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jikookiekosmos · 3 years

Text

Stay With Me || jjk

➥Pairing: best friend!jungkook/reader, husband!jungkook/reader

➥Summary: Being married to Jungkook was everything you’d wished for and more. There wasn’t a problem the two of you couldn’t tackle together, and building this life with the person you loved most was all you could ask for. But when a ghost from your past returns and threatens to pull you two apart in whatever way they can, will things still be the same?

➥Genre: established relationship, heavy angst (I’m so sorry), smut, fluff, hurt/comfort

➥Rating: 18+

➥Words: ~14.2k (more of a one shot than a drabble I know, oops)

Before you continue there are darker themes explored in this drabble; please read at your own risk. Appropriate warnings are listed below.

➥Content Warnings: POV switches, feelings of anxiety from being in danger, jungkook is protective (and for good reason), we see a pissed off hoseok, (tw: harassment, violence, implied/attempted kidnapping, reader gets injured), yoongi & jimin to the rescue (bless them), jungkook is pissed off (again for good reason), jungkook cries, reader also cries, jungkook has feelings of insecurity and not being good enough, they have ✨very emotional sex✨ up against a wall, cursing (fuck is said a lot), slight hair pulling, fingering (very brief), jungkook has a big dick, unprotected sex (safe sex is great sex), dirty talk, rough sex, cumming inside, aftercare, jungkook is actually the sweetest, reader and jk are so in love with each other it hurts, also jk saying ‘only for you’ is a thing i started and can’t stop now oops except there’s a twist this time around

A/N: hello! This is part of my Only for You (OFY) Drabble series, but it can be read as a stand-alone! However, I would highly recommend reading OFY beforehand so as to better understand the relationships between these characters since there’s a lot of history behind everything that will make more sense. (I also mentioned this in the post for OFY but for those who haven’t read it, the Kun in the story isn’t referring to any other irl person specifically, it was just a name I chose to make the initial story easier to write.)

The POV switches between the reader and a few of the characters, but this will always be indicated by the name in the switch being bolded (i.e. you or Jungkook will be in bold, etc.).

I always do this but thank you to @dntaewithluv for keeping me sane during the writing process and giving me feedback as well as the motivation to continue when I feel discouraged, I love you so much 💜

I’ve written a few other drabbles and will list them below, along with a general timeline:

Use My Best Colors For Your Portrait - ~6 months after OFY

When I Dream Of You - ~1 year after OFY

This fic takes place a few months after the dream drabble. I welcome feedback, so if you ever want to talk to me about my writing, please do! I hope that if you read this, you enjoy it~

➥OFY Spotify Playlist (songs I listened to for inspo)

➥Series Masterlist

➥All Works Masterlist

taglist: @inlovewiththemoonn @diorkookie @swee3tcreature @sugaslittlekookies @moonchild1 @bangtanhome

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

Visiting Jungkook at the bar during his shifts had become one of your favorite pastimes over the last few years. And not just because you got to see him, but also because it gave you a chance to get closer to some of his - and now your - friends as well.

Take tonight for example: you stopped by on your way home from work, and everything happened like it usually did. Jungkook’s smile was typically the first thing to greet you when you walked through the door before he and Jimin got into a playful bickering match about bar duties.

You parked yourself in your usual stool at the bar and watched the scene before you unfold - Jimin tossing one of the bar towels to Jungkook, who caught it with ease, all the while mumbling ‘less distraction and more action, Kook.’ Jungkook slung the towel over his shoulder before making a big show out of walking over to you.

“Hey pretty lady, what can I get for you tonight?” Jungkook’s voice was dripping with charm and it made you giggle. He leaned across the bar, resting his forearms on the wood. Even when he was just standing here in a plain black t-shirt with his dark hair curling in front of his eyes you still thought he was the most ethereal person you’d ever seen.

You hummed. “Hmm, I think I’ll have just a water, thanks.” Jungkook was already moving to fix your beverage before you even finished. “Do you always greet people like this,” you teased him as he sat the glass down in front of you.

He was wiping his hands on the towel still perched on his shoulder. “Nah, I only save it for the special ones. I am a married man, after all.”

You giggled again and he reached further across the bar to give you a quick kiss before being interrupted by Jimin again.

“You two are adorable, I love that, but I really could use some help over here, Kook!”

Jungkook playfully rolled his eyes before he excused himself to tend to his actual job. You just sat and observed while you drank, looking at him with loving eyes. He was really in his element here and it showed. All his customers were always happy patrons because he treated them all well.

Yeah, everything was playing out as it normally did on nights like these.

What you weren’t expecting, however, was for that to change.

On your way to find Yoongi so you could stop by and chat with him before heading home, you passed by a booth where a few rowdy men were seated. You tried to slip past them and pay them no mind-

-until one of them caught you by the wrist.

You froze. You wondered if maybe this was someone you knew and had possibly offended by not saying hello, but one look at the table let you know you’d never seen these 3 men before in your life.

“Hey, where you off to in a rush, baby?” The pet name made your skin crawl and you wanted nothing more than to just slink away and pretend like this never happened. But it was happening, the man’s tight grip on your wrist a reminder of that.

One of the other booth members spoke up. “Yeah, why not have a seat with us and talk for a bit? You look like you’re in need of some company.”

You shook your head and tried to muster a small smile so you could turn them down easy. You’d read and heard way too often about moments like these that could turn out badly if you acted a certain way.

“No thank you, I was just on my way out,” you hoped that would be the end of it, but the man holding your wrist wasn’t having it. He jerked you down to where you were seated right beside him in the empty space of the booth, making you whimper in pain when you hit the seat hard. His other friends laughed boisterously at your distress.

You situated yourself and looked up to see if you could spot someone, anyone around that you knew. You were unfortunately at the back corner of the bar, since Yoongi’s office was around here.

You tried to get up and make a break for it, but the man pulled you down again. “C’mon sweetheart, we don’t wanna hurt you. We just wanna talk, that’s all.”

Before you could respond, another voice cut through.

“Hands off,” the voice was low and stern, making all heads at the booth turn. When you looked up you saw Hoseok standing above you, arms crossed and looking pissed.

“Hoseok,” you breathed out, grateful that he was working the floor tonight and had stopped by before the situation escalated.

Hoseok didn’t say another word as his eyes drifted down to you quickly before glaring at the man still holding on to you.

“Lighten up, man, we’re just trying to have some fun-”

“I saw the whole thing and she’s clearly not wanting to engage in your idea of ‘fun’ so again: hands off.” Hoseok’s fingers flexed around his forearm, and apparently that was all the warning they needed.

The man let go of you and shoved you away from him, almost making you fall to the ground if Hoseok hadn’t steadied you. He wrapped an arm around you before calling out.

“Joon, Jin, need a hand here!”

Within seconds, the bodyguards of the establishment - also friends of yours - were at the table, looking as intimidating as ever. The 3 men still seated were starting to look a lot less pleased about the ordeal.

“I think these 3 have had it for the night,” Hoseok stated, starting to walk the both of you away so your friends could work their magic. You looked back at them one last time, just barely catching their interaction, which consisted of Seokjin promptly putting one of the men in his place when he tried to throw a punch.

When Hoseok had you seated in an empty booth at the other end of the bar, he knelt down beside you.

“Hey. You ok?” His voice had lost all its frightening timbre, now laced with nothing but concern. You didn’t realize you were still a little shaky until you noticed yourself trembling. You nodded, the best answer you could give right now.

Hoseok patted your knee before he stood up. “Stay here, I’m going to go get Kook-”

You reached out lightning fast to grab onto his sleeve before you pleaded “Don’t.”

Hoseok’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What, why not?”

“I don’t- I don’t want him to worry.” You were telling the truth; Jungkook had been on edge lately, and things were finally starting to get somewhat back to normal. If you didn’t have to add to that worry, you didn’t want to.

Hoseok’s frown deepened. “Y/N-”

“There you are!”

That voice that always managed to make your heart flutter only made you panic more in this instance. Jungkook was walking over to your booth quickly with a huge smile on his face, waving to the two of you. Hoseok moved out of the way so Jungkook could see you more, and you tried your best to smile back.

“Hey, I’ve been looking all over for you,” Jungkook addressed you as he pushed his hair out of his face. “I thought you went to go talk to Yoongi, but he said he hadn’t seen you yet.”

“Yeah, I was just on my way, but I ran into Hoseok-”

“Y/N,” Hoseok warned. Jungkook’s smile turned into one of confusion.

“What’s going on,” Jungkook was quick to ask before you could respond. It was then that he fully noticed how you were seated, somewhat curled into yourself.

“You need to tell him,” Hoseok’s eyes were burning into yours, and Jungkook felt a small pit of unease settle in his stomach. He knelt down beside you, similar to how Hoseok had done moments prior.

“Angel, hey, talk to me. What’s this about?” Jungkook took one of your hands in his and shook it slightly before placing a kiss on the back of it.

“It’s nothing, really-”

“Some guy put his hands on her.” Hoseok clearly was over you beating around the bush.

“What,” Jungkook’s tone was slipping into one you didn’t recognize and for good reason: he sounded furious. His hand tightened around yours.

Hoseok nodded, Jungkook’s attention on him now. “Yeah, I’m glad I noticed. Saw some dude grab her wrist and pull her down into the booth with them.”

Jungkook was up on his feet, hand disappearing from yours.

“What the fuck, where did they go,” he started to walk off but Hoseok held him back.

“Joon and Jin already took care of it, don’t worry. But I still just thought you should know.” Hoseok patted Jungkook on the shoulder and you watched as his body, still visibly tense, relaxed somewhat.

“I gotta get back to work, you can take a little time though, yeah?” Hoseok started walking off after giving you one last look, almost as if he was saying sorry but you knew he did the right thing.

Jungkook took a deep breath before finally looking back at you, his face softening instantly. He slid into the seat across from you, placing his palms on the table as he looked down.

“Koo-”

“Are you ok, at least,” his voice was low, but you could still hear it just over the faint tunes of the jukebox.

“I’m fine-”

“Define fine,” he scoffed. It was clear the two of you wouldn’t get anywhere like this, so you did the only thing you could think to do: you reached out and took both his hands in yours.

Jungkook looked up then through the curtain of tresses still falling into his eyes. He sighed.

“Sorry, baby, I know I shouldn’t be acting like this. It’s just- with everything we’ve been through with him I can’t help but worry about stuff like this.”

You understood completely because you were in the same boat.

Both of you had recently been experiencing less than pleasant encounters with your ex-fiancé, Kun, who for some reason decided he had a vendetta against the two of you. A vendetta that only got worse when you both made it clear you wanted nothing to do with him ever again.

The past week had been pretty quiet, but neither of you could shake the awful feeling that Kun wasn’t gone for good. And tonight’s fiasco did nothing to help that.

“Well it’s over now and I’m ok and I didn’t get hurt so let’s try not to focus on it, yeah?” You squeezed his hands for emphasis and he sighed. The last thing you wanted was for Jungkook to be worried the rest of his shift, and he still had a few hours left.

“Yeah, I’ll try. I’m just so glad Hoseok was around...are you still wanting to talk to Yoongi?”

You nodded, happy to see Jungkook had relaxed some more from when he first sat across from you.

“I’ll take you to his office, then.” Jungkook got up, pulling you with him since his hands were still in yours. When you both were standing, he wrapped his arms around your waist to pull you into a hug.

He looked down at you before placing a soft kiss on your forehead. “Also I hate to ask but do you mind staying until I get done with my shift? I’m not too keen on the idea of you going home alone now with everything-“

You giggled and caressed his cheek. “Of course, Koo. I’ll come sit at the bar when I get done talking to Yoongi.”

Jungkook brushed his nose against yours. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” you responded before you reached up to place a gentle kiss on his lips. His hold around you tightened, and he deepened the kiss for only a moment before pulling back.

“Fuck, I forgot I’m at work, I need to be careful when you’re around.” He carded a hand through his hair before shaking his head to let it fall back into place.

You laughed at his flustered nature, feeling a bit flustered yourself at the fact that even now you still had such an effect on each other. “Well we are back here in a dark corner where not many people are around,” you teased.

Jungkook smirked before tickling your sides, making you laugh louder as you squirmed to get away.

“Don’t tempt me. I’d rather not get fired for public indecency if I can help it.”

“Fine, fine, I guess just take me to see Yoongi then,” you pretended to pout and were rewarded with a chuckle. He led you to the back now where Yoongi’s office was at, his hand wrapped around yours while he scanned the bar the whole way there.

When the two of you reached the familiar door, Jungkook gave your hand one last squeeze and kissed your cheek.

“I’ve gotta get back to the bar, just come chill up there when you’re done, yeah?” His eyebrows were slightly furrowed like he was still worried, but your gentle smile helped smooth them out.

“Of course. I’ll see you soon.”

You knocked on the door and after hearing Yoongi’s muffled greeting you opened it to walk through, not sparing another glance at Jungkook.

“Y/N! I was wondering when you might be stopping by.” Yoongi smiled brightly at you, always making you feel welcome no matter the circumstance. You took a seat in your usual spot across from his desk where he was currently reclining in his chair.

“Hey, Yoon. How are things?” It’d been a little while since the two of you had properly caught up since things had been so chaotic lately.

Yoongi shrugged. “Can’t complain. Business is good and we’ve been pulling in more regulars. I’d like to say it’s thanks to Jungkook but don’t tell him I told you that. Kid has a big enough head as it is.”

You couldn’t help the proud grin that stretched across your face. Jungkook had been working hard to help turn the bar into a more welcoming environment and increased his work hours to also assist with some building upgrades Yoongi had been wanting to install for years. Their business had increased exponentially as a result, so you knew Yoongi meant it when he said he had Jungkook to thank.

“I’ll be sure to keep it our little secret,” you brought your hand up to mimic a ‘shh’ expression and Yoongi chuckled.

“Perfect.” He leaned forward then, an elbow resting on his desk and his head supported by his palm. “So tell me: how’s married life?”

“It’s everything I could ever want and more. I can’t say much has changed except the whole ‘legally being bound together’ thing, since we still act the same. It’s just…nice. Really, really nice.” Your gaze drifted down to your wedding ring, and as it was with every other time you saw it, you could feel something akin to butterflies fluttering inside your stomach.

Yoongi gave you his trademark lopsided grin. “Glad to hear it. You know, I was always rooting for you two from the start.”

You feigned annoyance, playfully rolling your eyes. “I know, I know, you only tell me every chance you get.” Yoongi never took a liking to your ex-fiancé and had always favored Jungkook, this much you knew. Even before Kun turned into the person he was now, Yoongi never cared for him. And he made sure it was known.

“Have you thought about when you’re going to pop the question?” You decided to switch gears and put him on the spot, giggling at the way he seemed flustered.

“Well I uh, I’ve thought about it I just- it’s hard to figure out the right time, you know? And is she even ready for that, I can’t tell-”

“Min Yoongi, you stop that right now. She is so in love with you that I bet she’s ready for you to ask any day now, just so she can say yes like she’s been wanting to for so long now.” You had spent enough time around Yoongi and his long-term partner to know that the two were head-over-heels for each other, nearly rivaling you and Jungkook in how easy it was to tell.

Yoongi grinned. “You think so, huh?”

“No doubt in my mind. In fact-” you were cut off by the feeling of your phone vibrating in your pocket. You hastily took it out, not sure who could be calling at this hour.

It dawned on you then that you had been expecting a new client to call, and the number on your screen was one you didn’t recognize so you figured it could be them. Your boss had heavily expressed the importance of this client and their business venture they were offering, so without giving it another thought you hopped out of your chair.

“Sorry Yoon, I need to take this real quick. Do you mind if I step out the back door? It shouldn’t take too long.” You were already heading to leave his office, trying to catch the call before it stopped ringing, barely missing his soft “Go ahead.”

You bolted through the back door of the establishment, out into the dimly lit parking lot. As soon as you heard the door shut, you swiftly answered the call.

“Hello, this is Y/N speaking, may I ask who’s calling?” You gave your usual greeting for work related or other conversations when you didn’t recognize the number. The silence that you were met with on the other end made a chill run down your spine.

You froze altogether when the other voice spoke.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to answer calls from numbers you don’t know?”

You felt your lower lip tremble. “K-Kun?”

A dark chuckle from the other end of the line. “Missed me, sweetheart?”

‘Just hang up,’ your brain was screaming at you, but you were holding your phone in an iron-tight grip, knuckles taut.

“Leave me alone and never contact me again,” you were finally able to respond, moving your arm to bring your phone down to hang up.

Your phone hit the ground before you got the chance.

Someone had come up behind you and pulled both arms behind your back, a hand coming around to muffle the scream you let out.

“Shhh,” someone whispered beside your ear. “You don’t want to make this harder for yourself, hm?”

That voice, why did you recognize that voice?

The person started dragging you off into one of the darker corners of the parking lot, ignoring your futile attempts to kick and writhe out of their grasp. You continued screaming into their palm but to no avail.

When you reached where they wanted you to be, they let you go and pushed you down onto the ground, causing your back to hit the wall and briefly knock the breath out of you. Before you could pick yourself back up, 2 other shadowy figures blocked your path. There was just enough light for you to finally make out the faces of the 3 people standing over you.

They were the same ones from earlier in the bar, the ones who had harassed you and yanked you down into their booth.

“What do you want,” you sobbed out into the night air. You were too terrified to try screaming again, afraid of what they might do. Especially now that you were across the lot, away from your phone and any chance of contacting someone else. Not to mention the fact that it was loud inside the bar, so screaming wouldn’t do you many favors anyway.

And if someone walked by, nothing would look out of the ordinary since it was just dark enough where you were to obscure the vision of anyone looking from the outside.

Before any of them could answer you, there was another sound you heard faintly in the distance: footsteps.

“Hel-,” you started to cry out, but as if they knew what you were planning, one of the men dropped down and covered your mouth again, now letting you see who was approaching behind them. Your eyes widened in terror as you took in the newcomer’s sinister grin.

You watched as Kun nodded to the other 2 men and they moved aside, while the third one still keeping your mouth covered moved slightly out of the way. Kun knelt down and moved his hand, replacing it with his own before you could scream again.

“Well well, fancy seeing you here.” Kun reached out and caressed your check with the back of his other hand, making you let out a strangled whimper as you tried to move back and away from him. He shook his head at your action and grabbed onto one of your arms now instead, pulling you and himself up in a swift motion.

His grip around your arm was painful, making you wince. Kun either didn’t notice or didn’t care. One look into his eyes was enough to see that the man you’d spent many years of your life with was completely gone with no trace left whatsoever. You didn’t know this person standing in front of you now.

And you didn’t ever want to.

“Now, I’m gonna move my hand, and you’re not gonna scream. Got it? Because if you do,” he moved forward to where his face was inches away from yours now. “I promise this will be so much worse for you. And you know I always keep my promises, don’t you?”

Kun was laughing before you could react at all, knowing good and well he’d broken several promises during your time together. He must have taken your silence as compliance because you could feel his hand relaxing around your face.

“Good girl,” the words made you shudder repulsively, wanting nothing more than for this to be just a terrible figment of your imagination and for you to be back inside at the bar waiting on Jungkook.

Jungkook. The thought of him caused a lump to form in your throat. You had no idea what Kun had planned for you, and that caused your heart to constrict as the vision of Jungkook smiling lovingly at you flashed through your mind.

You squeezed your eyes shut and felt a tear roll down your cheek. You opened them again once you felt Kun’s hand disappear.

“Ah, so you can take direction well. I guess Jungkook’s trained you somewhat since you’re his bitch now-”

“What do you want,” you asked through gritted teeth. The last thing you wanted to hear come from this man’s mouth was the name of your beloved. You didn’t want him brought up at all, the less this was focused on Jungkook the better.

But, since it was Kun, that obviously didn’t happen.

Kun laughed again, a loud, ugly sound. “What do I want? The same thing I’ve always wanted. Isn’t it obvious?”

The 3 men were crowded around both of you now, and it dawned on you then that they were blocking any means of escape for you. That didn’t bode well for you and you knew it, but you held your ground. You didn’t want to give Kun any more of the upper hand than he already had.

Kun finally dropped his other hand from your arm in favor of now caging you in against the wall. You were trapped even more now, but you just stared back at him, trying your best to look unfazed. Kun dipped his head down and you held your breath.

“What I want,” you could feel him barely hovering over your lips and the feeling made your skin crawl, “is for Jungkook to pay.”

“Pay for what,” you couldn’t help your annoyed tone. Kun’s obsession with Jungkook and ‘coming out on top’ – whatever that even meant, you weren’t entirely sure – had gotten old and you were beyond sick of it. “He owes you nothing, we owe you nothing.”

Kun hummed and shook his head, his nose almost brushing against yours, but you turned your head and let it graze against your cheek.

”I don’t think you get to decide that, not in the position you’re in, anyway. You see, I’m tired of seeing Jungkook get literally everything handed to him without trying-”

“Jungkook has worked hard for everything he has, something you wouldn’t know about,” you spat back. Kun was right, you were certainly in no position to be talking back right now, but you wouldn’t stand idly by while he slandered Jungkook just because he felt like it. “You’ve always been jealous of him-”

“Shut up, shut up!” Kun snarled, all but yelling in your face before he grabbed you by the jaw. You grimaced from the pain of it, a sound something like a scream starting but dying in your throat.

“You fucking infuriate me sometimes, you know that? I can’t believe I wasted so many years with you.” His grip around your jaw tightened as he finished talking, making it almost too hard for you to respond.

“Likewise,” you managed to get out, not being able to help the sob you let out when he squeezed more.

“Doesn’t matter.” Kun’s face stretched into that evil, Cheshire-like grin and for the first time that night you felt genuinely horrified about what his true intentions might be. “I’m not concerned with you or how you feel.”

Kun finally let go of your jaw and you let out the breath you didn’t realize you had been holding in. He grabbed one of your wrists and tugged you closer, knocking you off balance and unfortunately causing you to brace yourself against his chest.

He hugged you to him and whispered in your ear: “What I do care about is seeing Jungkook’s reaction when his precious wife is suddenly nowhere to be found.”

That kicked you into fight or flight mode, eyes widening and mouth opening to scream as you flailed your hands around. Your flailing did little to help you because Kun was already dragging you alongside him away from the wall, still holding you close.

“Let me go, you psycho!” you screamed, only causing him to turn you around and put a hand over your mouth again while his other arm held you firm against his torso.

“One of you bring the car around,” Kun ordered, and you saw one of the men dashing away. As you were pulled further away from the bar, your vision was clouded with a film of tears and your muffled sobs were hidden behind Kun’s hand. You were no match for his strength, and he proved it because he was literally dragging you across the concrete despite you being so uncooperative. Gentle raindrops had just started falling from the sky, further impairing your vision.

It was then that you heard a pained grunt followed by a thud coming from a little further away, in the direction the other man had ran off to. You tried to focus your eyes to see what was happening when the next sound that graced your ears was fast footsteps as they pounded against the pavement.

“Get your fucking hands off of her!”

A familiar voice made you cry out with joy and fight harder against Kun.

“Yoongi,” you cried out, still muffled but enough to draw his attention to your face now. He was running toward Kun fast, and when he saw the position you were in, he sped up, determined to free you by any means necessary.

You briefly worried about the other men behind him, until you saw that another was already knocked down and someone else – you thought it might be Jimin – was currently fighting with the third man. While your attention was on them, you didn’t register Kun tossing you aside until it was too late.

You slipped on the now wet pavement and fell down, barely able to brace yourself for the impact in time. Your earlier vision of Jungkook smiling was the last thing to flash through your mind before your head hit the ground.

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Yoongi glanced at his watch for the second time. It’d been about 10 minutes since you stepped outside to take your phone call, and he figured it had to have been important if you were still outside.

As he was wondering whether or not to call you himself to see if everything was alright, Jimin stuck his head inside the office, peeking around the door. “Hey boss, is Y/N around?”

Yoongi sat up straight. “Yeah, she stepped outside to take a call but it’s been a few minutes. Why?”

Jimin’s face blanched. “She went alone?”

“Yeah... Jimin’s what’s going on?”

Jimin took a deep breath. “It’s probably nothing, but earlier there were some guys that straight up harassed her. They were thrown out but-“

Yoongi held a hand up. “Wait. Pause. Someone harassed her? Why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”

Jimin had stepped fully into the room now, rubbing at the back of his neck as he looked at the ground. “Well it wasn’t that long ago, so maybe nobody had the chance yet.”

Yoongi’s brows furrowed. “Does Jungkook know?”

Jimin nodded. “Yeah, he’s the one who asked me to come check on her without being too obvious about it. I think the whole thing has him spooked.”

Yoongi didn’t like the feeling that was slowly creeping up on him. He dialed your number and put the receiver to his ear, hoping to hear a busy signal on the other end.

When he was met with a series of rings, his heart started beating faster. He was up and out of his chair fully by the time he heard your voicemail greeting.

“Fuck,” he mumbled out loud to no one in particular. He was jogging over to the back door, a confused Jimin following close behind.

“Yoongi, what-”

“Not now, Jimin.” He picked up his pace, feeling his chest tighten as he approached the door. He was hoping that when he opened it you would be on the other side, because maybe you just lost track of time and your phone was on silent.

Wishful thinking helps in times of peril, right?

Yoongi pushed the door open quickly, letting it bang against the side of the bar. You were nowhere in sight, his eyes frantically searching through the lot for a trace of you.

What he was met with, though, was instead the sight of 3 - maybe 4? - dark figures across the lot, huddled in a suspicious way. His heart dropped to his stomach.

He started running, not knowing what would meet him when he did, but not caring either. As he approached, one of the figures tried to block him. He took them down easily with a single punch, making them groan in pain as their body connected with the ground. Yoongi never stopped running for even a moment.

His heart wrenched when his vision finally adjusted enough to the darkness outside and he could see you and exactly who was holding you.

“Get your fucking hands off of her!” He shouted as he continued running, getting ready to barrel into Kun at any moment.

