#my brain is just so bored and i fidget so bad and it kinda kills my mood

[wizard-mp4]

I just got tipped at work!!!!!

#cowmmunist #🤩🤩🤩🤩 #did i do a good job? #is it hot? am i proud to serve it? #yes #fuck you baltimore #suddenly overcome with whimsy #i actually really like charm city but big bills hells lives in my brain forever i know it word for word #6am to 7pm shifts are kinda rough tbh #my brain is just so bored and i fidget so bad and it kinda kills my mood #the lack of stimulation #i see it and feel it a lot at work and sometimes i worry if my coworkers notice #i dont think they do

[anotheranimestan]

Heyooo I legit just found u bc of the bakugo series, and then I went on a spree reading your account- ugh I’m in love!!! Do you think you could tag me when part 3 comes out?

Ahhh! Thank you so much! ❤️ You guys have no idea how much a few words of encouragement means to writers 😭.

No need to tag tho because here it is!!!!! 😃

Sorry it took so long. I wanted to write it as best as I could! I don’t want disappoint anyone who’s been enjoying so far. ☺️

~~

All Bark No Bite (pt. 3)

(Final part)

Bakugo angst + ~sexual tensionnn~

Please, children avert your eyes. Things get a LITTLE inappropriate here 😳

Read part 1 and part 2

wc: 2.4k

He’s an asshole...but he’s a HOT asshole 🤤

You’d never seen his room before. It was much different than you’d imagined. You’d expected burn marks all over the walls or blown up debris of things scattered about. Maybe a bunch of mirrors so he could look at his self-confident, conceited ass all night. But actually it was kinda of nice. Pretty neat. He had some posters hung up and some books laying around. Black sheets and blankets. And it smelled oddly sweet in here, sort of pleasant believe it or not.

You’re so used to him yelling and exploding so it was weird seeing him so relaxed, in his natural habitat. Doing normal things. Like eating a snack, tapping his pencil in concentration, fidgeting with his hair. He even spun around in his rolling chair a few times mindlessly. He was acting sort of...cute? It was unnerving being attracted to him like this.

But as soon as he noticed you watching him it was all over. You were making him self conscious. He didn’t even realize he’d let his guard down like that.

“That makes absolutely no sense, dumbass.” His voice was bored and over it.

“What are you talking about!? I’ve explained it three times!” You retorted indignantly.

“Exactly. I thought you were smarter than this...” He jabbed before turning around and flipping his notebook shut.

You’d spent twenty minutes attempting to teach him what he’d missed in class earlier today but he was insufferable. Easily the worst student on the planet. Every time you explained something he’d tell you how to teach it better. Who does that!?

“Whatever moron. I didn’t come up here to try and teach your pea brain. I—“ The words were harder to say than you’d expected. Painful actually. They really didn’t want to come out. “I just wanted to say sorry for getting you—“

He whipped a pencil and it hit you directly in the forehead.

“Ouch, what the fuck?” You hissed, rubbing the sore spot. How’d he get so much damn power behind that thing?

“Don’t apologize. It’s weird.”

“What!?” You threw the pencil back but only managed to hit his shoulder.

“Anyways...” He ignored you, completely unfazed by your assault.

“You’re easily the most—“

“Anyways...” You swore if he cut you off one more time you were going to smack the shit out of him. “Aizawa thinks you’ve lost your mind.”

The unexpected information took you aback.

“He saw you try and get yourself blown up in class yesterday... No sane person is stupid enough to pull a move like you did.”

Ah yes... he meant the time you wrapped the man’s hand around your neck, tauntingly, in front of like 20 classmates and two teachers. You’d been trying to avoid asking yourself the question of why you did that. You claimed it was the best way to shut him up....but there were other ways to do that. More reasonable ones. You wouldn’t admit you’d daydreamed of doing it before and subconsciously took the opportunity. Red embarrassment flashed through your body again. God knows what they were all thinking when they witnessed that. You desperately wished people would stop reminding you.

Suddenly the need to defend yourself bubbled up. “I—I only did that because I knew you wouldn’t do anything.”

He scoffed. But didn’t deny it. “If you’re going to try something stupid. At least do it right.” He chastised.

Your body froze as he stood up and walked over, crouching down directly in front of you.

“If I wanted to choke you. I’d do it like this.”

He wrapped his hand around your neck. Demonstrating the best way to actually cut off someone’s air flow. But he did it so gently you barely even heard his explanation. You were just flashing back to last night. Instantly your entire body lit on fire. Replaying this scene in your head was strong enough. But reenacting had you completely out of sorts. Kissing him again but this time going full out. You wanted to bite him, just to hear him make that deep moan into your mouth again. Just imagining it was making you flutter. Aching to have him pressed up against you like that, relieving some of this pressure that was building up in your body. You felt yourself unraveling. About to pounce.

But he interjected with something that stunned you once again. “The way you did it would be better for...other forms of choking.”

Dear god. Surely he knew what he was doing to you. If he kept this up any longer your heart or your lungs were definitely going to give out.

But you mustered up your last two brain cells that weren’t absolutely losing their shit over him and carried on with your normal banter.

“Yea yea, I get it. You can stop now.”

He didn’t budge. His hand still snug around your throat. You obviously didn’t mind it there but it was incapacitating your brain function.

You gently pushed it away and he didn’t resist. But where he put it next was no better.

He traced the side of your cheek and along the outline of your lips. Just staring at them, eyes lost like he was thinking deeply about something. He wasn’t giving you a moment of a break. No room to breathe.

Your nerves were through the roof, your heart was beating so loud you could hear it in your ears. Desperately you tried to change the topic. “So is this your attempt at being nice? Advice on how to murder someone?” It’s amazing how your mouth just spewed shit out even though your brain was actually dead.

“Sure.” Now he was tugging at your bottom lip. Completely unbothered by you baiting him.

“Ah. A nice Bakugo? I must be having a dream. I guess now that you’ve lost to me your whole tough guy persona has been killed.”

That snapped him out of it. But now he was looking just as intensely, directly into your eyes.

“Don’t push it.”

“Or what?” Faking composure was coming so easily much to your relief.

“Do you want to find out?” He growled.

“You’re not scary.” You said rolling your eyes as hard as possible.

Something snapped in him. He couldn’t hold himself back anymore. Within a moment he had you on your back. Your body didn’t even have time to process. Even if it did, would you have stopped him? He trapped both your wrists on either side of your head and your feet under his ankles. His arms looked glorious as he held up is body weight.

“How about now?” His voice was deep and savory.

There he went. Invading your mind again. His scent. That lust-filled look in his eyes. The way he was thoroughly enjoying being on top of you. The adrenaline was coiling through your body. He had you right where he wanted you. He could do anything he wanted to you. But that “annoying little mouth of yours” wasn’t done quite yet.

“Whatever. You always do this. But you won’t actually try anything.”

“You think I wouldn’t hurt you at all? I literally want to kill you sometimes.” He had a smug little grin on his face. But his eyes couldn’t pull themselves from your lips. After experiencing them once he could barely stop thinking about them.

“You’re telling me? I fucking hate you.” You lied.

It made his smirk form into that wicked, shit-eating grin he always wore. The one that gets deep under your skin and makes you want to punch him in the throat and yank him onto you at the same time.

“Kissing someone is a weird way to tell them you hate them.” He was really cutting into you now.

You hissed. “Hey. You kissed me.”

“You kissed me back.” He raised an annoying little eyebrow.

Your brain wanted to choke him (the murder kind) but your body was screaming something completely different. The emotions swirling around in your chest was so overwhelming. Finally you burst.

You trapped one of his arms and corresponding leg and threw your weight to roll on top of him. One of your favorite moves from self-defense class that you knew would come in handy. Now you straddled him and using every ounce of your weight tried to pin his wrists down.

You expected him to fight you like the vicious little monster he is. But instead when you looked down he was just staring back at you. You were stunned at how good he looked at this angle. Did he have any bad angles?

“Finally. You made a move.” He said pretending to sound impressed. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Yea well...” You scoffed proudly. “you think you’re so fucking tough. Now looo—“

The words flew out of your mouth and you were tumbling again. This time he just grabbed your waist and tugged you with brute force. No technique needed. He easily overpowered you.

“Yea, that wasn’t going to work out. It was a cute try though, Little Bite.”

He laid directly on top of you now. Your legs spread as he rested his hips between them. His full weight pressed into you making it flutter. Your arms had somehow wrapped themselves around his neck and rested on his back.

The tension in the air made it difficult to breathe. But you were fully unconcerned with getting oxygen right now.

Nose to nose now he said “We’ll just count this as my rematch. Clearly I won.”

“You suck at flirting.”

Flirting? Where’d that come from?

“Seems like it’s working pretty good to me.”

That smug fucking face again.

“You’re such an ass.”

He bit his lip.

“Fuck...I love when you insult me like that.”

A beat passed and that was all it took. You smashed his lips onto yours. Wrapping your legs around him and squeezing. Too close wasn’t close enough.

He kissed you like he wanted you bad. Like you were his favorite meal and he was absolutely famished. It was so intense and passionate that neither of you could catch any air. Every insult, all the bickering, every jab had built up to this moment and was fueling it like gas to a forest fire.

His warmth was overtaking you. His body was so heavy, crushing you just liked you’d been daydreaming about all this time.

Your mind shut down all functions except desperately trying to use all five senses to their max capacity and commit every bit of him to memory.

He felt you pawing at the edge of his shirt and sat up. He peeled it off slowly. Letting your eyes adjust to every inch of him.

Your hands were instantly stroking every one of his muscles starting at his shoulders and trailing down his soft skin slowly...slowly to the edge of his jeans. Your index finger sat teasingly on the front button as you admired his perfectly toned body.

But before you even had time to think about what you wanted to do next he took your wrist and secured it down above your head again.

He dipped down and went straight for your neck.

Greeting it with a warm wet kiss from his tongue, his lips wrapped around your skin and sucked gently. You felt the blood pooled with pleasure rushing to the area. His other hand started exploring your body. Finally he was getting to put his hands on you the way he really wanted all along.

After you started tugging on his hair, desperately trying to avoid any scandalous hickeys he rolled you around again.

Letting you on top to straddle his hips. Giving you only a little bit of freedom though, as he locked one arm around your waist and the other started caressing your thighs slowly working his way north.

After squeezing your ass until his heart was content he clamped down both hands on your hips. You couldn’t bare it anymore. Your hips started gently grinding against him and you bit down on his neck all at once. You felt the angle of his pelvis rubbing into you creating little rumbles of pleasure.

“Fuck y/n..” he muttered under his breath.

You both were getting more and more bothered and aroused. His hands never stopped grabbing and tugging at you. His moans growing more fervent as he whispered into your ear.

He was just toying with the idea of peeling off your shirt when...

“THIS IS THE POLICE! COME OUT!”

Your soul practically rose out of your body as a loud bang almost broke the door down. Bakugo’s hand slapped over your mouth. You’d screamed without realizing it.

Kaminari’s laugh sounded through the door. “Oh my god Bakugo! You scream like a girl!”

Mina shrieked. “No, stupid! Y/n are you in there!?”

Your life was ending.

“Get the fuck out of here before I come out there and break your skulls!” Bakugo barked at them.

They didn’t say anything but you heard their quick footsteps as they ran down the hall still shrieking like banshees.

“Oh god..” you groaned as you tried to roll away from him, using his bare chest to push off.

But he wouldn’t let you go. “Where are you going?”

“Aren’t you going to go hunt them down and threaten them or something.” Typical Bakugo behavior.

“No, I’m busy.”

You had to stop your mouth from falling open.

“They’re probably going to tell everyone.” You prodded. Expecting his temper any second now. Like he was a bomb about to go off. You pulled away again in preparation, sitting fully upright now.

“I’ll deal with them tomorrow. I’m dealing with you tonight. Now get back over here before I get mad.”

You shrieked as he muscled you back into his arms. He bent you back around him as snugly as he could. Moving your chin to the side, he kissed your neck, sweeter this time. Instinctively your hands ran through his hair. Fuck the rest of them. You could get lost in this hot head all night. And you were as he started gently sucking on your soft spots again.

But he pulled away abruptly. Like he’d just realized something. “How are you gonna become a pro hero if a moron like Denki can scare you like that?”

You smacked the back of your idiot’s head lightly. “Don’t fucking ruin it.” You groaned.

“Fine.” He grinned as he went in for the kiss that started the rest your next piping hot and sticky couple of hours together.

~💥💥

TADAAA! What did you guys think?? What was your favorite part overall?

I’d love hearing your thoughts and opinions 😃 makes me a better writer

Also special shout-out to @jennammaee ! Pt. 2 of this series has been my most successful post yet, so thanks for encouraging me to write it!!

Tags: @sweetsailor000 @yumxmii @fullsundear @frosted-flakes @marloalmore @aprilbouz01 @deneuves @softestparker @davidbowiehotashell-blog @mocha-focha @piii-chan @v0dkadaddy @xxjosiexx

#bnha bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugo x y/n #katsuki bakugo angst #bakugo angst #mha bakugou #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugou #bakugo #bnha bakugou #bakudeku #bakusquad #bakugo smut #katsuki bakugo imagine #bakugo imagine #bakugo katsuki scenarios #bakugo scenarios #bakugo fanfic #bakugo mha #mha angst #mha #mha smut #mha imagines #mha fanfiction

[minkmousesworld]

Hi! could i request a omega Daki x Alpha reader smutty were reader is just incredibly protective of Daki and sometimes loses it but Daki both loves the attention and loves that she can actually calm the reader down?

by @gayforthem

Hello! Thank you very much for the request, and don't forget to drink water!

enjoy reading~❤️

Omegaverse AU: omega! Daki x alpha! Reader [NSFW🔞]

"Your"

warnings: modern au, kinda dark omegaverse (mention of murder), heavy petting (masturbation), mention of oral sex, mention of marking.

omega fem character x alpha (aggressive) gender neutral reader

Daki was popular.

Sometimes it felt as if every time she walked into a room, everyone stopped doing their own thing to look at her.

Daki was a bright and damn attractive omega, and she knew it. With all her bright makeup, elegant clothes, and arrogant, warm smile.

And with that cute expression she made whenever someone (usually a "fan") bothered her, but not enough to make her really angry.

She waved at them sweetly and wrapped her arms around your arm, throwing eloquent glances at your face without even looking back.

Daki lived for your reaction.

Nothing too rude — she was satisfied with your irritated face when someone clung to her, or the ostentatious indifference when another alpha tried to "seduce" her (as if they could hope for something), or the cold when someone asked if you were her alpha.

As if the mark on her neck wasn't a telling enough sign. Or that she didn't leave your side.

Or the way you looked at everyone who bothered her.

"Don't touch her"

Daki watched curiously as you tightly gripped the other alpha's hand and gently held her to you. Not that she enjoys your jealousy...

Well, she enjoyed your jealousy.

"Touch her again", you gripped the other's hand even tighter, "and I'll chew out your too-long arms, as well as your brain, which apparently isn't there. Got it?"

You're not exactly aggressive.

If you were an unbalanced type of alpha, you wouldn't be able to be a couple with her for so long.

You were just annoyed when others touched your omega.

Even if she could protect herself.

"You shouldn't have been so aggressive", Daki later whispers seductively, clinging to your clothes as you stand in a dark corner of the club, out of the bright artificial light. "Everyone knows I'm your omega. They wouldn't dare claim me"

Everyone knows you're her alpha. Only for some reason they ignore it.

Probably because if an omega smells like an alpha, it's not a sign that the omega is "marking"

What an abomination.

You looked seriously at your girlfriend, who cocked her head to one side, hanging on your every word.

So cute when she's not trying to play on your instincts.

"I'm not acting this way because of aggression against another alpha. I'm acting like this because no one can touch you without permission... Do you understand? Nobody. Even me"

If you weren't in public, Daki would purr like an affectionate cat. You have already seen, even through the gloom, how contentedly she smiled.

The color of your favorite lipstick glistened in the faint light from the dance floor.

"And if anyone does that, or otherwise interferes with you, I officially declare that I will bite their throat out"

"And if they looks?"

"I'll suck their eyes out of their sockets. Don't underestimate me, babydoll"

Daki lifts up to kiss you on the lips, wrapping her fingers around your neck. More likely to strangle than let go.

When she pulls away, the light is surprisingly reflected in her amorous eyes. Running her hand through your hair, she gently touches it, smiling coquettishly.

"Never♡"

This corner seems to be getting too lit up. And crowded. Sometimes your girlfriend's popularity is a little tiring.

Daki falls silent, relaxing in a warm embrace, unusually silent and thoughtful. you look below out of habit, expecting to see a white collar preventing a mark, but instead you see a bare neck with half a necklace hanging from it.

The other part is hanging around your neck.

"It's getting late", you gently wrap your arms around Daki's waist, which is easy to handle, though knowing her by day she would try to playfully pull away. "And not safe for cute, sleepy omegas. Let's go home"

"Is it really that unsafe to have their strong and brave alphas around?" Daki responded playfully, smiling. "Let me see... no?♡"

"Daki..."

