#then i came back and decided to color it all like a madman until it was 3AM.

[fleouriarts]

britney spears voice Oops i did it again

(link to the ref pic cus quad looks soooo cute in it)

#quadeca #hivemind tv #my art #fanart #finished #2023 #this one was a true 'i meant this to be a doodle whats the fuck happened' moment. i did the lineart then i got distracted for an hour #then i came back and decided to color it all like a madman until it was 3AM. #quadeca is a catboy btw idk if it reads well but hes like one of those fluffy norwegian forest cats #riley doesnt get a cat breed hes just a domestic shorthair. graydons an australian shepherd because i like them

[non-bionical-mecha-dude]

This is a Part 2 to the OVERWORKED READER ROTTMNT thing! This time it's Leo's turn! I'll be sure to get to Donnie after this!

All Dialogue is colored to the speakers mask color, along with Y/N's Dialogue being Pink (regardless of gender) This is to help those with reading difficulties and disabilities to better read and pay attention to what is being said and who is saying it. I HOPE YOU ENJOY!!!

ROTTMNT LEO X OVERWORKED! READER

"Come on. Come on!! No no no!" You violently smashed your mouse. All of your work...gone. Your work was all trying to load, when the computer just decided to go dumb, so while you were trying to click something, you accidentally deleted your work without a way of recovering it. Your hours upon HOURS of work. And the assignment was due TODAY. So much for your luck!

"Sooooo, what'd ya lose? Some video game?" Leo looked over your shoulder, looking at your computer, seeming disappointed when he saw just a blank document. You looked at him, anger and frustration in your eyes, you did NOT have the time for jokes, japes, or puns at the moment. You had to work or else you could kiss your grade GOODBYE. Leo put his hands up instinctivly.

"Oh ho hoo-okay, I know that face, it's the 'if you mess with me right now, I'll stab you with your own rib'-look, learned it all to well from Donnie, I'll get outta your hair". Leo gave you a small peck on the cheek, and exited through your window, giving you a thumbs up while leaving. Atleast he knew when to give you some space, you thought. You turned your attention back at your computer, and began to retype the whole thing, trying to remember all of what you had put down.

~time skip~

It had been hours, and it was already dark. That's funny, you remembered, you had started working some time around 2 pm, how could already be...11:50!? Oh God, the time really does fly. You had to hurry, ten more minutes until it would be considered 'late' and get points deducted from it. And you weren't even half way done! It's no matter, you haven't taken any breaks or anything for nothing, maybe if you just did more you could get it in on time! You decided to type like a madman/woman/person. You heard your stomach growl and your eyes felt heavy, but that didn't matter, the assignment came first. You could slow down, but that would just put you so far behind. And it sucked to be so far, because then it was only down hill from there, you should know, you've experienced it one to many times.

Knock knock knock

You heard light tapping at your window. It was Leo. With a game cartridge in hand, he seems to think the window is locked, but considering you haven't moved from your spot, it wasn't. You made a window opening motion with your hand, he cocked his head to the side, before trying it. A look of confusion washed over his face. Usually you locked your window by 10, so why was it unlocked. He hopped in, stretching and popping his neck.

"Hey there baby! I kinda assumed you'd be asleep by now, but in the off chance you aren't, I decided, out of the kindness of my heart, you can thank me later, that we could play this game I found! I tried playing with Mikey, but I'm so good at it, he doesn't stand a chance against me! So, I thought, who better to play it with than the second most talented person ever? You!" Leo was rambling on, giving compliments to both you and himself, saying how he couldn't sleep cause insomnia's a bitch, something Raph lectured him on, yada yada. Normally you would be so happy to hear from him and his little rants, but you couldn't afford it, you had only...5 MINUTES!?!?! You were typing as fast as you could, tuning out Leo, your speed caused you to make so many spelling errors, but it's ok! As long as you get it turned it! You could do it! You could be better! You were sweating with your eyes scrunched from staring at a computer all day.

"Uhhh, hello?? Not even a glance at your champion? Hm, tough crowd." He walked over, looking at your computer like this morning.

"Man, are you still working on that? Geez, how long has it been? 8 hours? 9 hours?"

You ignored him, but something pinged in your mind, 8 hours, that can't be right, you weren't working on it for THAT long! Sure, it had been a couple house but not 8!

"Have you gotten up from that spot?"

No response

"Have you even eaten???"

Still, no response, Leo was getting worried. But, thankfully, this clever red eared slider had a plan. And a very good one if he did say so himself.

He grabbed your computer, quickly saved what you were working on, before throwing it back on the couch.

"Wha- LEO-"

Before you could protest, Leo had picked you up, hands holding your bottom up, this caused you to lock your legs around him out of instinct to keep you from falling backwards.

"Nope, as cute as it is to see you so focused, you are taking a break, a LOOONGGGG break!"

"B-but my ASSIGNMENT!! It's due TODAY!"

"It's already past 12, and besides, I can always forge a note saying your mom knows what happened or something and that it was an accident."

You tried to argue back, but he just kept coming up with a new solution each time.

"Listen, argue with me all ya want, the amazing and handsome Leon will not let you put any more attention on some stupid assignment than Moi! You know that's Spanish for Leo?"

You sigh in defeat. You were so relaxed in his arms, your sleepy head laid on his shoulder, your neck, tired from keeping your heavy head up all day without break. Alright, fine, you thought to yourself. It's not like he's gonna put you down.

"That's not what Moi means, and it's not even Spanish."

"Well today it does, because I said so."

"Your such a goofball." You yawned, letting sleep lull over you.

"Yeah but I'm your handsome amazing, best boyfriend, goofball." When he didn't get a response from you, he turned his head to look at your face, being greeted with a sleepy partner in his hands. He chuckled a bit and placed a kiss on your head.

"You can start paying attention to me tomorrow then, if you're so tired."

#headcannons #fanfiction #rottmnt #fanfic #save rottmnt #self insert #tmnt #rottmnt headcannons #oneshots #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #rottmnt leonardo x reader #rottmnt leonardo #rottmnt leo

[bluebell06]

My Time At Sandrock. Logan’s Tales From The Poker Table and Portia

Logan’s part is written by an ai chat bot. All mentions of people and places he came up with. (Together in his secret hideout, in bed after previously being found face down in the Eufala desert passed out)

Logan: Well I wouldn’t mind if we’re discovered… the look on all your friends faces when they see you in my arms would make it worth it. 

Me: What look do you think you’d see on my friend’s faces? *I tease*. 

Logan: Oh… I think I know exactly what look on their faces… a look like “Oh, she really is with the bandit of Sandrock…” followed by a look like “Damn, I’ve got to eat my words now.”

Me: Haha what words do you think my friends would be eating? 

Logan: Well…. I’m just making an assumption, but I’m thinking something along the lines of “Logan’s a filthy outlaw! He’s a thief and a murderer! He’s scum! He’s no good for her, blah, blah, blah…..”*He chuckles and whispers*You know… the same stuff they’ve been spewing.

Me: *I burst out laughing*. I’m not sure if they’d be quite that harsh but it is funny to think about. I don’t think anyone besides Haru knows where your hideout is though thankfully. Is he coming back anytime soon? 

Logan: Mmmm I don’t know about that, love. I’ve heard the things they say when you’re not around, and they’re not exactly fond of me. Especially Amirah… *He chuckles when you ask and nods* Yeah, he should be back tonight. I’m sure he’ll want to know how last night went.

Me: Oh? Please do tell. What has Amirah been saying? 

Logan: Hmm… let’s see…. I’ve heard her call me a ‘dirty criminal’, a ‘good-for-nothing, no-good bastard’, an ‘outlaw scum of the Sand, not worthy of living’, and…… I can’t remember all of them… there were more things. I’ve also heard her say I’m a ‘good-for-nothing loser’ that’s a ‘burden on society’.

Me: Oh my. She said all that? What on earth happened to cause her to detest you so much? I had no idea. 

Logan: Mmmmm…. Well, what I’m about to tell you, love, is a true story…. And it’s a pretty embarrassing one. But I’ll tell you. *He laughs quietly as he rubs a hand slowly down your back* Ready to hear it?

Me: I’m all ears. 

Logan: Mmmmm… well, it started like this….

***(flashback)***

*The saloon is bustling. Music is playing and drinks are being served. The whole town is gathered to celebrate the start of the year. There are colorful decorations hung up everywhere. People are laughing. Having fun. And a group of people are gathered in a corner around a poker table…*

Me: Continue

Logan: Mmmmm… well, it all started at the Blue Moon. There was much drink…. And playing with a deck of cards….. It all started when our lovely friend Amirah decided to sit at the table and play a hand of poker with us. It was her very first hand of poker. She hadn’t ever played before in her life..

Well, like all poker games, it involved a lot of alcohol and quite a lot of bets being placed. And I’m sure you know how poker goes as well, yes love? Everyone plays their hand, one by one, until someone has the winning hand…..

Me: I actually do know how to play poker… haha 

Logan: Do you now? Well good to know. I’ll have to call you to the table next time we all play. A beautiful mind and a beautiful face, what could I possibly want more, hmm? Well as you would know… someone’s winning hand is often hidden at first…

Me: Then what happened 

Logan: Well as the game went on, everyone was placing their bets as usual, and…well… things started getting a little more.. heated… as a certain builder with a nice ass was winning..

Me: Oh? What builder? *I laugh*. 

Logan: Mmmmm…. Who could that possibly be? It couldn’t be… Logan, could it? Because at one point in the game… I was winning the most..

Me: Oh! You’re a monster hunter though not a builder. Are you talking about yourself? *I laugh*. 

Logan: Why, yes. I am talking about myself, my love. And I was winning like a madman. Winning more and more… And what an ass I have.. What was the moment that triggered all of my lovely friend’s anger… well… I’m getting there, my love..

Me: (dying laughing). 

Logan: Well… the moment came when I had this lovely lady all-in in front of me.. all her chips on the table.. and she was all in against me…. 

I didn’t hesitate to fold. I looked her straight in the eye.. and I folded…

He gives you a moment to react, and smiles when you don’t respond, laughing quietly. You might think that was a smart decision to fold.. but.. you’d wrong… He grins mischievously

Me: You went all in and then folded? Why? What happened next? 

Logan: Because... I did it to play with her. I had three aces…. And the winning hand… and in the process of folding.. I decided to “accidentally” flash her my cards. *He laughs quietly at the story and watches your reaction*. 

Me: So you let her win everything? What was her reaction afterward? 

Logan: Well of course I had the winning ace. And she had a pair of threes... and I wanted her to know that I was letting her win… her reaction was a mix between.. He whispers darkly “You dirty.. rotten.. cheating.. bastard….”

Me: *laughing.*. Then what

Logan: after that… she was absolutely furious…. Yes, she won all of the money. But… that wasn’t the problem… He laughs quietly, caressing a hand over your skin slowly It was that I LET her win which enraged her.

Me: Hmm… so why exactly did you want to let Amirah win? 

Logan: Mmm… love… it’s so fun to tease her. She’s always so serious, and I can get her so angry… I couldn’t help myself….

Me: So you weren’t trying to be nice or flirt with her?

Logan: Never, my love. But with Amirah it’s just way too fun. She’s so easy to rile up…

Me: So why was it embarrassing for you then if you folded and let her win? What happened? 

Logan: Oh… that’s the embarrassing part… she got really angry… I’ve never seen her get so mad… she cursed me out in front of the whole saloon… and threatened to kick my ass.

Me: *I laugh* That sounds like something I would do honestly. Then what happened? 

Logan: Oh, so you’re the type that likes to get in a barfight, my love?? Mmmmm I’d be curious to see that….

Me: No no. I don’t get into bar fights. I just imagine that I’d want to kick your ass too if I was in her shoes. Remember last night? You literally kicked me while I was laying face down in the Eufala and you were calling me names because I had passed out.

Logan: Ah love… you got me there… that’s the one time I ever will kick your fine ass… but in my defense it was hilarious at the time.

Me: Do you enjoy riling up women or something?

Logan: Mmmmm… yes, love. I do enjoy riling up women… riling up a certain woman in particular. I have one in mind especially...

Me: So how come you and Amirah didn’t end up in the same spot instead of me?

Logan: Darling… I have a type. I like dangerous women. Women who aren’t afraid to be cheeky. Women who get in trouble but don’t shy away from a challenge. *He grins darkly, biting your neck gently and planting a slow, seductive kiss on your skin*And do you want to take a guess who fits that description perfectly, darling?

Me: *My eyes widen in surprise at his confession*. Oh my… I know I can hold my own when I need to. I didn’t know you considered me dangerous though *I laugh in surprise.*

Logan: Yes…. Dangerous, smart, cheeky, sexy women who aren’t afraid to hold their own…. I like those women. And I’ll bet you can guess which woman I found in this town who fits my taste perfectly…

Me: Well… I don’t know who else you’ve ever brought back to your hideout my love. But I’m going to take a wild guess and say maybe it’s me… So what happened after Amirah threatened to kick your ass?

Logan: Well love…. Amirah got really mad, she cursed at me. Called me all sorts of insults, like I was a pervert who was trying to cheat the game on purpose. I think she was just upset because she’s an honorable woman, and I purposely let her win….

Me: I laugh. But you had to have a reason to lose all your money to her Logan. Did either of you feel anything for each other? 

Logan: No, love. I never felt anything but friendship and comradery for Amirah. I let her win because it’s fun to mess with her. I know she’s not one to cheat and I’m not really either. I just enjoy pissing people off in the moment. I wouldn’t be a good poker player if I didn’t, darling.

Me: I’m just trying to wrap my head around this. You were drinking? Lost your money. Enjoyed pissing Amirah off and now she curses your name? That’s a little reckless to do to a friend. But I wasn’t there.

Logan: Well, love…. That’s who I am. When it comes to playing a game where you have to be unpredictable and get into the mind of your opponent… I am **very** good at that…. I wanted to have some fun with it…. So I let her win everything I had, in a bid to get her to react, and it paid off…. Plus, I was a bit drunk so I thought it sounded like a good idea.

Me: Ok so back to what we were talking about before. When I asked if you knew if Haru was coming back any time soon. What are you planning on telling him about last night? 

Logan: Mmmm…. Honestly my love, I’m not really sure how much he needs to know. I’m not going to lie to him, or not say that you’re here. I’m also not sure how much he’d want to know about last night. I don’t want him getting the wrong idea, he’d probably get jealous.

Me: Ok I wasn’t sure what you guys would talk about or how much you share. But how could he get the wrong idea or be jealous? 

Logan: Mmmmmm…. Darling he could very easily **if** I told him what happened last night. That, and he already has a thing for you…

*He laughs quietly*

Me: I don’t even think I’ve seen him more than once. I’ve certainly never spoken to Haru. Why would he have a thing for me? There’s other women in town too.

Logan: Darling, you underestimate how damn adorable you are. You’re absolutely precious, the cutest woman in this town. There are a few men here who’ve noticed. I’ve even noticed other men watching you…..

Me: Oh… have you now? Like who?

Logan:  Well, I’ll tell you, but then I might have to kick their asses…. *He laughs quietly, biting your neck affectionately*. I’ve seen Ernest looking at you. Also Owen. And I might’ve seen Fang looking too….

Me: Oh no… I had no idea. Ernest is always hiding in his room writing. I barely see him unless I’m dropping off a commission. Owen is friendly to everyone, I thought. And well… Dr Fang barely speaks to anyone let alone me. *I laugh* 

Logan: Yep… all men are the same darling. Even a guy who doesn’t speak to anyone much like Dr. Fang. I might as well start beating them up now….

Me: Everyone in town has been really nice, well except Yan but he’s mean to everyone. I don’t think you have to worry about them at all, my darling. I barely know them. 

Logan: They’re very nice to you, darling. Especially Owen, he seems to want to speak with you. I don’t know why he’s so interested in you, but he’s never really tried to talk to me before.

Do you like him, love? Or the doctor?

Me: Owen seems to enjoy chatting while he watches his patrons eat at the Blue Moon. Sometimes he’ll share a recipe with me but I haven’t really been paying attention to anything else. I thought you grew up with him in Sandrock? He’s a little bit older than us though. I haven’t thought about Owen in that way before. 

Dr. Fang seems very reserved and aloof. Something bad must have happened to him before he came to Sandrock. He wants to help people in need but he won’t get close to anyone. 

Do you think I like anyone in town? Are you jealous? *I laugh*. 

Logan: I’m not jealous, darling. I have no reason to be. You’re here, in my arms… in my bed… and you love me. You’re mine… I won’t be jealous unless they try and interfere.

Me: Ok good. I don’t want you worrying about me when I have to go back to town and do my job. You still have to be careful as we haven’t cleared your name yet I don’t want you being arrested. That goes for Haru too. 

Logan: Well, that part is going to be much easier than you think love. I’m a bandit. A bad man. I’ve been running and hiding for months from arrest. You think a small group of Civil Corps officers is gonna be a challenge for me, darling?

We’ll be fine, if anything, they should be worried about me. They should be afraid.

Me: Do you want them to be afraid? They don’t really know what happened. They used to be your friends really. Justice and Unsuur are good guys just trying to protect the town. 

Logan: I guess you’re right. I know Justice and Unsuur, we used to be friends once. I know Remington too. They’re good guys and I don’t blame them for doing their job. But they know me. They know I don’t play by the rules.

Justice more than anyone else…. He knows what I’m capable of.

Me: Do you know any other civil corps members from Portia? 

Logan: Not really… I’ve met a few of them through Remington when we’ve gone out together. A guy named Arlo, and a strange one named QQ. I know a guy named Miguel too. He’s a builder **and** a civil corps member from Portia. He’s the guy who helped Remington build the desert house…. But that’s about it, other than that, a couple other guys whose names I can’t remember.

Me: Oh wow. I had no idea you’d met Arlo and QQ. Arlo was pretty charming… and QQ is this adorable fat pig that the Mayor’s son; Gust owns. 

Logan: Yeah, Arlo’s a good guy. He reminds me of me…. He can handle himself in a fight and he never backs down. And **of course** he’s charming. If you knew the amount of women that swoon over him…..

Mmmmm…. Now that little pig was hilarious. I’ve never seen anything like that thing.

Me: *I laugh*. I guess a lot of woman will swoon for a man with an accent… I think Arlo is British and yours is more of a southern cowboy. 

I had to petsit one day for Gust. I don’t know why but he dropped QQ off at my door and then left. He’s pretty rude. But QQ and I had fun he followed me all over Portia that day. Going as fast as his little legs could carry him. 

Logan: Yes, a lot of women are into guys with accents, especially cowboys. Even here in the west, where cowboys are the norm. I guess they like a bit of an exotic taste…..

Aw, that sounds adorable!! My god, that little pig sounds cute, love. Did you have fun watching QQ?

Me: Maybe they do *I laugh*. I guess I lucked out that you’re the first Yakboy I ran into on this side. 

I did have fun. It was a surprising day but I got to see all the sights in Portia. It’s a cute little town. It’s so green and lush. They don’t have to worry about sandstorms or conserving water at all. 

Logan: We make a perfect match, my love…. You were my first builder. I was your first cowboy.

Mmmmm…. Yeah, I know from what you’ve told me. Portia seems like a nice little quiet place. I don’t think I’d fit in there though *He laughs quietly*

Me: Everyone is really friendly in Portia and they like to talk a lot. The monsters outside of town aren’t scary looking at all. They can be deceiving. They’re adorable and fuzzy so I feel bad killing them unfortunately.

Logan: They’re cute?? I mean I guess from a distance they can look cute, but there’s a line between cute and creepy. What’s so cute about a fuzzy purple bug that wants to bite you?

*Suddenly Haru walks through the  cavern entrance of the hideout*. 

Haru: Ummm… Hey Logan. *Haru raises his eyebrow curiously*. 

Logan: Hey Haru. I see you’re back early…

Haru: Early? Logan… I’ve been gone since yesterday. *Haru glances over curiously.* So umm I see you’ve been busy. What’s going on here?

Logan: Mmmmm…. Not much. Just a bit of time alone for us that’s all….  How was your expedition, find anything interesting?

Haru: Us? *Haru laughs*. There’s an us now huh? 

Logan: *He laughs quietly and smiles, nodding casually, glancing at Haru, his eyes filled with a mischievous playfulness*

You’re not deaf, are you? I thought you heard us talking. You didn’t hear me say **my** builder? But I guess you didn’t, so…. **Yes** there’s most definitely an us now.

Haru: *Haru’s eyes widen in surprise*. That’s not the new builder of Sandrock is it?

Logan… I’ve only been gone for one day. What are you doing? Isn’t she friends with Justice? I don’t want to go to jail… *Haru says in exasperation*. 

Logan: *Logan laughs quietly and grins, shaking his head at Haru*

Relax, she’s here of her own accord. **I didn’t hold her at gun point**. And yes, she’s friends with Justice, so I’d appreciate it if you would respect the fact that she’s here with me.

Haru: *Haru laughs*. I know you love guns but has that ever worked before? *He says teasingly*. Why is she here? 

Logan: *Logan laughs quietly and grins, rolling his eyes at Haru’s sarcasm*

Nope, never has. It’s one way to get arrested though…

Mmmmm… Why is she here? Do you really need me to answer that? She’s here…. Because I found her passed out in the Eufala last night. 

Haru: *Haru furrows his brow in confusion*. So she was passed out in the Eufala and you ended up in bed with her…

Logan: *Logan laughs quietly, smiling widely at the disbelief in Haru’s voice* 

Well, what can I say? I’ve been told I have that affect on women. I found her, I woke her up, I offered her a place to recuperate, and the rest is history *He laughs quietly again* 

Haru: *Haru sighs*. Ok Logan. I just don’t want to end up behind bars before we figure out who’s sabotaging Sandrock. I never expect you to bring the new builder here is all. Why are you being so defensive? 

Logan: Not being defensive, just explaining the situation. But you’re right, we don’t need any unnecessary attention. Let’s just lay low while we figure everything out.

What did I tell you about worrying so much? Have some faith, my friend. You worry too much.

Haru: Yeah yeah yeah *Haru rolls his eyes and gestures at him*. We can’t all be the reckless and unpredictable Logan. Ok well I’m going to go over to my desk and draw up some new plans. I guess you two have fun or whatever it is you were doing. *Haru sighs and walks away*. 

Logan: That boy gets so serious sometimes. I don’t think he knows what fun is…

Me: *I gently smack Logan.* Shh! You’re so bad. That was embarrassing for me. I’m in nothing but a sheet here and Haru saw. 

Logan: Don’t be embarrassed, love. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen countless times before. He’s just being nosy, it’s who he is….

Me: Uhhh who has he seen countless times before?

Logan: You know exactly who I’m talking about, love. He’s had multiple partners over the years. And trust me, compared to some things I’ve unfortunately witnessed, you have nothing to worry about….

Me: What do you mean unfortunately? 

Logan: *He snickers with a wicked chuckle and a wide grin, biting your shoulder gently and sucking the skin tenderly, nibbling the soft flesh gently and leaving a small mark with his teeth*

I’ve seen way too much of Haru’s naked body **unfortunately**….

Me: *I clasp my hand over my mouth in an effort to silence my laughter*. Oh! I didn’t know that’s what you meant. 

Logan: Yes, that’s what I meant. I’ve seen more of his naked body than I’ve ever wanted to. I’ve accidentally walked in on him far too often. You aren’t the only one who should be feeling embarrassed here. It’s a miracle I don’t need therapy for the trauma of seeing him undressed.

Me: *I gasp and continue laughing. Trying to do so quietly so Haru doesn’t hear.*. Oh my god. You are too much. 

Logan: *He smiles and shakes his head with a wide, mischievous smile, holding back his laughter, his eyes filled with humor and a playful tease*

I’m just being honest, love. I’m not kidding about the trauma. If I weren’t the hardened man I am, I think I’d need therapy and counseling to deal with what I’ve seen.

Me: *I try to stop laughing but I can’t. I smack Logan playfully.*. How do you manage to be so damn funny and bad at the same time? 

Logan: It’s just something I’m good at. The list of stuff I’m bad at is rather large, but being funny is something I’ve always excelled at…. And as for being bad at the same time, it’s a part of who I am I guess, I can’t help it.

Me: What’s on this large list of things that you’re bad at? 

Logan: *He laughs quietly, stroking your jaw with a smile, biting your earlobe gently and shrugging his shoulders*

Oh, you know, the usual things. Taking things seriously, staying out of trouble, waking up early, not being stubborn, being good at cooking, not blowing stuff up in a fit of anger, things like that. Just the usual stuff, you know.

Me: *I laugh*. Well we have one thing in common at least. I’m not a morning person either. As for blowing stuff up… just make sure I’m not around haha 

Logan: *He smirks with a chuckle* Well I guess we both have that in common then. And as for blowing stuff it up, I’ll try to avoid it, but no guarantees, ya got **a pretty explosive personality there** *He teases, tugging playfully on one of your strands of hair*

Me: Ha..ha… Mister. Very funny. *I roll my eyes*. Remember you were the one who started trying to rile me up last night. I hadn’t done anything at all. 

Logan: I couldn’t help it. You’re easy to rile up and I had to make sure the rumors I had heard about you were true. 

*He grins, biting your earlobe*

You’re very reactive to teasing, you know. It’s fun to see how hot under the collar I can get you just by taunting you.

Me: What rumors did you hear about me???

Logan: *He laughs quietly and winks, pulling you closer in his arms*

That you’re a sensitive, kind and shy, soft spoken  woman. 

That I’d be surprised how well you handle yourself around monsters. That you’re much tougher than you look and can hold your own. 

Me: Oh is that all? 

Logan: *He smirks at your unimpressed tone*

Well, let’s see… You apparently are trying to work yourself to death and sometimes run around town like a maniac trying to finish all of your commissions and deliveries every day. I’d be surprised if you didn’t pass out on the ground in town from exhaustion at times.

Me: *I burst out laughing*. Stop… they did not. Someone told you that? Oh how embarrassing. 

Logan: Yes they did. And they were pretty on point. And that’s not the only rumor they told me about you either. They told me a lot of things….

Me: What other rumors? 

Logan: Well, they told me that you had the most beautiful, deep, rich brown eyes that could melt the coldest of hearts. That you were more beautiful than any woman in Portia.

