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adelheidvonschicksal · 2 months

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⋆｡°✩ Do Roommates Sleep Together?

“We’d be roommates, much better than neighbors,” you manage to explain, proud when you hold firm, but the delicate foundation you built cracks when his laugh highlights the room. You could nearly melt. “Do roommates sleep together too?”

Synopsis: Your relationship with Xavier is unconventional, skipping and trampling on the many proper steps society deems appropriate. It should take months to form the trust needed to sleep together, and it should take years for you to ask him to move in with you.

Yet, here you are, with more courage to ask him to live with you than to tell him you’re in love with him.

Content Warning: fluff, suggestive dialogue, pining, literal sleeping together, a lot of internal exposition, mild angst, hurt/comfort, acquaintances to friends to lovers, implied soulmate tomfoolery to justify the fast burn, small references to chapter 4 main story, Heartstring Symphony, Nighttime Stroll, Shooting Stars Myth, and Unit 602's Representative Phone Call, Xavier sucks at following the non-interference policy (he tried his best), female reader, 6.5k words, safe for work

A/N: First section before Warm Wishes/Dreams within Reach tender moments and second section after Close Feelings tender moment to give a better timeframe. This is going to be two parts with the second part NSFW.

“Do you want to hang out at my place?”

Your smile begins to flatten as Xavier stares at you from his doorway. There’s a listless energy radiating from him. It’s intimidating even if there’s no anger behind his hooded gaze, the kind of intimidation where you’re afraid he might not be listening to you or even wants to listen to you.

“This new scary movie came out. Tara was supposed to watch with me, but she had a last-minute thing to take care of,” you explain, watching as he yawns and wipes his eyes. “So, I thought that maybe you’d like to watch with me instead. Or, we can do something else. I got games. Monopoly, Phase 10, Kitty Cards.”

Xavier rubs at the back of his neck, refusing to meet your eye. “Are you sure you want it to be just the two of us?”

There are many things to be said about your relationship with Xavier. You’re work partners, neighbors in the same apartment complex, and you consider him your friend. It’s also true that your friendship is young despite the many hours at the arcade together and whatever stories your co-workers like to imagine, making your offer sound more like a date invitation than hanging out. It causes you to go tongue-tied as your innocent mistake blankets you.

“Oh, not in that way! I mean not that it would be a bad thing.” You start to lose your composure when you meet his gaze again. It’s not like you wouldn’t go on a date with him if given the opportunity. He’s tall, soft-spoken, and very handsome. It’s more surprising he doesn't have a girlfriend. “I was thinking it could be a good way to foster friendship between hunters. Yeah, that’s it!”

The truth was that you were looking for something to distract yourself ever since the incident at your grandmother’s house. Tara having to cancel bummed you out more than you wanted to admit, but you didn’t want him to agree because he felt sorry for you.

“I understand,” Xavier cuts in. “I’d be happy to join you…in an hour,” he finishes with another small yawn.

“Great!” you cheer. “See you soon.”

When you make it back to the elevator, you’re taken aback about how happy you are that he agreed. You thought you were simply happy not to have to be alone on your day off, but this was a different kind of satisfaction than when you invited Tara. It was a little strange but you ignored the thought and clicked the button to your floor.

When Xavier arrives, everything goes as planned. You spread out an array of snacks on the table in front of the sofa, which your selection seems to be approved by how quickly he opens the package of chips and hums to himself when he takes a bite.

“This is supposed to be super scary! I read you won’t sleep for days after,” you tell him, grabbing the remote to play the movie.

“For days? Sounds awful,” Xavier mentions between bites, making you chuckle.

“If you get scared, you always have me to protect you.”

“I’m more worried about you than me,” he mouths off. “You always look like a statue when I tell you scary stories.”

“Fake movies and stories based on real places are different!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he agrees on the surface. You’re not sure how you only make friends with people who love to tease you, but you make no mention of it as the movie finally reaches its opening sequence.

It doesn’t take long for you to realize this movie’s fear factor was greatly over exaggerated. There were monsters, sure, but also one too many jump scares and dark scenes that made it hard to tell what was happening. Fighting wanderers for a living did leave you a bit desensitized as well, you guess.