Hearing your faint cry of his name only made him go faster when his eyes landed on your horrified face.

It was raining now but Yoongi wouldn’t let that stop him from saving you. What he didn’t anticipate was for Kun to throw you in the opposite direction, making him conflicted about who to go after now. He settled for pursuing Kun still, finally reaching him and grabbing him by the shirt.

“What the actual fuck is your problem,” Yoongi yelled in Kun’s face. Kun brought his hands up to try and tear Yoongi’s away, but they wouldn’t budge.

Kun stopped trying to fight back and smiled at Yoongi, making a fresh wave of disgust cascade over him. When Kun spoke, his voice had a calm edge to it. “I’ll just keep coming back, no matter how many times you and those idiots in there,” he jerked his head in the direction of the bar, “try to keep me away.”

Yoongi quickly spun Kun around and forced him to the ground, keeping his hands behind his back and not giving him a way to escape. “Jimin, call the cops,” he called over his shoulder before leaning closer to Kun’s face. “We may not be able to keep you away, but they certainly can with all the dirt we have on you.”

Kun chuckled slightly before grimacing when Yoongi twisted his arm further. “You know,” he huffed out, “Y/N was pretty off balance when I threw her earlier.”

Yoongi stilled. He realized that Kun was trying to distract him by making him worry about you, and unfortunately for Yoongi it was working. Especially when his eyes fell on your unmoving figure several feet away, lying on your side.

“Shit,” he jumped up and ran over to you, completely abandoning Kun, beyond caring at that point. He knelt down and turned you over. He swallowed when he saw the way your arm landed limply on the ground beside him. He embraced your upper body within his arms, shaking you a little.

“Y/N, hey, wake up,” he begged. He could feel that you were still breathing, but it was very evident your fall had knocked you out. And Yoongi knew there was no telling what happened before he even got to you, so he had no clue how injured you might actually be.

He heard footsteps approaching from behind him, splashing against the puddles that were starting to form in the parking lot. He didn’t have to look up to know it was Jimin, since the other man was calling out his name before he got there.

“Yoongi, I called them, they said – wait where did he go?” Jimin was standing over Yoongi now, looking from one area of the parking lot to the other, but Kun was nowhere in sight. “Did you let him leave?”

Yoongi’s silence prompted Jimin to finally look down and his mouth dropped open as he himself dropped to kneel next to Yoongi.

“Holy shit, what happened,” Jimin reached out to gingerly touch your arm, frown deepening when he got no response from you.

“She probably hit her head when that bastard threw her earlier. She’s just knocked out, I think,” Yoongi’s voice was lined with unbridled anger. “Go see if you can find Jin since he’s the closest thing we have to a medic right now. And get Kook.”

Jimin nodded and without another word took off toward the bar. Yoongi couldn’t fathom how Jungkook would react but he knew it wouldn’t be good. As he waited, he held you closer, trying to shield you from the rain.

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

Jungkook’s fingers were drumming against the bar absentmindedly as he listened to one of his regular patrons drone on about their week as they usually did on nights like tonight. He was genuinely trying to focus on what they were saying, truly he was, but his mind had been so muddled ever since the incident earlier that he found it hard to think about anything else.

Which is exactly why he had asked Jimin to casually check in on you and Yoongi.

It’d been a few minutes and Jimin still wasn’t back; Jungkook hoped that they were all 3 chatting and Jimin was just taking his time. He did want him to be inconspicuous about it, after all.

His patron finally excused themselves to go to the restroom, and Jungkook offered them a soft smile. For a second, he allowed himself to take a deep breath and try to push any lingering negative thoughts out of his mind so he could make it through the rest of his shift.

Jungkook should’ve known better than to hope for a moment’s peace.

He heard Jimin before he saw him, colliding with the other end of the bar. Jungkook cautiously started walking over to him, trying to ignore the heavy feeling that settled over his body like a suffocating blanket.

“Kook,” Jimin panted, “we need you. Now.”

The expression on Jimin’s face and the urgency of his voice made Jungkook’s blood run cold. He wasted no time in leaving the bar as he followed Jimin, nearly running him over when Jimin stopped once they were outside. As his sight adjusted to the drizzling rain, he saw something that made him run as fast as he could before eventually falling to his knees, panic seizing his heart.

“No. No no no no no,” Jungkook was chanting over and over as he stared at you, huddled against Yoongi as he held you close. Your eyes were closed and you weren’t moving.

Jungkook’s hands were shaking, and he could feel his lips quivering. Yoongi stared at Jungkook somberly before gentle passing you over to him.

He immediately drew you to him, burying your face in his chest while he cradled the back of your head with his palm.

The rain started pouring down harder now and he knew it was pelting against his back, cold and wet enough to chill him to the bone. But Jungkook felt nothing. There was nothing but numbness as he continued to rock you gently in his arms and placed a kiss on the top of your head.

“Hey angel, I’m here,” his voice was unsteady. “It’s me, baby, I’ve got you. You’re gonna be ok,” his arm that was wrapped around your back tightened its hold on you and he placed his head in the crook of your neck. You still didn’t rouse, no matter what he tried, and his shoulders started to shake.

“Kook-” Yoongi had to talk loud to be heard over the sudden downpour. “We need to get her inside.” He tried reaching out to touch Jungkook’s arm but Jungkook flinched away, embracing you even tighter now as if he was trying to protect you from anything and everything.

He just wanted to protect you. And the fact that he had failed was currently eating him alive with regret.

Yoongi sighed but tried again. “Jungkook,” he said it softer this time but still loud enough, “let’s take her inside. You don’t want her to get sick.”

At the mention of your well-being potentially suffering further damage, Jungkook started to somewhat come back to his senses. He held you tight and stood up with a little help from Yoongi, making sure to keep you as close to his chest as possible so you wouldn’t get soaked and because right now, he needed you near.

When the 3 of you were inside, Yoongi ushered you all into his office since there was a small couch in there were you could lie down. Jungkook placed you as gently as possible on the couch, feeling his heart break piece by piece every second you remained unmoving. The only thing that could offer him solace was the faint rise and fall of your chest as you breathed.

He dropped to sit on the floor beside the couch, holding one of your hands in his while he used his other one to brush some of your wet hair out of your face. He leaned his forehead against the arm of the couch and inhaled shakily.

Yoongi was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed, looking at the two of you. Jungkook appreciated Yoongi for giving him time to try and calm down before talking again.

“What happened,” Jungkook managed to croak after a minute or so had passed.

Yoongi took a deep breath. “Kun was here.”

Jungkook whipped his head around fast, his hair splaying water droplets on the couch. His eyes were glazed over with unshed tears, and Yoongi had never seen him look so angry.

He’d never seen Jungkook look so hurt.

“Kun did this to her,” Jungkook asked, tone low and dark, but it came out more as a statement because he already knew. He could tell by the angered inflection in Yoongi’s voice when he mentioned Kun.

Yoongi nodded. “Unfortunately. When I first made it outside, he was holding onto her, dragging her away-”

“Dragging her where,” his hand that was holding yours involuntarily squeezed harder.

Yoongi shrugged, shaking his head. “I don’t know, it looked like he was trying to take her to a car…”

Jungkook didn’t miss the way he trailed off. He waited for Yoongi to collect his thoughts.

“Jungkook, I- I think he may have been trying to abduct her.”

Jungkook felt like the room had suddenly tilted. The idea of that – God, the idea of anything remotely close to that – made him feel violently ill.

He looked at your face then, noticing how it wasn’t scrunched up in pain; you actually looked quite peaceful despite the circumstances, almost like you were simply in a deep slumber. He tried hard to swallow around the ever-growing lump that was still forming in his throat when he brushed his fingertips along the length of your arm.

You were here, physically here. He could see you and he could touch you. Yoongi had saved you in time before you had been whisked away to who knows where. The fact that Kun had even dared to try to take you away… the possibility of you being gone and Jungkook not knowing where you had been taken to or if he’d ever see you again-

It made Jungkook see red.

This isn’t the life he wanted for you. He never wanted you to have to look over your shoulder in fear at the idea of someone following you, like you’d been doing the last several weeks. He never ever wanted you to get hurt, especially in such a way as this.

He could feel anger flowing through his veins, seeping into his bones and consuming him, with the only thing able to ground him right now being the feeling of your soft hand enveloped by his own.

Yoongi was saying more but Jungkook couldn’t make it out over his own voice screaming at him inside his head. His mind was waging a war with itself, questioning so many things-

Was he really the best person for you?

Was there someone out there who could protect you, who could keep you safe in ways he couldn’t?

…

Would loving you be enough if he could never fully promise you peace?

What if-

“Jungkook,” Yoongi’s stern voice cut through the thick fog of his mind and Jungkook shook his head to try clear it completely. He focused his attention on his friend that was now staring at him, sporting a frown on his face full of concern.

“Did you hear anything I just said?”

Jungkook gulped. “Honestly? No.”

Yoongi’s frown intensified. “Kook-”

“Don’t, just- please repeat it. Please.”

Yoongi sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before he continued. “I was saying that Kun threw her to the ground and that’s how she hit her head.”

Jungkook’s unoccupied hand balled into a fist and he clenched his jaw. Yoongi could see him tense up but continued speaking.

“I asked Jimin to fetch Jin seeing as he’s had more medical training than any of us and I figured it’d be better than waiting on an ambulance.”

He had barely gotten the last word out before there was hurried knocking on the door. Yoongi walked over to the door quickly to open it, and Jin rushed in without a moment’s hesitation.

“Sorry it took so long, I needed to get supplies.” He made his way to the couch, crouching down in front of it next to Jungkook. He placed the bag he was carrying down onto the ground beside him as he started sifting through it to find other things he needed. Jungkook watched Jin without really seeing him, flinching a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Kook,” Yoongi said softly as Jungkook looked up at him. “We need to let Jin look at her. C’mon,” he patted his shoulder before walking away, and Jungkook knew Yoongi expected him to follow him.

Jungkook also knew Yoongi was right, and he needed to let Jin get to work. He hated the thought of leaving you, but he knew he wasn’t going far. In fact, he wasn’t even going to leave the room, and if he was encouraged to, well-

There wasn’t anything anyone could do to make him leave that room short of physically removing him themselves. And with how wound up Jungkook was about this entire situation, that wouldn’t be an easy feat by any means.

Thankfully, Yoongi didn’t ask him to leave, opting instead to offer him his office chair. Jungkook graciously accepted the offer and sat down, briefly observing how Jin carefully examined you from across the room before he placed his head in his hands.

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

Some time passed before Jungkook felt like he could properly breathe again. And he was only feeling like that now because you had finally started to stir.

As soon as the faintest noise was heard from you, Jungkook was out of his seat and in front of the couch again.

You groaned as you rubbed your eyes, trying to adjust to the light by blinking a few times. After doing this, you tilted your head to the side and your eyes landed on Jungkook. He inhaled sharply, feeling like he might break apart when you gave him the sweetest smile.

“Koo,” you breathed out softly as your hand reached up to caress his cheek. He vaguely heard Jin telling Yoongi something about you still having decent control over your motor skills being a good sign, but right now all his focus was on you specifically.

Well, he was also focusing on not having a breakdown, but you were most important.

His hand came up to cover yours that was still on his face and for the first time in what felt like ages, his lips curved upward into a smile.

“Hey, angel,” he responded. “How are you feeling?”

Your eyebrows furrowed. “Well, my head hurts but otherwise I’m fine? A little sore, though-”

“That’s probably from your fall earlier,” Jin interrupted, pulling your attention back to him. You looked at him, bewildered.

“I fell? When did I fall?”

Yoongi and Jungkook shared a look then, and Jungkook would be lying if he said you not remembering what happened didn’t worry him.

It worried him a lot, actually.

Jin hummed. “We can talk about it later. I need to examine you now though, ok? Make sure you don’t have any signs of a concussion or something else.”

The scared look on your face made Jungkook’s chest tighten.

“O-ok, yeah, sure. Do whatever you need to,” you said as you tried to sit up straight, Jungkook and Jin both helping to steady you as you did.

It didn’t take long for Jin to conduct his examination. While he was checking you over, Yoongi relayed the events from earlier to you and Jungkook observed as the look in your eyes switched from one of confusion to one of horror the more Yoongi went on.

“I-I remember now. Right before you came out there, Kun told me-” you trailed off, speaking to Yoongi but looking over at Jungkook now. His heart started beating painfully when you paused.

“What did he tell you, baby?”

You inhaled unevenly, the sight tearing Jungkook up even more on the inside. “He told me that he wanted to see your reaction when I was nowhere to be found.”

This time, he swore his heart stopped.

So Kun had not only planned to take you away, but he wanted to make sure you couldn’t be found?

Jungkook made a promise to himself then and there that if he ever saw Kun again, he’d-

“Koo?”

Your pleading tone made Jungkook’s eyes snap back up to your face. You were trying to give him a small smile, but he could still see the fear lying behind your eyes.

“It’s going to be ok,” you attempted to reassure him. “Don’t worry.”

Jungkook had no idea how you could sit here an expect him not to worry but he didn’t want to fight you on it. You’d both had enough excitement for one night so all he did was nod and hope that would suffice for now.

His mind was starting to race again with the same kind of thoughts he had earlier, plaguing him with questions he didn’t know the answers to.

Frankly, he didn’t even know if he wanted the answers either.

Jin stood up from where he was seated on the floor, straightening himself up and stretching his long limbs. “She’s going to be fine. Just keep an eye on her for the next few days, but I don’t see anything to be alarmed about. If anything changes, you can call me but also if you’re more comfortable going to a hospital, that’s fine too. I won’t be offended.”

Jungkook smiled at his eldest friend. “Thank you, Jin. Seriously, thank you.”

Jin nodded, offering a warm smile to you before exiting the room.

Yoongi walked over to the couch and ruffled your hair. Jungkook watched the exchange with fondness, seeing two of the people he cared about most in the world also caring for each other.

“I’m so glad you’re ok,” Yoongi said, sounding utterly tired. You thanked him again for what he had done, and Jungkook left the two of you alone momentarily so he could check on Jimin and Hoseok at the bar. They entertained him for all of maybe 5 seconds before shooing him away, assuring him that they could handle things and that he should just take you home and be with you right now.

Jungkook thought nothing sounded better.

When he made it back to Yoongi’s office, he saw that you were now sitting on the armrest of the couch. Yoongi must have helped you get up from the couch, seeing as he was standing beside you, and Jungkook strode over to take his place now with an arm around your waist. Yoongi didn’t say anything about him leaving other than to wish you both a goodnight and that he would talk to Jungkook later.

Jungkook helped you walk to the car, not letting you go for even a fraction of a second, despite your teasing him about being able to walk on your own. Be that as it may, he still wouldn’t let go, because the truth of the matter was he was just too scared to.

It wasn’t until you were both in the car riding home that Jungkook let those negative thoughts devour him once more.

And this time, they were almost impossible to shake away.

⊱──────── ✬ ✬ ✬ ────────⊰

When both of you finally arrived home, Jungkook opened the door and surveyed the room before letting you go inside. You knew his paranoia was at an all-time high right now and frankly you couldn’t blame him; you were still really unsettled, too.

But you were more of the mindset that it’s in the past now and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. You never liked to dwell too long on things and Jungkook was becoming better about that as well.

You weren’t sure if it’d be that easy this time, though.

He’d barely said a word to you the whole ride home, and even now as you were both standing by the front door while he locked it, he was still eerily quiet. Once it was sufficiently locked enough by Jungkook’s standards, he gave you one last look before he started walking down the hallway. You frowned and followed him.

“Koo?”

No response.

“Baby? Talk to me.” It looked like he was trying to go to the kitchen, but it was still dark in the house since he’d barely turned on any of the lights, so you weren’t sure. Still no answer.

“Jungkook.” You called out sternly this time and just barely spotted him as he disappeared into the kitchen. When he heard you walk in, he finally spoke.

“You should eat something, what do you want?”

His voice broke your heart.

“I’m not hungry-”

“You can go lay down, Jin said you didn’t have a concussion so it should be fine. I can bring some food up for you.” He was leaning against the counter in front of the sink, his back turned to you and his head hanging somewhat.

He sounded not at all like himself, and it scared you. Not in the way that you were scared of him, but you were scared because you didn’t know what to do.

Talking was obviously getting you nowhere, so you instead walked up to him and wrapped your arms around him from behind, placing your cheek against his back. He flinched.

“Baby, please,” his voice sounded like it was breaking so you just held him tighter, hoping he could feel your love from the way you embraced him as if you never wanted to let him go.

“Koo, I need you to talk to me. I need to know what’s wrong-”

“What’s wrong is me,” he gritted out, tone louder than before and it made you jump. He then released himself from your arms and tried to walk away.

“Jungkook, wait,” you scrambled to go after him, catching him before he could disappear into another room, this time turning him around to face you. He was leaning against the wall and didn’t try to move past you anymore, but he avoided your gaze.

“Koo, look at me,” you stressed, ducking down to peek up at him. He finally raised his head so you could look into his eyes at a normal level. You noticed the tears in the corner of his eyes, and it nearly made you start crying yourself.

Jungkook never hid his vulnerability from you, he never hid anything from you. But even so, it was still a rare sight to see him cry.

“Why do you want to be around me right now,” he questioned, voice wavering and you recognized the sound. He was trying to hold himself back from crying.

“Koo, what do you mean, why wouldn’t I want to be around you? I love you-”

“I couldn’t protect you,” his voice rose in pitch, not to talk over you but because he was just so upset. “I couldn’t save you, I wasn’t around to help you- God, baby, you got fucking attacked and I wasn’t there.”

He was trembling and you tried to steady him by placing your hands on his shoulders. Tears were flowing freely down his cheeks now, and they were bound to start pooling in your own eyes any second.

“None of that is your fault,” you emphasized your words by squeezing his shoulders. “Ok? No one could have predicted what that psycho was gonna do, not you, not me, not Yoongi, nobody.”

“For fuck’s sake, he almost kidnapped you-”

“But he didn’t and I’m here.” You brushed his cheek to wipe some of the tears away and he choked back a sob. “I’m here, with you, and that’s what matters.”

“I could have lost you,” he said it just above a whisper as you moved to brush the tears away from his other cheek.

You blinked back your own tears. “You didn’t lose me.”

“But I could have. We have no idea what the fuck he’s capable of and just- every time I think about what might have happened if no one got to you in time, I start to lose my mind.”

You wrapped your arms around his neck and reached up on your tip-toes to place a gentle kiss on his lips, heart lurching when he actually kissed you back and his hands found purchase on your waist as they usually did.

“You didn’t lose me. You have me. All of me. I’m right here,” you kissed him once more. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

Jungkook let out a sob as he pulled you closer, nearly crushing you with his embrace. You ran your hand through his hair to try and soothe him when he leaned his forehead on your shoulder.

“I was so fucking scared,” he said against your skin. “So terrified. I love you so much,” a tender kiss was placed on the side of your neck now, and you could feel his lips still trembling.

“I love you,” your response prompted another small sob from him, “I love you more than anyone or anything else in this world and I’ll show you that everyday for the rest of my life, as long as you let me.”

“Baby-” Jungkook’s voice cracked with so much raw emotion and you couldn’t help yourself anymore. You were determined to show him your conviction behind your statement, so with your hand still buried in his hair, you pulled him down to your level once more as you crashed your lips together.

You’d never felt anything quite like the emotions that coursed through you every single time you kissed Jungkook. It didn’t matter if it was the cute good morning kisses upon waking up, the silly, laughter-filled ones that happened in the midst of playing around, or the intense ones bursting with passion that always led to something more. Each one was different and better than the last, and it was like a language between you both filled with unspoken words that demonstrated exactly what you felt.

This was one of the many ways the two of your expressed your devotion to one another, through an action as simple as kissing yet the feelings it always evoked inside of you were anything but. And even during times like tonight when you’d both endured something extremely emotional, you could still find comfort in each other through these gestures.

When you finally broke apart, you were both panting breathlessly, and Jungkook rested his forehead against yours.

“Sorry, baby,” Jungkook breathed, voice somewhat raspy. His fingers had started gripping your waist harder during the exchange, but you felt them start to loosen.

That was most definitely something you didn’t want, so you placed your hands on the sides of his face and looked him in the eyes.

“Koo,” you spoke softly, cautiously, as if you were testing the waters. “Can I give you all of me?”

His eyes sparkled with the realization of what you were implying, and for a moment you wondered if he would reject you. And if he did, that would be completely fine with you because his comfort mattered most of all to you right now, as it always did. Tonight had been a lot to deal with and you weren’t sure what mindset he would be in about this sort of thing-

That thought remained unfinished in your mind as Jungkook captured your lips again and all other rational thought went out the window. All you could focus on now was how Jungkook’s body felt melded up against yours, how his mouth was exploring yours like he’d done so many times before, how his fingers dug into your skin like he was afraid to let you go.

You jumped up and Jungkook wrapped your legs around his waist, never breaking the kiss while he turned you around so that your back was against the wall. You heard a low groan come from him as you intensified the kiss before he pulled away.

“Angel, are you sure about this?” He was holding you up with help from the wall, hands placed on your thighs just underneath your ass. Your hand was playing with the hair at the nape of his neck since you knew how much he loved that. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you-”

“Koo, I’m fine. I feel fine and I’m not in pain. I promise. I want this. I want you,” you gave him another searing kiss that you felt yourself melting into. “But only if you want it too.”

Jungkook’s next kiss knocked the breath out of you and he swallowed the surprised whimper you let out. “Of course, baby. I always want you.”

His words never failed to make you feel warm all over, with love and adoration as well as arousal. Right now, you were feeling all of these things as he situated your legs around his waist in a more comfortable position.

“Do you want to do this here,” he panted as his eyes met yours again. You could tell he was getting worked up just having you like this here against the wall, so you wasted no time answering him.

“Yes Koo, please,” you urged him to continue. “Wanna feel you close. Don’t wanna wait.”

“Fuck, I mean, I could take us upstairs-” his words ended with a grunt as you drew him closer by wrapping your legs tighter around him, making him grind against you. His head dipped down to rest against your shoulder as he let out shallow breaths, his fingers threatening to make indentations in your skin.

In a somewhat frenzied manner, Jungkook put you back down on your feet so the both of you could remove your clothes, too impatient to take everything off and only getting rid of what was necessary. When both of your lower halves were bare, he secured you around his waist once more, his length rapidly hardening against your now naked thigh.

You reached in between the two of you to wrap your hand around him, and the feeling was enough to have him inhaling sharply before he kissed you with a newfound urgency. You could tell by the way he was moaning against your mouth that your teasing caresses were working and within no time he was ready. You let out a stuttered moan when Jungkook’s long fingers disappeared inside of you so he could make sure you were stretched enough.

When he deemed you prepped enough – and when you started rocking against his fingers with impatient whimpers – he withdrew so he could line himself up with you. Your already soaked folds were threatening to pull him in, and it was almost too much for him to handle in his heightened emotional state.

He pushed in slowly, inch by inch, as he always did. The stretch made you lean your head back against the wall, his soft curses only spurring you on even more. On other nights you might would try to coax him to be a little rougher because you knew you could take it, but tonight you weren’t in a rush for anything, and neither was he. Tonight was about you two being together as one, relishing the way you shared this connection with each other and conveying it through this intimate act.

Both of you sighed in pleasure when Jungkook bottomed out, finally experiencing that complete closeness the two of you craved more than anything else right now. His hands gripped your ass firmly to start moving you up and down his length in slow, steady strokes. He didn’t want to take things fast or go hard tonight – he just wanted to enjoy this feeling, having you so close and yet still wanting to pull you impossibly closer.

The feeling of your warmth around him mixed with the tousling of your hands in his hair was driving him crazy. Every touch from you, no matter how small, always ignited something within him that he couldn’t explain. He was so unapologetically, wholeheartedly in love with you.

And he’d just come so close to losing you.

Pain twisted his heart as he stared at you, watching your face scrunch up in the most beautiful way. Your head was tilted back with your eyes crinkled shut while his name was falling from your lips in hushed whispers. Each thrust was pushing you further up the wall before he would bring you back down again, and your arms wound themselves around his neck to help anchor yourself further.

You looked ethereal, and Jungkook was trying so hard to focus on you and not the negative thoughts that were once again settling uncomfortably in his mind. His body was fighting itself on whether he should succumb to the pleasure he was feeling or if he should submit to the dark cloud blanketing his mind.

His change in demeanor didn’t go unnoticed by you.

Jungkook continued to move inside of you, keeping a consistent pace, but something wasn’t right. He was looking at you, but he wasn’t looking at you. He had a pained expression on his face, and that’s what kicked your own worry into gear.

“Koo, baby, hey what’s wrong?” You held his face in both of your hands and watched as he crumbled underneath your touch. He had slid his hands up to rest against your back now in an attempt to embrace you further, hands trapped in between you and the wall.

You almost started panicking when you saw the tears start to brim in his eyes again.

“I just-” he choked on a cry and your heart wrenched at the sound, “I can’t stop thinking about it.” He was still moving but his pace had slowed down to a near stop.

“Thinking about what?” You weren’t sure you wanted to know but you needed him to talk to you.

“Thinking about losing you, I can’t-”

His hands reached up higher to grasp onto your shirt you were still wearing, clenching the fabric in his fists as he dragged it down. You could feel the collar of the front of your shirt tightening around you while he hid his head in the crook of your neck and started to shake. You wrapped your arms around him as tightly as you could and ran a hand through his hair, trying to soothe him.

“Please stay,” he whispered, almost too quiet for you to hear. “Please stay with me.”

“Koo-”

“I love you so much, I don’t want to lose you,” more sobs wracked through his body. He had otherwise stilled inside of you but made no effort to move away. “I can’t lose you, I-”

“Baby, look at me.”

Jungkook slowly brought his head up to face you, the sight making you want to break down yourself. He looked so defeated, so broken, and his eyes were shining with tears he didn’t bother hiding anymore.

You cradled his face in your hands, rubbing your thumbs across his cheekbones before they travelled to trace along the curves of his jawline.

You placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, listening as he tried to control his erratic breathing. “I won’t leave you.”

A soft kiss on his lips. “I’ll never leave you.”

You brushed his hair back from his face, and his eyes captivated you as they swirled with so much intense emotion.

“I promised you forever, and I intend to keep it. Nothing, and no one, is going to keep me from you. I love you too much to let that happen,” you granted him a sweet smile and brushed your thumb across his lower lip that had started to quiver. He sniffled as you continued.

“Do you remember our wedding vows?”

Jungkook swallowed as he nodded, seeming a little calmer now.

Your smile widened, and your own set of fresh tears had gathered in the corners of your eyes, ready to spill. “Remember how I told I would give you all of me? That I would give you the best of me?”

He nodded again, and your heart soared at the tiny smile he presented you with.

“I promised you those things. So, no matter what happens, I’ll never leave you. And with everything life throws as us from here on out, we’ll make it through together.”

His smile was widening into the familiar, bunny-like grin you knew and loved dearly. Your Jungkook was coming back to you, and it was almost like you could see the dark fog that had surrounded him evaporating before your very eyes.

“I love you, Jeon Jungkook.” You leaned up to tenderly press your lips to his once more, smiling into the kiss as he let out a content sigh. “You’re my person. My forever. Please always remember that.”

You had swept a long lock of hair back from his face as you finished your words, and while you were distracted with that, Jungkook stared at you like you hung the moon and all the stars.

Your declarations of love stirred something inside of him and it dawned on him then that he was still inside of you. This was made more evident when you shifted in his embrace, probably to make yourself more comfortable since you were still against the wall, but it caused your walls to clench around him.

He closed his eyes and groaned, the sound causing arousal to radiate throughout your body. The two of you clearly must have forgotten the position you were in but that was no longer the case when you felt him twitch inside of you.

“Fuck,” he moaned at the sight of you when he opened his eyes again, his hands letting go of your shirt in favor of settling on your waist. Your cheeks were still flushed, with drying tear stains running down them. You were panting softly and Jungkook’s heart felt like it might burst with all the love he had for you.

“I love you,” he declared while he brushed his nose with yours. “And I honestly cannot believe I forgot I was fucking you, like how does that even happen.”

You giggled, kissing the tip of his nose before you drew back to rest contentedly against the wall. “I’m not sure, but do you perhaps want to finish what we started?”

You moved your hips as best you could at your current angle, and it pushed his cock further inside you, making you both moan at the action. He captured one of your hands in his and brought it up to place a kiss on your knuckles.

“Will you still let me give you all of me,” you reiterated your phrase from earlier in the night before all of this started. Jungkook’s eyes had darkened now with lust and he gave you a sly smile.

“Always, baby,” was his response. “Question now though,” he leaned down to let his lips ghost along your neck, making you shiver, “is can you take all of me?”

You tugged on his hair for him to look up at you, making him hiss in the process. You gave him your best challenging stare, and hoped it was convincing.

“Always,” you copied him, “I can easily take anything you give me.”

Jungkook arched an eyebrow and you felt his length twitch at your words. “Is that so?

You barely had time to nod before he was pinning your hand that he was holding on the wall beside your head, his other one gripping your waist hard enough now you knew it would leave a mark.

He pulled out almost all the way before he thrusted back into you hard, making you whine embarrassingly loud. He chuckled dark and low then, squeezing your hand as he intertwined your fingers.

“Too much for you, angel?” Jungkook knew he couldn’t keep this up forever and that he’d eventually crack himself, but he never missed an opportunity to tease you like this. “Thought you said you could take everything I give you.”

You nodded vigorously, not an easy feat with your head leaning against the wall. “I can, I can take it,” you breathed out, clenching around him to try and persuade him to move again. He stuttered out a low moan, determined to not lose his composure just yet.

“Yeah? You sure? Does that mean you want more?” He was shallowly moving inside of you at a torturously slow pace, the drag of his cock against your walls pulling a loud noise of desperation from your throat.

“Please,” you begged, not even caring how desperate you sounded. You just wanted to feel him, all of him, and your core throbbed at the thought of him finally relenting and fucking you how you wanted. “Please give it to me. Please give me more.”

“Fuck, baby, I love hearing you beg for me,” Jungkook moaned, readjusting his grip on your hip. “Gonna give you exactly what you want.”

He hungrily kissed you for a few moments, sinking further into you before he pulled back, panting as he placed his forehead against yours, eyes closed.

“Angel?” His voice was low and just the tone alone made you clench.

“Y-yes?”

He opened his eyes and smiled. “You might wanna hold on tight.”

You just had enough time to wrap your unoccupied arm around his back before he started pounding into you like his life depended on it. He slammed into you repeatedly, making you scream out his name over and over again whenever he’d hit that bundle of nerves inside of you. You gripped his shirt to have something to ground yourself with, and your eyes rolled back as he increased his pace.

Jungkook was grunting into your skin, teeth grazing against your neck. “You feel so fucking good, always so tight and perfect for me, my perfect angel.” He squeezed your hand hard enough that his knuckles were taut, but it didn’t hurt you. If anything, it turned you on more because he was finally letting go, caring more about just being in the moment with you than potentially hurting you.

And you knew he still did care about that, he always would; he was Jungkook, after all. But time and time again you had pleaded with him to stop handling you like you would break under the slightest amount of pressure. This was the first time he did without hesitation or working himself up to it.

And you fucking loved it.

In fact, it was overwhelming enough to the point where you knew you weren’t going to last long at all with the way he was drilling into you. All the emotions the two of you had endured tonight mixed with the passionate entanglement you found yourself wrapped up in now, it was no surprise that you were hurtling toward your undoing at a very fast pace.

“Koo, baby, oh my God-” you finally found your voice again, running your nails down his back, hard enough that if he hadn’t been still wearing his shirt, you’re sure it would have left scratch marks.

“Fuck, angel, can feel you around me, always so good for me,” his tongue darted out past his lips before he captured your bottom one between his teeth and tugged on it gently. “Always my good girl.”

His words made you spasm around him, and he moaned loudly at the feeling, eyes fluttering shut. His damp hair was falling into his face so you brushed it back, gasping at the sight of him.

You’d seen Jungkook like this many times before, but this time? This time was different.

A few curls were still framing his face but he had his head tilted back and his lips parted as the most amazing sounds escaped from them. His brows were furrowed and he looked almost pained, but in a completely different way than he had earlier that night.

Your heart ached at the memory, but you didn’t have long to think about it before he pulled you more flush against his chest, now opting to grab your ass with both hands so he could move you up and down his cock with his strength alone.

“Holy shit,” he breathed out, “I love you so much, angel, just wanna stay with you like this forever.” He was speeding up again and with the new angle, your body felt like it was on fire. You couldn’t even make a noise as the stimulation kept hitting you in wave after wave.

“You said earlier,” Jungkook continued, a little breathless now but never letting up on his powerful thrusts, “that I was – fuck – that I was your person.”

You nodded, still not really able to say anything or make any sound because your orgasm was approaching fast and you didn’t want it to happen so soon. Not until you knew he was there with you.

“Did you mean it,” he asked, hooded eyes trying to search yours. You kissed him with all the strength you could muster, swallowing down his moans as your walls clenched around him.

“Of course I did. I meant everything I said earlier.” A high-pitched moan tore itself from your throat when his hips snapped into you harder at your words.

“Fuck, it always does something to me when you say things like that,” he was losing his composure now, you could tell it by the way he sounded.

His admission made you chuckle fondly. “You know, you said something similar the first time we were together.”

Jungkook opened his eyes to stare at you and grinned at the memory. “Yeah, I did. Meant it then and I mean it now too.”

“I’m glad I still have that kind of effect on you,” you responded, breaking off to moan loudly at a harsher thrust. Jungkook’s grip on you tightened, and he increased his pace, finally pulling you over the edge.

“You do, holy shit, you really do. I hope I can say the same- fuck,” Jungkook knew you were close with the way your walls kept spasming around him every few seconds. “Gonna cum for me, baby?”

You nodded and whined, holding onto his shirt for dear life while he rocked you through the first stages of your euphoric bliss. He was panting right by your ear now, the sounds making your eyes roll back.

“Go on, cum for me then. Fucking love when you cum all over my cock,” Jungkook’s filthy words had you moaning out his name. “My beautiful angel,” he continued, pulling down the collar of your shirt slightly so he could place a kiss on your collarbone. “Always so pretty for me.”

“Fuck, I’m close, Koo, want you there with me,” you opened your eyes in time to see him pulling his lip between his teeth.

“I’m right there, baby, let go for me,” he reached in between the two of you and barely brushed your clit before your sudden orgasm made you clench so hard around him that he had to throw his head back and let out a guttural moan.

“Angel, fuuuuck, I’m right there, I’m-” you crashed your lips against his and swallowed down every loud noise he made, feeling his lips tremble against yours as his hips stuttered when he filled you up with his release.

He broke apart from you with a gasp, leaning his head back and letting out a strained “holy fuck” before he looked at you again. He slowed down now, thrusting a few more times before he stilled completely, breathing hard.

He moved you away from the wall, and you thought he might put you down but instead he tightened your legs more securely around him and walked the two of you over to the nearest bathroom to shower, his lips never leaving yours the whole way there.

Thank fuck Jungkook had such great muscle memory and knew where he was going because you definitely couldn’t have pulled that off.

He stayed inside you until he was able to put you in the shower, helping you discard the rest of your clothes before he did the same and joined you. It was your usual ritual and preferred form of aftercare since the water from the shower soothed any sore muscles and it helped you get clean in the process. Not to mention it was another way for you to be close to Jungkook, him only reiterating that truth now and he pulled your back against his chest so he could massage shampoo into your hair.

“Love you,” he whispered softly, placing a kiss on your temple since you leaned your head back at the feeling of his touch. He treated you so delicately now, the complete opposite of how he was just fucking you up against the wall. You loved moments like this just as much, always receptive to everything Jungkook did, every touch that flittered across your skin.

“I love you,” was your response as you turned around to wrap your arms around his neck and pulled him into a chaste kiss. He smiled into it, his fingertips brushing against the skin right above your waist.

After your shower, Jungkook carried you upstairs, ignoring your attempts at getting him to put you down because as you told him repeatedly your legs worked just fine and you could walk by yourself. His response?

“Don’t care, still wanna carry you.”

All you could do then was huff, pulling a laugh from the man you loved so much, the sound always beautiful and able to make your heart skip a beat.

When you were both snuggled into bed, you found it hard to sleep. There were still things you two needed to discuss, but you didn’t have the energy – and not really the want – right now to bring them up.

However, Jungkook did.

“Hey,” he was running his hand through your hair as you were laying your head on his shoulder. You hummed in response.

“I’m sorry,” he started, and before you could interrupt he quickly went on. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you, but I’m also sorry about how I acted earlier.”

“Koo, it’s fine-”

“Please don’t,” his eyes were pleading and you let him continue.

“It’s not fine, it’s- I get in my head sometimes and it can be hard to come back from that. You’re always able to bring me back, but tonight…fuck, it was bad.” There was a frown on his face now and you tried to make it disappear by placing a kiss on his cheek.

“I kept thinking about how maybe I’m not the best for you-”

You couldn’t help interrupting this time. “Jungkook, you are the best for me.”

“We don’t know that though-”

“I don’t have to, because I know in my heart that you’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we have the best life together, the same as I’ll do for you.” You brushed a curl out of his face before you continued, “Only for you.”

He cracked a smile. “That’s my line.”

You shrugged, giggling when Jungkook began trying to poke your sides. “Regardless though, I don’t want you feeling that way. You’re enough, Jungkook, you’re more than enough.”

His smile widened. “Really?”

“Really.” You thought about it for a second. “What can I do to convince you?”

He raised an eyebrow, eyes full of mischief. “Well, I can think of a way…” he said in a suggestive tone, making you roll your eyes before you turned away from him. His laughter fell on your ears and you couldn’t help the smile that broke out on your face.

“Hey, c’mon, you know I’m just kidding,” he turned you to face him again, running his hand up and down your side now.

“No you’re not,” you snorted.

He pretended to think about it for a moment. “Ok, you’re right- but I know you’re too tired so I’m half kidding? Sorta?”

It was your turn to laugh then, huddling closer to him as you wrapped your arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his throat.

His hands found their way into your hair again, and he continued to run them through the strands long enough that you almost fell asleep until he spoke up again.

“We need to do something about him, though.”

The way he said ‘him’ let you know exactly who he was talking about.

You nodded, sliding your head up to lay in the crook of his neck. “We will. But that’s a problem for another day. Right now,” you yawned, “we need sleep.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of your head. “Get some sleep, angel. I’ll stay up a little bit to make sure you’re ok. Jin said it was a good idea for tonight, anyway.”

You were already nuzzling deeper into his embrace, barely registering his words. “Mm-hmm,” came your sluggish response. “Goodnight, Koo.”

“Night, baby,” was his last response you heard before slumber took over, the feeling of his strong arms around you more comforting than anything else you’d ever known.

Jungkook stayed awake for a few hours, listening to your soft snoring and observing you as you slept peacefully. There was a gentle ache tugging at his heart as he remembered everything that you’d been through that night, but when you unconsciously snuggled closer, he felt the ache dissipate.

He made a promise to himself that whatever happened in the future, he would be there for you. He would keep you as safe as he could, and love you with everything he had.

After all, you were his person, just as he was yours, and he hoped that’s how it would stay.

#bts #bts smut #jungkook smut #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #jungkook au #jungkook x reader #jungkook scenarios #ofy drabble

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liviuswrites · 3 years

Text

Sasuke kind of loves where Naruto lives, though he isn’t quite sure why.

He likes the smell of salt by the sea when they open the window, and he likes how Naruto looks outside on the shoreline, wind in his hair and water at his feet. He likes how Naruto looks at home, even when a storm rages, he’s always right where he belongs. He likes the cozy feeling of the Uzumaki household, it’s just a house on a small island, where Naruto knows all the local shop owner’s, wearing them down with barter, but they still always smile at him when he walks through the door.

Sasuke desperately wants to kiss him.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Naruto jumps onto his bed, where Sasuke is half-laying against his headboard, schoolwork open on his lap.

Sasuke raises his eyebrows, as if he would reveal that information out loud in actual words. He and Naruto were currently caught in something. It felt inevitable, like they’d been caught in things before.

“If you purposely have terrible perminship to cover up your logs,” Sasuke proposes instead.

Naruto squints at him, clearly not buying it.

“I’m not gonna get caught.” Something a little mischievous appears in those ocean blue eyes. “Sweet of you though, to worry about me.”

His gaze turns a little more searching, and Sasuke always feels a particular way, when Naruto looks like that. Sasuke doesn’t personally think his thoughts are all that different from anyone else’s, but sometimes, it feels like Naruto wants to know every single one, like he’s never had access before, like he has to soak up everything he can, before it’s gone. It makes Sasuke’s chest hurt, and if anyone were to ask, he could never justify why.

Naruto asks again. “What were you really thinking about?”

It’s a nudge. Sasuke doesn’t know why Naruto does that — uses that careful, more gentle tone — except that maybe he worries about overstepping. Maybe he’s worried that Sasuke was thinking about his father’s recent death, and just hadn’t wanted to say so out loud.

“I like where you live,” Sasuke gives.

There’s a small release of tension in Naruto, and Sasuke watches it fall away under that hideously patterned orange shirt. Naruto has an attachment to a specific color scheme that must go back lifetimes for how stubbornly he clings to it. Sasuke has tried to sway him from it to no avail, and it’s easier to think about that, rather than what if he gives the answer Naruto is so scared of. He’s not quite sure what it is, or how to prevent it; he’s not sure he could guess it, even if he tried.

“Guess it can be hard, moving around so much,” Naruto offers, by leeway of giving room for Sasuke to expand.

“I don’t mind it,” Sasuke says and he means it. Though, he hesitates, gaze lifting. “I just... like it a little more here.”

It costs him to say these things, sometimes, like a lump caught in his throat, but it’s always worth it when he can manage.

Naruto’s smile is immediate, small and knowing. “Are you trying to say something, Uchiha?”

Sasuke can’t run from that challenge. Naruto is already moving in any case, there’s no time to even consider running, as he shifts over Sasuke to lean down, as Sasuke’s arms curl up and around—

Sasuke freezes. “Naruto,” he says.

Kushina looms over them, tapping a frying pan against her hand like a baseball bat. Naruto pauses at Sasuke’s pause, catching on and following where Sasuke’s eyes are looking, and turns to—

Scramble for his life.

He makes it to the edge of the bed, before Kushina has pulled off his jacket, which Naruto quickly twists and sheds, but unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with grace, as Kushina yanks on the sleeve just in time to offset his balance, sending him to the floor with a yelp. Flat on his back, Naruto holds his hands up in surrender, and laughs the most sheepish, red-handed laugh that Sasuke has ever heard. It threatens a small smile at his lips, but Sasuke isn’t idiotic enough to piss off Naruto’s mother.

“Naruto!” Kushina raises her voice, standing over him. “What did I say about leaving the door open when Sasuke is over!”

“It’s not like that, Ma, really—”

“It’s a little like that,” Sasuke corrects, because what? He values honesty. His job is to make Naruto’s parents like him, not to take the heat.

Naruto throws him a look of betrayal, and his eyes narrow even further when they notice the tiny quirk in Sasuke’s mouth. Sasuke refuses to take the bait, raising his eyebrows with false innocence. Naruto needs to get in trouble once in a while. Otherwise, he’ll get caught for the things he should actually get in trouble for.

“Door open,” Kushina growls. “I won’t allow my son to be a delinquent, yanno!”

Naruto nods with such enthusiastic agreement, a bobblehead would be jealous. Satisfied, she turns to Sasuke and smiles. “Nice to see you again, Sasuke. Say hi to your mom for me when you go home before your curfew. No more sneaking through my obedient’s son’s window, okay?”

Saskue nods, politely. He likes Naruto’s mother. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and all that.

Though, he does appreciate her for what she did for his mom. Since Kushina suggested she come back to her hometown after the funeral, his mom has been doing better. It’s been strange, to see his mom function in a completely different element, where the shopkeepers talk about her and Kushina getting in trouble together as little girls. Before coming to the island, he didn’t even know his mother had friends.

It’s been... nice.

Kushina takes her frying pan and her leave. Naruto groans, sitting back up.

“I hadn’t even kissed you yet,” he complains. “She has some freakish sixth sense.”

“Well, you are a delinquent.” Sasuke plays devil’s advocate. “And I did crawl through your window.”

It’s difficult to find alone time on a small island, especially on a small island where the guy you keep trying to make out with knows everyone, and while his own mom is a little more... laid back than Naruto’s, at least in terms of open doors, Sasuke doesn’t want to cause her any trouble right now. He thinks Naruto inherently understands this, because he never suggests his house.

“Who’s side are you on?” Naruto huffs. “And I dunno what you think you’ve pieced together, but I’m not a delinquent.”

It’s almost a mutter, and Sauke gets the impression that he’s not a delinquent, but he is something. Sasuke watches Naruto stand back up, eyeing the door where his mom left, like he’s seriously considering bolting it shut, while Sasuke contemplates on revealing what he has pieced together. It just seems pointless when he’s relatively certain Naruto won’t tell him the rest, if not to protect whatever he’s involved in, then to protect Sasuke’s deniability if he ever does get caught.

“Smuggling—” That’s all Sasuke gets out before Naruto is tackling him and clamping a hand over his mouth.

The clock ticks as Naruto watches the door like prey waiting in the brush, holding its final breaths. When there’s no sign of either of his parents, he turns back to Sasuke with a firm look of warning, before removing his hand.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Is that it?” Naruto asks. “A stroke, an aneurysm?”

“I was aiming for brain aneurysm, actually, until I remembered you need a brain for that,” Sasuke points out with a smug smirk that he knows will drive Naruto up the wall.

He enjoys watching Naruto’s hackles rise.

“Just because you—Ugh,” Naruto eloquently voices, like he might start pulling on his hair. Sasuke quirks an eyebrow in encouragement, that may or may not be a trap. He wants to know the truth. If he’s reached the correct conclusion about Naruto’s spare time activity. “It’s not something you want to be involved in, okay? Why can’t you just drop it already?”

There’s a desperate note in Naruto’s voice, an askance for Sasuke to stop. Out of worry. Out of concern. But that’s why he can’t drop it. Why the hell does Naruto always sound like that?

“Are you in some sort of trouble?” Sasuke finds himself asking, and the backlash is immediate. Not from Naruto. Naruto just blinks at him, looking vaguely startled at Sasuke’s flinch, and then just confused. The internal backlash strikes with enough ferocity for everyone involved. He’s showing too many cards. He knows he is, and he can see the rigidity of his father’s face, too soft, those eyes said, too emotional, and Itachi’s quiet agreeance, it’s better this way.

Sasuke pushes at Naruto’s chest, telling him to get off without words. “Curfew is in a few—”

“No, Sasuke.” Naruto grabs his wrist, halting movement. Sasuke refuses to look at him, too open, too exposed. “No.”

Words can’t find their way out of his mouth, so he stays silent. The salt in the air suddenly feels far too thick.

“It’s not like that,” Naruto reassures, quickly. He lets go of Sasuke’s wrist, leaning back onto his own thighs to give them room. Sasuke studies a spot on the wall, until Naruto’s apparent distress draws his eyes back over, watching him push a hand through blond hair. Those frustrated blue eyes have taken partial to the wall too. “It’s... complicated.”

Sasuke observes the frown in his mouth. He’s already shown his cards. It’s too late to take it back.

Maybe it’s an argument worth committing to. It’s a foreign concept to Sasuke outside of his family. He hasn’t had many friends in his life, and even those he would consider friends, he’s never found much of a point in fighting. If they want to be stupid, then they can be stupid. Sasuke is hardly domestic enough to start little arguments. He can remove himself if he doesn’t want to be involved. Until now, apparently.

He cares if Naruto is stupid.

“Complicated sounds dangerous,” Sasuke tests. “You’re not denying it’s dangerous.”

Naruto’s mouth thins. His eyes refuse to come back to Sasuke, and Sasuke knows what it means. Naruto isn’t willing to argue.

He’s not willing to talk about it.

Sasuke waits, carefully, for what feels like several stabbing heartbeats. Naruto probably regrets it — the first time he took Sasuke out on his boat, gifted to him on his sixteenth birthday, two years ago. Traveling by boat was the only way to get to the mainland, and Kushina made Naruto his official guide when he and his mom first arrived, to both of their horrors.

He and Naruto incidentally met the day before at school, eleven kids to a grade. It would be hard to miss each other.

Naruto took him out anyway, and they grumbled and bickered for a majority of it, and they’d ended the night with Choji’s famous Kraken Skewers. Sasuke isn’t the biggest fan of squid, but he ate it anyway, after being convinced by Naruto that it was a crime against humanity not to try it.

On their way back, growing comfortable around Naruto at an unusual rate, he started poking around and noticed the logs. His memory has always been pristine, and he knew there were more crates underneath the deck than what it said on his logs. Naruto played it off, I crate over extra goods sometimes, Naruto admitted, caught and rubbing the back of his neck, there’s this girl...

Sasuke completely bought it, he didn’t even question it, in fact he immediately told Naruto he didn’t need to hear it. He’d been around enough guys his own age to know they were annoyingly obsessed with girls and Sasuke had no shared interest.

In hindsight, there’s a good chance Naruto had a hunch and wielded it as a weapon of redirection.

Given, the illusion was shattered when Naruto kissed him.

He probably wasn’t sneaking extra goods to a mainland girl, but it was a decent cover. Especially when the maritime patrol were mostly older men, who liked to reminisce in their testosterone riddled days as a teenager, or whatever the fuck. Sasuke wonders how many times that story worked, and how many different ones Naruto has told.

Sasuke began to notice more, how easily Naruto crawled in and out of his bedroom window, like he’d done it a thousand times, the bags under his eyes, the way he could anchor his boat in the dark, not a single light needed. Sasuke can tell apart Naruto’s real smiles and ones that meant something different, like he was sad, or just a little too tired of something heavier than this island could hold.

But Naruto thinks he can hold it. And he thinks he can do it alone.

Sasuke collects his study books and shoves them into his bag, sliding out from underneath Naruto and off the bed. Naruto still won’t look at him, hands resting on his knees, and mouth pinched.

“You know I’ll figure it out,” Sasuke says. It’s not a threat. It’s just the truth.

He pauses in Naruto’s doorway before leaving. He hesitates. He can’t help that he notices these things. One day, the pieces will fall into place, and it will all click together, whether he or Naruto wants it to or not.

“You should decide how you want that to happen.”

He doesn’t notice Naruto frown at the door when he walks out.

#SNStober2021 #Domestic #Domestic Supernatural Island AU?#Where Naruto smuggles demons and spirits over seas back into their realm #It's dangerous tho!#Doesn't want Sasuke to get hurt #SNS #SasuNaru #NaruSasu #Excited to participate in SNStober #!

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thr-333 · 3 years

Text

Mismatch- Part 25

In my defence I didn’t forget about updating here, I just didn’t want to.

First < Previous

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

“How do I look?” Marion asks as people fuss around him, not least of all Marinette herself.

“I hoped that would be obvious seeing as I designed this look,” She smirks at him eyes sparkling he can tell since the whites of the Domino mask are removed.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re the greatest and all that,” He waves her off as a stylist tries to tame his hair to fit the messy look she wanted.

“Well it is true isn’t it?” She teases, someone also trying to follow her with a brush and comb as she flies around the room in a whirl of designing.

"Perhaps," Marion hums, gaze drifting over to the door where he notices a familiar figure, Marinette follows his smile.

“Luka!” Marinette exclaims, wrapping her friend in a hug, “When did you arrive?”

“Last night," Luka smiles, she was glad she got the chance to become his friend again as MDC, not that he knew their secret identity, "This city is so majestic,”

“Gotham at night?” Marion scoffs, turning in his seat, only to get scolded by the stylist, “Are we talking about the same place?”