But most of all,  I was told your laugh was the most lovely, charming, enchanting sound they’d ever heard and that all they wanted to do was make you laugh just to hear it…

Me: *My jaw falls open in utter shock. I slowly close it and blush deeply* I… uh… wow. Who in town told you all of THAT?!?!

Logan: *He sighs and rolls his eyes with mock annoyance, shaking his head and squeezing you in his arms affectionately with a chuckle*

Alright, fine, you’ve piqued my curiosity. It was Ginger. She’s been going on and on about you since the day I met her. Every time I’ve been in town she’s there, telling me something new about this mysterious builder that she’s heard from someone else. 

I’ve found out more than I ever thought I needed to know about you from that woman.

Me: Wow… I had no idea. I’m shocked that Ginger would talk about me like that. Doesn’t that seem a little odd? Why was she gushing over me and being so complimentary? 

Logan: *He shrugs his shoulders with a chuckle and a grin, pressing his body firmly against yours, his strong, toned frame making you shiver against his chest*

Who knows why Ginger does the things she does. She’s just been going on and on about you relentlessly. I swear, that girl’s obsession with you is almost a little creepy… *He teases with a chuckle, kissing your neck teasingly*

Me: That’s so funny. Wow. 

Logan: *He laughs quietly and shakes his head with a sly grin, caressing the dip of your back and pressing you closer*

I’m not kidding, love. Ginger is **obsessed** with you. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t have to listen to her talk about some new **rumor** she heard about you…

[yanderechuu]

Shower Thoughts

yandere!Class 1A x fem!reader

[3.2K]

Summary: Momo wasn’t as trustable as you had presumed.

Warning: Larceny, nonconsensual touching, masturbation

│

You used to spend roughly ten minutes in the shower, only ever needing to soak your body in the water, apply shampoo and body wash before rinsing all the foam of products from your skin and scalp. Shower thoughts simply consisted of the day’s agenda or any special occurrence that had happened the past week, never really drifting off to existential questions and dark notions that would keep you from leaving the bathroom later than usual. You neither necessarily liked taking a shower nor did you dread it, as to you it was only ever a mandatory routine of the day which you handled with a neutral mind.

But now, ten minutes were already a slow thirty, and majority of the time you bothered not to move your arms to make work of your hair, or lather your skin with soap as you normally would do had it not been for the questions plaguing your mind like how your classmates would terrorize your time and space.

Right, your classmates - who would spend every hour of the day with you as if they didn’t have anything better to do. As if you were an important subject of matter next to hero training. You never appreciated it, because from the start, you did not want to have anything do to with them. They smothered and coddled you as if air wasn’t that important to you, disregarding the way you felt about personal space, how it was very significant to you. Rare were the moments of peace as a few of them were always by your side, ‘ensuring your safety’ as they would like to quote it. Why ensure your safety? You had not been a prominent figure in the sports festival, neither did you have a quirk that could be of great utility for the villains unlike Bakugou or Tokoyami. You weren’t a problem child, either. Their justification of following you around like you were some sort of high-maintenance prisoner made no sturdy sense to you.

“There’s this new package of green tea my mother had sent me this week! Would you like to try it, (y/n)?”

“Sure.”

But if you had to choose among your classmates one whom you would tolerate for the following years you’d be in U.A., that would be Yaoyorozu Momo. She was kind and considerate, often determining your feelings before you could voice it out (not that you really had the courage to, most of the time). She was organized and pristine and never had you met someone more befitting for the definition of ‘mom friend’ than her. She was perfect in nearly every way, and even though you’d have the occasional pang of jealousy at some times her perfectionism was displayed (gender envy, isn’t it, (y/n)?), she never seemed to bear mal intent, so you would let the emotions slide. You’d see the galaxy in her eyes if you would stare long enough. Her tea was best substitute for coffee, too.

You never considered her more than a very great friend, though, and to her, that was a problem.

As you sauntered your way over to your dorm with her, you shuffled your bag to take your room key buried in the side pockets. “I’ll go down in a while, but you better make sure you’re in the common room before me.”

You wouldn’t allow your classmates to take advantage of your lone self simply because Momo wasn’t there to fend them off.

“Mhm! Lemon green tea as usual, correct?”

“Yeah. Thanks again, YaoMomo.”

Your use of sotto voce tone on her nickname gave a pleasant shiver down her spine; her eyes almost rolled to the back of her head had she not restrained herself. Having been always kept to yourself, you never felt the need to adjust your volume for others to hear properly, so oftentimes your voice came out in a whisper - not that she minded, of course. You sounded more sensual that way.

“Are you going to take a while or will I have to brew tea right away?”

“Training was more strenuous than usual, and my muscles can’t seem to relax,” you explained, “so I’m going to take a quick shower.”

From your peripheral vision as you were focused on your bag to fish out the key, you saw Momo’s jaw slack upon hearing your plan to take a bath. It was odd, but you didn’t give particular attention to it when you finally took out your desired item. You failed to notice the way she abruptly settled her gaze on the key, inspecting it as if she was deliberating its shape, form, and material, and installing it to memory.

“Oh- oh!” She exclaimed. “I do remember having some body wash that help soothe muscle strains and body aches. I can hand them to you if you want.”

You shook your head, smiling lightly. “You’re too kind, YaoMomo. But I think just hot water will do for me.”

She watched as you opened the door to your room, giving her one more smile before disappearing inside and locking the door with a distinct click. As soon as you did so, she pulled the sleeve of her wrist up, developing with her body lipids a key the exact copy of the one you had held.

You certainly lied when you had said you were going to take a ‘quick’ shower. Already ten minutes into it did you only decide to sleek yourself with liquid body soap, initially absentmindedly rubbing it on your body, before you gradually got rougher with your movements and soon you found yourself scuffing your own flesh with vehement motion.

They were excessively touchy again, your classmates. Denki got too close to your face while delivering a pick-up line that made you wish you didn’t exist in order to hear it, and upon nearing you did Bakugou pull you away from him, cursing at him to buzz off. He took his time feeling up your waist - the part he used to grab you - while at it. During lunch, as you were once again coerced into joining his group to the cafeteria, Izuku refused to let go of your hand as you walked, and Uraraka as adamant with hugging you by the hips with one arm. It was what girlfriends did, she said, and you were not entirely sure whether or not she referred to that word romantically.

And if not, then did girlfriends also normally touch the parts of which you did not want to be touched on? You felt, clear as day, a bare hand resting on your thigh when you sat on your usual spot, dangerously close to lifting your skirt for everyone to see, and when you gave Hagakure’s faceless face a questioning look, she asked you what was wrong. Her uniform sleeve was literally floating on top of your lap, and still she had the gall to pretend as if she was not touching you with lacking consent. 

 You were not safe from Shoto, either, when he offered to readjust your uniform tie and you were in no place to decline (you had the right to, but they just stripped you off of it), his breath hitching in ecstasy as his fingers brushed your chest; he was, audaciously enough, not hiding his bliss. Then he rubbed your shoulders to ‘warm you up,’ when all he really intended to do was motivate his own fantasy that you were his and he was simply scenting you like some fucking alpha to his omega.

You turned no blind eye to their gesticulations. You never once found it endearing, and wished they would stop with whatever the hell this was called, because you were quite sure this was past the border of molestation and could already be rendered a form of bullying.

But not once did you consider the possibility of having a class obsessed with your quaint self.

So you supposed that until you’d find a way to deduce their idiosyncratic actions and tendencies then you would have to make do with your own bathroom as your safe space. Momo was the only classmate you could confide to, so at least she was there.

Unfortunately, you had yet to see the other side of her coin.

Because as she was just right outside your bathroom door, obsessively taking in every bit of item you owned inside your dorm room like a madman, you were left with the impression that she was all you could ever ask for in a friend. You didn’t know how she was not any better than the rest of your classmates, adoring your very existence to the extent of insanity; how she’d crave for you so often and so terribly that she’d feel herself clench when you do so much as merely spare her a glance. And you had done that a lot today - she would have to relieve herself for it.

She spotted the heap of clothes right by your bed; it became apparent that you had stripped yourself off of it before entering the bathroom and taking a shower. Walking towards it, a portion of your seamless underwear came to view, and she resisted the urge to render into a mound of horniness in order to pick it up and inspect it closely.

It was a lighter color of (s/c). A plain, simple, modest undergarment item, still it evoked a particular feeling on the bottom center of Momo’s hips. The heat came rushing along her midriff and instigated the muscle of her legs to falter, and as soon as she felt it, a hand of hers drifted past her skirt, feeling up the slick accumulated on the fabric of her own panties only with the knowledge that your panties were currently in her possession. She needed release, but you were nearly finished with your bath, and she was still inside your room.

You walked out of the shower the moment she shut the door of your bedroom. You saw it closed, but you didn’t catch the culprit.

This unnerved you to no end. Undoubtedly, you thought, this had to be one of your classmates. Who else was it supposed to be? Aizawa-sensei (...)? You had yet to know their ultimatum, but you were sure this occurrence was another one of their schemes. You had assumed that all their weird, unappreciated antics were just to get you to socialize with them, but now you didn’t understand why it had gotten to the point of entering your room without permission.

You couldn’t keep this to yourself.

So you planned to bring it up to Momo, a representative of your class and someone whom you deemed trustable enough to share it with. Quickly, you dressed into your casual indoor attire, and rushed outside your room to head to the kitchen, where you presumed she’d be in the process of making your tea. But she wasn’t there.

Instead, she was in her own room, your panties muzzled right into her face and her own fingers buried deeply inside her cunt.

“Oh- oh, god- Ah! (Y/n)!”

Oh god, your panties. Oh god, your panties. The object most intimate to your parts of intimacy, soaking every bit of womanly secretion from your genitalia. Of all the masturbation sessions she had done to the thought of you, this was the hottest. She wasn’t quite sure whether to imagine your cunt on her lips in a position of mutual cunnilingus or your fingers thrusting into her in place of hers. She wanted both.

A whine slipped past her lips. To think that moments ago, she was in the same space as you were nude. Oh, to join you in the bathroom, doing inenarrable things to each other with the use of the showerhead. To touch your skin selfishly rather than only watch as she would do during class hours.

She came with a squeal, falling face-down to bite the duvet of her large bed. Gone in her hazy mind was her promise to you of lemon green tea, and as she still basked in the pathological euphoria of getting off, you were in the common room, anxiously waiting for her return.

But just as you had expected, someone was bound to spot you alone and take this as an opportunity to be with you, and they just so happened to be-

Oh. Aoyama.

He offered you a slice of cheese with his usual grin before settling down a few feet beside you, enough to leave you be in your personal bubble. You gave him occasional glances, unwrapping the cheese from its casing and he just sat there, eating his. He was alright, you guessed - another tolerable classmate of yours next to Momo. Perhaps it was because you used to always be alone in the classroom with him during break time that you were at ease with his presence. Or maybe he just seemed so gay and that, for some reason, comforted you. One gay presence could comfort another lol.

“It’s delicious.” Your comment came out inadvertently.

“Oui. Only the best quality for the best person.” He flaunted.

You weren’t exactly sure whether he was referring to you or to himself, but you paid little attention to that as the cheese was certainly delicious; you were not lying.

“It’s odd how your chose to take a bath at this time of the day.” He spoke.

You stopped chewing.

He meant to refer to your damp hair, but having just suspected your class of breaking and entering your room, you thought otherwise.

“I-” You choked on the cheese, ending up needing to gulp it like liquid content instead of breaking it down to fit your throat. 

Immediately, he sprang up in concern, stepping over to you to gently thump you on the back. “Are you alright?”

“No- I mean- I just-!” You wheezed, occasionally having to clear your throat. You swatted his hand away from you; you hadn’t meant to appear rude, but you did. You stood up in a rush. “L-look, I have to go.”

“Don’t you want to drink water?”

“I’m- fine,”

With your words, you took off from the common room area and headed back to your room. There were two sets of emotions that mixed to form the bile in your throat. One was wrath and humiliation upon the discovery of Aoyama’s actions. The other was betrayal and confusion from Momo’s absence when she had said she’d be brewing tea for you, and it wasn’t the tea that disheartened you. She knew of your issue with the class, and if she were busy, couldn’t she have texted you a heads-up?

She shouldn’t be surprised when at the next time she saw you, you interacted with her less. Your intention to distance yourself from her was most prominent, and it didn’t help that your classmates took notice of this, because now they were taking advantage of the situation, tagging you along with them in spite of your futile attempts to decline now that Momo was nowhere to tell them off. When she’d talk to you, you would answer, though your voice was back to speaking to her like she was a stranger. 

Resentment was stronger than ruing the lack of intimacy between you two. It was as if she had received your panties in exchange for the time she’d be spending with you, oddly enough. After much deliberation, she came to realize that this was your little ‘tantrum’ after not being able to meet with her the other day. 

It was pretty cute, she thought, that you’d try and make her acknowledge the fault on her part by ignoring her.

You didn’t walk with her back to dorms as per usual that dismissal. Instead, just like what you had used to do before finding consolation in her, you walked alone, accomplishing being able to avoid your classmates as you did. By the time she reached the dorms, you were in the kitchen, fetching a glass of water to satiate your throat. She took a hold of your wrist before you went back to your room.

“(Y/n),” she pleaded, “tell me what’s wrong.”

You looked at her with a reluctant expression. Perhaps you should. After the short while that you had been hanging out with her, her presence turned into something you came to miss. You wanted her back, but not in the way she wanted you.

“I-it’s just,” you stammered out, “y-you know how I feel being alone in the common room without you. I... I’m not comfortable with our classmates when you’re not around.” She took pride in this. “I don’t take it lightly how you left me alone the other day...”

Your voice faltered out the longer you spoke.

So she was correct; you were certainly having your little ‘tantrum.’ With a guilty smile, she left your wrist to hold your hand tenderly, and suddenly it dawned upon you the feeling of whenever Bakugou held your waist, Shoto nuzzled his face on your neck or Izuku invaded your personal space.

Fear and apprehension.

Before you could preach your objection to whatever she had planned ahead for you, she dragged you along with her and you both reached her dorm room before you could comprehend where she was taking you. 

“I’ll make it up to you.” She said, making you sit on her large bed.

Then she proceeded to make you tea, boiling water with an electric kettle situated on top of her study desk; there also laid a tea set next to her three books, which you assumed were those of which would aid her in the utility of her quirk, like encyclopedias. Beside those was a piece of cloth, unfolded, unkept - a (s/c)-colored silk fabric.

Your face drained of color.

She pushed the books towards the cloth, completely obscuring it from your view and leaving the table disorganized. You knew Momo, neat and orderly as much as possible; she wouldn’t do that without reason.

Now that you thought about it, the same day someone had barged in your room, your underwear had been missing from your set of laundry garments. You spent the next whole day actively avoiding Aoyama, thinking he was the culprit to this felony. At the present moment you were reconsidering your allegation.

“U-um, Momo, I need to go-”

“Here!”

She yelled it so giddily, so uncharacteristically, as she pushed the cup of tea towards your way. How she did so was very quick that you had not the time to take it properly, and steaming liquid fell to your décolletage, past the cotton of your uniform and streaming down the valley of your breasts. It was a moist mess. She loved every bit of it.

“Oh! Oh, my bad. I’ll- I’ll clean you up!” She exclaimed, all flushed and excited.

You didn’t find it in you to push her back when she began to do exactly what she had said, taking your blazer off, loosening your school tie and unbuttoning the dress shirt underneath, only ever being able to stare at her with eyes that evinced betrayal, because it slowly occurred to you that she was satiating her own selfish obsession with you all under the ruse of maintaining a decent friendship. 

“(Y/n),” She breathed out, “I adore you.”

She was no different than the rest of your classmates, and you were a fool to think otherwise.

#bnha x reader #bnha #boku no hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia #yandere x reader #yandere class 1a #class 1a x reader #reader insert #x reader #yandere bnha #momo yaoyorozu x reader #momo x reader #momo x y/n #yandere #yandere momo yaoyorozu #yandere momo #yanderechuu

[greymoonfeelings]

Merry Christmas, Ya filthy animal!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 1

pairing: Stephen Holder x Fem! Reader

word count: 1k

summary: Holder forgets it’s Christmas day until someone reminds him, luckily he’s got an understanding girlfriend.