As you reach to fill in your boredom with more chips, you can’t help but notice how Xavier looks like he’s about to give out any second. His eyes are drooping and his head bobbing to the side. You lose count of how many times he forces his limp body straight and strains to watch the movie playing on the screen, one agonizingly slow blink at a time.

“I’m fine,” he says before you can bring up how tired he looks.

“It’s not a big deal, Xavier. This movie is pretty boring, so if you wanna call it a night, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.” You don’t want him to leave yet but you don't want to keep him up either. Sighing, you’re frustrated the movie isn’t as exciting as you thought it would be, and it’s difficult to fight the disappointment from showing on your face.

And, well, Xavier…

“It’s alright. It’s honestly not bad, so—”

Xavier doesn’t even finish his sentence before his head hangs over. In hindsight, you start to realize that you must have woken him up earlier, explaining his prior passiveness.

You always wondered what he did on the days he wasn’t working. It should’ve been apparent to you that he spends most of his free time sleeping. No wonder his apartment was always so quiet during the day. You’re thankful he wasn’t actually annoyed at you earlier but guilty for interrupting his rest and decide to grab him a blanket.

You don’t notice him tilting to the side before you have the chance to get up. It’s quick after that. Without warning, he falls into you, his head brushing the side of your shoulder before he collapses on top of your lap.

The situation takes you by surprise, and the world churns to a slow stop. The sounds from the television fade into the background in favor of your heartbeat becoming the thing you’re most aware of when it registers that Xavier, a man you recently can call a friend, has fallen asleep in your lap. You have no idea what to do in a situation like this. It isn’t on purpose, so there’s no need to blow up, but you can’t allow this to continue.

So, you choose to wake him up.

“Xavier,” you call and rock his shoulder. You call his name again, a third time, and finally give up when he doesn’t budge by the fourth. “Would it be too mean to roll him off?” you wonder, grimacing as you imagine him hitting the floor. It would definitely be too mean.

Sighing, you gaze at his face nuzzled too comfortably against your thighs. Xavier looks so incredibly soft like this, bundled in an oversized Blanchi hoodie. It isn’t anything you’re not used to seeing him in. However, this is different. With his hair strewn across his temple and his face so at ease, it reminds you of a big fluffy bunny flopped over for an evening nap. Just like a cuddly bunny, you can’t resist petting him, brushing your fingers across his bangs to fix them. Your heart flutters as you confirm his hair is incredibly soft and his pale eyelashes longer than you ever noticed.

Not able to restrain yourself, you gently poke his cheek, marveling when it’s much chubbier than you imagined. It causes him to moan, his eyes twitching from the intrusion.

“Mm…what?” he groans out.

Swiftly, you pull your hand away, frightened he might have caught you.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” you stammer out, not the best of excuses; but in your defense, he caught you off-guard by waking up from something so small. When he doesn’t respond again, you quickly realize he’s still asleep. “Oh, he sleep talks!”

A mischievous wave washes over you from the new piece of information you acquired. Teasingly, you poke his cheek again, giggling when he shifts to hide his eyes from the light.

“Xavier, I have a question to ask you.” You slide your fingertips along his bangs once more. “Be honest. Are you Lumiere?”

Patiently, you wait for a response. However, nothing comes after several seconds. Just when you’re about to give up hope, you hear him muttering. You lean your head closer, hoping to hear him better.

“Red…” he mumbles.

You repeat after him. “Red?”

“Red…extra spicy.”

You blink at him, knitting your brows. “Extra spicy?”

Oh. The hot pot restaurant.

“Dreaming about food? That tracks.” You shrug. It was worth a shot. “Fine, keep your secrets.”

Choosing to leave him be, you’re about to sit back and continue the movie except you are interrupted by him mumbling again. This time, he whispers your name quietly under his breath causing your undivided attention to fall on him.

“Yes?” you ask.

Xavier sighs softly, peacefully.

“Come home…with me…”

There must be a world record for how fast someone can heat up, and you must have broken it. It’s like someone threw you directly into boiling oil and left you to burn in it. There’s no way you heard him correctly.