“CD maybe you just haven't taken the time to really hear the city’s song,” Luka strums a few cords to demonstrate, “You should its melody compliments your own,”

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Marion shrugs, sitting forward again, “Do you think you can use it to reach out to the Gotham audience? I really want to connect with them,”

“Will do boss,” Marion sticks his tongue at him, Luka only ever called him that in jest.

Luka gives a playful wave leaving to go sort out the music. He had his own responsibilities as the opening act. Marinette feels someone watching them and dismisses the stylist, congratulating her on a great job. She looks a tad peeved as Marion's hair is largely the same as when she entered, but many employees are used to the twins randomly leaving anyway. The door to their dressing room clicks closed and the presence makes itself known.

“What can we do for you, Batman?” Marinette asks, offering him a seat, although she knows he won’t accept it.

“MDC,” he inclines his head, not showing if he was taken aback by her catching him out, “We have reason to believe the concert will be attacked tonight,”

“Yeah, we thought that might happen,” Marion gets up, stretching, “Just try to keep whoever away from the crowd and we can handle the rest,”

“You don’t seem to understand, after the last attack-”

“Sorry to cut you off,” Wow it was weird acing professional around the same guy they had been tormenting the past few weeks, “But that was an impromptu event this one has been planned out for years,"

Officially not but they had designed the building to help them catch akuma in Paris while keeping an event going, they just applied that design to Gotham.

"If you would like to call in the rest of your coworkers we can show you the defenses we have in place so you can work with them,”

Batman seems surprised. What did he think they were just air-headed celebrities? Well, that wasn’t going to be the only surprise of the day then. Sure enough, he calls everyone in and Marinette’s a little hurt to see he invited everyone but Sparrow and Songbird to join in the fun. She hides this fact leading the ragtag group through the backstage area. Spotting their manager she walks over.

“Could you please clear our schedule we want to give them a personal tour of our security measures,” She asks Kate, to her credit only looking mildly surprised to see the whole Batfam trailing after them.

“I thought you might, I’ve already worked it into your schedule, just make sure you're there in time for the costume checks,” Kate looks down tapping away at her tablet, “Also call your uncle arrived in town last night he’ll want to wish you good luck so watch out for him,”

“We couldn’t do it without you,” Marinette beams, letting her go to attend her other duties.

They must make an odd sight, two superstars guiding a pack of vigilantes like ducklings through the backstage. They go over all the security protocols. Safe rooms that the staff was instructed to go to under certain circumstances. There were carefully lain traps that only a few people could trigger to set off. On the stage itself was a secret compartment Marion could make a quick getaway to get change in, a tunnel leading backstage. The entire backstage was a maze in itself all the staff specially trained to navigate it.

To protect the audience they hadn't packed it nearly as much as they could have so it meant it easier for them to reach the exits. Indeed there were hidden emergency exits that people could escape through if villains blocked the obvious ones, they were set to reveal themselves if that was the case. There were also hidden trapdoors in rows of seats that would glow if people were forced to duck behind the seats. It leads to underground tunnels that would lead them safely away. There were even tunnels connecting to the staff safe rooms so they could come and direct the audience as needed. Marinette had made sure to make the tunnels look inviting ad pleasant so no one would panic at being underground.

Then there were the special (comfy) perches that they showed to the Batfamily, each situated to look over everything and be hidden by the lights. There were wires leading to the stage and audience in case they needed to get down quickly and quietly. They also made a web above that they could run along and run any interference with ariel attacks. They also gave them each a blueprint of the stadium so they could see all the secret tunnels that were perfect for a surprise attack. There were ones leading into the entrance subtle enough someone could be pulled in while walking into the building, for the purposes of catching criminals before they even entered. There was also a trap door that could open underneath, she gave them each a remote control to these, warning them to use them wisely. Each hidden door leads to a room suited for fighting, carefully crafted to give the bats and edge.

It had taken a long time and a lot of money but they had invested, making a safe place they could rent out to other performers so there could be more shows in Gotham conducted safely. She could tell that by the end of the tour even Batman was impressed as they headed back to the stage through the empty audience seating.

“Hey! Superstars!” Jagged's voice booms across the arena, waving from the entrance of the place.

“Uncle Jagged!” Marion jumps over seats to reach him, Marinette a step behind him as they both tackle him into a hug.

“Good to see you too,” Jagged ruffles their hair, Marinette sends a silent apology to the stylist, “This place looks Rockin!”

“You bet just wait till I take the stage,” Marion grins, as they both hug Penny and Fang as well.

“Why wait! Show me what you got,” Jagged sends Marion off, who runs to the technicians asking if they can do an early mic check, everyone scrambles to make it happen.

“So how’re you finding Gotham?” Jagged asks her, walking with a side hug back towards the Batfamily.

“Oh, you know… busy,”

“I’d say the news with Marion? That was wicked!”

“Yes… wicked,” Penny pales at just the memory, and yeah fair enough.

“Yo Batman great to meet you!” Jagged boisterous nature meets Batman’s stoic one but the poor guy barely has a chance to adjust before Jagged’s moving on.

“Yo Red Hood right?” Hood looks a little shocked as Jagged claps a hand on his shoulder, “You saved my nephew, I really owe you one!”

“Oh-that's not- I just,” Marinette shares a smirk with Jagged which would have surely had Marion screaming.

“Yeah, he really looks up to you!” Jagged has him spluttering more, she would show him mercy but they only have so much time before Marion catches on.

“Oh Uncle Jagged I wouldn’t phrase it like that,” Marinette says in a suggestive tone, the stage is still empty of Marion.

“Of course, no I’d say it more that...” Marinette could actually laugh as Red Hood practically vibrates from anticipation, “He likes you,”

I think we just killed him, Marinette notes as Red Hood internally combusts. Well now wasn't the time to show mercy.

“I’d say that's putting it rather lightly,” Marinette smirks as Red Hood is sent into another spluttering mess, and oh how she wishes he wasn't wearing that helmet.

“Right it’s more like-”

“Stop it both of you,” Penny’s reprimand has them both doubling over with laughter. The Batfamily looking absolutely bewildered. Minus of course, Red Hood who they may have to call an ambulance for soon if he doesn't start breathing.

“What are you two laughing at?” Marion walks to the edge of the stage, someone fusses with a microphone not too far away.

“Nooothhinggggg,” They chime simultaneously, with matching grins.

“Penny?” Marion all but whines, fidgeting nervously.

“They haven’t said anything bad,” She assures him, Marion foolishly relaxes.

“Hey is this the guy that saved your hide?” Jagged asks, having the guts to swing his arm around Red Hood’s shoulders.

“Uncle Jagged,” He hisses at the same time Penny hisses ‘Jagged’.

“You should thank him... sing endless!” Jagged exclaims, and Marinette couldn’t be sure he hasn't been planning this from the start, “You wrote it for him didn’t you?”

“Not for him its not-” Marion makes a bunch of vague gestures, “You know?”

“Not at all,” Jagged grins, dragging Red Hood closer to center stage seats, he plops down Red Hood right in the middle of the stadium. The rest of the Batfam take seats around them. “Sing Endless!”

Marion is scowling but doesn't have much other choice as a stagehand tell him he’s all set. He takes the microphone. Marinette mimes at him to breathe, he rolls his eyes but does anyway. The music starts Marion hitting his cue and with just the first few words she could see the tension drain away.

“And the world starts slowly caving it~”

It was such a gentle song. So many people had told him and still told him that it didn’t fit the violent vigilante. The producers had argued they should just fit it to someone else, someone people liked more. In the end, they had caved to Marion's arguments probably because it wasn't made to be an upbeat pop song so they weren't too attached to the money making aspect. That didn't stop the audience from arguing about it afterwards. Some claimed they just randomly selected the song, or that they shouldn't have done one for him at all.

Marion pointedly told them they were all wrong. And looking at Red Hood now, completely enthralled with Marion's singing she could tell that, yeah it had fit him perfectly all along.

"All the words you said were they true? or just selfish li-es~"

Marinette broke her gaze away from Marion to look at the rest of the Batfamily. Suffice to say they were all enthralled, hopefully they wouldn't be this distracted at the concert tonight. Although she supposed it was a good thing they were doing the mic check now so they could watch now and focus later. Then again she doubted Red Hood would be much use regardless, he was leaning forward in his seat the rest of the world dead to him. To fair Marion wasn't much better. In a crowd he would look around or at least pick a random stop to sing to no one. This time however? this time he was locked on to Red Hood sinign directly to him and he probably didn't even realise.

"Gave all I ever had try to make you laugh try to please you~"

Batman looked uncomfortable at the line. Judjing by the times she had seen them spend together there was a tension between them a past she didn't know. How Marion managed to pick up on that long before they came to Gotham she doesn't know. It was almost like he could see into his soul, a connection there despite never having met, like the pull of a miraculous.

"All I know is gone, now I'm all alone~"

Marion wasn’t testing out the mics. That much was obvious. He was straight up performing. And no he hadn’t written the song for Red Hood persay. But she had watched him every night and day agonize over the right words to use, the tune, the feeling behind it. Scraping up every bit of information he could it was probably more thorough than any police investigation done on Red Hood. It was then she realized, their room covered top to bottom in pictures of him covering the ones she had of Adrien, that Marion had completely and utterly fallen for the guy. No, it wasn't a song for him, it was a love letter for him, to him, about him. It was a picture that painted exactly how Marion saw him.

And she was willing to bet that the only people that didn’t realize it were them, both completely captivated by each other as Marion finished.

“What is it~” He holds the next note until the music fades out into nothingness, “Inside~”

The music stops, Marion opening his eyes, almost seeming startled that there were other people sitting before him. It’s only then he seemed to realize that there was more than just one other person in the arena and spirited off to check with the sound. It was as he turned to walk away Marinette could tell Hood had seen it, the robins newly stitched up the back of his jacket.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug fic #miraculous ladybug #ml fic #ML #bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #bio dad bruce wayne #Mismatch #marinette is mdc #twins au #vigilante AU #Popstar AU #MLB #salt #Slight salt #lila #lila lies #class trip au #maribat

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dreaminpeaches · 3 years

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Humble Pie Concept: Give the boy a cat

Anyways, I got this idea from an interview video featuring Darce (the dude who plays Billy in Stranger Things) and he was talking about how one time he and the actress who plays Max were walking somewhere and came across a cat, Darce started to gush about how cute the cat looked and I just imagine him being a total dork over this cat and like following it or whatever while still being dressed as BILLY ( I would freaking pay to see that OOC moment)

(TW: injuried animal, mention of eating habits)

So that got me this me thinking to give Beau a cat, I was going to have him have a dog at the start was like "nah". Beau's dad was the type of dad that thought his son was too dumb to take care of anything, that and his dad didn't want another mouth to feed.

Anyways how he gets this cat starts when his step dad notices that Beau seems to be struggling with something because Beau's around the house alot and not hanging out with his friends like he used to. His step dad advise Beau maybe he should take up another hobby (beside reading, and fixing cars), and suggests fishing. Fishing was an activity Beau wanted to try but his "friends" would always say something like "dude, that's old people s@#$", and they always made it seem lame.

But now having nothing else better to do, he might as well give it a try. His step dad tells Beau about a fishing spot that one of his buddies set up a tackle shop nearby.

The fishing spot is nestled in an area on the outskirts of town, it's kind of hidden. There's a bunch of greenery, so much so that the Tackle shop is kind of engulfed by it, but the owner is not bother by it he welcomes it, so the shop as kind of mystic ghibli vibe to it (if you know what I mean)

The fishing area has a handful of cats roaming about, they mostly hang around the tackle shop since the owner takes pretty good care of them. Also the owner sells grilled fish and other seafood dishes on the side.

When Beau visits the fishing spot for the first time, The owner (who's an old man) tells Beau that his step dad told him he was coming, The owner refers to Beau as "Mr. James Dean" as a nickname because his good looks

Beau has a hard time fishing at first since the owner explains why he likes fishing is because it gives you time to slow down and think, until the moment you catch something it's just you and your thoughts. Fishing doesn't only teaches patience but how you can quiet your mind and how to focus on what's really important.

After Beau understands that fishing gets much easier for him and its actual relaxing. (This is after a few visits)

During his fishing trips the owner teaches Beau a few life lessons and also how to cook fish. A skill that Beau didn't really find important because he didnt really like fish as a food. The owner tells Beau fish tastes 100x better when you fish it and cook it yourself, during this visit the owner teaches Beau how to clean fish, and de bone fish, and Beau ends up really liking fish, and even starts taking fish home for his mom to cook.

Okay here's where the cat comes in, At first Beau just try to ignored the cats around the pond and the shack, not because he didn't like cats, he was just trying to focus (and part of him felt like the cats were judging him), once he becomes more comfortable with fishing, he start to be comfortable with the cats as well. When he would make grilled fish at tackle shop, he would give some to the cats that would hang around. One cat in particular took a liking to Beau, it was a cat the owner rescued after finding it nearby in the more woodsy area of lake, the cat looked like it was attacked by a bigger animal leaving the kitten with a few scars on its back and face. Despite this, the little kitten seem to be the most feisty of the bunch being the first one to grab for grilled fish and always was pawing at the bucket of fish Beau would catch.

Other fishing, Beau would spend time with this cat, playing with it and petting it when he thought no one was looking.

Also just wanted to add that Beau becomes so comfortable with being at tackle shop that he kind of starts working there as a secondary job (other that working at the gas station), he's a bit more comfortable working at the tackle shop because there more outsiders than locals since it's so far out. The owner does pay Beau for his time there, he even Beau feels like he doesn't need to be, but the owner insists...

Anyways back to the cat there's comes a point where Carrie wants to go with Beau to the fishing spot despite Beau telling her it will be super boring, Carrie says she really wants to go because likes looking at the fishies in the aquarium at preschool and the dentist office.

Giving into Carrie's cute nativity, Beau let's her join, like Beau predicts Carrie gets bored pretty quick, she asks Beau when the fish is gonna show up, Beau says he doesn't know, you just gotta wait. Carrie tries to lean lower on the deck towards the pond to get a better look at the fish but Beau tell her to stop because its making him nervous and worried that she'll fall into the deep pond water.

Just when Carrie is reaching maximum boredom, the feisty kitty shows up and manages to entertain Carrie for the whole time Beau is fishing and he able to catch a few.

Beau returns the tackle shop and gives some of the fish he caught to the owner. Carrie ask the owner what he's gonna do with the fish, the owner response with that he's gonna cook the fish for him and some of the cat to eat. Carrie thinks it's weird that owner likes to eat fish, Carrie doesn't really like fish. Just at that moment, Carrie notices a stray tray of what looks like "chicken" and fries, Carrie ask whose food is that, the owner says it was a customer's order but they left suddenly before they could eat it, since the person has come back, Carrie was free to have it.

Carrie: "Mr. Fisher man who's chicken is that?"

Beau: " Um, Carrie that's not--"

Owner:" Oh, it's a customer's order but they left in a hurry before I could give it to them. Don't think they're coming back for it, you can have it, if you like "

Carrie: " Really? Thank you"

Carrie's more than happy to have something to eat since she was pretty hungry. Carrie seemed to really like the "chicken" since she didn't even do her usual eating habit of giving every other bit to Beau, kind of leaving his mouth opened both in waiting for food and being surprised that his little sister finish a whole meal by herself.

Owner: "Why is your mouth opened like that?"

Beau: " I-It's just this thing we do, w-where we like--um--nevermind"

The owner tells Carrie that wasn't chicken, it was fish and chips, Carrie is shocked by this fact (in the most adorable way possible), but quickly ask for seconds, which the owner gladly makes.

Carrie and Beau walk back to the car with a bag of fish and chips and a half a buck of fish, unbeknownst to them they're being followed by the kitten from earlier.

Beau buckles Carrie into the backseat, but he suddenly realizes he forgot something at the shop, while Beau goes back to get whatever he forgot leaving the car door open, the kitten hops in the backseat with Carrie, who's more than happy to see them.

Beau returns quickly closes the back door (without looking) and Beau apologizes for leaving the door open and turns back to make sure Carrie is okay, Carrie nods as she tries to hide the small kitten behind the large bucket of fish.

Beau relieved heads home, the kitten stays quiet for the whole ride, Carrie pets the kitten most of the way home, the kitten's purring being muffled by the car's noises.

It wasn't until they got back home, Beau was aware of the little stowaway. Carrie begs that they keep the kitty, not wanting to be the one to tells his little sister "no" he just still her to ask mom and Dav-- I mean dad.

Their parents actually accepts the new kitten into their home, and Beau's mother said that she always wanted her kids to have a pet, but Beau's bio dad always shot down the idea.

The kitty ends up sleeping in Carrie's room, in the kitty own bed and the kitten if not out and about around the neighborhood would play with Carrie the most. When Beau was home alone the kitty would sometimes chill in his room, and snuggle with him when he was reading or having one of his episodes, the kitty seem to always know when Beau was in a bad mood and would try to distract him by doing something cute.

The kitty would also seem to know when Beau was going to the fishing spot and would follow him to the car and hopped in the backseat, and basically being Beau's fishing buddy.

Bonnie likes to play with the kitten too when she comes over and gushes every time she sees Beau interacting with the kitten.

She may or may not have photos of him sleeping with the kitten snuggled up next to him

TL;DR: Beau's new favorite hobby is fishing and he has an yet-to be named kitten as a pet now because cute, thank you for coming to my ted talk...

#paraportal #immersive daydreaming #paracosm #paracosm: humble pie #para: beau #id

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chasseurdeloup-retired · 3 years

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If You Give a Cat A Bone(doggle) || Morgan and Kaden

TIMING: Before Constance was yeeted forever LOCATION: The woods PARTIES: @mor-beck-more-problems and @chasseurdeloup SUMMARY: Morgan and Kaden take Anya the cat for a walk and make friends. Sort of.

Walking cats always looked kind of funny compared to dogs. Probably because most didn’t put up with it long enough to bother. There was something charming about it, though. And there was something nice and grounding about walking with Morgan and Anya around the East End. Especially on a Sunday. Kaden was sure Abel would be jealous that he didn’t get to come but he had a feeling Anya wouldn’t love his dog as much as his dog would love the cat. “I’m still impressed you got her leash trained,” Kaden told his friend as they walked. There were so many topics he just didn’t want to touch. Not right now at least, not in public. Distractions were better anyway. Like she was deciding to test his compliment, Anya started pulling on the leash, darting after something in the distance, probably a rodent of some sort, maybe a lagomorph. “She might be worse at walking but she’s definitely better at hunting than Abel.”

Morgan laughed dry in her chest. “Oh, this is all Anya’s spirit doing the work,” she said. “You should see her when she actually--” Likes me, is what she was going to say. Because it was almost eight months since she’d been impaled by the side of the road and Anya still, at best, only tolerated her presence. At this point, she was more Deirdre’s companion than Morgan’s, perching on the banshee’s lap, trailing behind her when she went to any of the rooms in the house, and glaring at anyone who she thought infringed upon her time with her. Granted, Anya no longer attacked or hissed at Morgan whenever she walked into the room. Sometimes she would sit in such a way that her paws touched Morgan’s leg while the rest of her lounged against Deirdre, and Morgan would press back just a little so she could feel her leathery toe beans just a little better and feel so fucking grateful. It was hard not to be bitter at such a small allowance of affection when Morgan used to be the one she clung to and protected.

It wasn’t much of a surprise when the cat bolted out of her grip.

Morgan swore and took chase. “She’s good when she’s not permanently pissed off I died,” she grumbled. “Anya! Anya!” Stupid cat. If Morgan was still a witch, she could borrow her eyes and see where the hell she was running off to, but no. That would be too easy. “Help me look?” She called.

Kaden would, she knew, but it never hurt to ask.

They followed Anya’s trail away from the park and near the woods that surrounded Strawford. She wasn’t exactly being subtle, just a little shit. A hiss rattled through the air. “Someone’s pissy,” she said, unimpressed. Maybe her prize squirrel had climbed too high up a tree, maybe she’d got herself stuck on something, and-- “Oh, shit.” Or maybe she had decided to pick a fight with a bone critter Morgan had never seen before.

Kaden saw the leash slipping from her grip and lunged to grab it before the cat could bolt off, but it was too late. Goddamnit. “Putain de merde,” he grumbled to himself. Of course he was chasing a cat. On his day off, too. He took off after the cat before saying another word, he didn’t even look to check if Morgan was running with him or not. “What do you think I’m doing?” he shouted back at her. “And what do you mean pissed off that you died? She’s--” That was stupid. He knew damn well animals had personality and opinions. That wasn’t his question. His real question was why were they walking the disagreeable cat? Catching cats was a pain in the ass. Catching disagreeable cats was something close to hell. Thankfully, she was easy enough to follow, probably because the leash was slowing her down. Not enough for him to grab it, unfortunately.

His arm shot out in front of Morgan to hold her back. He didn’t even hear the hiss, didn’t see the cat’s hairs stand on edge. What he did see was the fucking bonedoggle across from them, growling at the cat. Shit. Fucking shit. Anya had a squirrel and was swatting at the bonedoggle to stay away. He pulled out a knife and slowly crept towards the monster. He just had to get between the cat and the creature. “Get Anya,” he said to the zombie sharply. He threw himself at the monster, hoping he could distract it from the bones. Easier said than done.

“Well if you had a magic connection with someone and they broke it one day and turned up smelling wrong, you’d probably be pissed too,” Morgan huffed. “She was my familiar, Kaden.” As much as she hated losing the one best friend she’d assumed she could count on in her death, Morgan got it. There wasn’t an abundance of hard theory on familiar connections, but her tie to Anya had been at least somewhat emotional as well as metaphysical. Which meant whatever it really felt like when she died, Anya suffered something like it too. And if losing a magic connection was anything like losing magic itself… yeah, might as well blame the lady dumb enough to fuck it up and come back different. Not like they could talk it out.

She didn’t understand Kaden’s plan to divide and conquer. On the one hand, the critter looked pretty angry, on the other hand, it was kind of...a dog? A maybe-demon dog? Couldn’t they tackle it together, maybe take some bones back as souvenirs?

She should have listened. Kaden lunged to wrestle the creature and Anya saw a chance to assert her dominance. She lunged, faster than Morgan could catch her, and scrabbled her claws around the creature’s side, trying to tear into it. Morgan ran to pull her off but the creature, still wrestling with Kaden, thrashed. The black cat yowled. “Anya!” The cat flew off, claws flexed, and crashed into Morgan, who bundled her up in her arms. “Why are you such a stupid, stubborn cat?” She whispered. Anya flailed, still ready to fight for her pride. Whatever this critter was, they needed to get rid of it. Morgan jumped to her feet and put her body between Anya and the demon-bone-dog. “How do we make that thing go away?” She asked.

Kaden didn’t know shit about magic and familiars, not really. He knew what they were, sure, but not on the deep level that the former witch did. He’d never really understand. But the plan was clear enough. Didn’t matter right now. He might not understand shit about magic, but he understood bonedoggles. And how fucked they were right about now. Before Kaden had much chance to try and find a clean spot to shove his knife through the creature, the cat had lunged at it. “No!” he shouted. Fucking hell. He didn’t need the cat getting stuck to the goodman monster. Instead of attacking, he reached out for the flailing cat and caught a lot of claws. The bonedoggle wasn’t interested in engaging with the humans, it lunged out, teeth bared and snarling at the carcass in question. There was nothing going to get in the way of the monster and its bones, not even a hunter. It barreled into him and knocked him to his knees. Kaden cursed, but lashed out with the knife as the monster darted past him. All he managed was to scrape the blade across the bone armor covering the creature.

Kaden saw the monster unhinge its jaw, ready to bring its teeth down and around Anya's sides. His eyes went wide, he didn’t wait for Morgan to step in, he just threw himself into the monster’s side, pushing it aside. And he felt his shirt get stuck to the fucking side of the monster. Shit, shit, shit. He pulled his arm back, his shirt tearing away at the sleeve. The bonedoggle turned and faced him, growling, spit spewing and ready to tear into the hunter, possibly take his bones for its collection. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he had to get away and he couldn’t count on his knife right now. His palm dug into the dirt beneath him. Dirt. He took a handful and threw it at the monster’s face, temporarily blinding it. Kaden scrambled to his feet and back to Morgan. “Killing it might help!” Anya seemed to agree, the cat was doing everything in its power to claw the bonedoggle’s eyes out. “Its spit is like fucking glue so don’t let--” The fucking cat was getting near the goddamn monster again. Putain.

“Like GLUE?” Morgan shrieked. There was no time to process; the bone monster was already thrashing its head, trying to throw Anya off. “Shit, shit, shit…” She dove for the creature, clinging to it with all she had. Her legs were too short to reach all the way around something that big, but she dug in with her thighs and clamped her arms around its snout, forcing its jaw shut. Anya’s eyes met hers, steady and inquisitive. What are you doing? Morgan couldn’t tell if she was judging her or not, but she clenched her muscles around the creature’s jaw harder. “Anya, off!” She barked.

Anya glared. She tore her paw across the creature’s face, cracking one of the bones at last and leapt off, making a dive for her decayed squirrel corpse and running into the bushes with it.

“So, about killing it?” Morgan cried. She couldn’t see Kaden from here. The creature was bucking and thrashing harder than ever and she didn’t want to know what would happen if it slobbered on her hand. “There’s not a chance we can just play fetch with this guy and make a run for it is there?” The creature grunted and smacked onto the ground, trying to throw her off next. Morgan grunted as her bones bent into her organs. “Maybe you should just do your thing! Before my bones liquify!”

