#ok and he does kill people too because of the bloodlust

[kira-anon-uwu]

chunk from my write's block document

context: i have a fic just for me that i've only shared the majority of with one person that i only work on when i can't focus on anything else. it probably will never see the light of day but here's a funny part that i genuinely feel bad not using in something meant to be posted.

~-~-~

He climbed the ladder in the meantime, idly tapping his hands against the empty part of the shelf as he waited for Wilbur to come back.

"So, I'm hoping you spent your time at home resting,", Wilbur started as he handed up books.

Tommy let out an annoyed groan, contemplating dropping a book on the man's face. "Can we talk about literally anything else?"

"Thoughts on the art of eating sand-"

"I slept while I wasn't here, yeah."

Wilbur exhaled out of his nose with amusement. "That's good. And you explained it to your parents?"

"Yeah, and they didn't bother me about it nearly as much as you are."

"That's not as comforting of a statement as you think it is."

"It's my way of telling you you should drop it,", he rolled his eyes.

"And this is my way of making sure I'm not going to have to file an insurance claim of some kind because you dropped dead in the middle of my store."

"Please, give me some credit; I'd go die somewhere out back, probably."

"Tommy, am I going to have to start making regular checks of the alley to make sure you're not sitting back there like a salvage animatronic?"

"Y'know what? Yes, you do. Gonna wait for you to drag my ass back inside so I can hide in the vents and kill you."

"Which one would you be?"

"You can't hit me with a question like that and expect an immediate answer,", Tommy stopped to think about it, ignoring the way Wilbur was laughing at him as he genuinely considered it, "Probably be Lefty, I recon."

That made Wilbur laugh even harder, dropping the book in his hand back in the box as he tried to collect himself again. "Why Lefty?"

"Because he's cool, and he's got the fucking puppet inside of him."

"I was assuming you'd say some shit like Moltent Freddy."

"Well yeah, if I wanted to be basic about it."

"And what about me, then?"

"Easy; you get to be purple guy."

"Tommy, I didn't sit there and listen to you explain that whole fucking timeline for nine hours for you to compare me to a child murderer."

He looked down at the man with the smallest amount of empathy he could muster, giving him a shrug.

Wilbur glared at him before moving the ladder down the shelves.

"Holy shit, you don't have to prove my point!", Tommy's grip on the ladder tightened, and he leaned closer to it as the wheels grinded against the rails.

"Sorry, couldn't hear you over my insatiable bloodlust. I'm trying to make Remnant."

"Think you making me bust my fucking head open would be Agony instead!"

"I am being one-hundred percent honest with you when I tell you I do not know the difference between the two, and I genuinely do not give a fuck."

"I don't think Scott Cawthon does, either."

"Can we stop with the FNAF talk now, please?", Wilbur sighed, "Bringing it up again reminded me of how exhausting it is to think too hard about it."

"You're the one that brought it up!"

"And now I'm the one putting it away; sticking the missing children in their graves, one might say."

"Ok, Mr.Afton. How many more books are there?"

"I will beat your ass."

"Oh, but you were so worried about me before."

Wilbur rolled his eyes, moving the empty box from the top of his cart to get to the next one. "That was before you started calling me fucking William Afton."

"But think about it; same first name, he probably stank as well, you've probably murdered a few people-"

"You can't prove that."

"I can absolutely prove that you stink,", Tommy snorted, going to grab the next book from Wilbur's hand.

The man narrowed his eyes at him, waiting for Tommy to have a good grip on the thing before yanking it back hard enough that the ladder Tommy was standing on started falling backwards from the shelf.

Wilbur managed to catch him before he hit the floor, but the sudden motion absolutely did not feel good on his injury.

#tommyinnit #mcyt #mcyt fanfiction #fanfiction #wilbur soot #fnaf #idk what do you want from me #snippet

[art-from-within]

My dadfrey hc is that he is honestly the most ACCEPTING chill parent/partner man you can have in the lands in between but like in the most fucked up way. Because he himself is a blood thirsty, genocidal might makes right sigma male, his idea of a "moral-line-we-should-absolutely-not-cross" is astronomically far and thin.

Radagon is Marika? Okay so he has two wives now cool. Radagon marries Rennala? Ok so she wants in too cool. "Slay those groups of completely innocent people for me " "yes babe thank you babe"

Mohg does blood cult and is the king of sh twt? Yes go son slay (I mean he himself is filled with bloodlust). Might even commit a bloody genocide in the name of the formless mother for his son, just another Tuesday for him. The whole 'kidnapping step bro to become his consort and gain power' plan has his head scratching tho. Like..why? What is the need? Just learn his feet smashing technique and he could get there, but oh well

Rykard fed himself to a snake to become a god devouring serpent? He did what he had to do. Ranni killed his son? Yeeeeaa that's sad but he has also killed many sons ya know? *head scratch*. It's not that he didn't care for Godwyn, its just that he is good at placing his affections in to neat little boxes that he can store in the attic to protect his emotional health better.

Godrick grafts himself into oblivion? Now Godfrey will judge him, but only because those grafts look UGLY(and because he didn't earn his strength the RAW. ALPHA WAY). Look at them!? Not even size/symmetry coded. Serosh is way better

Malenia is at the verge of unleashing a nuclear weapon every waking moment of her life? Tells her to "be herself", and "not to be scared". He will accept his step daughter "even if she was a worm"

(Finding out she nuked Caelid) it would suuure suck to be Radahn. That's a shame, he was fun to grill with (moves on with his life)

#elden ring #Dadfrey #godfrey the first elden lord #okay this may have gotten too ooc #but this is a free app and i love being delusional SO #Hoarah Loux the ENABLER #queen marika the eternal #radagon of the golden order #malenia blade of miquella #mohg lord of blood #rykard lord of blasphemy #godrick the grafted #morgott not included because he is just normal #he is just depressed is all #'dad look i am protecting the tree pls pat me' #meanwhile he doesn't really give af about the golden order. just marika #miquella doesn't even get the chance to talk #godfrey just yeets him around like a ball #radahn is normal thank god #as for the shoving his kids into the shunning grounds event. he was either forced or Godfrey visited them down their very frequently #considering morgott can shit talk you in high brow lingo

[electricprincess96]

why do you dislike astarian?

I'm sure if I answered truthfully I'd get mountains of lectures telling me why I'm wrong and awful for not liking the fandoms darling but heres my attempt to articulate my issues. This is in no particular order.

1. It actively makes no sense in character for any version of Tav to keep Ast*rion alive.

A good aligned Tav would likely attack him after he attacks them when they meet and if we assume we give him the old "OK we'll forgive you this time but don't do it again" once he tries to snack on us without consent while we sleep that reasonably should be his last straw.

An evil aligned Tav should have even less reasons to give him second chances cause killing should be nothing to them. And it isn't till later we really know how his worldview would align with an evil Tav

The only real reason to keep Ast*rion is if you are roleplaying a pushover OR you are being Meta because you the player find him attractive. Even Lae'Zel who starts the game really mean (somewhat justifably so since shes put in a cage and racially abused after being put through what her people claim is a fate worse than death), has a good reason to be kept around, she claims to have a cure for the parasite and will share it with the rest of you. Ast*rion offers nothing other than trying to stab you when you meet and then trying to drink your blood without consent while you sleep. Realistically his luck should have run out like if it was Wyll or Karlach or Lae'Zel in charge and you didn't control them he'd be dead. Probably even Shadowheart and Gale would as well.

2. By changing how DnD Vampire Spawns work they made his plot actively very confusing.

OK so Vampire Spawns are meant to not have any control over themselves, their master is meant to be able to control them. We briefly see this when one of the Spawns goes to disobey Caz*dor later. The issue with that is if Caz*dor can control them.... why does he need to punish them into submission? Ast*rion says he almost escaped once but why did Caz*dor ever give him enough freewill to even attempt that? Is Caz*dor just a sadist? If so they don't do a good enough job portraying that. They make the hunger and bloodlust that Spawns feel seem almost.... inconsequential for Ast*rion after that first feeding scene, they basically plays so fast and loose with the DnD Vampire lore but still used the lore to justify every bad thing Ast*rion did under Caz*dor so that he doesn't have to admit any fault like no don't bend the lore into a pretzel but then still use the lore for justifying and exonerate Ast*rion.

3. I don't get the impression he changed as much as people claim.

Like does he grow through his romance? Sure he starts to see Tav as more of a person and less of a tool. That's great. But Lae'Zel and Shadowheart both have fantastic development OUTSIDE of their relationship to Tav. The bar was set too high for you to hide his development behind a romance route I have no desire to do. I'll admit this is an issue Gale to a degree suffers from as well, less so that he doesn't change if you romance him but in his case more so his very examples of his growth are hidden in his romance scenes.

But with Ast*rion I did not think he really self reflected in the ways I would have liked. Even right before fighting Caz*dor he was still claiming he had no reason to feel guilty about what he did as a servant of Caz*dor, like yes the game wants me to believe you had no control, but someone with a conscience would still feel guilty about it. Also everyone else provided you've been pushing then towards good throughout the game will choose to make the right decision on their own accord when given the chance in game, every version of the Ascension scene I've seen requires a persuasion roll for Ast*rion, meaning he doesn't choose to not do the ritual himself he always needs to be persuaded not to whereas provided you've pushed Shadowheart towards good the whole game she will choose to save Dame Aylin on her own, Lae'Zel will choose to turn against Vlaakith on her own etc. The only way he doesn't need persuaded is if 1. He never learnt about the ritual from Raphael, thus he is only there to kill Caz*dor anyway or 2. You kill one of the Spawns in the battle thus the ritual can't be complete

4. He was favoured by the developers at the detriment of other characters.

It's insane that there's literally proof from some of the people who worked on this game that they favoured Ast*rion over other characters when it came to content. And some of his fans think this is somehow a good thing? When all this does is show the rest of the fans (who let's remember the most recent stats the majority of players are not Ast*rion Girlies, they are very loud within fandom but fandom is not everyone who bought and played this game) that we are not as valued by Larian and that's gonna breed resentment.

Wyll got absolutely shafted compared to other companions and everyone got shafted compared to Ast*rion. When the game had to cut out content for Wyll and Karlach but was able to add in like double the amount of romance scenes of Ast*rion when compared to the next companion with the most scenes then we need to start asking why this was allowed. We'd all rather have a complete story for everyone than an extra sex scene with Ast*rion that doesn't add anything to the plot.

5. His fans are obnoxious

Now.... I will be the first to admit all the fans of each of the characters are kinda obnoxious (except most Wyll fans, you guys are cool, I like you). I love Gale and even I know that his fans can be overly defensive at times (sometimes justifiably so, other times they just need to take a step back and realise not every joke at Gale's expense is hateful). BUT because Ast*rion fans are so prominent in fandom spaces you are more likely to run into obnoxious Ast*rion fans than the rest. Like if a post doesn't mention him, don't bring him up in the comments, if someone says "I'm role-playing a Lawful Good Paladin etc. I need a Rogue cause my character wouldn't bring Ast*rion along" don't spend the next hour of your life trying to twist yourself into a pretzel to justify why someone who is Lawful Good should be OK with having the man who disapproves of you helping slaves around. And stop throwing the "canon" word around. This is an issue I have with fandom in general nowadays but "canon" doesn't matter much. BG3 will NEVER canonise a love interest for Tav, they might never even canonise a class or race for Tav. So stol trying to argue that because Ast*rion x D*rge got so much extra content that it's canon to try and win some silly Internet war. All you're doing is annoying people.

What's kinda sad is... I found Ast*rion to be incredibly charming early on, not my type for romance but I enjoyed having him around for the snarky commentary. But whenever his plot came up I found myself rolling my eyes cause the rest of the game Ast*rion seems so self aware that he's kinda an asshole yet when his plot scenes happen he seems to lose that self awareness and it just soured the character for me. But hey, by most modern day gaming standards he's still basically Shakespearean in comparison so this will likely be the only post I make detailing my issues unless I'm asked something more indepth.

#princess answers asks #anon #bg3 blogging #vampire elf discourse

[myshredda]

There's three of them! and i said i wasn't going to get invested in this but now i am so here are some headcanons:

pink kills the bugs when it's just the three of them. she's brave like that

yellow and pink have ratty hair; it's always a mess. green doesn't know why it's so hard to brush ur hair everyday and is generally confused why they don't

pink wants hair like Ariel form the little mermaid tho, all poofy and floaty. sometimes she tries but she doesn't take good enough care of it bc there's just so much. despite what green says, it takes longer than five minutes to style her hair lol

several brushes have been stuck/broken while trying to detangle her hair so the adults have kind've given up on it

occasionally red or duck will try to preen her but they give up after ten minutes like "yeah, that's as good as that's ever going to get"

idk if you've seen wwdits but pink is like baby colin robinson, just hammering holes in the wall as soon as no one's watching

red and duck went on a really quick tesco run once and thought they would be fast enough to leave the kids at home and... they were wrong. she had knocked a good chunk of the living room wall out and cheerily explained that she was building her own room bc she was tired of living w "smelly boys"

red tried to stay as calm as he could given the circumstances and explain why she can't just knock walls out (but internally he was screaming). Duck just went ballistic

yellow and green got in trouble too bc they knew what she was doing and didn't try to stop her at all. their reasoning was they didn't want to share a room with her either, she snored too loud

ofc it was all ok in the end, but that was not a good day for anybody

in my mind, pink is like marie from the aristocats, "Ladies don't start fights but they can finish them!" or Mouthface from the trail to oregon musical, "I get a turn with the gun first! I have bloodlust *does cute little pose*".

she favors red just bc he was so nice to her at the beginning but she does have duck's violent streak

shes the only one that has teeth besides red so her bites hurt

she has a hard time differentiating between the types of love, romantic, platonic, and familial, and misreads social cues a lot bc of it. she's getting better but at the beginning it was really bad

she would mistake basic kindness/familial love for romantic love and then get really upset when it turned out just bc duck made her favorite food or yellow shared his toys doesn't mean they want to marry her

it took a long time for her to find value in herself outside of her relationships w others

her and yellow are the chaos crew. they're the kids that will put a big ugly toad on the kitchen table and beg to keep it as a pet. green swears up and down that he told them it was a bad idea but really he was just as excited as them

also ducks delighted to have another person to feed. he gets to cook more, make more types of food, and get the satisfaction of watching them fill out to a healthier shape

it is very hilarious to me that you started out that first ask with 'idk if i'll get very deep into this' and my response was 'oh you might not, but I certainly fucking will' and then my life spiraled out of control forever <3 Thank you for giving me the opportunity to go on a 1.2k rant about a literal one off character and give her trauma and then attempt to heal said trauma I made up for her <3 <3 <3 Love all the bits about her hair being messy because she's 100% forget to brush it now because she has STUFF TO DO and NATURE TO EXPLORE and FORTS TO BUILD and brushing her hair is boring and she doesn't want to do that 💗I think Duck would take preening her as a personal challenge and on nights where she's really sleepy and lazy and just wants to watch TV she'll let him work at it for a while and he's having the time of his life while working at her rats nest because grooming the people he loves is his biggest love language.

Yes to her knocking holes in the wall (I'm vaguely aware of baby Colin from wwdits ((I think him and Nadja's soul that's trapped in a doll are friends which is cute!))) Yes to her attempting to build a new room and knocking out half a fucking wall, yes to Red trying to gentle parent while Duck's just making a high-pitched noise of absolute horror in the background (which Pink fully ignores) Green and Yellow are like doing the innocent BUT WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING routine but Duck is NOT having it (they've lived with them enough to know better by now!) and it's kind of sucky but it's really a good opportunity for Red and Duck to enforce rules and boundaries in a healthy way that the kid's aren't used to bc 'punishment' for them in their past was violent and traumatic.

Love the idea of Pink and Red bonding bc they have teeth. Duck's like I HAVE TEETH SOMETIMES (which he did! when he was having his organs removed!) and bonds with Pink over biting people because they both like to do that 💗

Yeah at first she has a REALLY hard time with love bc in the cult there was only ONE type of love and everything fell under that umbrella (not that it was real love obviously) and Red and Duck have to explain to her over and over that No she doesn't have to marry them for them to love her and it upsets her a little because she feels like she's doing something bad bc experiencing love outside of marriage is a big no-no in Shrignold's eyes (as he told Yellow when he introduced Pink as special one in the first place!) so it's a really long process of them being gentle with her and her being uncomfortable with it but eventually they get there.

Her and Yellow have ZERO control of their impulses for different reasons but they band together and make messes wherever they go and Green watches in amusement because he thinks its good scientific research to watch them go fucking ham

Speaking of ham Duck is like fully gone Barefoot Contessa and just COOKS and cooks and cooks and makes way too much food and pushes leftovers and helps Pink realize that she doesn't have to be skinny to be feminine and she can eat whatever she feels like and doesn't have to eat less than the boys just because she's a girl and she doesn't have to help cook because she's a girl but because it's a good life-skill that everyone should know how to do and she doesn't have to help cook for the others if she doesn't want to

#you've enabled me and now look where we are! another yellow kid and another mouth for duck to feed! #little-cereal-draws #my askbox #yellow x3 au #fic art

[vergilberg]

My yakuza story / au is making me lose it a little lol

More info under the cut as always <3

IDK what else to say to you about this one except that "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" is such a Shimazama song...... these fuckin old men who have been plotting each other's demises for three decades but kept sleeping together......... horrible! (but they intrigue me.........)

IDK what else to say to you about this one except that "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" is such a Shimazama song...... these fuckin old men who have been plotting each other's demises for three decades but kept sleeping together......... horrible! (but they intrigue me.........)

Ok so...... La Dolce Vita has a lot of Sera, Kashiwagi, and Yayoi thinking wishfully about leaving the Tojo behind and starting a life together away from them (taking Daigo with them of course) but ...... yeaaaahhhh that doesn't work out. But y'know what, "Run Away With Me" by Carly Rae Jepsen just works too well for them

Hi do you ever think about the fact that Yayoi had Daigo at 19 years old. 19. She was 19 when she had him. Nineteen. I just think she'd have complicated feelings about motherhood, especially bc at the time, she and everyone else thought that Daigo was Sohei's kid.... and in my headcanons (and just me trying to figure out a timeline), I figured she'd have to have been 18 when she met him???? So yeah, "She Used To Be Mine" from Waitress really does work, because my god, she lost her youth because of Sohei and I honestly refuse to believe she'd still really like ..... love him like the RGG writers try to tell us she does. Again, I have headcanons about this, but oh god they're long and wayyyy too overly detailed.

Hi, this is a Happier Than Ever plot point! Jin Goda and Sagawa meet with Shimano and Kazama at some point in the story for Reasons. Because of the whole plot about power plays between the Omi and the Tojo, I figured the Succession theme would fit (and the poses are based on that one Succession S3 promo), as well as "Default" by Django Django because that song has the vibes of Person A is pointing out all of Person B's faults, which I think works with the Omi-Tojo rivalry. (Also psst..... Shimano, Sagawa, and Jin looking at Kazama ......... bc they're all Omi...... Shimano's a spy for the Omi ..... don't ask how it works. Or maybe do ask idk)

"Friends In Low Places" gives me younger Sagawa vibes simply bc I think he'd be p well connected when he was younger. "The Body Is a Blade" for Jin bc I feel like a lot of his attitude in Happier Than Ever would be to just push forward with determination in spite of things going on .... which is to say a Lot might be going on when I figure out more plot stuff lol

"Stop a Bullet" just has Shimazama vibes generally, but also I think it has Shimano -> Kazama energy since the power play is not only between the Tojo and Omi, but also their relationship, as HTE'verse progresses, is very uh.................. built on provoking each other, which Shimano does a lot to Kazama and for WHAT. And oh boy, "Bloodlust" for Kazama because the song is about a murderer who keeps sorta stumbling into killing more and more people to keep themselves from getting caught. Something-something Kazama is implicitly a violent man, he's just good at hiding it - especially among yakuza, who are more open about it.

