bet you’ve thought about it.”

He swivels back over to you, needle ready in hand. “It… crossed my mind. You’re going to feel a pinch,” He gently holds your arm. You immediately look away, face contorting at the sharp pressure before it subsides into a dull ache. He continues, “But, this isn’t your fault, it’s mine. I should have done more research. Looked into you more. I could have predicted this.”

And what if he did predict this weird connection? Would you still be here?

“Would you still have let me join if you did?” you ask before you can stop yourself. 

He pauses longer than you’d like, “I don’t know,” he says honestly, “But you are here. You’re a good Spider-Woman. We’re lucky to have you.”

It’s the most basic of compliments, but just knowing that it came from him sends your heart racing and your spider sense buzzing in gratitude. The king of Spider-kind says he’s lucky to have you. How sweet.

“I’m happy to be here.” You say with small a smile.

“All done,” The sharp pain in your arm is replaced with pressure. You turn back and he removes the small tourniquet, holding a gauze over your injection sight. Four test tubes of your blood are all neatly lined up on the side table. That was quick.

“Now what?” You ask.

“Now you let me run a few tests and I’ll get back to you.” 

“And in the meantime?”

“Business as usual.”

“I’m not fired?”

“Not fired,” he nods, “But I still say you owe me a new pair of sweatpants. Hold that.” He instructs you to keep holding pressure while he pulls off a strip of medical tape.

“Noted,” You bring your arm to your lap, instantly missing the warmth of his touch. You’re not sure if it’s the sense acting up or your own feelings. Wouldn’t they be one and the same? You don’t know anymore. The lines of either felt blurry around Miguel. 

He rolls back to your side and tapes the small gauze to your arm. He unwraps a small alcohol pad and wipes off the remaining yellowed iodine.

“Cold,” You shiver at the contact of the cold alcohol swab.

“ Aw, Pobrecita,” he coos. The sarcasm in his tone is evident but his touch is still gentle. He takes a moment and runs a thumb over the soft skin of your forearm, leaving a trail of goosebumps. 

You can feel your sense singing in joy at the contact— on the borderline of morphing into arousal. He had to feel it too. Was he testing the limits? You suppose you had to find them if you both had to learn to live with this.

“You feel it?” he asks, voice dropping an octave.

“Yes.”

He raises your arm to his lips, placing a soft kiss on the inside of your wrist. It sends a jolt of electricity through you.

“Did you feel that?”

“Yes.”

He moves up, placing another kiss on your forearm. Another jolt accompanied by a hitch in your breathing. His lips seared the nerves of your skin in the best way possible.

“And that?”

“Yes.”

A kiss on your shoulder. It was becoming too much. Each time he kissed you it was like a shot of adrenaline straight to your heart— every sense in your body dialed up to 11. You’d wanted him so fucking bad, and he was finally so close now.

Before you can rip his suit off, an alarm blares through the room. 

“Boss!” Lyla materializes at his shoulder. He drops his head with an annoyed sigh. Is it selfish to say you were happy to see he was just as disappointed as you were? Probably. He turns to the virtual assistant. She continues. “Category 6 anomaly. Universe 818. Might be a full sinister crew.”

He immediately stands, mask and gloves materializing. “Call Ben and the local spider.”

“I’ll go too,” you stand up.

“Ah, ah, ah, arañita,” Miguel gently guides you back down to the chair, “You just gave blood, plus you’re in civilian clothes.”

“I feel fine,” your a little offended at his insistence. “I’ll run to the 43rd floor and grab a suit.”

He shakes his head, a portal materializing behind him, “Next time, little spider. Next time.” he backs into the portal, and in a flash of light, he’s gone. Off to save someone else's world.

The faint trill of your spider sense still lingers in his absence, as if reaching out for something that wasn’t there. You lean back into the chair with a sigh.

“Well?” Lyla materializes next to you, “How’d it go?”

You stare at  the ceiling for a moment, “I’m not fired.”