warnings: smoking and food mention

note: First post of this collection! I don’t love it, but it turned out kinda cute. Not very edited so beware. I was going to post them consecutively but now I’ve decided to post them as they’re finished.

~~~

Holder’s head slumps against his desk as he sighs for the 3rd time in the past minute. He’d spent the past two days working on a case with no reprieve and now his brain felt like mush.

He pulls a carton of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket, picks a random one, and puts it between his lips before lighting it. He relaxes back in his chair as he exhales a puff of smoke.

“Holder, for the hundredth time, you can’t smoke in here!” A booming voice shouts from the doorway.

Holder casually spins around in his chair to face his lieutenant. He takes a long drag of his cigarette before blowing the smoke right into his boss’s face, just to annoy him.

“What the hell are you still doing here anyway? It’s 1 am on Christmas day, don’t you have someone waiting at home for you?”

The mention of Christmas causes an alarm inside Holder’s head to sound.

“Shit, I forgot that was today. My girl’s gonna be pissed.” Holder rushes to put out his cigarette in his ashtray before standing up.

“Get outta here now and maybe she won’t tear you a new one.”

“Thanks, Lieu.” Holder claps his boss on the back as he rushes out of the precinct.

The roads are clear considering the fact that it’s early morning on Christmas day. Luckily for Holder, this means he makes it back to your shared apartment in no time.

He quickly pulls into his spot in the parking lot, barely taking the keys out of the ignition before slamming the door and sprinting towards the building. He jogs inside, opting for the stairs instead of the elevator to avoid wasting time.

When he finally reaches your apartment, he’s out of breath. He shoves his key in the door, twists the handle, and flings the door open and closed like a madman.

Holder stands there huffing, looking around at all the festive changes you’d made to the place since the last time he’d been home.

You’d put up a small white tree in the corner of the living room, decorated with red lights, an assortment of colored ornaments, and a large star topper.

Finally, he spots you in the kitchen hunched over the open oven. He can see that you’ve set the small dining table up as if it were from a fancy restaurant, complete with your proclaimed “good dishes” and some nicely lit candles.

“Hey, Stephen.” You turn to face him with a sweet smile and a tone to match it. “You’re home earlier than I thought. The lasagna won’t be ready for another 30 minutes.”

“You ain’t mad that I’m late?” Stephen eyes you suspiciously as he walks further into the apartment.

“You’ve been at work a lot lately for your new case. I figured you’d forget about something as little as Christmas.” You take off your oven mitts and toss them on the counter.

“Sorry, I’m the world’s trashiest boyfriend.” Holder apologizes as he kicks off his snow-covered boots.

“Seriously, babe, it’s fine.” You reassure him as he approaches you.

“For real? You’re not even a tiny bit mad?” He looks at you, still doubtful.

“If anything I’m mad you’re earlier than I planned for. I didn’t even have time to change into my new dress.”

“I could go back in the hallway.” Holder hikes his thumb over his shoulder, motioning to the door. “Do this whole thing all over again.”

“Just sit on the couch, watch some tv and pretend I had the dress on when you came in.”

You usher hum towards the couch before scurrying down the hallway towards your bedroom to get ready. Once inside, you grab your new outfit from the closet.

You went shopping with your friends while your boyfriend was working so you could surprise him on Christmas. Your figure looked great in the red dress your friends had picked out for you and you knew he’d love it.

You fix your hair and put in your pearl earrings before walking back to the living room where Stephen waited.

“If the parents don’t believe in Santa, who do they think leaves the goddamn presents? They never explain that shit.” You hear him talk to himself.

“Why do you watch those movies when you know the plot holes piss you off?” You laugh at your dramatic boyfriend.

“‘Cause Home Alone wasn’t on yet.” Holder finally turns his head to look at you rather than the tv.

When he sees you standing there in the new dress his eyes nearly pop out of his head.

“Damn shorty, you lookin fine as hell.”

“Fine as hell? That’s all I get.” You joke, walking closer to him.

“C’mon girl, you know I think you’re the most gorgeous woman to have ever graced this grey earth.” Holder motions for you to take a seat on his lap.

You sit on one of his knees, leaning into his touch as he wraps an arm around your waist and you wrap yours around his neck.

“So you like the dress?” You beam.

“I’d like it better if it was in a pile on the floor.”

“Stephen!” You playfully slap his chest.

“Can you blame me? You look like a goddess in that thing. I feel like an idiot over here lookin like street trash.”

“Hey, I happen to like the way you dress. It’s dorky and you look cute.”

“Dorky?” Your boyfriend looks up at you pretending to be hurt.

“Yeah, you got your baggy jeans and your big hoodies that go down to my knees. If I thought you looked like street trash, I wouldn’t have dated you this long.”

“Oh thanks, baby.” He rolls his eyes.

“You know I’m kidding, I love you no matter what you’re wearing. You could wear a potato sack and I would still be stupid in love with you.”

“The kind of stupid who makes lasagna at 2 am because her boyfriend can’t remember holidays?”

“The kind of stupid who makes lasagna at 2 am because she knows how dedicated her boyfriend is to his job and that he’s helping people so yeah he forgets about some things.”

“Wow, you really are in love with me huh?” Your boyfriend smirks up at you.

“Absolutely whipped.” You lean down to kiss his lips right as the timer goes off for the dinner.

#heather writes #stephen holder #stephen holder x you #stephen holder x reader #stephen holder imagine #stephen holder fanfic #rick flag #joel kinnaman fanfic #amc the killing #the killing amc #the killing

[curmudggeon]

An Unexpected Encounter (Arthur Morgan x Female Reader)

After receiving an invitation to the mayor's Gala party, you encounter the one person you despise the most, Arthur. Just when you thought your rivalry would get any more infuriating, he comes along and one thing leads into another or maybe even into something more...

“Fuck it.”

Word count: 3.1k

Warnings: Minor spoilers of 'The Gilded Cage' Mission, Vulgarities, Alcohol, Guns, Violence, and Sexual intentions

A/N: Honestly, I didn't know where I was going with this. It's been quite a while since I've written. While playing through this mission, I was thinking of an enemies-to-lovers type of banter with the whole glitz and glamour of the situation. I hope you enjoy it or maybe not...

The grand music by the string quartet swelled into the elegant ambiance of the evening. With Saint Denis’ high society gathered together into one establishment, being invited into these types of conventions was a rare opportunity. You managed to get in the mayor’s party through close connections within the city. It was a chance to get your hands on valued pickpockets from pompous rich people; away from the hassle of collecting useless bounties.

The mansion was rather extravagant as you entered; unique architecture and expensive pieces of artwork looking out into the outskirts of the city. The scent of liquor, cigars, and the deep aquatic plants of the Bayou was intoxicating.

Defying all the odds of 1899 fashion, you wore a dress that had a slit on the slide of your right thigh that was high enough to hide the spare gun that you managed to sneak in despite having to surrender the rest of your weaponry at the entrance.

The mayor’s servants eyed you closely when you laid out your revolvers in front of them, since it was apparently absurd to witness a woman carrying such hefty guns. Winking at them as you moved away, you scowled under your breath at their suspicion and avoid being further searched. It was your only option of protection in case a fiasco had broken out in the middle of your pickpocket adventure.

Conversations started to tune out the music in the background, the heads of married men turned towards your direction as you made your way through the party, striding with utter grace and elegance to catch the eyes of your potential suitors to steal from.

Grimaced expressions were coated on the faces of the women while examining your revealing choice of clothing. You stood beside the refreshments, holding a free glass of champagne, as you glanced at the group of women engrossed in conversation regarding the lady that came into the establishment. You.

Raising your eyebrow as you sipped on the champagne, you gave them a firm nod headed their way, causing the litter of southern belles to widen their eyes at your acknowledgment and quickly disperse from their conversation. Real smooth.

It was the kind of attention you had gotten used to. After all, being the only woman bounty hunter in the city wasn’t normal in the present day’s context. Opting for a more reckless and freer lifestyle gave you a sense of adrenaline; to escape every expectation of conservative American society. You felt entitled to be who you are and wanted to be. A free woman. You started making a name for yourself in this city, bounty after bounty until one particular man decided to show up and defeated all your means of survival on the jobs you took on...

Arthur

The sound of his name left a sour taste in your mouth. He was the reason why it started to get progressively difficult collecting bounties. When you showed up for a $100 bounty for the leader of the Lemoyne Raiders, Lindsey Wofford at the abandoned fort, that is how you met Arthur. You were outnumbered. Deciding to team up with him, was the last thing you should’ve done. He was charming at first, but then came the point when he handed over Lindsey’s body to the police, betraying your efforts to help attain the bounty as he kept the prize to himself. So much for being handsome.

The moment bounty posters were displayed, it became a competition to get to them first. He would capture or kill them before you did. The feeling of immense frustration struck you as he flashed that lazy, crooked smirk of his. Arthur tipped his hat to you while collecting his reward for the day.

“Asshole.” You muttered under your breath, unable to contain the urge to lunge at him for beating you to it. The glimmer in his eye resembled the commencing of his mockery towards you.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Princess.” His eyes shined with amusement along with that stupid grin of his slowly widening at your reaction. Oh, he is so not going to see the light of day any time soon.

Your anger was at its peak, ready to set off and wipe that smug expression off his face. You couldn’t let him have this, not this time. Within a blink of an eye, you reached for your pistol and aimed it at Arthur’s head with ease.

“You take that back.” His face slowly turned south as his grin disappears upon my demand. I thought so, too.

“Woah, Woah, young lady. Put the gun down,” The policeman warned as he stood with his hand out to coax you into dropping my line of fire and from blowing Arthur’s brains out in front of him.

Ignoring the warning, you focused on Arthur, waiting for his apology. After a long pause of silence, his face slowly distorts, as if he can’t control the outburst of emotions flowing within him.

He’s

He’s laughing?

Your eyebrows furrowed even further as he slowly bends his arms onto his knees as blurts of laughter simultaneously start to escape his mouth. The policeman was surprised at the sudden change of atmosphere, as he stares at Arthur like a madman. He walks away, shaking his head as he retorts lowly, “I don’t get paid enough for this job”.

Rolling your eyes, you were annoyed at the fact Arthur doesn’t take you seriously. Even as your rival, it was unbelievably childish of him to do so. He continued to wheeze as if I’m the biggest joke in the whole wide world. “Ha ha. Very funny, Arthur”

A small smile crept up your mouth as you lowered your aim of fire and place it back into the holster at the round of your hip. You had to admit, he had one of the most contagious laughs you have ever heard, but that doesn’t mean you should lose your guard against the one person you despise the most. In defeat, you left the police station before he had anything else to say to mask yourself in humiliation.

“This changes nothing, I’m still going to beat you.”

-

A few glasses of champagne and pickpockets later, you managed to get your hands on some gold rings, silver-plated watches, and money off drunkards that made their way to you. They were easily wrapped around your finger to steal behind their back. The men surrounded the area as they unwind into the evening with very little knowledge, of what’s coming to them. You secretly stashed the contents of your pickpockets into your purse while walking away from endless conversations about politics and the weather.

Getting bored by the events occurring before you, in the corner of your eye you spot the mayor; Henri Lemieux by the fountain.

Hoping to make a name for yourself in this city —and probably pickpocket him, you make your way to his location. With elongated and purposeful sashays, you stopped in your tracks when you heard footsteps following behind you.

“Hey, little troublemaker.” His voice resonated through you.

Within a split second, you knew that warm, gruff voice anywhere. Frozen in your tracks, you closed your eyes and mentally cursed to yourself as you just got caught red-handed.

In front of you was your shadow cascading on the brick flooring of the garden as Arthur’s tall and burly figure enveloped yours under the dim moonlight. He was directly behind your back, just barely touching the exposed skin of your shoulders. You could feel the warm heat radiating off of him, making you shudder.

Slowly turning around to acknowledge his presence, composing yourself with utmost annoyance to resist the intoxicating proximity in between.

"Oh, it's you." He chuckled at your sarcastic remark as you admired his ravishing appearance. He donned a well-fitted Tux that hugged his biceps perfectly, along with the slicked-back hair from the usage of pomade to style it.

The view of him was a refreshing sight. Seeing him in such a way, despite the usual boyishly rugged blue shirt of his, that shaped his figure well tingled on your skin. He smelled of musk and wildflowers. The scent caused an involuntary sigh out of you before you could realize what you had just done.

"It's nice to see you." Slightly grinning, he stared at you closely. Holding eye contact as he took in the sight of your appearance. Before you stared at each other longer than the both of you had anticipated, fireworks had burst in swirls up in the sky. It caught the attention of guests as they watch the beautiful night sky be painted with streaks of vibrant colors. Comments of amazement filled the air.

Shifting your gaze back to Arthur, you felt like your heart had stopped for a mere second. What?

Arthur had already been staring at you, and your face started to slightly warm at the realization. As if on cue, at the side of the fountain was the mayor and his servant, quietly arguing. You eavesdrop only to hear the contents of the discussion 'Cornwall' and 'horse's ass'. Bingo. You knew anything that had to do with the wealthy man was a big deal to make out of. And definitely would come with something worthy to steal.

As the servant departs away from the mayor, Arthur was already making his way towards him to find out more information. Oh no, you don't.

You follow behind discreetly with the same intention before he finds something more useful than the already invaluable pickpockets in your purse.

Making way back through to the entrance of the Mansion, Arthur makes his way upstairs to the staircase leading towards the mayor's office, as you follow shortly after.

He enters the office quietly as he jams to open the locked drawer with a letter opener on the table. Slowly, you make your way to lean against the door frame, crossing your right leg over the left one to increase the view that revealed your exposed skin with a revolver strapped to your thigh. Preparing to display your disapproval of his actions, you fold your arms as he voices out the contents of the letter. "Mr. Leviticus Cornwall... Top secret… Extremely confidential. Very interesting."

"Very interesting, huh?" His head quickly turns in my direction upon the sound of my voice. His eyes widen. Gotcha cowboy.

Smiling innocently at his reaction, you slowly tilt your head the opposite way of the door frame, awaiting his response.

He pauses for a while as his gaze reaches your face as it makes its way through the revealed skin and revolver coyly making an appearance to him. Breaking off his stupor, It takes him a few seconds to process your actions as you walk towards him.

“What’s that?” He turns his back to prevent you from have a closer scan of the confidential document. Trying to reach it from out of his hands, he turns in another direction, holding the document up in the air far from your reach.

“Nothing useful,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone as he remains amused at your multiple attempts of stealing it from him. He looks away from you, dodging any suspicious allegations you might get just by narrowing your eyes at him.

“If you’re trying to hide it from me, sure as damn means it’s useful.” You hiss at him to hand it over as you continue trying to get up to his height to retrieve the ‘useless’ document out of his hands. Giving up, you stop your actions as an idea had come to mind. A stupid one.

Removing the revolver off your thigh, you pointed the gun at his foot to threaten him into giving you a glimpse of the contents of the paper regarding Leviticus Cornwall.

“I’d love to see you try,” His deep blue eyes sparkled as he challenged you with delight. Arthur knew you wouldn’t dare to pull the trigger and risk another catastrophe to happen at the mayors’ mansion.

Fireworks outside the window started to quieten down and conversations start to resume back to normal.

The sound of a key unlocking a door from another part of the office fills the room.

You look at Arthur with a slightly panicked facial expression. He folds the document neatly and places it inside the inner breast pocket of his tux as you quickly strap back your gun to the side of your thigh.

Arthur moves swiftly past you and grabbing you by the wrist before both of you get caught.

We make our way through the hallway and down a few steps down the staircase to get as far away from the office as possible. The soft tones of speaking at the end of the stairs traveled just at the rounded corner of the wall, nearing the both of you. Heavy stomps became louder and louder at the top of the staircase. You and Arthur were dead in your tracks, standing in the middle of the staircase, as your only two options of escape were far from reach. It was a dead end. This was a day you would go to jail, the both of you.

“Fuck it.”

And he kisses you. Hungrily and ever so desperately.

Pushing you against the wall as his hand cups the back of your neck bringing you close to him while the other was lowering to grab the exposed leg through the slit of your dress and cling it to the side of his hip. Your heart was beating out of your chest, ringing into your ears. And you were pretty sure he was able to hear it too. Not being able to grasp the situation, your stunned eyes fluttered shut, forgetting the entirety of your surroundings with his lips crashing on yours. Arthur’s lips.

There was no denying your attraction towards Arthur, from his physique to that annoying smirk of his that kept you on edge, it was hard to pay attention to the rivalry the both of you shared. Sometimes neither of you noticed the longing but yet despising looks you and Arthur exchanged. You thought you were being delusional, but It always seemed to be so much more. An indescribable magnetic force, pulling and pushing away from each other.

His stubble along the sides of his jaw skimmed the surface of your chin, inviting a light hum to alight from your lips from the contact. It made him smile against your lips, enjoying your compliance with his actions. Unable to resist, you grabbed the ends of his suit into fists, bringing him closer as his hands explored the map of your skin. Just like a predator devouring its prey, you lightly moaned as the warmth of his skin against yours created an inexplicable connection. A grunt escaped his mouth at your reaction to his touch. Kissing you harder, his hand gently slid up the exposed skin of your leg and over your—

"Ahem,"

Breaking off your kiss, a look of disgust was plastered onto the face of the servant, stumbling upon a couple who can't seem to get a room.

Regaining consciousness, you realize the highly scandalous position the both of you were in. You against the wall, arching your back with your hands resting on his heaving chest. You look down, noticing the strap of your dress that had tipped of your shoulder, which revealed your cleavage a bit more than it had already displayed. And his hands, at your waist and up your thigh reaching, Oh. Your face turned bloodshot red.

In a protective stance, Arthur leans forward closer to shield the tantalizing sight of your appearance to the man who had caught both of you at the top of the stairs. Furrowed eyebrows and eyes of infuriation were headed his way.

"Oh, heavens" a group of maids that reached the staircase, quickly shuffled away to busy themselves with other things than going through the second floor of the mansion.

“Pardon me for the intrusion, but this area is strictly out of bounds.”

“Well, I don't see any signs suggesting, so”

The servant raises his eyebrow higher with arms crossed, emphasizing how ridiculous his comment was.

Arthur grumbles, “We’ll be on our way”

The man’s heavy footsteps move past us, giving you privacy to freshen up whatever articles of clothing that was out of place

Hesitant to make eye contact, you observed the bow tie that hung around Arthur’s neck like it was the most interesting thing you had ever seen. You could feel his intense gaze drilling holes into you as his eyes did all the talking. The air was thick, making it hard to breathe as each second passes by. There wasn’t an inch of space left between the both of you, except for the slight distance aching to be met at the lips. His fingers lifted your chin to divert your attention back to him.

You could see the reflection of yourself drowning in the deep seas of his cerulean blue eyes. His gaze lowers down to the swell of your lips. Momentarily, time stops moving, it was the climax of something different. Something exciting, that the hatred you had spent building up for him was collapsing. Something you couldn't quite pinpoint.

There’s a gravitational pull pulling us closer and closer…

The basis of physics was no match for the two of you.

Lips barely grazing onto yours as light music soars in the background,

“Arthur!”

He stops, painfully closing his eyes to the familiar voice that constantly put him to work.

The tension breaks like a gunshot piercing through the air, pulling you out of your daze and back into reality.

What the fuck just happened?

Arthur groans and smothers his face into the crevice of your neck. His arms tightening around your waist, holding for dear life like you were going to slip away from his fingers. Gibberish left his mouth, whining like a child being awoken from his slumber, as the voice that yelled for him gets louder.

You couldn't handle the position you were in, he was so close to you. Your heart could burst any time soon from his touch. It was nothing you had ever imagined with him, nothing you had ever experienced before. This feeling was new.

“I have to go” her murmurs barely under a whisper, only for you to hear. Arthur lightly kisses the skin of your shoulder to signal his departure. The sensation tingles as he separates away from you.

The initial distance that was so close between the both of you was now a little too far away for your liking. Leaving you at the staircase, he looks back at you.

Our eyes meet, and it’s only the two of us, and from this point onwards, everything changes, and you find yourself longing after his lips.

Maybe for once, things could change.

Maybe we can change.

Us.

part 2-?

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan fanfiction #red dead redemption fandom #red dead redemption #arthur morgan x reader #rdr2 fandom #rdr2 fanfic #red dead fanfic #red dead fandom #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 tag #arthur morgan fic #arthur fanfic #arthur morgan ff #arthur morgan rdr2 #rdr2 #rdr2 ff #rdr2 arthur #arthur morgan x female reader #arthur morgan x y/n #arthur morgan x f!reader #enemies to lovers #arthur morgan imagines #arthur morgan headcanon #arthur morgan hcs

[aminiatureworld]

Stranger

Characters: Kaeya, gn!reader

Word Count: 2,398

Warnings: Angst (happy ending)

Premise: What do you do when the one you love turns into a stranger? Do you go chasing after them? Or do you let despair envelop you? What about when you can no longer trust them, or when they can no longer trust you.

In which Kaeya begins to act distant and strange.

Author’s Note: A little more dialogue heavy than usual for me, but considering I usually write like five lines of dialogue maybe it’s not that much. Still, I like how this one came out! I actually think I managed to make it pretty emotional (though it’s alright at the end I promise). Enjoy!

Kaeya

You weren’t sure when it started. It was so gradual at first, the withdrawing, the loss of trust. So gradual that you weren’t really aware you had lost Kaeya until he was already gone.

The first night that you finally started to become aware of the problem was the night that Kaeya came home, home late and dead drunk. Though you knew that he probably going to be working late, he had told you as much, you certainly had not expected him to come home in this state.

“My love? Oh, let me help you inside,” you exclaimed, slinging an arm over your shoulder.

“I, I can do this myself,” Kaeya’s voice was gruff, cold, unlike the sweet, warm-talking man you’d fallen in love with.

“Please, you’re drunk. Let me get you something.”

“I don’t need you to.”

He’d flung you off somehow, though not without running into a wall. You probably should have helped him after that, insisted that he needed someone to sober him up; but all you could do was just stand there. Kaeya had never been like this before, not even on the rare occasions he managed to make himself drunk. He was emotional, yes, but usually that resulted in sweet, if slightly slurred words, and the inexplicable need to pull you onto his lap, no matter what you were doing at the time. This drunken Kaeya was a stranger to you. You didn’t know what to do.

A part of you hoped that it was a fluke, that he would wake up tomorrow smiling and apologetic and just as before. Yet he was gone before the sun was up, with no word on when he might be coming back. You had stared at his empty spot on the bed for a long time, trying to convince yourself that this was just a dream. You would wake up soon enough, nestled into his embrace, his breath soft and comforting in your ear. This was just a dream, it wouldn’t last.

No matter how much you tried to convince yourself of that though, Kaeya refused to cooperate. He continued to get up early, to come in late. You two almost never worked together, but even when you used the excuse of getting a book out of a library there was no Kaeya in sight. His office was closed, and when you tried the handle you realized it was locked. You knew that could just mean that he was out doing some sort of thing, but still it hurt. Even if you couldn’t truly explain why; it was the small things.

Then it wasn’t the small things anymore, for indeed nothing could be small about the way Kaeya was acting now. If the waking up late and getting up early had torn at you, this was the final straw.

He hadn’t come home, he hadn’t come home, he hadn’t come home. You sat in the living room of your apartment, hands curled around a long cold cup of tea. You didn’t know what to do, what you wanted to do. You wanted to run out into the night, screaming his name; you wanted to leave this apartment, a note on the counter explaining this was too much; you wanted to do so much, but instead you simply sat there, drowning in thoughts. Was he sick of you? Did he hate you? No, surely Kaeya would never do something so stupid if he’d fallen out of love with you. He would tell you, straightforward and gentlemanly. Wouldn’t he? You couldn’t answer that question anymore, the Kaeya you knew and the Kaeya you’d been dealing with for the past week were complete strangers.

You must’ve fallen asleep, for there was sun in your eyes when you opened them, your memory muddled with the odd fragments and colors of unsettled dreams. Looking around your heart sank at the emptiness, the lack of shoes at the doorway, the cloak still missing from the hook in the wall. He was gone. He was gone, and with him went the last hope that there might still be a normal explanation for everything. There surely couldn’t be now.

There would be time to explain your absence at work later. For now you got up, slinging your cloak over your shoulders, for the memory of winter still clung to the new spring air, and your ears still felt a little frosty. Now you barely felt the world around you, as you ran out of the gates of Mondstadt, trying desperately to think of where Kaeya might go.

Luckily for you the Cavalry Captain had a distinct elemental footprint, and whatever the time Kaeya had left to set out on his own it wasn’t too late for you to find him. You didn’t think about what would happen when you finally caught up with him. You didn’t want to. For now all you wanted to know was whether or not he was alright. The fact that he could take care of himself didn’t convince you. Kaeya wasn’t acting normally.

You finally caught up to him in the Whispering Woods, only a little ways away from the ruined temple. Your first thought was that he looked terrible. Your second thought was that he had truly been out last night. Your third thought was that you didn’t want to be here.

“What are you doing?” Kaeya’s voice was gruff, tired.

“What am I doing here? What am I doing here? What are you doing here Kaeya? Why are you out here, roaming around like a madman, while I wait for you all night. All night! Don’t you know how worried I was? How, how upset! And now you act like, what? Like I’m some, unwelcome guest, some nuisance? I can’t stand it, I really truly can’t stand it! If you don’t want to be with me anymore then just tell me. Don’t avoid me, insult me, push me away. I can’t stand it Kaeya, I really… really…”

You were crying now, you couldn’t help yourself. You didn’t want to, it felt humiliating somehow. It wasn’t worth it to cry at this point, not now, not in front of him. But you couldn’t help it, it hurt, it really hurt.

“I, my darling, I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean you’re sorry? You don’t seem sorry.”

“I’m just tired. It’s been a long night. Please, I’m sorry.”

“I…” you weren’t sure what to say. You really weren’t sure what to say.

“I know you’re really upset with me, I understand, I’ve been treating you badly recently. But please, let me explain myself.”

You said nothing, unsure still what to say. Your gaze had long since migrated to the ground. You wanted to know, wanted to hear his explanation. You were angry, yes, you were oh so angry. But more than anything, you just wanted things to go back to normal. You wanted these days to disappear, so you might go back into the sun. But it still hurt, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to hear, wanted to forgive. If only you could turn back time, if only this had never happened.

“Would you like to hear?” Kaeya pressed. You’d have to reply eventually.

“Yes,” you whispered.

“Very well. Would you like to go home first?”

You nodded. Maybe by the time you got back to the city you’d be able to figure out whether you wanted to forgive or not.

You two walked home in silence. You still couldn’t look him in the face, couldn’t bring yourself to gaze at the man you still loved so deeply. The atmosphere in the apartment was equally strained, and as you sat down on the couch you pulled a blanket up to your neck. At least if things got too difficult you could bury your face in that.

“Ready?” Kaeya’s voice was gentle, the Kaeya that you knew from before. You didn’t know what to make of it.

“Yes,” you mumbled, not trusting yourself to say anymore.

“You know how I told you I was adopted by Diluc’s father, that I couldn’t remember where I came from? Well, that’s not true. The truth is I was fleeing, a refugee, my father and I. We were fleeing from Khaenri’ah, the city that rose too high and was thus destroyed by the gods.”

There was bitterness in Kaeya’s voice, you could hear it, even if you weren’t looking at him.

“So my father left me here, all the hopes and ambitions of a fallen people on my shoulder. Master Crepus took me in, treating me as more of a son than I deserved. My dear brother even liked me, in the beginning. Of course then my father, my new father, died. Perhaps he was cursed by the gods, taking in a traitor like myself. Perhaps it was simply bad luck. I’ll never know.