I am also once again inviting people to ask me about this fucking story bc my brain is in overdrive. pls dont be intimidated by me lol

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #kazuma kiryu #shintaro kazama #futoshi shimano #kazama shintaro #shimano futoshi #osamu kashiwagi #kashiwagi osamu #yayoi dojima #tsukasa sagawa #sagawa tsukasa #jin goda #happier than ever verse #v does art #rgg #my friends called sagawa a twink and asked me how i made jin goda hot #the answer is that i dont look at references and cry when their faces r inconsistent hope this helps #shimazama #I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO TAG THAT UGH

[sammygender]

vague thoughts on buffy vampirism system and my interpretation of it as mostly coherent:

this is very early on in the shows mythology. in later seasons - notably s4! the season most interested, so far, in complicating YOUR (buffy’s…) definition of What Makes Someone Human Or Personable And Therefore Shouldn’t Be Killed? - we get harmony. harmony for these purposes is like jesse, like any one of the earlier characters who gets turned into a vampire and buffy then immediately slays out of ‘mercy’ but she.. like… DOESN’T. there are a lot of times buffy could kill harmony but she doesn’t

& i think the hugest reason is because there’s that time between harmony’s presumable siring and her appearance as a vampire. it’s like she’s a person now - and buffy doesn’t kill people - at least she doesn’t want to think that she does. that’s why it’s so crazy when people are like why doesn’t buffy kill spike? cause buffy doesn’t want to think of herself as someone who kills people because spike IS a people!! it takes her a season to kill angel. a season to kill faith. and lol fundamentally the difference in soul between angel and faith is not THAT huge - it’s there but it’s not why buffy doesn’t want to kill either of them! if harmony had been turned in front of buffy then yeah. buffy would’ve staked her immediately. but her showing up months later? acting very much like, well, HARMONY? with harmony’s memories, harmony’s personhood-

well, yeah. it’s harmony as a vampire.

and unnamed guy number 16 who gets bit and rises from the grave would’ve been Unnamed guy number 16 as a vampire - if he’d lived long enough to be. you know, like, if he’d known buffy, or been particularly driven beyond wanting to immediately kill people - he would’ve been a person to us too! prime example here is holden from conversations with dead people! but he doesn’t, he just goes straight to attacking buffy, so yeah she slays them because it’s buffy the vampire slayer not buffy the vampire rehabilitator. the slayer is a position deeply shrouded in death that’s how it is that’s the explicit textual reading. i don’t know how you can see that and still think that buffy doesn’t actively, genuinely, kill vampires and the people that they could be

im not advocating for NOT killing vampires. i guess it’s like - you can equate vampires to serial killers pretty easily. if jack gets turned into a vampire, it’s like jack’s died and been reborn as a serial killer. he very much died and would be mourned. then there’s this other guy who’s also jack but as a serial killer this time! he is still jack - jack as a serial killer. jack as a serial killer who, incidentally, is about to kill people. does it for a living - to live. no moral imperative not to kill people. a lot of yearn for it, honestly! it’s something he likes to do! (biggest changes upon becoming a vampire do seem to be, aside from the obvious, general bloodlust. i wouldn’t say it’s ‘a demon with the personality of the old person’. it’s say it’s ‘if the old person WAS a demon’.) a LOT of people would be very insistent on the idea that killing jack immediately is morally ok, or even right - no matter if he really cares about his girlfriend, or likes sour candy, or wants to see mcr live on tour. i mean i’d probably find it hard if i’m honest but i’m soft like that! and buffy doesn’t even come into this whole business with that viewpoint. she comes into it with the THATS A DEMON THATS TRICKING YOU view and slowly it dissolves.

like. vampire willow is willow. so obviously it’s willow. & buffy can stake her just about in an impulsive moment because that’s buffy’s Whole Thing and she does like to stab as regards to dealing with things (yes she doesn’t want to think of herself as someone who kills humans but usually it comes down to Do i want this thing gone rn? and if the answer is Yes then IM A SLAYER I CAN DO THIS. and if the answer is No the IM A SLAYER I DONT KILL HUMANS OR HUMAN LIKE DEMONS ILL GIVE IT A BREAK.) but willow can’t stake her.

& this does so much for xander as well because. like. one of his first character moments on the show is killing his friend because he fully truly believes and has been told - by buffy nonetheless - that it’s Not His Friend anymore. it’s a demon. and he immediately proclaims he doesn’t like vampires - takes a stance that Vampires Are Bad and never quite recovers-

but it IS his friend. it’s his friend if his friend died and was reborn AS a demon. & his friend seems to harbour that same affection for xander as he did when he was alive just as vampires always seem to!! just like spike tries to turn his mother and angel immediately goes to kill his father - not turn into a vampire, kill - jesse tells xander how good he feels, how powerful, like it’s a cool trick he’s sharing with a friend. & xander still kills him because he’s hung everything on the fact that This Is Not His Friend

and 6 (4? even?) seasons later it’s all SPIKE IS DIFFERENT, WE CAN’T JUST KILL HIM, VAMPIRES HAVE COMPLEXITY. it’s all (3 seasons later) ‘remember, willow, it’s not you, vampires aren’t like the person they are when alive’ ‘well, actually-’ and all… vampires are the person they were before they died As A Vampire. it’s all, originally, (a season? seven episodes? later) ‘angel has a soul so even though he’s a vampire he IS a person’, and it all ends up originally being pretty much ‘vampires do have the capacity to be people, vampires have humanity.’ & buffy’s killed so many so she compartmentalises and says it’s her duty and is able to draw a line because she’s the slayer and she’s been acting on her own knowledge and that’s what she does. & xander killed one of his ‘best’ (lol) friends on buffy’s knowledge and if he acknowledges that spike is a person then he acknowledges that jesse sort of could’ve been one too & he is the one who killed jesse for the second time - even if he killed serial killer bloodlust jesse. & so we get lines like, even after he’s been pally with spike for seasons, ‘but i never forgot what he was’. because he can’t! xander can’t ever acknowledge that complexity of vampires lol

ANYWAY. can’t believe i just went on for ages about xander and found no real coherent point i’m not even sure to what extent i believe any of this i’m just like saying words and discovering my beliefs as i go along. i’ll write a coherent essay on this someday you have my word

#btvs #oliver talks

[btsqualityy]

Assuage: Chapter 18

Yoongi x Reader

Genre: ABO (Alpha/Beta/Omega) dynamics, angst, fluff, smut, enemies to lovers

Warnings: Multiple threats of violence and threats to kill people, and heartbreak lol

Within ten minutes of Hobi coming to tell Namjoon that Seo-hyun was on his way, Namjoon was stationed near the front of your territory which was right in front of the Head Hall. You, Yoongi, Jungkook, Hobi, and several other Alphas and Omegas were standing right alongside him as well. 

“Alright, you guys will let him talk and none of you will throw any blows first,” Namjoon instructed you all.

“Oh, throwing blows isn’t all I wanna do,” Hobi scoffed.

“Agreed,” you muttered.

“I know that but this pack doesn’t start wars, we only finish them if need be,” Namjoon stated firmly and everyone knew from his tone of voice that the best thing to do was to not argue. As you all waited, you reached out and grabbed Yoongi’s hand, intertwining your fingers with his as you bounced up and down on your tip toes.

“God, I feel like vomiting,” you whispered to him.

“It’ll be ok baby, I’ll be right here with you,” he assured you. “Me and Namjoon and Taehyung too.”

“I know,” you nodded, sending him a small smile. Just then, the loud sounds of hooping and hollering made you turn your head back to face front, the frown on your face immediately appearing when you saw a large group of people walking towards the Head Hall.

“Remember what I said everyone,” Namjoon said and you all nodded. As the group got closer, you had to will yourself not to either turn and run away or try to run forward and murder the man who was leading the group. 

“Well, well, well, look’s like we have an audience waiting for us!” Seo-hyun cackled happily as he stopped to stand right in front of Namjoon, the rest of his pack standing behind him. 

“Well, when you decide to just show up on someone else’s territory, this is what you can expect,” Namjoon shrugged.

“Don’t you mean my soon to be territory, Namjoonie?” Seo-hyun smirked.

“That’s Pack Alpha Kim to you,” Hobi corrected him. “You disrespectful waste of space.”

“Aw, is this your Head Fighter?” Seo-hyun asked Namjoon before turning to look at Hobi. “You know, you are a dead ringer for your mother.” Hobi immediately tried to walk towards him but Namjoon stuck his arm out, stopping him. 

“Keep it together,” Namjoon whispered to him and after hesitating for a moment, Hobi nodded and stepped back to his original spot.

“I guess the little Alpha does have control over his pack,” Seo-hyun chuckled.

“What do you want Seo-hyun?” Namjoon questioned him firmly. 

“What do I want? Well, it’s very simple really,” Seo-hyun replied. “I want your pack and the territory that comes with it.”

“Don’t you remember what happened the last time that you decided that you wanted to take over other packs and their territories?” Namjoon asked. “Your Alpha pride caused you to lose not only the war but also your territory and most of your pack that you obviously had to spend the last seven years rebuilding. Don’t ruin your second opportunity to be a decent Pack Alpha for once in your life.”

“You know what, you don’t need to concern yourself with that because I’m a better Alpha than you’ll ever be, little pup,” Seo-hyun seethed. “You’re weak.”

“And what would make him strong?” You spat, anger laced throughout your voice. “Starting unnecessary wars just to satisfy his own bloodlust?”

“Oh, it’s the ever elusive Prime Omega,” Seo-hyun smirked as he looked at you. “You know, since it seems like your big brother is gonna be too stupid to just give me your pack, I do hope I get the pleasure of feeling your body up against mines on the battle field. That is, before I pry it from your brother’s cold, dead hands.”

“You threaten him one more time, you’re gonna have your own cold, dead hands to worry about,” Hobi snapped.

“And you don’t fucking talk to her like that,” Yoongi spoke up, not missing how Seo-hyun’s eyes widened when he looked at him. “She’s spoken for.”

“I see you took in my weak little Prime Alpha,” Seo-hyun said. 

“Yours?” You echoed, turning to look at Yoongi. “What is he talking about?”

“Oh, don’t tell me that you didn’t do your research on a lone wolf before taking him in?” Seo-hyun cackled. “He was in my pack until I kicked him out for being a weakling. Actually, he’s just like you Namjoonie, so I can understand why you took him in.”

“What?” You whispered and Yoongi could literally hear the hurt in your voice as your hand slipped out of his. 

“Look, let’s just make this easy on everyone, huh?” Seo-hyun suggested. “Namjoon, you can just step down and give me the pack and territory, or I can kill you before taking it. Your choice.”

“I guess you’ll have to try to kill me, because I’ll be damned if you take this pack from me while I’m living and breathing,” Namjoon stated firmly. 

“It’s your death,” Seo-hyun smiled. “One week from today, I’ll be back to claim your territory.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Namjoon scoffed and that’s the last thing that was said before Seo-hyun turned around and walked off, his pack following closely behind him. As soon as they were out of sight, you turned and ran away, not even giving Yoongi the chance to say anything to you. Knowing that he needed to talk to you, Yoongi immediately ran after you, only hoping that you wouldn’t hate him too much.

...................................

When Yoongi finally found you after looking around almost the entire territory, you were near the stream, sitting on top of your favorite rock as you looked down at the water.

“Y/N-ah,” he called out as he walked over to you and you lifted your head, scowling when you saw him. 

“Go the fuck away Yoongi,” you grumbled. 

“I need to talk to you,” he insisted. 

“Oh, now you wanna fucking talk?!” You exploded as you sat up straight, hopping down off of the rock. “Unless you can tell me that Seo-hyun was lying just now, then I don’t want to hear it.”

“He wasn’t lying but it’s not what you think,” he tried to say. 

“It’s not what I think?” You chuckled in disbelief. “What I think is that I fucking trusted you and all this time, I’ve been sleeping next to and with someone who is from the pack that killed my parents and so many others from my pack.”

“Baby, it’s not like that,” Yoongi tried to explain and he moved forward, his hand reaching out to touch you but you quickly stepped away from him. 

“If you try to touch me right now, I can’t be held liable for what I’d do to you,” you  fumed.

“Ok, I’m sorry,” he apologized, holding his hands up in mock surrender. You then began to pace back and forth, doing your best to try and keep your anger at bay. 

“Is this what you were trying to tell me earlier?” You asked as you looked over at him. 

“Yes,” he nodded. “And I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for days now.”

“Obviously not hard enough,” you huffed. “I accepted your gift and let you spend my heat with me. Don’t you think this is something that I deserved to know?”

“Of course, which is why I was trying to tell you,” Yoongi repeated. “I respect you Y/N-ah, I really do and I don’t take you accepting my gift or letting me spend your heat with you lightly. You have to believe me when I say that.”

“Well, forgive me if that’s a little fucking hard right now,” you scoffed. You continued to pace, trying to work through the jumble of thoughts that were currently buzzing around in your head.

“Baby, I’m sorry,” Yoongi said. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know? Then what the fuck were you trying to tell me?” You demanded to know. Before Yoongi could open his mouth to answer, you held your hand up.

“You know what, I just have one question,” you said as you stopped pacing and looked at him. “Did you know he was the one who killed my parents? Like, him specifically.”

“Y/N-ah,-”

“Don't you dare lie to me,” you ordered. “Not while I have your gift around my neck.” Yoongi then looked down at the necklace that rested against your skin, which had basically become a part of you ever since he had given it to you, and Yoongi hated himself because he knew exactly what was going to happen after he let the answer to your question slip out of his mouth.

“Yes,” he replied and the tears that had been welling up in your eyes spilled over onto your cheeks. 

“I can’t believe you,” you whimpered. 

“Y/N, I’m sorry,” he told you. 

“I’m sorry too, sorry that I fell in love with a lone wolf,” you spat, reaching up and snatching the necklace off of your neck, throwing at him afterwards. “I never wanna see you again.”

“Y/N,-” he tried to call out but you were already running away from him, back to where the cabins were. Knowing that there would be no good to come out of going after you this time, he decided to walk back towards the front of the territory. 

Just as he made it past the Head Hall, a hard punch to his jaw knocked him down onto the ground. Before he could even react, there was a body on top of his, holding him down with an elbow to his throat.

“Joon-ah, get off him!” Hobi shouted as he tried to grab Namjoon’s arm and when Yoongi was finally able to focus his eyes again, he saw Namjoon glaring down at him.

“Joon hyung, he could kill you!” Jungkook hollered as he tried to grab Namjoon’s other arm, and Namjoon turned his head to look at them over his shoulder.

“Either of you touch me again, I won’t hesitate to give you exactly what I’m going to give this dumbass,” he growled, referring to Yoongi and with a lot of hesitation, both Hobi and Jungkook slowly left him go and backed off. 

“You might want to listen to them,” Yoongi mumbled and Namjoon looked back down at him. “I could kill you.” As soon as the words had registered, Namjoon didn’t hesitate to raise his free hand and punch Yoongi dead in the eye. 

“I’d love to see you try me right now,” Namjoon snarled, putting more pressure on Yoongi’s throat and Yoongi’s eyes widened, realizing that Namjoon was deadly serious. “Now, did Seo-hyun send you here?”

“What?” Yoongi huffed. “No, he didn’t.”

“Because it’s real convenient that you were ‘kicked out’ of your old pack near our territory,” Namjoon continued. “Have you been giving him information?”

“I’d never do that,” Yoongi insisted. 

“I smell bullshit,” Namjoon hissed. 

“He beat me and left me for dead,” Yoongi reminded him. “He’s treated me just as badly as anyone else.” 

“Listen to him hyung,” Jungkook spoke up.

“Shut up and let Namjoon deal with this,” Hobi snapped at him. 

“You were just trying to get him off Yoongi a minute ago too, you know?” Jungkook pointed out.

“Because he just punched him out of nowhere and I didn’t know why he was doing it but his reasoning makes sense,” Hobi responded. 

“Let me go Namjoon,” Yoongi grumbled as he began to struggle underneath him.

“Do you realize that I could genuinely kill you right now?” Namjoon sneered. “Not only did you put my entire pack at risk, you fucking hurt my sister and betrayed the trust of both her and my brother, who’s the only reason why I even took you in to begin with.”

“I understand that.”

“Do you?” Namjoon questioned harshly as he pressed down harder on Yoongi’s throat. “I understand that coming from Seo-hyun’s pack, you probably don’t relate to the concept of loyalty but this pack lives by it and you went against that.”

“Joon hyung, you’re gonna choke him out!” Jungkook exclaimed. 

“That’s the point Jungkook-ah,” Namjoon replied. 

“Hobi hyung, don’t let him do this,” Jungkook pleaded as he turned to look at Hobi. “He’s just angry right now but he’ll hate himself for it later.”

“The kid’s right Joon-ah,” Hobi sighed as he stepped over to them, reaching down and gently setting his hand on Namjoon’s shoulder. “You shouldnt kill him, let me do it.”

“Hobi hyung!” Jungkook exclaimed. 

“Please Namjoon,” Yoongi whispered, his breathing not coming as easily because of Namjoon’s elbow. Namjoon glared at him for a little while longer before taking his elbow away from Yoongi’s throat, standing up off of his body. Yoongi coughed as he sat up, holding onto his throat. 

“You get the fuck off of my territory and away from my pack,” Namjoon commanded. 

“N-no,” Yoongi mumbled. 

“Hyung,” Jungkook gasped but Namjoon held up his hand, silencing him. 

“He’s too close to them, so he’s untrustworthy,” Namjoon explained before looking at Yoongi again. “Get your things and go. You’re no longer welcome here.” Namjoon then turned and walked away, Hobi following behind him. Jungkook hesitated, mouthing ‘sorry’ to Yoongi before running off behind Namjoon. 

As Yoongi sat there, taking in the gravity of everything that had just happened in the last hour, his eyes widened in horror when he realized that he had just lost his family again; for the third time in his life and that realization hit him like a ton of bricks. 

...................................

Tag List: @jikook-enthusiasts @veryuniquenamegoeshere @seolarsyj @littlrmills14-blog @preciouschimine @kt-rny @copenhagenspiritQueuePost

#bts #bangtanarmynet #bts imagines #abo bts #bts suga #bts yoongi #yoongi x reader #suga x reader #abo yoongi #abo suga #yoongi smut #yoongi fluff #yoongi angst #suga smut #suga angst #suga fluff #bts smut #bts fluff #bts angst #bts x reader

[lia-losing-it]

hehehehe

AU IDEAAA!!

SWITCHED AU: PT.1

WARNING: SPOILERS (anywhere from the first episode all the way to where the manga is right now. read at your own risk.

INTRO:

The mafia members run the agency.

The agency members run the mafia.

FUKUZAWA YUKICHI

Fukuzawa left the government but realized his bloodlust would never fade away

It was about a year after he left the government when he joined the mafia

He slowly made his way to executive and killed the boss :DD

His excuse was someone broke through the window and shot him with a gun in the head. Fukuzawa also got shot before he could take the intruder out.

He quite literally took a gun, shot his boss and himself, then threw the gun out the window. (i mean get it ig🤷‍♀️)

Even though all the members are rats, they’re his rats

Very overprotective over his rats

Pls don’t try threatening him with them. it’s a death wish

Don’t take his sword away from him either

Dazai once hid his sword and Fukuzawa literally flipped the place inside out to find it

Acts so different to people in the mafia compared to anyone else

still a sucker for cats

Mafia boss

KUNIKIDA DOPPO

After the Azure King incident, Kunikida vowed to never become him..