Did Xavier really ask you to come home…with him? Is he dreaming about you? If so, in what kind of dream? And why?

These are the questions stumping you. Sure, you consider him your friend, but when did he start to see you as someone close to him?

The more important question is why aren’t you doing anything about it? You aren’t angry about him whispering your name in his sleep nor offended, and it didn’t feel out of place to be close to him, like this, with his head resting in your lap and your hand in his hair. The moment becomes nicer and nicer—treasured—the more times you run it through your head, familiar even, like déjà vu.

There are too many variables for your brain to piece it all together in such a short amount of time. Praying for the tempest battering your emotional insides to reside, you resign yourself to your fate, allowing him to have his peace while your mind completely focuses on the words slipping from his dreams.

When Xavier begins to stir hours later, your movie is long finished, credits rolling as some dramatic music plays in the background. His eyes tighten then relax before he finally opens them, greeting you with hazy blue. He lifts himself into a stretch then rubs his eyes with his wrist. When he finally adjusts to his surroundings, he looks at you with an apologetic sulk.

“Did I…fall asleep on you?” he asks, grogginess still riding his voice.

“Literally or figuratively?” you ask as a joke, but it doesn’t seem to comfort him. Shaking your head, you try to ease the tension—the one known by him and the tension inside of yourself—by laughing. “It was both.”

Xavier blinks a few times, turns his head to the screen to see the credits rolling, and snaps his eyes back on you questioningly. “And you let me for two hours?”

“You looked really tired,” you explain, ignoring how hot your cheeks start to get. You couldn’t tell him you got distracted by his cute face. “I didn’t want to move and wake you.”

“I don’t wake that easily,” he states, proudly even. You almost tell him how well everyone knows he can sleep through a typhoon, but it’s drowned underneath the softness of his smile. “But I appreciate the sentiment.”

The look he gives you is so tender, like looking at a fond memory. It brings back the fluttering knots in your stomach from before as you imagine what could be the true reason behind that gaze. What could he possibly be thinking in his waking moments that would make him dream about you?

“Xavier, do you know you talk in your sleep?” The confused and panicked, deer caught in headlights expression, he gives causes you to fidget with your fingers and drop your gaze to your lap where they lay.

His face tinges slightly. “Nothing too embarrassing I hope.”

You bite your bottom lip as his face reddens. He looks so sweetly shy for once, and you’re starting to question if you’re overreacting by confronting him about something as silly as a dream, one that probably didn’t mean much.

“You tried to order food in your sleep!” you tell him with a small laugh, and his shyness melts away.

“I did? What did I get?”

“Red sauce. Extra Spicy.”

“Then, I guess that’s what I’ll get for dinner tonight,” he remarks. He doesn’t laugh but you can see the amusement reflected in blue eyes, which makes you return his happiness. Yet, the calm moment is short-lived as your mind becomes overwhelmed again by questions you were too nervous to ask; and a small piece of you, too afraid to know the answer.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, drawing you out of your rampant, clashing thoughts. “You look sick.”

“I do?”

He nods, his expression softening.

”Are you still thinking about everything?" he pauses, his worry becoming more visible as he looks at you. "It must be difficult.” Your head blanks at his words. You weren’t aware Xavier gave you enough attention to notice your mood was different. You thought you did okay coming to terms with everything at least while at work to where he wouldn’t notice.

“It’s been a pretty rough week, weeks, actually. I haven’t been sleeping well either,” you agree, struggling to keep your mind anywhere else but there. You’re sure you must look exhausted though. Your under eyes have been darker, the days you could convince Jenna you didn’t need any more leave a bit sluggish, and even Zayne warned you not to lose yourself in grief. It’s easier said than done.

What you don’t expect is for Xavier to grab your wrist and pull you closer.

Xavier normally isn’t the one to draw you, or others for that matter, to him. You’re the one who's been taking the steps to get to know more about him. Offering to help him get his plushie, bargaining with him into becoming your partner, asking him to watch movies with you, while he always seems to keep you a little at arms length, not opening up as much as you wish when sharing stories even when sometimes he looks like he desperately wants to before deciding against it.