“Once a bonedoggle is after a bone, it doesn’t like to just fucking drop it,” Kaden said, about to throw himself at the monster. Didn’t get a fucking chance, Morgan was already there. Okay, he just had to find an opening, a weak spot. Take it down. “And I think the same fucking thing can be said for your cat.” It was possible she was a more tenacious hunter than his dog. The one he got to help him hunt. Putain de merde. “Hold on a little longer!” he shouted. It was handy that Morgan was damn near indestructible. Almost. Still not quite. He didn’t want to risk her life for too long; even zombie bodies hit a breaking point. He didn’t want the bonedoggle to find it. He wasn’t sure he could handle that. Still, it looked like she had a pretty damn good handle on the monster. Hell, it was impressive and of itself.

Right, Kaden didn’t have time to appreciate her hunting methods. He flipped his knife over in his hands and threw himself towards the creature as it rolled on the ground. His knees dug into the monster’s back legs, pinning it in place. She just needed to hold onto its muzzle one second longer. His knife plunged down into the creature’s exposed belly, tearing through and ripping open its guts. Death would come soon. But not fast enough. The bonedoggle’s face broke free from the zombie’s grip and saliva went flying. Kaden’s arm shot up to shield his face, ducking away and shutting his eyes tight. Putain de fucking merde.

Morgan crashed to the ground flat on her face. She could hear the critter snarling and slobbering as it died. She curled up on herself as much as she could, ignoring the terrible angle of the arms she’d landed on. Then it was quiet, and Morgan couldn’t move her fingers as she struggled to sit up. Most of the critter’s saliva landed on her sweater, but enough had fallen on her fingers to clump them together. She picked herself up, wincing as her bones righted themselves, and pulled off her sweater before anything else could turn sticky. “Are you okay?” She called to Kaden. “I could use that knife of yours, if you’re in one piece.” She held out her stuck, scrunched up hand. “You don’t have to watch them grow back, I’d just really like to be able to use them again.” She looked around the underbrush and saw Anya’s bright eyes peeking out, her squirrel clutched in her mouth by its neck. She padded out and sat in front of Morgan sniffing her with care before brushing her head against her knee. “This is all your fault, you know,” she said, but there was no malice in her voice. She hadn’t seen the sly smile of her cat’s mouth in profile in so long, she almost didn’t mind all the trouble it had cost. “Thank you,” she said to Kaden again. “You saved me and my favorite brat.”

“I’m alright,” Kaden said before even properly assessing the situation. He checked and found out the folds of his shirt was glued to his jacket. He sighed. “My clothing, not so much.” He should stop getting attached to any article of clothing. He should know better. But he’d liked this shirt. Oh well. Kaden had just watched her bones twist and her body catort into positions no standard body should. Even then, he tilted his head and furrowed his brow at her ask for his knife. “Are you going to cut in between your skin? That’s not--” Then it hit him that she’d be just fine. She’d regenerate. “Right,” he said and handed over the knife. He didn’t really want to watch but he supposed it didn’t really matter and watched anyway. She’d said something before about her body being a fact and she had a point. He should probably just treat it that way. As hard as it was to just accept the wings at first, it would have been a hell of a lot easier if he’d accepted Bea’s advice to treat them as a fact. The problem was, of course, that those facts clashed with so many lessons taught to him as fact growing up; lessons he still hadn’t properly reconciled. He wasn’t sure he’d ever manage to.

Seeing her reunited with her cat brought a smile to Kaden’s face. It made it easy to forget the regrown fingers and the bonedoggle carcass piled a few feet away. “Don’t mention it,” he said, reaching out to see if Anya would let him pet her. No offense either way, cats could be particular. “Just doing my job.” It was the reason he really did like working in animal control, moments like this, when people and animals could be safe and sound even if it didn’t last.

Morgan gave Kaden a double take to make sure he really wasn’t going to look away. She wrinkled her face up in a universal signal of ‘are you sure?’ before bringing the blade down as quickly as she could. She winced and looked away as her old fingers tumbled into the grass. She was getting used to the regrowth by now, but watching pieces of her fall away, useless, no longer a part of anything or anyone. She whimpered with pain and watched as new bones sprouted and coated with sninew and blood. Morgan flexed them, testing her grip and her nerves. They always felt the same, no farther or closer to living sensations than before.

Anya sniffed the new fingers and scraped her mouth across them, tail upright and perky. If anything from the past few minutes had bothered her, it didn’t anymore. Curious, she moved onto Kaden, giving him a once over and a long, steady look before she decided he was good enough for one pet across her fur.

“Just doing your job, huh, cowboy? Do you say that to all the damsels in distress you rescue?” Morgan laughed and guided Anya back into her lap, fixing her harness and leash. “If you come back round to the ranch, I’m sure I can rustle you up some pie to show my gratitude.” She put on her best Texas drawl for him and got to her feet, Anya now safely in tow with her prize. To Morgan’s surprise, she rubbed against her leg and looked up with an expression that was almost friendly.

Kaden didn’t want to gawk at the oddities of her body as it was and he flinched a little as he watched, but he had decided not to look away. And so he didn’t. It was the only way to deal with it. Not unlike pain. The more you were exposed to it, the easier it was to handle. Training taught him that much. Probably not how his mother would prefer he applied his training. Too fucking late. She was more than dead and buried now. She didn’t even exist. Right. He wasn’t sure if it was better or worse to keep his eyes on her newly grown fingers or the dead ones that the cat was planning to chew on.

“How, uh, how does pain work? For you?” Kaden asked, before quickly second guessing himself. “I mean. If you don’t mind me asking. I just. I-- I mean, I saw you now and you--- I just was curious.” He rubbed the back of his neck and felt like a fucking asshole. Like he was being insensitive or something. “You don’t have to answer that. Sorry. That was stupid. You--” He couldn’t even finish his thought and just took the knife back and wiped it clean on the grass and then the hem of his shirt before putting it away. At least he got to pet the cat. It wasn’t long or much (he expected nothing more, to be honest), but it still was enough to bring his heart rate back slower, steadier.

“Very funny,” Kaden answered, rolling his eyes. Wouldn’t lie, he appreciated the brief moment of levity. The weight was still there, but it was a little lighter. “Normally I only do one or the other. Rescue the cat or fight the monster. This was a great two for one deal. I think that earned me two pies.” Not that he needed any more baked goods in his apartment. It was more than enough work to give them all away half the time.

“It’s different,” Morgan said. “I mean, that hurt, and I’ve always been an awful cry-baby. My mother always said so. But it’s not, uh, proportionate, to the way humans would reckon it. And I don’t get to feel anything too gentle, so sometimes, in the right context, a little hurt can feel nice. I guess if I had to rank it, that’s something like a four or a five? But for you, losing an extremity would be a lot closer to ten, right?” She shrugged and wiped the corners of her eyes. “It’s okay, Kaden. I’d rather you ask than wonder or lean on whatever’s in your hunting manuals, if that’s even a thing.”

Morgan’s expression grew warmer. “Well I declare, officer! I think you might be right. But only ‘cause you’re such a good friend. I’ve got mama’s pecan pie on the stove right now, and I’ll let the second one be hero’s choice.” She laughed and beckoned him over. She hadn’t expected much out of the day, but for an outing that involved full-ass monster wrestling, this was pretty okay.

“Right. Good, uh, I mean thanks. For, you know.” Kaden said, nodding along as he listened. It was a far cry from “zombies are dead, they can’t feel anything.” Part of him anticipated that much by now though a piece of him still felt the chill of the shadow of his training. It wasn’t all entirely wrong, just sometimes taken too extreme. Sometimes not. Finding where the line was wouldn’t be an easy one, not from what he could tell. If he even wanted to redraw the line. It was possible he was still surrounded by exceptions. Only time would tell. “Pain’s sort of on a weird scale for me. Not, uh… I mean not like yours. I don’t think. But you know. Hunter. Training. That.” He wiped the dirt and grime he could away from his jacket and jeans. “I don’t know if I’d know a ten when it happened. Or ever call it that.” Most of him had stopped trying to sort the good and bad of his training and just accept it for what it was.Sometimes he wondered all the same.

“Is this where I say ‘no need, little lady’? Or something to that effect?” His attempts at mimicking her current accent didn’t quite sound right. Even he knew that. He laughed at himself a little. Only a little. “Anyway, I think it’s probably a good idea to get home before any more bonedoggles show up. And so Anya can’t make another break for it.”

#writing #wickedswriting #chatzy #morgan #morbeckmoreproblems #if you give a cat a bonedoggle

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inspirationdivine · 4 years

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Perchance To Dream || Lydia and Jared

Timing: During the POTW Parties: @themidnightfarmer @inspirationdivine Summary: When Jared’s glamour fails, he seeks out a safe place to hide and reflect

He’d never had so much trouble keeping himself in check. Jared was usually very disciplined with his glamour, it was firm even while he was asleep most nights even. But it seemed exhaustion was unlike any other external factor, and he found himself actually having to concentrate hard on keeping his appearance ‘normal’ as he went about his shopping. He was slipping, he felt himself slipping before he caught his reflection in a window as he passed by, he was losing control and his skin was fading out of it’s fake hue. It was only a matter of minutes before he’d lost it, and with how brutal his natural appearance could be, he needed to get home fast. He cursed having walked into town. Of all days to have decided not to have the safety of a closed vehicle. There was a bubbling panic in his stomach as he passed yet another dark window, able to see his eyes shifting from blue to purple. “Fuck.” and he took off running. He didn't think about where he was going, but when he arrived at the gates of Lydia's home he felt saved. He sprint into the gate and around the garden out of sight of any prying eyes. Or he would have had he not been tackled to the ground.

Lydia was completely unaware of the situation happening just outside her garden. She had a backlog of emails as long as her that she was busy with, and a kitten toying with her left hand, keeping her distracted as she tried to type. “Hey! Gentle,” she scolded the tabby cat when she was bitten a little too hard. Just then, O walked in urgently, speaking fast. “We have neutralised a threat in the garden. Tall male individual with grey skin, purple eyes, please advise.” They were watching her carefully, in case she began to panic. Lydia started at the zombie for a long moment, before putting the pieces together. “Oh! That’s Jared! Tell Jeremiah to let him go!” She told O, standing up and picking up Niamh as she followed O out to the garden, where Jeremiah did indeed have Jared in a head lock and pinned to the ground. “It’s alright! He is a friend!”

He was still trying so incredibly hard to get his glamour under check that his skin rippled like an awfully colour blind chameleon. Jared, despite this, sat completely still. He hardly even moved his chest to breathe as he was locked and held into the grass. As soon as he was released however, he rolled backwards and out of the reach of his captor to look up and find Lydia with his eyes. Grass stained and dirty now, but he still managed an exhausted smile when he found her. “I uh...didn’t call again I guess?” he said quietly hoping for a joke but really just regretting forgetting that she might have taken steps far beyond anything he’d known about before the mushrooming had happened. In fact it felt silly now that he had insisted Cap stay with her considering the small animal yawned as he emerged from a hedge to greet him only now.

“No, you didn’t. Fortunately, I like you anyway,” Lydia laughed, giving him a careful, warm hug, careful to avoid the grass stains as she did so. “It’s good to see you.” Lydia turned to smile at the little distant Raiju that she had grown rather fond of seeing loitering in the corners. Jared had been right, she had appreciated its companionship, and had barely noticed it was there. “Someone, at least, has been anxious for a visit. Why don’t you come inside? It’s been a while, and I’ve missed you. It also looks like your glamour is having some issues.”

Jared accepted the hug with as much enthusiasm as his tired and slightly sore form could muster, he kept the smile on his face just for her as well. The nymph spared the security team a glance and then looked down to offer Cap a scratch behind the ear for all his good work guarding, even if Lydia had much more qualified people on hand now. He was happy to move away from the very intimidating team that were slowly dispersing around them from the threat he’d posed moments ago. He definitely didn’t want to not have Lydia's favour coming over unannounced; he decided in that moment, from now on he’d text (or he’d try to remember to call but there were never any promises). Following her inside he informed her “That’s why I sprinted over, I was planning on coming to visit this week, and then I sort of got trapped and I figured….you were the safest place to go since I was having so much trouble.” He waved a hand however and added “But it’s uh...no big deal I guess...how have you been. Feeling good with all your new security in place?”

“I completely understand. Jared, you are eternally welcome, and I shall ensure that everyone is quite aware of this in the future, regardless of what face you decide to wear next time.” Lydia walked over into her kitchen. “Can I get you anything to drink, or to eat?” The busywork of getting out her glasses made it easier to answer the question. The last few days and the blood weighed heavy on her mind. Her back had healed in a week with as many ups as downs. “I adopted a cat! Niamh, who is floating around in the garden somewhere. My wing has healed. Not everything is quite as it should be, but I can hardly complain. Things are good.”

She was so wonderful, Jared was so pleased to have met someone who was so kind to him even when he’d potentially scared her. What with the breaking and entering of her proprietary after she’d had a VERY bad experience and all. “Uh yeah sure I’ll have some water or something.” he smiled, as he listened to her update him on how she was getting on he let the rest of his glamour fall away. Lydia wouldn’t mind, and it’d help him concentrate on her words more than his exhaustion. “You’re all healed up!! I was really hoping for you to recover, I was telling my kids about you the other night. Can’t wait to tell them you’re doing well.” he grinned. He wanted to give her a hug in delight but wasn’t sure the reception he’d get so instead bounced on the balls of his feet. “And a cat is a great companion, Niamh is a great name.”

Lydia busied herself with picking out a nice crystal glass for him, getting a lemon from the fridge and cutting a slice of lemon to drop in beside the ice before pouring him the water. When she turned back, he looked as he should, beautiful in his abject inhumanity. “You were telling your kids? What, like bedtime stories for the puppy bonedoggles? Jared, you are the most adorable vicious creatures nymph I’ve ever met,” Lydia laughed, enthused by juist his presence. It washed away the blood and guilt on her conscience as she turned to hand him his glass. “She’s wonderful. Not quite as colourful as your kids, but great all the same. So, what’s up with your glamour?”

“They like to hear stories, they respond well to names they can put faces to, so yeah...I told the bonedoggle pups about you last night.” Jared maybe would have been a little defensive if she hadn’t laughed along with her words. Instead he beamed at her. “Not that they’re pups anymore, they’re young but growing fast.” He took the glass and immediately took a long drink. His hand catching the drips that had escaped the edges of his lips before he spoke again. “I’m real tired I guess? Not being doing too well the last few weeks, but it’ll get better. As soon as I can get some good sleep I’m sure it’ll get better… hopefully.”

“That’s… disarmingly cute. If I hadn’t met them, I wouldn’t believe they were even the littlest bit dangerous, you know,” Lydia smiled right back at him. “Really? How big are they now?” He drank so fast Lydia raised her eyebrows, pouring herself a glass of whiskey to go with his glass of water, before turning her attention back to him. “Has something happened?” Lydia asked gently, leading him over to the sitting room couch, so that they could sit side by side, her wings tucked away at her side. “Do you want to talk about it?” He could tell her anything, but Lydia wasn’t about to pry. That said, maybe if he was so tired by it all so much so that he was losing control of his glamour, maybe it was time to start talking about it.

“Oh well they are cute Lydia come on, they’re little faces are to die for….although they’re definitely not as cuddly as normal puppies I’ll give you that.” Jared joked lightly. He gulped down the water and then excitedly put the glass down so that he could hold his hands out to show her how big the pups had gotten. “Almost ready for their second trip for bones.” The words held pride he knew she might not understand, but he felt he could be himself about his kids with her, even if she didn’t fully agree she wouldn’t shoot him down. SItting down heavily on the couch he leaned back and fought off a yawn and the ache in his bones settled in. “Oh I just… didn’t have a very good time with the mushrooms this year, and then...sleepwalking, I can’t seem to get any rest...nightmares you know in amongst it all.” He shrugged at her and smiled despite his words. “I’m sure it’ll work itself out, I have hope at least right? Can’t be bad all the time can it?”

“The first time we met they were going to eat me!” Lydia protested with a laugh, her eyes widening with surprise as he gestured how big they were. “They’ve grown so fast! I assume that’s wonderful news!” Lydia smiled as he lit up with pride, his eyes bright and wonderful. “Sleepwalking? Is that new?” Lydia asked, her brows knitted as he talked. “Do you still feel bad about the human you killed?” Lydia asked softly, without any judgement. He had seemed cut up about it, in the same way Deirdre had been about Emma, in the same way Lydia’s stomach churned when she thought about what had happened a few days ago with Dot.

“They were not!” He protested in return but focused more firmly on the warm feeling in his gut as she enthused with him. It’d been a while since he’d been able to gush about his kids, just through sheer circumstance, and it was refreshing to have someone to allow him to indulge. Jared nodded slowly, he’d been trying to think of Ronald less and less, but it hadn’t been going exactly to plan. “I never meant to see him again, but I guess I fudged the words when I made him promise not to tell anyone. Forgot to add that he shouldn’t come back either… I… I fed him to the kids… I wish… I hadn’t had to and he’d just stayed away from us like I’d hoped. I wasn’t even in the right mind. It was like a bad trip and all of a sudden I was awake and it was all too apparent that I’d done something irreversible you know?” He wasn’t looking for sympathy, he wasn’t even sure if he was making sense. But the nymph knew that Lydia wouldn’t mind, or at least he hoped. She was so wonderful but he’d understand if she didn’t want to hear it all. He looked up at her from where he’d slouched in the cushions, like she’d have the answers, but he knew that was a lot to ask someone. “I’ve always been a bad shot too, the mushrooms gave me focus where I didn’t want it.”

Lydia shifted where she sat so she could touch his shoulder. There wasn’t more she could offer him really, other than the comfort of just being heard. Sometimes, that was enough. Sometimes, it was impossible to help in any other way. “You did do something irreversible, but so did he,” Lydia began softly, trying to listen carefully. Well, if she had known he fed human corpses to his kids, that would have been useful a couple days ago. Not that that was the point now. “Even if he wasn’t promise bound to stay away, he wasn’t welcome and he knew it. Humans are far from my favourite, but they have basic modicums of intelligence no less than ours. He came irregardless, to take something from you. Or do you think it was something else that brought him there?”

Jared let his head droop to the side and his body lean into her comforting touch. “I don’t really know why he was there, but I can’t imagine it was with good intentions. I know people got all muddled up while they were there, the stray sod got a little bit out of control and all while I wasn’t really focused. But he’d have had to get there first.” he hadn’t really considered Ronalds intent on the farm, he’d been too shaken by having shot him. But now that he thought about it, he’d do anything for his kids...and if Ronald really had come back for them and not just shown up by accident like he’d feared, then he was a little less regretful. “I suppose if it was him or one of my kids I’d glad it was him…” he allows the words to escape his lips and then he grimaces. “Preferably no shots would have been fired while I wasn’t awake but I guess that’ how it was, can’t really do much now you know?” He spared her a pained smile, trying to mask the ill feeling swirling behind his eyes. “I feel like I should feel worse? But also I’m too tired to really think all that deep anyway, sleepwalking takes it outta you apparently.” he chuckled weakly.

As he leant into her touch, Lydia wrapped her arm around his shoulders sideways. It was hardly the most comfortable of positions considering their egregious height difference, but it was comforting to have him so close. “So he was confused once he was there, but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t had nefarious intentions before, whatever that looked like,” Lydia spoke quietly, gently. Clearly, obviously feeding him a biased world view, but sometimes that was what was needed, especially when Jared was so painfully biased against himself. He saw himself as the automatic villain, the cruel creature of the night, who had lost his way on the mushrooms. In Lydia’s humble opinion, it was as if the mushrooms had shown him the way, had made his aim true. The mushrooms had allowed him to react decisively, rather than risking any of Jared’s kids. “No, you can’t do much, but you are still permitted to feel. There is no should when it comes to emotion, only what is.” She gently traced patterns back and forth on his arm. “Sleepwalking? How long has that been going on?”

He felt a little touch deprived at that moment. Jared hadn’t realized how much he’d withdrawn these last few weeks and he hadn’t really felt he would be allowed to reach out considering what he’d done. He’d even stopped himself from giving Lydia a hug earlier. And yet here she was offering him comfort despite what the mushrooms had done to him. He shifted to lean into her, fully letting her ease his mind without question. He wanted to be told he wasn’t terrible, so he was willing to believe her blindly. “Yeah, he couldn’t have shown up by accident.” he decided. “I’m not sure, it could have been going on for ages and I wouldn’t have noticed at first.” he said, “I didn’t realize for far too long that Things had been moved, chores had already been done. But then it got worse, I woke up walking into the lake the other day...that wasn’t so fun. I heard other people are also sleepwalking so… it’s not mushrooms, I thought at first it was but I don’t think it is now.”

He melted into her arms like giraffe shaped putty, and Lydia shifted to accommodate him, so that he had as much space and warmth as he needed. “No, he intended to be there,” Lydia agreed encouragingly, hoping that the guilt would slowly melt away. “He was only human.” She reminded him. But as Jared explained more deeply about his sleepwalking, Lydia’s brows bent in a frown. “You were doing chores in your sleep? That’s almost helpful.” Lydia joked lightly, but she could see that he was entirely shaken by the entire situation, so she held him closer. “Other people? People you know or strangers? That’s… seriously disconcerting. I wish I knew how to help. Do you need anything?”

The nymph stifled a yawn, feeling incredibly safe and warm by Lydia's side, especially with the stress of keeping his glamour steady not buzzing on his skin. “Only human.” Jared repeated back to her, her outlook on species didn’t fully compute with his own ideology, but he supposed if it had to have been anyone, a human like Ron deserved to go the most. “Almost.” he chuckled in agreement. “Except I’d been doing things twice and I don’t really have the cash for extra of anything at the moment. Also the kids didn’t really enjoy whatever they could feel over our connection, got a few bites for being unresponsive.” he waved a hand dismissively at the bites however, he got nibbled all the time it didn’t mean much, he was just more upset that his kids had felt unrest at his state. “A few strangers, but some people I know as well. There doesn’t seem to be a system to it, it’s all just random. Oh god no Lydia it’s okay, it’s just a bit...unsettling I guess? You’re not sleepwalking or anything?”

Only human, Lydia echoed in her mind, because he wasn’t the only one reassuring himself of such things. She pushed that thought aside, unable to bear it right now, not when Jared needed her here. “Oh, Jared, if you ever need money, you need but ask.” She offered gently, but her eyes widened sharply as he described his kids’ reactions. “They bit you? Jared, are you alright?” Sure, he described them as sweet little things, but Lydia remembered the teeth on those Bonedoggles. A nibble was not just a nibble, no matter what Jared said. “That is disturbing,” Lydia agreed softly, making a mental note to ask about it to others, who might know more about dream disturbances. “No, I still haven’t been sleeping too well generally, since the attack, but I haven’t been sleepwalking.” Lydia dropped her cheek against the top of his head, taking his hand with the one not wrapped around his shoulders and squeezing his hand. “If there’s anything I can do for you, you can always ask. I am here for you.”

“Don’t offer me money. I'm not a very good investment, I don’t tend to ever have enough to pay it back in anywhere near a timely manner.” Jared mumbled in response. He waved a hand, less enthusiastically than before stifling yet another yawn. “They have teeth, anything with teeth can bite, it's normal.” he hummed. At that point his eyes started to close, he was fighting a losing battle. He heard nothing else she’d said, missing her comment of not being able to sleep herself completely. His own selfish exhaustion had decided to flaunt it’s willingness for rest in her face. He’d fallen asleep in her arms.

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt,” Lydia replied. “But if you insist-” She looked down at him, and he didn’t look back up at her. His eyelashes were pressed closed, casting spidery shadows on his cheeks. He breathed quietly and slowly. Here, in her arms, he would not wander anywhere. He could rest safely here. His weight too, was the first weight pressing down on her all week that soothed rather than suffocated. Lydia’s eyes stretched to the raiju, lurking in the corner of the room, Cap watching Jared curiously. “Come here then,” she murmured, and the pile of two became three.

#wickedswriting #para #chatzy #jared

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shutupandshipit · 4 years

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Little Life - Ch.8

Summary: A baby could ruin his career before it had even started. If anyone found out, he would be kicked out of the Hero Course at the very least and UA at the very worst. Even then, how was he supposed to care for a baby once it arrived? He was a fucking seventeen-year-old boy, not a twenty-nine-year-old omega with their shit at least somewhat together.

…..

Or where Katsuki get pregnant, but is determined to make it to graduation. No matter what it takes.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T (just for language mostly)

Chapter: 8/16

Previous <- Chapter 7

Chapter 9 -> Next

Master Post

Chapter 8: 6 Months

Just like that, Katsuki had made it through two-thirds of his pregnancy. He frowned down at his phone completely disbelieving. The past six months had gone by in the blink of an eye, even with how long the First Trimester had seemingly lasted. This trimester was easier, far easier with how minimal his symptoms had actually been.

'Three months. I have three months left until I meet you, you little monster,' Katsuki thought idly. Warmth bloomed in his chest, and embedded itself in his cheeks.

"Yo, Kacchan, what's that look on your face? You almost look happy!" Kaminari shouted right in his ear, clapping him on the shoulder as he went back to shoving his things back in his bag.

"Get the fuck off me, Dunce Face," Katsuki snarled viciously, snapping his teeth at the blond and slinging his bag over his shoulder. Without looking, Izuku's hand familiarly slipped into his even as Izuku continued talking to his own group.

Kaminari's eyes dropped to their intertwined fingers, and Katsuki stared pointedly until he glanced back up with a wider smile. "No, like, seriously, man. It's like you're glowing all the time now. So fucking weird. It kind of scares me!"

Katsuki's face tightened dangerously as he smiled back. "Are you truing to have a funeral, Dunce Face? I can arrange that for you right now, if you want."

A hand came down over Kaminari's mouth, and Kirishima smiled widely as he steered him away. "Your mouth is getting away from you again, Denks. Where's Shinsou? Maybe you can run it at him for a bit." Before they could leave to find the aforementioned hero in training, Mina grabbed them by the back of their school uniforms.

"Don't go anywhere! We're going back to my room, remember?" she asked brightly.

"I'm not," Katsuki said automatically, "I've got shit to do." That being a movie and shamelessly cuddling Izuku in his nest. Well, really, they were going to go to the new hero expo that Izuku was all but salivating to go and then he was going to cuddle the alpha shamelessly. He wasn't in the mood to be dragged around for hours, but he was in the mood to spend time with Izuku.