The girl responded with a shrug and a flirtatious wink, squeezing your hand.

"Convince me that we need to go home"

At least she's never boring.

"Safer at home?"

"No, more boring at home! But what about the people? Dancing? Communication?"

You took a deep breath, and omega just giggled.

"Can we cuddle at home?"

"... perhaps..."

"At home, we'll watch some TV shows and relax?"

Daki averted her brooding gaze, pausing before looking at you coquettishly, smiling.

"Okay, we can go home if you don't like clubs so much..."

👑🌟

The walk home was quieter than you originally thought.

"Daki, don't run on the ice, you'll fall"

"Daki, your lips are blue. Maybe you'd better wear my clothes?"

"Daki, hold on to me, please. It's safer and warmer"

"[Y/n], I'm not a little girl!"

"Of course not"

In the end, Daki agreed to hide in your clothes, and "led the way" while you slowly followed her, trying not to step on her feet.

You walked in silence, which was interrupted only by short questions "are we going there for sure?" and "yes, I know, I know!". Daki gave you long looks from time to time, the meaning of which you did not understand, but decided not to ask, guessing what thoughts appeared in her head.

"Don't leave my side, dear. I've heard that there are aggressive dogs here"

"Like I might want to get away from my warm alpha, mmm"

👑🌟

It was much more comfortable at home than at the club. There were no bright lights, no strange smells, no annoying alphas that you would love to chew through an artery if they came after your omega again.

What a joy that the law does not regulate this issue in any way.

Like the question of killing alphas by omegas when they want to abuse an omega.

You looked at Daki, who, in her favorite pink sweater (your birthday present, before you even thought about starting a relationship), was looking for something interesting in a box of CDs, her head pressed against your shoulder. Bending her legs in only short socks, Daki spent a long time sorting through the disks, dissatisfied with throwing unnecessary ones.

"How about we watch this?" there was a disk in front of your face that you didn't recognize. "Something romantic... or a melodrama... Just right for this evening!"

👑🌟

The film was not bad. Not too original, but atmospheric. With songs, winter and "Christmas miracle".

Putting your arm around Daki's waist, you pressed your lips to the mark, not being too interested in the plot. Daki gave you playful glances, but to the last played hard to get, ignoring your courtship.

After kissing her neck, you slowly put your hand on her knee, watching her reactions. Daki only snuggled closer to you, giggling for a moment as you gently ran your fingers along her thigh before returning to the film, "ignoring" you.

However, it definitely became harder for her to ignore you as your fingers gently traced the inside of her thigh, very close to her panties.

A slight blush appeared on her face.

Bringing her legs together and holding your hand between her thighs, Daki gave you a hot look before tilting her head forward, submissively baring the neck you pressed your lips to.

Daki hated it when you bit her.

👑🌟

Even after the credits ended, you continued to sit, using the light from the black, unplugged screen.

You felt very warm from the warmth of your girlfriend and the faint, sweet smell that made you feel a little dizzy. Daki, on the other hand, was much less sleepy — although she didn't stop fidgeting all through the movie, squeezing your hand, and now she was breathing heavily, digging her nails into your hands, but she was silent, thinking about something.

The pain was mild and bearable, but unpleasant.

Suddenly getting out, Daki pulled you towards her, once again starting to smile coquettishly, hinting at a surprise.

And when her back hit the floor, she grabbed the sweater and pulled it up. Smiling cheekily, she raised an eyebrow at your reaction.

"Isn't that what you wanted, my love? Watch a movie and relax? Your omega is ready for anything♡"

It was hard to deny that now, lying under you, with her cheeks so rosy and her expression so confident, she didn't look... attractive.

Very attractive.

"And? Why are you only looking? My breasts are waiting♡"

And grabbing your head, Daki confidently placed it on her chest while continuing to smile cheekily. One hand clutching the clothes on your back, the other she placed on your head, stroking, watching you.

Daki has always been a warm body, but you doubted that now you will want to fall asleep again. Although, her breasts were a great place to sleep — soft, with large, pink nipples that she once wanted to pierce.

Some pink jewelry would look great. In addition, you could play with the piercing — wrap your lips and gently pull. Or, if it's rings, you could come up with something about light chains.

Considering how masochistic Daki was, she would have liked that. As long as you don't tell her to obey you outside of bed.

"Hey, [Y/n]?" whispered Daki, continuing to stroke your hair as you gently played with her breasts, squeezing and rubbing to hear her moan, "I love you"

You stopped, looking from her breasts to your girlfriend.

"What are you looking at?" said Daki excitedly, still patting you on the head. "I mean... look, even if you threaten to hit the other alphas, or, you know, kill them, I appreciate it. I know I'm acting like I don't like it, but I don't. It's kind of nice"

You were still looking at your girlfriend, which made her even more embarrassed.

"Okay! Good! It turns me on when you act like a bossy alpha! All right?! Stop staring like that! This is normal for omega!"

Grabbing the nipple, you pulled slightly, causing Daki to suddenly moan, spreading her legs for you.

You immediately moved your hand lower, gently stimulating through the thin, already wet panties, to which Daki abruptly squeezed your hair, trying to grip your hand tighter.

You pressed harder, indulging your girlfriend, moving your fingers more roughly, as if you were trying to tear your panties and get inside.

But your pressure was interrupted by Daki, pulling you and aggressively kissing you on the lips, not allowing you to pull away, with the second hand trying to caress you to those places that she could reach.

She swung her leg over your hip and pulled you back, panting and shivering.

"I love you too, my Queen"

It was even wetter between her legs, and the completely wet panties made it easier for you to slide over her labia, but prevented her from having an orgasm. Even the faint touch of her clit, though it sent a shiver of pleasure through her body, only made her tease harder.

"Damn it, just rip it off me already!" she whispered, trying to kiss you again, "or I'm about to bring myself to orgasm"

"Who can make you better than yourself?"

"Damn, I hate you!"

👑🌟

There was something cute about how red Daki was, biting the edge of her sweater and masturbating in front of you.

With ringing, squelching sounds, then penetrating inside with her fingers, caressing herself from the inside, then taking them out, stroking her labia, she purred charmingly while you stimulated her wet clit.

The performance, consisting of her reaction and sounds, was delightful.

Arching, she trembled, her mouth open and her legs clenched sharply, blocking your view. You only began to caress more slowly, feeling a strong tremor, continuing until she again spread her legs.

Slipping down to you, Daki clung trustingly to your shoulder, wet and shivering.

"You see", you began gently, massaging the girl's back, "you're doing just fine on your own, like a big girl"

The bite on the shoulder looked more like a symbol of embarrassment and indignation than defiance. Especially with that sweet, red face she tried to hide from you.

"Shut up", Daki said, catching her breath. "Shut up and get on the couch. And take off your clothes. We're not done yet"

"Oops?"

"My mouth isn't just made to rip out your opponents' throats and bite you if you didn't know it"

#daki x reader #daki #gender neutral reader #demon slayer scenarios #kimetsu no yaiba scenarios #🍮.omegaverse au #🍮.modern au #submission #nsft #kimetsu no yaiba smut #daki smut #🍡.masturbation #🍡.petting

[septnautical]

High pitched laughter echoed down the hall and was accompanied by the loud clang of running feet on the steel tiles.

“Hurry Skye! Before they see!” A mischievous voice whispered in restrained glee. Another giggle followed as two small bodies rounded the corner then hid behind the coffee machine in the lounge area. The first voice shushed the other figure who stifled laughter and hid against their shoulder. Once it was quiet there was a beat of silence before another presence rushed in, gasping for breath. “K-Kids! C’mon this isn’t funny!” An older male with ebony hair that fell over his eye exclaimed anxiously, “Your mom doesn’t want you over here!” The hidden figures didn’t dare move or make a sound. The older boy sighed and pushed his hair out of his face, before fidgeting with his arm that seemed to glint in the light. “God, Stacy is gonna kill me…” He then hurries down the rest of the hall- trying to see if he can still catch sight of them. Once the coast is clear, two small heads pop out of their hiding space. The older one, a boy with brunette hair, grins from ear to ear then whoops victoriously.. “Yes! See I told you we could lose him!” He giggled as he pulled his little sister out of their hiding spot. She pushed her bright blonde hair out of her eyes then smiled excitedly at her brother. She clapped and then spun around in glee. The boy laughed then looked around the lounge with curiosity. “I dunno why mom and Sharper were so worried about us being over here! It looks the same as the other side… same boring lounges and machines-” Then, he pauses as another sound echoes down the hall in front of them. He cocks his head then turns to his sister. “Do you hear that?” She repeats his gesture and listens, then nods enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling. The boy grins then grabs her hand and leads her down the hall, “Let’s go see what it is! It sounds like singing!” They sneak down the hall carefully- trying not to give themselves away to their purser. But, to them it felt like an epic spy mission, and they loved every second of it. As they neared the mysterious sound, they realized they had ventured towards another large clearing- a hallway made completely out of glass so they could see the ocean outside. They marveled at the sight of the ocean going out as far as the eye could see. The creatures swimming in the distance and the plant life swaying in the currents. But, what truly caught their eye was the source of the sound. A man with a long blue tail speckled with bright blue spots was circling  the open ocean by the base, his long wing like fins trailing behind him gracefully. He was twirling and singing- his voice mesmerizing and melodic. And, singing alongside him were two rabbit rays, seemingly dancing around him. The kids come to the glass to watch, entranced by the performance. They had only seen the hybrids once- and they seemed so scary! But this one… he’s just singing and swimming. He looks like he could even be nice! After a while, the merman seems to sense something and turns around only to meet the eyes of the two curious little humans. His face flushes, embarrassed now that he knows he was being watched. The rabbit rays stop their dance and bump into the mer’s side, as if trying to get him to start up again. He shushes them and pets their heads before swimming up to the glass.

  He smiles awkwardly and tries to wave, “Uh- Hi there! I… didn’t know I had an audience…” “You sing really pretty!” The boy pipes up and the merman laughs, messing with his hair. “Oh! Thank you! I guess it’s… in my dna you know? These guys are the natural singers-” He pets the rabbit rays again who have come up to his side to observe the children as well. “Oh cool! I didn’t know rabbit rays could sing!” The boy exclaims, excitedly, “Or that you could pet them! Are they nice? What’s their names? And your name!” The rabbit ray mer blinks at the rapid fire questions then laughs, “Well- their cries sound kinda like singing so i just try to sing along! Rabbit rays tend to keep to themselves… but they’re very gentle. Other fish don’t bother them because their skin is poisonous-” He then blinks again and chuckles to himself. 

“Oh and- I’m Chase!” He then points to the rabbit ray on his side, who seems to favor one side as it swims, one of its fins seeming smaller. “And this is Bunny- and this is Grayson,” He points to the other rabbit ray who spins then lets out a cry like a sung greeting. Bunny seems to shy her way behind Chase’s back but peeks back out to look at the kids.

The girl laughs and jumps up at the rabbit rays, her eyes sparkling in amazement. The boy presses more up against the glass and then exclaims, “No way! My middle name is Grayson!” Chase cocks his head in confusion, “Middle… Name? Why do you have more than one name?” The boy makes a face as he thinks of this, “.... i don’t know why- but that’s what my mom calls me! Conner Grayson Brody- that’s me!” He then puts a hand on his sister’s head and messes with her hair. “And this is my little sister, Skye London Brody!” The girl grins through her messed up bangs and waves at Chase. Chase waves back and smiles, “Well then- Nice to meet you Conner Grayson Brody and Skye London Br-” “You don’t have to say our whole names!” Conner laughs, “Just Conner and Skye is good!” “Oh- okay! Nice to meet you- Conner and Skye.” The merman smiles then swims down to be more at their level, looking at them curiously. “...you two are quite small for whitesuits… are you still growing?” The two look at each other then giggle, “I guess so!” Conner replies, “We’re just kids- so it’s gonna be a while until we’re as big as the adults!” “I see…” Chase comments and then smiles at them fondly, “...You two remind me of my brothers when they were very small… when I first met them they were all so tiny… I was always the biggest- now they’re all as big as me!” He laughs, “Maybe one day you two will be big like us too!” Conner’s eyes grow big as he gasps and presses up against the glass, “Could we get cool tails like you too??” Chase balks at this then thinks, “I dunno- Maybe! I dunno if humans can grow tails like us… seems like it could be possible though!” The kids gasp and dance at this, excited. “We never get to swim! I wanna swim all day long and see all of the ocean!” Conner exclaims, zipping around the room with his arms outstretched. Skye jumps up and claps. Then, a female robotic sounding voice pipes up from where she is saying, “Me too! Me too!” Chase chuckles as he watches them, “Why can’t you go swimming now? Isn’t that what white suits are born to do?” The two kids stop and then look at each other. Conner messes with his suit under a big poofy sweater and looks down. “Mom says we can’t stay in the water long if we ever have to go- she says it's too dangerous. Even though- she goes out all the time…” He grumbles and kicks his foot- which seems to clang metalically against the steel tile below. 

“Why does she get to and you can’t?” Chase asks. “I know it’s cuz of my stupid leg-” Conner grunts- then lifts up his suit leg a bit more so Chase can see. He didn’t know why he didn’t notice it earlier. Conner’s lower leg is all silver and made of metal. There’s a small ball joint at the end of his calf that attaches to a foot shaped metal piece. “Mom says I can’t swim well with this… and i can’t swim with only one leg either.” He sighs then points to his sister. “And Skye is too little… and Mama says her brain doesn’t work very well so that’d make it hard to swim. Or call for help if we need it- since Skye has to use her PDA.” The merman tilts his head like a confused animal, “Use her PDA? To talk?” Skye jumps up then pulls her PDA out of her jacket. She quickly pokes around on the surface then looks up at Chase with a bright smile as her PDA speaks with a robotic female voice. “Hi- I am Skye!” She giggles then types out, “I like your blue. You sing good!” Chase seems amazed and he swims to be closer to Skye, smiling from ear to ear. “T-That’s- that’s amazing! Oh Skye, you need to meet my brother Jamie! He can’t talk well either- maybe you can teach him how to do that!” The kids look at each other in wonder then back at Chase with excitement. “Really? Your brother is like my sister??” Conner breathes. “Well- he had an accident when he was little- I dunno if his… brain doesn’t work like you said- which seems weird to me! Skye seems just fine- just like my brother!” Conner scratches his head, “Mmmm mama calls it something else too- she uses lots of fancy words cuz she’s a doctor. I think… it’s called.. A...au-tis-m? But yeah Skye seems just fine to me too! She just likes things a certain way and doesn’t like loud noises and needs help to speak!” Skye nods and then spins around as if to say, ‘See I’m all good!’ Chase smiles warmly and nods along, “Yeah.. I know all my brothers need help here and there… so it doesn’t seem bad to me~.” He looks at the horizon line then back to the kids, ‘It’s still light out, if you two wanted I could take you to go see Jameson!” “Really?” Conner gasps excitedly. “Yeah! I could also teach you some cool tricks to swim better- I taught Bunny to swim even with her wing.” The rabbit ray in question seems to recognize her name and she swims in front of the kids and lifts up her damaged wing to show her swimming just fine. The kids exchange a look then grin and nod, taking off their outer clothes to get to their wet suits underneath. “Mom shouldn’t mind if we have a grown up with us who can swim!” Conner exclaims, looking super giddy. Skye straps her pda to her hip then jumps up and down. Chase giggles at their excitement then swims to where a hatch to the outside is. “Here! We can be super quick-” “HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!” A shrill female voice suddenly rings from the hall. And before the kids can blink they’re being scooped up and/or dragged away from the door by a panting frazzled looking blonde woman. The black haired boy from earlier is hiding behind the doorway, watching with worried eyes. “W-what the hell were you two thinking?!” The lady screeches, adjusting her hold on them and looking at them sternly. “You cannot go out into the ocean alone!” “But Mama! We weren’t going alone! Mr. Chase was gonna take us!” Conner whined as he pointed outside towards the merman. The mother turned to the window and glared burning hot daggers at Chase. There’s a moment of confusion lingering in her gaze, like she might be trying to place him… like she’s seen him before. But, the anger comes back tenfold soon enough. “You-!” She spat, charging towards the window and pointing at the merman threateningly, “Just what were you trying to do?! Were you trying to drown my children?!”

“What? N-No I would never-!” Chase tried to argue. “Well then are you stupid? Are you blind?! My son has a metal leg! He can’t swim! And my daughter is only six! They were just in a ship crash!” The mother seethes, holding Skye’s head against her neck. The girl is shaking slightly and cupping her hands over her ears. “I- I…!” The rabbit ray mer tries to explain himself but the mother hears nothing of it. “You- you hybrids need to stay away from us! If i see you talking to my children again, I’ll be forced to do something drastic! Understood?” Chase backs away from the glass and shrinks in on himself. He nods timidly. The mother glares at him one last time before snorting and starting to walk away, one hand stroking and trying to comfort Skye, the other dragging a distressed Conner behind her. The boy turns to look at Chase with tearful eyes. It breaks Chase’s heart. He presses back up against the window and tries to smile at him, waving goodbye. Conner chokes on a sob but tries to smile and wave back. Skye peeks her head up and waves tiny little fingers at Chase. Then, the hall falls silent again. Chase sighs and lets himself sink into the sand below. Grayson and Bunny come up and nuzzle up against him, breathing bubbles into his hair and singing soft sad melodies. Chase looks up towards the base and tries not to cry. He has a good feeling though… those humans were nothing like the white suits he’s known before. And he has the feeling they’ll definitely meet again.