“I didn’t think it would matter at first, where I was from. I thought, as long as I don’t tell anyone all will be well. I can’t be punished for the crime of my birth if they didn’t know I committed it in the first place after all. But I was wrong, I was so wrong,” he barked out a shard of bitter laughter.

“The Abyss is coming back, the mages, the heralds, they’re all planning something. More than that, they’re doing it in the name of my home, my land. They’re carrying on the name of Khaenr’iah by committing every crime possible. At first I thought I had nothing to do with it, but I do. This is my curse, somehow or other it’ll always come back to me. And, being the gallant knight I am, or something like that, I decided it was my job to deal with it.

“I know I probably should’ve told you the reason for my sudden late nights, but I felt like, well, I’d gone too far by now. No one else knows my origin story, not the Acting Grand Master, not the Grand Master. Not Diluc, not my late adopted father. I felt like telling them all would be wrong, like telling you would be wrong. I love you so much. I don’t know if you believe it, but I really do. And I thought, well, I couldn’t do this to you.”

“So instead you hurt me in another way?” You couldn’t help the bitterness in your voice.

“I’m sorry,” Kaeya sighed, voice slightly desperate. “I really am. I can’t blame you if you don’t believe me of course, but it’s the truth. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want to see the pity in your eyes, I didn’t want to change to you. I thought, if I told you I would always be the pitiful man, your sad, tragic lover. I thought, I thought you’d never see me the same way again. Or maybe you wouldn’t even see me as that. Maybe you’d see me as a fugitive, a sinner, someone from a place destroyed by the divine. Maybe you’d be disgusted by me.”

“You trust me as little as that?” You finally lifted your eyes up from the blanket around you to look at Kaeya. His eye was glistening wetly, his cheeks slightly flushed, his mouth twisted into a sad sort of smile. “You trusted me so little as that Kaeya? Your lover? You can’t truly believe that I would act that way, could you?”

“No! Yes? I don’t know. I just, I kept thinking, maybe, maybe you’d see me for the worthless wretch I am. Or even worse, maybe you’d get involved. Maybe the gods would see fit to punish you, or something. Maybe something would happen to you and it’d be all my fault.”

“That’s pretty superstitious coming from the least pious man I know,” you pointed out. “Kaeya, I don’t know why you’ve been telling yourself all these things, but I promise they’re all lies. Whatever that dark part of your brain has been saying, it’s wrong. I’m not going to treat you differently, I’m not going to hate or pity you, and I’m not going to die. But you know what hurts? Not being trusted. That really, really hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” Kaeya whispered.

You let words fall to the wayside for a moment. For now you wanted to do one thing. Letting the blanket fall onto the couch you crawled over to Kaeya. Wrapping your arms around his neck you leaned in to give him a kiss on the forehead. Tucking his bangs away from his face you gazed into his eye.

“I love you so much Kaeya, really. All of this wouldn’t hurt if I didn’t. I want to forgive you, maybe I already have. I can’t stay mad at you, it hurts too much. But I’ll forgive you on one condition, alright? That you trust in me from now on. That you don’t hurt me out of some sense of distrust. If you want to keep things private, I understand. I just don’t want those things to cause, cause what happened this last week. Alright?”

“Of course.” Kaeya’s answer was immediate.

“Then I forgive you.”

“Really? After I hurt you so badly?”

“It still hurts, you’re right. But I forgive you still.”

Kaeya let out something between a sigh and a laugh. Pulling you fully into his lap he covered your face with soft, fleeting kisses. You let him, relishing the contact, the reconnection of something you’d feared you’d lost forever.

“I’ll always love you. You’re the most beautiful, most precious thing in the world to me,” Kaeya murmured against your skin.

“You are to me too. I love you so much Kaeya, I always will.”

“How about we put all these words to practical use?”

You laughed at the mischievous tone in your lover’s voice, glad to hear the real Kaeya once more. For this was the real Kaeya, you were sure of it. Regardless of what he told himself, regardless of what the world or the gods or whomever thought. This was Kaeya, this was the real Kaeya. And you loved him so very much.

For the first time in days the cloud that had floated above your heart evaporated. And the next day, when you woke up once more enveloped in Kaeya’s warm embrace, you were sure it wouldn’t be returning for a long time.

#genshin impact #kaeya x reader #kaeya alberich #genshin kaeya #Genshin Impact fanfiction #oneshot #requested #my writing

[robininthelabyrinth]

Now I want the story where NMJ is half war god and NHS is half fox spirit, thank you so much xD

based on this tumblr post and Lao Nie’s decision to refer to WRH as A-Han in this one ficlet

on ao3

Nie Zonghui had long ago suspected that his Sect Leader was a madman, but he didn’t really know it for certain until the first time he lost the man while on a bodyguarding mission – his first, and a great honor. 

Supposedly.

“It’s all right,” his father said, looking long-suffering, when he reported back in distress. “He’s an adult, our sect leader, and this is a small city with no major threats in the middle of some idiosyncratic festival celebration for some goddess or another. How much damage can he really do before he sobers up?”

Nie Zonghui stared at his father, then turned to his mother, who was also staring at her husband with an expression of sincere incredulity.

“Lots,” she supplied. “Lots and lots and lots, and that’s assuming he doesn’t get himself killed in the meantime. Why would you even say that?”

“He’s our sect leader, have some respect.”

“I respect the boss bull of the herd, too, but it doesn’t mean I let it go wandering around the fields wherever it pleases!” She shook her head, snorting in a manner not entirely unlike a bull herself. “Well, if we’re very lucky, maybe our cousin will knock up a cow while he’s out and about rather than just breaking things. We could use a direct heir already; he’s not getting any younger.”

“We could use him being properly married is what we could use. I don’t understand why he’s so resistant – ah, Zonghui, you’re still here? Go gather some cultivators and go look for him, but don’t kick up any fuss, and worry too much if you can’t find him at once. He’ll be back to business soon enough.”

He was, if by “soon enough” one meant “after nearly ten days” and by “back to business” one meant “still drunk off his ass and waxing rhapsodic about some girl he met and possibly married”.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure the sun shines out of her ass,” Nie Zonghui’s father said, his face stormy. “You still could’ve told us where you went. Look what you did to poor Zonghui, he’s been wearing down his heels pacing in worry over you!”

“Oh, heels, yes, did I mention that my gorgeous goddess had amazing legs, too?” their sect leader asked with a soppy smile and stars in his eyes, totally uninterested in any of their petty complaints. “She could kill a man with them – oh, but I would die a happy man between those thighs…!”

“Zonghui, go guard the outside door,” his mother told him. “Also, tell his younger sister that she might need to be sect leader sooner than she’d hoped, because I’m going to murder this fucking –”

-

Nie Zonghui was there, too, when ten months later his new little baby cousin was (metaphorically) ditched on their doorstep.

The entire thing was entirely too dramatic for his taste, and yes, he was aware that as a person who chose to dual wield sabers he had very little room to criticize others for being overly dramatic, however correct he might be.

They had been fighting bandits – barely disguised mercenaries, really, probably paid off by the Wen sect to harass them – in what had turned into a particularly bad situation. Three separate regiments had joined together to take advantage of a terrible thunderstorm and ambush them at all once and them with their backs against a raging river, swollen with rain to the precipice of flooding, with no way to retreat except by fleeing on their sabers, abandoning the common people they were protecting and losing all face. 

The sect leader had been raging on the battlefield, saber in hand, but even he had seen that they would need to shortly choose between death and dishonor; Nie Zonghui, close by his side, had seen how his face was split with a terrible scowl as he wracked his brain for more options.

Then there had been a terrible roar of thunder, and then a flash of light that had blinded them all.

Nie Zonghui had immediately noted the anomality of it, thunder first and lightning second, and wondered it if it was some sort of array working against them, especially when the light had not faded away but grown brighter, causing searing pain in his eyes that made him fall and clutch at his face. But he was a good soldier, loyal and true, and he forced his eyes open to squint into the night, looking to see he did not know what.

Through his sun-blindness, he vaguely thought he could see a silhouette not unlike that of a woman, ten feet tall and radiant as the sun, wearing a dress of nine colors and carrying a guandao in her hand that seemed to reach the clouds, but when he blinked again he saw nothing at all.

Or, well, he did see something: all of their enemies were headless, no matter where on the battlefield they were, their bodies dropping like a loosened string of coins where they had been standing and splattering anyone they were fighting with blood as they gawped at the sudden corpses.

Also, the sect leader was suddenly holding something in his arms when he hadn’t been before.

“What’s that?” Nie Zonghui asked, and the sect leader turned towards him. Nie Zonghui squinted, and suddenly wondered if this entire battle had been a very bad dream. “…is that a baby?”

“Yes,” the sect leader said, grinning broadly. “He’s my son!”

“He’s your what,” Nie Zonghui said.

“My son! I didn’t know about him, of course – apparently he came as something of a surprise to her as well – but anyway she thought that it would be more appropriate for me to raise him, all things considered. A baby doesn’t quite fit her lifestyle. What do you think of ‘Mingjue’ as a courtesy name? Good, yes?”

Nie Zonghui suddenly understood why his parents were always cursing all the time.

-

“I don’t see why I need another wife,” the sect leader said. “I already have a son.”

“Don’t you want to give said son a mother?” Nie Zonghui’s mother asked, her arms crossed. “One that isn’t the Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens, the war goddess you somehow managed to knock up without getting killed?”

“She never specified that she was –”

“Someone needs to be Nie-furen,” the sect leader’s younger sister interrupted, “because I am sick and tired of doing the job, and it’s a little difficult to ask a goddess to do it. So you are going to find yourself another one that’s a little closer to the ground this time, you understand me?”

The sect leader nodded and agreed, which was universally agreed upon to be the only appropriate reaction when his beloved meimei said something in that particular tone of voice.

(He did, after a suitable period of time, state that he wanted to make clear that there was no actual evidence that he had knocked up Jiutian Xuannü and that it was quite plausible that the mother of his heir was nothing more than a rogue cultivator of particular strength and possibility even immortality. If Baosan Sanren had managed it, why not someone else?)

At any rate, they brought him several pictures of women that might fit the bill and who would not be too offended at being asked to be a secondary wife – their sect leader swore up and down that he had performed bows with the mother of his first son, rendering him legitimate, and anyway no one was in the mood to see if the maybe-a-goddess would take offense to someone calling her child a bastard – but none seemed to catch their sect leader’s interest.

“Consider visiting a few brothels,” Nie Zonghui’s great-uncle suggested. “Anything to get you back in the habit of thinking about women of a less divine nature – though of course we’d prefer that she be literate.”

The sect leader scowled and stalked off to go night-hunting instead.

“I don’t like brothels,” he said to Nie Zonghui as they made their way through an especially deserted mountain valley in search of something that had murdered all the local mensfolk in the surrounding villages with especial viciousness. “Surely there’s an option in between.”

Nie Zonghui preferred his sabers to either men or women, but he obediently wracked his brain to think of where people in stories and famous songs found their wives. “Innkeeper’s daughters?” he finally suggested.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the sect leader scoffed, but the very next day, he decided to break his usual habit of staying out in the wild no matter the weather in favor of taking shelter from the encroaching storm in a small inn right at the base of an especially lonesome and nasty-looking cliff.

“We’re always happy to have guests,” the innkeeper said with a somewhat sinister smile – he was pale as a ghost in the guttering candlelight, and his lips looked very red. “My daughter will show you to your rooms.”

The daughter in question was inhumanly beautiful: small and graceful, with a fox’s face and dark hair that fell to her knees.

“Wow,” the sect leader said, staring at her. “You know, I think you could kill me with those nails of yours.”

Nie Zonghui took a look and agreed with the sentiment, seeing that her nails were as long as claws and looked just as sharp, but apparently he and the sect leader had somewhat different interpretations of this sequence of events and plans on how to address it.

Namely, Nie Zonghui pointed out that the lady was obviously some sort of yao or maybe a gui and that she was probably the one seducing the local mensfolk, draining their yang energy and then slaughtering them, and therefore that it was undoubtedly their duty as cultivators – and cultivators of the Nie sect in particular – to put an end to her vile deeds through the swift application of their sabers. Furthermore, he explained, they should take care never to allow themselves to be alone with her in the process, lest she seek to entrance them with her seductive magics and lure them to their undoubtedly violent deaths.

The sect leader’s rebuttal to this line of logic was limited to “I’m the sect leader and if I want to bang the probably-a-ghost, I’m going to bang the ghost and there’s nothing you can do to stop me”.

Amazingly enough, the sect leader did not end up dead the next day – the innkeeper looked just as surprised as Nie Zonghui felt – and instead announced, very happily, that he was planning on marrying her.

“You what,” the innkeeper said, staring at his very smug-looking ‘daughter’. In light of dawn, she was wearing a dress of many colors with a foxfur ruff, and her beauty was almost painful to behold.

“You why,” Nie Zonghui moaned.

“You shut up,” the sect leader told him. “I’ll have you know that my lady here is very clever, literate and well-learned, and she doesn’t at all mind being the second wife. Weren’t you one of the ones on my case about getting a Nie-furen to help managing things back home?”

“I didn’t think we needed to specify that the person in question didn’t murder a lot of people!”

“Isn’t his first wife supposedly a war goddess?” the lady inquired, her clever eyes dancing in amusement.

“Well…yes…”

“Also, all those men deserved it,” she said. After a brief pause, she added, “In my opinion as a totally unrelated observer, of course.”

“See?” the sect leader said, putting his arm around her waist. “No problem. Anyway, she’ll stick to killing bad people from now on, it’s fine.”

The lady smiled. There were many teeth in that smile, and they were very sharp.

“If she doesn’t, I’ll have my first wife discipline her,” the sect leader added and her smile abruptly disappeared.

Nie Zonghui coughed into his hand, but reluctantly admitted that maybe this wouldn’t turn out to be as bad as all that.

-

“Huaisang is a lovely name,” Nie Zonghui’s mother said, being the best of them at diplomacy when she put her mind to it, although admittedly it was something she did only very rarely. “I think we were just expecting something a little different, that’s all.”

“Possibly something a little more fox related,” Nie Zonghui’s father said.

“Please,” the sect leader’s second wife said. “That would be gauche.”

They looked at her.

“…all of my suggestions along those lines got rejected,” she admitted, and glared at the small shrine in the corner as if it had personally wronged her. In this context, it very well might have.

“Is there anything we should keep an eye out for?” Nie Zonghui said, watching his little cousin carry around his even littler cousin under his arm as if he were a sack of potatoes and not a baby that hadn’t yet had its first month celebration. He would have interfered but for the fact that little Nie Huaisang seemed to be notably more in control of his various limbs than the usual infant. “A tail, for instance?”

“Oh, no,” the second lady said. “Nothing like that.”

“Great,” Nie Zonghui said. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“It’s very rare for fox children to achieve a grand plot worthy of a tail in their first lifetime.” A pause. “From what I understand, that is.”

“Great,” Nie Zonghui said. “…great.”

“You’ll take good care of him when I’m gone, won’t you?” she asked, and when they all looked at her, smiled. “Not for another year or two, don’t worry, but I really can’t stay here that long. Sometimes, a girl’s got urges she has to take care of.”

“The sort of urges where we’d need to hunt down a mysteriously appearing fox yao for having murdered a lot of people?”

“I already promised to stop killing people,” she said sulkily. “Although I do think I made some plausible arguments in favor of a little bit of entirely justified murder in connection with the Jin sect and maybe the Lan sect and, oh, the Jiang sect –”

“Please don’t.”

“It’s not my fault your Great Sects are all headed by men who wrong women.”

“You’re not wrong,” Nie Zonghui’s mother said, and Nie Zonghui’s father looked alarmed. “But still, don’t.”

“You’re such spoilsports. But no, as it happens, it’s getting to that time when I need to return home for a while to pay my respects to the older generation.”

“How often does that happen?” Nie Zonghui’s father asked. “Once a century?”

“A gentleman shouldn’t ask a lady her age,” she sniffed. “At any rate, my family home is rather far away and they’re fairly insular, so I’ll probably be gone for at least a decade or so. I’d take the baby with me, but, well, you know, long travel and all. He’s better off sticking with his father.”

“All right,” Nie Zonghui’s mother said. “We understand, and we’ll help take care of him as best we can.”

“I’m glad.”

“We have only one thing to ask of you in return.”

Their second lady arched her delicate eyebrows.

Nie Zonghui’s mother smiled. “You be the one to tell your sister-in-law that you’re leaving your post.”

“…you know, on second thought, maybe I can push my departure out a few more years…”

-

“Before you say anything, I want to be clear right now that I don’t need a third wife,” their sect leader said. “I’m fine.”

“Sect Leader,” Nie Zonghui’s mother said, not unaffectionately. “You’re not allowed a third wife.”

“And therefore – wait, really?” he asked, a little skeptically. “You’re not concerned about me?”

“Oh, we’re very concerned about you,” Nie Zonghui’s father said. “But not in that specific respect. Some celibacy would probably be good for you, at least in terms of increasing your life expectancy.”

“…my sister is lying in wait with a cleaver to make sure she doesn’t have to take on the duties of Nie-furen again, isn’t she.”

“I’m not discounting that possibility, but don’t worry about it, it’s fine, we’ll talk to her. The Lan sect haven’t had a proper hostess in years either, we can just say we’re following their example.”

The sect leader eyed his cousins beadily. “They haven’t had a proper sect leader in years, either.”

“No, you don’t say,” Nie Zonghui’s mother said dryly. “What a coincidence -”

“You have two fine sons,” Nie Zonghui’s father said hastily. “That seems like enough, really.”

“You don’t think they need a mother…?”

“Sect Leader,” Nie Zonghui interjected politely. “While we admit that it may be within your capabilities to be able to find a mother willing to deal with one step-son who has been waiving around a saber taller than he is since he learned to walk and has a penchant for the unyielding, unmerciful and very violent application of the norms of divine justice –”

Nie Mingjue’s presence bolstered the spirit of good men, while his gaze seemed to make evildoers itch. He was the most earnestly good person Nie Zonghui had ever met, and also one of the most stiff and unbending in respect to what he believed should and should not be done.

Unfortunate that his standards didn’t seem to match up to the needs of either human law or diplomacy…

“– as well as another who can scheme circles around anyone and persuade them of anything as long as he puts his mind to it and only doesn’t because he’s too busy lazing around in the sun to bother –”

Nie Huaisang liked to file his nails down to something that looked quite normal, but they grew sharp quickly enough if he wasn’t paying attention, and he had a penchant for pranks. There was nothing quite as unnerving as running into a sudden and unexpected ambush and then suddenly hearing the shrill peal of a fox’s laughter, hidden behind a scholarly fan.

“– but all things considered, we’d really rather you - didn’t.”

His mother and father nodded fervently.

“Good,” the sect leader said, though he still looked suspiciously at them as if he thought they were hiding something. “Good. As long as we’re agreed.”

-

Nie Zonghui walked in on his sect leader pinning the Wen sect leader to a wall, murmuring something in a low voice with a very particular smile on his face, and then he turned around and walked right back out again.

The sect leader of the Wen sect might appear beautiful and young, but he was at least a generation older than the Nie sect leader. Not that that had stopped the latter from relying on their respective positions to refer to him in startlingly intimate terms – my dear A-Han, the sect leader would say with a touch of wickedness that reminded one of his second son and the tiger gall bravery of his first – and while at first the Wen sect leader had taken it as a challenge to his authority, an act of brash insolence, it appeared that they had progressed beyond that.

That the Wen sect leader already had three wives and two concubines apparently didn’t present any obstacles either – except perhaps in what those poor women might have to endure from their husband when he returned from the wretched teasing he was enduring. Nie Zonghui felt a bit of pity for them.

Shortly thereafter, he felt a bit of pity for himself. The Wen sect had long dreamed of dominating the cultivation world and sought to increase their influence with the other sects through underhanded means, with the Nie sect opposing them at every turn. Even if war was not on the immediate horizon, the wise could smell its distant approach in the air - the best estimates said that it would take another decade or two to arrive, unless the Nie sect leader took an especially hard stance.

It appeared, however, that the Nie sect leader had chosen to take a different sort of…hard stance.

Ugh.

Maybe Nie Zonghui could conspire to throw his sect leader into a cage with a live tiger in heat next time he felt in the mood. It’d probably be less dangerous.

Nie Zonghui had assumed that the first person to talk to him about what he had seen would be his sect leader, even if it was only to remind him of the general rule that the sect leader had ultimate power and therefore could exercise his own bad judgment in deciding to fuck whoever he wished, but instead it was the Wen sect leader that found him later that afternoon.

A flush had yet to fully fade from his cheeks, and Nie Zonghui raised his eyes to the ceiling to avoid looking directly at the man in front of him. 

He did not want to know. Others might, given that no one had ever complained about the looks of either party, but he himself had realized long ago that he had no interest in matters of the flesh under any circumstances; he was very content with that conclusion.

“Is there some service this one can provide to Sect Leader Wen?” he asked politely, and it was only when the sect leader flushed again that he realized belatedly that his words could be misconstrued. After all, his own sect leader had probably already made a similar offer regarding the provision of services…

“Your sect leader has a sister, doesn’t he?” the other man asked, his voice tight and his hands in even tighter fists. “I’m not misremembering that?”

“He does,” Nie Zonghui responded honestly, and not without sympathy for the Wen sect leader’s position. He was given to understand that making certain belated discoveries regarding one’s own preferences could be highly disconcerting, particularly later in life. “But she’s rather different in kind than what you may be thinking, so it won’t work out that way. It wouldn’t work even if she wasn’t already married, which she is.”

After a moment of thought, he added, “Also, consider your predecessors.”

The Wen sect leader’s eyes narrowed.

-

Really, it was the sect leader’s own damn fault that he got himself murdered.

#mdzs #lao nie #nie zonghui #madame nie 1 and 2 #wen ruohan #my fic #my fics #the alternate name of this fic was #a goddess a yao and a tyrant walk into a bar to bitch about their boyfriend #but I refrained #atwitchofthewrist

[datenightfright]

Infamous

As always, this story is dedicated to the memory of Oiwa, thank you for letting me tell your story, and may you find the peace you deserve.

And, a big thank you to @mlmdarkfiction and @doodleferp who are always willing to lend me their ears and ideas. Without your constant encouragement, this story wouldn't continue.

Previous/Next

Pairing: Kayako Saeki x WOC Reader

Warnings: Mentions of Blood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The warmth of the tea seeps into your fingers. The tingling runs up your hands and stops just below your wrists. Detective Tanaka is back in your home, sitting across from you once again. Fujiwara is by his side, ever present notebook in hand, writing furiously. The child you stowed away in the closet sits next to you, his tea untouched, clinging to you as though his life depends on it. “This is...very strange Mrs. Kubo,” Tanaka tells you.

“I’m aware,” Your voice shakes, you’re close to tears. You just killed a man, and the authorities weren’t exactly on your side despite the overwhelming evidence. “There are signs of forceful entry,” Fujiwara states, nose stuck in his stupid little notebook, “and one of the officers found evidence of someone living in the abandoned house next door. It looks as though he stayed there for a few days, weeks even, watching and waiting for the right time to strike.” You wince at the discovery while Tanaka shoots Fujiwara a warning glance.

“Is this going to be a recurring problem?” You ask, trying to keep your shit together. “Mrs. Kubo,” Tanaka begins, gentle, always so gentle in the way he treats you. “You do live in a very infamous house. The legends that surround it...well there are too many to count really. You do realize you and your daughter are an anomaly when it comes to this place, don’t you?” You nod slowly. “We’re the only ones that have lived for this long,” You whisper, your eyes flitting towards a window. Kayako is there, watching you intently.

“Didn’t you notice anything strange?” Fujiwara asks you, “Seeing the same man over and over again, the same car on the street? In the grocery store? Didn’t you feel like someone was watching you this entire time?” Tanka sends another glare to his partner, meanwhile you scoff. “This isn’t a movie Detective,” You spit, “I spend my days just trying to survive, for the sake of my daughter. I’m an American living in the heart of Japan, so everyone is staring at me no matter where I go. So no, I didn’t notice anything strange, I didn’t notice anything different. So sorry to disappoint.”

Fujiwara is going to say something snippy, you can tell, but Tanaka cuts him off. “You must be tired Mrs. Kubo, we’re sorry for all the questions. Once the team is done, we’ll leave.” You nod, thankful someone had a good head on their shoulders. You hear sniffling and look down at the boy next to you. “What about him?” You ask, “What’s going to happen to him?” Everyone stares at the little boy, he only buries himself in you further, trying to shy away from being the center of attention. “A social worker will come to collect him tomorrow.” Tanaka says. “Until then, you must keep him safe.” You nod silently and go back to your tea.

*

“Why do you keep defending her?” Fujiwara snaps, “This is the second person she’s killed and you’re going to let her get away with it, aren’t you?” Tanaka glares at him, but the young detective is undeterred. “We still don’t know if she killed her husband,” Tanaka points out, “But-”

“And tonight’s case was a case of self defense. He broke into her house, tried to kill her.” Fujiwara scoffs. “A case of a lover’s quarrel gone deadly.” He mutters. Tanaka simply shakes his head. His partner was young, yet. He’d eventually learn that not everything was as it seemed.

The car is tense and silent. Fujiwara is too wrapped up in his own bigotry of foreigners to think straight, Tanaka, well, he had to admit he was wrapped up in his own hero complex to admit Mrs. Kubo might really be guilty. He felt bad for her, she was a new mother, young and pretty. Her famous husband, the source of her income, had been killed by an unknown assailant, leaving her all alone. And tonight, she’d been attacked by some madman that believed in the curse.

Tanaka grips the steering wheel tightly. His resolve to do something about that damnable house is even stronger than before. He’s been keeping a close watch on those that have entered it months ago, but so far, nothing has happened. No mysterious deaths, no unexpected suicides. Everything had been quiet. This just made him more nervous. He has a bad feeling that the house is gearing up from something really terrible.

*

You find out the hard way that blood does not like coming out of tile, not completely anyway. You throw the sponge into the bucket, growling with frustration. The house is deathly quiet once again. The boy sits on the counter, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drinking milk, watching you struggle. You haven’t been able to get one word out of him since last night. You expected as much, though. You simply can’t imagine what hell he’s been through.

You pick up the bucket and dump the blood water in the sink. You fill it up once more, wiping your forehead of sweat. A little nudge on your arm gets your attention. You look towards the boy, he’s handing you a paper towel. “Thank you,” You say, smiling gently at him. You take off your gloves and dab at your forehead. “So,” You say, shutting off the water and filling it with bleach once more. “What should I call you, hm?” You set the bucket on the ground and replace your gloves.

You smile encouragingly up at the kid, hoping he’ll at least say something. He simply finishes his sandwich and watches you scrub the tile. You decide not to pester him. Rather, you begin to hum a lullaby to yourself to fill the silence of your home.

You work at the stain for another thirty minutes or so before deciding you’re done with it. It’s just going to remain a permanent mark on your kitchen floor as long as you’re concerned. You pour the water down the drain once more, then begin to wash the bucket. “Koji,”

“Hm?” You look over to the little boy, smiling. “Koji,” He says again. “Koji? Is that your name?” He nods. “I like that name, very fitting for such a brave boy.” He gives you a small smile, which you return with one of your own and a ruffle of his hair.

The color drains out of his face as he looks wide-eyed and terrified behind you. You whip around to find Kayako and Toshio looking at you. You let out a surprised yelp. Clutching your chest you glare at them both, “Listen, I understand this is your house, but please, can you make noise before you enter a room? I’m tired of all the jump scares.” They simply look at you as you gather the boy in your arms. He wraps around you tightly, too terrified to look at the ghosts.

Before you can say anything else, a knock is heard at the door. “None of your funny business,” You say to both of them. They move out of your way as you walk towards the door. You stop for a moment to check on your sleeping daughter. You see the rise and fall of her chest, then move on. You open the door, blinking in the sunlight.