"Mido! Come on!" Mina whined, and Izuku turned with raised eyebrows, "You know how long I've been planning this! I know you're what he's talking about!"

"You don't know shit, Raccoon Eyes," Katsuki spit back, gripping Izuku's hand more tightly.

Izuku responded, fingers flexing in his. He smiled. "It's okay. You should spend time with them. I know you don't like how crowded expos can get. Iida and Ochako said they wanted to go, so I won't be alone. We can still get together afterward, and that way I can bring back something we haven't watched six times."

Katsuki grimaced, but after a moment, sighed. "Fine."

Mina and the other idiots whooped. They danced around as Izuku pulled Katsuki close with a hand on the back of his neck.

He scented Katsuki liberally in the view of everyone and their mother, rubbing their necks together. Katsuki's omega purred contentedly, and when Izuku pulled back to kiss him, he took the chance to make it a little less chaste than Izuku had intended.

They pulled away with a dopey smile on Izuku's lips. He giggled. "Have fun. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, you too," Katsuki murmured before Mina forcefully pulled him away.

"That's still so weird to me," Kaminari complained, "Like, not only are you gay, but the blatant PDA? I thought for sure you were just asexual."

'Maybe. I'm really just Deku-sexual.' He decided to keep that to himself.

"Okay," Kirishima sang, "That's about enough out of you." He turned Kaminari away with an arm slung over his shoulders before Katsuki could shut him up for good.

"Naw, man," Sero butted in, blanketing Kirishima's arm with his own, "All their fights were totally charged with sexual tension."

Mina laughed, pulling Katsuki along by his hand. "You two are really trying to get hurt today, aren't you?"

.....

A beer sat in front of Katsuki like it had been since he'd been forcefully pushed down at Mina's desk, sweating profusely in the rising temperature of the room. It had probably gone lukewarm an hour ago, but he wouldn't know. He'd been hanging onto the tea Kirishima had discreetly passed him, but he'd started to use the water from the bottle to draw on the desktop.

Around him, the group was loudly arguing about who would win in a fight: pre-retirement All Might vs. the original Hulk. When Sero had drunkenly started shouting about Captain America, Katsuki had almost exclusively tuned them out and just let his omega marinate in the feeling of community.

If he hadn't been pregnant, Katsuki would have enjoyed a beer or two and enthusiastically joined in the discussion, but as it were, he was. And the smell of booze and the swirling mix of his friends' scents were starting to make him a little sick.

Only Kirishima's grounding hand on his knee kept him from bolting. Thankfully, he'd also been fielding any attempts to draw him into conversation.

He didn't see Mina approaching when she flopped into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Kacchan, are you having fun?" she sang, and he contemplated shoving her off him. Weirdly though, he could tell that she wasn't even tipsy. He actually couldn't remember seeing her take a drink since the party had started, and the realization disquieted him.

"Not nearly," he told her truthfully as Kirishima tried unsuccessfully to pries her off.

She pouted. "Aw, you don't like us anymore now that you've got a boyfriend to entertain you."

"Whoever said I like any of you to begin with?" he sneered.

"Drink with us!" she whined, "You haven't even touched your first beer!"

"Don't want to," he grumbled and went back to his drawing. He was trying to figure out what he wanted to put on the onsie he and Ochako had been making. They'd researched how to make reusable cloth diapers, and he'd have to think of a design for that as well.

Katsuki stiffened when her sticky lips pressed to his ear and whispered, "I know your secret, Katsuki. I know why you're not drinking."

He had shoved her from his lap and was out of his seat before he'd even made the conscious decision to get up. His omega snarled a warning in his chest as she blinked owlishly up at him from the floor. "I'm leaving," he snarled, and he was out the door.

The silence of the room broke as Sero slurred in annoyance, "Mina, what did you say to him?"

"Nothing, nothing, I'll go talk to him," she said placating.

He was already stomping down the stairs when he heard her door slam and her footsteps run to catch up. He sped up, almost sprinting down the stairs. He really hated this whole thing where he had to go all the way to the first floor to get to the boys' staircase. While he understood its necessity with shits like Mineta in the dorm, it was making it extremely difficult to run from his quick-footed friend.

She caught up with him on the third floor of the boys' side. "Katsuki, slow down! Let me explain!" she panted as she sprinted up the stairs behind him.

"Fuck off, Mina!" he roared back, and then he tripped, barely catching himself from cracking his knees on the landing to his floor.

She took her chance, tackling him to the ground and pinning him there.

He struggled and snapped at her, but Mina was incredibly strong for her size. Unless he wanted to hurt her by flinging her down the stairs, he wasn't getting away so easily. "Get the fuck off me!"

"No! Let me explain!" she shouted back.

"No! You think I want to talk to you after that?"

"No, but I want to talk to you about it."

"How did you even find out?" Against his will, his rage was leaking away to be replaced by pure exhaustion. How many people knew? Had he really been that careless? If that was the case, did Izuku know and just decided not to say anything? That wasn't like him.

Mina sighed, grip loosening. He took the chance to buck her off, and she careened over him. They lay panting for several moments before she decided to say anything. "I followed you the day you found out. I was worried because you were acting so weird. I saw you throw the bag away. I saw what was in it."

There was a resounding record scratch in Katsuki's head, and it took him a moment to understand. "You followed me?" he shouted, twisting onto his forearms to glare at her, "You went through my trash?"

"I was worried!" she whined back, holding herself up on her arms to look at him.

"Honestly, fuck you. Who does that?" Pushing to his feet, he strode passed her as she scrambled up behind him. "Fuck off, Mina, I don't want anything to do with you right now," he snarled even as she shouldered into his room passed the door he tried to slam on her.

"No, we're going to talk about this," she said adamantly, standing by his door instead of following him deeper into his room.

'Good,' he raged silently, 'Or I'd blow you up in an instant.'

They glared at each other, him safely in the mess of his own design of clothes and cloth and thread, and her by the door. He snarled a warning when she took a step forward.

She huffed. "Look, I wasn't completely sure until just now. You never refuse so much to drink with us. You always have at least one drink even if you bitch about it the whole time. I wasn't going to say anything."

"Then why did you?"

"Because Eiji clearly knows, and for whatever reason, no one else does. Well," her eyes took in the mess, the pervasiveness of Izuku's, Kirishima's and Ochako's scents, "him and Chako apparently. Mido clearly doesn't know or he would be acting way more possessive. Why?"

Katsuki remained silent. He wasn't about to so liberally give up his secrets to someone who had ambushed him in a place where he should have been safe.

"Is it even his?"

A growl ripped from his throat before he could stop it. Did she really think that lowly of him?"

"Then what? You're just planning on giving birth and giving it up for adoption? Do you even want it? You couldn't stomach an abortion, so you're going to do all of this for nothing?" she asked meanly, lips curled.

He flung his arms out to encompass the room, the fabric and the half constructed onsie and the smell of his room. "Them, Mina, they are a them not an it. You really must think so highly of me to think I'd go through all of this and not want to keep them. Go fuck yourself with any uncomfortable device of your choice. As long as it fucking hurts."

In an instant, her face smoothed out and she grinned at him. The sudden shift in mood had him suddenly off balance. "Just checking. Didn't think I could forgive you otherwise."

"Fuck. You. Mina." He sat heavily in his desk chair, carding a hand through his hair. How many people knew? Who was going to out him? What was he going to do if they did? It's not like he could just kill everyone. That wouldn't solve as many problems as he wished it would.

'Hurry up and get here, little monster. My heart can't take much more of this.'

Mina dropped to the ground, crisscrossing her legs and seemingly getting comfortable.

He had a very sudden and violent image of ripping out her throat with his teeth. Now there was an idea.

"So, you're what? Three months out? Two? You're so close!"

"Three," Katsuki grumbled, flopping his head back and closing his eyes, "Now get out."

"What? No! I want to have girl talk."

"I'm still a fucking man, Mina, there is no 'girl talk' that we can share. I just happen to also be able to have pups. Our pregnancies wouldn't even be the same. Make friends with someone else."

Mina was quiet for a moment. "Can I at least join in the next time you and Chako get together for crafts? I don't know how to sew, but I can learn! And I'm great with designs!" Her voice was small and coaxing.

That was something he could work with. "Fine."

"Yes!" she squealed before returning to normal speaking volumes, "I haven't told anyone, you know, and I won't unless you want me to."

"Well, that's fucking obvious or no one would shut their fucking mouths or leave me alone. Let's keep it that way."

"Sure thing. We should get back to the party though. The natives are probably getting restless, and I doubt you want them to see this."

Katsuki lifted his head. "You go. I wasn't in the mood before so what makes you think I'm any more in the mood now?"

"You know they'll ask more questions for days if I come back alone. Just come back with me. Mido will come back soon, and then you can go off and do whatever it is you two normally do."

"I hate it when you make sense," he grumbled, but stood. He took a moment to hide away his projects before following her out.

When they got to the stairs, she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for trusting me."

"I don't really have a fucking choice in the matter."

"Nope," she chirped, and took the lead.

#my hero academia #mha #bakudeku #dekubaku #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #omegaverse #omega!katsuki #alpha!izuku #my writing #multi-chapter #little life

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cryoculus · 4 years

Text

Lunaris [5/11]

*casually changes the chapter count* yall didnt see A THING

!! ALSO !! Trigger warnings for graphic depictions of gore at the latter half of the chapter. Just thought I’d put it up there.

Navigation

Chapter Title: Full Moon Pairing: Yokai!Akaashi Keiji/Reader Word Count: 3,543

***

"This week's lunar eclipse was reported to be a total eclipse! The shadow of the sun will engulf the moon completely—what a sight to see, indeed!"

"Bah," your grandmother scoffed through the sound of sautéing ingredients as she switched off the TV. "News channels poison the minds of people, anyway."

You gaped at her incredulously from where you sat on the dining table. "Oba-san, I was watching that!"

The older woman tutted at you as she transferred the leftover rice from last night onto the frying pan. "You know eclipses are a bad omen, and these people intend to say otherwise."

"Ba-san, not everybody lives by the Tsukuyomi traditions—"

"Do you want some sukonbu flakes on your gohan?"

"I—yes, please."

When your grandmother was done cooking breakfast for the day, she laid out two bowls of gohan, each topped with a raw egg in the middle. The scent of the freshly fried rice wafted to your nose, and you immediately forgot about your prior sulking because of how delectable your food looked like. As you reached for the soy sauce to encourage more flavor, however, your grandmother took your hand in hers, shooting you a stern look.

"Don't go out on the night of the eclipse," she said. "It's been a while since I've last seen one, but it always preceded misfortune."

Confused, you asked, "How long ago is 'a while', oba-san?"

Instead of humoring you with a proper answer, she merely chuckled at the inquiry as she sat down right across from you. "It doesn't matter. Just stay in the house, alright? It's a good thing it didn't land on the day of the festival, itself."

Knowing it would be no use arguing with her, you exhaled a sigh of defeat once you've dripped enough soy sauce onto your food. The snap of wooden chopsticks rang in your ears as you let anticipation swell in your chest. Was it just you or was the egg yolk seemingly glittering in the morning daylight?

"Thank you for the meal!"

***

Japanese Literature was easily your most favorite subject because of two reasons.

The first was that you were already familiar with most of the topics listed off in the course module already. Genji Monogatari was one of the first books your grandmother had given to you as a child, and she'd be the one to help you out with understanding the difficult words. But even if you've spent a majority of your life with your nose stuffed in books and manuscripts snagged from the shrine's old storage room, there was still a lot more to learn—about the vast, hidden truths of the world that still eluded you.

That's where the second reason came in.

"The moon goddess, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, was born from the right eye of the creator, Izanagi-no-Mikoto; while her brother, Amaterasu-omikami was born from his left eye," your teacher drawled out the facts you already knew from the pocketbook in his hands. The disinterested set of his brow was clue enough of how much he would rather be doing anything else other than spitting out excerpts from Japanese mythology in front of high schoolers.

It was last period for you, and even though you were normally motivated to listen despite your teacher's apathy for the course, you were feeling the fatigue you've accumulated from training slowly catching up to you. Fukurodani was a powerhouse when it came to its sports teams, and the reputation that you had to uphold was a heavier burden than getting remarkable official records for future reference. Though Coach Yamamoto was usually lenient, he'd already transformed into his demon coach persona at the beginning of the week.

But after you've zoned into your own thoughts for a good twenty minutes, your teacher managed to yank you back into attentiveness when he'd tackled the topic of yokai.

"In more popular literature, yokai were commonly depicted as grotesque creatures that consume human flesh," he began, "but there have been several tales that told of those able to take on the form of human beings; making it much easier for them to prowl across the land unnoticed."

Hm. Sounds like a certain, unsuspecting second year to me.

"However, even though they use deception as their means of getting by, those yokai still revert back to their true forms under specific circumstances. For children of the first Tengu, they are quite susceptible to rain. Once it begins to pour from the heavens, their disguises wear off at the snap of a finger."

Your brows knit together in curiosity. Akaashi was one of those shape shifters, then. But if that tale applied to all shape-shifting yokai, what could Akaashi's trigger be?

Shaking your head, you proceeded jotting down the assignment that your teacher began scribbling on the chalkboard once he's gone over the topic. It wasn't something that should warrant your interest. Strictly speaking, you weren't even friends with Akaashi. You were just someone who'd managed to figure out what he was. That was all there was to it.

Yet, a few hours later, once you'd gotten your fresh taste of your demon coach's training regimens, you found yourself waiting by the school gates.

As you bounced impatiently on the balls of your feet, jamming your hands in the pockets of your track jacket to distract yourself somehow, your gaze darted every now and again at the other students that also stayed behind for club activities. There was still no sign of the volleyball team.

In hindsight, you could have just hung around in the gym, waiting for them to finish. Bokuto's admirers did it all the time, so why couldn't the captain of the track team do the same? Ah, right.

You still couldn't bear to look Bokuto in the eye after he'd asked you to go with him to the lunar festival.

How on Earth could you face him eye-to-eye after that? Why would he even ask you, of all people, in the first place? You've been giving Itsumi the cold shoulder for the past few days, too. How dare she tell the ace to get a red kimono when your favorite kimono was patterned after crimson cherry blossoms?!

"(Surname)-san?"

You didn't know how your instinctive reaction to Akaashi's voice would reflect on the way you supposedly saw him as, but in your defense, you were surprised by how he addressed you. The setter was donned in his school uniform, and he didn't have the air of someone who'd just gotten out of volleyball practice.

"A-Akaashi," you stuttered, hoping it wasn't glaringly obvious that you were waiting for him in particular. "You weren't at training?"

His brows were raised with subtle curiosity before he shook his head. "My class has a production coming up, and it costs about seventy percent of our final grade. Coach Yamiji allowed me some time off."

"Oh," the word tumbled pathetically from your lips, before you cleared your throat. "I-I see. You're quite diligent, huh? I mean, for a yokai blending in as a—"

"(Surname)-san," Akaashi interrupted warily, and you were immediately struck by the awareness of how loud your voice was. Getting his plea, you toned down your voice a couple of notches lower.

"I still find it kind of interesting, you know." Chuckling, you folded your arms across your chest. "From what you told me, I think you're someone ancient. You could track down whoever has your heart in no time and you wouldn't have to subject yourself to mundane things like that."

Akaashi merely stared at you with the same, navy-eyed gaze before his line of sight darted around the vicinity. Then, he beckoned you to come closer. When you leaned your ear next to his face, the setter whispered, "(Surname)-san, I would appreciate it if you didn't disclose such information out in the open."

"It's not like anyone's listening," you argued, pouting at him. "By the way, I have something to ask you."

"Does your curiosity have no bounds?" He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. You'd only noticed it now, but there were traces of fatigue on his face that you would've missed if you hadn't looked so closely. You almost felt bad for cornering him like this, but...

"Can you show me your true form?"

Something flashed across his eyes, but it was gone just as quickly as it surfaced, and now Akaashi was just staring at you like he was just done with your demands.

"You know, I only ever meet extremely infuriating humans one after the other," he told you, dragging a palm across his face. "But it seems like the gods are subjecting me to the punishment of handling both you and Bokuto-san at the same time."

You snorted out an ugly-sounding laugh, covering your mouth to somehow stifle your giggles. "I told you, you didn't have to do any of this kiss-ass shit. You could just—"

"You wanted to see my true form, didn't you?"

The tone of his voice had dipped into something more serious—one that you're unused to hearing from him when you were talking alone. Before getting to know Akaashi as well as you have now, he had just been the apathetic vice captain of the volleyball team. But from the short time you've spent with him, you figured that there was certainly more depth to his personality than he was letting on.

Yet now, he's talking to you just how he would address any other student in Fukurodani. Your smile receded slowly. Somehow, you didn't like that.

"Yeah," you replied with a lackluster intonation you hadn't meant to make. The last thing you wanted was for him to think you actually...cared about the way he talked to you. You didn't, and that was that.

With a sigh, Akaashi tilted his head up so that he was glancing at the sky. You noticed that he did that a lot—looking up at the heavens like it gave him answers you didn't know he was looking for.

When the yokai met your gaze again, no longer did you see the soothing, gunmetal blue of the human whose skin he wore like it was his own. Deep, vermillion eyes bore into you so intently, you could feel him gazing at your very soul—bare, and without any chance of deceit.

"Meet me at the cemetery on the first night of the full moon," he said, voice almost sounding ethereal in your ears, like his voice wasn't his at all. "I'll show you what you want to see so badly."

***

A few days passed since that strange encounter with Akaashi, and you haven't heard from the yokai since. Every time you tried getting a glimpse of him from outside the gym, it was either he was always out of sight or he just wasn't there to begin with. You'd even asked Kazuto, who turned out to be classmates with Akaashi, a thing or two about the said setter, but it seemed that he's called in sick for the past few days because of a nasty cold.

Yokai don't catch colds.

Nonetheless, you found yourself thinking of him less and less as the lunar festival drew closer. Your grandmother insisted that you focus on training for the track meet instead of concerning yourself with the preparations no matter how much you protested.

"You're only young for a brief time, child," she had told you. "It's your last year in high school, so you better enjoy the festival with your little friends before you all head your separate ways. Leave it to the monks and volunteers to work behind the scenes."

Seeing no point in going against her wishes, that's exactly what you did.

"Hey, (Name)! Over here!" At the bottom of the stairway that led to the Amatsuki shrine, you saw Itsumi and Kazuto idling by as your vice captain frantically waved her hands to get your attention. Overlooking the secondhand embarrassment, you picked up the pace of your descent.

Once you've managed to join them, Kazuto whistled out loud. "Looking great, cap!"

The compliment urged you to look down on your own get-up. You looked just as you did every year whenever the lunar festival came around, since you've always opted to wear the cherry blossom kimono that used to belong to your mother. But Kazuto was probably talking about the moon pin your grandmother had insisted on styling your hair with.

It was designed to look like a branch of a sakura tree dipped in silver with a crescent moon embossed in the middle. You had no time left to ask where she got it from and why she gave it you since you were running a bit late on your agreed meet-up time with the team.

"No flirting with senpais, Kazu," scolded Itsumi as she playfully smacked the younger boy across his back. "But he does have a point, though. You look spicy tonight, (Name)!"

"Sumi, I worry about you sometimes."

"Hey!"

Wading through the throng of visitors in the courtyard was none other than Bokuto, himself. His grin was as bright as the lanterns strung above the venue, the golden lights shining down on him like he was the most important person out there. Or maybe that was just because your rose-colored vision was specifically catered for the said ace. When he'd managed to squeeze past the crowd, he breathed out a sigh in relief, wiping a sheen of sweat off his forehead.

"What do you think?" he asked, twisting around to show off his outfit. "I kind of had to compromise with the hakama, but the haori's red, just like Furukawa said—"

"Bokuto-san," you breathed, feeling your heart flutter at his effort alone, "you look great."

The ace blinked at you like he wasn't used to receiving compliments on the daily. It was probably just the lanterns messing with your eyes, but was he...blushing?

"So do you," he laughed. "I didn't know we were matching!"

"I didn't either," you replied, shooting Itsumi a narrow-eyed glare, to which your best friend responded by incessantly tugging on your wrist.

"Come on, you idiots!" Itsumi hollered as you let her drag you to the concessionaire stands. "Last one to get to the goldfish catching booths will treat everyone to candied apples!"

***

"I forgot how enjoyable these festivals really were."

Your ears perked up at the sound of Bokuto's voice. Sparing the ace a sideways glance, you sighed out a long breath as you propped your chin on top of your knees. "I'm glad we managed to remind you, then."

The two of you were seated on the stone steps just under the torii gates that led up to the shrine. Most of the festival's visitors have already gone up to see the shrine elder's (in this case, your grandmother's) annual performance of the lunar dance. It was dedicated to Tsukuyomi herself so that the shrine and its followers would see good fortune for the months ahead. Itsumi and Kazuto have gone ahead of the both of you, but you'd insisted on staying behind for a while.

But you didn't know that Bokuto would like to keep you company, too.

"Something on your mind?" he wondered, inching a bit closer. "You've been kinda distracted."

As you trained your gaze on the younger visitors that were still trying their hand at catching goldfish at the kingyo booths below, you breathed out an airy chuckle. "Sorry. Was I that obvious?"

"Not really," he said. "Call it a gut feeling."

"Gut feeling, huh..."

Your gut was telling you right now that you were forgetting something...something important.

But when you turned to glance at Bokuto once again, his mouth was perked up in a lopsided smile that sent a flush of heat crawling up to your cheeks. You've always found his honey-eyed gaze endearing, and knowing that he had his eyes trained on you? Under the light of the moon? The shoujo manga protagonist in you practically jumped—

Meet me at the cemetery on the first night of the full moon

"Bokuto-san," you mumbled as you shot up to your feet, startling the ace as you shot your gaze up to the sky. The moon was in perfect form today, shining oh-so brightly in the sea of stars. "I'm sorry. I have to go. I-I'll... I'm sorry."

You forced out the sound of Bokuto calling out your name from your mind, pushing down the guilt that might fester for later. Your wooden sandals collided with each step in a way that sounded like cannons in your ears. Your heart was beating abnormally fast, just like when you're trying to best another runner at a track meet. Akaashi, who's been missing in action for days now. Akaashi, who looked like he was losing his grip on his own sanity the last time you saw him. Akaashi, who was probably waiting for you at the top of the hill.

You had been the one that coerced him into this agreement, yet it slipped your mind?

When you made it to the shrine, you caught a glimpse of your grandmother's lunar dance in the blink of your eye. She faltered in her movements for a split second. Had you not spent your entire life watching her practice every year, you would've overlooked it. But it seemed that she'd noticed you darting through the audience even if you were cloaked in the darkness. You already knew you were getting a thorough questioning later, but that was at the bottom of your priorities right now.

There's something wrong, you thought. I don't know how, but something's wrong.

You pushed the gate to the cemetery back without care for the rust that coated your fingers. The foreboding was rooted deep into the pits of your heart, and you couldn't placate yourself no matter how many times you told yourself it was probably nothing. Even if you were running out of breath (which terrified you because it took a lot to make you breathless in training), you called out to the yokai.

"Akaashi!" you called out, placing your hands by your mouth to articulate your voice louder. "Are you here?"

The moonlight spilled onto the cemetery startlingly bright, illuminating the gravestones in place in a way you hadn't seen them before. As you passed by your parents' graves, muttering a quick prayer in the process, you began trekking further into the area—towards the forest that you were told to never set foot in.

The shade of the trees seemed thicker, they loomed higher than you thought they would. At the corner of your eye, you would see the shadows scuttling about, only to be met with nothing but a leaf wafting in the air when you turned around to look. The fear factor was maxed out at this point. But even if your mind yelled for you to turn around, and that you shouldn't even be here, your heart told you that you were exactly where you're supposed to be.

After a few minutes of blindly walking in the darkness, you saw the light of the moon once more as you emerged into a clearing. In the middle of it all, kneeling in a pool of blood, was Akaashi.

Or at least, you assumed it was Akaashi.

The humanoid creature had its back turned you, like it was preoccupied with something else. Its naked skin was as white as the snow that coated the shrine grounds on the first day of winter, but the mop of unruly hair on top of its head resembled Akaashi's. With blood roaring in your ears, you slowly flanked the creature from the side in attempt of getting a better look. But the sight that greeted you was something that would be burned in the back of your mind for eternity.

It—Akaashi—had a pair of horns jutting out from his forehead, tinged the same hue as his ivory skin. In his taloned hands, he had a carcass so mangled, you could no longer identify if it was an animal or not. His lips were caked in the same blood that pooled beneath him, as deranged, crimson eyes glossed over with the ecstasy from feasting on his meal.

A scream bubbled in your throat, but you knew better than to announce your presence just like that. This was what you wanted, right? To witness him in his true form? You were the one who asked for this and yet...and yet—

The sound of a twig snapping underneath your sandals echoed in the vicinity like you'd just set off a land mine. You could no longer hear him tearing the flesh from its bones, as Akaashi slowly turned to look at you.

Those weren't the eyes of the kind-hearted yokai you thought he was.

They were the eyes of a killer.

Someone was screaming as you bolted out of the clearing and back into the cemetery. They were still screaming when you nearly tripped on your own feet as you ran down the hill.

You'd only realized it was you when you barged into the shrine's foyer just after your grandmother finished the dance, weeping inconsolably in her arms for reasons that you would continue to refuse to let them know of in the days to come.

#haikyuu!!#akaashi keiji #lunaris #bokuto koutarou #akaashi keiji x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fanfiction #blood #gore #tw blood #tw gore

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bubonickitten · 4 years

Note

i am praying for u and the su fandom in these trying, painful, angsty times. i dont watch the show, but its very clear that u r all going through it rn

Oh, there was pain and angst but honestly?? Overall I’m pleased with where/how it ended. (I also do recommend the show if at any point you find yourself wanting a new series to binge.)