However, anger bubbled and grew stronger at the city that couldn’t save him

Thus, he joined the Mafia

His short temper is one feared among everyone below him

He’s especially harsh to those who “aren’t ideal” -(basically anyone whos rude, bossy, cocky, and defensive)

Hand grenades, guns, and pocket knives are probably his most used items

He’s almost never sent on subtle or stealth missions — he’s gonna end up blowing up all buildings surrounding him

He treats his subordinates different based on how “ideal” they are.

The difference in attitude is very obvious.

For someone who’s not ideal, he’d basically murder them 5 time in his head, gun and mission report on the table.

For someone nice, he’d just say, “oh yeah, we all make mistakes, its ok,”

He has at least three notebooks on him, and, again, at least 10 papers with weapons and stun grenades all over him

Mafia Executive

DAZAI OSAMU

He was originally part of the agency

When Odasaku’s death came around, he was accused of murdering him.

Seeking vengeance and truth, he ran away to the mafia

His will to live is wayyy more nonexistent than in the canon timeline because Oda told him to live

This timeline.. Odasaku didn’t tell him anything.

He makes it his mission to have Kunikida shoot him. He’s gotten so close once too🤚

The only time Kunikida and Dazai pair up, it’s to kill everyone in sight. Blood baths. Expect no survivor except them.

This man basically never sleeps

Anytime anyone asks him why they get the same answer: “I can hear Odasaku”

Not that they know who Odasaku is

Secondary Mafia Executive

EDOGAWA RANPO

Clever, cunning Ranpo

Is always beside someone because assassins are always after him.

He literally predicts when an assassin will come in and with what weapon.

“Breaking through the window with a gun in... 3..2..1”

He always finds the enemies hideout and weak spots within seconds

Wouldn’t hesitate shoot anyone that annoys him or wastes his time

Probably uses “just like stealing candy from a baby” a lot. like i mean a lot.

His first response to anyone under his rank making a mistake is “Can I kill them?”

basically won’t answer to anyone unless they bring him something

he has a set of things he’ll accept from people

Second Mafia Executive

YOSANO AKIKO

After returning from the traumatizing war, Yosano was..much more vicious and sadistic

She doesn’t heal fatal wounds that are ranks under her or unimportant to her more than 3 times

Broken bones are more acceptable

Suicide is also something she won’t bring people back from

However, if it were someone she loved, she’d throw down her ability as many times as she needs to

..She really said “seperation anxiety✌️”

She has a lot of other terms that she heals people by

Yeah, she’s really attached to people she considers her family

Yosano is obviously the medic and a secondary executive

TAYAMA KATAI

ex-hacker of the mafia

Kunikida’s bestfriend and the only one that’s safe from Kunikida’s wrath

Almost never goes on missions

When he does, he goes with Kunikida, who’ll stop at nothing to get Katai to the place he needs to be

Nowadays all he does for the mafia is help whatever they come to him for

His morals are basically nonexistent

If he can help, hey why the fuck not?

TANIZAKI JUNICHIRO

The Tanizaki siblings backstory isn’t known yet, so we’re gonna go off a hc that they aren’t related. They just stick to each other because they have no one else

A random thug made the mistake of trying to kidnap Naomi

Junichiro killed the thug using light snow and a sharp rock he found

Junichiro is very very overprotective over Naomi and his friends.

He literally will kill anyone he can unless told not to

He sneaks around the mafia with light snow to check if there are any rats

with that said, he knows all the rumors and gossips.

he generally holds onto gossip to entertain naomi

Secondary Mafia Executive

MIYAZAWA KENJI

He was sent away by his village because of his ability.

Having Superhuman strength probably does more negative impact to his farm and village than benefits

Kenji does everything with a smile which makes him scarier

Whenever he really gets pissed off, he frowns. let’s say the sight left them shaking. (timbers? shivered)

Probably one of the nicest among them

NAKAJIMA ATSUSHI

Dazai and Kunikida were looking for the tiger for the bounty

They bought him dinner to make sure it was him

When the confirmed it, they realized how strong he was and how valuable he would be to the mafia

works under dazai

probably one of the nicest among them

Fukuzawa and other mafia members try to tell Atsushi he’s valuable.

He doesn’t really believe it

Another one whos overly protective over people he deems to be family

IZUMI KYOUKA

Kyouka was picked up by the agency originally.

Mafia heard about kyouka and decided to kidnap her

Over her time in the mafia, she realized that she was better off an assassin. Demon Snow wasn’t an ability that could help others

Atsushi was the one who put up with her so Kyouka works under Atsushi and Dazai

Feel free to ask questions!! :D

@its-a-journal-of-ideals helped with like half of these

#bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs au #bsd au #bsd manga spoilers #hrng

[micer2012]

no cure is coming, you know (LLSMP Fic)

A few months into Last Life, Skizz and Tango are some of the only members to still hold onto their humanity. With Tango the only member on dark green and Skizz on yellow, Skizz is cursed as the Boogeyman at the beginning of their session. He knows that without hesitation, without question Tango will give one of lives to him… and that’s exactly the problem. [3k words] [crossposted on ao3]

just trust in me, my dear… no cure is coming near.

“Skizz! Countdown time!”

Skizz heard Tango’s voice coming from one of the top layers of their castle, their home. He put down the axe he had been using and ran inside the castle, shutting the door behind him.

“Boogey time?” Skizz called. “Boogey time, my brother!” Tango responded, barreling down the stairs to meet Skizz.

And right on cue, as the moon hit the highest point in the sky, the countdown began in their heads. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

Silence filled their home.

“Nothing. You good?” “Yeah! Yeah, ob-viously. What, were you worried?”

Tango laughed. “I- I mean a little. I gotta be worried a little. There’s what.. 5 non-reds left?”

“And MY teammate is the only one who’s still on dark green.” Skizz boasted, hand on his chest.

Tango punched him playfully, snickering. “Don’t get so high and mighty! I went from.. What, 11 lives? Down to a measly 4.” “That’s only because you were such a good sport about it, Tango Tops. You coulda kept those for yourself, y’know. Been the schamaze of all time.”

“Ha!. Suppose it would have been. But- but I bet we’d have FAR more enemies. It would not have been a good idea to be on that many people’s bad sides that early…” “I coulda took em.”

Tango laughed again. “Y’think? Etho and Bdubs? Cleo?” “I coulda took em. If they were trying to hurt my best friend.”

Tango smiled sadly at him, before looking down. “I wouldn’t want you to lose any more of your own lives because of My theoretical jerk move.” Skizz just looked at his friend, before sitting down on the floor, gesturing wildly with his hands. “Well, Theoretically, I wouldn’t lose any lives then! I’d just do a super good job, and kill them down to 0.” Tango let out another laugh. “Says the guy who lost his life to a mob!”

Skizz pointed his finger accusatory at Tango, still criss-cross applesauce on the ground. “Hey, it wasn’t a ’’’mob’’’ it was a BABY ZOMBIE. You KNOW how much I hate those Lil’ annoying kids! Those- Those are more dangerous than most of the people on this server. THEY are the ones with the bloodlust, I’m tellin you.”

Tango laughed again. “Heh, suppose you’re right. At least it wasn’t an enderman, right?” Skizz narrowed his eyes. Yellow, but the sclera were still tinted purple from the… events of the previous season. “Tango Tops, if I had lost my first life to an enderman AGAIN, I think I would have just quit the server.” Tango snickered. “True that! True that. Alright, I’m gonna go back to my scouting.” Skizz pushed himself up from the floor. “Of course! I’ll be.. I think I might go caving.” Tango turned back to meet his eyes. “W… Will you be far from the base?”

Skizz paused, and then shook his head, hands up. “No, no! Just like, tunneling nearby. I won’t.. I’m not leaving our base, I’m not leaving you here with the.. With those Swarms.”

Tango nodded. “Of course, of course just.. Just checking. Are.. Are you sure you want to go out alone? The boogeyman just got chosen and- and you’re… one of the 4 victi-”

“Hey, don’t you talk like that. You’re a much higher target than me, and you Know I can take care of myself, right?” Tango looked to him, then looked away. “I’m just.. On- on second thought, you’re sure you don’t want me to come? We can go mining together, better- better to have eachother’s backs.” “Then the castle will be unprotected.” “I don’t care. Better it get raided than us.” “No, this- this is our Last bastion. We CAN’T let this fall, then.. Then we’d have nothin’, Tops!”

Tango’s eyes were soft when he looked back up at Skizz. “If I lose you, then I’ll have nothing.”

Skizz was taken aback. He froze for a few moments, before walking over and putting his black-stained hands onto Tango’s shoulders. “Hey, d-don’t talk like that. I’m not going anywhere! F-FIRST sign of danger, I’m calling you and running back home. Okay, buddy?” Tango nodded. “Yeah.. Yeah. Okay. Be-be careful.” Skizz patted his shoulders, before walking out to leave the base. “Of course, Tops! Nothing bad’s ever gonna happen to your buddy Skizz.”

❤❤❤

You are the boogeyman. You must by any means necessary kill a green or yellow name by direct action to be cured of the curse. If you fail, next session you will become a red name. All loyalties and friendships are removed when you are the boogeyman.

Skizz looked down at the message sent to him on his communicator, hands shaking so much it was hard to read the screen.

But he didn’t need to read the screen, he had heard the message beamed loud and clear into his own head. He- He had lied and Tango had believed it. Tango would believe anything he said. He knew that- He- He knew the second he told Tango he was the boogeyman, his friend would immediately let him take one of his lives and free Skizz from the curse. He probably wouldn’t even be mad that Skizz had lied to him earlier.

Skizz had dug himself a hole in the wall of one of the mountains near their base, 10 deep and covered up. He paced the 3x2 room he had made now, this tomb, ranting to himself. He needed to get his thoughts out SOME way.

“Ok. So.So I-I’ve gotta get SOMEONE. A green or y.. Oh, this WHOLE time too I thought killing one of the reds would be fine- THAT would be too easy huh?? We’ve got HOARDS and hoards of hostile reds trying to hunt us down every moment, targeting us like mobs- but NOO. Nooo, it’s gotta be one of the people who’ve still got humanity, huh? Cruel. CRUEL trick to play on Skizz.”

Hand on his head, he scrolled through the list of names on the communicator. He and Cleo were on yellow, BigB and Lizzie were on green… Tango was on dark green. He scrolled back down, cutting off Tango’s name. No. No, that was off the table.

“T..Tango Tops has got the best chance of winning right now out of all of us. Even- not just Life wise, but he’s sharp. Tango’s a sharp cookie. Right now, he’s got the best shot of winning.”

He kept looking at his communicator, before shoving it back into his pocket and groaning, hand on his face. “GAAAGHH, WHY DOES IT GOTTA BE A GREEN OR YELLOW?? L--Lizzie and BigB and Cleo, they’re still up this long because they’re Set up. They’ve Got an alliance, they- they’re untouchable to the reds. I surely won’t be able to be touching them!! ‘Specially without Tango’s help!!” He gripped his face, growling again, before punching the cobblestone wall to the side of him. “And-And I CAN’T tell Tango this. I’m not bringing him into some.. Into some yellow and green fistfight. He’s gotta stay safe, he’s the biggest target on the server.” Skizz was breathing heavily, adrenaline that had been building up leaving as his hand stood in place in the small crater he had made in the wall. “He..He’s gotta stay safe. He’s got the biggest chance of surviving out of everyone. I..” Skizz withdrew his fist, balling it up and rubbing it with his other hand. It hurt. “I can’t do that to him. I’m not gonna be the one who hinders my buddy’s chance.”

The adrenaline gone, Skizz just stood in his little 2x3 box, the chill of what he had to do running up his spine. He kept running his hand over his other hand. “I...I can’t do that to him.”

❤❤❤

He had memories of being reckless and running into battle. Of- Of the loyalty to his friends and the stab of betrayal overcoming his senses, along.. Along with the drive to kill. The drive to dig his sword through Impulse’s heart, through Grian’s, through Tango’s, it.. It was the worst feeling he had ever felt in his life, and it had completely enveloped him.

He remembered Ren crying out, asking him what he was doing. He had convinced himself he was doing it for their benefit, right? Skizz had screamed, as he ran towards the castle, he was doing it for the Red Army. For the only people who defended him. For the only people who gave him a chance. And that chance he had immediately squandered, leaving the Red Army with 1 man less the coming week and.. And leading to Skizz having to watch his friends run into a battle that all of them knew they weren’t going to be coming out of. Skizz had known that when he surged the Crastle too. This was a death game, only one person could make it out alive, and they were all resigned that they were not gonna be that lucky winner.

Skizz ran his hand over the scars around his mouth. Vertical slits where his face had torn itself open, enderman hostility Not mixing well with his human anatomy. His arms were stained black too, not that he had noticed, taken how often they had been stained with blood.

A voice that sounded like his own was talking in the back of his head, reminding him that He was the boogeyman, and reminding him of what he needed to do. Like he could forget.

❤❤❤

Tango was holding his hand, and the two of them were bolting. A swarm of reds, what used to be the southlanders, was chasing them, and their base was already compromised. There were only a few minutes left of this session, if- if the two of them could just get to safety-

“HERE! TANGO, FOLLOW ME!” Skizz let go of Tango’s hand and started digging into the wall, into the cobblestone he had used to patch up his Vent Hole from earlier today. Tango followed after him, panting, as they dug their way into the wall and closed the opening behind them.

“Th...D’ya think we’re safe here?” Tango managed between breaths. Skizz was breathing heavily too, holding his chest. It sounded like the man was about to pass out, whole body leaning onto the cave wall. “Skizz.. Woah, Skizz buddy, take some breaths. The sessions almost over I- I think we’re good.”

When Tango went to go put his hand onto Skizz’s shoulders, he jolted back, chest still heaving.

“Th.. The sessions almost over?” The words sounded incredibly pained.

“Y-Yeah. Few minutes til midnight.” “Few minutes til midnight…” Skizz stuck on the words, and then slumped down against the wall, falling into a sitting position. He was still holding his chest.

“I don’t think anyone’s been killed by the boogeyman yet, right? All the deaths have been red.”

Skizz, still slumped over, did not react to this news.

“...This’ll be the first week where the killer fails, if something doesn’t happen in the next minute..”

A pained sob was expelled from Skizz, shaking his entire body.

“S-Woah, Skizz? Are you- did you get hit? I have regen potions, are- what’s wrong?”

Skizz was shaking now, trying to not make noise as the tears ran down his face. He was failing.

“Talk to me man, use your words. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.” Tango was kneeling next to him, also on the floor now.

The tears hurt Skizz as they surged down his face.. A kind of singing burn, like his cheeks were being branded. It had been happening ever since 3rd Life ended, a side effect of the whole enderman thing. It was excruciatingly painful when he was crying big, painful, tears like now, but not as painful as his mind was. Not as painful as knowing what he had to do was.

He could hear the countdown in his own mind. Second by second it ticked by, and the letters filled his brain and his vision with large red text. It was screaming at him. He was screaming back at it, desperately trying to get it to shut up. There were other voices in his mind too, screaming and crying and tugging at him. He can’t do this, He has to do this, Why won’t he get it over with and do it already? He’s learned nothing from last season, keeping this in is just gonna make this more painful for both of them, he deserves all this pain for what he put Tango through.

He was gripping himself with both his arms now, shaking. All of his senses were screaming that he had T-60 seconds left to kill a green or yellow name.

“I.. I-” Skizz managed, voice cracking. “Yes?” “I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”

“Oh!” Tango moved away from his best friend slightly. “Uh, Here, I have a bucket. Let me pour out the water.. Here. Here you go, buddy.”

Skizz was holding the bucket now. His darkstained hands were holding on so tight, it looked like the steel might crack. Not just his hands now, it looked.. It looked like his entire arms were turning black in a veinlike pattern. Tango couldn’t see his face.

Skizz kept hold on the bucket. T-50 seconds left. He had to get on with it.

Skizz slowly moved his hands to the buckles of his chestplate, and started undoing them.

“Wh- What are you doing? Are you hot?”

Skizz pulled the chestplate over his head, and set it aside. “I-I uh Drats I just. Poured out the water. Um, I’ve got.. potio-”

“Tango. Look at me.”

Tango turned back and focused his eyes on his friend. The tears were still running down his face leaving burnmarks on his cheeks, his eyes were still covered, his.. His chestplate was off. The blackness in his veins ran across all the space his skin was visible and.. and he was shaking like an egg about to crack.

T-40. “You- you remember what you said about the boogeyman not killing yet, right?” His voice was shaky, like the words hurt to get out.

Tango’s face was frozen, and then dropped.

“Skizz.. No. NO.”

Skizz’s grip on the bucket got tighter. T-35.

“Skizz I- Skizz, you KNOW if you had just told me I would help you get a kill ri- Ok.Ok, No I’m not mad. There’s no time to get mad, I’m not mad at you, I’m just.. Skizz, you know this isn’t going to break our alliance, right? I’ve told you countless times, I trust you.”

Skizz convulsed like he was trying to hold in another sob, eyes still not meeting Tango’s.

“I’m… I’m not mad. I’ve got 4 lives left, I in no way think less of you. This was inevitable.”

T-25. “Here.” Tango took Skizz’s hands, cold and limp in his grip, and placed his Netherite Sword into his hands. They had only had enough to make a sword for Tango- of course, Skizz had found the Netherite first, but insisted it was used on his buddy.

“Do what needs to be done. I won’t think any less of you.”

Tango spread his arms out now, crouched in front of Skizz.

15.

Do what needs to be done. Skizz..Skizz needs to do what needs to be done, alright. It didn’t make it hurt any less, knowing this was what he had to do. It didn’t make him any less scared.

10.

This was the worst case scenario. Tango had the greatest chance out of all of them of living.

8.

Skizz certainly had no chance. And he didn’t want to drag his only friend, his brother down with him. Like he had dragged the Red Army with his own selfishness.

5.

Tango had the best chance of winning out of all of them.

4.

His hands were shaky as he moved the sword into the correct position, inches from his heart.

3.

You are the boogeyman. You must by any means necessary kill a green or yellow name by direct action to be cured of the curse. If you fail, next session you will become a red name. All loyalties and friendships are removed when you are the boogeyman.

2.

Skizz was scared.

1.

“DO IT ALREADY!” Tango yelled, arms thrown out and eyes squeezed shut.

Skizz drove the blade through his chest, piercing his heart.

Piercing his heart.

“Wh-” Tango opened his eyes, and screamed. That scream was the last thing Skizz heard before his vision went black.

“N-NO WHAT- WH NO.NONO” Tango was holding his body. “NO, N- I’VE GOT HEALING ITEMS. I’VE GOT POTIONS, OKAY? ST-STAY IN THERE BUDDY-”

Tango was frantically shifting through his inventory, holding Skizz’s corpse in his other hand.

The second his hands found his way upon an apple, lightning was heard outside the cave.

It pierced through everyone’s hearts, a shot in the air heard serverwide.

When Tango looked back to the body it was gone, the only sign left of his brother being a pile of still items.

“No. N-No. No, I- I was at gr.. No, No h..this. This has to be a dream, th- this has to be a nightmare I- I can’t.. I, I can’t……………” Tango’s voice trailed off into incomprehensible quiet sobbing. He was curled up in a pile around the items, holding close the only remainder of his friend. The only thing that he had left period, since the castle had been taken… But he would have took a thousand structures falling to keep his friend. He… He would have done anything to keep his friend. Both Skizz and him knew that.