Your eyes widen when your nose hits the side of his chest. It's strange to have him be the one pulling, failing to keep his boundaries and also testing them. You don’t want to push him away though. You liked this. Maybe because he was handsome. You hear pretty people can get away with anything, but it feels like more than that. Tara might have been right. Maybe you do have a crush on him but you didn’t care the reason right now when it’s so comforting. You can feel his muscles underneath the thick, warm fabric of his hoodie, and the clothing smells so nice. You can’t help thinking he definitely feels like a bunny too.

“Sleeping is much better with someone.”

“How do you know?” you mumble against him.

“Well, I just had the best sleep I’ve had in days thanks to you. So, allow me to return the favor. I’ll be your pillow this time,” he offers; and surprisingly, your eyes do feel oddly heavy when his soothing voice reaches you. “Relax. I promise not to move for at least two hours, but you can take more if you like.”

”How kind,” you say with a smile, and it feels genuine.

Once again, you get the same familiar sensation from before, that same odd suspicion this has happened once before—or rather it’s supposed to happen? You’re too tired to think about it. You close your eyes to the most blissful dreams you’ve had in weeks.

When you wake up again, it’s not by choice. Xavier is looking down at you, his arm gently wrapped around your shoulders as your head lays on his chest. Your mind is still trapped halfway between being awake and asleep when he begins to talk.

“Welcome back. Did you sleep well?”

You nod. “Real well actually."

Xavier says something else but your tired mind misses the majority of it aside from the fact it’s getting late.

“You can spend the night if you want,” you tell him, allowing sleep to win back over as you try to close your eyes again, but he lifts you away from him, your head swaying with the motion until you find a place to prop your forehead on his shoulder. Your mind echoes with the thought of how soft his hoodie is and how you need one like it as you try to drift back off. Xavier is right. Sleeping with someone else is better, and this closeness you’ve been missing since you lost your family makes you needy.

“It probably wouldn’t be appropriate.”

For some reason, it hurts to think he's back to pushing you away. Even though, it shouldn't.

“But you didn’t get a chance to watch the movie,” you reply, looking for an excuse for him not to leave. “It’s a 48-hour rental, so we can try again.”

Xavier shakes his head, gently poking at your forehead to force your head back. “I’m sure it’ll be twice as boring for you the second time.”

“If we watch it together…”

He meets your foggy gaze apologetically. “I don’t think we’d get very far.”

“We won’t know until we try,” you argue drowsily.

“You don’t look like you’d make it another ten minutes. You belong in bed.”

“I can,” you whimper as the too-bright lights of the overhead fan hit you.

“Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result,” he murmurs softly, almost teasingly until his tone takes on a seriousness you’re too lethargic to grasp, “Isn’t that insanity?”

“I like to call it determination. Who knows? Maybe this will be the time it works,” you joke. Instead of the smile you expected the look on his face is pensive and a little sad, like you touched a delicate spot. The sudden remorse wakes you up almost immediately. “Xavier?”

When he realizes you’re watching him, the longing in his gaze melts into something you can’t describe, other than the fact it makes your heart climb in your throat.

“Alright,” he agrees, much to your surprise and relief. “Let’s try again…but tomorrow.”

Frowning, you avert your gaze, which makes him pet your head.

“Don’t pout. Tonight, I’ll stay until you fall asleep again.”

“Thank you,” you whisper, moving back to rest your head against his chest.

Maybe your grandma wouldn’t have liked you getting so close to a man you didn’t know much about so quickly. Caleb would at least have a few questions, but your intuition tells you that you’re making the right choice when his arm goes back around you. As you start to drift off, you can swear you hear Xavier laughing at you under his breath. “You’re as impossible to say no to as always.”

You’re not entirely sure what time Xavier went back to his apartment that night, but the next morning you wake in your bed, looking forward to seeing him again. You only hope the sweet and confusing fact that you’re in love with him, of the parts he shows you when you’re alone, stays in your dreams the next night and the many nights following that you share with him.