#septnautical main story #refugee arc #conner brody #skye brody #rabbit ray chase #stacy brody #huffle tales #i dunno what else to tag this as XD #but yay STORY!!! #here's to 6more months waitingg for the nextttt #hopefully not but based on patterns |D #drawing stuff helps me #write better so maybe expect more doodles in the future XD

[subtlereferencetomyinterests]

A Misplaced Imbalance of Fear

Ao3,   MasterPost

Relationships: Romantic Dukexiety, implied/minor Moceit (platonic or romantic)

From the power of my Art and my Shitposts comes This Fanfiction!!!

Warnings: Panic Attacks, Lots of Cursing, descriptions of gore (horror movies, it gets decently explicit so beware that), mild body horror (Remus is here and he Does Things Like That), Heavy Roman angst for a hot minute in the middle, making out (continuing my theme of remus-centric fics getting more ;3). They do some makeup and drink tea, baby. Mentions of picking one’s skin as an Anxious habit, and also ticking. Also stimming!!! nd sides 4 life bb. Also, a very brief alcohol mention (it’s soup).

Word Count: 6,553

God Fucking Fuck, Virgil was going to have a self-care day even if it killed him dead. Everybody else could do whatever overdramatic fuckery they wanted when they were topside, but he was all set down there in the Mindpalace, thank you very much.

Luckily, mercifully, thankfully, the rest of the sides all seemed keen to let Virgil have his space anyway. There wasn’t a thing stopping him from relaxing.

Well, except for himself, of course.

A thrum of condensed stress and fear tugged at Virgil’s abdomen, bubbling its way over his edges. It was equally his own and the others’, probably due to whatever conversation they were caught up in in the external world. He would not relent to the worry, nor was he summoned to help with the situation, but his body refused to stop shaking. Perched on the top of the couch, frantically clicking the buttons on a fidget cube, Virgil tried to watch the gore playing on the TV in a tired effort to calm his nerves.

Horror movies… helped. They were something for his brain to chew on for a while- their over-the-top and ridiculous plots, the obnoxious characters that almost always deserve what’s coming to them, the attention-attaining action- it was all a recipe for Distraction. But they weren’t working by that point, no matter how badly Virgil wanted them to.

And then- possibly because the universe loved to spite Virgil and Virgil specifically- a walking, talking headache flung himself into the common room about as elegantly as a wolfhound with rabies.

“Heyyyy,” Remus crowed as he sprawled himself out on the couch. Anxiety curled his legs closer under his body, unresponsive- he knew full well that any reaction would just be an invitation for trouble from the obnoxious trait. He’d remember what Logan taught them: don’t engage, just brush it all off.

Unfortunately, Remus seemed to be in a stubborn mood.

“Whatcha watching?” 

“Movie,” Virgil grumbled. 

“What movie?”

He eyed the side laying out on the couch below him, narrowing his gaze as threateningly as he could manage. He spat the words through gritted teeth and made it clear he was not having this today.

“It’s called Terrifier.”

Remus perked up at that, and oh God, if he was interested then he’d never go the fuck away.

“What’s it about?”

There wasn’t much Virgil could do but answer in as clipped a tone as he could; things hadn’t gotten too bad, too uncomfortable, yet. Maybe he could redirect Remus’ attention, if he was just boring and unresponsive enough?

“Just a cliche creepy clown flick. Not much to it.”

“Is it gory?” 

Virgil made a vaguely affirmative sound in his throat, gesturing to the screen. In truth, the movie’s impeccable special effects with gore was its main appeal, as the acting and plot was kinda atrocious. Violence was the exact reason he’d chosen to watch this. But he knew saying that wouldn’t help his chances of shaking off Intrusive Thoughts.

Remus looked ready to spout off something explicit, but he went dead quiet as his eyes fell on the scene on the television. Virgil was grateful for small mercies.

It was exactly the kind of thing that the creative trait would watch, after all; a woman getting sawed in half, lengthwise, starting from the- er, the wrong end. Under circumstances of a more typical anxious flare-up, the scene really could have been one of those ‘helpful distractions’. 

These were not normal circumstances.Yeah, this was one of those ‘too passive’ cases, but Virgil didn’t exactly have the energy for anything ‘active’. So, he stubbornly glared at the TV and pretended that his solution was working, because he had no idea what else to do. Perfect plan.

Preoccupied as he was with his internal issues, he very nearly managed to forget about Remus. Until-

“Holy fuck, this is gorgeous, you watch stuff like this?!” The Duke’s eyes were bright, but not with his usual hysteria. They were wide with genuine excitement, shiny and happy. It was- uncanny, that’s probably the word Virgil was looking for. He curled closer in on himself.

“Shouldn’t be that surprising, dude. ‘Scary’ is kind of my thing.”

“I can’t believe I haven’t seen this one,” the creative side was once again completely enamored by the television screen, “Don’t blood and guts and cool things like that freak you out? They always seem to do the trick when I try to mess with you!” 

“It’s different. The violence in movies, it- it calms me down, I guess. Cause it’s like, I don’t know, detached from reality?”

There was a pause that had Virgil hoping, naively, that Remus had grown bored at his spiel. But he wasn’t moving, he was just staring, gaze switching contemplatively from the screen to Virgil a few times over.

“It doesn’t look like that. If you were any more tense, all your tendons would be snapping like badly-tuned violin strings!” 

“Yeah, no shit,” Virgil pressed his back against the wall and shut his eyes tight. He could still hear- no, feel- Patton and Roman and Thomas arguing, snapping at each other back and forth as the situation escalated.

“Is this about whatever the others are doing? Why don’t you just stop listening to their shitty arguments?”

A harsh laugh escaped Virgil at that, dragging him back down to earth so he could blink his eyes open, glaring at the facet lying beneath him. 

“I can’t just stop, that’s not how I work. I need to keep an ear on them. Who knows what could happen if I didn’t?”

“Well, why don’t you just go talk to them?”

If he wasn’t already frustrated beyond belief, that would’ve fuckin’ done it for him.

“I don’t think I’d be much help. Not right now.”

“Why not?” Remus looked halfway between genuinely curious and mischievous, propping himself up on his elbows to get a better view of Anxiety.

“Seriously? Things aren’t exactly, like- normal between all of us.”

“What is normal?” 

Virgil opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came through. As much as it sounded like an offhanded, edgy 13-year-old atheist kind of remark, it was a decent point. Virgil had thought that there was something of a status quo forming between himself and the ‘light sides’, but how long had that even lasted for? Especially compared to the rest of his life? Everything was changing all the time. Was there anything to rely on, or was it just Virgil’s own wishful thinking for what their lives could be? After all, even in ‘peaceful times’, there had been plenty of in-fighting and disagreements and horrible uncomfortable conversations and harsh words and-

“Oh, shut that brain up,” Remus’ sharp voice pulled Virgil from his thoughts, “I know what you meant ‘normal’. You meant the six months when you got to forget about us Scary Monsters, and, DUH! It was probably way simpler for all you diet-soda-no-sugar sluts back then, but that doesn’t mean it was better.”

“Yeah, you would think that things are better now, wouldn’t you?”

Remus fixed Virgil with an unsettling sort of grimace, making the other squirm. It wasn’t the first time he’d done so by any means. 

“I dunno, but what I do know is that things are getting better. They’ll be the best they could be, soon.”

Despite himself, Virgil laughed. It was a faltering, anxious sound, revealing the true fear behind the taunting gesture.

“Really? With everybody at each other’s throats all the time?”

“While that does sound fun,” Remus sat up fully, twisting around to look directly up at Virgil, “I mean after that. After we’re all accepted. It’s inevitable- Inevitable, Anxious Lil’ Barista,” Remus accompanied the referential nickname with a wink. 

Virgil stared at him like he was crazy (well- like- crazier than usual, he guessed?). Remus just threw his head back and laughed before spinning his neck one-hundred and eighty degrees to face the TV while he explained.

“Point is, it’s painfully obvious that everything will sort itself out. It has to, or else the only other option is that Thomas is gonna drive himself insane by trying to suppress parts of himself and end up clawing his own brain out. One of those two things!”

While colorfully phrased, the certainty with which Remus delivered his point had Virgil taken aback. There was no way that Remus could possibly know that, but- in a backwards way it was comforting, how sure he sounded. He didn’t lie, not ever.

Virgil had never thought that Remus would settle for anything less than going out of his way to make others’ lives a hell. But maybe that antagonism wasn’t what exactly motivated the trait’s actions. Maybe it was just an unintentional side effect, akin to what Logan had said when Remus first revealed himself.

The moment of reprieve was over as soon as it began.

“Fuck! He just cut off her tits and wore ‘em, huh?” 

Virgil looked up and, to be fair, that was exactly what had happened on screen. Like he said, this movie wasn’t exactly poetic cinema, but it certainly was something. 

He scooted along the top of the couch, moving just a few feet before dropping down to sit properly beside Remus.

“3/10 drag look at best, really,” Virgil muttered, mostly to himself. He jumped when Remus shrieked with laughter at it, looking absolutely delighted. 

“I didn’t know you made jokes like that, VeeVee!”

Virgil shrugged noncommittally, focusing on the screen and not the facet beside him. Remus’ giggling was loud and distracting, but it wasn’t… unpleasant, unlike his typical villain-cackle was. 

Once Remus had settled down (as much as somebody like him could, anyway), he, too, focused on watching. The quiet was uncomfortable, but it didn’t stretch on for long. There was always something in the movie that The Duke felt the need to comment upon extensively, elaborating and giving details on the gore. Virgil found himself listening to the rants silently, almost enjoying the disruption. It certainly gave his overactive mind something to play around with.

“-skin doesn’t slice as easy as that, trust me-”

Aaaand there it was. Virgil winced, trying very hard not to show that the words had struck a nerve. He liked horror, gore, all that, sure, but there were just some specific things- squicks, you could call them. Remus would obviously use that to his advantage, so the only option was to try very hard to zone out and not look like he was disturbed.

“But even then- Hey, why are you making that face?”

Mission failed.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Remus shifted closer- invasively closer, his gaze studying. 

“You were calming down earlier, what's with the scrunch-nose?”

Virgil stared at his hands, chipping away his black nail polish. Remus was nearly as good at reading lies as Janus, and twice as hard to get rid of.

“It's just- skin, slicing, that stuff just-” he ticked, head spasming sideways briefly at even the thought of that kind of pain.

“Oh,” Remus said plainly, not even a hint of malice or mischief in his tone as he leaned back into his own spot, “Why didn't you just say so? Well, that last exploding head kill is way more interesting anyway, did you see that?”

That was… it? No taunting, no tormenting, he just changed the topic, like that? 

Remus, continuing to be weirdly perceptive, scoffed as though he was reading Virgil’s mind.

“What? Just because I like screwing with you prudes sometimes doesn't mean I want to give you a panic attack. Where's the fun in that?”

Anxiety nodded mutely, bewildered. Remus seemed appeased by that and quickly resumed his running commentary.

And if Virgil eventually decided to take part in the discussion, well, it wasn’t a big deal anyway. Just some polite conversation about bodily mutilation.

 The television darkened as the screen was washed by credits, filling the space where the disfigured face of the main character had been mere moments prior, the result of a pretty predictable twist ending. Virgil stood, arching his back up in a stretch. His arms raised higher, one joint or another crackling at the motion. Fuck, he was sore. How long had he been sitting still?

Remus hadn’t moved from his spot on the couch. He tapped his claws along the remote, exiting to the homescreen and looking expectantly at Virgil.

“You don't wanna watch anything else?” He asked abruptly, drawing a confused glance from his companion, “This is fun- and they're still arguing up there, so it kinda makes sense to stay, it’s really the best solution if you-”

Virgil huffed a laugh at the rambling. It sounded like some shit he’d say, for crying out loud.

“Dude, chill, I was just gonna make some tea before putting on another movie,” the clear relief that ran across Remus' face- quickly replaced by a wide grin- wasn't anything shy of… sweet. Virgil was sure this day couldn't get any fucking weirder, if he was finding anything endearing about the walking talking dirty joke before him. “Uh, you want anything? Since you're gonna stick around, and all.”

Remus jumped up, following Virgil into the MindPalace’s small kitchen happily. In one smooth motion, he swung up onto the counter and slid down it, seating himself almost on top of the stove.

“No hot leaf soup for me, thanks, but I will take one of those mugs!”

Virgil raised a brow, staring the creative trait down before shrugging. He passed him one of the mugs, a generic and patternless one- so that the other sides probably wouldn't notice its absence. He busied himself by setting up the kettle, trying not to wince at the loud wet crunch that resulted when Remus took a bite of his snack.

“Hey,” Remus said around a mouthful of ceramic chunks, “I know just the movie we should watch next.”

Virgil shifted around the various tea boxes littering the cabinets, searching for something with a kick. He hazarded a glance to Remus, immediately regretting the decision when he saw the blood dribbling down his chin from the cuts marring his lips. Anxiety cringed, turning his head back and grabbing for the first brightly-colored box he saw. It took him a moment to respond.

“Okay… what is it?” 

“It's awful- I mean, really, the acting is unbearable and it’s fucking insane- but it's funny. You like making fun of stuff, right? It's like that, but there's still a ton of agonizing death, which is always a fun bonus.”

“What's it about?” Virgil was hesitantly intrigued, his gaze flicking up from the steadily heating kettle. He wasn't exactly keen on staring down the gory scene of Remus’ mouth, so he settled his focus on the trait’s eyeball brooch. 

“Uhn-uhn! No spoilers, this is one you have to see for yourself. It's funnier that way.”

Virgil made a noncommittal sound, tapping his nails against the counters.

“Nothing too bad happens- not that you can't handle, anyway. No slicing and not many jumpscares.”

He resisted the urge to snap 'how do you know what I can’t handle?' because Remus actively trying to reassure him was. Something. Something that he appreciated, maybe, a little.

“Okay, fine. I didn't have anything else in mind. A ‘So-Bad-It’s-Good’ thing sounds alright.”

The obnoxious gnawing of Remus destroying what was left of his cup suddenly ceased, replaced by a stunned silence. Virgil finally met his eyes (finding that the lacerations around Remus’ mouth were already healing themselves, as if they'd never existed).

“You’re taking my suggestion?”

Virgil cleared his throat, finding himself unable to break the intense eye-contact now that it had been established.

“It's not a big deal or anything, man. Just a movie.” 

Remus nodded enthusiastically, a grin splitting his face ear-to-ear. Very literally. The expression was so unnatural and cartoonish on a human(ish) face, that Virgil couldn't help but be startled into laughter. Remus looked even more delighted at that reaction, leaning forward over the stove. At that point, Virgil very much couldn't suppress the noises, snorts bubbling up from his throat against his will.

“You look-” another bout of chuckling, “-you look ridiculous, Remus.”

“Aw, thank you! I was going for manic, but I'll settle for that, too.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, hunching in on himself to get his breathing back to normal. 

With no warning, Remus lifted himself up onto his knees and craned his body around the vigilant trait, snatching the kettle from the stove and flipping the dial to ‘off’. Instinctively, Anxiety recoiled from the proximity. The tension fell away when he saw that the other was simply pouring the hot water into Virgil’s mug for him.

“Dude, it wasn't whistling yet?”

“I know; it was hissing like it was about to start. You're boring and don't like loud noises, especially when you’re all on edge like this, so,” he set the kettle back down, passing the warm mug to Virgil. 

Virgil stared at him, then at the drink in his hand, then back up at the Duke. He was, for what felt like the millionth time that day, unsure of how to react.

He… really hadn't thought that Remus would pick up on stuff like that. He should probably start getting used to that, maybe.

“I'm-” Virgil dragged his finger up and down the handle of his mug, “I'm not that on edge anymore, actually.”

The look that Remus sent him was indecipherable. 

“C’mon, I’ll queue up that flick I told you about.”

“Yeah,” Virgil let out a deep breath, one he hadn't even known he'd been holding, “Yeah, okay.”

 The floor was bubbling, popping, blistering with red fury. It was lava, sending bright flaming sparks in all directions. Thankfully for Remus and Virgil, sitting close together on the couch and viciously mocking cabin fever, the vicious rage was exclusive to one small circle near the staircase.

Virgil, who had been happily tearing apart the leading guy’s acting, cut himself off abruptly.

“Shit- wait- shit.”

Remus shook himself out of his raucous laughter, looking up in confusion. His eyes finally settled on the crimson patch of carpet, a look of realization crossing them. His voice turned much quieter than what fit him.

“Oh, fuck.”

It was like a volcanic eruption localized entirely within the living room, fire blazing in a tall column. From the emotional display, Roman rose up, face nearly as red as his method of transportation. 