❤❤❤

Skizz had respawned in the spruce forest. He was leaning against a tree, still weak on his feet. There was a hole in the middle of his chest, and it hadn’t stopped bleeding.

The reds weren’t gonna hurt him now, he had become one of them. A murderer, just like them.

The curse needed a green or a yellow’s life taken to be broken, and he sure had a spare yellow life.

He wasn’t gonna let his own incompetence, his own selfishness doom the fate of his friend again. Tango had the best chance of winning, and he needed to keep all 4 of those lives.

As-as a red he could help too, right? Pick off any other reds that make claims on his friend. Of.. Of course, he couldn’t speak to his friend anymore. He couldn’t see him. He couldn’t even get his stuff.

It was better this way. Tango had the greatest chance of winning, and he was only going to hinder that chance.

He took his communicator out of his pocket, hands still shaking. They were covered in red now, and the communicator’s screen was splattered with red as well.

Skizzleman was killed by Skizzleman using [YOU BET YOUR LIFE]

LDShadowLady> …

Grian> WHAT

SolidarityGaming> ?????

Skizz looked down at the screen.

Tango hadn’t typed anything.

He put the communicator back into his pocket.

This session was ending now. And the next session might be his last. But he didn’t care, his own life didn’t matter, as long as he used his corpse to lift his brother to the win.

He had learned from season 1, hadn’t he?

#3rd life smp #last life smp #3rd life season 2 #3rd life fic #skizzleman #skizz #skizzlemanmc #tango #tangotek #LLSMP #3LSMP #3LS2 #HC #MCYT #ZITS #third life smp #third life season 2 #death #my art #violence #mild body horror #ask to tag #canon typical violence #NOTE.THIS WAS WRITTEN WEEK 1. APOLLO DN FUCKING I #the red army #renchanting #last life #3rd life #last life fic #CONCEPT OF A BOOGEYMAN KILLING THEMSELVES TO SPILL THEIR OWN BLOOD AND CURE THE CURSE. COMES FROM WITHER-ROSE-CIRCUS

[chrolloctrl]

How would be the adult trio in love ?? I'm really looking forward to your writing 😳😳💖💖💖🙏😎

omg this is something i’ve been thinking about so long since i feel like some people REALLY don’t write the adultrio well when they are in love. of course they are all borderline psychotic but i do not think they are incapable of love. i said what i said anyways let me continue

im going to do this as a head canon if thats okay!! if you want me eventually develop a specific character into a one shot i definitely will:)

warnings: like some mention of blood and fighting, maybe a lil mention of sexual things, nothing too bad tho theres one really explicit blood/gore mention in hisokas but that is a very hisoka thing so i have decided to leave it there

first i’m doing illumi bc yall miss with illumi so hard

okay so

first of all, he was a definitely a child with an avoidant attachment style

basically when mummy was there he was annoyed, when mummy left he didn’t care or was probably happy, and when mummy came back he was annoyed once again

this child did not experience love as a child

not once

zip

zero

nada

so u have to be patient with him im sorry to say

but it isn’t impossible

i think when he’s in love, he doesn’t realize it

he thinks he’s just in a sort of...agreement with you

but im telling u right now.. small acts of kindness are his love language

like if u guys were in a fight together and there was blood on ur clothes he would wash them and lay them on ur bed

and then u would be like “ok u didn’t have to do that thats so nice”

and he’d be like “i dont know what ur talking about”

and walk away

or

he would see like a book or something u like and read it just because u liked it too

he wouldn’t tell u tho he would just randomly bring up something from the book 

and you would be like “oh u read it?” 

and he would be like “no why would u think that”

and you would be like “:|”

with illumi u just have to be patient, i think eventually he would catch himself making ur bed one day and he would be like “fuck”

and realize he might have a thing for u

but he wouldnt believe it bc he is oh so emotionless and does not feel one thing at all

but he does he is just a liar

i think he would make his first move when he accidentally lets out all the emotions hes been faking not having and like just cries wishing he were loved and ur like

“i love u though illumi, a lot”

and he would just kiss u and like hug ur for 3 hours and then make u not talk about it ever again but u guys would just be in love and killua would be kinda pressed but he’d be happy u were illumi’s gon <3

okay let’s do chrollo next im sorry illumi’s was so long 

alright

as u can tell i am in love with this man

and everyone always bashes me bc he has no screentime and a pretty basic anime antagonist backstory

but out of all of the adultrio i think he falls in love the easiest and with someone nobody expects

like he is a mass murderer and thief and ur like...a flower shop worker

he would just be walking in yorknew city and see u reading some obsecure ass russian literature while working at a flower shop and he’d be like “wait im intrigued”

then he would talk to u and u would be like

:D

but also calm and reserved

and he would love that, someone who just vibes not a worry in the world

but then as he gets to know u he realizes u r not just a body bag who vibes

u r a human with actual emotions

something he probably swears he doesnt have

he would tell the rest of the troupe that ur just like...an experiment

and they would all buy it EXCEPT machi

she would be like “omg boss ur in love”

and chrollo would be like “um i dont feel that sry to say”

and machi would be like “ya sure lol”

you have no idea who he is like no clue he is the lead spider

but okay omg this part is gonna be corny

you would like hehe sorry im laughing thinking ab this

walking around yorknew city and he would almost step on a spider and u would be like “no!!! be careful!!” and pick up the spider and lightly set it into the grass

and chrollo would be like “why would u do that spiders r scary...right” *looks into the camera like hes on the office*

and u would be like “no..even spiders have feelings u know”

and then he would just like absolutely lose it he’d maintain composure but on the inside he would be like dhdkhduwojhfw

then he would kiss u and then he would finally tell the troupe the truth and machi would be sooo smug 

oh and the troupe def likes u like that is a given

ur just so innocent and sweet its like impossible not to like u u make everyone put away their tough guy acts

and then ya u guys probably read to each other u weird fucks

but its cute and i love

alright now for probably the person who would take the longest to love someone 

i dont know if u have read hisokas backstory one shot but i will try to explain the best i can

hisoka was in circus. lead man of circus say hisoka talented. lead man train hisoka to use nen. hisoka learns nen very fast. oh no serial killer is on the loose. oh no girl in circus almost get killed by serial killer. hisoka save girl. hisoka accuse lead man of being serial killer. lead man say yes lol i am. hisoka say okay i want 2 fight. lead man say sure lol i will kill u. hisoka kill lead man and girl in circus wonders where hisoka and lead man went.

okay now that thats out of the way

the girls name was abaki and i think hisoka liked her ngl

but that was before u know he got all gassed by killing lead man

he definitely thinks similar to illumi in the way that u r just a pawn in his plans

but u r def super strong and he is shook

he probably wants to fight u

but he still doesnt think ur strong enough

u live ur own life separately from his so he doesnt know much ab what u do in ur free time

one day he catches u training with someone else

and he won’t say it but hes lowkey pissed af

hes like “um wtf why didnt u ask me to train u

and ur like “literally why would i ever do that”

and hes like “what u think i cant train”

and ur like “u can barely control ur bloodlust hisoka :|” 

hes like “yeah u know ur right i guess”

but he doesnt stop thinking ab it bc like why wouldnt u train with him

u decide to go on ur own lil mission and try to fight someone you’ve been wanting to fight for a while

you invite hisoka just to watch, you tell him you just want him to sit around this time since you always sit around and watch him

he expects u to get beat to a pulp ngl

but you like completely obliterate the other person

this is too niche but u have such a gory fighting style. like ur def batshit crazy in a fight and loose all composure 

hisoka is shook bc he did not expect u to go that crazy

u like bite the other dudes jugular and blood splatters every where

that was so gross but idk im into that weird shit sorry im tw’ing that

but hisoka is a weird mf so that def makes him horny for u

he like takes u back to ur house while ur covered in blood and theres a crazy look in ur eye still

and he realizes hes in love with u bc ur just as crazy as him

i feel like ur guys relationships spawns bc of how crazy u both are. u guys probably summon demons for fun

i feel like his love language is more i do for u what u do for me

like if u save his ass in a fight, he’ll watch a cheesy movie for u

its def a give and receive vibe but it works

or if he saves ur ass he makes u guys take a bath together

and ur like “this is so cheesy”

and hes like “um ur having fun tho right” *crickets* “yea thats what i thought”

muah gonna think ab this before i go to bed

alr i think i wrote WAYYY too much omg these are all so long i am so sorry, too many thought in brain keyboard go woosh

hope u liked it though <3

#chrollo #illumi #hisoka #chrollo x reader #illumi x reader #hisoka x reader #adultrio #adultrio x reader #adultrio hc #hxh hcs #hunter x hunter #illumi hc #chrollo hc #hisoka hc #adultrio headcanons #i loved this omg head canons r fun to write #lmk what yall think #also im taking requests #pls

[deathstalkersdemise]

I'm having a bit of trouble with my mental state and with drawing right now, but I've made an OC! (And I'm trying out a new art style for all sorts of random little things). This is Miguel, he's a vampire!

And some info about him.

He's a half-breed because his father is a vampire and his mother is a human. He was raised by his uncle (his mother's brother) because his mother died in childbirth and his father may not even have known she was pregnant (or he ran away right after he found out, lol). His uncle owns a little eatery, and he used to help him with it, like washing dishes and stuff. And after a few years, not only did his thirst for adventure awaken, but also his vampire bloodlust, and he killed someone. He decided not to push his luck and leave the place where he lived for a while. And he told his uncle that it was time for him to go, the road calls and all that. The uncle didn't wanna let him go, because he's considered a fairly young vampire (he was born in 1960), quite inexperienced, but he realized that he couldn't keep such "hot blood", so he didn't interfere. And after that, for quite a long time, this vampire travels around the States and does what he does. I think he visits his uncle from time to time when their paths randomly cross or something.

With this neckerchief around his neck, he sometimes ties up his hair. He stole a jacket from some punk (why would a dead man need it?), now he's ✨stylish✨.

He doesn't care about people, like yo, they suck. He looks like he could kill a person for blood and spectacle, for fun, for stuff he likes and money or something, and dump their body in a ditch. But I think he would be happy (?) if he met a vampire or some human (or not quite human) who could share such a free but criminal lifestyle with him. Like, to travel around the world with someone, leaving behind a bloody trail, not to think about anything, just to live for fun is his way. I think, he's like "either you follow me or you don't" type. Although I wouldn't call him a leader, he's a free soul and someone can just join in what he does.

He probably knows how to play the guitar and can sing something very soulful? I mean, he can be very passionate about a song, he's just ✌🏻vibing✌🏻. And he likes all sorts of popular old songs (well, for him they aren't old, most of these songs were written during his lifetime, lol!), and also some soulful songs about the road, leaving home and all that, like country music? For him, this is a rather personal topic.

And I made a playlist for him, check it out! 🖤❤🔪

Oh, ok, I tried not to talk too much. If you're interested in learning something about him (or any of my other OCs), I'll always be happy to answer your question! uwu💕

#miguel #my oc #my art #love him pls 😔🙏🏻💕

[jasperwhitcock]

equinox | chapter 07 –– “a cruel god, a wrathful goddess”

here is chapter six of my bella as a vampire and edward as a human fanfic inspired by an au that @bellasredchevy​​ posted. you can read the new chapter on AO3 or here. i post updates on AO3 or on tumblr using the #equinoxjw tag. but it seems 10/10 times my tag does not work, so that is a fun mystery for me to solve.

oof... sometimes u get distracted and then ur sister gets married and then u get unmotivated & d*pressed and forget to update ur fanfic for over three months... my bad y'all... sorry for the wait hehe. i hope it is worth it. again, i'm so thankful for the comments & i read them all. i get too shy to respond, but i WILL. i just need to talk myself up first. i love u. thank u. hehe. ♡♡♡ merry christmas/happy holidays if i fail u again before the 25th. i WANT to update more frequently. my catchphrase these days is "i'm trying my best," so... i'm trying my best.

this is for the sweet anons who slide into my ask box & ask me questions abt my fanfic. and for taryn, who consistently reminds me that there are people wanting to read this seeing as she is one of those people, kim, who i am so desperate to impress that i began working on a new chapter once she started to read my fanfic, and kae, because without her, this fanfic would never have existed in the first place. i love how i'm writing this as though it's the intro to an actual book when it's literally just chapter seven. ok, i will shut up now so u can read. love u. again.

07 A CRUEL GOD, A WRATHFUL GODDESS

In great contrast to the noisy ambience of the other students in the hallway, we were silent on our walk to our shared biology class. I wondered how conscious Edward was of the stares and whispers focused on our proximity to one another, but my guess was that he was very much conscious of it. I intentionally ignored glancing in any direction that I sensed one of my siblings’ presence, although I figured it was mostly paranoia driving me to feel as though we were about to cross paths. Holding my breath to more easily walk beside Edward left my senses impaired to the ability to pinpoint their location. 

I was lucky that for the majority of my immortal life, I’d managed to escape unwanted attention. But now, it seemed that precious luck had finally run out. Maybe embarrassment had been creeping up on me, maliciously building itself up all these years, waiting until just the right moment to rear its ugly head and exact revenge that immorality had stolen its favorite object of humiliation to torment. But here it was, ensuring that I was finally catching up on feeling awkward and out of step, a feeling I experienced for what seemed like the entirety of my human life. I thought once I’d been changed, I’d never feel this way again, but becoming misaligned with my family made me feel bashful to parade my defiance in their faces. I had operated better under no scrutiny as a mortal and was surprised to realize that that still held true as an immortal as well. Because though there was now never a struggle of staying upright or a risk of tripping over my own feet, that didn’t prevent me from feeling self-conscious as I walked beside Edward. Although for different reasons –– it was too mortifying to consider what my family might make of what my actions suggested about my feelings towards Edward.

And yet still, I would put up with the ridicule and disapproval of my siblings if it meant I could listen to Edward speak his silly philosophical theology, his questioning of god and existence, for just a few more hours. If I were going to be teased over Alice’s visions regardless, I might as well find out what I can about this pretentious boy before I leave him alone forever. If only to understand why his moving to this small town threatened to warp my own future so much. In losing night and in losing death, there were so very little anomalies in the endless amount of time I’d been given. So what would it hurt to allow myself to fixate on this minuscule difference in my life for just awhile?

It could hurt Edward, a more selfless part of myself reminded me. If indulging myself was playing with fire, I was being justly punished with the way flames were efflorescing the inside of my dry, burning throat.

If a god did exist, why would it make sense for such a being to craft someone like Edward with his perceptivity, and send him off to this small town, home to a secret such as ours? If a god did exist, why it would be fair for such a being to craft someone like Edward, someone who tempted me both in bloodlust and in curiosity, and send him off to this small town, home to the very vampire who desperately wished to kill him most? If a god did exist, if our kind had fallen short of heaven, I could understand why sending Edward into our path –– and more specifically, my path –– could be some kind of punishment. But what I couldn’t understand is why a god would allow someone as innocent as Edward to be endangered for the sake of bringing a sinful, undead creature to justice. It seemed the only reasonable explanation would be that a god probably did not exist. 

And how could there be? I was on the precipice of falling into temptation with every step further in the hallway and every question he asked and answered. I could never not be very much aware of the fact –– especially now with his body merely inches from my side and his sweet fragrance blooming both deliciously and relentlessly in the air. And even as I impossibly withstood the lure of his blood, how was I meant to ignore the irresistibility of his mind and how inexplicably concerned I was to understand it? It seemed like a very cruel experiment of free will and knowledge –– far too cruel to allow much room for the kind of god Edward hoped for.

I frowned as I realized that this experiment wasn’t that of a cruel god’s but that of a cruel vampire, and I felt very much like a vampire as the sound of his heartbeat was so appealing that it made my mouth water.

“Do the stares bother you?” Edward spoke quietly to me as we weaved throughout the hallway. Easily distracted, his question was able to pull the more civilized parts of myself together, though this was probably also in thanks to my choosing not to utilize my sense of smell. I found it funny that at least one of his thoughts had been in a similar vicinity. But of course, the rest of his thoughts were probably free of all consuming agony and struggle. For all his curiosity about morality, to inflict this existence upon him would probably devour him in misery. At least as a human, despite whatever conclusions he may come to, there was still some hope to be had for an afterlife. This thought should have been dark and depressing, but because it made Alice’s vision seem like a complete hoax, I almost found it funny. How would Edward ever end up like me?

“Oh, no,” I swallowed the venom in my mouth. “I live for attention.” I watched from the corner of my eyes as his gaze flickered over to me, the ever present half smile appearing on his face at my joke. My answer came out so comfortably as though I was used to this, when in reality, the student body for the most part had grown accustomed to ignoring me. And, of course, there was nothing comfortable about the demanding, aching dryness in my mouth or the burning in my nostrils. “How about you?”

“Likewise,” he joked, laughing. “This is interesting –– their fascination. I understood their interest on my first day because I’d guess a new addition to the student body in a town this small is something of a rarity, but today, walking by your side is garnering even more attention. Is it a once in a lifetime opportunity to have Bella Cullen walk you to class?”

“You’re just so observant, aren’t you?” I rolled my eyes, though the corners of my mouths pulled up despite myself. “And I’m not walking you to class. I’m walking to a class I just so happen to share with you, so don’t get the wrong idea. I think they’re just surprised because they’re probably under the impression that I don’t play nice with others.”

“And do you?”

“You tell me,” I replied, pausing to face him beside a wall of lockers next to the entrance of our biology classroom. As he stopped beside me, a gust of air from a passing student walking hastily down the hallway sent his scent reeling into me at an unfortunate moment where I’d chosen to breathe in. My muscles tensed to spring, and I desperately anchored myself to the floor as my mind fell into disarray.

“Nicely enough,” Edward winked naturally as though we’d been the best of friends since his first day. The demanding thirst was intruding on my awareness, and the desperation for something wet and hot and delicious in my desiccated throat was so dizzying that his voice sounded as though it were underwater. With an effort as though I were swimming through drying cement, I resurfaced, just barely proving my dominion over the desire. I focused on his voice so that it’d become clearer, forcing myself to take another excruciating breath in and exhale the fire out. “I will say I am honored to be the exception –– to be plucked from the masses by the renowned, reclusive Bella Cullen.”

With torturous effort, I snorted as though I wasn’t fighting everything within me to keep him alive. I breathed in again heavily, allowing my body to become a pyre so that I could speak. “Alright, that’s enough. Stop saying my name like that. And you’ve lost the privilege. I am never walking you to class again,” I rolled my eyes even though my joke could very much be the truth. The bunching of my muscles, the twitching of my hands, and the fierce pain in my throat reminded me of the fact. Before he could point out the contradiction of what I’d previously clarified, I sighed. “Let’s take this quiz.”

His pretty green eyes were alive with mischief and enlightened with what must be more answers to questions he hadn’t outright asked me as he turned to enter the classroom. I followed behind him towards our shared table.

Air from the vent rushed out, thrusting the scent of his blood wafting into my face again. I paused for an indistinguishable moment as I battled agony, murderousness, monstrosity. Holy fuck. What was I trying to prove! Was it really worth this? Swallowing hard, I sat beside him as though nothing happened. My suffering was so great that Emmett could have brutally ripped my arm off, he could have beat me with it, and I wouldn’t have noticed nor felt a thing. I could have been set on fire, and it’d feel like sinking into a cool pool of water on an even cooler day. I was already burning alive, my body acting as a furnace, and I was imprisoned inside it.