Over the months, as your relationship with Xavier grows stronger, you find it common to share many things with each other. You play online games, house sit for one another, grow strawberries, and usually go home together after your deepspace trials. Most interestingly, you two take naps together on your days off sometimes, nothing sexual about it despite what Tara and her Tarot cards believe. Sure, there might have been questionable situations, but it was all innocent in the end. It's often a short nap in the afternoon after running errands or having lunch together. It's one of those days that you finally build the courage to bring up what's been on your mind for a while now.

It's late when it happens.

The skyscraper lights begin to glow through your balcony door, blinking out the gentle shimmering of distant stars that managed to cut through the trickling rain earlier in the evening. It’s a little disappointing to lose sight of the stars. They’d become a comfort for you in the time you’ve spent with your friend. You'd never given them much thought before then.

The downpour of rain splattering against the glass panels of the balcony makes the city lights milkier to your sight and the steady dripping of water returns some form of calmness when paired with your neighbor’s breathing next to you.

It’s deep and warm, ushering you towards the world of dreams. Everything about Xavier is like a white noise or a desperately needed hug, which is why you’re curled up at his side in this bed that’s too small for the both of you. You didn’t care, and you suspected Xavier didn’t either.

He didn’t mention the smallness of the bed when you offered to take a nap together nor when your head found the bulge of his bicep to use as your pillow. You didn’t give him time to respond when one of your hands slid across his lean chest, reaching for his always subtle pulse. You find the lazy pattering easy to count while the heat in the sheets become much more apparent when you feel the weight of his touch cradle that very same hand to his chest as if promising every beat to you.

Everything about the situation causes your eyes to flutter with tiredness, but you want to savor this moment a little longer. In case this is all an elaborate dream. You hope to death it’s not. So, you force your eyes to remain open, releasing a soft sigh instead as you cuddle into his arm.

Too soon, you feel Xavier slipping further away from you.

You don’t want him to go yet. More than ever, a force inside you needs him to stay tonight, and you lock your grip on the white knit shirt he wears. You tug him back over to you to close this unbearable distance he made. The few little inches he moved were more than enough to cause your heart to yearn.

“Not yet,” you want to plead but make it a soft demand. “I just found the perfect spot.” You muffle the neediness of your requests into his skin, though your head is afraid that somehow he’ll feel it.

“You always use that excuse.”

“And it’s always true. So, no moving,” you order.

Xavier gives in so wonderfully quickly. Your heart is rapidly firing when the corners of his lips turn into his usual waif-like smile. You fail at hiding your satisfaction at his surrender, pressing more of your weight against him, in a sure sign to him that you have no intention of letting him escape any time soon.

“I take this to mean you’re finally admitting it’s your fault we didn’t do our errands today?”

“I never said that,” you disagree half-heartedly. “And don't pretend like you weren't the one who kept saying he didn't feel like getting up earlier.”

“And now that I do, you won’t let me up. Am I right? Why’s that?”

There’s a beat skipping in your chest when he asks. His tone is light and open, easy to treat as a teasing joke but also firm enough to be taken seriously. That was always your trouble with him. You could never quite tell what he was thinking and when he was serious. Xavier is hard to understand sometimes, sometimes vague and sometimes very straightforward in his words; and lately, you think he’s consistently more hot than cold towards you ever since the first time you've slept together.

You like to think this development is a good thing. People who knew you always said you worked a little too hard, a little too observant, overly energetic despite your fragile heart; but with Xavier, you could relax. Moments like these: when his arm was around you and when his breath was at the side of your neck, the soft words he speaks in his sleep dancing in your mind, were the moments when patrolling for wanderers and every loss in your life from your family to your problematic heart dissipated into the back of your mind for a few hours.

It isn’t an exaggeration to believe his influence must have been the cause, at least when it comes to this. But your influence is seeping into him as well. Given his loner habits when you first met and his frequent disappearing acts, you never pictured him as one to be so sweet and considerate and adorably charming in a way.

However, you can’t tell him that you enjoy…sleeping with him. You have a strong feeling he already knows how much you like him. Or, you’d like to think he does with the way he constantly seems to hint at it. He can make you flustered with a few words and easily leave you guessing if you’re reading too much into his actions or if he’s really that good at baiting you. It could also be a little of column A and a little of column B, which somehow makes you more antsy around him. Like how you feel now when his eyes meet yours.