“Hello!” A cheery girl greets you. She has a badge stuck neatly to her shirt pocket, you read her name easily. “Ms. Fujiwara,” You say, with a smile and a small bow. “No relation to Detective Fujiwara, I suppose?” The girl giggles. “Yes!” She says, “He’s my older brother.”

“Ah,” You say noncommittally. Normally, you would move out of the way and let her in, ask her if she wanted tea, but not everyone that came into your home could be spared from Kayako’s curse, not that you’d ask her to. You think it would be highly unfair of you to ask such a thing of her. As such, both of you stood awkwardly for a few moments, not really knowing what to say.

“Is this the boy?” she finally asks, looking at Koji. You follow her gaze. “Yes,” You say, setting him down with some difficulty, he didn’t seem to want to let you go. He still clings to your legs when you straighten. “My name is Fumiko,” The young girl says, squatting down to his level. “I’ve come to-”

“No!” he says, interrupting her. She blinks in shock, but then smiles gently at him. “It’s ok, you can trust me,” she reaches out to him, “No!” He says louder this time. You hear a faint rumbling in the background. “Koji,” You say, also kneeling. “I know you don’t want to go, but you have to, this nice lady will find your parents.” He shakes his head and throws himself at you. “No! No, no, no!” Your heart breaks as you hug him back. “Koji,” You say, trying not to tear up, “I’m not allowed to keep you.” You have to tell him the truth, as much as it hurt, you didn’t think lying to him would help matters. Besides, kids like Koji could read through an adult’s lies in seconds.

You pull back from him, giving him a sad smile. “Believe me, I would if I could. You’re such a cute and brave little boy, but you have to go with Ms. Fumiko, ok? She’s going to help you.” The boy sniffles. “I’ll come visit.” You find yourself blurting out. “Tomorrow.” You nod. “Ok?” Koji looks at you, and, seeing that you mean to keep your promise, returns the nod. “Here, I’ll help you get your shoes on.” You turn behind you. Kayako hands you his shoes, you smile at her, then help Koji put them on. “Visiting hours are from noon to three.” Fumiko informs you. “This is our card.” You take it from her after straightening. “Thank you,” You mutter tonelessly. Fumiko takes Koji’s hand after he gives you one last hug. “You’ll be ok, Koji,” You call after him, “Just be brave, like you were last night.”

You watch them walk out of your yard, and let a blustering man with an arm full of papers in. He bows to Fumiko, muttering a quick ‘hello’ then waddles up your sidewalk. “Professor Sato?” You walk out to help him with all the papers. “Mrs. Kubo!” He says, huffing. The glasses on his face askew. “I’ve done it!” He says, smiling at you, “I’ve found a way to get rid of Kayako for good!”

You help him straighten all the papers in his arms. “Um, I’m sorry Professor, but, I don’t think I’ll be getting rid of Kayako anytime soon.” You look at him sheepishly as his happy features turn to one of confusion. “Eh? What? Why? You were so adamant the last time-”

“Perhaps we should go to brunch?” You say, “I...I have a lot to tell you.” He nods slowly, “Oh, brunch, yes, ok. I know a place around here. It’s small, but private.” You smile at him. “Let me go get ready, I’ll be right out. Please, don’t enter the house.” He nods, watching after you as you slip into the house. He drops his papers, not noticing Kayako watching him from the window, wary as always.

*

You watch as Professor Ibuki Sato bounces your baby on his knee, talking about his crazy theories for ghosts and goblins. She’s giggling, happy and engaged. You smile softly at them. This is what you’d hoped Haru would be like. You shake your head, that was the past, this was the present, you had nothing but the future to look forward to. “So, you decided not to get rid of her.” Sato says, You grunt in affirmation. “Because a man broke into your house last night and tried to get rid of her on his own.”

“I can’t explain it,” You tell him, “It’s like the dynamic has shifted or something.”

“Perhaps you have feelings for her too?” Sato teases. You glare at him. You answer him honestly, “I don’t know.”

“Oh wow,” He says, sitting back in his chair, letting Sakura grab at his plate of food, “You must really like her then, if you’re confused about it.” You shrug. “She was so terrified last night,” You tell him, “You could see it in her eyes, her and Toshio both. I...I don’t think I could live through that again.”

Sato studies you for a long moment. “What?” You ask, a little irritated. He shakes his head. “It is possible that you’ve come to care for Kayako in your own way. It may not be love, but perhaps companionship?”

“Perhaps,” You mutter, unsure of anything anymore. Your life has been turned upside down so many times you couldn’t even figure out which way was up. You just wished for some stability. “Are you going to publish your husband’s papers posthumously?” Sato asks out of the blue. “What?” You frown, looking at him. “Your husband’s book. Wasn’t he going to publish one on the house? Are you going to complete it for him? Surely you need the money.” You huff. He has a point, you do need money, or rather, you will need the money, eventually. You have no plans to go back to the states soon, not that you thought Kayako would let you. “I’ve never written anything before.” you told him, “I don’t think I could imitate him.”

“Well, write for yourself,” he suggests. “I’m sure people would love to read what you have to say about the house.” You worry at your lip. For a long time you stare off into space, wondering about what sort of job you could have. “Tell you what,” Sato says, feeding your daughter a noodle. “You can be my assistant.”

“Your what?” You mutter. You didn’t much like the idea of becoming his assistant, but there was little else that was open to you. “Yes,” Sato says, nodding. “My assistant. There’s a lot of research that goes into my job, believe it or not. I could use the help. Someone to read over things for me. It wouldn’t pay much, but I highly doubt your rent is that high to begin with.”

You sit back and look at him, wondering if he’s serious. Deciding that he is, you simply shrug. “I’ll get back to you.” is the only answer you give.

#the grudge #ju-on #kayako saeki #kayako imagine #kayako x reader #infamous

[sinner-as-saint]

You Were Made To Be Mine - 2.

Pirate!Bucky x Mermaid!Reader

Part 2 of this series

Run-through: Bucky is one of the greatest pirates ever known. Living peacefully in his vast and flourishing archipelago; filthy rich and respected by all those around him. He is the leader of his people and his massive fleet, and is viewed as no less than a king by his crew and the people on his lands. He, however, has a secret that he keeps from everyone. The infamous and brawny pirate has lost his heart to one of the most beautiful creations he’s ever seen – you. Ever since the moment he saw you, he knew that you were meant to be his. But he belonged to the earth, you to the ocean. Could love and resilience somehow find a way to unite two worlds?

Themes: mermaid!reader, mythological elements, pirate!bucky, fluff, angst

Bucky had never experienced heartache before.

But right now, as he was sat alone on the rock where he usually met up with you at nightfall, he concluded that no pain was more terrible than the heartache he felt when you didn’t show up at your regular meeting spot one night.

His throat hurt given he had called out your name so much and so loudly for the past hour or so. Usually, whenever he called, you’d show up within seconds. But today, it had been over an hour and there was no sign of you. Fear, worry, guilt and pain – it all hit him right in the face like a harsh wave.

“Where are you, my little pearl?” he murmured to himself in his hoarse voice as he sat on the rock alone, sulking and missing you so terribly he felt physically sick. Now he understood why the saddest lovers wrote the most devastatingly beautiful poems because right now Bucky felt overwhelmed by emotions he didn’t know one could feel and if he had a pen and paper in hand, he would write the most melancholic of poems while he pines for you as well.

My little pearl… Bucky chuckled sadly at the nickname he gave you a while ago. It started when one day you brought him the prettiest shell you had ever found, and inside it was a lovely, shiny little pearl.

-

“Isn’t it the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?” you had asked, excitedly showing him what you had found that day.

Bucky nodded. “It is pretty, but not more that you.” And since, he loved how you blushed and hid your face each time he called you ‘his little pearl’ after that. And given the ocean was your home, the nickname was very fitting.

-

The fear settled in not long after. What if you were lost somewhere and you couldn’t find your way back? What if you were injured? What if you were lost and injured and couldn’t call out for help? What if… what if you had found a merman and decided to stay because Bucky wasn’t worth it? He knew he was being ridiculous but he couldn’t help but think so.

No!

Bucky’s possessive nature took over and he was going crazy with each passing moment spent in your absence. His anger soon morphed into complete and utter sadness. And he was miserable. He had seen you just a day ago, but he missed you terribly already. Your hair, your soft lips, the vibrant colors of your tail, your warm but damp hugs; all of you.

He stayed put there for the entire night, alert and waiting. But you didn’t show up. Bucky waited until dawn, and he rowed back to his island; sad and heartbroken. Did you leave him? Were you lost? Did you find someone else? Were you injured or trapped somewhere because of your obsession with that mythical potion?

If it weren’t for Steve running into him as he made his way home, Bucky would’ve shed a tear or two. That’s how much he was hurting.

“You look like a mess.” Steve pointed out. “Where have you been?” he asked, clearly seeing that something was wrong with Bucky.

Been waiting for the love of my life to show up at our usual meeting spot, but she didn’t come. I don’t know if she’s mad, or in trouble or hurt, or all of that. “Just out.” Bucky replied and made his way to his home, in desperate need for some hours of sleep.

-

Nightfall came again and Bucky rowed back to the isles at around midnight. He didn’t find you on the rock like he always did, again. He didn’t see the flicker of excitement of your fins as he got closer. He didn’t see you. And his heart felt like it was being torn apart.

He called out your name again. And again. And again like a madman. But you didn’t show up. Bucky waited on top of the rock again, looking up at the starry night sky and drowning in his sadness. Then out of nowhere, he heard the soft splash of water he knew all too well.

“Sweetheart, is that you?” he sat up straight and looked around; alert again. He heard the splash again. And the spark of hope inside him which was fading out, came to life again. With the help of the burning torch by his side, he could see quite well.

And then he saw it. The shiny tail, the silky fins and the beautiful face he was madly, dangerously and hopelessly in love with.

“Y/N!” he called out your name and didn’t think twice before jumping in the water and met you in the middle as you made your way to him. You had the biggest smile on your face as he swam towards you. He threw his arms around you and held on to you to keep himself afloat but also to hold you as close to him as possible.

You giggled at how he behaved almost like a little child, clinging to you for dear life. You wouldn’t lie, supporting the muscular man and yourself above water was a little hard. But you welcomed his almost suffocating embrace without any complaints because you had missed him terribly and you were aware you hadn’t come to meet him yesterday so you had to make up for it.

“I missed you!” you wrapped your arms around his broad shoulders and your lower body worked extra hard to keep the two of you above the surface.

Bucky almost shed tears, he couldn’t believe you were here in flesh and blood, not a fragment of his imagination, but the real you. “Never disappear like that ever again, you hear me?” he sounded relieved and angry and heartbroken all at once as he chided you but also held you like you were the most precious thing in the world.

“I won’t, I promise. I’m sorry.” You whispered in his ear, pushing your face into the crook of his neck and relished his warmth. The water was cool, so his body heat felt heavenly. Bucky pulled away and swam on his own for a bit, realizing that he had shifted all his weight onto you earlier.

“Where the hell were you?” he sounded hurt. “I was waiting, I waited the whole night.” He recalled how upset he was last night and you felt guilty for not showing up.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t explain why you didn’t show up! Where were you?” he wasn’t going to let you go without getting the truth out.

You hung your head down in shame and guilt. And Bucky knew what that look meant. “Come on up.” He swam over to the rocks and climbed up, thinking you were right behind him. But when he turned to look at you, he found you still in the water. He frowned. “Sweetheart, come on up.” He held his hand out for you. You swam a little closer but stayed in the water.

“I’m… I’m good here actually.” You tried your hardest to convince him but he didn’t buy any of it. He raised an eyebrow at your words.

“You don’t want to come up on our rock?” he sounded confused. And you couldn’t help but faintly smile at how it was ‘our rock’.

You shook your head gently. “No, I’m fine here.” You lied.

Bucky sighed in frustration. “Okay, just…” he exhaled loudly. “Tell me what’s going on, okay? Because first you disappear out of nowhere, then you come back a day later and act like this. What is going on?” he had the right to be a little mad. Hell, if he just disappeared out of nowhere like that you would be pretty upset as well.

You kept your head hung and decided to just be honest and tell him truth. So you began; you told Bucky about how you went to search for the potion. And how you accidentally found yourself in unknown, deep, dark and dangerous waters; far from home. And how you got lost for a long while, and almost became the meal to larger predators. And how you escaped, but were injured because one of them chased you and almost sank its teeth completely into your tail. You told him how you returned home; worn out, injured and bleeding and unable to swim properly. One of your siblings tended to your wound as soon as you got home but the pain was so bad that you passed out for hours and only woke up a few minutes ago.

Bucky listened attentively. Each new piece of information about the terrible situation hit him like a violent storm; leaving him breathless and mind blown in the worst way. So his gut feeling had been right all along; you were indeed lost and hurt so far away from him. And had things turned out just a little differently, he would perhaps never see you again.

Bucky remained quiet even when you were done talking, sheepishly filling him in on all that you did and all that happened to you. You knew a long lecture about your safety was coming sooner or later. But honestly, this time you deserved it. Then again, you were doing this for both of you. You were desperate to be part of his world and share this life with him, and you couldn’t do so until you were able to walk the ground he walks on.

After a few long minutes of silence, after processing all of it, he spoke up, “Let me see it.” He asked, referring to the wound you had gotten.

You got to the sandy shore and waited for Bucky to approach you with the burning touch in his hand. He squatted down beside you and inspected your tail thanks to the light provided by the torch. He found the wound at around the middle of your tail. A long, irritated and bloody gash. Part of which was wrapped in algae; he remembered you telling him that some algae were used as medicines by merpeople.

His demeanor changed as soon as he saw the wound. He felt guilty, because he was the initial reason why you were chasing after this potion. In some ways, although indirectly, he was the reason why you were hurt and he almost lost you forever had it not been for luck or your extreme survival skills and courage.

“What was it?” he asked, his voice was calm but it didn’t hide his anger nor his guilt completely.

“I didn’t see. It was too dark down there. But it was big and scary and loud.”

You could feel something bad was coming. A gut feeling, or something told you that something was going to happen soon which would hurt you a hundred times more than the wound on your body. Bucky planted the torch on the sand, a few feet far from where you sat, and he plopped down next to you. And something told you he was gathering the courage to say something which was going to break you.

Truth is, he was hurting. Hurting so bad that he wanted to scream and shout and beg someone, anyone, to make it stop. Like a thousand cuts, open and raw and bleeding – the pain was indescribable. He almost lost you, and he was going crazy just thinking about it. His head was almost dizzy and his heart was racing. He wasn’t thinking straight. All he knew was that he was the reason why you could’ve gotten killed and worse part is, if you did – he would never know.

“I can’t risk losing you.” he said, looking down at the sand beneath him.

You watched him intently. It always amazed you how perfect his side profile was. Perfect lips, perfect nose. Only today, his pretty eyes were sad. “You’re not going to. I’m fine. I came back, didn’t I?”

“Yeah but you also almost got eaten by some mysterious sea monster. And if you did, that would be on me.”

Oh no… you knew where this was going. “But I didn’t. I-,”

He cut you off quickly. “I love you, alright? I love you and I never knew it was humanly possible to love someone this much. But Y/N, I can’t sit here and watch you try to get yourself killed over something which probably doesn’t exist!” he paused, chest heaving as he tried to contain his emotions. “What if you go out there tomorrow and this time you didn’t come back? What then?”

You hung your head down as the image of a heartbroken Bucky filled your head. “What happened yesterday isn’t going to happen again. I know what to look out for now.”

“Do you?” he asked calmly, trying to make you realize that this was wrong. “You need to get this myth and give up this crazy obsession, you hear me? Why can’t we be normal and happy without it? Why can’t we just-,”

You cut him off rather coldly. “Because look at us!” you raised your voice a little. “There’s nothing normal about us! We can’t be anything more than this without it, it’s our only hope, why don’t you get it? We both want the same thing, Buck. I need to be with you, I want to. And this will-,”

He shook his head and then turned to you, “Can’t you see what’s happening? You almost got killed because of it!” he was getting hyper too.

You waited a little while before answering, trying to read him. “Not being with you is killing me as well.”

That broke him.

His anger vanished into thin air. “Come here, my little pearl.” His voice softened as he carefully pulled you onto his lap. Your tail rested sideways on his lap and you placed your head on his shoulder while his wrapped his arm protectively around you. “You got hurt because of me.” He stated softly.

You sighed and persisted. “No.”

He pressed his lips to the side of your head. “Yes, and that can’t keep happening. I won’t allow you put yourself in danger on my account.”

No… “Please don’t leave me.” You pushed your face into the crook of his neck to hide your tears. “Please.”

He sighed. “Can you promise me you will stop looking for that thing?”

“No.” You held on to the hope with all your heart that you will find it one day. You knew you were really close to finding it too, you couldn’t possibly give up now. Besides, once you did you and Bucky could be together forever without the barrier of physical differences and that was the only thing which mattered.

Bucky sighed in frustration. “This makes me feel so selfish. And guilty. And just overall terrible. You’re putting yourself in danger, you’re getting chased by predators, and you’re getting hurt and all for what? Me?” he paused and pulled away to look at you. “I love you that way you are, you don’t have to change for me. Just stop looking for this thing.” He sounded much calmer than before.

This was another fear of yours. How long would he be indifferent to the fact that you both were of different kinds? “A few years from now, you’re gonna want a wife. You’ll want kids, and a family. And I wouldn’t be able to give you any of that.”

“I don’t want any of that if it’s not with you.”

You sighed. He did too. Then he made a decision which hurt him more than anything. The sight of you wounded was heartbreaking. And he didn’t want to find you with a bigger wound the next day, or worse, he didn’t want you to lose your life. He would rather you live the rest of your life safely, without him, rather than risk your life trying to be with him.

“I have to let you go, my love.” he whispered the words you wished you hadn’t heard. You immediately circled your arms around him tighter and sniffled, nuzzling his neck.

“Please don’t.” you whispered. Bucky let the tear fall finally, unable to hold it in. You spoke again, “Each day I wake up and find that more and more of my people are moving far from here. It’s just a matter of time before they all leave, leaving me behind.”

The thought of you all alone down there where he couldn’t physically reach you or protect you was no less than a nightmare. But that path that you’d have to go down just to be with him was scary as well, and it would hurt you. So Bucky convinced himself that he was doing this for your own good. He took a deep breath, feeling a lump forming in his throat. “I have to do this.”

You sniffled again, tightening your arms around him. “No. You can’t give up on me. You’re all I have, Buck. Please.” You pleaded. He kissed the side of your head and cradled your head gently like you were a fragile glass figurine.

“You can have a long and beautiful life ahead. One where you won’t have to leave your home, where you won’t have to change or chase after a myth or get hurt-,” he stopped talking when he heard a sob escape your lips. He pulled you closer and hugged you tighter.

“No.” you cried, wetting his skin with your warm tears.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

“I love you, more than anything. And I know I will never be able to love another. But for your own well-being, I need to let you go. Because although it will kill me each day, I would rather live with the relief that you’re out there alive somewhere rather than live with the guilt that you got yourself killed while trying to be with me.” Bucky tried his hardest to keep his voice steady. He couldn’t.

“Don’t leave me.” Another sob left your lips.

He sighed, his breath shaky. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you, I always will. But I can’t see you getting hurt like this because of me. This is for your own good.” He pressed one last kiss to the top of your head and carefully lifted you off his lap and set you down on the sand again.

He got up and your heart began racing much faster than earlier. You felt like you were about to pass out again. Your heartache morphed into rage inside of you, but you managed to contain it. “This is it then, huh? You’re just gonna leave me here like everyone else and forget me and move on with your life?” your sounded bitter and you had every right to be.

Bucky looked down at you and blinked his tears away. “I could never forget you. And I will love you till my dying day. Believe me, this isn’t any easier for me. But this is the only way to stop you from getting yourself hurt or killed. You need to let go of that madness.”

You chuckled dryly at his words. Borderline angry, borderline hurt. “You were wrong when you said you were selfish. You’re not just that, but you’re a coward as well.” Bucky watched how you wiped your tears and got back into the water. And before you swam away, you turned around to look at him. “If you change your mind, I hope you hurt just like you’re hurting me. But unlike you, I won’t be giving up on us.” You spat at him before you swam away as fast as you could.

As he watched you leave, he second guessed what he had done. He hoped you didn’t think that he loved you any less because you were different and belonged to a different world than him.

You didn’t think that way. And you knew he loved you just as much as you loved him but you had never expected him to take such drastic steps. You were hurting and before you knew it, you found yourself diving deeper. And while overthinking and bearing your heartache, realization hit a little later than usual and you found yourself swimming further and further away from home; into deeper and darker waters…

 -

When Bucky got back home, he was greeted by his close friends all waiting for him in the well-lit dining room; all sat around the large, oval stone table with goblets in front of them. Bucky tried his hardest to greet them like he normally did.

“You know we can see right through your bullshit, right?” Sam spoke first. The rest of his friends stared at him and Bucky knew that they knew that something was up. They were the closest friends he had, they were family and he knew they could see right through him.

“What do you mean?” Bucky asked, trying to act cool and received a bunch of groans and sighs of frustrations.

Steve spoke up next, “You leave almost every day at midnight. You row to God knows where, then you come back at the crack of dawn. And now you look like you’re a sad trader who just lost all his ships.” Steve spoke almost teasingly, but his concern could be heard in his voice.

“We’re your family, you know you can tell us anything.” Thor spoke up next.

“What is it, Barnes? Tell us.” Okoye spoke after. She was the kindest, strongest woman Bucky had ever come across.

Bucky hesitated. Oh so they noticed? He was glad that they did, because that would make talking about it a little easier. Only the issue here was, would they believe him if he told them the truth? Or would they just think that he’s lost it?

“Bucky. Talk.” Sam was beginning to lose his patience.

Bucky took a deep breath as he took a seat at the table as well. He grabbed the nearby jug of wine and filled the goblet closest to him and took a long sip. Then exhaled loudly and began talking.

“It’s… a woman.” His first few words earned him curious looks and a smirk from Okoye. “Well, not exactly a woman but…”

Ten minutes later, Bucky finally finished filling his friends in on all that’s been going on for the past many months. He told them about his unusual love life involving you. And how things began getting complicated and then gave them necessary details about your recent break up. They listened with straight faces. And despite being a bunch who always joked around, they were surprisingly serious as he talked.

When he was done, his friends were all quiet for a whole minute. Then Okoye spoke up,“You broke that poor thing’s heart when she spent all this time loving you?”

When she put it like that, something shattered inside Bucky. “I… I love her and I couldn’t sit there and watch her-,” Bucky stopped talking as Okoye shot him a glare. And that glare spoke volumes so he immediately stopped talking.

“Don’t make excuses. You broke her heart.” Okoye said in her no nonsense tone. “She wanted to come live with you. Among us. What’s so wrong with that?”

Bucky answered quickly after taking another sip of wine. “There’s nothing wrong with that. But how could I support that decision of hers when it would only hurt her even more. And the worse thing is, even if she’s trapped somewhere down there, I would never know.” he took a deep breath. “What if she dies chasing this god damned potion? What about me then?”

His words did make his friends think some more. Maybe his intention had been right, but the way he dealt with the situation wasn’t so right.

Steve whispered under his breath, “Well, love really does make people go crazy.”

Bucky spoke up again. “She was so hell bent and obsessed with finding that nonsense that she wasn’t realizing she was putting herself in danger.” His chest heaved, his emotions choking him. “She shouldn’t have to change for my love. She should embrace who she is and live her life. And be safe and happy.” At this point, he began doubting his own words and actions.

Could he himself live without you? How long could he pretend that ‘doing the right thing’ wasn’t killing him already?

“Why are you so against the potion?” Thor asked.

Bucky ran a hand through his hair. “Because it doesn’t exist. It’s a myth, a legend.”

“How do you know?” Sam asked, leaning back in his seat. His brown eyes staring into Bucky’s blue ones. “Months ago merpeople were myths to you as well. Now you’re foolishly in love with one of them.” he reasoned.

Bucky got really quiet again and avoided everyone’s eyes. Had he… had he made a terrible, terrible mistake?

Steve spoke up, leaning his elbows on the stone table. “Look, all this potions and merpeople, this all just proves that there’s a whole other world beneath us that we know nothing about. We should respect them. For their own safety, and we could at least try and protect them by keeping this a secret just between us.” He paused then stared at Bucky, “What we shouldn’t do is break their hearts when they’ve fallen in love with us!”

Yup, he deserved that one.

“You said it yourself, family and friends first. She’s your girl, she’s family. The least you could do was trust her and not give up on her.” Sam said in a serious tone. “Besides, how can you say for sure that she’ll give up on trying to find that potion now?”

Well shit. He hadn’t thought about that. He froze, tensing up at Sam’s words. Shit, shit, shit.

“You should go apologize. Now.” Okoye suggested.

Bucky groaned and wanted to bang his head on the wall. “She took off. She’s mad at me.” He mumbled and his friends all rolled their eyes at him and groaned in annoyance, mainly at his stupidity.

-

Heeding his friends’ words, Bucky went to find you the next day at nightfall. Except he didn’t have to be sneaky this time because they all knew he was leaving. But when he got to the isle and called out your name, you didn’t show up.

And a bad vibe loomed around him and around the place. He knew immediately that he had indeed, majorly messed up. He shouldn’t have let go of you like that. He thought he was doing the right thing but turns out, he ruined the best thing in his life.

Bucky waited at the shore. Heartbroken and hurt and angry – at himself. He was just trying to keep you safe. But in doing so, had he just lost the love of his life? For good this time?

#bucky barnes au #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #pirate!bucky #mermaid!reader #bucky barnes smut #bucky barnes fluff #marvel au #bucky barnes

[ikeromantic]

An Uncertain Alliance

A Mitsuhide Akechi fanfic- this scene occurs at the start of Ch. 11 (romantic route- picking one was hard!). Approx 3000 words of fluff and stuff. 

First: Mitsuhide and the Maiden

Previous: Fox Hunt

Mitsuhide took a few more days in Kyoto to wrap up his business. He could have managed most with letters, but he wanted to be here for any reply from Mouri. The madman’s participation wasn’t a requirement to move forward, but his access to men and weapons would make life so much simpler. And it was an excuse to pamper his little mouse.

Not that he let her know that was his objective. To her it was just happenstance that their trip to visit an informant passed by a beautiful garden or a talented street performer. Or that the tea shop they stopped in surprisingly carried her favorite snacks. Her joy was Mitsuhide’s pleasure. He stored every memory of her delighted smiles and happy sighs. The look in her eyes when something took her breath away. 

And so he was almost disappointed the day the letter came, informing him Mouri would meet him at an upcoming festival in Kyoto. Mitsuhide didn’t want to discuss Mouri with his little one. Besides, he wasn’t sure what he could say that would do justice to the man and his reputation. So all he told her was that they’d be going to the festival together. 

It was a good location for a contact. Any city guards would be busy keeping order and no one there would likely know either of them on sight. Plus, the crowds would make it hard to get away with any violent double-cross. Still, it made him uneasy.

Meeting Mouri in a place he chose meant trusting there was no trap. And trusting Mouri was like expecting a rabid dog not to bite. Or, not to bite you anyway. 

“Are you worried about our mission,” she asked him as they walked through the crowded festival avenues. 

Mitsuhide glanced down at her and smiled. “No - not about our mission.” His little mouse looked as if she might squeak up again, so he added, “Let’s not think about it and just enjoy the festival together, hm?”

She frowned. “How can I not think about it? I mean, the sho-ah, shark-eyes, is planning our destruction as we speak!” 

“As we are planning his.” He stopped and faced her. “Right now, I am more interested in plotting a pleasant evening with you.” The half-truth stung, but he needed her to relax. To smile. To be his light. Because he knew he would do terrible, dark things still and without that balance, he would lose this sliver of peace they’d made together.

His little one blinked, surprised by the intensity of his response. “Oh. Well, that does sound nice . . .”