Also, Connie riding in on a lion and telling all these nigh-immortal aliens to Stop Parentifying That Teenager was *chef’s kiss* Delicious.

Speaking of, I guess I can use this as an opportunity to share some of my thoughts on the series ending though. (Spoilers ahead, obvi.)

The fandom has been saying for awhile that Steven basically has PTSD, and it was cool to see the show address mental health issues in such a direct and (quite frankly) raw way. They didn’t sweep it under the rug. And I heard some people were complaining that it made recovery seem too simple, but the very ending scene was fast forwarded several months – it’s made clear that Steven had months’ worth of his family and friends giving him support and paying close attention to him, and!! him FINALLY getting therapy was at the very top of my list of things I wanted for the series ending.

The whole series we’ve seen Steven be the emotional shoulder for everyone, and although his compassion and identity as a healer are some of his most lovable and praiseworthy character traits (and it’s really nice seeing a boy character who is so in touch with the emotional side of life and allowed to cry without being shamed for it and so willing to wear his heart on his sleeve), it’s become clear throughout the series that his entire identity became hinged on what he was able to do for others, and he never really learned any sort of long-term emotional self-care.

Steven Universe Future was about his realization that he didn’t feel like he had a purpose beyond saving the world, that he didn’t know how to be a friend without having a problem to solve, that he didn’t know how to exist in a world that wasn’t constantly on the verge of ending. And it’s been a running fandom kinda-joke-kinda-not that Steven Has To Be His Own Mom AND His Own Therapist, but like… it’s true. Gems don’t really understand humans very well, let alone human child development, or even the concept of mortality as it applies to humans, so even though the Gems love him, there have always been some gaps in their understanding of how to best provide for his emotional growth and wellbeing. And likewise, Greg is a good dad, but he’s always been at a loss regarding the Gem side of things. There’s never been anyone like Steven, so he’s kind of caught between two worlds and the adults in his life don’t know how to provide for him in any sort of well-rounded way.

And like, Steven’s spent so much time trying to figure out who he is in relation to Gem stuff – is he Rose Quartz or Pink Diamond or Steven? – and so much time trying to fix all the problems the Diamonds caused, that he never really got a chance to figure out who he is as a whole person. He didn’t have a normal childhood even before he started Gem training. He never went to the doctor, never went to school, and we never see mention of him hanging out with other human kids before Connie. Now that Connie’s going off to college, and Steven sees what Greg’s childhood was like, Steven realizes that a big part of him wanted to be able to experience those normal human milestones and rites of passage, but he was never given a choice. Greg and the Gems gave him a lot of freedom, especially wrt freedom of expression, which is great, but Steven also rightfully points out that he also hasn’t felt physically safe ever since he started doing Gem stuff.

Now that he actually has time to put some thought into what he wants to be/do in this new world he’s helped usher in, rather than just trying to live up to others’ expectations – whether it’s trying to be like Rose Quartz or trying to make up for the Diamonds’ fuckups – he doesn’t really know how to just live. And on top of that, he’s lived through a lot of trauma that hasn’t been properly addressed until now.

One of the neat things the show did toward the end was to represent trauma in a very visual, physical way, by having Dr. Maheswaran show him X-rays of his healed fractures. Steven (and the people around him) never realized how much damage he’d been doing to his body since he heals so fast, but that doesn’t mean the damage wasn’t accumulating. A lot of adults watch this show, but it’s first and foremost a kids’ show. Portraying trauma in a visual way like that alongside the discussion of psychological trauma could make it easier for younger kids to conceptualize what trauma does to a person. We see trauma manifest in a very physical way (i.e. Steven’s body responding to his emotional states) as well as in behavioral and emotional ways (i.e. Steven lashing out both at himself and others, Steven trying desperately to find a new purpose for himself, Steven accidentally hurting others and coming to believe that he’s a monster because of it).

It was just… really cool to see a kids’ show tackling these topics in a serious way. I mean, the series has always portrayed trauma – Pearl’s compartmentalization and flashbacks (and her entire identity and self-worth being tied to Rose Quartz) in particular stand out, as well as Lapis’s entire character arc, and Garnet’s visceral reactions to Gem shards forced to fuse, and Amethyst’s low self-worth, etc. etc. – but I was really glad that Steven Universe Future revisited Steven’s trauma in particular. I feel like it rounded out his character arc and personal growth in a really important and much-needed way. And it was nice to see the series end in a place where he felt safe and assured enough to go explore the world for himself – in much the same way that Greg and Rose always wanted to do – while also knowing that his support network would be there to catch him if he needed help. Most importantly, now he knows it’s okay if he’s not okay and that he’s allowed to ask for help and his friends and family won’t judge him for it.

#steven universe #steven universe future #suf spoilers #su spoilers #Anonymous

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rigelmejo · 4 years

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anyway in other thoughts, still kind of blows my mind how much reading in chinese is easier to me than reading in japanese. is it:

because of effort spent actively TRYING to read chinese, therefore just getting better at the skills necessary to do it? (probably lbr >o>)

because i don’t even know why? because i tell myself its easier and have convinced my brain until it became true? (possible? possible...)

because i learned the most common words early on, in an organized fashion, and should’ve done that 2 yrs earlier in japanese (yeah...)

because chinese characters actually DO hint at their pronunciation! which is fantastic! amazing! so great! I love it! (Really, chinese is like english in the sense of a few varied pronunciations of some things, but also in a way feels more regularly pronounced than english, and the japanese kanji having SO MANY pronunciations with no hint at the pronunciation in the kanji really... hits me hard... It was really a game changer realizing in many chinese characters, a radical is hinting at a pronunciation, making them in my mind more akin to tackling thousands of ‘kana’ with a bit of additional meaning hint, instead of tackling thousands of kanji with meaning hint but nearly no sound hints ever... this difference really just in general makes chinese pronunciation and spelling easier for me long term than japanese...)

probably because i studied a grammar guide super early on, i find it pretty easy to tell apart separate words and grammatical constructions and word types in chinese like adj, noun, verb, grammar point, etc. (This probably just makes reading chinese easier and is why i suggest at least skimming through a grammar guide so you’ll be aware of this stuff, japanese actually also is Decently easy to read despite no word spaces for a similar reason - if you know japanese particles and verb/adj endings, then breaking a sentence down into words becomes much easier in general)

idk again with just how the hanzi are made and used... its really comforting to me knowing that with most characters, if i learn them in one word then they’ll probably be pronounced the same (with tone rules in words applying) in any new words, and they often will at least hint to a similar meaning in many new words. it feels much more like a solid building block i can rely on once i learn it. And since pronunciation is often the same, if i see new words in subtitles i can still line them up to the audio based on matching up the pronunciation of known characters, then typing that and pinyin for the unknown audio i just heard, to look up the new words. It just... in my mind works a lot more like the english alphabet in terms of reliably being able to listen and look up and see in new words. Hanzi have the additional benefit of sometimes also contributing meaning to a new word similar to their meaning in another word you know, which some (but not all) english words do (like ‘vent’ ‘in’ ‘non’ ‘ly’ but more widespread, along with things like carpet having nothing to do with ‘cars’ or ‘pets’ but still making the word carpet - chinese has words like that too sometimes). Overall i just think... thinking this way with word formation is easier for me to handle than how japanese forms words. I think japanese words are formed logically (I really like japanese grammar, and how verbs get conjugated, it makes a lot of sense to me) - but for me it takes my brain a lot longer to rethink how it would be in ‘english’ into how differently it would be structured in japanese. Whereas with chinese, where things are structured differently, I find they are differences i can get used to pretty fast, and differences that i could understand were they spoken in english. Most chinese word orders, grammar points for example - I think they’d sound weird literally translated word for word into english, but i think i’d still understand them fine, much like how sometimes spanish or french or german order sentences diffferently but would still kind of make sense literally word for word translated to english... awkward sounding and grammatically wrong, but understandable. So I think because of that, my brain has an easier time quickly catching what sentences mean. Whereas in japanese, even though everything i study makes sense, it takes me a LOT longer to rethink every sentence into something in an order i would understand easier in english, and that slows me down and frustrates me a lot. It makes watching japanese that much ‘harder’ and reading take that much ‘longer’ cause every sentence is me slowly working it into something i could follow, compared to chinese where it was only a couple months adjusting to the common differences in order/grammatical structures and now reading sentences flows pretty fast except for unknown words.

#rant #chinese studyblr #japanese studyblr #anyone else studied both?#how's it been for you?#are you finding one 'easier'?#has one helped with the other?#for me chinese hanzi #have actually helped a lot with japanese reading skills

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theroseofgold · 4 years

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Having Your Cake and Eating It Too: The Mental Equivalent of Indigestion

I'm sure this goes without saying, but even life during a pandemic has a way of creeping up on you.

One minute everything is normal. You're working, running errands, generally getting things done, and the next? The next you're stuck at home doing some sort of work from home, whether it be a job, school, or teaching a child how to do things a teacher with a degree would be handling in any other circumstance. Life has always been able to kick us in the teeth and have a good chuckle about it. Usually, though, life is at least reigned in by the aggressive police force known as routine. And that? That is one thing I'm sure a lot of us are still struggling to rely on, even this far into the global health disaster we're all living with.

Another way everything turned onto its head back in March is everything transitioning to online. For some, they were already living that life: Professional Gamers, Coders, Book Editors and many other types of jobs were just able to take the work from home orders in stride since they were already doing that anyway, thanks Government. For those of us that weren't, however, we didn't know our limits.

We didn't realize that going into an office can keep you so much more honest at work. We didn't realize that the distance for a few hours a day kept us from seriously considering why we love our families as much as we do. I mean, does your partner really have to listen to their music on full blast every single hour of the day? Does your kid have to hum when they do everything? Is there no such thing as a comfortable silence? On the other hand, is it too quiet? The silence could be killing you, but the minute you put in headphones to give yourself some background noise everyone needs to talk to you. You can never get that relief of just falling into your task and mindlessly doing what needs to be done.

Being home used to feel like a relief. Now, at least in my humble opinion, coming home feels like walking into my job at eight in the morning. No matter what, there will always be something that I need to do that is more important than my relaxation and mental health. My work isn't something I can just drop into because someone else always needs help with what they're doing. My breaks are now no longer something I can just sleep through or quietly sit in. They're taken up by talking and making sure others are taken care of.

Ever since starting doing school online though, the dynamic has changed slightly. I no longer have the time to do any of those things. I can't cook lunch for the entire house on my lunch break because I have homework to do that's due today. No, I can't clean right now, my class starts ten minutes after work ends. No, I can't help the kids with their school, I need to focus on my work so that I won't get fired during a pandemic. It's been surprisingly freeing and horribly constricting at the exact same time.

I thought that taking two classes and working at home at the same time would be easier than going in person. I like in person classes. They keep me honest. Which is why, when taking online classes, they feel easier. You can distract yourself with Youtube while the teacher is talking and your teacher is none the wiser. This turned out to be a double-edged sword for me. I know I can pass the classes I'm taking, but the workload is getting to be heavier and heavier and that makes things worse. It doesn't feel like a natural progression like it did in person.

At home, there is no relaxing, but now it's because I have 5 pages of homework to do, and it's all in a foreign language! Gaining sympathy from those at home has been a struggle too, since "I'm doing so well in the classes, it isn't stressful, obviously". So I can work a full time job and go to college part time, but unless I'm struggling there isn't any stress because it isn't a challenge? Because that's the mindset, it's unacceptable for me to only help out with the house on the weekends, even though that's the only time I have?

This pandemic has given me what I feel is a lose-lose situation. I lose if I'm successful in my classes because then I'm a failure at home. If I fail my classes, I've wasted money and I'm not smart, at least according to myself. My mental health is draining. I feel as if there a bunch of people that would love to be in my situation, one where they never have to leave the house and get to spend all their time doing things at their own pace. I say none of this to complain. This is just how I'm seeing my situation as of current.

There are a few things I've done to keep myself sane though!

-I take a shower everyday:

I know it sounds silly, but I do. It's the one time of the day that all of the shots are mine. I can choose how loud or quiet my surroundings are, I can choose if I'm going to focus on something productive or not. There are no expectations aside from the ones I put on myself.

-I take small naps when I have breaks:

I'm going to admit, I know this isn't the best for my sleep schedule, but it helps through the week. Even if I'm not actually sleeping, I take the time to just close my eyes and relax. I always set myself a timer so I'm not late for actual commitments, and I get some time where it's just me and my thoughts.

-When I'm doing homework, the headphones go in, and they don't come out until I'm done:

That seems to be the only time that it's ok for me to focus and no-one bothers me. Sometimes I'll get a tug on the sleeve for a quick request, but for the most part it's focus time and everyone understands that.

-Every Saturday and Sunday, no exception, I sleep in a little longer than I would during the week:

Because gosh darn it, I deserve to catch up on sleep. I'm a stress sleeper. If I get to sleep until I decide I want to wake up, I feel awesome and ready to tackle the day. It helps me be in a mood to hang out with those I love.

I know I chose to go to school and to work at the same time. I even decided to do it while pregnant, which wasn't the smartest idea. It's helping me learn my limits at least, and it gets me closer to my goals. That doesn't mean it isn't coming without bumps and bruises, however. I'm allowed to be stressed out and upset when things are getting to be too much, and allowing myself to feel like that is one of the reasons I'm still going. Even if it's physically uncomfortable. Even if I'm seen differently. I'm working things out for myself and it'll turn out alright.

Now if only this pandemic was over so I could go back to being in an office sometimes...which are words I never thought I would think.

#blog #life in general #life blog #pandemic #coping #thinking out loud #rant #school #self-care #work

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writtingsofspn · 5 years

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With Him By My Side

Request: Jensen reader where she is 22 and they fall in love he is her first everything and he is very protective of her on night there’s a thunder and she is scared and he takes care of her. People say that she is a gold digger but he is at a con and says the he never loved someone the way he loves the reader...(there’s some more but you get the gist)

Pairing: Jensen x reader (my first woo!)

A/N: This took me forever and I didn’t have the best week so just thank you to @webcraft4eveh for tagging me in things just to cheer me up it always makes me week @wonderfulworldofwinchester for putting some of my fics on her reading list it really got me a ton more notes and @thebooklover2020 for the gifs! You guys really reminded me that people do enjoy my writing and helped motivated me to finish this so thank you so much!!

Deep breath in, deep breath out. If Jensen could do it you could do it.

Sure Jensen had years of experience with these under his belt, this is his literal job, and he knew at least somewhat what they were going to ask him.

But yeah if Jensen could do it you could do it, sure.

Your stomach was in knots, you could feel your entire body not just shaking but vibrating. It was as if the nervousness from every speech you’ve ever had to give was hitting you at once. But at least all of those times you had something prepared, you already knew what you were going to say, you didn’t here. You had nothing here.

Familiar green eyes made contact with yours from across the stage, a wink and smile sent in your direction and despite everything you felt a genuine one grow on your own face.

Scratch that you had one thing, you had him, and you honestly felt like that was enough.

“It would seem she’s a little shy” The laugh in his voice caught your attention, pulled you from your own little bubble, made you aware of the microphone being shoved into your hand.

Deep breath in, deep breath out, one foot in front of the other, and you were met with a wall of sound.

Cheers, they were cheering for you, they actually wanted to see you, that was new.

Your thumb hovered over the button, hesitating just as it did every time you did this. With a small sigh you clicked back to the photo, your lips turning up just slightly at the sight of it. It was an objectively cute photo, Jensen leaning over to kiss your cheek well you laughed into the camera, a genuine laugh that made you grin at the thought of it.

You friend had taken the photo for you and from that moment was gushing about how you just had to post it. And she wasn’t wrong, you were excited to post it, to show off your boyfriend and gush about your relationship, but that damn comments section.

You had learned long ago that disabling it was safest, many people had not even waited until you and Jensen made you relationship public to attack you, instead going back onto old photos of you and leaving nasty comments. And at first it wasn’t a big deal, just disable their ability to leave comments and you wouldn’t have to read them anymore, not that you ever really paid attention to your comments section.

But as the saying goes you never know what you have until its gone.

As stupid as you felt admitting it you loved reading people’s comments, compliments, teasing from your friends, Jared always making note to make fun of Jensen, you missed it.

So before you could talk yourself out of it you posted the picture. Setting down the phone right away, almost scared something would pop up immediately.

But of course nothing did, they gave you a good five minutes to enjoy your day before tearing it to shreds.

You jumped at the notification sound in spite of yourself, immediately reaching for the phone and checking it, the first comment coming in.

GOLD DIGGER

You knew that was ridiculous, you were an independent woman, you could more than survive on your own salary alone, you definitely weren’t just dating him for his salary. But damn did the insinuation hurt.

Another one

She’s not even that pretty I don’t understand why he would choose her

Had you an optimistic bone in your body you would have fixated on the latter part of that sentence, the fact that yes he choose you, but of course you chose to focus on the former, even worse you agreed with it. There was no arguing it Jensen was way out of your league, in attractiveness, in social standing, hell economically speaking if we want to go there, and they for sure did, so why did he chose you?

Jensen deserves so much more than you

He did, didn’t he.

You could feel a lump grow in your throat at the memory, biting your lip before awkwardly taking the seat next to Jensen, waving to the crowd you couldn’t even see behind the bright lights.

“You’re doing great”

The words were comfortingly whispered into your ear, tips of hair from the scruff on his face tickling your neck, sending another smile across your face. Maybe you could do this afterall.

“Anyone have any questions for the beautiful Y/N?” Jared’s voice boomed over the speakers, pulling you back.

“How did you and Jensen meet?” The voice came from one area but the lights were much to bright to discern exactly who was talking.

“uh-“ You started to panic a bit, trying desperately to force yourself to calm down enough to speak.

“I’m just saying the blip is a stupid name that seeks to lessen the loss of five years for half of the population” You muttered, catching the amused smirk your friend had on her face.

“And I’m just saying its all fictional and you need to get over it” She couldn’t keep the laughter out of her voice, loving how defensive you got over the subject .

“well I-“ You started to counter, honestly not 100 percent sure where you were going to go with the sentence when you collided hard with another person’s shoulder, sending both of you spinning around, nearly falling to the ground.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry” You immediately started to apologize, reaching over ready to help the man up when you stopped dead in your tracks as familiar green eyes connected with yours. “You’re Jensen Ackles”

A small smirk flashed across his face as he stood up straighter, you immediately following suit, cursing yourself for those words. “Last time I checked yeah I am”

“Oh does it change often?” You didn’t even think before the words came spilling out of your mouth, your knee jerk reaction always to return sarcasm with sarcasm.

His eyebrows raised just slightly, his smile just getting a bit wider “As an actor actually yeah it does”

“touché” You chuckled, immediate rearing up ready to apologize again for knocking him over and taking up his time stating the obvious, when he got to filling the silence first.

“Well since you already know my name I think it’s only fair that I should know yours”

Alarms started going off in your head. Was that flirting, was he flirting with you? Jensen Ackles, an actual celebrity, an incredibly attractive one at that, there was just no way.

“I’m Y/N”

His hands dug deep in his pockets and his tongue darted out to graze his bottom lip, you could feel your whole body freeze at the simple action.

“You seem quite sure of that”

“As a non-actor I can afford to be” You quipped, relishing in the fact that he was actually laughing at your jokes.

“Jensen we gotta go man” It was the first time you realized there were other people watching you, looking away from his gorgeous eyes long enough to catch a glance from your friend sending a deep blush on your cheeks.

“Yeah yeah” He brushed off the people he was with, looking back at you “I’ll see you around Y/N”

You chuckled softly before giving him an awkward wave “probably not” His eyebrows drew together causing you to continue “Sorry I know you just meant it as a nice sentiment just ignore me” more silence, more waiting for you to continue “I mean it’s not like we run in the same circles”

“well then can I have your number to make sure I do see you around”

You could feel the wind being knocked out of your chest, he really was hitting on you. You couldn’t get your voice to work, only giving him a slight nod before reaching out to take his phone, putting your contact information in it, checking the number three times before handing it back to him, just to be safe.

“We just bumped into eachother one day” A pun…a stupid pun…a pun they wouldn’t even get…that’s the best you could come up with.

To your relief you heard Jensen laugh next to you, jumping in to fill in the gaps immediately saving you, “she means that literally. I basically tackled her in a mall”

You laughed back, forgetting for a moment there were god knows how many people watching you, letting yourself get caught up in him, it was a nice familiar feeling.

“Where was your first date?” A random voice shouted out another question.

“We just kept it low key” You answered, relived to find this answer rolled off your tongue much easier than the last one “pizza and movies at his place”

You woke up to a small tickle on your forehead, your hand immediately coming up trying to push away the hair when you realized it wouldn’t go away, cause it wasn’t yours.

You slowly picked your head up, coming face to face with gorgeous green eyes.

“Well good morning to you too”

You looked down to see your legs thrown over his lap, your arms hanging limply around his neck, your head pressed into the crook of it, you were basically clinging onto him.

“uh-sorry” You stuttered, a blush rising quickly up your cheeks as you started to untangle yourself from him, only to have him hold onto you tighter, keeping you in place.

“You definitely have nothing to be sorry for” He assured you with a soft smile.

“good cause I’m not” You shot back with a giggle, placing your head back onto his shoulder, looking back at the tv screen to see the credits rolling through, the last remnants of your movie date night.

“What time is it?”

“1am I think” He shrugged

You cursed under your breath, burying your head a little deeper “I don’t want to leave yet”

“then don’t” He answered quickly “It’s late and also pouring down rain”

“I wouldn’t want to impose-“

“You wouldn’t be” He interrupted you “You can have the guest bed if you want”

“Are you sure” You asked him, sitting up once again to look him in the eyes.

“Of course” He chuckled, his eyes bouncing back and forth between your own.

“Then I’d like that”

“me too”

The rain hadn’t seemed so bad at first, just some light tapping on the window, but as the eye of the storm moved closer everything got worse. The rain itself wasn’t bad still, sounded like marbles falling onto the roof. but the thunder, that’s what scared you.

You had pulled the blankets up over your head, as if it could protect you from the deafening cracks that without fail made you jump. The lightning illuminating the room for a second giving you little warning before the sky split open.

You thought you could handle it, hands over your ears, hiding, telling yourself that it was going to be ok. But then it got to the point that the walls shook with the sound and before you knew it you were standing in front of Jensen’s door.

You decided to give it a short knock before walking right in, not entirely sure how best to handle the situation. Hesitantly you whispered his name, watching in relief as he slowly sat up, his hands going to his eyes rubbing the sleep from them.

“Y/N? what’s wrong”

You froze for a moment, unsure of what to say. You hadn’t thought any of this through and in that moment just telling him didn’t feel like the right answer. The room flooded with light for a brief moment and seconds after a loud crack, making you jump and tense up, something that didn’t go unnoticed by him.

“Come here” Was all he said, lifting up the blankets and you didn’t think twice before diving underneath them. He waisted no time in wrapping his arms around you, pulling you deep into his chest, your head resting comfortably on it.

“I’m sorry”

“You never need to be sorry” He assured you, hugging you tightly.

Another flash of lightning, another clap of thunder, another jump.

He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, mumbling into your hair “you’re ok. I’ve got you”

And in all honesty you fully believed him

“Ah right then we slept together”

You hit him on the chest right away, your cheeks dusting red as you rolled your eyes “we did not sleep together on our first date…we just slept in eachothers arms”

A chorus of ‘awws’ erupted around the room including an overzealous one coming from Jared’s chair making you blush even harder, maybe you should have just gone with Jensen’s version of events.

“Since you’ve never had to deal with the paparazzi before what’s that like?”

“It can be hard” You answered honestly, not missing the way Jensen’s hand immediately sought yours out, rubbing soft circles on the skin “especially in the beginning”

“Can I open my eyes yet?”

“No”

“how about now”

“Still no”

“now?”

“You really are a child aren’t you”

“Maybe but I’m you’re child”

“You know that was probably meant to be sweet but it just came across as kinda creepy” You laughed at him, finally pulling into a parking spot after much too long looking for one.

“Yeah not my best work” He admitted with a chuckle.

“Alright you can open your eyes”

He gasped loudly, grabbing your hand tightly, looking at you with wide eyes “how did you know I love parking lots?”

You rolled your eyes and tried to fight the smile off of your face “alright just get out of the car smartass”

He laughed in response, giving you a smirk before stepping out of the car, freezing once he finally did see where you were at “the carnival?”

“It’s its first day in town” You shrugged “thought it would be fun”

“I haven’t been in years” He laughed, staring up at it.

“I hope its ok”

“It’s perfect” He assured you, walking around the car to throw his arm over your shoulders, leading you to the ticket booth.

Despite protests that it was your date he still paid for the tickets, walking lazily around the carnival with his hand in yours, trying to decide what to do first when one of the workers jumped from his booth into your path.

“hey what do you say buddy win your lady a prize?” He gestured up at the giant stuffed teddy bears, a signature untrustworthy smirk playing on his face as he locked eyes with Jensen.

“That’s the whole reason you brought me here wasn’t it” He laughed looking down at you “You wanted a giant bear”

“well I’m not saying I’d be opposed to one” He chuckled at you, handing the man five dollars and listening as he explained the rules, you breaking off from him to watch.

Jensen picked up one of the baseballs, taking a moment to test it’s weight in his hands before cocking his arm and throwing it just to the left of the milk bottles.

“You know the point of the game is to hit those right?”

You watched as he mimicked you under his breath, picking up the next ball and letting it sail just to the right of the bottles.

“I’m just saying at this rate you’ll be broke before I get the bear”

He locked eyes with you, sending you a glare and picking up the ball before winking, quickly cocking his arm and knocking over all three bottles in one throw.

“We have a winner!” The man shouted, climbing up on the counter and pulling down one of the bears, lowering it into your arms

“And you doubted me” Jensen teased, walking back over to you with a smile on his face.