“It’s supposed to be cold tonight,” you whisper. It’s a poor excuse but the only one you can use to defend yourself. “They say the best way to fend off the chill is body heat. Who better for that task than you, dear partner?��

“Many things, I assume, a portable heater comes to mind,” he says, and you don’t need to look at him to know he’s slyly teasing you behind that naive tone.

“Right, right, those things,” you grumble causing him to laugh as you hide your bashful face against him. “So loud, you know?”

“Are they? Alright, then five more minutes should be doable,” he says in the same low voice that makes your insides boil before his arm lowers to curl around your back. “Although, you’re too comfortable.”

His ears tinge in a lovely rose-colored blush, and you shudder when he finally fails to maintain eye contact and quickly scans your body. It’s slow enough for you to catch though. It makes your chest tight as you watch his quiet inhale and the murky flash of want dye his eyes shades darker before they fade back into clear pools of blue, big and pleading as he studies your face.

“I might end up falling asleep here.”

It’s a warning, to make you think about the meaning of your actions, you think. However, this isn’t the first time this has happened nor the first time you spent a rainy day inside with each other; the kitchen counter lined with empty take-out trays, with his body heat radiating into you while a long-forgotten movie plays in the background.

It’ll continue like that until one of you is finally coherent enough after drowsy naps to try to piece together who fell asleep on whom first or who is making the other too hot. Neither of you wants to accept the fault without a lot of bickering; that’s if Xavier doesn’t fall back asleep mid-debate.

Even this time, you’re not sure who managed to drift off to sleep first earlier but neither of you tried to get up, let alone leave the house, until now. Ah, but it was your idea to use the bed this time, wasn’t it?

But it was his choice to agree.

Even now, he looks very peaceful nestled with you, and he still whispers your name in his sleep sometimes, which reminds you of the first time you slept together and he dreamt about wanting you to come home with him.

When you’re like this, you want the same thing. You want him to come home…with you.

“Xavier?” you ask quietly. You wonder if he’s fallen asleep already like he said. Carefully, you free your hand from his hold, slide it up his chest, and begin to draw smooth circles with your pointer finger once you reach his cheek. There’s a soft response from him, barely a moan but it’s enough to know he’s not out of it yet, at least not completely. “I’ve been thinking.”

The air is suddenly stifling when he engulfs the top of your hand with his own, holding it tighter as if he’s upset that you moved it out of his grasp in the first place, but it’s not the case as he affectionately seals your palm against his cheek.

“About what?”

The look he gives you makes it hard not to stumble over your thoughts like a schoolgirl despite being very much an adult.

“Wouldn’t…” You pause to steady your voice; you have to force yourself to not avoid his gaze, but each small movement makes your throat tighten. There’s no doubt you have his full attention now, at least what little remains of it. “Wouldn’t it be easier if we…move in together?”

You’re not sure where the courage to ask him a question like that comes from when you’re too unsure to even confess or to ask what the two of you even are but you didn’t have this fear of rejection until now.

“How would it be easier?”

“Well,” you start, unsure why you’re surprised that he’d want a reason. “We’re always visiting one another, and you made me your representative at the tenant meetings, so everyone already treats us like we’re a combined unit. It would also save me trips on watering your plants when you’re away or when you want to come over to eat. We could save money. Money that could be spent at the arcade or on more hot pot.”

There’s a quiet atmosphere that makes you too uneasy. The thrumming of rain grows louder in it along with the beating in your chest that’s telling you that this was stupid. Is it possible to be drunk on endorphins? Perhaps that’s what gave you the idea to ask something so foolish; you’d have to get Zayne to examine your empty head and tell you.

But then, Xavier smiles.

“Those are good reasons especially more hot pot, and I’m sure all the plushies would feel better if they shared a home again.”

Your anxiety lessens and you share in his smile. Luckily, you managed not to ruin everything it looks like.

“But.” Slowly, the inklings of self-doubt begin to return. A but. There’s always one of those. You should’ve expected as much. “If we move in together then we wouldn’t really be “neighbors” anymore.”