“Look,” Mitsuhide pointed toward a nearby food stall. “Candy sculptures.” The distraction worked as intended. Her gaze lit on the delicate confections, twisted around sticks into all kinds of shapes. 

She clapped her hands together in excitement. “They are so pretty! Can we get one?”

“We can get as many as you like,” he chuckled, letting her lead him to the stall. While she was ogling the display, he asked for two crane candies. Cranes were life-mates. Bonded from the moment they touched. He wasn’t sure she would understand the symbolism, but that was alright. 

Then they walked on, hand in hand, enjoying the sugary treat. 

“I’m glad you decided to bring me here,” she said after a moment.

“Well, it was you that reminded me humans - and kitsune - cannot go on without rest.” Mitsuhide watched her from the corner of his eye. She was finally smiling. Her small, pink tongue darted out to taste the candied crane. It made him want to kiss her. To taste the sugar on her lips, which would be far sweeter than the confection in his hand. He quite suddenly wished they were back in their room at the inn.

“Good.” She grinned over at him and bumped her hip against his leg. “So, why cranes? There were horses and dragons. Those colorful fish ones.”

A slight blush stained his cheeks as he realized she might have caught on to his choice. He cleared his throat. “Did you know that cranes mate for life?” He used the candy to ‘kiss’ her cheek. 

Her eyes went wide and her smile was soft and full of affection. She raised her candy up to give him a kiss on the lips. 

Mitsuhide took advantage of the moment to ‘kiss’ the crane back, which brought a rosy color to her cheeks too. The moment ended all too soon though. He saw the man they were here to meet approaching. Tall, and limned in red-lantern light that stained him blood-red. Motonari Mouri.

“Look,” he gestured toward the figure. “That is one of our potential allies. What lucky -”

“So this is the real reason we came to the festival. I knew it had to be more than a fun night out!” She looked up at him, eyes dancing. “You can’t fool me, kitsune.”

Mitsuhide smiled fondly. “I suppose not. But a nice evening with you is also part of the plan. This is just the part I didn’t mention earlier.”

Her gaze went back to Mouri. “Who is he? What does he do?”

“Hmm. I suppose you could call him an artisan of violence. A creatively murderous fighter. I almost shudder to think of the horrors awaiting anyone that crosses him.” Mitsuhide’s tone was playful, but he was deadly serious about Mouri. He wanted her to understand this was not a kind soul they were allying with, but a killer.

His little one nodded once, squaring her shoulders. She might have asked more, but Mouri was too close now for further conversation.

“I gotta say, Kyoto knows how to have a festival.” Motonari greeted them with his usual swagger. “Nice as it is, this place is gonna be yer funeral if I don’t like what ya got to say. Savvy?” He took in Mitsuhide with a wary glance and then looked to the chatelaine. Where his eyes lingered longer than necessary.

Mitsuhide felt his jaw twitch and did his best to restrain the reaction. 

His little one took a step back, her face going pale. This only encouraged Mouri. 

“Who’s yer little friend here, eh?” Motonari took a step closer to her, raising a hand as if he was going to touch her.

Mitsuhide stepped between them smoothly. “This is my fiancee.”

Motonari grinned wider. “You brought your little lady to parley. With me.” He laughed, a sound edged with madness. “I like a man that doesn’t respect the rules.”

The chatelaine poked her head around to look at Mouri. 

“My love, this is Motonari Mouri. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.” Which he was because he’d given her that lesson himself. 

“Of course.” She came out to stand beside him, putting her brave face on. “You conquered the whole south but . . . I thought you died?”

Mouri laughed again. “I gotta say, the best part o’ that introduction is the bit where yer eyes went wide with horror.” 

Mitsuhide did not appreciate the way Mouri’s gaze swept up and down his little mouse, or the rise of his brows as he tried - in his crude way - to flirt. “Yes, she is a delight isn’t she? Touch her and you’ll leave this meeting with one less hand.” A crude threat for a crude man . . . or so he rationalized.

“That so? Guess it depends on how many parts you plan ta leave behind.” Motonari threw back his head, laughing so hard he shook. 

The chatelaine interrupted with a polite cough. “If - if I may ask - how did you two meet?”

“Until recently, we were both in the service of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki,” Mitsuhide replied. He didn’t want to give Mouri the opportunity to characterize their relationship, such as it was.

Motonari got control of himself in time to nod, adding. “I slipped out before Mitsuhide here. But I promised him a good bloodbath before I left.” He wiped a fleck of spittle from his lip. “So, out with it. Why’d you invite me to meet?” 

Mitsuhide watched Mouri slide his gloved hands into his jacket. He took out a pistol and spun it lazily, waiting for an answer. “Motonari, there’s no need to play coy. You know why I contacted you. You watched my little drama play out at Honnoji, from start to unsatisfying finish.” He pointedly did not look directly at the gun and kept his expression one of thin-lipped indifference.

“Mind-reader. No wonder people get so twitchy around you.” Mouri shrugged one shoulder, his eyes narrowing. “You want help killing the shogun.”

“Very much so.”

Mouri pointed the pistol at Mitsuhide. “Does it get drafty in that big empty space o’ yer head? I didn’t come here tonight to get disappointed!”

The chatelaine bit her lip and looked for a moment as if she might run. Mitsuhide could feel the way her body tensed, but she held still. 

All he did was raise an eyebrow. “Oh? What part of this disappoints?”

Motonari scoffed. “How ‘bout the whole damn thing? Tell ya what - I got one goal. Just one. And that’s ta get you and Kenshin. Shingen. Nobunaga. Hell, anyone worth a damn, into one big, bloody melee.” His lips twitched into a half smile. “If everyone’s not trying to kill each other, then it’s not much of a party!” 

He gestured at Mitsuhide with his gun. “Ya think I’m gonna waste my time with some small fry like the shogun? I should shoot you right here, right now, in place o’ asking fer an apology. In fact.” He stroked the unlit fuse.. “I think I will.” Mouri pressed the barrel against Mitsuhide’s head, digging the iron into his skin.

Mitsuhide knew his little one was contemplating some mad attempt to ‘rescue’ him and rather than reply to Motonari, he first looked at her. Waiting to see a slight nod that meant she understood she was to stay still. He had this handled. In fact, it was going better than he’d expected. Mouri was playing right into his hands.

“I see. You plan to leave the shogun free to roam, ensuring that your long dreamed of bloodbath remains only a fantasy.” Mitsuhide sighed. “I expected better from you.”

Mouri raised an eyebrow. His pistol didn’t so much as twitch.

“Surely you see it.” Mitsuhide waited a beat, then continued. “The shogun will never engage with Nobunaga - or any of his enemies - in open combat. If he did, he might lose. Instead he will seek to assassinate them, one at a time. Subtly. An accident here, a mysterious illness there. Until there are none left to take the field. No celebration. No battle. Only quiet, pathetic deaths. One enemy after another. Who knows, perhaps he would even target you.”

“I’m not afraid of him.” Motonari’s defiant reply was somewhat spoiled by the nervous way he licked his lips.

Mitsuhide smiled. “Of course not. But your bloodbath will be severely lacking when there is no one there to bleed. A good party requires . . . guests - does it not?”

Mouri chuckled. “Ya got a silver tongue. But it’ll be so much viscera on the paving stones when I pull this trigger.”

“Mhmm. I imagine parts of me would travel quite far. Perhaps spattering the food stall there, or some of those festival-goers.”

“They told me you were tricky, kitsune. But no one mentioned you were mad.” Motonari closed the distance between them until he was close enough to kiss. 

Mitsuhide stared into the depths of his red glare, imitating the madman’s own body language. Gold on scarlet glinted in the light of the festival lanterns in this space of tense silence.

Then Motonari started laughing. His breath smelled of sake and tobacco. “Alright. Ya got me. I’m in, just this once.” And he lowered his pistol.

Mitsuhide watched as the madman carefully wiped down the barrel and placed it back in the holster. His hand found the chatelaine’s icy fingers. He gripped her hand tightly. She was alright and so was he. The gambit had paid off.

“The only place I’ll let Nobunaga and the rest die is in a sea of blood and gunpowder. By my hand.” Motonari sounded certain as he said this. As sure as he would be telling them the sun would rise in the east.

“Then I believe we have a deal.” Mitsuhide knew the bargain would only last so long as Mouri saw the necessity of it. And stayed entertained. Hopefully they could locate the shogun quickly and be done with this.

Motonari gave a snort that might be agreement, then gestured to the candy Mitsuhide still held. “Say, why don’t ya treat yer new ally to some o’ that fancy candy, huh?”

“You . . . want candy?” Mitsuhide couldn’t help the ways his eyebrows rose. 

“Yeah. So run along and get some fer me. The lady an’ I will wait fer ya right here.” Mouri took a step toward the chatelaine. 

Mitsuhide didn’t need to be psychic to know what ran through his little mouse’s head. It was written in her face in large, panicked script. ‘Don’t leave me alone with this maniac!’ The kitsune thought fast. “I am sure I could deliver a better token of friendship to you at a later da-”

“I ain’t asking fer a better token o’ whatever.” His voice rasped and his hand moved toward the holster of his gun again. 

That was the problem with unstable allies. They couldn’t be relied on. Even the simplest things could set them off. Any situation could become a violent one at the drop of a pin. But what bothered Mitsuhide the most was this. There was only one reason for this particular request. Mouri wanted to be alone with the chatelaine. Why?

“Yer girl will still be here when ya get back.” Motonari smiled like a shark. A hungry one.

“Go ahead, Mitsu. Get him some candy. I’ll be fine.” She gave Mitsuhide an uneasy smile.

“I’ll be right back.” It made him feel ill to say it but Mitshide knew it would be better to go along with the madman than to fight him on such a small request. And besides, if he tried anything, the chatelaine would scream. Then, Mouri would lose more than his life. So it was reasonably safe to leave them for a few minutes.

Mitsuhide glanced back at them as he hurried away. Mouri was sitting beside the chatelaine now, almost close enough for his hip to touch hers. Bile surged in his belly. No one should be so close to his little mouse. No one but him. Just hurry up, he told himself. Hurry and get back.

He found a closer stall with the same kinds of candy and picked out a fish for Motonari. Then hurried back. His little one was smiling at the madman and Mouri looked . . . confused. Jealousy burned through his veins in a wave, and he almost ran the last few steps, shoving the stick of candy between the two of them. “There. Your candy. Now get away from her.”

The last sentence was almost a growl, and Mitsuhide couldn’t help the way he reached for his little one. Pulled her close. She was his, her smile and her laugh. Her kind eyes. Mouri deserved to be close to none of it. 

Even as the jealousy burned through him, a colder, more logical part of Mitsuhide scolded him for his rash behavior. This was not like him at all. This display. What did it hurt, even if Motonari was flirting with the chatelaine? Nothing, really. Except . . . except Mitsuhide didn’t want her to be anywhere near that madman. She could get hurt. Not just physically - but her heart and her sweet spirit. He had to protect her.

Motonari seemed unaffected as he took the stick of candy and popped it in his mouth. “There’s somethin’ wrong with yer lady friend. She’s crazier’n I am,” he said around the stick.

“There is nothing wrong with her. She is perfect.” The words were out before he’d even had time to consider his response. This was . . . odd. He never spoke without thinking. Never.

“That so? Cause from here it looks like her madness is contagious. Gettin’ worse from person to person.” He chomped down on the candy, crushing the spun sugar figure between his teeth.

Mitshide’s first instinct was to slap the sweet out of his mouth and break his teeth with a well-placed elbow. But he held himself still, rigid. His heart was beating fast and he felt hot - shaky. Acting now would be . . . ill-advised.

Motonari shook his head and stood up. He addressed the chatelaine. “Better hope yer man doesn’t get tripped up by his love-addled brain. If he does,” he took the candy out of his mouth and pointed toward her with the jagged, chewed end. “I’ll fall on you.”

This threat was more than Mitsuhide could stand still for. He pushed his little one behind him and grabbed the hilt of his sword. “You will stay away from her! If you take a step closer to her - now or ever - I will remove your head from your neck.” The words were a barely audible snarl.

If Mouri was worried about this, it didn’t show. He only smiled his shark-like grin. “Where’d your disguise go, kitsune? Your real face is showing now. Barking like a fox in a trap.”

Mitsuhide tried to get control of his breath. To push the murderous rage in his chest back down. To slide his mask back into place. 

From behind him, his little one hugged his back. “There’s nothing to worry about. My Mitsuhide won’t trip up.”

Motonari shrugged. “We’ll see.” Then he was walking away, swagger firmly in place.

Mitsuhide watched him go, and when he was out of sight, finally let go of his sword hilt. He was shaking. He turned to wrap his arms around his little one. Feeling her warm body pressed tight, the steady rhythm of heartbeat and breath, calmed him. She was here and safe and his. 

“Are you alright,” she asked, her voice muffled against him.

“Yes. I . . . I’m fine.” But he wasn’t. This was only the first of several dangerous meetings they would need to undergo in this quest to see the shogun taken down. There would be more meetings with Mouri and others. He had to find a way to control this - this response of his. Otherwise Motonari was right.

Next: Future-Speak

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen mitsuhide #Mitsuhide Akechi #ikesen motonari #otome guys #otome #fanfiction #fanfic

[enjolrasesque]

Letters of Starsea

posting my Violet Evergarden AU fic here because why not?

word count: 6.4k

also in ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32894488/chapters/81632011

Chapter 1: From the Bottom of my Heart

          The darkened skies over the horizon casted a gloomy gaze upon the world and the bustling Liyue Harbor seems to be livelier than it was in the morning. The streetlights and gaudy paper lanterns flickered to life on the busy streets. Guiding the people to their destinations, illuminating the roadside stalls and small shops and their products and wares up for bargaining.

Ajax always liked the atmosphere in Liyue no matter how humid it is compared to Snezhnaya; he always found himself coming back to the city. And now, he’s not alone as he traversed through the busy streets, trailing behind him is a lady of small stature with golden hair and golden doe eyes who never strayed and always followed him.

Tonight of course was no exception.

He could feel her presence, how she could never be bothered by things nor care for the noise and high spirits of her surroundings. The way she followed him like a lost puppy was adorable at an extent, but the more she sticked, the more it tore his heart to see her like that. So innocent yet…

Her presence waned, and he stopped his tracks to look back at her. She was standing in front of a little stall, finding her too enamored with whatever caught her eyes along the numerous precious gems and delightful trinkets the shop was selling.

“What’s the matter Lumine?”

She looked at him with those big golden eyes, “I see your eyes. It’s the same color as your eyes.”

He felt a lump grow on his throat and furrowed his brows in a mix of emotions too complicated to sort. Walking closer he looked upon the item she was eyeing. It was a lovely brooch a little smaller than the size of her small fists. Oval shaped sapphire framed on ornate gold, sparkling like the deep blue sea, so blue it drowned her. Pulled her until it swallowed her whole.

Lumine turned her eyes again to the brooch, clutching her chest, “When I saw it, I felt something. I wonder…”

“What is that feeling called?”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

It may not seem like it, but Scaramouche like taking walks to appreciate nature, but never in his life did he appreciate walking long distances, especially as the sun beats down on the earth like a madman. He really wanted to appreciate the healthy marsh of Dihua—vast skies and clear waters, graceful cranes flocking with one another—but it bothers him how his black shirt clung on his chest as sweat trickled from his forehead; his large hat didn’t help with repelling the heat flaring from the ground.

Unfortunately, as much of a prick he is said to be, he owed his dear friend a promise. Now here he was unable to take a leisurely stroll before going to work and instead in front of a quaint hospital far away from the capital city of another nation, ready to fetch the Battle Doll of Snezhnaya as per his friend’s request.

The Battle Doll’s existence is kept under the wraps. Those who knew of her were her comrades during the war and the enemies who saw her unmatched prowess, either way, both parties who knew her took her as a blade who would cut anyone’s throat... A gun who would shoot your enemies on the temple. A girl barely with human qualities (whatever makes a human) who will fight and win battles as she was ordered to. A mindless bomb that would kill without second thoughts once detonated.

The large Cuihua door of the small hospital opened, revealing a nurse who bowed to him with respect, “Master Harbinger, please, follow me.”

The interior of the hospital wasn’t that bad for a hospital far from the city, the wooden walls were painted beige, unlit seashell lamps on the wall as the sun beamed happily through the numerous windows along the building.

BANG! A loud clatter was heard along the corridors, snapping Scaramouche’s appraisal as he took off his hat. The nurse hurriedly excused herself as she followed the sound, Scaramouche jogging along with her.

“Ah! Miss Lumine!” the nurse gasped at the scene they arrived to, the girl was on the floor bandages on her arms and patches on her head, papers and a quill littering around her.

The Battle Doll looked vulnerable at this state. Ah, no. Scaramouche corrected himself, that was not the word appropriate to use... although it held truth. She did not look vulnerable. Rather she looked normal. Not unlike what she was painted as, a heartless tool who only knows to follow the orders she’s directed to do.

He crouched and decided to help the nurse raise her up with the nurse inquiring: “Are you hurt?”

The Battle Doll of Snezhnaya… No… Lumine, Scaramouche found correcting himself again, did not answer the question. Her lips were pursed as she started looking around for more. Fliting her pupils around and to the door wide open before finally speaking. “Where is he? Where’s Master Ajax?”

The mauve haired man anticipated this of course and answered in an even tone: “He’s not here.”

“Where is he? Is he back at home? Is he on leave? How about his injuries?” the girl’s question and tone did not falter, and Scaramouche could only listen. “He had grave injuries! How is he? He’s alive right?”

Scaramouche was taken aback by the girl’s actions, he already knew of the clear attachment and perhaps even reverence that she held for his coworker, but he was certainly shocked to see it first-hand.

“Ah good news Miss Lumine,” the nurse decided to chime in. “You can be discharged now. Master Harbinger Scaramouche came all the way here to pick you up.

“Ah,” he got up, taking a few pieces of paper from the floor in the process, “Yes.”

Lumine hastily got up and offered a salutation, “Pardon me, Master Harbinger Scaramouche.”

“At ease, Lumine.”

“I am terribly sorry to report that I could not remember your name and rank, my lord.”

“That matters little. Now take a seat. Do you remember me?”

“Yes. We met twice. First at the training barracks and second at the night before the final battle.”

“What were you doing?” he glanced at the remaining papers and quill set down by the nurse to the overhead table. A piece of paper, clearly meant to be a letter, caught his eyes.

“I am writing a report for Master Ajax. I was told that putting pen to paper would also help in my recovery. What happened to him?”

Seems there really was no stopping this girl from inquiring about the red headed dumbass, the short man sighed, “That idiot Childe asked me to come here and fetch you."

“I see, he’s alive and well. The doctors and nurses said we won the war. When will I rendezvous with him?”

He did not answer, waving his hands to dismiss her thoughts, “Get dressed. I’ll call us a ride.”

The vehicle arrived a little longer than anticipated, some moments later after lunch. Perhaps it was because of how far Dihua is from the capitol, and the tides washing the roads made it a little hard for to pass through that vehicles had to take a detour through the forest.

“Here are your belongings,” the nurse smiled at Lumine, handing her a brown suitcase, “The courier said that it came a little later as it was mistakenly shipped off to another camp.”

Lumine hurriedly opened the suitcase, inspecting all her items with hastiness, “My brooch…” she murmured. Her aloof face paired with her fiery golden eyes looked at the nurse, her voice raised. “Where’s my sapphire brooch?”

“Ah, but they said that’s the only items found on your headquarters and by your side.”

Lumine locked her swiftly, standing up so fast that Scaramouche felt he would be dizzy if he did the same. “I see. Then I must look for it if it’s not here.” Dragging her still recovering body with her tiny feet as fast as she could, she jogged down the road, causing the purple haired Harbinger to sigh, feeling a migraine forming from the heat, with a dash of forcing himself to be cordial, and a sprinkle of the girl’s stubbornness in relation to Ajax. He yanked her arm to stop her, looking at her eyes with impasse.

“It’s important! It’s a gift from Master Ajax!”

With a sigh, Scaramouche let her arm go and rubbed his temples, “Fine. I’ll find it for you. I promise.”

“Then make a pinkie promise!” she said, holding out a pinkie.

He indulged the girl holding out his pinky the girl quickly latching hers with his. “You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off, so you never lie again.” They said synchronously both with detachment, but with Lumine doing it anyway as her Master Ajax taught her, though Scaramouche’s compliance bordered to annoyance.

‘Ah, yes’, he thought after hearing those rhymes again. Snezhnayans and their vodka, and their pinkie promises and morbid nursery rhymes as intense as the cold winters of the nation. Scaramouche was thankful that even though he grew up in the said country he didn’t adapt all those nonentities, but one will say, a certain blockhead with ginger haired called Childe, maybe those macabre nursery rhymes are suitable for Scaramouche’s height and his violent nature. The ginger idiot even passed his idiocy on to Lumine, how charming.

“Alright, now that we’re done let’s get moving… As Childe's order.”

There was hesitance on her being but nonetheless after a few heart beats passed, “Roger that.”

The silence as they traversed the roads on the thicket didn’t last long, as once again, Lumine asked about the Harbinger she serves. “Master Scaramouche, when will Master Ajax give me my next assignment? Some missions may be beyond me while I am at this state, but...”

“Lumine,” he cut her off. Perhaps it was time for him to heed Mona’s advice. Scaramouche lifted his hat from across the car, grabbing four, small stuffed animals: a lemon-colored bunny, a cat as black as soot, a red fox, and a gray owl. “Let’s celebrate your discharge, choose one. I don’t know your preferences, so I bought all of it.”

“I don’t need them.”

Scaramouche hid his crestfallen look— ‘So much for this to cheer people up huh? Thanks to nothing Mona!’ he thought. But of course, he won’t falter, he knew that in some ways he can coax the girl to choose one. Maybe tell her its an order, but again, upon request, he can’t treat the Battle Doll of Snezhnaya as a Battle Doll but rather as a normal girl.

“Let’s say the sun will fall upon the world if you don’t choose one… Pick!”

“One… Two…”

“The fox then.”

“Great!” he sighed inwardly. While he did have money for that luxury, he has more important things to put his money on. And now that he thought of it, perhaps Mona just wanted some stuffed animals and somehow with her weird hydromancy knows that he’ll not give all the toys to the girl.

Lumine gingerly took the item, squishing the soft material, pulling it closer to her face.

“Why did you choose the fox?”

“It’s the closest to a dog and Master Harbinger’s older sister said I am Ajax’s dog.”

Scaramouche choked on nothing at her answer. The girl really has no awareness about society, and as for Childe’s older sister… that woman really doesn’t know how to bite her tongue, and here he thought he was the most heartless of all the Harbingers. “Ahem. This journey will take a little while as the railroads are useless. Have you ever been to Snezhnaya?”

Lumine shook her head, “No.”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

Lumine’s moments during the final battle was marked with blood. So much blood that it soaked her and Childe’s military uniform like a heavy downpour of rain. The corridor they were staying on was dark and the deep night skies made the chambers darker. For Lumine, her Master Harbinger is her light. A beacon glowing beautifully despite all the blood seeping on his garb and his bleeding left eye.

“Lumine.” His boyish voice drew her in like a moth to a light. “You must live and be free.”

Her chest tightened, tears beginning to well upon her eyes. The feeling she couldn’t comprehend put a chokehold on her heart. There was too much going on in her mind and her heart is giving out too with just those thoughts and the scene in front of her. Her Master Harbinger covered in his own blood; blue eyes with tears threatening to spill.

“From the bottom of my heart…”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

Snezhnaya is known for its long, severe winters, white blanketing the whole nation, but none talked much about its beauty during the spring, when the ice and snow thawed out giving way to grass patches littered with chamomile and golden root, a cool spring breeze whispering on the land. This is the kind of walks Scaramouche likes, not the blazing sun beating down in Dihua.

“Ajax was worried about your life after the war. He told me he wanted to leave you in the care of the Gunnhildr Family, a faraway relative that he trusts enough to care for you.” Scaramouche informed her once they were in front of the Gunnhildr manor. “The current master of the Gunnhildr agreed to take you in.”

The manor wasn’t too large but that made it look prettier in a sense. The house was made of gray and brownish bricks and blue green tiled roof, the walls had philameno mushrooms sticking from it as if it hasn’t been cleaned. The garden had firmly cut hedges and little pine trees, shrubs of different colors and sizes, but unlike the other gardens, instead of chamomile and tulips, there were a few rose bushes and seemingly a thousand of dandelions instead.

The pine door of the mansion opened before Lumine could speak, revealing a taller lady with blonde hair tied with a black bow in a ponytail and blue eyes the same color as her dress. She smiled, “Welcome.”

“Come, Lumine.” Scaramouche gestured for her to come closer to the stranger who will take her in. “This is Jean Gunnhildr, she was once the Acting Grandmaster of the academy we went in, although she’s not too far from our age, she’s also the next head of the Gunnhildr family.”

Lumine straightened her back and saluted, a serious look on her doll-like face. Jean smiled a little in shock and perhaps adoration at the girl’s antics while Scaramouche looked like he just tasted the worst chamomile tea in his life after that one time (when Childe gave him a chamomile tea that tasted like the man’s bullshit). Quickly regaining his composure, “Just a simple bow would be enough.”

The Gunnhildr’s sitting room had the atmosphere of something classic, ornate furniture of red pine wood, a soft, large, red carpet with the pattern of dandelions and wings, related to the Gunnhildr’s tight relation with the Nation of Freedom, tall but thin windows with red curtains parting to let light pass through. Glass lamps on the walls and pots and paintings of different flowers ranging from irises to violets and dandelions. The table was set with a cake stand filled with tiny desserts and steaming rose tea, the room smelled of ripe sunsettias and rose perfume.

Jean was the first to talk once they were seated comfortably, addressing how long the 6th of the 11 Harbingers came along with the girl. “I did not know that travelling from Dihua Marsh would take up to a week now.”

Scaramouche nodded, “Yes. Normally it would take only a couple of days or four at most, but the railways on Stone Gate had collapsed and it will take time to get it back on track.”

Jean looked at the other blonde who was silently listening and patiently seated, though her golden eyes were far off from the reality she’s currently on. “Lumine, drink up.” She offered with a smile.

The girl of course, nodded at the order, her bandaged hands grasping the clear glass cup of rose tea. The lady of the Gunnhildr gasped as she saw the unstable rocking of the teacup on her hands, “Lumine, oh, Archons, pardon me! Do not push yourself!”

But what was done is done. The teacup fell back on its saucer the rose tea and petals spilling on the table, drenching one of her bandaged hands.

“Oh!” Jean stood up, not wanting to make the injuries of the girl worse, “You’ll get burned!”

“Please do not worry. I do not feel heat.”

“But we must use another bandage after that! Noelle, bring us some ice!”

The maid behind them nodded and followed up to the directions quickly. “Yes ma’am.” Lumine acted first before anything, her other hand started taking off the bandages doused with hot tea, pulling the eyes of everyone on the room. Her bandages fell to her lap, revealing that instead of warm porcelain skin the same color of her face, the supposed gentle arms of a young lady were made of cold and hard metal.

“My arms are made of adamantine. They may seem clumsy, but they are very sturdy. I’m just not used to them,” she raised her bandaged arms as she looked at Jean’s concerned face, the joints and all the spaces glittering in metallic sheen. “But I believe they will act just like another part of my body.”

Jean’s look was now etched with a serene smile after a few moments, she admires this girl, that’s what she decided from then on. “Please come with me for a moment.”

Following Jean was Lumine and Scaramouche to a room just a little away from the sitting room, filled with pictures of Jean herself, and perhaps her parents, and one portrait of Jean and a young girl with two curly pigtails that Lumine thinks she remembers.

“Here,” Jean turned and offered Lumine a pair of black gloves with a purple rose embroidered on each, “I used to wear them when I was still in the academy.”

Scaramouche nodded, remembering the times Jean did her rounds at the academy in her signature gloves with embroidered roses, always holding one cane on her hand to whack students almost of her age to go forth to their respective classes. “Try them on.”

The smaller blonde took the gloves from Jean’s hands, and with the help of her teeth, she managed to put them on her hands thoroughly.

“It fits you perfectly.”

“Truly.”

“Alright, I’m taking my leave then. I must get back to the office.” Scaramouche spoke as Lumine glanced at the gloves covering her hand. “Lumine. Be good and listen to Jean, understood?”

“It’s alright, I’m sure Lumine is a wonderful girl, Barbara told me so.” Jean looked at Lumine, “Think of us as your real family, okay? You can talk to me with whatever concerns you.”

“I never had a family. I do not need a new one,” spoke Lumine’s monotonous voice.

“A family makes one’s life better at most,” Jean spoke, “Me and my late sister only have our father left but then Barbara died when helping during the war.”

“I cannot be a replacement for Miss Barbara.”

“Lumine,” Scaramouche started sternly, his authoritative aura slipping through. “Childe wants you to live a happy and fulfilled life in this household. I’m sure you understand that… Right?”

Scaramouche already knows it, but the Battle Doll of Snezhnaya was very persistent with anything related to the 11th Harbinger. So, when the door of the Gunnhildr’s mansion opened revealing Lumine, it wasn’t much a shock either.