Without intending to, I sighed aloud, exhaling as though it would smother the flames. It was a stupid, attention seeking thing to do. Humans sighed to expel air or express some sadness or relief or exhaustion, so when my family emitted an audible breath, we did so as a means of blending in. But to breath out in a way to clue Edward into the fact something was plaguing me… it was a stupid invitation for more questions. And these were questions I had no intention of sharing the answers to. I felt his eyes on me, but before he could say anything, Mr. Molina began passing out quizzes face down on our lab tables as students continued to pile in from lunch.

“Alright, class. Today we have a pop quiz–– oh, come on, guys, don’t groan. You will have the opportunity to make corrections after these have been graded. This is just an assessment of what you’ve retained from this unit so far. You will have the entire period to complete–– thanks for joining us, Mr. Patterson, glad you could fit my class into your busy schedule. Why don’t you take your seat? –– You will have the entire period to complete your quiz. If you finish early, feel free to get a head start on this weekend’s homework! I’ve written the reading down on the board. Aw, I’m sure you’re all moaning because you’re disappointed at how light of an assignment it is because I just know how very excited you all are to continue your passionate pursuit of studying biology. Alright, now that everyone’s settled–– wait a minute––”  Mr. Molina paused, raising his pointer finger in the air, his eyes squinted in anticipation. Three seconds later, the bell signaled the beginning of class. “Begin!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward reluctantly turn away from me. In an elegant script, he wrote his name at the top of the paper and began his quiz. I turned away from him to look at my own paper, preparing myself to uncomfortably hold my breath for the next hour. The difference this made in my thirst was almost insignificant, but enough so that it gave me a tiny more leverage in my control. I smoothed out the pucker on my forehead with the eraser from my pencil, accidentally snapping the rubber off against my face. 

Absentmindedly, I began to breeze through the assessment, circling the correct answers, but my mind was more absorbed in the warmth of sitting beside Edward. Aside from the affliction of doing so, it was too pleasurable to have sat beside him so often and for so long today. I enjoyed the toastiness like a lizard basking in the sun. It made me recall the muddy human memory of laying out on a blanket in my backyard beneath my beloved blue Arizona sky, hiding beneath the small shade of a book. Not the blistering heat of a summertime Phoenix sun, but the warmth of the first day of spring. But the heat of Edward’s body alone was enough to fill my mouth with venom, so I tried to refocus my attention onto my quiz.

When I turned to the last page of questions, a motion beside me diverted my concentration once again. I peeked over, turning my head slightly in Edward’s direction to see what it was. As he thought over one of the questions, his right hand was moving peculiarly as he lifted and dropped down his long fingers almost as though he were impatiently tapping each digit one by one along the tabletop. Except the movement was more exact and calculatingly random. Engrossed, I watched as his his soft, fragile skin rippled over the muscle, the tendons appearing and disappearing with every bizarre movement. It took me a moment to make the connection between the large grand piano in his home and the motion of his hands. I realized he was miming piano movements while he thought through his answers. There was something both weird, funny, and endearing about this. I smiled to myself, not having the required oxygen to quietly laugh.

I felt his curious eyes flicker over to me and watched peripherally as he raised his eyebrows. I shook my head, biting down on my lip to unsuccessfully fight the smile, and returned to completing my quiz.

I finished a moment later and impatiently waited another ten minutes or so before I could turn in my work. I tried to ignore Edward for this small period of time at least, mentally reading myself the opening chapter to Wuthering Heights. Even though the words were committed to my memory, it was still never as good as actually reading from the book itself.

Once I’d decided an appropriate enough time had passed, I stood up to walk my quiz to the completed basket on Mr. Molina’s desk. Even having waited, I was still the first to finish the examination.

“Thank you,” the teacher whispered without breaking his focus away from the crossword puzzle he peered through his glasses at. I breathed in now that I’d placed some distance between myself and Edward, gladly facing the cool, fresh air from the vent.

“Neophyte,” I whispered back now that I’d replenished my oxygen supply.

“Excuse me?” He glanced up, his slightly aged face confused.

“Neophyte,” I repeated. “Eight across, two down.”

I took in one last clean breath and walked back to my seat as he tapped his pen across the squares of the space, mouthing his count of the letters to check if the word fit.

As soon as I took my place in my seat again, Edward stood up to walk his own quiz to the basket.

I wanted to watch him, but instead I forced myself to unzip my backpack and retrieve the biology textbook.

Busying myself with the assigned chapters, deciding to actually read them so as to not feed into my invasive Edward obsession, I couldn’t help but listen as Edward too placed his own textbook on the countertop.

I heard the scribble of pen on paper as he began to write what I imagined were notes until his large hand slid the paper over to me beneath the wall of my hair spilling over the desk. Well, I wouldn’t ignore him if he was the one deciding to bother me.

You know I’m pretty certain that cheating is a violation of the student handbook, but I’ll let you get away with it just this once.

I turned to glance at his face to see if he were serious. His eyes were warm and inviting, his mouth in the same crooked smile.

I took the piece of paper and looked around for my writing utensil that had gone missing somehow. My eyes zeroed in on a suspicious, tiny pile of wood dust on my side of the desk. When had I brutalized my pencil? He held his hand out to offer his own pen, and I accepted it, carefully plucking it from his fingers without making contact.

I wasn’t cheating. You were doing something funny. And what do you know about the student handbook? You’re new.

I slid the paper and pen back to him and watched as he combed a hand through his bronze hair, reading my response. The smile grew wider as he construed the biting tone of my note. 

Can I be let in on the joke? Edward wrote, turning to look at me once he was done. Again I was prisoner, though this time not to my own body. I was momentarily held hostage by the beauty and warmth of his light green eyes. I was understanding more and more the attraction the other students had for him. If I had a soul, it was as though he were staring straight into it.

I recovered, placing my hand atop the desk and then wiggling my fingers as though I were weaving my way through a very complicated piano piece.

Oh, Edward mouthed, immediately understanding. He silently laughed and placed his left hand to his forehead briefly as if to hide his face in mock embarrassment. The ink from the pen spilled onto the paper as he began to write again.

In my defense, there’s research that supports classical music puts students in a heightened emotional state, making them more receptive to information and helping them focus.

That’s very nerdy of you. I scribbled back, the corners of my lips pulled upwards.

I know. As I read the words on the notebook paper, we both laughed a little too loudly for the quietness of the room.

“Please remain silent for your classmates still working,” Mr. Molina stage-whispered from his desk, his eyes still fixated on the crossword puzzle.

It’s a bad habit. Edward tacked on to his message. I beamed. I knew a thing or two about bad habits today. I was appreciative of this silent conversation on paper; it made it easier to be beside him without needing to breathe to speak aloud.

What were you playing? I scrawled.

Clair de Lune. Edward wrote back. His thick eyebrows raised as my eyes lit up, and he continued writing. You know Debussy?

My mother used to play a lot of classical music around the house. It was one of my favorites.

It’s one of my favorites, too. Edward’s eyes were a little sad and lost in thought, and he smiled softly.

I was shocked by the change in expression and weirdly desperate to return the brightness back to his eyes. The burn in my throat was almost forgettable in the face of my concern. Almost, but not quite. He turned his head down to write on the paper again.

You said Rosalie played piano. You never learned? He turned to look at me, his expression curious. I shook my head and shrugged, reaching for the pen.

I didn’t think I had the coordination for it. While this was true for the time I was human, it wasn’t true now. Still, even though my days stretched into endless nights, I hadn’t yet devoted time to any instrument as an immortal.

Edward read the paper, his long pointer finger tracing the line beneath the words as he did so. He held his large hand out, and I dropped the pen into it.

I’ll show you sometime. Edward half smiled at me, his eyes sweet and earnest.

Knowing I shouldn’t be allowing him to think making a plans with me was an option, I reached for the pen to tell him that it was alright, but I froze as he suddenly moved to drop the pen and take my hand. Though he should have been the one hesitant and cautious as though approaching a dangerous, wounded animal, I held perfectly still as though he were the danger, and I needed to play dead for protection. You can’t play dead if you are dead, I thought to myself. 

My body tensed as my hand was enveloped in the heat of his much larger palm, uncertain as to what he was doing. My muscles screamed at me as I clenched my free hand into a tight fist, terrified of myself.

A shiver rippled through him as he felt the chill of my frozen fingers, and I twitched the hand in his possession, wanting to yank it away to protect him from the iciness but not wanting to alert him with the swiftness of the motion.

He smiled mysteriously at the spasm as though he somehow expected it. I wanted to ask him what he was thinking but didn’t want to risk breathing. My control could too easily be lost. Besides, I was scared that if I were to open my mouth, I’d end up screaming.

I felt him push slightly and realized he wished for me to curl my fingers, so with great concentration and the acute awareness of his fragility, I moved my stony hand into the shape he directed, my fingers curved slightly beneath his like a relaxed talon. I didn’t like the shape; it was odd and inhuman and made me think of the violence I could cause.

But it wasn’t a claw. Because once my hand was positioned the way he wanted, he began to slowly place pressure on my fingers, and I dipped and rose them accordingly to carefully move with his. I watched as the two of our hands together played what I imagined must be the opening chords to Clair de Lune.

The disconcerting emptiness in my chest soared at the bizarre pleasure of this touch, and a weird sensation tickled my scalp, moving swiftly down my spine to my entire body. 

My muscles tightened violently and then relaxed, sending a shiver to ripple through me. It was too much pleasure and too much pain as my throat ached and I leaned into the warmth.

Embarrassed and not wanting to push my luck, I cautiously pulled my hand slowly away. He lifted his hand to allow me to escape as though I couldn’t just break his hand to do so, a half-smile pulling on his lips. I pretended not to notice the goosebumps on his arms.

See? he mouthed before deciding to whisper. “You could do it.”

I forced myself to smile and then turned away for the rest of the hour, trying to keep from doing anything stupid like looking at him or killing him. I’d completely forgotten where we were.

When the bell finally rung, I collected my things atop the desk hastily. Edward reached for my backpack and held it up for me.

“Thanks,” I murmured as I dumped my books into the bag. Before I could take it from him, he slid it onto his back and nodded his head once for me to go forward.

Feeling awkward, I turned and allowed him to follow me to the door. I was lucky to walk in front of him, taking the opportunity to breath again as the vent blew out in front of my face.

Exiting the classroom, I paused for a second when I saw Emmett waiting for me across the hallway rather than his typical spot beside the wall of lockers next to our shared Spanish classroom. Even though I was well aware of the fact I’d been dangling my irresponsibility in their faces all day, I still felt as though I was being caught in the act.

Emmett’s eyebrows raised as his golden eyes watched Edward follow behind me, carrying my backpack. I crossed the hallway reluctantly towards my big brother.

“Hello,” I greeted him, avoiding his eyes. I felt smaller than ever beside him with my head down, and yet not small enough as I wished to disappear.

“Hey, little sis,” Emmett began uncertainly, though I glanced up to see his full lips were beginning to stretch into a smile that I didn’t like. “Who’s that with you?”

“Uh…”

“I’m Edward Masen,” the lanky human boy introduced himself confidently as he stopped beside me. “And you must be––”

“Emmett,” my brother interrupted, grinning as though he always so comfortably interacted with humans. This was all too weird, but he looked to be enjoying it far too much. His desire to mess with me and his confidence in Alice’s visions seemed to override the abnormality of speaking to a student so amicably. I watched as he breathed in and shot me a meaningful look. I grimaced.

I opened my mouth to put an end to this torturously awkward interaction, but Emmett interrupted again.

“It’s nice to see you made a friend,” he began, an evil glint in his eyes as he watched my face. I was confused as to where he was going with this because our entire family would come across as misanthropic to the rest of the school, so why should it matter to him. He turned his attention to look at Edward who was closer in height to him. “You know, we worry about her––”

“Okay, let’s go to Spanish,” I cut him off quickly. “Edward, can I have my bag, please?”

Without looking at him, I reached for my backpack as he offered it and threw it over my shoulder, heading down the hallway. It was a massive relief to put some distance between myself and Edward. My thoughts were clearer, and I could breathe freely.

Emmett burst into laughter, his guffaws booming in the hallway. Several students paused in fear making me concerned about Edward’s reaction to my giant of a sibling, but I relaxed when I heard Edward chuckling along with him.

“Um, see you,” Emmett said to Edward before his steady, near silent footfall followed after me.

Even moving at a lethargic human pace, he caught up to me quickly.

“That wasn’t funny,” I grumbled.

“What the hell are you doing?” Emmett chuckled, ignoring my question.

“What the hell are you doing? What was that back there?”

“I don’t know. That was weird, but not as weird as you playing with your food.”

I hissed quietly.

“Damn, I’m kidding, Bells. But seriously, what are you doing? What happened to your high and noble speech about doing the right thing and staying away from the kid? I thought Esme was about to produce real tears. It even softened Rose.”

“Ugh, don’t talk to me about Rosalie right now. She’s been giving me dirty looks all day. It makes me feel awful. I already feel bad!”

“Well, I don’t really care what you do either way so––” I looked at him questionably. “I mean, sure, I want you to do the right thing, whatever that means. I don’t want you to feel miserable. But on one end, I didn’t really mind so much what happened to me.”

“Rosalie did,” I countered.

“Yeah, Rose did,” he acquiesced quietly.

“Anyways, I’m not having that conversation. I wasn’t talking to him today to test whether or not he’s worth it. That’s… unethical.”

“So what were you doing?”

“I don’t know,” I groaned in answer.

Emmett laughed.

“You’re weird these days, Bella.”

“You’re weird everyday,” I quipped back before sighing. “I don’t know. He’s weird, too. I guess… I’m not making any decisions, at all, but if Alice told you what she told me… wouldn’t you be curious?”

Emmett thought it over. “Yeah, I think so. But I also don’t think I’d have even made it to this point,” he admitted. I winced.

“It’s kind of unfair for me to care more about satiating my curiosity and dance with the devil this way, right?”

“Well…he may not know it, but isn’t it more so that Edward’s the one dancing with the devil?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, frowning as we walked into our Spanish class. “I guess it is.”

I made the decision to avoid thinking of Edward for the remaining hour of school. I paid very little attention in Spanish, returning to the familiar mind-numbing boredom that classes had been prior to the last few days. Now that it was in stark contrast to the sudden life breathed into my time at Forks High School by my fixation with Edward, the tedium was no longer something dealt with indifferently and sluggishly. Now, it left me feeling restless, and it almost pained me how laborious it was to sit through a life I wasn’t an active participant in. It was nowhere near the pain of dealing with the excruciating thirst I had around my bronze-haired lab partner, but it almost tampered with my thoughts more knowing I’d feel less miserable if I spent this time analyzing every word Edward shared with me, every fluctuation of his tone, every glint in his perceptive eyes, every expression on his pretty face… But I was becoming too obsessive. The same hunger for adventure that made me fall in love with reading must be what was leading me to so treacherously, so impetuously dive into exploring this insignificant and yet cataclysmic difference in my life.

As though it had a personal vendetta against me, time moved even more lethargically than it ever had before, but finally, the bell signaling the end of school rang. Emmett’s eyes shot a concerned look at me as I rose from my seat too quickly, and I immediately felt embarrassed again. The cautious reminder in his expression made me feel childish as Emmett was never one to care much about bending the rules. 

“See you at home, I guess,” he shook his head, giving me one last look that seemed to suggest I’d lost it.

“See you,” I mumbled, slinging my bag over my shoulder. Leaving Emmett behind to wait for Rosalie, I weaved through the crowded hallway and out to the parking lot. Students were bundling together and squealing at the chilling air as tiny, fluffy snowflakes fluttered down from the overcast sky. The floor of the parking lot was almost as glassy as yesterday as the rain from this afternoon had melted into a thin layer of icy mush. Though there was hardly enough snow for a decent snowball fight, some of the rowdier students were bundling up a pitiful pile of snow to form pathetic snowballs in their fists.

I nearly skipped to the pearly white vehicle parked beside Rosalie’s overly conspicuous crimson car which was forming a small crowd of admirers. Leaning against the trunk of the car, I watched the front doors of the school to look for Edward.

The tangle of reddish-brown hair was easy to spot because of its strange metallic tint as he strolled out of the building with Naomi, the student who’d provided him with the information about my family on his first day. He had his coat folded over his arm, revealing how form fitting his light tan turtleneck was. He truly was a very attractive boy. It was odd that I hadn’t really paid much attention initially. With his dazzling face and tall, lean frame, Edward was pretty enough that for the vampires who searched for exquisitely beautiful humans to create into even more stunning immortals, he could probably be a contender for someone to collect.

Thinking of how Emmett questioned my motives today, I quickly banished the idea of Edward as an immortal from my mind, even if it was only a hypothetical inspired by my observation.

Edward paused, asking Naomi if she could hold on to his backpack for a moment. When she grabbed it, he pulled on his long black coat, and fiddled with the collar. Recollecting his backpack, he slid it onto one shoulder, then rubbed his hands together, blowing the warm air from his mouth to heat them up. Thinking of the sweetness of the smell of his breath made me remember to take in swallows of fresh air before he made his way over to me.

As he was distracted momentarily, I watched as a stray snowball flew towards Edward’s head. I was overcome with the urge to intercept it in the event it may hit him too harshly and knock him to the pavement, but flying across the parking lot inhumanly fast twice in one week was probably not the way to go about correcting my mistakes.

The soggy snowball crashed into Edward’s hair, exploding into shards of ice and water that slid down his prominent cheekbone. I laughed aloud at his shocked expression as the curtain bangs framing his face were immediately drenched, darkening his hair into a brown color. Once he’d realized what happened, his face broke into a good-humored smile.

“Holy shit! Sorry, Edward!” The classmate who had thrown the snowball with poor aim called out.

“No worries!” Edward called back. He shook his head, chuckling as he wiped the water from his face. As he laughed, his eyes found the space where I waited and brightened seeing that I, too, was enjoying the moment.

“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told Naomi, who was too beside herself in tears of laughter to reply.

Edward sauntered over towards me, and I inhaled deeply as a fortuitous whisper of wind blew from the tree line. I held onto the notes of crisp eucalyptus, fresh snow, and cedar wood, trying to distract my mind from the offensively mouthwatering scents approaching me.

Edward was a coordinated human, but even he lost his footing on the icy pavement. His body slid forward for a moment, but I stepped towards him to close the space between us and caught him by the elbow.

He looked up from his boots against the frozen parking lot into my eyes, startled momentarily at the swiftness in which I had appeared. Then, his full lips lifted into a crooked smile that creased his astonishing green eyes into half moons. I let go immediately and took a big step back to ensure a safer distance between myself and the warmth of his fragile body. It had been a risky movement, but somehow in comparison to yesterday, it didn’t seem to matter as much. I figured our classmates were too involved in their gawking at the details of my sister’s car or their feeble, slushy snowball fight to notice, and oddly, I didn’t care that Edward had seen. It was beginning to feel too late to keep up certain pretenses.

Although, it wasn’t too late, and it shouldn’t feel that way. I reminded myself I still had every intention of leaving Edward alone once I’d figured out what was so compelling about our paths crossing that had Alice’s visions spiraling in a confusing jumble. I took another step back slowly.

“Thank you,” Edward said, his eyes humored with another secret he didn’t seem willing to share. “You keep saving me.”

“Well, let’s not make this damsel in distress thing habitual,” I snorted, turning so that he couldn’t see the smile forming on my face. I felt shy about showcasing any comfort or happiness in his presence now that I was reminded of how fleeting this experimental friendship was, but I wondered if subconsciously I wanted him to catch me in my misery and ask me to explain, though I wasn’t certain why I wanted to sabotage myself like that. I opened my door and turned to look at him again. “You coming?”