“Oh, um—” You become staggered by his observation, even more so when he interlocks your fingers. It’s another time when you’re not entirely sure if he’s being serious or not. His innocent puppy-eyed expression doesn’t help you differentiate either. It always makes your mind wander to more inappropriate topics—like the fact Xavier told you he didn’t believe that other neighbors acted like you two. The memory nearly makes you squirm. In this position, you decide to give him the benefit of the doubt. “We’d be roommates, much better than neighbors,” you manage to explain, proud when you hold firm, but that delicate foundation cracks when his laugh highlights the room. You could nearly melt.

“Do roommates sleep together too?”

There’s a shine of amusement that makes his face glow and heat claw higher up your neck. You know the question should be taken literally but when he words it like that…with that warm implicative inflection to his voice, you’re unable to think properly, and you realize that maybe you made a mistake. Maybe you shouldn’t have given him the benefit of the doubt this time.

“I’m sure some do,” you answer with some courage, “I’d imagine at least once a week.”

“I believe we’re up to twice a week now. So, if we become roommates, I think we have to do it at least that many times, otherwise I’m afraid I’m going to have to reject your offer.”

“Two times?” you repeat, silently begging the flapping of butterflies in your stomach to calm down at the suggestion, at the implication that he enjoys sleeping with you just as much as you do with him. It makes this strong emotion in your chest blossom even further. “I can manage that.”

“Additional proposal,” he interrupts suddenly. “Perhaps, three times? I can even throw in a pair of those fuzzy socks that I can never manage to find after you visit,” he adds coyly.

“Oh, I’m sure they’re around your apartment somewhere,” you quickly respond before releasing the buildup of nervous air in your lungs. You smile. “Proposal accepted. Shared naps three times a week minimum.”

“In that case,” he breathes in softly, and he slips his hand down releasing all your fingers except for your pinky that he wraps into his own. “I think I would like to be your roommate.”

Inside, there’s unadulterated joy beginning to flood you. You know that this agreement will require a more in-depth discussion that Xavier will probably try to gloss over but this is enough for you right now.

“We should take tonight to practice for our move.”

Confused, you raise your eyebrows. “Practice?”

He nods.

“Sleeping together overnight. We did a few times before, well, only twice in the same bed, once in yours and once in mine,” he explains. You definitely have the clearest memory of that time, of bandaging his wounds, of cluelessly pinning him down shirtless on his bed before he turned the tables on you, and then—you remind yourself to resist going over the details, not with him this close to you. Somehow, Xavier is the one who looks the most insecure between the two of you. Finally, he whispers, “I haven’t forgotten even if it was a long time ago.”

His eyes are half-lidded, cloudy with thought. Something about him looks restrained and longing but it disappears when you finally swallow your swelling emotions and call out his name. There’s a twinkle of adoration that blows away whatever doubt there as he focuses on you again.

“I think about it when I have a hard time sleeping on overnight missions.” Xavier turns and slides his arm from under your head, choosing to lay on his side to face you. “It makes it a lot easier to rest in the hunting zones when you have good memories like that. So, it's nice to have a chance to make more."

“I don’t think I could fall asleep at all if I thought of something like that,” you admit, as close to an admission of your love for him as you could muster without mountains of alcohol. “I’d just think about how much I’d rather be home with them.”

“And now? Are you having trouble sleeping?” he asks huskily, and you have to fight not to keep staring at his lips and the dire need to kiss them as you breathe each other in. You reach out, touching his bare collar then instinctively searching for his slow pulse, counting it to calm yourself from the rush of adrenaline building in you.

You’re not even sure when you breathed out the “yes” that echoes softly from your mouth. His lips are so close to yours that you’re sure he could catch it in his breath if he wanted.

“How about I tell you a story to help you fall asleep?” He sees your hesitation and laughs under his breath. “I promise it’ll be much better than the last one.”

Accepting his offer, you agree to listen to him.

Xavier nods and gently swoops the back of his hand against your forehead and then your cheek before cupping it. There’s a gentle squeeze, and you think you understand why he likes it so much when you do it.