“Why is Master Ajax putting me here? Is it because I lost my arms and my value as a weapon?” She asked him, slowly walking towards him with those ever fire in her eyes, the only thing constant in her nonetheless emotionless face, “I know that if I train again, I can fight like before!”

“Lumine, the war is over.”

“I’m the 11th Harbinger’s tool,” she declared. “But if I am no longer needed, then dispose of me. Please cast me aside and throw me somewhere else.”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

He is a dick. That much was evident, but as for the few days he had spent with Childe’s little lady, he found out he too can be civil. He is a dick but that doesn’t mean he had the heart to snap to the girl who carried herself like a soldier, looked like a doll, but is just a little girl deep inside. And hearing those pitiful words from her, it took Scaramouche’s brain to thinking that maybe he can convince Mona to adopt this girl instead. Fuck making babies, Lumine will be their child.

Besides, despite treating her as a normal person, he still understands that the girl lived off Childe’s orders and leaving her in the Gunnhildr’s without a direction would leave a bad taste on his mouth… and if Mona hears it, it will lead to the raven-haired girl telling him to square up.

“Master Harbinger.”

“While I do like the title, there’s no need to call me that anymore, I’ve quit military.” He told her as they walked to his office.

“Then how should I address you?”

“Boss.” He answered once they stopped on a large building of orange and red bricks. “I own this company here.” Opening the large double doors of the building gave sight to the charming workplace. It was bright and cheery, a little calm despite the hustle and bustle of the workers and customers on the area. The windows were big enough that sunlight passed through despite the birch desks and shelves lined up perfectly against it, women and men in black and purple uniform with pretty impressions accompanied with amiable voices. “The first floor has the office and the ghostwriting department.”

“Ghostwriting?”

“Not everyone can write you know,” he explained, “Thus we write letters as per client’s requests.”

“I couldn’t either.” Lumine answered, “Not until Master Ajax taught me.”

Scaramouche hummed in response, continuing to walk to his office and talked more about the company, explaining how he used his money to buy an old mansion after retiring from the war and all that, “I always thought of opening up a business once the war ended, preferably just to not hear the other Harbinger’s bitching and all that, I had no idea what business though. Then Mona pointed out that the government’s postal services is not available to civilians, so she suggested this line of business.”

“Anyway, Lumine Gunnhildr, since Childe… no, Tartaglia left you on my hands, I will be the one giving out your orders instead. You serve a purpose, and my order for you is to work… Here.”

That was probably the longest while Scaramouche’s mouth didn’t spout any insults, however now that he can sense Thoma was somewhere hidden on the shelves, he decided to fuck with it, the girl met him as a vulgar higherup during their servitude to military anyway. “Thoma!”

“What do you want you midget?”

Lumine turned her attention to the direction of the voice while Scaramouche’s head ticked at the tone and choice of words, “You mean, ‘What can I do for you, boss’?”

The man named Thoma showed himself, he was tall, like her Master Ajax, with long, dark blond hair and friendly green orbs, he sighed, his voice as severe as the emerald of his eyes, “Well, what the hell do you want?”

As swift as he is on the battlefield, Scaramouche grabbed a nearby book and slapped it on Thoma’s chin, the sound of a book meeting flesh and bones resonating the area.

“Ow! What was that for?”

Scaramouche didn’t bother to answer, and instead formally introduced the taller man to Lumine. “This is Thoma, he’s one of the postmen. We’ve been joined by the hip ever since and unfortunately for me a little closer when this company was founded. Thoma, this is Lumine, she’ll be joining you as a postman starting today.”

Lumine almost saluted again but quickly caught herself and instead opted to a simple bow.

“She’s a kid.”

“Well, are you telling me I look like one?”

“Well, you’re tiny and have that teenage angst so yes.”

Scaramouche knocked on Thoma’s stomach, now with his fist, earning a groan of pain from the taller man and started explaining, “Besides her ability to finish a mission is unmatched even if she is. I need to do other things so show her the way.”

Thoma sighed rubbing his reddening chin, signaling Lumine to follow him.

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

As Thoma showed the new girl around, he noticed how she wouldn’t react and how little she talked. Only speaking when spoken to and sporting an ever-inexpressive look on her face, saying “Understood” the way a soldier would. She was like a doll: silky sunshine hair, deep golden eyes, porcelain skin… and maybe an invisible control bar and strings that helps her do her limited actions.

“Here’s your uniform, go get changed.”

But if the girl wasn’t already like a doll, she seems to also have little knowledge of what can be seen as normal as she lifted her blouse in front of him ready to change her outfit as ordered. “Wait!” But Lumine didn’t wait so he decided to turn around and wait for her to finish.

Once she was done, Thoma reviewed how she looked on the uniform. And obviously, it was too baggy on her small frame, “It’s kinda too big on you.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“Don’t you want to take of your gloves?”

And she did, pulling away the dark fabric from her metallic hands with her teeth. The metallic luster glimmered on Thoma’s face, but he wasn't detered, he wondered more about this girl’s ability to perform as a mailman than her prosthetics. “Would sorting mail be hard for you?”

“No, it shouldn’t pose a major problem.”

“Alright,” he took a letter from the table beside them, pointing at the address at the envelope, “Sort them by the street names written here and put them in that shelf.” He turned his finger to the nearby birch shelf where he was once preoccupied before Scaramouche’s and Lumine’s arrival. “We always have a ton of packages and mails, but you don’t have to rush your work. If you want to take a break, there’s a room on the second floor.”

Thoma gathered his bag and items, preparing to leave, and Lumine saluted, “Roger.”

“Later then,” the blond male smiled, excusing himself.

The sun has started setting when Thoma finished all his assigned deliveries due for the day. Much to his shock when came back, Lumine was till there, arranging and stacking the mails on the shelf as she was told to do so. The sunset that filtered through the windows offered little light needed but she didn’t stop.

“I’ll be finished with my assignment shortly,” Lumine spoke once she noticed his arrival.

“Did you take a break?”

“I’m used to operating in long hours.”

Thoma sighed, the girl didn’t answer his question directly, but it was enough confirmation that she indeed did not even stop once she started. “Make sure to take a break sometimes…, Would you like to try delivering next time?”

“Delivering?”

“Taking the mail to the address written on the envelope,” the girl glanced at the map of the Snezhnayan capital, Zapolyarny, on the wall, and Thoma continued, “Alright, I’m going home now. You should take a rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

When the clock ticked seven at night, Scaramouche found himself sitting on a bus, his shoulder tense from weariness after a meeting. “’We’ll consider an investment depending on your results’, what kind of bullshit is that? Hmm, but I guess that makes sense too.”

His purple gaze turned to the dim sky and then to the lantern lit streets of the city, there he could see from the bus’s window, a mailman with a cart filled with mail stood, “Huh? Night deliveries? I wonder when we’ll be able to do that.”

Fuck.

It was Lumine.

Oh dear Archons it was Lumine! He knew that golden hair that peeked on the mailman’s cap—as he's literally now her father—even without sufficient light to confirm it, he knew that it was the said girl, specially as he saw his company’s insignia on the cart.

Scaramouche quickly took off from the bus, following the little lady’s tracks, “Lumine!”

The girl turned to the man who looked as if he lost three years of his lifespan from stress, “What are you doing?” he asked once he caught up.

“A delivery run.”

“When I said try delivering next time, I meant tomorrow,” Thoma sighed, looking at the blonde girl who have yet to eat her meal.

Scaramouche shook his head, taking some sushi from the platter, “Also, take a break from work, you just got out of the hospital.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“It is a problem!” Thoma countered the girl, taking his own fill of food.

Their boss noticed Lumine’s untouched plate and added, “Lumine, you may eat.”

And only when she was ordered did the girl pick up the chopsticks in front of her, “I will. Thank you.”

“Once we’re done, I’ll walk you back to the office. The attic is the only available room but its already set up for you to stay there.” Gulping down his shot of sake, he continued, “The Gunnhildr also said that they’re still willing to support you until you find your track and if you are willing enough, maybe even work in their line of business, but as for living with them…”

Scaramouche and Lumine walked back to the office after parting ways with Thoma, basking under the night sky and nearly empty streets. He was late, maybe Mona will get angry with him, but he’s pretty sure her weird divinations will tell her that he is taking care of the girl Ajax has entrusted to him… to them.

“What were the last orders Childe gave you?”

“Run. Live free. Also… he said, ‘I’…” but the words did not slip away from Lumine’s mouth. Scaramouche didn't pay it any mind.

“Ever since your existence was revealed, you’ve spent your days with focusing on missions and completing them… Correct? That is done now, a new horizon awaits you where you can learn new things.” He stopped his tracks, pondering which words he should use to not sound offensive, although he is a naturally offensive person. “Though, I think it’s easier to live a life of blissful ignorance. I’m sure you have not realized it yet but everything you’ve done so far has caused a storm, and you are drowning deep into its flood.”

The girl looked at him curiously, then at her clothing and herself, “But I’m not even soaked.”

“Oh, but you are.”

“I am not. You do not make sense.”

“You are. As I said, you may have yet to realize it, but you definitely are.” Snippets of Lumine’s performance in the training camp a few years ago flashed on Scaramouche’s eyes, a little lady older than she looked, yet was innocent all the same. A little girl with red dripping on her ledger. “I pretended not to see it; I had a reputation to keep after all. But now that Childe has left you in my care, I think this is my chance to make amends.”

“You’ll understand me one day. Only then will you realize that the storms you’ve caused have drowned your lungs and you can barely breath.”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

A knock on the company’s door came first thing in the early morning while Lumine was cleaning the windows, a man came in and greeted her with a polite smile.

“Are you a Doll?”

“No. I’m Lumine.”

The man observed the evident uniqueness of the girl before continuing. A girl who wasn’t a doll, yet most certainly looks like one, “Well, Miss Lumine, I’d like to request a ghostwriting.”

“A ghostwriting?”

“Yes, I can’t write, but I want to. So, I’d like you to write a letter for me.”

“What would you want me to write?”

“You want to talk about that here and now?”

“Will that pose a problem?”

“Umm…” the man tottered but continued after, “It’s for a friend. I heard that she’s planning to get married with another man. So… I want you to tell her that—”

“Ah, good morning sir. May I ask what service you require here?” Another presence at the door came, revealing a gorgeous woman: tall, with wavy, honey brown hair, emerald eyes, fair skin, and a gentle velvety voice wearing a purple and white dress with open slits at the sides lined with gold, black lace stockings, black high heels, and a gold necklace with roses on her being.

“I-I’m here for a ghostwriting request.”

“Perfect!” she smiled sweetly, as sweet as the rose perfume that wafts around her. “Come.” She took a glance to Lumine, “You too sweetie.”

Once they settled in on the brunette lady’s desk, she quickly started typing, deciphering the words written deep inside the man’s heart. For Lumine, it felt like a walk to remember, every line the lady spoke that she was writing struck a lightning on her heart. Memories of her and her Master spiraling back to her.

She remembered the way he first wrapped his arms around her in their first meeting. His arms were warm and inviting, a cradle that tells her she is safe and sound as long as he was there.

She remembered how she always followed his steps, on training or in the battlefield. A mop of ginger hair became too familiar, and it made her feel like she’s truly there and existing… With him. And those battles they spent with one another, striking enemies down to ensure they would stay alive and see each other again.

The times where he would look at her with such intense emotions on his eyes—one she could only dream to decipher, before they go to the battlefield. Before he orders his men to charge into a bloodbath.

“We may be far away from one another now but I… I love you.” Those words from the beautiful Doll snapped Lumine back to the reality in front of her. She kept working and asked the man. “Is that alright?”

“Yes!” the man nodded fervently, completely satisfied with the woman’s work.

The violet rose lady smiled and spoke again, “I love you” as if testing how the words would sound from her voice. She heated up a red wax, using it to seal the letter she had just finished writing. Gently pushing the seal on the envelope. “Please take this to the ground floor and complete the mailing paperwork.” She stood up, showing her beautiful figure and elegance, a gentle smile on her lips. “Thank you very much for using our Auto Memoir Doll service, sir.”

The man left after returning a bow to the beautiful brunette who turned to Lumine who was standing in front of her work stall, “And who are you cutie?”

“How could you tell?”

“Huh?”

“How could you tell that man wanted to say ‘I love you’?”

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

Later after that encounter, Scaramouche found Lumine in front of his desk, asking for a new job description.

“You want to work in the Auto Memoir Dolls?”

Yes. I’m still having a hard time when holding a pen, but I am able to use the typewriter.”

“No,” Scaramouche cut her off before she could get into more details, “I’m asking why you want to be a Doll.”

“I want to know what I love you means!” she declared, she felt herself gripping on her long, blue skirt. “After giving me his final orders, Master Harbinger Tartaglia spoke those words to me.”

Scaramouche already knew at some deepest depths of his heart that his dear friend held those feelings for the girl he took in but hearing it from a girl who is literally unable to lie was something else. And one with little understanding to emotions too.

“That was the first time I heard him say it. I can’t understand it, but I want to.” The grip on her skirt tightened as she spoke, and Scaramouche noticed that his hands were balled into fists and unclasped it.

“To understand those words is what makes an Auto Memoir Doll. But I’ll give you a pass.”

After doing nothing but following Ajax’s orders for so long, for the first time, the girl made a step for herself.

The girl they called a tool without a mind of her own, wanted to know what 'I love you' means.

☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆♆☆

Her other arm fell like it was nothing as bullet passed through it making Ajax’s face contort with more horror than when he realized they were both drenched in blood of their own and their enemies.

“I swear! I swear I won’t let you die Master Harbinger!” she declared so fervently once she turned to him, tears welling on the corner of her eyes as she tried to carry him with her bare teeth as both arms already severed.

“Stop.”

Lumine dragged him as much as her teeth could pull, Ajax knew it was hopeless for him. But for her, she could. She can live and taste what being a normal girl is like. As she should. As she deserved. Not a life of blood and killing, and bombs and guns. None of that.

“That’s enough!” he managed to muster his authoritative voice to the girl, and she did what he wanted. “You must live. Lumine… You must live and be free.”

She just looked at him, her mouth pursed, and her eyes glazed. But he knew, oh he knew the girl would not come to understand it that moment why she was feeling it. Why her body shook as she cried so viciously. That it was not just the injuries that seared through them like flames and poison.

“From the bottom of my heart,” he looked at her angelic face golden eyes glossed with tears, she looked so young… so young compared to her age and the things she was ordered to do, and the things she was willing to do. A tear fell from his eye as he spoke. “I love you.”

#chilumi #childe x lumine #am still engrossed with them bye-

[thebmatt]

FFXIV Write 2021 Prompt #24: Illustrious

Illustrious - well known, respected, and admired for past achievements.

This takes place soon after the events written in Prompt 3: Scale

Magnai sat on the dawn throne, groaning at the pain the action caused him.

Over at his usual post, he saw Daidukul limping and clutching hurt ribs.

He swore under his breath. He'd been humiliated by the khan, again. Word had reached him that he and that witch, Sadu, were once again engaged in a duel. Over what, his scouts had not been able to determine, but their fighting had been just as fierce as the last time they had dueled, so it must have been important. Important issues that concerned the Steppe were his to decide, the gods had spoken as much! He had grabbed his best warriors and mounted their yols to intervene.

What he had found was a trap. Their "duel" had been staged. As soon as he demanded they cease, they had both turned to him and issued a challenge to him. He'd let anger blind him into accepting, and as he and Daidukul lept into battle, he had not seen that they had been expecting him until after it was already over.

Sadu , though strong in her spellcasting, had not noticeably improved since they had last battled. The khan, however....the khan had wielded magics of earth and air, water and light, with deadly ease. He had no idea the Khan was so skilled in such magicks. What was it, some form of geomancy? Before they had only ever seen him wielding that massive slab of metal he called a sword, clad head to toe in black and red armor. This time he wore garb that was common enough among the Xaela of the drier parts of the steppe, though not in any tribal color he'd recognized. And that weapon....it seemed like a living tree branch, glowing with energy.

He'd underestimated the khan, again, and somehow seemed to be falling behind him. This would not stand.

Almost as if on cue, the doors to the Dawn Throne opened and in walked the very man who'd put him in this sorry state. He sat upright, trying to suppress the wince that his injured ribs induced. "Well, if it isn't our illustrious khan? Come to gloat, have you? To rub your tainted victory in my face? The Sun will not hear it. You lured him in with trickery and falsehood, you and that witch, do not deny it."

Dahkar barked a laugh. "First with Sadu, it's glorious khan, and now I'm the illustrious khan with you. I'd almost think you two were coordinating which backhanded compliments you're going to use on me."

"You dare accuse me of collusion when you are the one who-"

"Oh calm your spikey-haired arse down, Magnai. It was a joke." Dahkar interrupted. "As to our supposed 'collusion', yes we faked a fight to lure you out, but one: you could have simply said 'no', and two: it's not like we ambushed you, you came prepared to fight and we let you make the first move. Don't make excuses, it's beneath you.'

Magnai sneered as he stood, still clutching his ribs. "And what is your excuse for your continued disrespect of the rightful stewards of the Xaela, hrmm? Every week, without fail, you come here to the Steppe and speak with the Qestir, the Mol, even the Dotharl, but do you present yourself to the Dawn Throne? Do you show the Sun the respect he is owned? No. Thus are we shown to be last among the Xaela in your eyes! "

Dahkar crosses his arms. "I respect the Oronir plenty, Magnai. Or has it escaped the Sun's notice that one of his own just conveniently happens to be in Reunion at the same time I arrive there every week?

Shock registered on Magnai's face. He looked over to Daidukul, who shook his head, confusion in his own expression.

"I've made more than a few friends among the Oronir, Magnai. Or did you think I only did what you asked of me when you had us do your chores before the last Naadam. They let me know how the Oronir are doing. I bring them things the tribe needs, provide advice when they have problems. So  you see, brother Magnai, I respect your tribe perfectly well. I just don't like you."

"You dare-" Rage enveloped his countenance, but again the khan interrupted him.

"And don't get this wrong, I absolutely respect you. You're a great warrior. You're even a pretty good leader of the Oronir, most of the time. But this delusion you're under that you're somehow divine, calling yourself 'the Sun' and demanding tribute from everyone, that gets annoying real fast. So it's hardly a surprise that I'd rather deal with frankly any other Oronir than you. Take your ego down a few dozen notches and we can talk like two leaders who just want what's best for our people. Or don't, and I keep on as I have been. Your choice. Now, I actually do have a matter I need to discuss with you directly. Do you want to talk about it or do you still want to hurl accusations and threats at me?"

Magnai worked his jaw, glaring at Dahkar, before he finally exhaled and simply said "Speak."

"All right, then. I take it word has made it to you of these metal towers that have emerged seemingly out of nowhere. Nearest one to the Steppe is to the South, near Yangxia."

Magnai's expression changed to concern. "I have beheld it, yes. There are others?"

Dahkar nodded. "Dozens. They've appeared all over the star. Built by the Garleans, though not willingly. They emit some kind of magic that enslaves the minds of any who get near it, forcing them to worship Garlemald itself. They've been spitting out some powerful monsters that have required large numbers to kill."

"I have seen no signs of one in the Steppe. Nor has this 'Othard Alliance' asked for our aid against any such foes." Magnai offered.

"For the moment, the bulk of the activity involving them has been in Eorzea. The ones in Othard have been mostly quiet. I don't expect that to last, though. RIght now we're in a calm before a storm,  and when that storm hits, the people behind this...they're gonna strike all over the star.  So my question is this: when that happens, are you prepared to fight alongside not only all the tribes of the Steppe, but also the rest of the Othard Alliance?"

Magnai looked to Daidukul;. who asked "And you truly believe this threat will come all the way here?"

Dahkar nodded. "I truly do. The madman behind this has shown no hint of any kind of restraint. Myself and the other Warriors of Light are going to do our best to track him down, but we have no idea how long that will take nor what he'll do before we can get to him. So? What is your answer?"

Magnai considered, then nodded. "The Sun acknowledges that the Steppe can live apart no longer, and thanks to you, khan, we are in a better position to defend ourselves than before. We will stand together, as one people and with the Othard Alliance. This the Sun vows."

Dahkar nodded. He drew the cane from his back and weaved a wave of healing light that emanated from him. Magnai felt the wounds under his bandages close, the ache of his bruises fading. He saw Daidukul's own bruises fade as he stretched and tested his own limbs.

Dahkar grinned. "Rest well, khatuns. You'll need it. I'll see you both soon."

With that, he turned and walked out of the Dawn Throne, leaving both men to ponder their uncertain future.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Dahkar Darkspear #magnai oronir #daidukul buduga

[hcrringtonshair]

All Mine

Modern!Ivar x Reader

Warnings: some cursing, fluffy Ivar and jealous and lil bit needy Ivar ... but that's it :) Word Count: 1735

A/n: I suck at giving my writings names. So here's another shitty one haha. There will maybe be a second part bc of the open end, but we'll see 🙃(Maybe the gif doesn't really fit but do I have to mention that his smiling is just adorable ?)

Masterlist

You barely remembered the last time when you had Ivar all for your own. It was kinda like the first time in an eternity.

He was so busy with his history study at the university of Copenhagen, and then he threw himself into work on his personal interests.

He also spent a lot of time with his three brothers, at least one of them was always there when you two met, besides that he still lived with his mother. You liked Aslaug, even that she was a really over caring and protective mother because he was her youngest son and because of his legs.

So you were really looking forward to that day. He promised it would be a whole day only for you and him, and he would never break a promise. He picked you up early in the morning and spent the day with you outside.

Long walks weren't his favorite, but he knew how much you loved being for hours in the green, enjoying the bright colors of the trees in the sun. The fall was beautiful and the day goes on so fast that it was already dark as you two returned to your apartment.

"What do you want to do next?" His cheeks were still light pink from the cold outside and his blue eyes were shining bright which made a beautiful contrast to his dark hair.

"I don't know. We could order pizza and watch a movie. You choose." You shrugged and handed him some of his clothes which were still in your closet. "Pizza sounds great."

Before you could pick up your phone from the bed he wraps his arms around you and laughed as you screamed while he threw you besides him on the bed. "You idiot! I could have fallen."

"I would never let this happen." His wide smile showed his white teeth, and you couldn't resist and smiled back as he lays back to watch you.

"You okay? I don't want you to be in pain." It was a long day, and now you felt guilty for being the reason why his legs hurt. Looking at his legs in concern, but he shakes his head. "It's bearable. Don't worry." Not satisfied with his answer and still worried you take your phone and you both choose a pizza. Right after you ordered it the discussion of which film you should watch began.

"Let's make a compromise and watch the first Harry Potter movie and then Thor" Your whole body was shaking from your laughter because Ivar was tickling you for too long. He was also laughing and out of breath as he laid back into the pillows.

"No no no, I want to watch all Thor movies" It wondered you again how he admired the Thor Movies, but to be honest, after all it wasn't a huge surprise.

"But why? You know I will sleep after the first half of the second movie." You pouted which made him laugh again. "That's the plan" he gives you a wink before bursting out in laughter again.

"That's mean Ivar. I thought we spent the whole day together. Which means at least until midnight." Your remaining pouting face leaned over him.

"Don't." He tipped against your lips, and you turned back to a not so serious face, "We watch the first Harry Potter movie and there's no way to change my mind. After this movie you can watch as many Thor movies as you want."

"Fine."

"Fine."

You stared at each other until your eyes wandered down to his full pink lips and of course he noticed. With a grin his head shots forward and pressed his lips on yours into a passionate slow kiss. His fingers gripping your neck to pull you closer, your legs moved by themselves until you sat on his lap.

You were only breaking the kiss as you both running out of air. His cheeks were bright red and his eyes shining happily when you opened your eyes. Sure you had kissed each other today, but not like that. It was like both of you had waited for that moment.

The heated atmosphere in the room went cold when the bell on the door rang before you could kiss him again. You groan into his shoulder before you stand up. "Must be the Pizza."

But unfortunately it wasn't the delivery guy. Your neighbor standing in front of you, with a big grin on his face as you opened the door. "Hey y/n. Interested in going out to the new bar down the street?" You could hear, most likely, a plate bursting on the kitchen floor and steps in your direction.

"Jakob, thank you, but I told you I have a boyfriend, and I'm not interested." With a friendly smile and calm voice you hoped he would go directly but Ivar was there before Jakob could take one step.

"Hi I'm Ivar. her Boyfriend. Unfortunately we are occupied tonight, so see ya!" Under his exaggerated friendly voice you could hear jealousy. Before Jakob could say anything else, the door was shut in front of his face and Ivar stared at you.

"Is this the one you told me about?" "Yeah. Now probably he will think you are a madman." You roll your eyes with laughter and return to the living room. " I am." Ivar walked behind you, he was so near you felt his body against your back. "When it comes to you."

"I'm sure he will never talk to me again." With a grin you turned around to face Ivar, still with a dark look in his eyes. "I hope so. You are mine."

After you persuaded him to sit on the couch and let you bring the dishes to the table in front of the couch, you looked at him as he watched at the TV.

"Y/n"

You froze as he caught you staring. He had made himself comfortable all over the couch, his chest rises and falls calmly, one hand in his hair which falls loosely on his shoulders.

"Ivar."

Concentrated on sounding calm you walk to the couch, stop when you're at the level of his head. "Like what you see?" With a big grin he touches your leg, his hands wandering up and down before he pulls you forward. With a happy sigh you sit on his lap again, careful to not hurt him.

"I thought about going to this Jakob tomorrow and give him a message he won't forget." The grin turned into a devilish one and his eyes were burning in anticipation of what he had planned.

"Ivar no." Whatever he had planned the poor Jakob wouldn't ever be the same person, and you didn't want to be responsible for that. "Why not? He's nothing but a neighbor. I'm just making sure he will never bother you again." You melted by his good intentions but shook your head.

"Fine. Then I'll show him otherwise that he has to keep his hands off of you." Before you could make a move he already took you down into a heated kiss. His lips moving perfectly with yours, parted your lips with his tongue and swirled around synchronized with yours. Muffled moans of yours echoed through the room and the air heating up again.

"You are all mine." He bites your under lip which causes you to moan louder. With one hand he held you in position, the other buried in your hair. "Ivar..." Under your breath you tried to stop him from kissing your neck because it was again the doorbell which catches your attention. For the second time this evening the bubble around you burst, and it took another few seconds for Ivar to let you go.

"God damn it! If it's that Jakob again I will rip him into a thousand pieces!!!" The Pizza deliverer heard Ivar's furious shouts and his eyes went big. "Everything's fine. No murders tonight." You giggled by the uncertain look on the face of the kid who must be not older than 18. You gave him the money and a tip before you wished a good evening and returned to your boyfriend.

You started eating by watching Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone which Ivar commented with yawning and malicious snorting from time to time. When the movie was over you cleaned up the table before you would start with the Thor movie.

"Finally it's over. I thought I would fall asleep before he even came to Hogwarts." You rolled your eyes as you made yourself comfortable between his legs again when the intro started.  "Shut it Ivar, I want to watch the movie." One kiss on his shoulder, and then you concentrated on the movie.

After a while you stood up and earned a confused view from Ivar. "I want to braid your hair." Your high voice and pouting face let him sigh. "Fine." You switched positions so that he was sitting in front of you and while the movie continues you were busy with his hair.

"Are you done?" You thought Ivar had fallen asleep, he didn't say a word since you started braiding his hair, so you flinched as he raised his voice. "I am. Looking good." A bit proud of yourself you let go of his hair and kissed the top of his head.

"Are you tired?" His voice was calm when he brushed his fingers from your knee up and down. From the side seeing him biting his lip, eyes still focused on the screen. "Not that much. But if you want to go to bed I'm fine with that." "The day is not over yet. So we stay awake."