Before he could answer, I dipped into the driver’s seat, and breathed in one last time. Well, once this was all over, I could finally stop inhaling dramatically as though they were truly my last, dying breaths. The air was mostly clean of his scent, but I knew that regardless, the heat of his body would be enough to disrupt my comfort and control. As the thought crossed my mind, I painfully swallowed back the venom pooling beneath my tongue.

Edward swerved through the crowd obsessing over Rosalie’s car and opened the passenger door, sliding into his seat. As he placed his backpack on the floor and fiddled with his seatbelt, I made sure to adjust the air conditioning so that the heat could warm Edward from the frigid Forks air. Though for me, just being in his presence made the intimate interior of the car feel as though I were again sitting by his fireplace.

“That’s a beautiful car,” he murmured. “Is it an M8?”

“Uh, it’s a BMW?” I asked uncertainly as though he’d spoken another language.

Edward grinned as though he wanted to laugh but didn’t want to make me angry. Rosalie would have loved to answer all his questions if he too had an interest in cars. Would have loved to, if she wasn’t deeply offended by my actions or if I had any intention of Edward meeting any more of my family members.

“Ready?” I bit my lip as I forced out any inconsiderate plots of murder that threatened to distract me from being a defensive driver.

“Mhm,” Edward answered.

I reversed out of the parking slot slowly, but as I looked in the rearview once I’d straightened out, I saw the fleeting image of Rosalie’s exquisitely beautiful and exceptionally angry face. I quickly readjusted the mirror to remove my sister’s reflection and sped out of the parking lot in a way that could have taken out a few unlucky students if I didn’t have above average years of driving experience.

Peripherally, I watched as Edward’s thick eyebrows raised, but he decided not to question me. Once we’d reached the main road, I slowed my speed so as not to rush through this time, even though I knew for his safety and my sanity, I should. As I drove, his right hand moved in odd shapes again against the arm rest of the passenger side door as though he were playing piano once more.

I decided to bite and use up some of my limited air supply.

“What are you playing?”

“Clair de Lune again,” he replied. Then, he began to hum the melody aloud for me as he moved his hand.

I thought to offer to play the song for him through the speakers, but I decided against it as I listened to Edward’s soft, velvety voice hum beautifully through the song, breaking the silence.

The ugly, slush-like falling of snow transformed into a falling of rainwater, and Edward’s voice was orchestrated by a lovely symphony of raindrops.

Before his voice could weave into the more involved moments of the piece, Edward stopped.

I looked over at him, curious for the reason as to why. His face was turned away from me so that all I could see was his untidy bronze hair as he gazed out the window. I pulled in front of his driveway and parked against the curb.

Miraculously, I’d made it again. Carefully, I inhaled through my nose to experiment with my control. The sweet bouquet of the boy’s blood was potent and even more mouthwatering than usual from the snow turned rain that’d wet his hair. I hadn’t considered the possibility that he could smell better than before, and I kept myself from groaning aloud as I dug my nails into my own palms. The tingling sensation in my nose was as though I’d sniffed some powerful chemical, the burning sensation in my throat as though I’d taken a long drag of a cigarette. But more painful. More demanding. Desire, need flew from my core out towards my extremities, and the beating of his heart pumping the blood through his body drummed loudly in my ears. It seemed to move through me, my frigid body almost twitching with every pulse, ready to lunge forward and crush his neck to my lips.

“What was your mother like?” He asked me suddenly, his voice soft. Edward turned from the window to face me, and I was bewildered by the intensity of his expression. His eyes were light and beautiful against the gloomy grey of the sky, and they squinted slightly as though studying my face like this information was absolutely essential. But this was not what stunned me, as I’d already seen the severity of this expression before in our ephemeral time together. It was the unexpected vulnerability of his stunning face. The more time I spent looking at him, the more I realized how beautiful this human boy really was. And it seemed a great tragedy for this beautiful boy to harbor such devastation in his eyes.

Whereas previously in his presence, my thoughts had become incoherent due to a lapse in control, now my thoughts were incoherent in distress and desperation to understand what had gone wrong and how I could fix it. I was momentarily dumbfounded, but I pulled myself together after the soft sound of a few droplets of rain against the roof reminded me that he was waiting for an answer.

“Well, she looked a lot like me, but prettier,” I began stupidly. He raised his eyebrows. “Or at least, she used to look a lot like me, and I used to look a lot like her. I don’t so much anymore.” It’d been so long since I’d really spoken about my mom, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. I knew I should have made some comment about whether or not she looked like Esme or Emmett since our story made us siblings, but I didn’t want to taint the rarity of sharing who she was with a lie.

“She was more outgoing than I am,” I continued, thinking through the foggy memories I held onto from my human life.

“That’s difficult to believe,” Edward teased quietly, his lips curving into a half smile.

I laughed, listening to the melodic sound of it, thinking of how it symbolized how very much different I was now from the human girl my mother knew.

“I was always very shy,” I smiled, before speaking up again, caught in the echoes of my past. “She was brave and irresponsible and slightly eccentric. And she was a very unpredictable cook!”

I laughed aloud again thinking of some minor explosions in our tiny kitchen and some questionable dishes. Edward laughed too, but when our laughter faded into the falling of the rain, my smile faded.

“She wasn’t perfect,” I admitted. “I think I recognize now that she was very fallible. I worshipped her when I was younger, but when I think back, I do see how in some of the ways she raised me, I was done a disservice… I grew up too fast. When she died––“ I sighed, feeling insincere and guilty about perpetuating this lie when I really should have said when I died, “––Esme became more of a mother to me, and even Rosalie’s been more traditionally nurturing than my mom ever was… But still, she was my best friend.”

“You miss her,” he murmured simply. I met his gentle eyes.

“Yes,” I bit my lip.

“How old are you, Bella?” Edward asked. “And not the formulaic, theorized version where you were born in your thirties. How old are you really?”

I tensed, wondering if he was asking this again because he’d taken note of how I didn’t directly answer this question the last time he asked.

“Seventeen,” I answered automatically.

“You don’t seem seventeen,” he responded, reproachful.

The tension left my body at the tone of his voice. I smiled again easily.

“Sorry?” I asked, biting my lip to hide the smile, unsure of how to respond.

Edward chuckled and the subtle crinkles by his eyes lit up his face. “Well, I wish you’d been given a happier, normal childhood.”

“I’m fine,” I shrugged, brushing it off. “I hardly remember most of it, and what I do remember reminds me that I probably didn’t have much chance at a normal childhood to begin with. I was terribly shy, remember.

“I did do girl scouts, though….Oh, and ballet briefly,” I admitted, unsure as to why I was volunteering so much information about myself. Wasn’t the purpose of me sitting here to uncover information about him?

“Why does that make you… embarrassed?” Edward’s eyebrows pulled up.

For an odd moment, I felt betrayed by the flush of my cheeks before I realized there was no blood rushing to my face. I blinked, bewildered by the peculiarity of this long buried instinct to become frustrated with my easy blushes when I hadn’t blushed for years. I felt self conscious as I wondered what Edward saw reading my expression to so perfectly decipher my feelings.

“I was very uncoordinated,” I dismissed his question as I fought the urge for my hand to flutter to touch my cool cheek.

“Now that truly is difficult to believe,” Edward half-smiled. “I can’t imagine I’ve seen anyone as graceful as you.”

I laughed aloud at his compliment, though I didn’t doubt his sincerity. I knew this was true of myself. It was true of all of our kind to appear fluid and effortless, but still, no one had ever applied the word to me. My vampiric poise was irrelevant and unimpressive to my family, and the very few humans brave enough to overcome their nerves to compliment me typically found their words to fail them.

“You’re very odd,” I beamed.

“What do you mean?” The bronze-haired boy asked, again wanting to be let in on the secret. While I had an insatiable thirst, it seemed he had an insatiable curiosity.

“How old are you really? Your word choice is bizarre for someone your age, you know.”

“Oh,” he laughed easily. “Well, I’m actually not seventeen. I’m eighteen. But I’ll try to strictly adhere to a more teenage vernacular, so I can compliment you in a more acceptable way from now on.”

I looked out at the dim light of the brewing storm, my smile fading as I decided that I should probably allow him to escape me before I did something I’d regret. But I knew I wasn’t resolved enough to completely leave him alone. He made me monopolize too much of the conversation, and I wasn’t satisfied with what I knew about him yet.

I sighed aloud, and Edward, too, looked out at the rain darkened sky.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” he asked hopefully, making the assumption that our conversation was coming to an end.

“Yes,” I promised reluctantly. My eyes flickered back over to his pretty face, studying the lines of his strong jaw, his chiseled cheekbones, his full lips, committing this inconsequential face to memory as I silently resolved that this should be –– and would be –– one of the last times I’d allow myself to be this close to him. Tomorrow may well be the very last.

Likewise, as though his thoughts were in the same vein, his beautiful green eyes studied my face as well, though he did so in that mysterious way of his where he looked at me as though hoping to read my mind.

He sighed, then collected his backpack. Edward opened the door, stepping out into the bitterly cold weather. A shiver ran through his lanky body, making my body tense with perverse excitement. I cringed away from the deadly instinct and swallowed against the dryness of my yearning throat.

Edward’s tall, lean frame leaned down to peek into the car.

“Goodnight, Bella,” he spoke softly.

“Goodnight, Edward,” I almost whispered, gazing into the beauty of his dazzling green eyes.

Edward smiled his half smile, and closed the door, escaping into the building torrent of rain.

I gasped in relief at his absence, then stiffened realizing how the cab of the car was still heavily perfumed with his scent. I took in another deep breath, forcing myself to confront the burning thirst again, willing myself to manage it. I sighed as I hit the gas, making Edward disappear behind me.

  Both my control and the rain pour strengthened significantly as I turned onto the long drive leading to my house. I grimaced as I wondered how I’d face my family and explain the complete reversal of what I’d promised to do. I didn’t have time to consider for much longer as suddenly, a figure appeared instantaneously in the drive. I slammed my foot on the brake immediately in shock at its appearance, not wanting to total yet another car against one of my siblings.

I peered through the windshield, unable to see through the complete downpour that submerged my vehicle as though it were underwater. It was annoying for my perfect sight to be obstructed by anything, rainwater or even the transparent windshield because of my eyes’ desire to focus on the microscopic scratches.

The car violently screeched against the muddy pavement, and it looked as though we would have to bid this car goodbye until the figure hidden by the storm placed their hands out on the car roughly and forced it to a stop. The tires screamed in protest, and the metal groaned as it warped into the shape of the palms. I listened as it unnaturally bent again in a piercing moan as the figure fixed the indentions they’d created.

My windshield wipers swatted away a flood of water. Finally, I could make out my sister Rosalie, her hair dripping wet down her back like a supermodel who’d just emerged from a pool on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Her exquisite face was absolutely furious.

I gulped, feeling like a child who’d just been discovered sneaking home past curfew.

I felt uncertain as to what to do and why she’d chosen to stop me here. Surely she could wait for us to be under the cover of the garage before she chastised me. Not wanting to be drenched by the rain, I revved the engine to ask her to move aside, but the car didn’t inch forward against her strength. Beginning to feel annoyed, I revved the engine again loudly and for longer, but still, she didn’t move.

“Rose,” I hissed as I hit the brake again so that the car could roar viciously in the storm, only to be cut off by the voice of my adopted mother.

“Girls!” I couldn’t see Esme through the obscured glass behind the downpour, but even with the barrage of the rain, I could hear her lithe steps run furiously to the front porch. “Please!”

Rose’s head snapped up to look in Esme’s direction before turning to glance unhappily back at me. She stepped aside, and I sped into the garage, parking the car hastily.

I exited immediately and went to expect the damage to the front of the hood. It was only a minuscule bend from having been pushed and prodded back and forth, and I was positive Rosalie could make it look like new, though why it had been necessary to punish the car was beyond me. It wasn’t even mine.

I wheeled around once I’d heard the near-silent steps of her run, a wave of anger making me forget my guilt.

“Are you insane?!” I demanded.

“I could ask the same of you, Bella!” Now free from the obscurity of the rain, I could see in perfect detail the stunning fury of her glorious face. Her golden hair had been darkened by the rain, and it was slicked back effortlessly, like a glittering waterfall down to the middle of her back. She looked like a wrathful god, but I couldn’t find it in my stubbornness to care about how valid her anger may be.

“Okay, but did you have to take it out on the car? What did it ever do to you! You couldn’t have waited another twenty seconds to confront me? Well, you have my attention now, Rosalie, so say whatever it is you want to say!”

“You’re just unbelievable, Bella!”

“He’s not going to say anything, Rose! We already talked about this yesterday. You heard Alice! He’s not a threat to you and Emmett, so I don’t understand why you’re taking this so personally.”

“Exactly, Bella. I heard Alice. Which is precisely why I fail to understand as to why you wouldn’t understand why I’d take it so personally. After all these years of sisterhood, how can you not understand how I feel about this?”

I frowned, my forehead puckering, but still, I retained my anger. She huffed, continuing.

“If it was an inevitability, I’d understand. However, it hurts me deeply that you recognize the choice that you have. The choice that Edward has. And still, you’re willing to play with his mortality as though it were a game, when I never had that choice.”

I froze, the realization dawning on me that she was right. No matter the ways in which I tried to justify my actions or spin my intentions, she was right. Another part of my mind acknowledged that while I was aware of right and wrong, I wasn’t certain that what was right would be enough to keep me away anymore.

We stared each other down much like we had yesterday. Only today, rather than anger, her face was contorted in hurt, and mine was contorted in hopelessness.

“But… you found Emmett when he was still human…” I weakly protested, selfishly trying to highlight the irony, though I knew it was pointless as I wasn’t advocating for Edward to be changed either. That was too complicated a thought to wrap my mind around. But whatever may happen –– and I was still very much aware of the worst of possibilities –– I didn’t want my sister to hate me for it.

“He was dying, Bella,” Rosalie whispered. The anger on her face had completely faded, and in its place, pain marked her eyebrows, her full lips, her golden, sad eyes. In her sadness, she looked like a work of art, like one of those paintings of a weeping saint. “It’s not the same.”

I didn’t have a response to that, and I felt as though I was at an impasse, both with myself and with Rosalie. Because I knew the promises I’d made and broken, but I knew the promise I’d made to Edward today, and I had no willpower, no desire, and no intention to break that promise.

“You may not feel anything for him now,” Rosalie began, her eyes intently fierce as they bore into mine to warn me. Only this warning felt significantly more horrible than I’d imagined it may be, because it wasn’t made in anger, but in desperation and love. “But if Alice is right, you will. And it seems to me a horrible way to repay someone you love to steal their life, their future, their soul from them. You should leave him alone now while you still can, because once you love him… it’ll only hurt more one way or another. And you’ll have to live with that for the rest of your existence. I know I have.”

And with that, Rose turned, her face cold and sad, and she left the garage.

#equinoxjw #twilight fanfiction #twilight renaissance #twilight au #twilight fanfic #the twilight saga #twilight saga #twilight #edbella #edward cullen #bella swan #edbella fanfic

[itsmyara]

About That Night... (Hisomachi Fanfic)

Note: Another translation, though my English is not that great ^^’. It’s 3532 words NO SMUT! I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Pairing: Hisoka/Machi

Summary: Hisoka realized that he was still analyzing her for a reason other than trying to investigate the possible sources of her drunkenness. He was mesmerized by the way emotions were running free in her face, something he had never seen before.

Warning: Drunk!Machi, Jealous!Hisoka, Alcohol, Mentions of Drugs, Mentions of Sex, Mentions of Getting Sick, Passing Out, Hangover, Mild Language.

[Link to AO3 in English] 

[Link to AO3 in Brazilian Portuguese]

Her body moved insanely under the colorful lights of the room to the sound of a repetitive and irritating electronic beat. Although she was dressed much more discreetly than the other girls in the club, wearing simple jeans and a black tank top, she drew attention and caused a small audience to gather around her. Dancing with a big, strong man covered in tattoos and looking like a local crime boss, she moved boldly and sensually, with a loose laugh that occasionally lit up her face.

"Is this just alcohol effect or did she use something else?" Hisoka questioned the man standing next to him, without taking his eyes off Machi on the dance floor.

The tattooed man's hand slid down her small body and slipped under the black tank top, pressing her waist against him while his mouth whispered something in her ear that made her laugh. Hisoka's fists clenched hard.

Illumi shrugged before answering the question in a monotone voice:

"I don't know, she was already like this when I arrived, so I called you. She's dancing with my target and it doesn't look like she's going to leave him anytime soon. So I called you. I figured you wouldn't want it to be me taking her out of there."

Hisoka moved his eyes to face the ever-so-cold colleague. He was right. If he used his methods against Machi, even if it was just to get her out of the way, he would have to make a little reckoning with him. But the assassin was smart. Illumi decided to turn the situation around and, by calling Hisoka, he won himself a favor to collect later.

When the magician looked back at the pink-haired woman, he saw the tattoed man leading her towards a door in a reserved corner of the nightclub.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Illumi observed the scenario calmly and then turned away, unconcerned.

"Just remember that no matter what he does to your girl. He is my target and I need him alive. I will wait outside."

Hisoka responded with an annoyed snort before walking in the opposite direction of his friend. The bloodlust that exuded from the magician made people open the way naturally, looking suspiciously at the strange man who carried a macabre look on his face.

He unceremoniously kicked down the door to the private room, much to the surprise of some people who ran away, but not Machi. She has been waiting for him, even though she was pressed against the wall by the other man's body. She could be intoxicated, but her perception would never fail to notice Hisoka's bloodlust.

Hisoka leaned against the damaged door frame, crossing his arms casually as he faced the scene in the room by the half-light.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" He asked wryly.

The tattooed man immediately released Machi and faced him without fear.

"What's up, clown? This one is mine now, if you want the leftover you'll have to wait outside."

Hisoka laughed shortly. The man had given the worst answer he could when he was so obviously in a risky position. He was nothing between the two nen users — even though one of them was intoxicated — and the only difficulty the magician faced was being forced to use only his fists to bring down the thug. He didn't like having to control himself that way, not when he wanted to end the existence of someone so weak and unwary, but he would have to leave that to Illumi.

Machi only seemed to understand the situation completely when the man was already lying on the floor unconscious, and Hisoka was heading to her with an enigmatic smile.

"You could have chosen someone stronger, you know? This is almost an insult..."

"What are you doing here? After everything you’ve done, you decided to follow me?"

Even though the place was dark, Hisoka could see her cheeks flushed. Her eyes shone with tears and her lips swollen, red, and moist; probably as a result of the kisses she shared with that useless guy. He took a long time to analyze it, for a moment believing that it was because he had to determine if she was under the influence of a drug other than alcohol.

His hands grabbed her face, and the only reaction she had was to hold his arms as if she was going to try to stop him, but she didn’t actually apply enough force to it.

"I'm too busy to follow you, ok? But when a little bird tells me that you're out there screwing up, I have to act, don't I?"

Machi laughed sadly, her chest shaking almost quietly between them, and Hisoka realized that he was still analyzing her for a reason other than trying to investigate the possible sources of her drunkenness. He was mesmerized by the way emotions were running free in her face, something he had never seen before.

"You think I'm weak, Hisoka..." she murmured under her breath, and then in a burst, she pulled his hands away from her face and pushed him away. "Do you think I need you to defend me from this ?" She pointed to the dead weight on the floor and then laughed sadly again.

Actually, he was defending her from Illumi, who wouldn't be so patient with her drama, but Hisoka resigned himself to smile in response, making her snort.

"I hate you!"