There was that brief moment, right when a stressful situation appeared, of antithetical serenity. Virgil felt his muscles slacken in shock, his long-empty mug falling from his hands and landing on the carpet with a dull thud. A rush of calmness hollowed out his chest, lingering for just a few seconds before being replaced by panic. Tension returned to his limbs mere moments after that, like it was pulling him taut.

Roman wasn't even looking at them- in fact, he hadn't seemed to notice his brother or best friend at all. The fire fell back down, leaving a charred patch of carpet that would likely take a long time to repair itself. The passionate trait growled, a sound that bordered on a scream as he clawed his hands down his face. He stamped his boot sharply against the ground, igniting another small fire with the impact.

“Fuck!” He cried, ever oblivious to his audience. With a hasty wave, the flames flickered and disappeared. Roman glared down at the blackened spot where it had been, winding his arms tightly around himself. He took a few shaky breaths, but if anything he only looked worse off for it.

“Fuck,” this time spoken quieter, but with no less vitriol. An immaculately-manicured hand raised itself to cover his mouth, tightening around his face desperately as tears slipped from his eyes down his fingers. He turned on his heel and took the stairs two at a time.

In his wake, as the television had been paused, the only thing that Virgil could hear was buzzing in his skull.

What had happened? What was happening, currently?! Things had gone so wrong and it was all because of Virgil’s negligence- what bad things could have been prevented if he had just been there? Or- or even just listening in! When had he even stopped listening? He was supposed to protect them but he just gave up, just because he ‘couldn't handle it’, and now something was Wrong with Roman and he couldn't even focus on listening to them all now, not like this. He couldn’t hear, couldn’t hear or see anything at all.

A rough, calloused hand wrapped around his wrist. Virgil's shallow breath staggered even more at the feeling, the warbly noise of speech failing to meet his ears. His eyes were closed tight, he realized, stinging with emotion behind his eyelids.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Four seconds, four strikingly gentle presses against the vein of Virgil’s wrist. If it weren't for the slight edge of a claw, he could've confused the motion for one of Patton’s.

The four taps were followed by a brief pause, then a steady round of seven taps. Another pause, and then eight. As Virgil focused, as much as he could anyway, on the presses, the screaming of his mind very gradually abated. First, he pried his eyes open, staring down at the hand around his arm. Watching the tapping, feeling it, was grounding enough for his hearing to return in time. Virgil could hear Remus beside him, breathing deeply as a guide, and copying the exercise became that much easier. In for four, hold  for seven, out for eight. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Remus didn't stop when Virgil did it properly one time over, when he was still shaking and teary. He didn't speak up even when the well behind Anxiety's eyes ran dry, after what had to be a dozen rounds of even breaths. It was only when Virgil finally, hesitantly slipped his wrist out of the other's grasp on his own terms that Remus made any sounds.

“Do you remember when you taught me to do makeup? Late teens, early twenties, around then?”

Talk about a topic shift. Virgil glanced up in confusion.

“I guess so? Wasn't that, like, the only time that we hung out and actually got along?” They’d never exactly been close, Virgil had made sure of that. It was, in retrospect, a regrettable decision on his part.

“Yeah. I was so bad at it, remember?”

“Hell yes, I remember,” Virgil felt a tiny smirk tug his lips at the memory, “You literally never sat still. You were and are the most impatient person I've ever met.”

“I’ve gotten a lot better, Vee.”

Virgil glanced at the bruise-like eyeshadow circling the Duke's eyes, but refrained from saying anything. Knowing him (kind of knowing him? Starting to know him better now? Whatever.) it was most definitely intentionally off-putting, and probably not a good way to judge his actual ability.

“But I’ve seen how you do it, when you really, really try; I think you're still better than me with it, ju-u-ust barely.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” Virgil wasn't entirely sure where this was going, but he couldn't find the soft excitement in Remus’ eyes anything other than enticing. The creative side laughed, flapping his hand.

“It would be fun if you did it for me again! Just like old times, ey?”

Virgil stared at him, considering him carefully.

“You want me to do your makeup?” 

“Yes!” Remus leaned forward with his confirmation, but for once that didn't involve violating Virgil’s post-panic attack bubble, “It'll give you something to do with your hands other than peeling back all your skin, at the very least.”

Oh, right. Virgil not-so-subtly lifted his nails from his palms, wincing at the irritated red spots coloring his hands.

Truth be told, the idea wasn't… unappealing. It was an activity well between mindless and active, repetitive and artistic. Plus, he didn't exactly love being alone after attacks, and if anything Remus would be lively company. Company that he sort of, maybe, possibly was looking forward to spending the rest of the day with anyway, unfortunate events notwithstanding.

“Yeah, alright, if you're sure you want-”

“Great! Wait right there, bee-arh-bee,” before the words were even fully out of his mouth, Remus went limp and fell sideways off of the couch, falling right through the floor. 

In his absence, there was a void where his noise had been. Virgil stared at the paused movie scene, picking apart the little details of the frame just to have something to do. His mind drifted off to the state that Roman had been in when he entered. The sight of his friend so furious burned itself on the backs of Virgil’s eyelids. He knew that the anxiety wasn't all his own, either; he could feel it like waves from the other side of the MindPalace, the origin point clearly belonging to Roman.

He should check on him, shouldn't he? Or would that make it worse? Virgil certainly didn't feel like he was in any state to help. But then there was Patton to consider- something must have happened up there. Should he look for him, too?

There was a whoosh.

“I leave you alone for five seconds and you get right back to thinking!” Remus strode across the room, flopping right back onto the couch. Held in his arms was an enormous multi-pocketed bag, items clattering around within at every jostle their owner made.

“Overthinking is literally my whole job, man, this shouldn't surprise you,” Virgil shrugged, trying not to sound as relieved as he felt.

Remus simply rolled his eyes and dropped the makeup case onto Virgil's lap, sitting criss-cross parallel to him, their knees brushing slightly.

Virgil hesitated for a moment, scanning Remus' face, but all the other did was smile and blink (one eye at a time). 

Virgil zipped open the bag, rifling through and finding an overwhelming array of gaudy colors and odd products.

“Was there, like, a 'look' that you want to go for?”

Remus shrugged.

“Just go for it! I’m a blank canvas. The worse, the better.”

Virgil chuckled, picking out a few items to fit a theme he was coming up with and getting right to work.

Though it had been years since they’d last spent time together, it wasn’t awkward. In fact, it felt more comfortable than it had back then.

Remus managed to sit almost perfectly still, chattering the entire time that Virgil worked. Yet again his voice served as something like white-noise, wherein Anxiety only had to contribute whenever he chose. Remus only quieted when Virgil had to hold his face, tipping his head back to properly apply inky-black lipstick. And then, he remained silent for a moment, as they surveyed each other. 

Virgil had cleared his throat, warmth prickling at his ears, and the ceaseless rambling resumed after that.

In what felt like hours and no time at all, Virgil was finally satisfied with his work.

“Alright, you're all done,” he capped the bottle of mascara in his hand, rifling through Remus' bag for a mirror, “Wanna see?” 

Just as he felt the unmistakable cool surface of glass on his fingertips, Remus grabbed his wrist in both hands. 

“What-?”

“Not so fast! Now it's my turn,” he announced, his zealous eyes even more prominent on his face thanks to the thick wings of eyeliner around them. 

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Virgil looked from the assortment of garish colors that he'd mostly stayed away from in the makeup case, and then back up at the Duke.

“Usually: yes. But I am dead serious right now, Vee.”

Remus looked pleading, legitimately pouting. 

Virgil huffed. The side had gone out of his way to help him, when he really didn't have to, so…

“You're not going to just use this as an excuse to draw all over my face, are you?”

“I mean, no promises that I'll be able to restrain myself, but! Gimme a chance anyway, I can make you even hotter than you already are! Plus, we'll match then.”

“... Fine. Just- nothing too crazy, alright?”

“Again, no promises.”

Virgil groaned, but he still passed the bag to Remus.

 “Holy shit...”

Remus leaned over the basin of the bathroom sink, drumming his hands on the counter excitedly. He was starry-eyed as he observed the dark, dramatic colors covering his face: metallic emerald-green eyeshadow, excessively long lashes, and winged eyeliner sharp enough to cut a bitch. His lips were black as void, but shimmered like glitter. Everything about the look was dangerous, confrontational, and grim. 

“This is more out there than I’d usually wear, but. Yeah, holy shit.”

Virgil's expression, despite his best efforts, was equally awed as he peered into the mirror. The color around his eyes was mismatched; a lime to moss green gradient over his purple eye, lavender to royal violet over his green one- both colors contrasted by smudged black eyeliner under his eye. His signature Racoon Look had been maintained in that aspect, but it was even more exaggerated. In addition to that, Remus had taken to drawing various little symbols along Virgil's cheekbones, including things like upside-down crosses. Finally, there was the fuchsia lip-gloss, stark against Virgil’s paler-than-normal foundation. 

“It’s okay, I guess,” Virgil breathed reverently. 

“I love it!” Remus crowed, clambering onto the counter just to get a better look at himself. Somehow, he'd already managed to smudge the hell out of his eyeshadow, but it kinda… worked for him, if Virgil was being honest.

“Vee, we have got to do this more often!”

Virgil looked from his reflection to Remus', startled in a way he didn't entirely understand. The intrusive facet met his gaze through the mirror, the smile sliding off his face when Virgil didn’t respond to him.

“Right, Raggedy-Anx? It doesn't have to be this, specifically, if you really don't want to. We could just watch movies together, that's fine. Or we could do anything at all! Right?”

Virgil was still silent, lost in his mind. Remus fell from a kneeling position to sitting with his legs hanging off the counter, turning his back to the mirror.

“Was this a one-time thing? That's alright, too, if you just needed help calming down. I'm not as good as the others, I know, but if they're ever too busy again, you'll think of me when you need help, at least. Right?”

Finally, Virgil snapped out of his daze when he heard the panicked edge to Remus’ voice, feeling his anxiety as Virgil noticed the wild look that had completely erased his giddiness. It was a look that Virgil had seen plenty of times before, when Remus had been ignored far too long and was right about to start ripping things to shreds for some scraps of attention. Only then did Virgil fully recognize what the expression actually meant; the deep, terrified need that swirled behind the look, unsure of how to ask for what it really wanted after so many denials of that very want. 

“Shit, sorry,” Virgil moved to stand in front of him, eye-level to Remus even though he was elevated by the counter, “Hey, it's alright, Re, everything's fine.”

Remus was still trying very determinedly to smile.

“I know! Hell, I’m not the anxious one, I'm the one that makes people anxious,” his laugh sounded like it came from a throat full of broken glass, “I just- I liked this, ya know?”

“I know,” Virgil leaned forward, coaxing Remus' arms away from where he'd wrapped them around himself, “I like this, too.”

Remus let Virgil hold onto him, surprised into something like obedience.

“You? What?”

“I like this,” it wasn't as though Virgil was expecting to hug Remus, but it seemed to have happened on its own as they moved. It was leagues nicer than he could have imagined, despite the smell. “I like you…-r company.”

“That's weird,” Remus' legs curled around Virgil’s waist. Virgil rested his hands on Remus’ hips. He listened as the creative trait's breathing evened out, vaguely aware that the situation was similar to the one just an hour or so before. Except, the roles had been reversed, of course.

“I missed you. I know I never told you, but I missed you.”

Virgil felt guilt, hot and molten, dripping down his throat. He couldn't lie; he hadn't missed Remus when he left. But now he did, in a roundabout sort of way. He missed what could have been, all of the possible understanding and friendship and likely more that he could have had for so long with Remus- all of which he'd let slip by for years. Due to just writing the artist off as disgusting, or unnecessary. 

And perhaps some of that misunderstanding was Remus' fault as well, but Virgil couldn’t find it in himself to hold it against him.

“You don't have to anymore. Miss me, I mean. I'm- fuck, I'm so sorry.”

“Me too,” Remus said, pulling back to settle Virgil with a happy-yet-tearfilled gaze.

“Aw, hey,” he tightened his grip at Remus' hips, smirking, “You're gonna fuck up all my hard work on that eyeliner, Re.”

Remus laughed, loud and shrieky and him, smiling unnaturally and brilliantly wide once again. Virgil's breath caught in his throat- not for the first time that day, he found himself trapped up in that wild, energetic face.

Before Virgil was entirely aware of what he was doing, he was leaning forward, pulling Remus in by the waist. When the cackling finally stopped short, so did he, both much too far and far too close to the Duke. 

He didn't have the chance to explain himself, or apologize, or anything, because soon enough understanding flashed in Remus' eyes.

“Oh, oh yes, oh hell fucking yes.” 

Remus didn’t wait a second longer before closing the distance and smashing his lips against Virgil’s. A startled sound bubbled up in his throat, dying quickly as he acclimated to what was happening. Just as he did, he was reciprocating the kiss. 

Their teeth clashed together uncomfortably, and Virgil was hyper-aware of the threat both his own and Remus’ fangs posed if they weren’t careful, making it far from the perfect first kiss. But he wouldn’t have wanted that anyway, nor would he have expected it. It was, somehow, better. 

Remus' hand dragged down Virgil's back, his fingers fitting onto the notches of the facet’s spine. Virgil shivered, pressing himself flush against the counter (and Remus) and digging his thumbs into the trait’s hips. The motion earned him a beautiful whine from the other as the kiss deepened, growing less awkward and more heated by the second.

Virgil was unaware of how much time was passing, but when they finally parted, both were short of breath and significantly disheveled. Remus had his back pressed up against the mirror, his hair even fuzzier than its usual state, expression dazed and face flushed. From what Virgil could make out in his own reflection, he wasn't much better off. 

Just as soon as they'd separated, Remus' hand was on his face, his thumb dragging just under Anxiety's lip.

“You fucked up your lipstick,” he teased.

“So did you,” Virgil answered with a smirk, leaning into the touch. 

“I guess we'll have to fix it later.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Remus wriggled himself out of his pinned position, twisting around Virgil. He managed to situate himself and drop down from the bathroom counter, his manner suggestive, “Because all I wanna do right now is finish watching Cabin Fever with my new goth boyfriend and makeout during the boring parts.”

“Boyfriend?” Virgil ignored the jolt of warmth he felt at that, determined to stay nonchalant as he (subtly (not subtly)) slipped his hand into Remus’.

“You disagree?” 

Virgil pretended to think it over, leading them to the door and taking his time to click it open. 

“Nah, I don’t disagree,” he said finally, “I think I like the sound of that, actuall- yyyy.”

Virgil stopped short in the open doorway, voice dragging out in his shock. Behind him, he could feel Remus trying to crane around him to see what was happening, but Virgil didn’t move to accommodate him. Well, more accurately, he felt like he couldn’t really move at all, too busy parsing out the scene in front of him.

In the corner of the sectional- sharing a cushion- Janus and Patton sat, the former holding aloft a glass of wine, the latter snacking on a muffin. They sat with their legs tangled together, and had seemed to be engrossed with each other before the interruption. Both had paused mid-conversation to gawk in Virgil's direction, twin deer-in-headlights expressions on their faces. 

“What-” Virgil began, bewildered.

“The fuck?” Remus finished, pushing his way out of the bathroom.

Janus struggled to sit up into a more dignified position and take the reigns of the conversation. It didn't take him long to overcome his surprise at the interruption, his surveying gaze sweeping over the other two Dark Sides contemplatively. The look made Virgil’s skin crawl. 

“You know, we- well, we could ask you two-” he gestured at their interlocked hands, “-just the same question, couldn't we?” 

For a moment, there was silence. Virgil looked from Patton to Janus. Janus looked from Virgil to Remus. Patton looked at the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Remus looked at everyone and broke the silence.

“You didn't see us,” he announced, sidestepping his way to the staircase and dragging Virgil along with him, “And we didn't see you.” 

Janus squinted, tipped his head, and nodded conspiratorially. 

“Deal.”

With that little grant, Virgil and Remus darted up the stairs and into the sanctuary of the dimly lit hallway as quickly as they could. Luckily for them, Roman was probably either in a deep depression sleep or far into the imagination by now, and Logan Did Not Engage with Interpersonal Drama if he could help it. 

There was a second for appreciating the absurdity of the situation (and catching their breath), before either spoke to each other.

“I’ve got a huge flat screen,” Remus piped up at last, jerking his thumb in the direction of his room. 

“Any of us can conjure literally anything we want at any time, so I'm not sure what's impressive about that.”

Remus scowled, albeit playfully.

“Hush! Come watch someone slowly be consumed by a parasite with me!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and let Remus drag him off, his complaints accompanied by absolutely no efforts to avoid the situation. 

Things were weird, there was no denying that. Maybe they'd end up being that way for a while yet, and Virgil knew he had a lot of news to catch up on, but he found that thoughts like that were way back in his mind. Whatever happened, he reasoned, he would still have this comfort. The arms of someone he was finally coming to know wrapped tight around him, playing up his back, a mouth trailing kisses on his neck as he half-watched horror films. Yes, things would be difficult with the others, but it was secondary.

There was someone on his side now. Solidly, unarguably there for him. With him. And that made it all feel a little bit easier.