___

Translations: Hola, arañita- Hello, little spider Aw, pobrecita- Aw, poor thing

And of course, if I got any Spanish wrong please let me know ❤️

And holy BALLS thanks for the comments! I would die for all of you

#miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara fanfiction #miguel o'hara x spiderwoman!reader #miguel o'hara x you #across the spiderverse #miguel o'hara

[imagine-shenanigans]

I'm getting back into the swing of things for writing, so here's some random safe for work headcanons because I've been reading an obscene amount of x reader content (Please go check out Aggre(g/v)ation by llama goddess, and Saving Three Ex-cell-ent skeletons by recklessly caffeinated on ao3 because I got brain worms babey.)

Also since its been awhile since I've written something on this blog, remember that these are stream of consciousness teehee <3

(General tws: references (but not explicitly said) to past consumption of humans, ED/Disordered eating and mental health issues, au-typical violence references, etc)

Word Count: 2.2k words ish

.

Horrortale!Sans (Skull) x Reader Misc SFW Headcanons

My favorite thing is when people portray sans in any light as either Just A Little Guy or as Fuckin Huge and Skull is a Big Boy <333 he's easily 7 feet tall, and Built Fucking Different.

Monsters can't like, completely and utterly alter the type of monster they are, so you won't see a Bunny Monster turn into a Moldsmal but its very widely understood that magic reflects the soul reflects the mind reflects the body - so its not really something where monsters experience dysphoria as much? Like if a monster is afab, but realizes they're trans and a guy, it may take awhile to transition - and they may need some help via magic other than their own - but it's really normal in comparison.

Unfortunately, the positive aspects of the whole "mind/soul/body" equation in that you'll eventually look how you want so long as you put the effort into changing every day can also be blocked by trauma and "scarring" to the soul. It's pretty rare in the canon universe, but for Horrortale monsters its damn near exclusive - when you have to do anything you can to survive, adaptation to your environment makes you a hell of a lot scarier in compenstation.

Skull is one such monster where if it weren't for his injury, he'd be a complete 180 from the typical monsters you see. But because of it, it makes it harder to control his magic because he can't think straight. It takes him longer to form sentences, takes him longer to process words sometimes, or even read. He gets light sensitivity really bad, and because his body change wasn't by his choice, but by an unfortunate way of being injured while in a traumatic situation, Skull, no matter how much better he gets, will never fully go back to what he was before.

He's extremely self-conscious about his size and his looks, not to mention his mental capacity. He knows and can think about what he's doing, his mind has never lost that sharpness or intellect. He can strip a machine down to parts and put it back together or put it to other use in minutes, but if you ask him to write it down or explain it he's going to have one hell of a time and he'll probably leave the experience worse than he went into it.

Similarly, if he does want to talk, in one of his rare moods where he's explaining what he's doing out loud to you, he could go on for hours, but suddenly hit a block where the words don't work right.

Be patient with him when this happens. He doesn't like it, and even though it can be frustrating at times, like if you're trying to decide something for dinner or write up a grocery list, he really is doing his best.

Sign language is a good alternative when the words don't want to come out but he's still able to communicate - writing can be one sided, but sometimes thats all he can do too.

When an idea strikes the both of you one day to just draw what he's thinking, Skull could fucking kiss you senseless when you hand him a white board and a dry erase marker. Words may not be making sense in his brain but he can picture what he wants in those moments so this is the perfect compromise between the two for communication.

Skull is his name now, so even though he was once Sans, Skull is what he picked as the reclamation of all that's happened to him. A name that he picked to get him through it day by day but its also a reminder of where he's been and where he'll go. That said... it's also a name he initially picked as a form of self harm to some degree, a mocking reference to his own injury that hindered him.

So while he'll probably never change his name again... he appreciates it when you call him pet names. It's a reminder that you love him enough to do so, while also giving himself a break from the constant reminder. He particularly loves when you call him your "Big old teddy bear" because... god he does not feel like it sometimes.

Get it its a reference to some of the fandom calling him Bear and I love that name for him a lot too

Due to the past, he has some Big Issues With Food, constantly bouncing back and forth between feast and famine.

He has some issues with meat at times - on bad days certain textures and tastes just remind him of the bad times in his life where survival was such a tightrope walk that just imagining eating it makes him sick.

A very "safe food" house, where the two of you stock up on your safe foods and have a cupboard dedicated to it for days you can't stand anything else.