There was a very sincere feeling in those words, which came out of her mouth as if they were ripping her up. This made Hisoka lean his head in curiosity. However, Machi simply looked at him from head to toes in disbelief before turning away and stumbling out of that room, pushing one or the other person off her way and randomly stealing a drinking glass from one of them as she headed to the exit.

Hisoka sighed, grabbing the unconscious man by the hair and dragging him along while he went behind the woman. He caught up with Machi near the door, where even the security guards had already moved away. Without saying a word, he wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her off the floor, carrying her out despite her protests.

"This is yours," Hisoka declared as he threw the unconscious body at Illumi’s feet.

The body that writhed and struggled, trying weakly to attack Hisoka without ceasing, was his.

"Do you want some help with her?" Illumi offered, watching the woman's wildness with some curiosity.

"No, she has the right to protest. When she gets tired, she'll see that this is in her best interest."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, you wretch! Fight me like a man! I'm going to kill you with my bare hands!"

Between punches and kicks, Hisoka just waved a greeting to Illumi and went on his way.

[...]

When he crossed the threshold of his hotel room, Machi was less savage in his arms. In fact, at some point along the way, she had given up attacking him and started just pouring out words about him being a traitor, about Chrollo, and even something about Pakunoda's death. Some of her words actually made sense, but the state she was still in, which seemed to get worse by the second, made any response from him useless.

Therefore, in the face of silence, Machi finally burst into tears before reaching their destination, and Hisoka thought it was best to cradle her properly in his arms so that when they crossed the door she was being carried like a bride, but a tearful one against his chest.

When he tried to accommodate her on the couch, she clung more tightly to his shoulders, as a clear sign that she didn't want to part at that moment.

"Oh? I thought you hated me," he declared with a playful laugh.

"Why do you have to be like this?"

Her voice was so heartfelt that he couldn't help but sigh before settling on the couch with her in his arms. Machi wouldn't remember any of that the next day, which is why he stopped to think for a few seconds about what she just said. He knew that she was not referring to his jokes, but to the fact that he had lied for years and, in the end, revealed a goal that clashed with her own completely. If it weren't for that, maybe she wouldn't have to hate him that much.

She finally looked up and, not without effort, focused her reddened eyes on his. Hisoka looked at her expression legitimately surprised. He could expect hatred and tears on her part, but the way she looked at him now was... sweet. For some reason, he was sure that if he kissed her now, despite anything that preceded this moment, what he would taste on her lips would be something so deep and meaningful that, yes, it scared him.

That's why he didn't kiss her, allowing her to break the silence:

"You're spinning..." Machi murmured, and then laughed in a silly way, breaking the magic as well. "You're spinning and you're not going to tell me anything, are you? You're not even here, I'm imagining you," she put her face back on his shoulder. "At least you smell good…"

"Machi, what did you use?" Hisoka knew he probably wouldn't get a coherent answer, but that doubt had haunted him since the moment he saw her that night. It was hard to believe that only alcohol would do that to a woman as strong as her. There had to be some other chemistry influencing her altered state.

"What did I use?" She asked, confused, and then looked up to him again. "Ah… you wanna know if I did something," she approached his ear and whispered: "Maybe…"

Suddenly she let go of his shoulders and stood up, staggering a little and cleaning the tracks of the tears on her face with the back of her hands. She walked a few steps erratically and looked around in amazement before looking at him again.

"Do you pay to sleep here?" Machi asked in surprise and laughed right away as if it were really hilarious. "You pay ! You're such a fancy-pants."

Hisoka just settled down more comfortably on the couch, watching the scene. On several occasions, he wished to see her acting more spontaneously, freer, but this situation was just sad. He didn’t even want to take advantage of it or tease her about it — at least not until the next day.

He watched Machi shrink into herself again, leaning against the wall and letting the weight of her body drag her to the floor. She crossed her arms very specifically over her stomach, and he knew it was a sign that something rather unpleasant was about to happen.

"You’re feeling sick," he declared, standing up to meet her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" Machi flinched a little more, however. "I just miss them..."

Ignoring the way she was closing herself off, Hisoka lifted her from the floor by the shoulders, as if she were a small child. He looked at Machi’s eyes seriously, while pinning her against the wall.

"I know you miss them, but acting like this is stupid. I can't believe you're the same Machi I know."

"Pakunoda was the first person who cared about me in this world," she declared and then swallowed hard before continuing: "she was my family and now she’s dead. Chrollo is my family and now he's far away, unable to use his nen, and I know you had a part in it. The chain guy..." Machi closed her eyes briefly as if to take his name from memory, "Kurapika, you sold our secrets to Kurapika because you wanted to, didn't you? He didn't do to you what he did to Paku, you don't have a fucking chain in your heart. You don't even have a fucking heart! You are a..." eyelids closed again, this time, however, she couldn't remember the word. A single tear streamed down her left eye. "Damn it…"

"You talk as if you have a heart," Hisoka interrupted her coldly, which made her look at him with a sharp look, a faint bloodlust pulsing from her intoxicated body. "You don't feel anything for anyone but for a few of your friends. You're not much better than me."

Machi struggled in his hands for a fraction of a second, resigning herself to kill him only with her intentions when she was unable to leave. She looked a little more like who she really was now.

"You have no idea, you idiot."

Those words were followed by a few seconds of silence in which the blue of her eyes became indecipherable. That was when he remembered who she was and why he cared so much. Machi was the lady of the labyrinth, and he had never managed to get out of her tortuous paths because, very wisely, she had never given him her threads, leaving him lost forever in her maze.

"When I fight Chrollo, who do you want to survive?" He didn’t know where this question came from when it left his mouth, but the reaction it had caused in the woman justified it.

Machi blinked a few times, as if trying to calculate the seriousness of what he had asked, and then closed her eyes with a certain solemnity.

"I don't want you to fight Danchou. I don't want either of you dead."

Perhaps the answer was more than enough, but she had also progressively got closer to him, so much so that her lips touched his lightly at first, completing the touch quickly in a kiss. Without so much lightness, he finally advanced against her mouth, pressing her against the wall now with the weight of his own body.

Machi moaned at his advance, embracing him with arms and legs irresistibly, making him also express the delight that took his body and his aura when, suddenly, she stepped away from him, with such assertiveness and urgency that he couldn't stop it.

And he was thankful for that when he saw her turn and lean her body, finally fulfilling the omen he had moments ago, throwing up on the floor of the hotel room.

Hisoka gave a disappointed snort, but the way her back curved with each spasm of her stomach made him quickly accept that this night would really be unique in his life.

The night he would spend taking care of someone's booze.

[...]

Machi opened her eyes, but the ambient light hurt like a razor and she hid her face in the pillow by reflex. Both her head and stomach were aching with an intensity that made any thought difficult, but when she smelled Hisoka's scent on the pillowcase, she knew something was very wrong. She fought the pain and opened her eyes at once, sitting on the bed and trying to identify where she was. A messy double bed, a hotel room lit with curtains open. Then she found herself wearing only a stretched, cropped T-shirt with playing card suits printed and panties that she at least recognized as her own.

Her nightmare was completed when she heard the magician's happy voice humming at the bedroom door.

"Good morning sunshine!"

There he was, holding a breakfast tray and wearing nothing but one of his ridiculous pants.

Machi wanted to disappear, but the best she could do was cover herself with the bedsheets.

"Don't worry, I saw all this and much more last night," Hisoka stated at her gesture as he left the tray on the nightstand and sat beside her on the bed.

She wanted to emanate bloodlust to let him know it wasn't funny, but the pain in her body prevented her, so she just squinted, watching him pour coffee in a cup and hold it out to her.

"Take this, it will make you feel better."

Machi held the cup suspiciously, without bringing it to her mouth, however. The smell of the drink, which at another time would be inviting, made her stomach turn.

"What's going on? What did you do to me?"

"Now, now, don't you remember anything?" He lay on his stomach beside her, looking at her in that paradoxically, uncomfortable and inviting way.

Machi vaguely remembered some things, but none of them made sense. So she let Hisoka continue:

"I saw you at a party yesterday by chance, you were already… happy… so don't ask me anything before that. You were dancing with a man who is dead now. I got him out of the way because he wasn't treating you like you deserve. So we danced, I made you laugh a few times, I brought you here, we made many, delicious things on the couch, and then against the wall, but unfortunately, you got sick and, by the way, that's why I pay to stay here, they clean up this kind of a mess," the smile broke with malice on his lips, while she tried to assimilate everything he said. "Now you, I was the one who cleaned you up. We took a hot shower together and you fell asleep in my arms soon after."

The sharp pain in her head seemed to create a wall in her own memories and in her ability to distinguish, in his words, what were lies and what were truths. Machi knew he was lying; it was too perfect a situation for him. Too easy. But the way she found herself left her without arguments.

"Well, I don't feel like we did anything much last night," she tried to fish, her voice cold, but he just laughed briefly.

"I was gentle with you this time. Believe it or not, I care about you."

"Liar," Machi accused him coldly, and then abandoned the cup on the nightstand beside her, making an effort to get out of bed, despite the pain.

It was incredible how she, always so resistant, was now suffering just because of a headache.

Machi looked for her clothes in the room, finding them folded on a chair, and began to dress while her other headache who was lying on the bed brought to him the cup she had abandoned — using nen, most likely — sipping and mumbling something about how she really should have drunk the coffee to feel better. Her eyes looked at Hisoka briefly. From her position, she had a wide view of his back, and the absence of the spider tattoo there, which was no longer needed because he was no longer keeping cover, seemed to make her a little dizzy.

How had she not realized before that his tattoo was nothing more than his Texture Surprise? How had her intuition not warned her that he was lying all the time? And why was the real Hisoka — well, at least, the Hisoka who no longer had to pretend he belonged with the Troupe — bothering to bring her coffee in bed?

She shook her head, with the excuse of trying to fix her hair, when in fact Machi was trying to put away those pathetic thoughts, even if the gesture caused her more pain. As soon as she buttoned up her jeans she headed to the bedroom door, stopping in her tracks, however, by his words, or by the unconscious desire to hear them.

"You should stay, you're not completely recovered and it's cold outside."

Hisoka sat on the bed but just looked at her with that serenity of someone who knows what they want, and knows that the object of their desire wants them in return. But it wouldn't happen today, and possibly, on any other day after he revealed his betrayal, Machi tried to conclude.

"I know how to take care of myself," she replied, determined to continue on her way.

"At least get a coat before you leave..."

"Stop pretending that you worry, you know you don't have to fake it anymore!" Machi declared, like an outburst, and finally left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Alone, Hisoka deposited the cup on the tray and lay down on the bed, taking a deep breath when feeling its comfort. He had missed it after spending the night on the couch.

He had obviously intertwined lies and truths in the story he told her. After Machi felt sick, he had actually called the room service to clean up the mess while he undressed and bathed her in the bathroom; she was so lethargic that she didn't even protest. Nor had she protested when he dressed her in his t-shirt and left her sleeping alone in his bed. Just that, and nothing more than that.

Still, he knew that last night had been very interesting and revealing in many ways, and he was satisfied with that.

He looked to the side and found a pink strand of hair on the white pillow. He took it between his fingers, bringing it to him as if it were a beautiful and precious memento.

"You have no idea, do you?" He murmured to that tiny part of her she had left behind. "You have absolutely no idea..."

#hisomachi #my fic #this one is old but I love it so much #maybe I'll try to translate more later #hisoka #machi #myarawrites #machi komacine #machi komachine #hisoka morrow #machi hxh #hisoka hxh

[oasisofgalaxies]

i would,,, i would like you hear about sad au if you want 👁👁

Ok !! Here!! It’s basically a weird role swap au for Scar and Grian which totally hasn’t been done before

-Ok so basically the premise is that instead of Scar, Grian goes red first.

-The whole “Devil” idea comes from the fact that Grian grows devil/demon like wings when he turns red. Maybe he sheds the feathers on his macaw wings and they just. Shift into those kinda wings?

-Anyways since it’s a role swap kinda idea (only for Scar and Grian) Grian is the one to kill the red king and his hand. He also does the minecart still because His Laugh. Yknow.

-Anyways small detail, I think that unless people are blown up or body’s rendered. Not a body anymore, they just get back up after dying. Why? Vibes. It’s creepy.

-Grian proceeds to become an absolute menace to society. Now with no bounds to being green he can threaten, steal, and kill all he wants

-He figured out the minecarts too so he’s even more deadly!

-He never makes Scar do anything, but more so offers like “hey wanna come and help me off this guy :D?”

-Also Grian becomes hyper protective of Scar. Being Red heightens all emotions, most notably bloodlust, but also protectiveness. Ride or die friendship babeyyy! He’s also way more rash

-Anyways it’s Scar who kills Grian for the last time here. Neither of them can really bare to do it so it’s a case of Grian throwing himself onto the cactus as Scar kinda. Weakly punches him.

-Also side note cactus death is funny but there’s poison in the cactus which can be lethal if you just stay there. So anyways cactus got a kill-

-Scar is yellow here I think so he does something? To take his yellow life. Not sure. Probably doesn’t jump but maybe like. Stabs himself? I don’t know

-Uhh this was Skitty’s idea (someone in a discord I’m in) but Scar kinda makes Grian a Viking funeral and lights it on fire. The way he takes his red life is going up in flames with Grian. (OW??)

-Anyways Last Life Grian barely remembers anything and still has his devil wings and what’s this?? BURN SCARS!!

-Scar also has matching scars and is the only one who remembers what happened

-I’m probably gonna add more to this but Grian just becomes like 100% more feral and everything else is Sad

So yeah! Red Devil au is just Really Sad and for what

#uhh ask to tag! #i will not put this in the maintag . no <3

[stayndays]

𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 & 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

time to dive into this hellhole of a series once again

if you haven’t read killer king, there are MAJOR spoilers in this post! you have been warned.

So! This was highly requested in the final survey of Killer King: to reveal the other routes if you didn’t choose the Escape Route. To start off, though, I first have to talk about something that was brought up multiple times throughout the voting boxes of Killer King, which is:

“Why is Jisung helping Minho/Is Jisung aware that Minho’s the killer/What is Jisung and Minho’s dynamic?”

Minho and Jisung, to say the least, is probably the most interesting duo in the series. They didn’t met before the party, but rather, at the party before the mansion owner was killed, and quickly formed a strong bond. You could infer that Minho wanted to pull in a party guest that would most likely stay and solve the murder, just so he has a puppet to control if things go haywire. Minho was also inspired by Jisung’s poem, which results in how his killing techniques were put into place. 

Because Jisung is kind of naive in this story, he ends up being manipulated by the killer himself, and accidentally becomes Minho’s #1 ally for the entire series. Minho grabbed the key from the mansion owner’s coat, and gave it to Jisung for him to protect, saying something along the lines of “If anybody tries to flee the mansion like a coward, they won’t be able to because you have the key.” 

Oh, also, Minho attempted to frame Jisung by leaving the white glove in Jisung’s bag. I’m like.. slowly recovering info from this series because I already forgot most of the plot.. October was a fever dream guys wheeze

But now, this duo leads us to our first route I’ll cover today! The duos all have a certain goal: Hyunin wanted to escape, another group wanted to kill the killer themselves, and another group simply wanted to solve the murder. This duo is different, however, because Minho is literally the killer. 

So the route would’ve played out somewhat like this:

You choose to align with Minho and Jisung, regardless of whether you lie or not

When the house fight occurs and everybody is split off into groups, you have the option to stay with Chan, Changbin, and Minho. If you choose this, you would get an additional chapter where you have the decision to come with Minho upstairs, or to stay behind with Chan and Changbin.

If you choose to come with Minho, you would be forced by him to throw a knife at Jeongin, who’s alone on the stairs. (this would’ve been REALLY fun to write)

Even if you chose not to follow Minho, as long as you prove that you’re truly loyal to him, he’ll eventually reveal to both you and Jisung that he’s the killer, and urge the both of you to work with him to eliminate the rest of the house members.

THIS IS THE FUN PART

Basically: Jisung doesn’t want to team up with Minho. Instead, he wants to try and kill Minho (I assume that Jisung has multiple reasons as to why he doesn’t want to tell the other members, probably because he has no evidence). As a result, since Jisung also trusts you, he tells you his plan, and now you have to choose between the two.

And according to my notes, no matter if you team up with Jisung or go solo, if you choose to betray Minho, you will die. It is impossible to succeed in this scenario. You have to team up with a murderer in order to win.

You could also try and convince Jisung to come with you and Minho’s side. Knowing me, I’d probably spin a wheel to see whether Jisung would agree with you or not LOL. If he doesn’t though, he’s gonna die. That’s that. 

So if you team up with Minho (regardless if Jisung is still alive or not) and the two/three of you are able to successfully eliminate the rest of the members, you win! And you get the ending “The Killer’s Sidekick” (even better: if you identity as a female and/or use she/her pronouns, you could be “The Killer Queen” :D)

The other two routes don’t have nearly as much info as Minsung’s route, though. One of them wasn’t even planned at all. Let’s talk about them!

Changlix’s Route: Kill the Killer

Basically, if you openly state to either Felix or Changbin that you’re also interested in killing the killer, you’d be put into this route!

In this route, you’ll tend to make more impulsive decisions without thinking straight (aka your choices will be pretty dumb) because you’re after blood, not justice.

If you kill the wrong person, that’s an automatic game over.

If you hesitate to kill Minho, he’ll kill you first, and that’s a game over.

And if you successfully kill Minho, you’ll get one of those “You won.. but at what cost?” endings, kinda like the ending you guys got! (it’s because you killed somebody, that’s why.)

Chanmin’s Route: Catch the Killer

I have nothing written down for this route. It’s pretty self explanatory. Find the killer, and trap him in a room until the police come. That’s pretty much the route, along with trying not to get killed yourself.

If you chose this route, it would probably be even more stressful than the escape route, and would probably be the most boring route to write.

If you have any questions, let me know! But now let’s dive into the questions you guys put in for the survey.

1. Was Hyunjin super suspicious in the beginning as a red herring?

I think they were all super suspicious in the beginning just so the reader jumps into the story completely blind. It wasn’t intended as a red herring, but it definitely could be to you!

2. Why does Felix and Changbin want to kill the murderer? 

Simple: bloodlust. I just needed that violent duo, y’know? 

3. Were Jisung and Minho conspiring together? If not, was Minho going to pin it on Jisung?

No and yes, that was his intention!

4. Why does Minho have a hankering for murder?

He wants revenge on his step father, the mansion owner, for neglecting him all those years. Also the dude has anger issues. Bad temper.

5. Why could Minho pass the mattress but not 5 guys?

He is immortal. He is god. He is- just kidding. He was probably doing something stupid and unplanned, like using the bathroom on the downstairs floor. That’s the best answer I can give you for now.

6. Why did Jisung decided to team up with Minho? I mean what benefit will he get from it if there is a chance Minho might even kill him too? and also did Jisung know that Minho is the killer king in the first place?

He didn’t realize he was teaming up with the killer, and if Minho did reveal that he was the killer, Jisung would most likely try to turn on him (and fail). Nope!

7. What was Minho's motive (was it just him hating the victim or was there something deeper)?

Both that, and probably bloodlust as well.

8. How did Minho get the white glove to blame Jisung later when he wasn't with us while we were searching the room?

He bought a fresh pair of white gloves before the party started. He also, most likely, placed it in Jisung’s bag before committing the murder without him noticing.

9. If we were to just body search everybody at once, would we find the throwing knives on Minho and just end the whole thing? (this was on my mind the whole time lmao, like why didn't we search OURSELVES too??)

yeah true ngl i can’t argue with that Knowing Minho, he probably has a bunch of knives hidden all around the house, secretly planting them here and there while mingling with party guests.