#dukexiety #intruxiety #sanders sides #ts #virgil #remus #fanfiction #fanfic #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides fanfic #my writing #ts fanfic #ts fanfiction #tss #virgil sanders #remus sanders #romantic dukexiety #hurt/comfort #as usual amirite #swearing tw #so much swearing oh my god #gore descriptions #anxiety #nd headcanons #catch the references btw #by that i mean remus' ceramic consumption is a direct nod to the horror film oculus

[minthysugamon]

Barell of a Gun (Hitman! Jimin x Reader)

(Warnings: This one is pretty dark. Please don't read if you feel uncomfortable at the mentions of Paid Murder,Gambling,Uncomfortable Situations and Kidnapping. This doesn't depict Jimin's real personality. It's only a work of fiction. Please don't associate Jimin with this after you read it,he isn't like that in real life. IT IS ONLY A WORK OF FICTION BASED ON A JAMES BOND-AGENT 47 TYPE OF CONDUCTING LINE)

Word count: 2045

As soon as night has fallen,he started to get ready. Pen,check. Knives,check. 9mm,check. Everything was going perfectly. Park Jimin never paid attention to the victim. At least,he never let his emotions rule over the goal he had in front of him. And that goal was the 1,000,000$ he will get after he eliminated the person in the portfolio. It's a well paid price,and until he does the job without being noticed,it's worth it. He never accorded time to his emotions. It's a rational job,find the person,eliminate them,get paid. Nothing really hard. He prefers to say eliminate because killing would make his targets look like victims,whilst most of them are just rotten people.

"Agent 91,welcome. Please type in the password to unlock." His computer displayed the following words. He typed it in once. Doesn't work. The fourth time,same thing happened. "Fuck. Not again. I don't have time for this shit right now." Jimin was starting to get agitated. The fifth time,he just scanned his retina,hoping it would work. And it did. Thankfully. Because if it hadn't,the whole fuck-up would've cost him a lot of money and primarily his life,probably.

While sitting in the car,you had some Depeche Mode song your brother was blasting earlier in his room,stuck on repeat in your head. It was called Barrel of a Gun or something,the guitar riff was kinda cool so it stuck to your neurones. The ride to the casino was accompanied by an awkward silence,your date for the night has chosen some pompous place to dine at and now wanted to go gamble some money away. He was the son of some rich politician at your school,of course he would do something like that. "Did you like the meal?" The guy placed a hand on your knee,not as if you had asked,but for the moment you didn't do anything. "Yes,i liked it,even thought the wine was a little bit dry for my taste." He simply smirked and rolled up the partition in the back of the Limousine before his hand has made its way higher up on your thigh. "Well..if it can comfort you,i know that something won't be as dry as the wine tonight." Breaking point. You took his hand into yours and simply smiled. "Jacques,listen. I appreciate your gestures and all,but please,please,pretty please,don't ever fucking touch me again without me consenting to it." You heard a pop coming from the bone of his hand,not realising you were literally almost breaking it so you had let it go.

Jimin had stepped into the grand hall of the Casino of Monte Carlo,getting the casual verifications done. He stood at the roulette table,and since he had some time to kill,he didn't mind gambling away some thousands. The main point was to blend in,not to be outstanding. "Mesdames,Messieurs,Faites-vos jeux." He had forgotten how wonderful the french language sounds...as wonderful as a cat choking on some plastic wrap. His bet was put on the number 3,his lucky number. Not that he was superstitious,but it always brought him chance,so...why not this time? "Les Jeux sont faits." As soon as the roulette started spinning,he looked around himself and finally saw his target. But it wasn't planned that he will have company.

Sitting besides Jacques while he was playing a hand,needless to say,it was more than just boring. You never wanted to go home as much as you did now. Plus,the high-heels were killing your feet,it was a plus reason for you to just get up and leave. But you didn't. Simply because he was already kind enough to take you on a date,so,you had nothing more to do than just sit beside him and observe. Jacques wasn't good at Poker,even if he liked to think the opposite,and his loss was already over 100,000€. If he were a simple man,he would already be indebted,but it wasn't the case. The game only started to be interesting when another man sat down at the table and joined the party.

"May i?" Jimin asked with a small smile on his lips. He knew his target was beside him,it will be easier to calculate his every moves. But he didn't realise it will be harder since you were in the frame too. As soon as the game started,he saw that the guy wasn't good at playing,only bluffing,so,he took this to his advantage and told himself he will use the "I'm just tryna help you bro" card later. Jimin's eyes were mostly on you though,and he didn't calculate his emotions,but he would've been lying if he said you weren't beautiful.

You were looking at the cards in Jacques's hands. Seeing the 3 others on the table,he was already fucked,but of course,he had to bluff. "50,bet" echoed from the man beside you and everyone folded. Except one. The new player at the table. "Oh...i see you play with big amounts...let me make it more interesting then. Calling 1600." The black haired man's proposition made you jump a little bit. It wasn't only 1600€,but 1,600,000. "So..? What do you think? Reasonable proposition,no? Or...are you scared of losing?" The guy smirked and your partner stood up. "I'm going for a smoke. Pause the game." "Man,it isn't such a bad proposition,but okay...let's say 1,400,000 to save your honor." He followed Jacques to the balcony. Which was a pretty bad idea knowing how he can get when he's angry,you knew how out of hand the situation could get,he was the same at Uni. Anger Issues was his middle name.

Jimin was only trying to provoke the poor guy. Poor...let's not say that. He was the kid of an asshole that got rich by scamming poor people. Let alone,the father was a politician. The only way for Jimin to attain his final target was to hurt him. Not that he had to,but it was more effective this way. "Stop fucking following me. I have enough of your gimmicks. I saw how you were looking at him. You're on a date with me,not him." The hitman simply laughed. "Oh..you thought your little girlfriend came after you? Believe me,she has better things to do. Now,if you excuse me..." Gun cocked. Silencer already on. And fire. The bullet went straight through the younger one's head,in between the eyes. "Bull's eye. Good." As the body of the guy has fallen,Jimin started to wipe his silencer and put the pistol away. Too bad the girl was at the balcony as he did it.

"What the fuck have you done? WHO THE FU-" You screamed at him,but the scream hadn't live to its full potential as the guy from the table had silenced you with a hit to your head. You woke up five hours later,tied to a chair,in a living room in some old ass apartment,still propably in southern France. "Rise and shine babygirl,you're safe now. My name is...you have no buisness knowing it,but call me 91. Or Jay. Whatever suits you." As you looked around you,you saw nothing you could recognise. Only the feeling of the rag on your mouth was prominent,with the bounds around your wrists and legs. "I guess i should take off the gag...but can i trust you to not scream?" You nodded,already planning to get away somehow. As Jay took off the gag you inhaled and tried to scream but he had his hand in front of your mouth. "I should've killed you when i had the chance. I didn't need any kind of witnesses. But here i am,trying to plan out something so you don't talk. Now. Stop screaming or i'll send a bullet flying through your brain. Also..what's your name again?" He knew it of course...but wanted to hear it as he took off his hand of your mouth and looked at you. "Wasn't that your initial plan? And my name is (Y/n)." The sass in your words left him surprised enough to smile and unload his gun. "Wow,getting sassy i see. I like it." "Why did you kill him? Was it because he was involved in some shady buisness?" You talked way more than you should have. And Jimin liked that. More information means more time...which means a better approach towards the target. "What do i look like? A social justice warrior? Honey,i get paid for shit like this. But now,my only problem is you. What should i do with you? You weren't in the frame. And now you are here,bound to a chair...don't get me wrong,i like the view,but you shouldn't have wandered away from that goddamn table yesterday." You simply lowered your head and looked at his hands. He was fidgeting. Unable to decide what he should do. "You should probably kill me then. I mean,if i am too much to handle,and since you know i'll be talking as soon as i get out of here,you should just choke me to death...quick and effective." He smiled and took your chin with two fingers so you were looking into his eyes. "Let me think about it. But i already know i won't kill you...in the end,you're truly innocent so..there would be no fun in that." "So...you're pretty much a social justice warrior then" He let your chin go and stood up to walk around the apartment.

Jimin knew killing you would've made too much mess,plus,cleaning the whole appartment after it would have taken too much time. Plus...he kinda started to like you. You were the type of girl he could settle with. So he went with plan B...or more like,he wanted to go with plan b which was about to let you go and threaten you to not talk. But as soon as he heard footsteps coming towards the apartment,Jimin changed his mind and chose Plan C. "You'll be coming with me. We have to get away. I already lost more than 3 hours with you getting in my way."

You were quickly untied and he secured a gun around your thigh. "You know how to use one? Just in case,to be safe." Why on earth would he give you a gun? "I could kill you right now if i wanted." "Yeah,i know,but you don't want to. That's the positive point. Now open the window and get out." God knows why you obeyed him,but it was almost automatic. Did you like the rush of the situation? Maybe yes. Maybe it was simply because you were scared...maybe it was because you kind of liked the way the whole situation turned out. He was following you as soon as he cleared the area,and unlocked his car. "Get in. I'll be here soon. No more than 2 minutes." "Huh? Where the fuck are you going?" "Getting my shit and then i'll be here." And with that,he was already on his way.

No more than two minutes after,he was back with his suitcase and the briefcase containing some papers,his pc and most importantly,the money. "Buckle the belt. We'll be on the road for 10 to 15 hours..." "Where are we going?" He simply smiled and turned the engine on. "Let that be a surprise..." "So...you're pretty much kidnapping me,right?"

He chuckled and looked into the rear-view mirror. "It's better than the barrel of a gun against your head at least. And...you'll see,it won't be as bad as you think."

Was this really the life you were about to live? Probably. Was it safe? Probably not,but did you have any other choice? No. But...little did you know,it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

(Y'all,i'm sorry if it is bad...i really wanted something different but in the end idk...it doesn't seem good to me...i let you all be the judge)

#bts #bts scenarios #bts au #jimin au #bts jimin #park jimin #jimin #jimin x reader #bts hitman au #hitman au #bts imagines #bts scenario

[jootsmcgoots]

MBC Selfshipping Prompts #1: First Dates (Risotto Nero)

WOO BOY so Haley started a weekly Selfship Prompt event over at MBC, and I wanted to write it out! And so I did. 

Mind you, this uses my self-insert, Niko, so it’s going to be using that name and female pronouns. This work got away from me, so it ended up being 2422 words (even when I meant for this to be less than 2k words......lmaooo...)

I will get around to posting my reader inserts soon, but not yet LOL I’ll get around to it when I get around to it. This blog is still very much a WIP because I still need to re-reblog a LOT of content from the old blog.

But for now, this is what I’m writing and I wanted to post it up. I may write another for Mista, but we’ll see (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

So as the title implies, this is the first of the prompts, and it’s “First Dates”.

Niko let out a yawn as she sleepily looked out at the busy street. Her eyes scanned the droves of people walking around, trying to scope out her target. Dark eyes blinked as she studied the faces of men nearing her, trying to determine if they were the one she was looking for. When they passed by her, she shrugged internally.

Her phone’s clock read 10:47 AM. She knew they agreed to meet around 11, but it never hurt to be early. “And anyways, better to be early than late, right? Right.” She still couldn’t help getting bored easily, and the anxiety and tension building in her chest continued to rise as the seconds passed.

“Calm down, calm down,” she thought to herself, “It’s just a date; you’ve been on dates before! Just treat it like you’re just hanging out with a friend.” Niko let out the breath she was holding and took her phone out, idly browsing it in order to distract herself. “Plus, it’s Mimi’s brother. There’s no way he’d be the bad kind of sort. She wouldn’t set us up if she thought we weren’t going to get along.”

Still, she had to admit she was surprised when her friend made the suggestion and arrangements. Niko recalled as her friend more or less pushed the aquarium tickets into her hand and snatched her phone to punch in her brother’s contact info.

“It’ll be nice, I promise! He’s a really great guy, and I think you two will hit it off!” Mimi flashed the smaller woman a grin. “Plus, he needs to get out more often.”

Niko’s mouth formed a slight line as she remembered how she had asked her friend for a photo of her date, but Mimi’s grin only grew with amusement.

“Oh, don’t worry about that! You’ll know when you see him.”

A noise of annoyance escaped Niko’s throat. “Dude, what does that even mean?” Her brow creased as she tried to think on what that could have meant, but quickly gave up, deciding it was too much effort. Her eyes absentmindedly left her phone screen to scope out her surroundings again.

Except her eyes bugged out as they fell on a large, foreboding man in dark clothing who towered over most if not all of the other people walking along. Whether by his size or presence, people seemed to naturally get out of his way as he continued making his way down the street. Everything about him exuded a quiet kind of power, from the way he walked, his stern expression, his hulking, muscular frame…

Though she remained completely stock-still, Niko shook her head inwardly. “No, no, maybe it’s not him! Maybe it’s just your regular, big, muscular, scary-lookin’ dude with fucking black sclera and red eyes, just walkin’ down the street for a stroll! All decked out in black and has the kinda expression that says, ‘hey so if you piss me off, I’m going to rip your limbs off’! Totally normal! Yeah! Hahaha!”

However, despite the thousands of thoughts going through her head at miles a minute, Niko knew. Now she understood what Mimi had meant by “You’ll know.” When the man stopped in front of her, it was undeniable that this man was indeed her date.

She could feel red eyes roving over her, studying her. If looks could kill, Niko felt like she would have been smote where she stood from the intensity of his stare alone.

Risotto’s unblinking crimson stare studied the woman before him. She certainly matched the picture and profile his sister had given him. Petite and girlish stature, short black hair that swept to the right, glasses, gold studs in her lobes, everything matched. He noted how she was sporting a mint green frog backpack, just like she’d specified she would so that he could recognize her easier. How thoughtful of her to suggest that in the first place. He couldn’t deny that he appreciated the consideration.

He was an observant man and was well-aware of his perception skills. After all, it was an invaluable skill in his line of work. However even without his sharp senses, there was no missing the look of surprise, awe, and slight fear in his date’s flabbergasted visage. Her eyes were wide, brows raised to the sky and jaw slack, lips seeming to form the beginnings of “Oh my god.”

Risotto let out a nearly imperceptible huff of amusement. His sister was right; this woman’s face hid nothing. He couldn’t help but smile a little at that candidness.

Introductions were short and awkward, but they served their purposes. Once acquainted, the pair could proceed with their date. Their itinerary was rather basic, just go to an aquarium and get some food together. Simple enough.

However, conversation was rather sparse as they made their way to their destination. Without any prior knowledge or known common ground, Niko was unsure of what to talk about, and Risotto was a taciturn individual by nature.

He didn’t dislike the small talk that she was trying to make, asking him things like what he did, what his hobbies were, but it required him to think carefully about his responses. It wasn’t exactly appropriate to vent about how little you were being paid to kill people on a first date.

What were you even supposed to talk about on a first meeting like this anyways? It had been far too long since he had tried connecting with someone new, let alone someone not affiliated with Passione. Though Risotto’s face remained as placid as ever, worry and nerves began bubbling beneath the surface as he picked up on the traces of worry and discomfort on his date’s face, and he wracked his brain for more to say.

He wasn’t alone, though; Niko hardly ever met people like this, usually having some common ground with new conversational partners. Here, she had absolutely no idea. Inwardly, she cursed Mimi for putting them in this awkward situation, wishing a thousand poxes on her friend’s house.

=====

“Eh? You set them up on a date?”

“Yup!” Mimi replied cheerily.

“And it’s a blind date, you said? And she doesn’t know what he looks like?”

Mimi hummed an affirmative as she snuggled up against her boyfriend’s shoulder, black nails clacking against her phone screen as she browsed. Though Kakyoin’s eyes hadn’t left the screen and he had continued dutifully chaining combos, his brows raised in surprise as he made a considering noise.

“Oh dear. She’s in for quite the surprise then.” As the victory logo flashed on screen, he leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead and smiled warmly at Mimi.

“That’s evil. I love it.”

=====

Arriving to the aquarium was a relief and a salvation to Niko. At least now they could busy themselves with an activity, and that would give them something to do together. Slowly, their conversation became less stiff and stilted, as Niko began prattling off about the various exhibits they toured together. Bit by bit, she continued to come out of her shell as she pulled him from room to room, and by noontime she was babbling nonstop about the penguin feeding exhibit they had just been at.

“…and god, they were just so damned cute!” Her eyes glittered at the memory. “Fun fact, did you know that there was this one penguin that fell in love with an anime character? I’m not kidding!” Niko nodded as Risotto tilted his head at that statement. “Yeah, yeah! His name was Grape-kun and he uh…” Her words petered out, and her expression turned sheepish.

Risotto raised a brow, unsure of why she stopped. “Is something wrong?”

Niko fidgeted in silence for a moment before answering. “I…I just kinda realized that I’ve been dragging you from place to place, and I’ve just been rambling non-stop. It’s – it’s not that…it’s okay if you’re just not one for talking. I totally get that!” she said, waving her hands in front of her before wringing them worriedly. “I just wanna make sure you’re having fun too. Like, I just hope I’m not talking over you or only doing the things I wanna do, y’know?”