Some days, Skull is content for the two of you to eat at the kitchen table or to watch TV in the living room while you two eat from separate bowls/plates, and he can eat fairly freely, not particularly caring who eats how much or in what order.

Others... other days he anxiously watches to make sure you've had a serving before he gets his, or, more likely, he brings the full pan/a single platter to the table, and the two of you share the same food, taking bites in turn so he can make sure you're getting enough to eat.

King of cooking. It makes him feel better to have full say of what goes into the meals, and honestly the man is an excellent cook. If you insist on helping him cook, it's a 50/50 on whether he gives you this smug little smile and sets you up on the counter top so he can look at you while he cooks, or if he actually lets you help.

He feels out of control if he can't cook, so even on special occasions he's still going to be cooking himself, unless you feel the Urge To Cook or you two order out.

Even then, please just go over with him what you did step by step and tell him what fully went in it - he trusts you implicitly and he's unlikely to outright ask... but it always helps ease his mind when you walk him through what you did just so he can feel less guilty.

Cuddler.

Big fucking cuddler.

Sitting on the couch alone? Not for long. Skull appears? Bam. you're in his lap, his claws smoothing across your skin and through your hair, purring up a storm as he settles his chin on the top of your head and closes his eyes.

If you're watching TV, he's only ever going to pay half attention if he's got you in his lap, half-snoozing in a very light doze as he basks in your presence, and half listening for danger/to the TV depending on the day.

He ADORES when you read to him. He loves it when you talk, and when he gets to listen to storytime while you talk? Best. Day. Ever.

Loves how small you are in comparison to him - something he never thought he'd be comfortable with at first, just based on the idea alone, but in practice he loves being completely wrapped around you and making sure you're safe. You're his personal teddy bear, no matter how many times you call him that yourself.

Jetpacking/Him being the little spoon is... unlikely. He's got some damn broad shoulders and chest, and he's not super happy with the idea of your limbs inside of him no matter if its on purpose or not.

If you want to hold him, he's definitely okay with that (although he does prefer to hold you) as long as you're touching him. You'll just have to let him set his head in your lap, or rest against your chest as he snuggles you chest to... well not chest, so more chest-to-skull and chest-to-legs with how he holds you. He's very beefy and has presence but he's about half the weight most people expect, despite the fact that it should be obvious because he's a skeleton.

He lets out the most broken whimper-whine-purr when you gently kiss the cracks on his skull, close to the gaping wound there. Don't actually touch inside or press too close to the wound itself, because that's genuinely very uncomfortable in the way it would be if he were human and had a missing eye and you touched the inside of the socket to see what it felt like. Just overall a bad experience so Don't Do That No Matter What The Intrusive Thoughts Say, although he'd let you do it in a heartbeat if you asked him

Absolutely whipped. Skull will do anything and everything you say if you just look at him just like that - just like he's your everything, like you love him without bounds and without exception. Puppy eyes also work.

He's a goddamn simp is what he is,

You'll just be minding your own business and you'll look over and catch him staring at you like you've hung the moon and the stars just to provide him with a small amount of your light during the nighttime. He looks at you with such adoration that it hurts.

Sometimes it looks a little freaky like, before you've come to automatically understand his expressions but goddamnit its so hard not to fall in love with him even just by a little more when he loves you so fucking much.

Kissies? Kissies for Skull? Please?

man FIENDS for kissies.

Once he's more comfortable giving affection unprompted you can barely keep his fucking hands off of you. He goes from "I Can And Will Nuzzle You And Pull You Into My Lap But That's It" to "No Kissies? No Snuggles? No Love For Skull? Oh! Jail! Jail For Datemate! Jail For Datemate For One Thousand Years!"

He straight up just hangs off of your clothing while staring at you until you give him a kiss or a hug. He'll come up to you and just bury his face into your neck while purring, or nuzzle your hair, but then moments later pout at you while wrapping his arms around your middle and burying his face into your stomach until you give up whatever youre doing and pay attention to him.

He doesn't do it often But By God Does He Get His Way When He Does.

He's also the type to just like, spend the entire day giving you small pecks on the lips and cheeks and forehead, and then snuggle you at night, and then the next day he'll be way less clingy. You take it in stride and then he just out of the blue dips you in the fucking moonlight and kisses you senseless.