You opened your mouth to respond but was cut off by someone else calling his name. This was something that by this point you were used to, random people recognizing him in restaurants and such asking for an autograph. But you watched as this guy pulled out a notepad and asked if he could ask Jensen some questions.

Immediately Jensen stepped in front of you, blocking you from view.

“Look kid I know you’re just trying to do your job but I’m just here to have fun no questions please”

The reporter didn’t back off, ignoring him completely, continuing to barrage him with questions. Jensen tired to talk him down, tried to get him to leave, but nothing worked, so he finally just grabbed your hand and dragged you away from the guy, keeping his body between you and the reporter.

You didn’t question him just let him drag you away, watching the way his jaw set as he heard the guy calling after him but luckily didn’t follow you two.

“Jensen are you ok?” You asked him once you had finally gotten far enough away, pausing behind some random tent.

He squeezed your hand, sending you a soft but obviously painted on smile. “I’m fine, I’m just really sorry about that guy?”

“It’s not your fault” You shrugged, rubbing a thumb across his hand, trying to get him to calm down “and I’m fine it was just one guy he didn’t even care about me”

“It is my fault” he insisted with a sigh “it’s my fault he came up to me”

“It’s your fault that you were you?” You chuckled shaking your head at him “that’s ridiculous, it’s not your fault, and no harm was done, don’t even worry about it”

He looked at you, the corners of his mouth tipped up finally, “what did I do to deserve you?”

“Beats me” You chuckled earning yourself an eyeroll “but how bout I run this bear to the car, you buy me an elephant ear, and we’ll go on the Farris wheel in a bit”

“I’d like that” He nodded.

You grinned back at him, nodding back briefly before heading back to the car, Jensen heading over to one of the food trucks.

It took some effort but the bear eventually did fit in the back seat, you just couldn’t see out of the back window which sounded like a problem for the drive home not now.

Your phone beeped with a message from Jensen letting you know where to meet him. You started to make your way back into the carnival when you paused noticing the unusually long line to get into the park, each one of them wearing large cameras around their necks, reporters. That guy must have tipped them off and now they were all here for Jensen, shit.

You ran back through the grounds, trying to make sure you didn’t tip anyone off that you were heading where they needed to, when you finally spotted Jensen sitting at one of the picnic tables, a giant elephant ear on a plate in front of him, a grin appearing on his face as soon as he spotted you.

You ran up and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him to his feet “we need to go”

“What’s wrong” He furrowed his brow, slowly getting up but not moving from his seat.

“The reporter must have tipped off some of his buddies, there’s a whole bunch trying to get into the park right now” You rambled off quickly, glancing nervously around you.

Jensen immediately started to do the same, accidently making eye contact with more than a few in the process. Several of them started to sprint in your direction, calling his name, camera bulbs flashing harshly in the process. “shit” He swore under his breath and pulled you off in the other direction.

You tried to keep up with him, your much shorter legs struggling to do so, when he finally yanked you into a random tent, pulling the flaps closed and pulling you into a corner, his eyes telling you to be quiet just in case.

The two of you sat in the tent for a bit, perfectly silent, listening as footsteps passed in front of the tent and just as quickly faded.

You waited until it was silent for quite some time before Jensen smiled down at you, sending you a small wink to say you were in the clear.

“fuck Jens I’m so sorry”

His face immediately fell, his eyebrows drawing up “what are you sorry for”

“This date!” You exclaimed “it’s been an absolute mess”

“and that’s not your fault” He pressed

“it’s the first night its here I should have known there would be someone here to cover it”

He shook his head “there is no way that any of this is your fault”

“it is! I should have thought this through. I should have taken more precautions, I shouldn’t have brought you here in the first place” Words flowed from your mouth quickly as you started to spiral, Jensen trying desperately to get you to stop before he finally took matter into his own hands. He grabbed your face with two hands, not giving you a second to process what was happening before pressing his lips against yours.

You froze on the spot, total shock taking over you as you just stood there dumbly with wide eyes until he pulled back from you.

“this is not your fault” He assured you with a small chuckle, watching your cheeks heat up as you just stared at him with big eyes.

“you..you kissed me” You stuttered out, unable to think about anything else, your hands rising up to your lips, brushing over them.

“I did” He replied slowly “I’m sorry I should have asked if that was ok”

“no no” You shook your head, finally bringing your gaze up to meet his own “it’s not that it’s just…that was my first”

He drew his brows again “your first kiss?”

You just nodded sheepishly.

“oh shit” He mumbled, running a hand through his hair “If I had known that I would have made it much more romantic. Not just in a random tent in a carnival”

“No it was perfect” You giggled, biting your lip softly.

“I guess I’ll just have to make it up to you later” He chuckled “but first we should probably get out of here” He started shrugging off his coat, handing it to you along with his baseball cap “here put these on”

“but it’s something you get used to” You said with a small smile, looking down at the hands in your lap “and they did get me my first kiss so I guess it’s not all bad”

Jensen laughed again from his chair but didn’t say anything, giving you the floor, acknowledging that at this point you could handle yourself.

“Just in general what is dating Jensen like?”

“It’s a roller coaster” You answered honestly with a small laugh in your voice, giving his hand a small squeeze. “it can have its lows” the paparazzi, media attention, being hounded whenever you went outside, the mean comments, life wasn’t exactly a cakewalk with him “and it definitely has it’s highs”

Half an hour passed without you realizing it, just sitting on your bed, scrolling through comments, not even bothering to wipe the tears as they rolled down your face.

The front door sounded as someone walked through it, presumably Jensen back from work, and you jumped into action, wiping away at your cheeks, tossing your phone across the room with little care as to where it landed, hell better if it broke least then you wouldn’t be tempted to check Instagram again.

He came into the bedroom, a grin on his face and a bouquet of roses in his hands, held proudly in front of him.

“Jensen what’s all this for” You put on your best happy face, grabbing the roses and immediately trying to hide your face behind them.

“I was just thinking about you on the way home and all of a sudden I was in front of a flower shop” He chuckled, reaching out to brush some hair from your face, his brows immediately drawing in concern “Babe what’s wrong”

You never could hide anything from him, damn that acting career, nevertheless you tried “nothing Jens”

“As much as I like the idea of you being so overcome with emotion at the fact that your boyfriend spontaneously brought you flowers home I don’t think that’s what happened” He said was a small chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.

And despite everything you did smile a bit, finally looking up to meet his gaze, finally letting him see the full extent of your puffy red eyes.

“I got a post notification from you a few minutes ago…did you-“ He didn’t even need to finish the sentence, understanding what was going on immediately, having been in this exact situation not too long ago.

You didn’t say anything, setting the roses down on the bed and hugging him tightly, trying to pull yourself as far into him as you could, letting him anchor you, letting him protect you.

“Why do they hate me” You had said it so softly you were unsure if he heard you, unsure if you wanted him to hear you.

“They don’t hate you Y/N” Jensen put his harms around your shoulders, squeezing you tightly into him, resting his chin on top of your head.

“They do” You pressed “the awful things they say to me”

“They’re assholes” He shook his head “they don’t even know you”

“but they’re not wrong” You regretted the words as soon as you said them, you did not need to push your insecurities onto him he didn’t need your burden to carry.

“What?” He pulled back from you and you practically whimpered at the loss of contact, reluctantly looking up at him through your lashes, wishing you could take back the words.

“Nothing just please hold me”

“What do you mean they’re not wrong Y/N” He wasn’t letting this one go.

“You’re a big movie star Jensen” You couldn’t meet his eye contact, your eyes falling to the floor “your handsome and successful and famous and I’m…I’m just me…I’m nothing”

“You are not nothing” The words came out of his mouth quickly, so forceful it left a small part of you worried he was angry “You are so far out of my league its not even funny”

You pushed the corners of your mouth up, moving in to hug him again “thanks Jensen”

“I mean it” He hugged you back “they don’t know you, I’m the one who gets to see this amazing, sweet, caring, funny, intelligent person everyday. So I’m definitely the one you should trust in this situation”

You couldn’t help but laugh into his chest, letting a bit of the weight off your shoulders. “I trust you”

“Good” You could hear the smile in his voice “cause I’m always right”

You finally let a louder laugh escape your lips, pulling back from him but always keeping him at arms length “we’ll I don’t know about that”

He feigned hurt, pulling an arm up to his chest and scoffing “How dare you”

“mhm” you hummed with a smirk, going up onto your toes and pecking his lips, his offended attitude melting away immediately “I love you”

“I love you too”

There was silence for a moment, just enjoying the feeling of Jensen against you, before he broke it again “come take a shower with me”

You shook your head against his chest, pulling back again “I’m not really in the mood Jens”

“not in that way you perv” He joked with a soft chuckle, making a point to softly flick your nose “just help calm you down”

“I’m fine” You tried to shake it off, wanting to do nothing more than collapse in the bed and forget about this afternoon.

“We both know that’s not true” He sighed, taking your hand, softly pulling you to the bathroom.

You groaned but obliged, following him into the bathroom. He grinned at your compliance, turning on the water and stripping, making a show of keeping his boxers on before getting in the shower.

You eyed his suspiciously, not entirely sure what you had gotten yourself into but did the same, following behind him, only to be met with a bone crushing hug.

Immediately you took note of the feeling of his skin against yours, his arms, his chest, his stomach, his thighs. Every part of him was open to your touch, his fingers delicately tracing figures into your back as he hugged you. The water was nice and hot, making the entire room steam, his scent was everywhere around you, his skin was soft and wet to the touch. And before you knew it you were completely melting into him just enjoying the feeling of him.

“but the highs always outweigh the lows” you finished with a soft smile, looking back up at Jensen who wore a similar expression on his face.

“Jensen what do you think?”

He laughed softly, not taking an eye off of you for a second “This relationship is unlike anything I’ve ever been in before” He chuckled softly “but I can honestly say I’ve never loved anyone like I love you”

You. He said you. Not her not Y/N he said you. He wasn’t talking to the crowd or even for their benefit, he was talking to you.

“I love you too” You didn’t bother to lift the microphone to your lips when you said it. This was your moment, this was yours and Jensen’s moment.

“anyways” Jared’s voice broke through everything, drawing you back once again, your eyes flicking away from Jensen’s quickly as if you had been caught doing something you weren’t supposed to have been. “anymore questions before we let Y/N out of here?”

The room was silent and you took that as your que to leave, getting ready to push yourself up from the chair when a voice sounded from the crowd.

“How big is he?”

You bit your lip and grinned up at him, his face dropping slightly. You could hear Jared rearrange himself in his chair and looked over to see him leaning heavily over the armrest towards you, looking as interested in your answer as possible.

“Do you want like a metaphor or inches. Cause in terms of inches he’s about-“

Jensen grabbed your mic from your hand immediately “alright that’s enough of that”

You laughed at him, sending him a wink as he tried to keep a straight face but failed miserably.

The crowd erupted in boo’s making him shake his head “not my fault” he defended “they’re giving me the signal it’s time to wrap it up, no more questions, we’re done”

You and Jared laughed at him as he rambled, sharing a look before standing. With a quick kiss on the cheek you left the stage, leaving them to do whatever they needed to in order to wrap things up, feeling as though you were coming down from a high.

Never had you thought that would have gone that well.

#jensen ackles #jensen x reader #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles x y/n #jensen ackles x you #jensen x y/n #supernatural #supernatural oneshot #supernatural one shot #supernatural imagine #jensen one shot #jensen imagine #jensen ackles one shot #jensen ackles imagine

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rubyleaf · 4 years

Text

There’s virtually no fanfic for Shadow of the Fox but I got hit by this AU idea where Yumeko and Tatsumi are childhood friends, and my hand slipped. Enjoy.

Sometimes the world is frightening to Kage Tatsumi, but at least he has Yumeko-chan.

They’re not supposed to be friends, technically. He’s part of the Shadow Clan and she’s just a commoner from the neighboring town, and the adults keep telling him it’s undignified for him to treat her like an equal. She is also half kitsune, something that would get her killed if people knew about it, so Tatsumi has promised her to never tell anyone about it, ever.

However, Yumeko is also one of the closest people to his own age, as well as the most fun by far. Playing with Yumeko never gets boring. She knows how to climb trees and befriend wild animals; she can make teapots dance and shoes walk off on their own, and on boring afternoons she can fill the hours with the most incredible stories she has gathered from passing yokai. Yumeko is Tatsumi’s best friend in the whole world, and they’re sticking together no matter what happens.

Today, as usual, Tatsumi is supposed to meet up with her after his daily shinobi training. The adults know, of course. They don’t like it, but Tatsumi is very good at his training, so they don’t really see a point in stopping him for now.

But today, after the training, Tatsumi is held back. His usual teacher stops him as he is about to leave, and into the doorframe steps a man he has never seen before.

“This boy?” he asks, his sharp black eyes sizing Tatsumi up from head to toe.

The teacher nods. “This is Kage Tatsumi, Master Ichiro,” he says. “The boy you are looking for.”

Master Ichiro’s eyes narrow. Tatsumi does his best to stand firm under that gaze. He doesn’t like it. It chills him down to the bone.

“Good,” he finally says. “Come with me, child.”

Tatsumi throws a questioning glance at his teacher, then follows. Over his shoulder he catches Ayame’s eyes. She seems worried, but quickly looks away once he meets her gaze.

“No looking back,” Master Ichiro says. “Follow me.”

Tatsumi does, on and on through the winding corridors and hidden passages of the castle, all along thinking of Yumeko waiting for him at the pond. They were planning to catch some tadpoles today. He hopes this won’t take too long.

On they go. Master Ichiro loses no word on where they’re headed or how long it will take. Tatsumi has lost his orientation long ago. He doesn’t have the courage to ask where they are or what this man wants from him. Maybe Yumeko would have said something. But Yumeko isn’t here.

Finally Master Ichiro arrives at a heavy door and pushes it open. Beyond it lies a chamber, small and dark and empty except for a single sword.

“This is Kamigoroshi,” Master Ichiro says. “It is the sword of the Kage demonslayer.”

A shiver runs down Tatsumi’s spine. He doesn’t understand the whole demonslayer thing, but even he knows the demonslayer and his sword are something dangerous, something to be avoided. Why lead him to this chamber—to this thing that sounds so bad?

Master Ichiro’s eyes fall on him, sizing him up and down, appraising. Judging. As if even he himself doesn’t know why he brought this boy here.

“And you,” he says, “have been chosen as its next bearer.”

Tatsumi freezes where he stands. He looks at the sword, then down at his hands, then back at the sword. It’s longer than he is tall.

And he’s…supposed to carry it now? He’s supposed to be the bearer of this sword?

But doesn’t that mean…

“Within this sword resides a demon,” Master Ichiro says. “Its name is Hakaimono, and it has chosen you to be the next Kage demonslayer.”

Him. The demonslayer.

“But—” Tatsumi ventures.

“No arguing.” Master Ichiro’s eyes flash. “The sword chooses the bearer, and it has chosen you. Your task is only to wield it, do what you’re assigned and not let the demon possessing it take over your mind.”

I can’t.

The thought is immediate, so intense that Tatsumi can just barely stop himself from saying it out loud. This sword is so big…this demon sounds powerful. And Tatsumi is neither of those things. He’s just…Tatsumi.

“Fear not,” Master Ichiro says. “We will teach you everything you need to know.”

Tatsumi nods stiffly. Master Ichiro strides past him into the chamber, picking up the sword and holding it out towards him. “Take it.”

He tries and nearly drops it. It’s heavy…too heavy for his arms. He can’t hold this thing!

Hello, human child.

Tatsumi does drop it this time.

“A voice…” he whispers, stumbling backwards, trembling. “There’s a voice in—”

“Brat! Who told you to drop it?” Master Ichiro snaps, shoving Kamigoroshi back into his hands. Tatsumi tries to resist, but he’s only a child, and Ichiro grabs his hands and forces them around the sword. “Stop showing fear! The voice in your head is Hakaimono. You must never show him any emotions, or he will take over your body and slaughter everyone around you.”

Tatsumi grips the sword in desperation. His face is reflected in the gleaming metal of the sword, but all he sees before his eyes is a giant shadow, adorned with the grinning, mocking grimace of an oni.

“What happens if I fail?” he whispers.

Master Ichiro leans down. It’s the one time he does something to be on the same eye level as him, staring deep into his soul with eyes just as black as the newly formed shadow in Tatsumi’s mind.

“If you fail,” he says, “we will have to kill you.”

---

Several days pass before Tatsumi gets to see Yumeko again. Master Ichiro has taken over his training, and he doesn’t allow him to go out and meet with friends. The Kage demonslayer, he says, must not have any friends. He must not love or get attached, or Hakaimono will instantly use that against him.

Tatsumi understands that. But his best friend is out there, waiting for him, probably mad at him for standing her up. And he just wants to tell her about all of this, and he can’t, and it hurts him.

Kamigoroshi remains in his room, unused for now, just lying on the floor like a harbinger of doom. At night Tatsumi lies awake, staring at the weapon, too afraid to touch it even though Master Ichiro keeps telling him to, saying he needs to get accustomed to Hakaimono’s presence. When he sleeps, he is still restless, and the demon continues to haunt his dreams.

It is late at night when something scrapes on his sliding doors. Something that doesn’t sound human at all.

More like a fox, really.

Tatsumi flings off his blanket and opens the door. In comes Yumeko, looking around before transforming into a human. “Tatsumi,” she says, “are you all right? You haven’t come to visit me all week, catching tadpoles was no fun without you!”

Tatsumi looks at her, her gentle eyes, her round, familiar face. The look of concern and understanding. Something no one else has shown him since he became the new owner of Kamigoroshi.

Tears well up in his eyes.

“Yumeko,” he says, “I’m the demonslayer now!”

Her eyes go round. She hasn’t heard as much, but even to her that name brings fear. “What do you mean, demonslayer?” she says. “I thought you weren’t big enough for a sword!”

Tatsumi wipes his eyes and motions to the sword. “The demon…Hakaimono,” he says. “He’s in there…in the sword…he chose me.” He swallows, sniffles, but his vision keeps blurring. “I have to do it now…and Master…Master Ichiro says I can’t ever have friends or feel things anymore or the demon takes me over…and…” His voice breaks. Tears begin to run down his face. “And they’re going to kill me!”

“What? That’s stupid!” Yumeko looks both shocked and angry. “Fighting and demons should be stuff for the grownups, not us! That’s so dumb!”

Tatsumi swallows, wipes his eyes and nods. Then waits.

“Are you scared of me now?” he finally asks.

Yumeko gapes at him. “What?”

“Because I…I’m the demonslayer.” Tatsumi sniffles and hiccups. “I’m a bad guy now…and…”

He doesn’t get any further before Yumeko grabs him and tackles him with a hug.

“Of course I’m not scared,” she says. “You’re my best friend! And best friends stick together, remember?”

Tatsumi doesn’t say anything. He can’t answer. All he can do is bury his face in Yumeko’s shoulder and squeeze her tightly.

“Actually,” Yumeko says, “let’s run away.”

Tatsumi pulls back. “What?”

“From all this,” she answers. “This sword and the whole…demonslaying stuff. Let’s get away and you can live a normal life, how’s that?”

Tempting. So tempting.

But…

“Impossible,” Tatsumi says sadly. “It doesn’t work that way.” He wipes his eyes again. “Hakaimono’s stuck with me until I die.”

“Or he does!” Yumeko answers. “There’s got to be a way to get rid of him!”

But Tatsumi shakes his head.

“I’m sure there is,” Yumeko insists. “We just have to find it. Hang in there, all right? I’ll find out a way to save you for sure!”

Tatsumi almost starts crying again, but instead he forces his lips into a wobbly smile.

“Thank you.”

---

Yumeko keeps visiting him in secret. Every night she sneaks inside to talk to him, sometimes tell him a story, and it means the world to Tatsumi that at least to one person he’s still not the demonslayer, not a monster, but simply Kage Tatsumi.

One night the little fox comes into his room bearing something in her mouth. She drops it in front of him when she transforms, and upon closer inspection Tatsumi finds it’s a small fox doll.

“That’s to cheer you up when I’m not here,” she says. “I made it myself!”

Tatsumi is pretty sure Master Ichiro would never approve of him owning a toy, but just the sight of that little fox makes everything so much easier that he takes it anyway and hides it far from the adults’ line of sight.

A stuffed doll? Hakaimono taunts him later that night. How sentimental.

Tatsumi closes his eyes, covers his ears. He doesn’t want to hear that voice.

You cannot keep me out this way, little one, the demon answers. I am within you. You can run, but you can never escape from your mind.

“Shut up,” Tatsumi whispers.

You seem to care about this girl a lot. There is a smile in the demon’s voice. How would you like it if I sliced this doll of hers to pieces, I wonder?

Tatsumi curls up under the blanket, shivering. The sword lies too close to him, too big and too close and too heavy to move.

And her along with it?

---

Hakaimono keeps taunting him.

Tatsumi tries to ignore it, but the voice is getting louder. Most of the time he can tune out the demon. He feels nothing anymore when people in the palace avoid him. He feels nothing when Master Ichiro beats him for making a mistake. He feels nothing when he is forced to kill small creatures, living beings that he knows Yumeko considers her friends. But when it comes to Yumeko…he can’t tune it out.

He can’t be uncaring when it comes to her. He can’t tear himself from this attachment, the last one he still had. His best friend. The only person still keeping him sane, keeping him human.

He does try to distance himself, for her sake. He has talked her into not coming over as often, and on nights without her he hugs the fox doll close and endures the fear and loneliness. But dropping her entirely? He can’t do that. He simply can’t.

Even if he knows it’s a weakness.

Even if he knows that, sooner or later, Hakaimono will use it against him.

---

Tatsumi finally arrives on Yumeko’s doorstep during the daytime, looking like he is carrying a heavy burden.

He is eleven now, tall and strong enough to wield Kamigoroshi, just barely. Most of the time it still looks like the sword is wielding him. But he keeps hauling it with him anyway, why, Yumeko doesn’t know.

“Tatsumi,” she says. “What’s up?”

For a moment something akin to pain crosses his face, then it transforms back into an emotionless mask. “Yumeko,” he says, “I need you to stop visiting me.”

It’s like a punch in the gut. Yumeko flinches. “What?” she asks. “But—”

“It’s Hakaimono. He keeps threatening…to kill you,” Tatsumi whispers. “I need to cut you off, or he will take over.”

Impossible. Impossible. All these years, and it’s been fine. “You managed before!” Yumeko bursts out. “What changed?”

“He’s growing stronger.” Tatsumi closes his eyes, and his blank expression wavers. “I can’t bear it much longer. We can’t be friends anymore.”

Yumeko swallows. Tears well up in her eyes. “But you’re my best friend,” she says. “What happened to best friends forever? What happened to no matter what?”

“I’m sorry.” Tatsumi’s hands clench into fists at his sides. “But if you don’t leave…I can’t promise I won’t kill you someday.”

“I refuse to believe that,” Yumeko says. “You would never—”

“Yumeko,” Tatsumi says. “Please.”

She doesn’t want to, but the look in his eyes convinces her that he means every word.

---

Tatsumi is twelve when Master Ichiro finally finds the fox doll.

“What did I tell you about toys?” he exclaims as he hits him, again and again, until Tatsumi’s back is blue with bruises. “No getting attached to anything, not even inanimate objects! Are you trying to get us all killed?”

Finally he stops beating him and shoves Kamigoroshi into his hands. “Destroy it,” he says. “Here. Now.”

Tatsumi stumbles back like he’s been hit in the face. “I—”

“No buts! Destroy it before it destroys all of us.” Master Ichiro narrows his eyes. “Or would you rather I do it?”

Tatsumi swallows, steels himself. The fox doll sits on the ground, looking up at him with black button eyes so similar to Yumeko’s own fox form. And suddenly it’s not a toy sitting in front of him. It’s Yumeko, looking up at him with pleading, innocent eyes.

No attachments.

Tatsumi lifts his sword, and pieces of stuffing fly all over the room.

---

The Silent Winds temple is burning.

Yumeko runs down the forest path, away from the oni, away from everything. Her chest hurts, and not from the smoke. She went to this place with Master Isao after Tatsumi ended their friendship, and it was her new home. Her family.

And now, once again, she is all alone.

Or would be, if not for the figure suddenly emerging in front of her.

Yumeko staggers back, expecting another oni. But the face before her is human—no, not only that. It’s familiar.

All these years, and she still recognizes him on sight.

“Tatsumi?” she rasps out.

“Yumeko,” he whispers. For a brief moment something akin to emotion flashes up in his voice.

“What are you doing here?” she says. “The temple—”

“I could ask you the same,” he says coldly. “I’m not here for you.”

“The temple is gone.”

Tears well up in her eyes, and Yumeko lets herself drop down to the ground. “The monks…they’re all dead,” she says. “The temple was attacked by oni, they sent me away, but…but…”

She wishes she could hug him like she would have done in their childhood. But the Tatsumi in front of her is no longer her friend. He is no longer anyone’s friend.

A hand lands on her shoulder, awkward but warm.

“Tell me what happened,” Tatsumi says. “I had an errand up there. A certain scroll…”

Yumeko thinks of the thing hidden in her furoshiki. Briefly she wonders if she should tell him. Better not. The way he is now…he might kill her, or else abandon her here in the wild.

Instead she thinks of something else.

“Master Isao sent it away,” she says. “He expected the temple to be attacked. The place it’s at now is…the Steel Feather temple, I think it’s called. He told me how to find it.” Her eyes meet Tatsumi’s. “I could lead you there, if you want.”

Tatsumi hesitates. Yumeko knows what he’s thinking: that this is a risk, and he’s playing with fire. Hakaimono threatened him over her before. But…

“Fine,” Tatsumi mutters, and it sounds like someone pronouncing his own doom. “I will follow you. But remember—I’m only your companion, not your friend.”

Yumeko knows that, and yet she can’t help smiling at the thought of traveling with him.

“I know.”

#i spent the whole evening on this #shadow of the fox #tatsumeko #kage tatsumi #yumeko #me and my writings #headcanons

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