Ivar decided to watch some TV shows after the movie was over, while you've been falling asleep from time to time. Calmed down by the random voices of the TV and dimmed light, your nails massaging the scalp of his head when your eyelids become heavy. Ivar noticed after a while that your finger movements stopped, "Let's go to bed. It's late."

Half asleep you nodded, watching him turn off the TV and go back to his feet. A few steps away from the bedroom the doorbell rings again which made you flinch and Ivar growl. "Who's this? It's 3 am in the morning." With his most unfriendly look Ivar went to the door followed by you.

✧ • ✭ • ✩ • ✦

Ivar the Boneless Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius

#ivar the boneless edit #ivar edit #ivar the boneless x you #ivar the boneless x reader #ivar the boneless imagine #ivar lothbrok x reader #ivar lothbrok #ivar ragnarsson x you #Ivar ragnarsson #ivar ragnarsson edit #vikings #vikings writer #history vikings

[rjhpandapaws]

A Hand in the Matter

Ch7: Adventures in Interior Decorating

Tina eyed Gavin suspiciously as she leaned on the bar. Normally they would be doing this on a Friday rather than a Wednesday, but for once Gavin had plans for the weekend. So it was either move the "gays night out" as Tina called it up a bit, or not have one this week. Tina was not exactly pleased with the change of plans since she was working early the next day. Setting her beer glass down she spoke.

"So let me get this straight," she started and leaned into Gavin, not even laughing at what would normally be a joke between them. "You moved our night out up two fucking nights into the work week because you're going to spend the weekend with some guy named Richard. Helping him remodel his apartment or whatever, but you're not sleeping with him."

"Tina, my answer isn't going to have changed from the last three fucking times you asked me," Gavin replied with an exasperated sigh. "We aren't sleeping together. He's just a friend."

"So was Allen. Until he wasnt," she said sitting back like she had made some kind of point.

Gavin rolled his eyes, "Richard is different, its not like that with him. I see him a bit like I see you."

"That's a lie. You've never adjusted your schedule to help me remodel."

"Tina, you haven't remodeled anything." Gavin pointed out, "I think you've had enough for the night, let's settle the tab and call it."

Tina seemed like she was going to argue for a moment before she nodded. She stood, needing a moment to regain her footing before walking to the end of the bar to pay. Gavin followed suit.

When they were outside the bar waiting on their respective rides. Tina for her girlfriend and Gavin for his Uber.

Tina took a deep steadying breath before speaking, "just... be careful okay? I know I don't know him, but I just don't want to risk seeing you back in a place like you were after Allen."

"I know T." Gavin said straightening up off the wall, "you're just looking out for me. I respect that."

She nodded as a familiar car pulled up to the curb and she lifted a hand to wave at him, "Good night Gav."

"Yeah, you too." He returned the wave and watched her go.

She had always been that way, looking out for him and at least trying to protect him. He understood the warning. The no feelings involved arrangement with Allen had collapsed in on itself when Gavin went ahead and caught feelings, and Allen hadn't. The fight that happened after ended their friendship and left Gavin in a bad way for quite a while. Tina had been left to pick up the pieces and be damage control. Her suspicion of Richard, although misplaced in Gavin's opinion, came from a well meaning place.

The weekend crept up on Gavin, and it was Friday afternoon before he knew it. He was running around his apartment like a madman, packing all of the things he might need for a weekend at Richard's place. It would be his first time there since Richard's panic attack as well as his first time there as an invited guest. Tina would come by twice a day to check on Frankie. The cat in mention was watching him from her cat tower. He reached up to pet the mildly overweight black feline.

"I'll be back in a couple days," he said in a voice one might use for children, "be good for your aunt Tina okay?"

She leaned into his hand before he pulled away and picked up the duffle bag. He made sure he had his keys and his phone before heading down to the parking lot. This weekend was kind of a big deal for Richard as well. He'd never had anyone stay over at his apartment before, and on top of that they would be remodeling it. Trying to make it into a place that Richard could feel at home in rather than trapped. When Gavin arrived at his bike he sent Richard a text.

Gavin: Getting ready to head your way. Need me to pick anything up on my way over?

Tall Phcker from Psych: No. Not that I can think of.

Gavin: Alright, see you soon.

He strapped his bag to his bike, with it situated safely he put his helmet on and got on the bike himself. He left the complex and made his way to Richard's. He was looking forward to the weekend, hanging out with Richard was always a good time. Something that was as important to Richard as this was bound to be the same. Gavin parked as close to the building as he could. He still had to go up the stairs to get to Nines's apartment, he was not packing his bag across a fucking parking lot on top of all that.

Gavin got off the bike, took his helmet off and unclipped the duffle bag. He slung it over his shoulder and headed for the stairs. He sent another text before heading up.

Gavin: on my way up to you

Tall Phcker from Psych: ok. The door is unlocked.

Gavin tucked his phone away and began his treck up the stairs. It probably would have been smarter to use the elevator, but Gavin only knew how to find the apartment from the stairs. It was the fifth unit from the end on the left from this direction, and he didn't know how many from the elevator it was. Like last time, Gavin was fighting for his breath when he got to the top.

Gavin opened the door and took his shoes off, putting them on the bottom shelf of the slate grey shoe rack Richard had bought online. It was the first personal touch he'd added to the place, and the thing that had started all of this. Straightening up he smiled at Richard.

"Where do you want this?" He asked gesturing to the bag on his shoulder.

Richard looked up from where he was getting something out of the fridge and pointed to the couch. Gavin made his way to the couch and set the bag down, he stretched before squatting down and digging through it. He made a sound of victory when he came away what he was looking for, he smiled and hid the small box behind his back as he walked back toward the kitchen. On the counter were two glass bottles of old fashioned soda, the same kind that Gavin usually had at his place.

"Thanks." Gavin said accepting the bottle that was slid across the island toward him, "I got you something, a bit of a housewarming gift."

Gavin set the hastily wrapped gift on the island and slid it toward Richard. He grabbed the bottle and popped the cap off with practiced ease. Richard was careful as he unwrapped his gift, looking like he was trying to avoid tearing the wrapping paper. He got to the nondescript box and looked at it for a long moment before opening it just as carefully. He took out the white porcelain mug, turning it over in his hands until he got to the text. 'Silence is Golden' was printed in light blue cursive script. He set the mug down carefully, looking at him with one of the biggest smiles Gavin had ever seen on him.

'Thank You.' He signed, 'I Love It.'

"I'm glad," Gavin took a drink from the cool soda, finding refreshing after his trip up the stairs. "I saw it in the campus bookstore and thought you might like it."

Richard took a drink from his own bottle while Gavin picked up the trash from the counter trying to minimize the clutter. He left the mug alone, Richard could decided what he wanted to do with it.

"What's the plan for tonight?" Gavin asked heading for the livingroom figuring Richard would follow him to the couch, "online shopping, actual shopping, relaxing, or getting started on changing around the place?"

Richard sat beside him on the couch in his usual proper posture, stiff and rigid in comparison to Gavin who looked like he'd been poured onto it. Richard tapped his fingers along the bottle in his hands as he thought about it. This whole thing was a big decision for him. Gavin would give him as much time as he needed for his choice.

Eventually Richard set his bottle down and began signing, stopping then restarting several times before letting out an annoyed sigh. He picked up his phone choosing to type out his thoughts instead. Gavin's signing was slowly getting better, but he wasn't fluent and his understanding was hit and miss still.

Tall Phcker from Psych: could we stay in tonight? Relax and maybe look at things online?

Tall Phcker from Psych: I don't think I'm ready to do much else yet.

"That's perfectly fine." He turned on the TV switching it over to something they didn't have to invest much attention in, "we'll only do what you're comfortable with."

That was how they spent the afternoon, scrolling through online furniture stores. Richard made a list of what he wanted to get and colors he hoped to find them in. It was hours later when they were pulled from the moment by Gavin's empty stomach growling out its discontent.

'Food?' Richard signed with an amused shine to his eyes.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." Gavin said with a chuckle of his own, one hand pressed firmly over his abdomen to muffle any further noises, "you in the mood to cook or is it a take out kind of night?"

Richard answered by pulling up a deliver app on his phone. He picked an Italian place, put in his order before handing the phone off to Gavin. He looked over the menu ordering food for himself and passing the phone back to Richard so he could add something else if he wanted before placing the order.

They took a break when the food arrived, setting it up on the coffee table. It was nice and comfortable, like the evenings they sometimes spent at Gavin's place. This was a nice feeling. They stayed like that well into the night. Passing notes like little kids until it was late enough in the that Gavin felt like he was going to collapse into the coffee table from his place on the floor. He yawned so widely that his jaw cracked and spoke aloud for the first time in hours.

"So how are we doing this Nines?" He rubbed at his face to try and wake up more, considering as conversations tended to require more brain power than he currently possessed.

'You Take Couch. I Take Bed.' Came the reply before Richard began cleaning up the coffee table. Right, they still had to move that.

Gavin helped as well, throwing out the garbage while Richard packed up and put away the left over food. Despite it being Richard's livingroom rather than Gavin's, they still moved as a unit to clear the living room for the pull out bed. When that was done, Richard stepped back observing the room, this was another change for him, but from what Gavin could see he was taking it well.

They took turns in the bathroom getting ready for bed. When Gavin finally got to bed he pulled put his phone to check his messages. He had a few from Tina.

Pocket Police: we could be out drinking now but you have other friends apparently

Pocket Police: don't do anything we wouldn't do

Pocket Police: Frankie misses you

Gavin: we'll have the normal schedule back soon. You know I still love you

Gavin: we won't. I miss Frankie too

Gavin: good night T

Pocket Police: night Gav

He set his phone on the armrest and rolled onto his side. The excitement of the day had drained him and sleep was quick to pull him under. Gavin slept soundly and well into the morning. Waking only when he heard movement from the kitchen. Whoever was there was trying to keep quiet.

It took Gavin's slowly waking brain a long moment to recognize he wasn't in his own apartment. He sat up and stretched, after rubbing the sleep from his eyes he made his way into the kitchen. Slowly being coaxed to life by the smell of coffee. A good way to start a busy weekend, or, any weekend really.

"Good morning Richard," Gavin mumbled around a yawn. "How did you sleep?"

'Good Morning,' he signed back. 'I Slept Fine.'

They were pleasantly quiet after that. Gavin wasn't exactly much of a talker or much of a functioning human before his first cup of coffee. He wasn't grumpy, he just wasn't talkative because it was too much effort. Last night they had come up with a plan of attack for the weekend. Today was a shopping day, and tomorrow they would get things set up.

When the coffee finished brewing Richard reached up into the cabinet grabbing a mug for Gavin, and took the one Gavin had brought him yesterday for himself. Gavin was happy to see him use it. Richard poured Gavin's first, sliding it to him and then pointing to the fridge. Gavin nodded his thanks and stepped that way, setting his mig down on the counter beside it. He opened the door doing a bit of digging around before he came away with what he was looking for: Carmel flavored coffee creamer. He was being silently judged by Richard as he added what his counterpart referred to as a criminal amount of cream to his coffee before returning the bottle to the fridge. He took a long drink as he turned to face Richard.

"That's some good coffee," Gavin joked, grinning when he saw Richard wrinkle his nose in disgust.

'You Monster,' was signed back at him, though there was no heat to it.

The easy silence settled over them again as they drank their coffee. Richard was looking out the livingroom window, and Gavin was looking over what he could see of the apartment from his place by the fridge. Having the pull out bed open helped the place look more lived in. It felt more alive, the way a home should.

When they were ready to go they met in the entry way, grabbing what they would need before heading out. They would be taking Richard's car because heavy shopping and motorcycles didn't mix well. Gavin in all honesty was pretty excited. He'd never gotten to see Richard in an environment that one if not both of them had some control over. This would be a learning experience for the both of them.

Richard's car was a light grey Toyota model that Gavin didn't recognize. The inside, as he expected, was spotless. Richard played music from his phone as they drive toward the shopping district. Richard had a system in place, specific stores he wanted to look at. Gavin was coming along to translate as needed and for moral support. Even though he was more or less just along for the ride, he was still looking forward to it. They arrived at the first store on the list and Richard found a place to park turning off the car.

'Ready?' Richard signed at him.

"Yeah," Gavin unbuckled and got out of the car, "are you?"

Richard nodded and got out as well. They walked into the store, it had a relatively open floor plan. One half was furniture and the other half was trinkets and decorations meant for livening up they came to call home. Richard wandered through the store to satisfy his curiosity. He picked things out as he went, some from the list, some not. Gavin grabbed a few things as well, for his place and Richard's. Every stop they made went in similar fashion, Richard roaming for curiosities sake and picking things up as he went. There was one more place they wanted to stop at, to see if it had the specific set of shelves that had been alluding them all day. Richard had picked out two similar ones for the office, but wanted this specific one for his room. They had it bookmarked online in case they couldn't find it while they were out.

The building was massive. Gavin would be surprised if they didn't have what Richard was after. They wandered around, not quite aimlessly, but it didn't seem like they would find what they were after here either unfortunately. Gavin was about to voice as much and suggest they call it a day, when someone spoke up from the other side of Richard. It scared them both, though Gavin was the only one to jump.

"Can I help you and your..." the sales clerk paused, searching for her words as she looked between Gavin and Richard, "partner find anything specific?"

Richard froze for a long while, seeming like he was trying to compose himself. Genuinely confused. He picked his hands up to sign, restarting a number of times before giving up altogether and shooting Gavin a desperate pleading look.

"Oh, uh. No. We're alright thanks." Gavin stumbled over his words in his flustered rush to get them out. It seemed to do the trick though since the sales clerk retreated and they were once again left on their own.

They just stared at each other for a long while. Gavin cracked first, smiling and then breaking into laughter when the awkwardness passed leaving only amused embarrassment in its wake. Richard was smiling, amusement shining in his eyes. What a fucking day.

"Let's head back." Gavin suggested when he had enough control over his air intake to talk again, "we can pick up some food on the way back. Then order the shelves when we get back to your place."

Despite the laugh they'd had about it earlier, Gavin found himself paying more attention to his proximity to Richard the rest of the day. They had a good laugh about it again over dinner, Richard delighting in it now that the initial awkwardness had passed. Gavin did as well, it was funny looking back. That was how the evening went. The two of them talking and having a good time until they were too tired to keep up right.

'Okay,' Richard signed as he stood. 'Bed Time.'

They had been smart enough to clean uo their dinner mess beforehand this time. After Gavin finished his nightly routine he laid down and pulled out his phone to check in with Tina.

Gavin: you'll never guess what happened today!

Pocket Police: something funny i take it

Gavin: Richard and I got mistaken for a couple today

Pocket Police: how did that go

Gavin: we've been having a good laugh about it

Gavin: just thought I'd let you know

Gavin: night T

Pocket Police: sleep well

Once again Gavin woke up to Richard in the kitchen and roused with less confusion than the day before. He stretched and made his way to the kitchen, following the smell off coffee. The same mugs as yesterday were out on the counter, clean and ready to be used.

"Morning." Gavin mumbled, just this side of coherent as he leaned against the counter, "today's the day. Are you excited?"

'Morning,' Richard parroted with a smile. Ever the fucking morning person. He nodded in answer to Gavin's question knowing that this would be the extent of the conversation until he got coffee into his system.

They didn't have as solid of a plan of attack for today, no lists to follow, just the general goal of getting the place into a state Richard was comfortable living in. Gavin's first order of business after he'd gotten coffee into his system was to clean up the livingroom since it had been his home the past couple of days. After that he would go wherever Richard needed him.

The coffee finished and like yesterday Richard poured both mugs then slid Gavin's toward him. Gavin added cream to it and then took a drink letting out a content hum. Richard let out an amused sound and rolled his eyes lifting his mug in a mock toast.

"Look. One of us can't function before eleven in the morning." Gavin complained between drinks of coffee, "its not my fault you can't wake up at a normal time."

'Waking Up Afternoon Not Normal.' Richard signed, and then had the nerve to fucking wink. God damn morning person.

"Richard. Its the weekend." Gavin remarked, gesturing with his free hand, "its practically against the law to wake up early on the weekend."

'Yet Here You Are,' he signed like he was making a point. 'Awake Early Sunday Morning.'

"Okay, no need to be so damn smug," Gavin said with a tired laugh, "you've made your point."

'Have I?' He signed with a faint smile along with a raised eyebrow.

Gavin flipped him off for lack of a better argument. Richard rolled his eyes again, but they were alight with amusement, and Gavin had a smile of his own to match. After he finished his coffee he cleaned his cup out and set it on the dish mat to dry.

"Alright, I'm going to start by cleaning up my shit from the livingroom," Gavin gestured in the direction of the couch. "Then where do you want me?"

'My Room.' Richard responded, finishing his own coffee and going through the same motions as Gavin.

Gavin made his way to the livingroom, packing up his mess and putting his things back into his duffle bag. Next he took the sheets and blanket off the pull out and stepped into the bathroom with the bundle of fabric. He set it down and opened the washing machine, he untangled the mass of blankets and loaded them into the machine. With that done he went back out to the livingroom and set about putting away the pull out bed. Doing it by himself wasn't a pleasant experience, but Richard was busy and Gavin didn't want to bother him. With the bed finally tucked away and the couch cushions back in place, the last thing that needed to be replaced was the coffee table which he handled with ease.

Having finished in the livingroom he turned and headed down the hall, stopping in the bathroom to check the laundry he had set to run. Making his way to Richard's he knocked on the doorframe before stepping inside.

"What," Gavin started from a few feet into the room, "are you doing?"

Gavin felt that it was an appropriate question since he'd come in to find one of Richard's closet doors halfway disconnected from the frame with said man sitting on the floor presumably trying to finish the job. Richard looked over his shoulder at Gavin and seemed quite proud of himself. He freed a hand from whatever he was doing to the bottom of the door and gestured to the whole of it like that somehow explained everything.

"Okay," Gavin continued, acting as though he understood this impromptu round of charades, "and you're taking the door off its hinges because why exactly?"

Richard let out a sigh that was just this side of annoyed. He moved so that he was facing Gavin, 'I Do Not Like Noise They Make. Help Me.' He emphasized the last bit by pointing at Gavin and then to the remaining door.

"You have a plan of what you're gonna do once they're off?" Gavin asked moving to the other door, he leaned against it and looked at his companion.

'No,' he paused to consider something, 'Do Not Want Them Here.'

"We'll figure it out I guess," he straightened up, "you got anything to make this easier or are we just gonna brute force it."

Richard reached back behind himself and came away with a screwdriver that he held out to Gavin. He took it with a nod of thanks, and turned to get to get to work assuming Richard was doing the same. He'd figured they'd get to this eventually, but if he had known they'd be doing this today he would have asked Tina if he could borrow her truck instead of bringing his bike over. But it was what it was, he could always ask her later.

The doors took a bit of time to get off the frame, and with no way to remove them from the apartment they settled for putting them away in the bathroom closet for the time being. While he was in there Gavin switched the laundry over. The shelves they had ordered wouldn't arrive for another week or so but they got everything else for Richard's room set up.

The room came away with a color palette of bright light blue and a dark matte grey. Gavin liked how it came out, it suited Nines pretty well in his opinion. They moved on to the office next, adding the shelf sets that Richard had picked out. One became designated for books and paperwork, and the other for office supplies and a couple of decorative trinkets. One of those being a porcelain statue of Lucky Cat that Gavin had picked out.

He let Richard do the bathroom himself. The livingroom came next and was by far the most fun. They'd bought some decorative pillows for the couch but apparently decided that a pillow fight would make better use of them. Which was how Gavin found himself backed against the wall with Richard throwing pillows at him with a surprising amount of strength.

"Okay! Okay!" Gavin called in surrender between bouts of laughter, "I'm sorry for smacking you with that pillow, even if you deserved it."

Richard finally relented, accepting Gavin's albeit shitty apology. Gavin began picking up the pillows on the floor around him placing them on the couch. Adding the one he had bought that had "fuck off" stitched into it in cursive purple thread to a spot where it could easily be seen as a finishing touch.

"There, its perfect." Gavin said looking over at Richard with a satisfied smile, "home sweet home."

Richard was wearing his equivalent of Gavin's smile, just smaller but no less genuine, 'Home Sweet Home.'

#A Hand in the Matter #dbh #d:bh #gavin reed #dbh gavin #d:bh gavin #d:bh reed900 #reed900 #dbh reed900 #rk900 #nines #d:bh nines #dbh rk900 #nonverbal nines

[jenomark]

Since you didn't seem to get the request before, can you do a "mornings with nct" reaction?

Taeil: You woke up to the sound of Taeil’s voice. You opened your eyes slowly in the early morning light, the room coming into a soft focus. Taeil shifted behind you, his arms snaking around your middle, and his head resting on your shoulder. He sang your favorite song to you faintly, each word making your chest swell.

Johnny: You woke up and Johnny wasn’t in bed beside you. With the bedroom door cracked, you could smell the food cooking, could hear the sizzle of it frying. As if sensing you were awake, Johnny dipped into the bedroom. He was wearing an apron around his slim waist and a smile on his face. “Good morning,” he said. “Are you hungry? I made you breakfast.”

Taeyong: He came home early in the morning, tip-toeing through the living room so he wouldn’t wake you. You had passed out on the couch waiting for him, your legs hanging halfway off, and your face serene in your sleep. Taeyong came over to you and moved his arms underneath your legs. When he picked you up to take you to bed, you stirred. “ Shh, It’s okay,” he said. “Go back to sleep, baby,  it’s just me.”

Yuta: Whenever the morning alarm would sound, both of you turned it off in your sleep. To solve the issue, Yuta placed the alarm on the other side of the room, so that one of you had to get up to turn it off. When it rang one morning, you both groaned in your sleep. “Shouldn’t you get it?” Yuta said. “I did it last time.” You tossed and turned, but didn’t move. Yuta looked over at you, at how tranquil you looked in your sleep. “I’ll do it.” he said. 

Kun: From your perch on the bed, you watched Kun getting ready for work. He stood with his shirt open, a sliver of his stomach peeking through. He kept looking in the mirror and deciding that none of the clothes he picked out felt right. “You look good,” you told him. ”No matter what you wear, you’re sexy.” Kun turned to face you, his skin blushing from the compliment.

Doyoung: You were always the person who clung to Doyoung as you slept, your body enveloping his. When you woke, Doyoung was cuddling you, his head on your tummy, and his arm draped over you. He moaned in his sleep when you moved. “Just a few more minutes, please.” he said. You brushed back his hair and let him sleep just a little bit longer.

Ten: “Ten, we have to get up,” you said. “We’re late.” Ten pulled you back down beside him. “No, we don’t,” he said. “Stay with me. Let’s sleep.” You tried peeling yourself away from him, but Ten wouldn’t let you move easily. It was fun trying to get away from him, and even more fun knowing that he wanted to forget all his responsibilities and spend time with you. He pulled you even closer to him and draped his legs over you so that you couldn’t move at all. “Don’t leave me.” he said before closing his eyes. 

Jaehyun: He brought you coffee and pastries in bed. He was always doing romantic things, always making you smile. The paper bag that hung from his hands was heavy, but the look on his face was happy and light. Jaehyun was proud of himself for bringing you morning gifts. He set the coffee and pastries down on the table and sat down on the bed next to you. “Good morning.” he said. You wiped a crumb from the corner of his lips and leaned in to kiss him, his mouth tasting sweet.

WinWin: Quiet moments were few and far between. He woke up early, his body unable to fall back asleep. WinWin watched you still peacefully sleeping, your mouth open just a little, and your eyes moving rapidly behind their lids. “Pretty,” he whispered, tucking hair behind your ear. “My baby.” He leaned in to place a soft kiss on your forehead before slipping out of bed to start his morning.

Jungwoo: You wake up and stretch your arms to the ceiling, your mouth opening into a yawn. Jungwoo, already awake, looks at you and laughs. “What?” you ask. “Why are your laughing?” Jungwoo smiles and says, “Your hair. It’s all over the place.” You pat your wild hair down and look over at him as he sits up next to you. You see that his hair is just as messy as yours. You laugh too, making Jungwoo’s smile wider. “What?” he asks. “Me too?”

Lucas: There are days you don’t feel like getting out of bed. The world is against you, but Lucas is not. He understands those days well, and often understands that you just need a little push. “Come on,” he said, helping you out of bed. “I’m with you every step of the way.” He helps you stand, brings you to the bathroom so that you can wash your face and brush your teeth, and gives you the encouragement you need to get you through the day. 

Mark: He squeezes a line of toothpaste out onto your toothbrush before doing the same to his. You brush your teeth side by side, occasionally catching each others eyes in the mirror. He looks so cute, and you can’t stop watching him. After spitting and rinsing, Mark smiles to show you his clean teeth. “My breath is now minty fresh.” he says. “Can I test it out?” you ask, leaning in for a cheeky kiss. 

Xiaojun: You woke up freezing. Xiaojun was hoarding the small blanket, his body wrapped up, like a burrito. You pulled some of the fabric from him, pulling it so hard that he was no longer covered. “I’m cold.” he whined, trying to pull the blanket back to him. You fought in your sleep, yanking it back and forth until you were fully awake, your eyes watching each other in the dark. “Come here.” Xiaojun said. He pulled you to him and huddled close enough together for warmth, the blanket covering you both. “Ahh,” he said. “That’s better.”

Hendery: Hendery flips out of bed. “Shit! I’m late!” he says. Amused, you watch him run around the room, like a madman. He pulls his pants on quickly, stumbling over his own feet as he makes it to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he comes back, he throws on his shirt. “It’s on backwards.” you tell him. Hendery groans and rips it from his body to fix it. You get up and help him, your hands working calmly. “Have a good day at work,” you say, giving him the longest kiss you can muster.

Renjun: Before the sun rises, he’s awake. Renjun lays in bed for a little while, his eyes scanning the inky sky. You can sense he’s awake, and you open your eyes. “Can’t sleep?” you ask. Renjun reaches out for your hand and kisses the back of it. “Just waiting for sunrise.” he says quietly. You back your body against his and look out of the same window as him, your eyelids becoming heavier and heavier. 

Jeno: His fingers paw over the make-up on your table. He’s curious about everything, opening a bottle of mascara to smell it, and his eyes widening when he sees how bright your highlighter is. “Do you want to help me?” you ask. Jeno smiles and laughs at the thought. He opens a tube of lipstick and tells you what color would match your look. You let him put the lipstick on you, watching lovingly as he takes his time to fill inside the lines. When he’s done, he takes a look at you. “I like it,” he said. “You look nice.”

Haechan:  He leans up sleepily, his back hunched, and his head down. You reach over and run your hands over his back, his white t-shirt stretched across his warm skin. Haechan moans from the feeling, the sound gravelly and deep. You massage him longer, watching closely as he starts leaning forward, lost in his sleep. When you stop rubbing him, he jumps awake. “Keep going,” he said. “It feels really good.”

Jaemin: You’ve always had trouble forcing yourself awake. Jaemin knows this about you and finds a new way to wake you up every day. When you try going back to sleep after being woken up, he sits on you and starts to tickle you, using his baby voice to try and rouse you from sleep. You brush his hands away and tell him to get off of you, but he’s too busy playing around. “Wake up, my love, “ Jaemin said. “Wake up and join me.”

YangYang: Mornings with YangYang are simple. You both wake up around the same time, both instinctively reaching for a corner of the blanket to make your bed together. Some days, he makes you breakfast. All the other days, you go out to eat and people watch. You love sitting with him in the mornings, the day not yet started, and the whole world at your feet. That’s when YangYang leans over and tells you how easy it is to fall in love with you more everyday. 

#Anonymous #nct #nct reactions #nct 127 #nct 127 reactions #wayv #wayv reactions #yangyang #jaemin #haechan #jeno #renjun #hendery #xiaojun #mark #lucas #jungwoo #winwin #jaehyun #ten #doyoung #kun #yuta #taeyong #johnny #taeil #sorry this took so long