She looked up at him to meet his stare. Embarrassment was racking up by the second, and as she was going to open her mouth, he spoke.

“I’ve been enjoying myself.”

Relief flooded her senses. Niko smiled at him as she registered his words, her expression relaxing into something much brighter. He couldn’t help but mirror the expression, even though the corners of his mouth had barely turned upwards.

She clapped her hands together as a thought seemed to dawn on her.

“I know! Was there anything in particular that you wanted to do? Anything here that you were looking forward to?”

At that, Risotto’s eyes widened just the tiniest bit, but Niko had caught it. “There is, isn’t there?” she probed with a mischievous grin. “C’mon, tell me! I’m sure it’ll be nice.”

He averted his eyes, and she chuckled good-naturedly at his sudden shyness. “C’mooon, tell me! We already came all the way out here, so if there was something you wanted to do, let’s go and do it!”

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t turn away from her expression, bright and shining like the sun, with no escape. Risotto let out a mumble, still unable to look her directly in the eye.

“Mm? What was that?” Niko tilted her ear towards him.

“…the manta rays.” He repeated himself, barely louder.

She made the connection in seconds. “Oh! The petting pool with the manta rays!” Niko threw him a grin as he nodded. “Yeah, I gotcha! Let’s go!” And at that, she immediately set off before stopping short and looking behind her, waiting for him. “Come on! It gets really crowded, so let’s head on over.”

The petting pool was a popular exhibit, and it was already full of people, children and adults alike, all fawning over the adorable manta rays that practically jumped out of the water for a petting. Though his face remained as stony as ever, the sparkles in Risotto’s eyes exposed his excitement as the sounds of splashing drew nearer and nearer.

Niko let out a giggle. How cute.

However, he just stood there, staring out at the pool that was so close yet so far. Maybe he felt put off by the number of people there.

Taking matters into her own hands, Niko tried to lead them closer to the pool, but found that the droves of people who were already there difficult to navigate. She managed to bypass a few of them, but soon found it hard to actually get near the exhibit. Her lips curled to the side in annoyance as she tried to think about how to get to the exhibit.

Then, she felt someone take her hand. Niko looked up in surprise to see Risotto by her side, taking her hand gently as he began to wade through the crowd with her in tow, people parting as a hulking 6’8” man strode over to the manta ray pool. No one there decided that it was worth getting in his way, especially as he occasionally let out quiet, polite “excuse me, pardon me”s as he made his way over.

As Niko followed him through the crowd, she had a thought. Throughout the date, he hadn’t tried to make contact with her at all. Now that she thought about it, he had kept a respectful distance from her the entire time.

She let that fact wash over her as they approached the pool. Manta rays were swimming serenely through the clear water, occasionally breaking the surface of the water, excited for more pets.

Risotto had already dipped his hands into the cold water, gently stroking the creature as it passed by. A soft smile graced his features, dimples forming on his cheeks.

The sight was something Niko wanted to commit to memory.

Noticing that she had yet to join him, he removed his hand from the pool to look at his date. What he was met with was a soft, nearly reverent look on her face, dust blushing her cheeks. Upon realizing that he was looking directly at her, Niko gave him an awkward grin, hastily kneeling down with him to start babbling about how cute the rays were.

“…sorry.”

That cut her ramble short. “Huh? About what?”

“I should have asked first.”

His heart was thrumming in his chest as he searched her expression for any change. She looked confused for the barest of seconds before realization lit her features.

“Oh. Oh! That!” Niko quickly took her hand out of the pool, but thought better of shaking her hands in front of her like she usually did. “No, no – don’t worry about that!” She laughed, the sound causing a tentative warmth to blossom in his chest. “I really didn’t mind. It was…it was nice.” She emphasized her point with a shy but honest smile that caused the warmth in his chest to go into full bloom.

His eyes softened at her gentle expression, the soft look on her face looking like the most natural thing in the world. Risotto grunted an affirmative, finding words to be difficult.

As they walked away from the petting pool and dried off their hands, Niko spoke up.

“You know…to be honest, I wasn’t so sure about this. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone on a date, and this was my first blind date. I was ready to kill Mimi!” she admitted with a laugh, miming strangling motions. “No offense.”

“None taken.” His chuckle was nearly inaudible, but she didn’t miss the amusement in his voice.

Her smile grew wide, toothy and easy. “But this was nice. Real nice.”

“It was.” Risotto returned the smile, however subtle the change in his expression was. “I’ll admit this was…an experience. But I enjoyed it.”

At that, Niko laughed lightly and reached out to take his hand. Risotto noted the hesitation in her actions, the pause lasting no longer than a second. But in the end, he could feel his hand in hers, warm and comforting, like that was where it belonged.

He smiled at the feeling.

“Let’s go get lunch?” she asked, tilting her head at him.

His hand tightened around hers, just so.

“Let’s.”

As they walked towards their destination, they discussed restaurants, going over their options and bantering all the way there, the sound of her laughter echoing down the street.

#my self insert #Niko #self insert #self insert prompts #first dates #Risotto Nero #Vento Aureo #jojo's bizarre adventure #jjba #modern AU #aquariums #my writing #SFW #fluff #fluffy #risotto x niko

[takatou]

answered sum charahub questions about keisuke/my headcanonz about him... ill post it below the cut <:3

Birthday: he gives me sagittarius/scorpio vibes so idk late november early december? november 20th maybe

Zodiac: scorpio or sagittarius

Species: dog human

Gender: cis male

Significant Other: good question

Physical Description: average height, maybe a slight manlet, relatively in shape, maybe kind of heavier but not a lot. probably always has sweaty and cold hands. he has vibes that he's the kind of guy who's always sweating or fidgeting so i assume he'd be kind of clammy at times. he has really pretty eyes and a nice face, probably has chapped lips though. ah ah dont try to lick them now dry lips having ass

Sexuality: either straight or bi w female preference

Favourite colour? blue

Does your character collect anything? i don't think he would

Allergies? probably has none outside of bad seasonal allergies

Theme song? glad you asked

Alignment? hmm i wanna say chaotic neutral. 

Deadly sin that best represents them? lust/wrath

Which animal would they be? ….hahaha :)c you know

Patience level?

high, but he doesn’t take bullshit

Regrets? many. probably any time that he fed into his thoughts/urges, and in canon probably like Everything

Role model? NATSUKI

Favourite foods? anything really i doubt he'd be too picky. 

Favourite book? you think keisuke can read?

Dream place to live? somewhere nice and calm. he hates conflict, drama, and anything that's super… draining. he seems like the kind of guy who'd like to have a chilled out life because he's been through so much already and it doesn't help his headspace any at all.

How do they feel about love? weird. very weird. he doesn't know how to deal with it.

Smells like? deodorant. overpoweringly like deodorant half the time. otherwise he just smells like clean clothes. but he sweats a lot, and he slathers on deodorant so no one smells his nasty stress sweat, so he just exudes Man Deodorant scent. nasty fucker

Bad habits? biting his lip, biting the inside of his cheek, pacing, overthinking, losing things

What turns them off? unreactive partners, that's probably about it. i was going to say shit but we all know kei is a poopy poopoo ass 

Pet peeves? being laughed at, passive-aggressiveness, cattiness, people who chew with their mouths open, people who don't mind their business

Personal problems? his sadistic thoughts are the biggest one that comes to mind. he also has a major issue of not believing that he is a good person and taking the intrusive feelings/arousal and enjoyment he gets out of this as being an intrinsic part of who he is. he doesn't recall his trauma at first but even after he remembers it i doubt he'd tie it back to his fucked up thoughts. he believes that he's just a sick fuck and deserves nothing and that he's bound to give in sometime, and that's just… untrue. 

he doesn't treat himself well and while he isn't exactly the pictured stereotype of bad self-esteem (boo hoo im so bad and i hate myself im a sadboy) he definitely has garbage self-esteem internally. like he beats himself up to the point of breaking down often and he overthinks this. 

he obsesses over it rather than just accepting it as something that he can't help; the fact that he enjoys it makes it extremely hard for him to treat it as an intrusion upon his psyche. keisuke believes that he is at his core a horrible person and in that he is self-sabotaging himself. 

Religious and to what extent? Any spiritual beliefs? probably not.

Kind of student if they attend/were to attend school? (e.g. class clown, straight A) he seems like a complete straight-edge student. i feel like he'd finish all of his assignments but he could fall behind sometimes. i feel like he wouldn't outwardly be a troublemaker but he would entirely have issues at school despite being very smart, he would probably have classic symptoms of trauma despite not recalling it; memory loss, lack of interest, inability to focus, and so on. he would try his best but ultimately need to work harder than everyone else to stay afloat.

Random fact! oh a canon fact here: the motherfucker needs to wash he penis!!!!! sir wash your dick cheese i love you but ew!!! bro thats not a dick thats a mozzarella stick!!!

What ONE item would they take to an uninhabited island? his dick?

Outlook on life? it sucks probably idk 

Favourite object? his dick?

What (if they can) does your character eat? anything. he's really not picky, and he doesn't have the patience to cook or make food half the time.

What is something other people assume about your character? most people assume he's just a boring average dude, if not a little bit odd or quiet. he always has his hair in his gotdamn face so like he kinda looks like an emo kid 

Do they like the name they were given? sure

Nervous habits? biting his lip, tapping his foot

Glass half full or half empty?

half full. he tries to be optimistic but fails sometimes so more like half full but he accidentally knocked it over so he's too worried about it spilling

Wants to have kids, raise a family? i feel like he doesn't care either way, if the girl he's with wants kids ok, if not ok

Do they stand up for what they believe in? usually. he's not afraid to say what's on his mind or to argue with someone.

How much do they value money? moderately. he knows he needs it to get by, and he likes to have spare money, but he's no eugene krabs you know

Wants to get married? probably? he doesn't care if he gets married or not, the relationship itself is what matters, not a piece of paper between the two of him

Passive, aggressive, or defensive? aggressive/defensive

Cat or dog person? dog. haha. get it becaus- [gets hit by a truck]

Are they ticklish? hmm not really/sorta? not really in normal places atleast he gives me vibes of someone who's only sliiiightly ticklish (like maybe flinching or something but not rly reacting) except more obscure spots (like neck/lower back/knees or something idk) but i feel like it depends on his mood too, no one's really ever tried i wouldn't think except maaaybe kanae or nemu would probably. but it's pretty hard to get a reaction out of him, he just gets kind of embarrassed if anything

Coke or Pepsi? they taste the same to him and he doesn't really like either, he probably prefers something else but i'm not sure what, probably some weird ass mountain dew flavor or some weird ass off-brand soda. 

Favourite holiday? he doesn't seem like he places a lot of emphasis on holidays? maybe his friends' birthdays

Nickname(s)? kei, kei-chan

Body modifications? (Piercings, implants, tattoos etc.) just the thing on his neck, he probably doesnt really pay it much mind and covers it just to avoid questions

If they could have one thing in the world? yeah can i get uhhhh Repaired Brain

Would they dare kill someone? yes if you push him hard enough or provoke him enough he will

Involved with magic or witchcraft? nah

#keisuke takato #takato keisuke #euphoria #euphoria vn #clockup #clockup euphoria #hc tag #this is so LONNGGG

[docsamurai]

Let’s Kill Hitler - Chapter 1

Don’t know how long this is going to be, but I got a rather fun idea at lunch today and by the time I made it home after work I knew I needed to turn it into at least a short story. There’ll probably be at least another couple of chapters, enjoy though.

For the 4th time in the last hour George checked his phone in a futile attempt to will a signal to appear from out of nowhere. Obviously he wasn’t going to find wifi in Cleveland in the 1920s but he still checked, mostly out of habit. George went back to doing situps in his cell, wracking his brain in a desperate attempt to find some way to fix all of this. The sergeant was leaning back in his chair, half asleep with his feet propped up on his desk. Without opening his eyes the sergeant groaned and shifted in his seat. “Keep it down in there chink.”

George sat on the thin, threadbare mattress and rubbed the bridge of his nose where he could feel a headache coming on. It had only been a day since he woke up hungover in the middle of the street over a hundred years in the past, but it felt like a lifetime. The door to the holding area swung open and bald man in a crisp black suit carrying a briefcase walked in startling the sergeant out of his nap. The frowning man looked around the station before finally locking eyes with the sergeant who was lurching to his feet. “Who in the hell-“

The bald man opened his jacket to show his badge before extending a hand towards the sergeant “Officer Donnely. Travis Coal, FBI. I’m here to collect Mr. Li who it appears you have in custody.” The sergeant looked at the FBI agent and down at the extended hand, not fully comprehending what was happening. Cautiously Sergeant Donnely finally took the offered hand and went to get the key to the holding cell. Donnely stopped in front of the cell, the key in his hand before a thought occurred to him and he turned back to Agent Coal. Before Donnely could say anything Agent Coal held up a hand and cut him off. “I’ve already filed the transfer paperwork, your captain signed off on it a moment ago. The sooner I have Mr. Li, the sooner I can let you get back to your… work.”

Donnely’s jaw flexed as his temper flared at the Agent’s implied insult but he sighed and let it go. Shrugging Donnely unlocked the cell door and slid it open with a heavy clank. The color drained from George’s face as he realized his day was going from bad to worse. Having to put up with racist police was bad enough, but now federal agents were getting involved and somehow they already knew his name. “I swear, I didn’t do anything. I’m just trying to get…” George’s voice trailed off as Agent Coal’s frown deepened and he brought out a pair of handcuffs. Sergeant Donnely trudged back to his desk and propped his feet up again as Agent Coal led George out of the station and into the back of a car waiting outside.

Travis Coal sighed and unlocked the handcuffs before climbing into the driver’s seat. The agent pulled a phone out of his inner jacket pocket and swiped through a few screens as he muttered under his breath. “For fucks sake George, did you have any kind of goddamn plan?” George sat wide eyed in the back seat stammering through his excuses before a realization finally clicked. “Wait, you’re from the future too?” Travis glanced meaningfully down at the phone in his hand and before giving George a withering glare. “What gave it away?” Travis sighed and scratched a patch of stubble on the back of his head. “Yes, moron, I’m from the future. I’m not with the FBI though I do work for the government, specifically the Bureau of Time Traveler Affairs.”

George gave Travis a blank stare and shrugged, Travis grunted in response and started the car. “Short version: it’s my job to come back and rescue idiots like you who get the bright idea to try and time travel and get stuck. I gotta say it’s usually only white guys that are dumb enough to do this.” Travis put the Chevy series FB in gear and pulled out into traffic. “We just need to get far enough out of town to open up a return portal without causing a commotion and then we can get back to our own time.”

George started to reach for his phone again out of habit before sheepishly sliding it back in his pocket and shifting in his seat. “Am I going to be in trouble?” Travis looked back at him and let his frown soften a bit. The guy was an idiot but he was in over his head and at least he wasn’t being a jackass about it. “A little bit. The time lab your friend worked for isn’t happy but nothing got broken so they’re not pressing charges. There’s some fines for misuse of a Time Portal and you’ll also need to cover the cost of the tests we’re going to have to run to make sure we didn’t pick up any diseases that are supposed to be dead but you’re not going to jail or anything.”

A long moment of silence passed as George fidgeted in the back seat before Travis finally pulled his phone out and opened a recording app. “We’ll have to take a statement anyway so we might as well do it now. Please state your name and date of birth for the record.” “George Li. August 2nd 2007” “We recorded a time portal between June 18th 2032 and June 18th 1923, is it correct that you went through that portal and went back to that timeline?” “Yes.” “The current local time is 18:00 on June 19th 1923 meaning you have been in the past for approximately 18 hours. Is that accurate?” “Yes.” “During that time did you make any significant alteration to the timeline? For instance, have you possibly impregnated anyone or killed anyone?” “…No.”

Travis glanced back at George and stopped the recording. “You paused there. If something happened I need to know about it. I don’t care what it was, I just need to know for the record.” George shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I was kinda drunk when I got here. I don’t remember hooking up, but it could have happened.” Travis cleared his throat. “Any deaths? Even accidental ones? Again, I just need to know for our records.” George shook his head. Travis nodded and resumed the recording. “In your own words, what was your purpose in time travelling?”

“So I was out with my friend Nick, the guy who worked at the time lab, and he was telling me about how they had a time machine. I didn’t believe him, but he kept telling me how they used it all the time for boring nerd crap like research. We had a few beers, then some shots, and he asked me if I wanted to use the time machine at the lab and go ‘do some wild west shit’. I told him that I always wanted to kill Hitler. Next thing I know I’m waking up a hundred years in the past with a hangover.”

Travis groaned and shook his head. “Of course you did. That’s all for now.” Travis tapped the button on his screen and turned off the recording. They drove in silence the rest of the way to the outskirts of town where they found an empty field. Travis parked the car and opened the back door to find George crying in the back. “Oh come on, that’s really unnecessary.” George sniffled and drew a shuddering breath. “Please man, I can’t go to prison! I just wanted to do something good and then I got drunk and next thing I know I’m stuck in a weird time and I don’t know where I am and my phone didn’t work and I didn’t know how to get home and-“

Travis raised his hands, cutting George off. “It’s fine, you’re not going to prison, I already told you that. Just calm down. Besides if we were going to lock up every person who went back in time to kill Hitler we’d have to build a much bigger jail.” George stopped hyperventilating and his brow furrowed as he thought about what Travis said. “Wait, so other people tried to kill Hitler too? How come no one got him?”