The bastard.

Circling back to pet names, he thinks the nickname Teddybear/Bear is cute and he likes it, but call him My Love/Love/Dear Heart/something else dripping with affection and he's cupping your face in his hands and staring at you adoringly while he rubs your cheek with his claw.

Surprise him with new ones and he'll turn positively blue in the face while smiling like a fool

Surprise him with silly ones and he'll be even more in love while laughing. call him your little chicken nugget and he cant stop smiling and chuckling for a few hours. God. He'll dream of kissing you under the moonlight if you make a pun out of it.

(Brief aside here so I can avoid the text character limit "per block" but I prefer doing bullet point lists for these so anyway continue on)

Pet names always depend on the person, so whatever his one for you depends on you as a person (thats the easy way out for me) but he prefers just one pet name. (Aside from like. Babe being thrown in sometimes yknow)

He'll start with one pet name and see how you react to it - he prefers cute ones like Kitten, Bunny, Lovebird, etc. Something small and cute and adorable - though he changes it up depending on what you respond best to, because while the majority of the reason he calls you a pet name is out of affection, he still calls you pet names to see you get flustered.

On days he's feeling better, he gets more sassy he's gonna include more puns. Or teasing. Example - if he calls you lovebird, or some sort of bird-based nickname? Fuckin. He's calling you pigeon to see how you react.

Bunny? Hare-brain

Kitten? Fuzzball

If its an animal/bird/etc that he calls you in terms of nicknames, he might even refer to you as the scientific name of the animal, or a breed in that category because he thinks its funny to watch you fully stop in your tracks and process what he's just said.

Picks you up at any given opportunity.

Puddle? Oh dear, he should make sure your shoes don't get wet. Better princess carry you.

About to miss an appointment? Thrown over a shoulder.

Just feels like it? Get Scooped Idiot. Okay i have Way More Thoughts but I'm already at 2k because I have no impulse control so byeeeee come request more xreader stuff from me

#sans undertale #undertale #sans horrortale #horrortale #undertale au #sans x reader #horrortale sans x reader #strawberry writing #strawberry headcanons #i also Have Big Big Plans i cant share with a series of fics #but i'm still writing those and i know myself #if i actively talk about them i may not write them #so once the first one is done i'll update it #but yeah anyway sans renaissance time thank you for feeding me fandom this is what i give back

[altocat]

Ok, part two of Angeal and Sephiroth Dissidia Angst Chapter, haha.

After Angeal begs Sephiroth to talk to him and explain…Sephiroth remarks that he threw all his unnecessary memories into the Lifestream, and that Angeal is just “noise” to him. He has no memory of what Angeal is referring to—their friendship and all.

Angeal is too wounded to fight anymore, so Sephiroth battles the other characters for a moment and gets his power crystal. He is still upset though, even if he doesn’t realize why and just nopes out of there with his muhaha evil power.

There is a cute Zack and Angeal reunion right after, where Zack notes that Angeal is injured because he protected everyone like usual. Angeal warmly reaffirms Zack, but at once he goes straight back to talking about Sephiroth. He says he needs to follow him because he has so many questions to ask.

The others are worried about Angeal’s wound, but Zack only asks that if he does chase Sephiroth down, Angeal has to bring him along because he doesn’t want to be left behind. Aw.

Cloud interjects though and asks if he can talk to Angeal about the “present Sephiroth.”

We flash forward to a group meeting, and Angeal is STILL saying he needs to find Sephiroth. The others demand he take a moment to rest and heal, and that he shouldn’t take such a huge responsibility on his own shoulders, but Angeal is not having it.

Suddenly, Rufus of all people comments that he thinks he knows what Angeal is thinking about—that he wants to see if “The present Sephiroth is the real Sephiroth and not Jenova.”

Rufus brings up the Reuinion theory and all that, but Angeal actually says that,

“No, that’s Sephiroth…I know it. Someone with a will as strong as his couldn’t fully lose himself, even if he has changed. All his cruelty…it was his will…”

Angeal says this with a very downcast and heartbroken demeanor, like it seriously hurts for him to say that. Somebody asks, “Wait, you know Sephiroth?” and he says,

“He is my best friend. Always has been.”