10. Were really 2 killer kings? 

Nope! Only Minho. There would only be more than one killer king if you ended up choosing the Minsung route. However, good idea! I should’ve thought of that.

11. Why in the hell was jisung helping minho like how did they end up as a team?

e x p l a i n e d  a l r e a d y. see i told you guys a lot of people were asking this

12. I still don't understand changbins fascination with the blood type.

This was an easter egg I was proud of but nobody caught!! The same blood type mentioned by Changbin (I think it was A?) is the same type Seungmin has! After a google search or two, I learned that blood types were passed down by family members, so if you arrange Seungmin’s family tree correctly, you’d learn that him and the mansion owner shared the same blood type, meaning that Seungmin is related to the mansion owner. Far stretch, I know, but I think it works out! If you figured this out, you would realize how smart Changbin really is as a scientist.

13. Why did jeongin light two matches?

Extra precaution! Also, he’s the youngest. He thinks fire is cool.

14. Was Minsung a team for the ~ Minsung Vibes? ~

It was not intentional at first, but then I realized the rest of the duos were popular ships in SKZ (minus Chanmin) so that was interesting!

15. Just in general why were the teams aligned the way they were?

Minsung - They’re good pals Changlix - For the bloodlust similarity Hyunin - They were both emotional enough in this story to want to escape Chanmin - It’s literally Chan and Seungmin, and Seungmin is close with the mansion owner

16. Which one was your favorite route?

MINSUNG’S ROUTE!! I wanted you guys to choose this one because it would so different from other murder mysteries!! But the escape route was my second choice, thank god.

17. Will you be doing another series similar to this next year?

90% no because of how physically and mentally draining this series was to write, but you can get a sequel if the finale somehow gets 50 notes! That won’t happen for a while. Just FYI. 

18. Did the knife in y/n’s hand ever come out or was it just stuck in there the entire time?

It was there the entire time until Hyunjin pulled it out at his house. I actually still don’t know if this is medically accurate or not, I literally had to ask my mom what to do in this situation. Our text messages went something like:

Me: If a knife goes through your hand, should you pull it out or leave it in? Asking because of a TV show  Mom: Leave it in and go to the hospital... Me: Ok thanks mom

I think that’s it? I still have a lot I want to talk about, but that information will only come out if people ask me! So come ask me hehe have fun. Thank you, so incredibly much, for following Killer King. It is my pride and joy, literally.

taglist: @desertofdessert @crscendoforsung @cotccotc @leggomylino @skzctnightnight @freckledberries @nizhonimoon @hanniiesuckle17 @binniesbabybear @tsuki-moons @lbxgsunshine @csbverse @mangoisawesome @peachyhan @worldtriiiip @golden–rain @bubblyjisunq @kimpchi @loey-letters @pokyloky @wherevermyway @avrea-tt @bossuns @sunoo-luvs @katherineee19 @ph0ebevix @qt-k1mb @444scb @grandmasterslickfox @k-pop-valda (now we can all abandon this series for good!)

#stray kids killer king #stray kids #skz #stray kids killer king spoilers

[simsadventures]

My Mysterious Girl

Summary: You are a hunter on a mission to find Azrael’s blade. You find it in an unlikely place, in the hands of the very Bucky Barnes, the infamous Winter Soldier. When you save him, and then disappear, Bucky does everything in his power to find you and learn about you.

Warnings: SPN x Avengers crossover, swearing, mention of death, mention of supernatural beings, fluff, smidge of angst (you look and it’s gone), more fluff

Pairing: Bucky x hunter!Reader, Dean x platonics!sister!Reader, Sam x platonic!sister!Reader

Word Count: 3422

A/N: So this story was requested my the 🦄 anon, and I know it’s coming a bit late… Sorry for that. I tried to make it better by writing a longer piece. I hope you’ll enjoy the SPN x Avengers crossover. I also combined a little of Lucifer there, the Azrael’s blade and all… I’ve been obsessed for days so I need to have an outlet for that xD

Whole request here: Yay! Alright, so I read a fic somewhere with a Marvel/Supernatural cross over and I love the idea so much. So, I was thinking like reader is a hunter (you can decide if she's a Winchester or not) and she runs into Bucky on a case who's there on a mission. It can be something like she has to retrieve a magical artefact or kill a monster or something, but Bucky's confused about it all and she just mysteriously disappears (because that's what hunters do). So, she disappeared and Bucky tries so hard to find her and like researches (or tries to) everything about the hunting lifestyle because he wants to find her again and like puts himself in harms way. Which of course pisses her off. If you don't want to do it, it's fine as well. I just thought it would be a good idea

Masterlist

“Oh, come on, Dean. I’m a big girl, and I can handle myself. I know what I’m doing, and I’m very capable of going there alone, and you know it!” You said exasperated because your oldest brother still treated you like a little child. You were now 25, far from a kid, but Dean refused to acknowledge that. And you were getting more and more pissed at him for that.

“Why do you have the need to go on a hunt alone? I’m aware that you’re one of the best in the game Y/N, but I’d feel better if you just waited after the vampire hunt that Sammy and I have in our schedules.”

You rolled your eyes and huffed out a breath. Your brother could be so frustrating it was surprising that you or Sam haven’t killed him yet. “It’s just an artefact retrieval, Dean. It’s an easy job for me, c’mon. You and Sam can take on the vampires, I’ll retreat the dagger, and maybe we all can rest for a bit before something new comes up.”

Dean seemed to be thinking, and just this little act gave you hope. Dean was usually the guy to dismiss everything without even a thought, so just the fact that he was willing to give this a little time was making you giddy.

It was not that you didn’t like to hunt with your brothers, you loved them both unconditionally. It was more that you could use some alone time. Spending your whole life on the road with your brothers could be fun, but it was also getting a little tiring. Dean wouldn’t let you drive even if it had to kill him. He also wouldn’t change up the music in the car, despite yours and Sam’s loud protests. And Sammy… he was sweet, and all, but Dean was right in one thing, Sam was gassy as hell.

So yeah, you could use some time just by yourself, listening to the music you liked, and not having to share a room with the two snoring idiots.

Dean sighed, and you came back to reality. You painted a pretty picture in your head, and you just hope your brother wouldn’t destroy it.

“Fine! But if anything happens, you call us, or Jody. If you feel like something else might be going down, if it’s not just simple retrieval, you call us. If some other hunters appear, you call us. If-“

“If I see a falling star, I call you, yeah I got it, Dean. I promise I’ll be fine. I’m just getting the blade, and I’m coming back home. I think I could be home in 5 days if everything goes according to plan. I’ll call you from the road and when I got there and then every time I’m not sure about something, or I just feel like it. I’ll be fine, Dean, I’ve been doing it long enough to be able to get one fucking blade.”

Dean smirked at you and pulled you into a bear hug. “I just don’t want to lose you Y/N, that’s all. Please, be careful.”

You kissed his cheek and patted his shoulder. “I will, I promise. But you two as well, ok? I’m not gonna have the time to pull your sorry asses out of trouble when I’m across the whole country.”

Dean rolled his eyes, but the little smile playing on his lips told you that he wasn’t taking you too seriously.

You separated from him and all but ran to your room to get your bags before Dean changed his mind. You only took the essentials, said a quick bye to Sam, who was happy for you that Dean allowed you to have a solo-mission. You also took your notes, trying to get all the information about Azrael’s blade into you.

You were studying it for months now, it being one of the few weapons being able to hurt all celestial beings. You and your brothers hoped that it included Chuck and were determined to find out. It constituted of three parts, and without you even knowing it, you already had one of them with you. The part which was giving it life, looking like a belt buckle. So now two parts remained to get. The actual sword and the key connecting the two parts. You knew that the last part would be the most difficult to get, but you’d cross the bridge when you come to it.

You found traces of the blade in New York City. Weird murders were reported and looking more into it, you and your brothers realised that it could have been the blade. All you needed to do was not to grab it by your bare hands, and you should be ok. Hopefully.

—-

You checked your phone again, trying to see if you got the address right. It was an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn, a really shady looking place, and you weren’t too eager to enter. But you had no other choice. You had to prove to Dean and yourself that you could do this on your own. That you were strong and independent to go on solo hunts when you needed the space. So you sighed, braced yourself and walked towards the building.

Walking in, you tried to be careful, gun in one hand and a light in the other, trodding through the building. You could hear muffled voices from a room in front of you, and you didn’t waste a second. If there were people in the room, and they found the blade, many people could get in harm’s way. And you wanted to avoid that, if possible.

Kicking in the door, you stared at the unlikely image in front of you. In the dark room, which seemed to have served as some kind of an office before, three Avengers were facing you. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America himself, Sam Wilson, the Falcon, and Bucky Barnes, the famous Winter Soldier. You knew them from the newspaper and the television, never thinking you would actually meet them.

While these men fought the aliens and such creatures, you tried to protect the Earth from its own monsters. You knew that the Avengers encountered a few vampires and werewolves, telling the wide audience about it, which you and your brothers were actually glad they did. Maybe people would be more careful now that it came from the Earth’s mightiest protectors.

You snapped back to reality when a vicious growl left Bucky’s lips. Your eyes found the blade in his hands, gripping it tightly and the bloodlust it called for visible in his blue eyes. You cursed under your breath and made your way toward him. Captain and the Falcon would probably stop you, had they not been occupied by their friend, who was now attacking them.

While they were busy fighting, you sneaked behind Bucky’s back. He was too busy with trying to kill his pals that he didn’t see you coming, and when you jumped on his back and kicked his arm with all your strength, making him drop the blade, he grunted, surprised.

As if a fog was lifted off his brain, Bucky realised where he was and what was going on. Did he really try to kill Steve and Sam just because they made fun of him in the car? They did things far worse than that on a daily basis, and he never lusted for their blood as much as he did a few moments ago. He also realised that there was another person in the room, and the person was currently getting off his back.

“Well, now that that’s out of the way, I’ll handle this devilish little thing, gentlemen.” You said and made your way towards the blade, but a hand on your shoulder stopped you.

“Who are you, and what is this thing?” It was Sam, holding you with his brows cocked, a perplexed look painted on his face.

“Right. I’m sorry. My name is Y/N Winchester, and I came here for this sword. It’s called the Azrael’s blade, and when misused, it turns the smallest grudge into a bloodlust. And I’m here to take it to safety.”

The three of them cringed and looked at the blade and then back at you. “A what blade? And how do you know about it? This something they teach at schools now or what?” Bucky’s eyes looked like they would fall out of their sockets.

You chuckled and shook your head, all while you put on the special gloves that Cas made for you before you went. You lifted the blade and looked at it from up close, seeing the beautiful simple handle, imagining the embroiled “belt buckle” that was already sitting in the bunker’s storage.

“I’m a hunter, you see? While you take care of Thanos, and shit, I take care of ghosts, vampires, ghouls, and others. And this little guy is one of the few weapons being able to destroy celestial beings, and we could use that right now.”

The boys obviously didn’t “see”, and they kept asking you question after question, trying to get to the bottom of the thing. It was especially Bucky, getting closer and closer to you, until he stood mere inches from you, still listening intently about what you had to say about your job. He was so intrigued he didn’t even recognise when Steve and Sam left eh building, telling him that they’d wait for him at the compound.

You smiled at him, being mesmerised by his whole being. His tall, broody figure called for something deep inside you, but you knew all too well that with your chosen life, and probably even with Bucky’s it would be almost irresponsible to start something you wouldn’t be able to finish.

But when he asked you to go and get a drink with him, you couldn’t refuse.

“So, tell me. Why would you do something so dangerous willingly?” Bucky asked, nursing a beer in his hand. You laughed at him, and when he gave you a confused look, it made you laugh even harder.

“You’re asking me this? Aren’t you doing the exact same thing, just fighting different monsters? I can’t stay away when I know what things roam this planet. I like it enough to want to stay here for a little longer.”

Bucky nodded and kept watching the beverage in his metal hand. He knew you were right, what he really wanted to ask was why a beautiful girl like you was doing fighting gruesome monsters. But he didn’t want to see too forthcoming. So he kept to himself.

“So, why do you still fight the battles which don’t have to be yours any longer?”

He smiled sadly and scooted a little closer to you so that the two of you could have a private conversation in the crowded bar.

“I guess the same thing as you, Y/N. And besides, I’m not good at anything else but being a soldier.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Bucky. I bet that if you wanted, you could do pretty much anything. But I get it. I’m not sure that even if I wanted to, I would be able to choose a different path in my life. We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be,” you said with a smile and bumped into him with your shoulder.

Bucky looked down at you, with sparkles in his eyes. You were the first woman he’s felt comfortable with ever since he woke up from the nightmare he called his previous life. You had some kind of light in you, something he wasn’t able to ignore as easily as he would like to. And the more he thought about, the less he wanted to ignore the chemistry between the two of you.

He realised there has been silence for a bit too long, but also that he wanted it to last a little longer. He bowed down slightly, to be on your level, and when your eyes glanced at his lips and lingered there, he knew you felt the same thing he did.

He closed the space between you and kissed you with all he had. It took your breath away, and you never wanted it to stop. His lips were so soft and plump and felt like literal heaven, or, at least, what you imagined heaven felt like.

Bucky’s hand found its way to your cheek, caressing it in the process, igniting a little fire wherever his skin touched yours. But like all good things, even this must have ended.

You pulled away, panting heavily, your gaze clouded with burning desire. But you needed to stop your thoughts before you went down the road there was no escaping from. You needed to get away from there before you dug an even deeper hole for yourself and your heart. You excused yourself, telling Bucky that you needed to use the restroom.

You felt horrible for doing it, but you weren’t the one-night type of girl, and you couldn’t let yourself fall in love with this famous soldier. Because from what your heart and brain have been telling you the whole night, it wouldn’t be difficult to catch feelings.

You looked at him from the door to the restroom, seeing the smile on his lips and hating yourself even more. But it needed to be done. For both your sakes. You slid into the room and looked at the window at the top left corner. It would be a narrow fit, but you could do that. Your heart gave a painful squeeze knowing what you were leaving behind.

—-

It’s been three months since you ran away from Bucky. That night, he thought you were kidnapped, or something, but the later it got, the more he realised that you probably just ran away from him. Did he say something? Did he do something? Was the kiss too much? Wasn’t it enough? His mind was whirling and the time spent apart from you was doing nothing in soothing his pain.

He liked you. He really really did. And he had the feeling you reciprocated it all. So why would you suddenly disappear?

While thinking about you, he tried to get to the bottom of your job. A hunter. He’s never even heard of anyone like that, and he’s been travelling the Earth left and right. From what you said, he got that it was an insanely important job, protecting people just like he did. But while he did all that was in his power to stop mostly inhumane forces coming here from outer space, or some human scumbags (*cough cough hydra*), you were struggling with something much more unnatural. Almost, supernatural.

He searched the internet, finding cases which you told him about, and getting more mesmerised by you by the second. He needed to find you. You were one of a kind, and he would not waste such an opportunity. Bucky wanted to be happy, searched for happiness ever since Hydra released its claws from him, but until now, he couldn’t find it. And when he finally did, he wasn’t gonna give it up that easily.

Bucky knew himself and knew that if he was good at something, it was tracing and hunting people down. If he thought of you as his next mission, things would be easier, and he could find you that much faster. Which is precisely what he did.

—-

You were lounging in the library, trying to figure out where the last part of Azrael’s blade could be. Whenever you thought about the damn blade, your mind wandered to one specific person, and every time you tried to shut it down. Even though it’s been almost 4 months, you still couldn’t forget about him. The icy blue eyes were the one thing keeping you from relaxing sleep, always appearing in front of you, relentless in their effort to give you as many restless nights as they could.

You still remembered the feeling of his lips on yours, touching your lips unconsciously as your mind went back to your happy place. Gosh! You met the guy once, and he was your happy place? Ugh, get a grip, Y/N! He’s just another guy!

But the little nagging voice at the back of your head told you that he could have been so much more, have you given him the chance to prove it.

Your brothers could see the slight change in you, being much more fidgety and restless ever since your solo trip to New York. They tried not to comment on it, knowing that your temper could get the better of you and things would be flying. But they were worried, you could see that much in their eyes.

Your eyes were roaming the pages of an ancient book sitting comfortably in your lap when you heard a loud banging from the “front door”. It startled you so much that the book fell to the ground with a loud thud. You cursed the whole universe and your brothers for going on a supply run, while somebody was out there, trying to get inside.

You looked at the cameras that were outside and a breath hitched in your throat. Bucky.

You cautiously went to the door, and when you quickly opened them, you poured holy water on Bucky. When you saw that it didn’t burn him (so, no demon), you threw salt at him, which was also not working (no ghost, then). Just in case, you put a silver spoon against the hand that was now getting rid of the salt on his outfit, and when it didn’t burn him (no shifter or a werewolf), you let all of the things go, just standing there, gaping at him.

“You done or do you want to stab me and see if I bleed red, just in case?” Bucky said with a smirk. Thanks to his research, he knew why you did all of the things. And he even expected them, just no without a hello from you and didn’t expect the holy water to be splashed right into his face.

“‘M, sorry. One can never be too careful. What are you doing here, Bucky? Or better yet, how the hell did you find this place?” You stepped away from the door, letting him in your home.

“I’ve been doing this for so long, doll, I can find anyone. One little hunter and her two huge brothers are an easy job for me. Now, to the more pressing question. Why did you leave that night, without even saying goodbye?”

He looked genuinely sad and disappointed, and it made your heart sank even lower. You never meant to hurt him, but you never realised that by trying to avoid your own heartbreak, people could get hurt.

“That’s what we do, you know? I’m not really good at saying goodbyes, and I’m not sure that if I tried, I wouldn’t want to leave ever again. And so I left while I could. I’m sorry,” you said, looking at the floor, finding it suddenly extremely interesting.

Bucky sighed and reached for your chin, lifting it up till you were looking at him.

“I get it. I really do. But I need you to promise me not to do it again. I know that you’re feeling the things I’m feeling, I can see it in your eyes. Let’s try it together, let’s give this, whatever it is, a shot. I think we both deserve to be happy and for me? I don’t think I could be happy with anyone else.”

You tried to find any sign of lying behind his eyes, try to find that he was just joking and he would leave you, just like everyone except your brothers did. But you couldn’t find any of that. His eyes were honest and full of warmth, and you felt yourself getting lost in them.

It wasn’t until his lips touched yours again that you knew exactly what you needed to do.

You pulled away, and Bucky looked at you, shocked and scared. He probably thought he misread some signs and that this wasn’t what you wanted. But when you gave him the sweetest smile, his worries melted away. And so did yours. For the first time in your life, you felt like you had a real choice, and there was no doubt in your mind that the choice you were making was the right one.

“Let’s do this!”

Bucky Taglist

@this-kitten-is-smitten​ @sebbbystaaan​ @paradisiacalsparks​ @crazybutconfidentaf​ @owlyannah​ @lassini​ @s-trawberryv-eins​

Marvel Taglist

@voltage-my2dlove​ @kneel-begyourpardon​ @lumar014​ @ptrs-prkrs​

Supernatural Taglist

@voltage-my2dlove​ @defenderrosetyler​

Forever Tag:

@eileenalone​ @sasbb23​ @p8tn0lish​ @coffeebooksandfandom​ @waiting4inspiration​ @caswinchester2000​ @mogaruke​ @justthatfangirloverthere​

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #bucky #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #dean winchester #dean winchester fanfiction #Sam Winchester #avengers #avengers fanfiction #marvel #mcu #mcu fanfiction #SPN #SPN FANDOM #SPN Family #spn fanfiction #avengers x supernatural #crossover #request #requested story #oneshot #bucky barnes one shot