Travis pulled up his suit sleeve and started tapping buttons on a device on his wrist. “Tried and succeeded for the most part. Lots of people have done it. Hell I’ve done it. Killing Hitler is a common enough time travel situation we literally use it as part of basic training for Time Agents.” Travis looked up to see George standing dumbfounded with his head cocked to the side and his mouth hanging open. Travis sighed and smiled slightly at George. “Ah, so here’s the thing, time travel doesn’t work the way you think it does. It’s called Multiverse Theory. When you go back in time and change something, you’re not changing your own timeline. Let’s say you somehow made it all the way to Germany, found Hitler, killed him and then came back to your own time. In your original time nothing would have changed. Hitler would still be dead, just at the time he was supposed to be dead. The alternate reality you created when you travelled back in time would have a dead Hitler and then history would change from there, but only in that alternate reality.

George leaned against the hood of the car and looked off into the distance. “So it wouldn’t mean anything?” Travis shrugged “Nothing we do really means anything. There’s infinite realities out there so every choice we make, whether it’s big or small, what you have for lunch or whether or not you kill Hitler, there’s another reality out there where you made a different decision.” George’s shoulders slumped as he thought about what he just heard. “That’s big man.” Travis nodded and patted George on the shoulder. “I know, it’s a lot to take in. Personally I find it’s best to just focus on the now and be a good person.

Travis checked the map on his phone and hit one more button on the device on his wrist and a dark swirling portal opened in front of them. “Come on, let’s go home.” George continued to lean against the car, deep in thought. “Come on George, the portal is only going to be open for a few more minutes and if we don’t go now it’ll take hours for it to charge back up.”

George looked back at Travis, a strange look in his eye and a big grin on his face. “Hey, it’s Travis right? Can I call you T?” “I’d really rather you didn’t” “Cool, so hey bro, it doesn’t matter what we do here right? Like I could go kill Hitler and it wouldn’t change anything? And we can use that thing on your wrist to get us back home any time right?” Travis groaned and shook his head “Oh no, I see where this is going.” George jumped off the car and clapped his hands “C’mon bro, I’ve always wanted to kill Hitler. He’s Hitler! History’s greatest monster! And if we get in trouble we can just use your portal thing to escape. I promise I’ll go back as soon as we’re done and whatever fines I’ve gotta pay it’ll be worth it.”

The portal wavered for a moment, catching Travis’ eye. Travis looked into the swirling energies of time and sighed. “George, listen to me. We have no IDs, no food, no money, no weapons and we’re 4000 miles away from Germany. There’s infinite possibilities yeah, but I’d really rather not be in one of the ones where I die a hundred years and a thousand miles from home. Besides, what exactly would we gain from going through all the trouble of killing Hitler? It’s been done!”

George grinned and practically bounced on the balls of his feet. “C’mon man. You’re all smart and shit, I’m sure between the two of us we can figure it out. Besides, It’ll be a fun story.” Travis tapped a button on his wrist and the portal closed. “You’re lucky you’re cute.” George’s grin got even wider and he rushed forward to give Travis a hug. “You’re the best bro!” Travis got back in the car and started the engine. “Alright, you win, let’s go kill Hitler.”

#fuck nazis #kill hitler #time travel #scifi #short story

[brynne-lagaao]

(Fanfic) Gift

Title: Gift

Rating: PG

Description:  Since he’d met Fushimi, Yata’s birthdays had an extra element to them. But whether it was good or bad or something else entirely depended on the year.

Note: The first section is based on the Lost Small World manga’s extra story, Unused Tickets.

Crossposts: AO3, FFNET, my website. Links are here.

Happy birthday, Yata!

13 Years Old

It was after all the cake had been eaten, the decorations were taken down, and Fushimi had gone home that Yata brought up a certain image on his PDA again. It was dark in the room that he shared with Minoru, and he could hear the soft, even breathing from the other futon, but the picture was clear in front of his eyes.

The only present he’d received from a friend for his birthday that year was this set of tickets printed in neat handwriting on plain paper and photographed for safekeeping: three ‘request for backup’ coupons with no expiry. From someone like Fushimi, it seemed like a high-value gift. He’d have to save them for extreme circumstances.

That wasn’t really the reason for the grin that spread across his face as he studied them, or the warmth he felt building within him when he thought back to that moment. It was because the gift had seemed so sincere – a real effort, even if in Fushimi’s own strangely awkward way.

He seriously thought he had to outdo someone else’s gift to win me over, huh? Yata couldn’t help but huff quietly to himself, amused. He was pretty competitive, but he’d never once thought about gifts that way. But Fushimi had specifically said it, reasoning that he couldn’t win against the bike that Yata’s stepdad had got him but might be able to beat his younger brother’s “give you my sweets” tickets. It was like he didn’t really grasp the whole birthday gift thing – just saw it as a way to reach for Yata’s favor somehow.

It was weird, but that thought gave him a little rush of gratification. Yata wasn’t totally sure he understood it, but more than the cake and all the fuss, the idea made him feel special. Important, even.

It felt like they were becoming closer for real, and the excitement he’d felt when meeting Fushimi in the bathroom at school filled his body again now, all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. The sensation was electrifying.

Even if the whole gift competition was still sorta weird, he was starting to think that maybe Fushimi had sold himself short when he said he couldn’t win against the bike. Not that the tickets themselves were that amazing, but this whole thing – that connection between them – was probably the best thing he could’ve gotten, that day or any other.

Seriously, if it was the two of them together, the future looked awesome.

15 Years Old

"Is this really where you want to eat?"

Yata shrugged, trying to shake off the uncertainty. He'd picked the place, and he couldn't back down now without admitting he was wrong. "They've got a special right now for a sundae that looks great! Nothing wrong with getting sweets on my birthday, right?"

"If you say so." Saruhiko's voice was dubious. He kept casting glances around at the interior of the cafe. "This doesn't seem like the kind of place you'd want to come to normally."

He was right about that. The cafe wasn't themed or fancy, but it had a cutesy sort of atmosphere somehow, despite the plain decorations. Outside of the booths like the one they were sitting in, all of the tables were small and round with only two chairs at each one. And the booths weren't wide, either.

This... really wasn't a place you came to with a group of friends.

Well, whatever. He only had one friend anyway, and that was all he needed. Plus ice-cream. "It's fine - it's just for one time, anyway." He looked up with a grin. "You promised you’d treat me, right?"

Saruhiko raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that why you came here? It's more expensive than somewhere else, so when it's someone else's money..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Yata shrugged, undeterred. "Normally I wouldn't get this kinda fancy stuff, right? I thought it'd be cool to try it once."

Saruhiko frowned a little, folding his arms across his chest as he slouched back against the booth. "It's not that exciting,” he muttered, with a small click of his tongue.

"I wanna see for myself." Yata kicked his foot forward so their shoes bumped – a casual reminder of their solidarity. "Anyway, I just wanted to go somewhere with you today."

Somehow, when Saruhiko looked up and met his gaze, it felt like those words became awkward rather than easy and familiar. Faced with those familiar grey-blue eyes across the table in a place like this, Yata felt inexplicably nervous, his skin tingling and warmth gathering at the junction of his neck and jaw.

It was a feeling that had caught him up a few times lately, but he couldn't quite place it.

Swallowing down an anxious lump, Yata cleared his throat, wracking his brain for something to say to clear the mood. "So..."

"Good afternoon!" The unnaturally chipper voice of a female server interrupted the moment. When he looked up, startled, she beamed back at him. "Are you two ready to order?"

"Ah... r-right." Her presence had that warmth firing up to a full heat across his face. Yata jerked his head back down to mumble in the direction of the table, "I-I'll get the... the special."

"All right, one special! And you, sir?"

"One scoop of mild vanilla," Saruhiko's voice answered her blandly, "in a bowl."

"Yes, of course!" The boring order didn't seem to phase her. "Coming right up!"

As she stepped away, Saruhiko let out a soft snort. "You need to get over that someday, you know."

"Shut up! I'm working on it, okay?" Yata looked up to frown at him. "You shoulda got the special too – don't you at least wanna try it?"

"Why should I if I already know I won't like it?" Saruhiko slid to the side, pulling himself free of the booth to stand. "That would just be a waste of time."

"You never know if you don't try." It was probably a lost cause; Yata decided to let it drop. "Where are you going?"

"Washroom."

"Oh." Yata slumped back in his seat a little. "Sure."

With Saruhiko gone, somehow the place felt even more awkward. He fidgeted for a moment, before fishing into his pocket for his PDA - more to have something that would make him look occupied than because he had anything to do on it. Opening the photo album, he idly flipped through some of the pictures.

He'd never kept a whole lot of stuff on there, so it didn't take long before he came across a familiar picture. It was the tickets that Saruhiko had made for him, back in their first year of middle school for his 13th birthday.

One 'request for backup' each, huh? Somehow, looking at them gave him an odd feeling.

It wasn't like he didn't remember they were there. They weren't on his mind all the time or anything, but he didn't exactly forget he had them. If he happened to think about them, he'd sometimes open up the image and look at them, and remember the moment when Saruhiko had given them to him.

They were comfortable with each other now, but there were still a few things that could give him that shivery feeling of excitement. And that memory was one of them.

Even right then and there, it had that effect. It was kinda weird, but… sitting in this cafe with its awkward cutesy mood and its tables for two and the fancy ice cream that Saruhiko was gonna treat him to, he thought maybe there was something he could use a ticket for. 'Request for backup' was pretty vague. Maybe backing him up could mean helping out with a special kind of birthday outing that he couldn't do alone.

A special kind of outing...

It was there at the edge of his thoughts, not quite at the surface of his consciousness: a hint of some vague but fervent want that he couldn't place. Like a craving, but without knowing what for. And he thought maybe, maybe he could just about figure it out if he let all of this sink in...

"What are you looking at?"

Saruhiko's voice was enough to snap him out of those thoughts; Yata jerked his gaze up, startled, as his best friend slid back into the booth across from him. "Huh? Oh." He quickly closed the PDA and stuffed it back into his pocket, pushing all those confusing thoughts out of his mind. "Just killing time while you were gone."

“Mm.” Saruhiko frowned a little, tilting his head. The way he held himself made it look as if he wanted to ask something but hadn’t quite decided if he was going to. It did some strange things to Yata’s stomach, being the focus of that look. A kind of… shuddery feel.

Weird.

Once again, there wasn’t an opportunity to say anything, because the waitress had returned at almost the same moment. “Here you are!” she chirped, setting down both the sundae and the smaller, plain-looking bowl in front of them. “Enjoy!”

That was enough to totally derail Yata's thoughts – the wide-brimmed glass in front of him was loaded with vanilla ice-cream and red raspberry drizzle, artfully arranged strawberries, pineapple and a mix of other wild berries piled on top. There was even a slice of white chocolate tucked in to complete it.

"Hell yeah!" He couldn't help the little exclamation; it was like the words bubbled up from his throat directly to his mouth at the sight. "Now this is a birthday treat!"

"I'll be sure to tell your mom you said that," Saruhiko drawled, with a tiny, amused smile ready when Yata lifted his eyes to glare. "Happy birthday, anyway."

"Heh." That was enough to make up for the tease. Yata grinned back, feeling gratified. "Thanks!"

When he took the first bite of that sundae – the sundae that was Saruhiko’s treat – it was exceptionally delicious.

16 Years Old

On the morning of his birthday, Yata woke up to the sound of Saruhiko’s typing.

It wasn’t unusual; actually, it was kind of comforting – a reminder that he wasn’t alone. They had Homra now, so of course he didn’t have to worry about feeling lonely or anything, but that presence when he first woke up was something totally different.

Saruhiko is there. His partner was above him, a rock-solid part of his awesome life. Yata smiled to himself lazily, blinking a few times to come out of the groggy stage that came on after waking up. He’d had a long time to get used to it, but still, it was pretty great.

He was just about ready to push himself up and start getting ready for the day when his wrist buzzed at him. It was a message from Totsuka: ‘Happy birthday, Yata! Sorry to ask this when it’s your day and all, but can you run a few errands today before coming by the bar?’

Nothing out of the ordinary in that message – well, other than the birthday part, which was new – but it wasn’t like he could help the fierce rush of anticipation. Are they planning a surprise?

Similar things had been done for other birthdays here and there – nothing huge, just some streamers and a cake, but still. And he and Saruhiko… they’d made a lot of friends. They were Homra’s Vanguard, after all. So yeah, it was totally possible…

Yata grinned to himself, not bothering to push down the excitement as he responded to Totsuka’s message. “Hey,” he said out loud after hitting ‘send’, “Saruhiko. You’re up, right?”

The typing from above him paused only briefly, then resumed. “What do you think?”

The flat response was a little irritating – seriously, Saruhiko could be difficult sometimes – but Yata wasn’t going to have his good mood brought down. “Totsuka-san wants us to run some errands before we go to Homra today. I’ll make us something quick for breakfast, okay?”

This time, there wasn’t even a pause in the typing, but Saruhiko’s off-hand voice answered him. “Whatever you say.”

Yata shot a disgruntled look at the underside of the loft, but was interrupted by the buzzing that announced Totsuka’s response. A quick check showed him a list of errands, along with a picture of one of the places they had to go – ‘because you two haven’t been there yet’.

He enlarged the picture, sitting up as he did, and accidentally brushed the holographic screen, causing the picture view to scroll through his default album. Ah, shit. Even with the simple way Saruhiko had designed this, he still sometimes fumbled when using it. Yata hastily began flipping back through pictures again to find the right one, and then paused.

Ironic, on his birthday, that he’d happen to stumble across the first gift Saruhiko had ever gotten him.

It gave him a little rush of nostalgia. Request for backup, huh? He shook his head, smiling a bit ruefully. As nice as the memory was from back then, there wasn’t really any need to use these. After all, in any situation where he'd need back-up, Saruhiko was always there. They had each other's backs every day. That wasn’t changing any time soon.

He couldn’t think of any reason this gift would mean more than just another symbol of their connection. And they already had the Homra marks for that, too.

Still, it reminded him… “You could at least be a little more enthusiastic today, huh?” he grumbled at the loft. Saruhiko and enthusiasm didn’t really go together, but… still.

Sometimes it felt like it was hard to reach him. More and more, it felt like that. He wasn’t sure why.

Things are awesome right now, right? So…

Above him, the typing paused; a few seconds later, his wrist buzzed again.

‘Happy birthday’ was the new message. From Fushimi Saruhiko.

A familiar warm shiver surged outward from his chest; Yata felt the grin building on his face even as he read it. He remembered. “You jerk,” he said to the loft, not even bothering to keep the fondness of out his tone. “Coulda just said it.”

“Isn’t this way good enough?” Saruhiko responded, and this time there was a tiny bit of a smile in his voice – almost undetectable, but still there.

“Yeah, sure.” Pushing himself fully up, Yata stretched generously before continuing. “You should treat me to something before we go to Homra.”

Saruhiko clicked his tongue. “We’re both broke, Misaki.”

“We can afford some shaved ice,” Yata countered. “C’mon. We’ll hang out for a bit.” Totsuka had said not to hurry anyway – and if he was right about the surprise, it’d be better if they killed some extra time.

There was a brief but somehow stark pause. Then Saruhiko mumbled, “If you say so. You’re the one who handles the bills.”

That was basically agreement. “Right?” Looking down at his wrist, Yata reached out to close the image of the tickets that was still open. “No problem!”

As nice as the memory was, he obviously wouldn’t be needing those any time soon.

17 Years Old

When he brought up the tickets on the next birthday, it was on purpose.

It was late – past midnight, so technically not even his birthday any more – and he was sprawled on top of the covers on the futon in his apartment. The atmosphere was stuffy and almost suffocating with how quiet it was, a stark change from Homra or even the streets outside his building before he’d stepped inside and shut the door. There was no movement inside other than his own uneven breathing as he stared at the glowing holographic screen in the dark.

The loft he’d stared up at last year was nothing but a memory – and the birthday at his parents’ house when the tickets had been handed to him was even more distant in his mind.

But he was still obsessing over these stupid things, like an idiot.

Why do I still think about this guy?

Homra had thrown him a party – casual and boisterous as usual, and everyone he considered close to him was there. He hadn’t thought about anything troublesome for the entire night, enjoying himself thoroughly and without anything to stain his good mood. Until now.

At first when he’d checked his PDA after getting home, he’d told himself it was just to check for messages. And it had been! His mother might’ve sent another message, after all. Or maybe one of the guys, for whatever reason. Kusanagi might’ve found something he’d left at the bar in all the excitement.

Those were all just excuses – he knew it when he was bringing up the app, and couldn’t help but feel frustrated with himself for not being able to let go. Even without checking, he already knew there wasn’t going to be a text with that simple ‘Happy birthday’ in it, or an invite to meet up, or anything.