OUCH.

Vincent actually asks,

“If he had someone like you…why did he end up the way he did?”

Angeal doesn’t reply and I can’t imagine he was feeling anything but guilt in that moment for obvious reasons. Then Cloud remarks,

“Well, Sephiroth did seem upset by Angeal’s question/questions. It’s worth a shot to find him”

So, they all agree to go hunt our silver boi down.

Finally, to close off the angst fest—we have a small scene where Sephiroth is alone with his crystal and is seemingly okay until bam, he gets a wave of memory come over him that causes him to stumble for a minute. He freaks out and that’s where the “Angeal? Genesis??” scene happens. He can’t believe it and starts trying to suppress everything, talking to himself through out.

He says,

“No…what is this memory?? Angeal? Genesis?? Did Angeal bring these back? I thought I threw them into the Lifestream. No, I need to get rid of them. They get in the way of “me.”

“….that’s right…get rid of what you don’t need. We can cut out this one too….that man’s entire existence…yes…”

It really sounds like he does have a fractured consciousness and is talking to different parts of himself/maybe Jenova, but damn…he also is fully being affronted now with his past and it’s obviously messing him up. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thank you for this, Translation-Anon. Thank you so, so much.

I'm in actual agony right now.

#asks #ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #crisis core #sephcanons #sephiroth #angeal hewley #dissidia opera omnia #I mean FUCK #*heavy breathing* #(It's just a stupid mobile game it can't hurt you) #(((IT CAN))) #genesis rhapsodos

[4dkellysworld]

The state of self-communion

Hellooooo, haven't been here for a while. Hope everyone's doing well :) I've just been doing my own thing away from Tumblr and haven't felt like there was much to post. I do enjoy reading Reddit posts though across a variety of spiritual subreddits and sometimes I come across some gems of wisdom. It also supports my belief that all paths can lead to Home (Self) because the same truths pop up in so many different subs from people doing different things (some with barely any actual spiritual study or sadhana).

Anyway, I found this part of a Reddit post (from the Neville Goddard subreddit actually) to be really beautiful (highlighted my fave parts) because it emphasizes Oneness (which isn't something I actually see much when it comes to manifesting-centric content) and shows what it looks like in practice to treat others as if they were yourself, as if there is no separation between you and everyone/everything else, as if the world is just a projection of your mind. I like how he calls it Self-communion when he talks of communicating with another person too and treating it as if he is talking to another aspect of himself.

The first most apparent proof I have received during my early era of this understanding, was still when I was in a shitty state of consciousness, so I was met with my own creation. It was a man that stumbled upon me and a cousin out in the street, it was a hostile interaction, I won't specify what. I had no other choice but to apply what I believed in, that if all is myself, and he is only my expression of my own state of consciousness, if the attitude I undertake towards him was as if he was a pleasant gentleman (despite him clearly coming to harm me outta no where), if I dare to live FROM MYSELF from my perception and attitude towards the stranger that approached as if he was a lovely gentleman, he would be so. So I was forced to apply it, and to completely put aside all my physical reactions and all that nonsense that the physical man invented and called instincts, and I was willing unto death, to believe that I was communing with a pleasant gentleman, I do not even remember what words came out of me, but I wore the state of love, of self communion, I knew I was talking to myself in another garment called Another Man, and he was pacified immediately. He broke down and we hugged and parted ways without further speech. I knew what I did, my cousin was clueless. In another case history as well, when a family relative I have neglected to frame his ideal image in my imagination, and it came surfacing (as everything neglected eventually does), I made the bold decision to carry an attitude towards him that he would be the coolest gent there is, and despite physical evidence from the first time, I applied my new standard good attitude towards this person, him being the way he still was, it did not take long for him to change in his attitude so quickly, because my attitude defined his reality and attitude in this physical world. So he was changed, and also pacified on the spot when aggressive speech took place. All my states created the vile and created the perfection.

Here is the original Reddit post though beware the formatting, spelling and sentence structure makes it quite difficult to read lol, I just skimmed it until I found this case studies which I thought were worth reading and sharing.

Anyway, hope that inspired/sparked some love within :)

#from reddit