Still, he’d hoped… just a little…

It was after he’d checked and found nothing that he flopped back onto the futon, still fully clothed, and flipped through the menu on his PDA to bring up the image from all those years ago. He wasn’t really sure why he’d done it. Not like he was gonna send it to Saruhiko and expect anything to come of it.

But even so, he held his wrist up in front of his face and took in the neat printing and carefully marked dividing lines and fought the sting behind his eyes until the screen timed out and turned off. At that point he let his arm drop down to drape across his nose and exhaled sharply.

‘Won’t be needing them anytime soon’… isn’t that right, Saruhiko?

Sleep was a long time in coming.

20 Years Old

The sun was setting along the coastline, but the encroaching darkness didn’t concern Yata that much. He’d already sat by himself all afternoon leaning back against the railing that was supposed to prevent anyone from crossing over onto the knoll that led down towards the sea, headphones on his ears and the school-island of Ashinaka in front of his eyes. By that point, he was feeling pretty numb to the world.

The adrenaline rush that had brought him out there after finding Homra empty – again – had died off a while ago, and the fierce emotion that had struck him as he arrived at the site of Mikoto’s death was nothing but a hollow ache in his chest now.

Turning twenty should’ve been a big deal – he was old enough to drink; old enough to be considered a man, legally. It was something he’d been looking forward to not that long ago. Or maybe it really was that long ago; it was kinda hard to have a good grasp of time passing. It felt like the celebration they’d had when Kamamoto had turned twenty had been in another lifetime, even though in reality it was only a little over a year ago.

Remembering it caused the dull ache to ramp up to more of a throbbing pain; Yata had to swallow hard and tipped his head back against the metal behind him as the fleeting memories of drinks and laughter and the warm sense of belonging came rushing back to him. He could almost taste Kusanagi’s cake.

It was bitter as fuck in his mouth now.

The PDA on his wrist buzzed, and he brought it up to check the notification – more out of a need to distract himself than because he was really curious. The message was from his mother, the third one she’d sent that day. There were three other unopened ones sitting with them – one from Kamamoto, one from Akagi, and one from Dewa – as well as indications of several missed calls.

People who couldn’t be bothered to be around leaving generic birthday wishes, probably.

Whatever. Yata frowned at the notification until it timed out and vanished again. What was the point if they weren’t going to show up? Felt like anything they were saying was just empty promises at that point. Maybe it would’ve been better if they just said right to his face that they were leaving, like…

Right.

It was almost a birthday tradition at this point. Yata lifted his head, feeling the corners of his mouth edge up in a bitter smile as he opened the holographic screen again and brought up his images.

The picture of the tickets was still there, of course. He’d thought about deleting it so many times, and couldn’t bring himself to do it in all those years. There had still been a vague hope hanging out in his heart, though he didn’t really like to admit it.

After all this time, it was pretty damn unlikely that Saruhiko was gonna come back and say joining the Blues had been a big mistake, but Yata was notoriously shitty at letting go of things.

Request for backup.

For a moment – just a single, brief moment – he was overcome with a sudden desire to send it off. Even if all he got back was silence – or mockery. For the few precious minutes it would take for Saruhiko to receive the message and decide how he was going to respond, Yata would be able to hope for… something. Anything. He would’ve been willing to call a temporary truce if Saruhiko would honor the ticket and just pretend for one goddamn evening that he really did want to be with Yata.

He was so damn sick of being alone. He was sick of missing people. If there was a chance…

Don’t be fucking stupid. Yata twisted his lips into a scowl, swiping his finger harshly to dismiss the image and letting his hands flop into his lap again. Irritation was already rising fast through the fading cloud of other emotions.

Saruhiko wasn’t going to respond; he was a traitor, after all. Yata felt like an idiot for even wanting to send it. For hoping. For setting himself up to be disappointed, again and again.

Nothing was going to change. That ship had long-since sailed.

And it was time he finally accepted it.

21 Years Old

It was funny how life worked out sometimes.

“Whoa – this place hasn’t changed, huh?” Yata slid into his side of the booth, trying for nonchalant as he looked around the café. Same cutesy atmosphere, despite its plain and simple appearance.

Tables for two. Narrow booths. Fancy sundae on special.

Not the same sundae, of course – but still.

“Places like this usually don’t,” Saruhiko remarked, sliding into his own seat with a sigh. “Are you sure this is where you want to be today?” His gaze was almost wary. “What about Homra?”

Yata laughed. “D’you know how much of a bitch it is these days to find a good time for everyone to get together the same night? No way we’d hit the exact date – we got something going on in a few days.” He shrugged. “Anyway, I’d kinda rather do this.”

There was a very marginal shift in Saruhiko’s expression and eyes, as if he’d relaxed a little at that. “Another ‘special’ you want to try?”

“Nah. Well, maybe that too.” Yata grinned back at him. “You’re gonna treat me on my birthday, right? But seriously, it’s more for the nostalgia.”

“We only came here once,” Saruhiko reminded him drily, but he did offer a smile in response – small but genuine. “You’re the same as always. Making assumptions like that.”

Yata tapped his shoe against Saruhiko’s lightly. “Back at you. For not asking the real question.” After everything – the separation, the uncertainty, the tentative steps they’d taken to rebuild their relationship – he wasn’t nearly as confident as he was trying to pretend, but… Well, he wasn’t gonna hesitate now. Even if some of the things he’d done without thinking as a kid now felt nerve-wracking as an adult. He took in a breath, and continued boldly, “I asked you here because I wanna be here with you, not because you’re a backup option.”

Saruhiko’s eyes widened, mouth going slack for a moment. He blinked twice slowly, and then seemed to recover, reaching up to adjust his glasses almost awkwardly and letting his gaze slide off to the side. “I know,” he mumbled, and there was a brief pause before he added haltingly, “I’m also… here because I want to be.” His eyes flickered up to meet Yata’s again. “With you.”

The surge of relief that overtook him with those words was shocking; Yata hadn’t realized how much he’d tensed up until he felt himself relax. “Ah… yeah.” He felt almost giddy as they stared at each other across the table, and the widening of his smile was impulsive and uncontrollable. “Yeah!”

Looking into those familiar grey-blue eyes, he felt like he could float right out of his seat.

It reminded him that he had another reason for coming there, too. Yata cleared his throat, nerves catching up with him again. Doing his best to dispel them, he started, “Hey… Saruhiko, you – ”

“Good afternoon!” The sound of that overly cheerful voice struck him like a smack to the back of his head – partly because he wasn’t expecting it, and partly because it felt like deja-vu. When he looked up, the server was offering a bright smile. “Have you two decided on your order?”

He blinked at her, still feeling mentally jarred, and before he could gather his wits enough to answer, Saruhiko made a soft, amused sound and spoke up. “I’ll have a single scoop of mild vanilla in a bowl.”

The same order as before, even. This guy’s tastes are one thing that’ll never change, huh? Yata felt the corners of his mouth edge up. “I’ll take the special.”

“Coming right up!”

As she trotted off to the back, Saruhiko shot a lazy smirk at him across the table. “Don’t tell me you still can’t handle girls. It was cute at fifteen, but you’re going to have problems as an adult if you can’t figure that out.”

“Huh?” Yata’s brain caught up with the teasing, and he scowled back, feeling his cheeks burn. “Th-that wasn’t – ! Look, never mind that!” He shook his head, brushing off the interruption. If he took too long with this, he was never gonna do it, and it had waited way too long already. He lifted his wrist, bringing up the holographic menu quickly. “You remember those tickets you gave me, right?”

Saruhiko frowned, eyes narrowing, and for a second Yata thought he was actually going to say he didn’t. He was about to open his mouth and explain when Saruhiko finally said, slowly, “Did you seriously keep them for this long?”

Without everything that had happened between them, it might have been a casual tease. But there wasn’t a trace of mockery in Saruhiko’s tone, and Yata had a sense of what he was thinking. It was the same thing he’d sorta been asking himself during the time when they were separated.

You didn’t delete them even when everything was burned to ashes between us?

Unconsciously, his fingers had curled into a fist. Not in a violent way – with resolve. “Surprised?” Yata brought up the image he was looking for, turning his arm so that it was visible to both of them, and grinned at the expression of open surprise that met his gaze. “Shouldn’t you know me better? I don’t give up that easy.”

The initial hesitation didn’t last; after only a brief second, Saruhiko let out a breath, another of those slow smiles spreading on his face. He lowered his eyelids a fraction. “So stubborn.”

“Heh! Look who’s talking!” That look had Yata’s heart skipping a beat, but he gathered up his determination and ploughed forward. “Anyway, I’m gonna use one today.”

Saruhiko raised a questioning eyebrow at that. “What for?”

It was the same question he’d asked himself six years ago in this exact place. Yata drew in a breath, momentarily struck by the same overwhelming surge of longing he’d felt at that time. It was a combination of the atmosphere here and Saruhiko across from him, their eyes meeting and holding in that specific way that set off butterflies in his stomach and an ache in his chest.  Back then, he’d been so confused by all of it – or maybe he had realized on some level, and was just in denial – but now…

Now I’m going for it!

Doing his best to ignore the nervous energy building within him, Yata sucked in a sharp breath, and forced himself to hold Saruhiko’s gaze. “For my birthday. In… a place like this. With this kind of… you know!” He could feel his face burning. “The – the mood in here. Or something.” It was a struggle not to look away, but he was determined to face this head on and take whatever reaction was coming. “I need a date.”

Saruhiko’s mouth opened, but he didn’t speak. He blinked several times as the silence spread awkwardly; when he finally did say something, it was with obvious hesitance. “Misaki – ”

“You,” Yata blurted almost at the same time, unable to stand it. “I mean you would be my date. Got it?”

At that, the corners of Saruhiko’s mouth quirked. “I gathered that.”

Even through the embarrassment, that quip was enough to bring a scowl to Yata’s face. “Don’t laugh, asshole – d’you know how hard it was to say all that?”

“I didn’t laugh.” Saruhiko seemed to have recovered himself. He regarded Yata almost searchingly for a moment, and then nodded slightly, as if he’d made up his mind about something. “Before that, I should give you your present.”

“Eh?” That caught him off-guard. Yata stared back. “Weren’t you treating me for my present?”

“That too. But there’s one other thing.” The corners of Saruhiko’s lips did edge up then, into the barest hint of a smirk. “Close your eyes.”

“Huh? Really?” After all the anxiety over his request, this was seriously throwing him off. Yata could still feel his heart beating hard against his chest, nerves all on fire with the adrenaline from earlier. But Saruhiko had raised both eyebrows at him now, clearly waiting, and so he let out his breath in a short huff and shut his eyes. “Okay, okay. Say when.”

Saruhiko clicked his tongue. “Just don’t peak.” There was the sound of rustling clothing; the creaking of the booth as weight shifted on it.

What is he – ?

The impression of warmth and breath and presence close to his face struck him before any contact was made, but he didn’t have time to react to it beyond a jolt of surprise running through his body like lightning, skin prickling up pleasantly in its wake. And then the unmistakable press of something soft against his lips – his best friend’s face fitting in tentatively against his own.

It took a solid two seconds for Yata to process what was happening – Saruhiko was kissing him, right? It wasn’t him making shit up in his head? – and then just as the pressure on his mouth started to lift, he was arching forward into it, eagerly seeking out more of that intimate touch.

It felt so good. Delicious.

They parted after another few seconds with what felt like mutual reluctance, but also a kind of awkward awareness of the situation. Yata opened his eyes slowly, feeling a bit dazed as he looked up to meet Saruhiko’s gaze. His lips felt tingly and there was a tremble he couldn’t seem to shake off in his shoulders and arms. He almost couldn’t believe that had just happened.

But it had – it had, and Saruhiko was really gazing at him with an odd mix of bewilderment and warmth in his eyes, two faint spots of color standing out starkly against the pale skin on his face.

For a long moment, they stared at each other mutely, as if processing that – yes – this was real. They had really done that.

“Here we go!” The chipper voice of their server smashed through that mood effectively; Yata jerked in his seat, turning to stare at her with half-panicked embarrassment. She offered an overly cheery smile in response, setting his sundae in front of him before turning to place the ice-cream bowl on the other side of the table. “Enjoy!”

Before he could muster up some kind of response, Saruhiko clicked his tongue. “Sure.”

“Ah – right…” Yata finally found his tongue. “Thanks.”

“No problem!” With one last professionally bright smile, she was off again.

Not even the sundae could’ve distracted him this time; Yata ignored the elaborate creation in front of him, turning immediately to seek out Saruhiko’s gaze. “Hey, so… Saruhiko… that, just now…”

“You can ask me to be your date without using a ticket, you know,” Saruhiko drawled, a lazy sort of smirk forming on his lips. His eyes had gone lidded again, but they were intent on Yata’s face. “Happy birthday, Misaki.”

Elation was already bubbling to the surface of his thoughts before that; he couldn’t have held back the grin spreading on his face if he’d tried. “Coulda just said so!” He didn’t wait for a response. “Not that I’m complaining – that was… a pretty good gift.” Feeling suddenly and inexplicably bashful, he ducked his head, grin turning sheepish. “Thanks!”

“Mm.” Saruhiko’s eyes never left him. “Any time.”

It felt like a promise – and hey, maybe that was the point. Either way, nothing could’ve topped the feeling coursing through him as they smiled across the table at each other. More than anything else, it was exciting – electrifying, even.

Like he’d thought from the start, that connection was and always would be the best gift.

#k #sarumi #yata misaki #k project #fanfic #fanfic:mine

[justsomeregularoldboreddude-blog]

Chapter 1 - Part 1 (Made this a couple years ago so it'll probably be pretty bad, but chapter 2 should be a tiny bit better cause I changed over 5/6 of it)

I was walking to work, as usual, squeezing my way through the massive crowds of people who were (probably) doing the exact same thing that I was. This boring old life of mine that will never change, it's quite sad really.

it's probably because of this fact that I withdrew into the world of Anime and Manga.

At first it was a guilty pleasure, but it soon became a hobby of mine. I was captivated by it's unique stories/plots, but I stayed because of the action.

I'm pretty sure I would've become a more respectable, hard-working, and active member of society if I hadn't discovered Anime (and Manga's)

But then I wouldn't have anything to enjoy. Anything to watch or read to entertain me. I probably would've become a boring old man (though I kinda already am) , though I am only 24 years old.

At least that's how it was supposed to be…

I was was about to walk down the cross walk, well I actually did walk down it. But I stopped half-way through. I did this because my phone vibrated, now you might be asking

[Why did you stop for such a simple reason?]

And the answer to that question would be that I only set up notifications for really important stuff.

So I quickly check my phone, but I was surprised to be greeted with an all white screen with bold black words in the center. And these words read out -

**[ let me just ask you this simple question. Do you want to live a life that's worth living? ]**

My Immediate reaction to this was,

[ What? Did my phone get hacked?! Come on man! I just finished setting up this dang thing! ]

But to my surprise, the words on my screen changed.

**[ No, your phone did not get hacked Maināna Mondai, I'm just talking to you through it. ]**

And any sane person in this situation would've thought,

[So your stalking me right now and responding to everything I say through my phone?!]

and for some reason I felt like I could hear the Hacker sigh.

**[ Look, just answer the question.

Do you want to live a life worth living?

«Yes» «No» ]**

Well, the answer to this question was pretty obvious. Yes, who would want to live a life that is not worth living? So I just simply shouted.

[Yes!]

But the Hacker quickly responded with,

**[Calm down! You're in a public area crowded with hundreds of people]**

I quickly glance over my shoulders and see that dozens of people were staring at me, mummering and whispering about me, I run away because I felt akward and I didn't like all the attention.

And once I was in a secluded location, with little to no people in sight. I said, once again.

[Yes!]

And the Hacker replied with.

**[Good answer! Now, I'll see you on the other side!]**

Huh? What does he mean by "the other side" ?

I then saw a truck approaching me at full speed, I didn't know what to do. All I could think about was stuff like,

[Am I going to die?!]

Or

[Is this guy trying to kill me?]

But, my survival instincts kicked in just at the nick of time. I quickly jump out of the way of the incoming vehicle, and run inside of the nearest building. And Hacker-san just simply said.

**[Hmm, not bad! Not bad kid. But that alone is not enough to save you!]**

Then it struck me,

[This guy! He's really trying to kill me!]

I then felt my Spidey senses tingling, i quickly turn around, only to be greeted with a man wearing a black mask, with a bag in his left hand, and a gun in his right.

[Huh? What's going on here?]

The man then quickly points the gun at me, and the other residents of the building, and he says.

[Everybody get on the f*cking ground!]

Me, and everyone else in the building were startled, he then repeated what he just said, once more.

[Didn't you hear me? I said get on the f*cking ground! This is a hold up!]

After he said that, I started to look around. I then noticed that I was inside of a bank…

[Well that explains the robber…]

I thought to myself, he starts shooting the gun, and shouts.

[Hey you! Stop fidgeting so much or else I'll blow your brains out!]

#novel #overpowered #cringe #old project #renewed