“Once, there was a beautiful queen and a knight,” he begins. “They lived together in a palace far away.”

“And they fall in love and live happily ever after?” you question, too busy in the full and fuzzy sensations filling your being to hold back.

“No, they were separated from each other for a long time,” Xavier corrects but his expression softens at the trickling concern building on your face. “Don’t worry. They meet again and become neighbors.”

“And then?”

“They become roommates,” he states matter-of-factly, which causes you to chuckle at him. You can’t even be bothered to care that he’s poking fun at you.

“Then, happily ever after?”

“I don’t know yet,” he answers, causing you to frown and your face to wrinkle with a sullen expression. His head tilts further into the plush of the pillow. “But you can help me figure out the ending.”

Feeling exhausted from the cathartic flow of emotions from him to you, you wiggle into him and throw your arm across his waist. “There’d probably be a lot of naps and stargazing involved,” you mumble before a tiny yawn.

“Sounds like a happy ending to me. It's good to finally see it,” he agrees, and you sigh when you feel a strong squeeze around your waist. “Although, you forgot to mention the part where the queen promises to not get out of bed without waking him this time.”

You giggle. “She promises not to get up without her knight.”

Content, he hums. "Do you think you'll be able to sleep now?"

"I think so after a story like that," you confess, reaching out to brush his hair back so you can see his eyes more clearly. "Then again, I always sleep good with you."

"You’ll sleep best when we're close, right?"

You gasp when he shifts on top of you. His lips briefly brush your forehead, by accident or not, you can’t tell as he pins you between himself and the bed. With a stutter, you call out his name yet he pays no heed as he nuzzles his head into your hair.

“Good night, roommate.”

“Xav-!” You pout when he instantly slumps against you. There’s no point trying to wake him up now that his five minutes of alertness have long expired.

Settling your chin against the top of his shoulder, you hook your arms under his to hug him against your chest. Your forearms settle at his mid-back as you hold him close so you can gently brush the ends of his hair.

When you ultimately decide to give in minutes after him, it’s to the warmth of his weight on top of you, the tickle of his hair against your forehead, and the increased pulsing of his heart. Xavier was right, this is too comfortable. Letting your eyes fall close, you wonder if three times a week would really be enough to satisfy this strangely familiar craving. You only wish that the two of you could meet in your dreams like he says, but it's enough knowing you'll have each other in the morning and then on.

“…Good night, Xavier. Sweet dreams,” you whisper before you too give into sleep’s spell.

#xavier x reader #love and deepspace x reader #lads x reader #xavier fluff #xavier

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lunar-years · 4 months

Note

For the first sentence of a fic thing:

The first time Roy thinks nothing of it; the second he thinks it a coincidence – but the third time, and catching the studied nonchalance on Jamie and Keeley’s faces, he begins to grow suspicious. "And neither of you have seen it?" he repeats slowly, staring at each of them in turn with his most intense, patented glare, waiting for one of them to break.

Jamie's face remains completely stoic--impressive, actually. Usually he's first to crack. Keeley shrugs innocently and murmurs, "Guess you must've misplaced it again, babe...."

Roy snorts. Yeah. He'd believed that the first time, when he'd found it buried on Jamie's shelf buried amongst his many, many hair products. Roy must've confused the shelves one night. His eyesight is shit in the dark, after all. Then when he next went to use it, the thing was fucking broken, so okay. Shit happened. Order another, no big deal.

This time, though, the trimmer was brand-fucking-new. And he knows exactly where he placed it once he'd removed it from the packaging. "You know that this is important, right?" he growls. "I've got be at the club in like two hours. Looking professional."

He glances past their heads to catch a sight of himself in the mirror. He meant to get a real haircut, but after a few rounds of putting it off, it's gotten long enough now for the curls to really be coming back, in desperate need of a trim, and his beard looks utterly unruly to match. Altogether, he looks like he's an aspiring caveman instead of the fresh new manager of a Premier League team.

"Your beautiful curls aren't unprofessional," Keeley says crisply, arms crossed and looking all put out like he's offended her talking about his own damn hair. Jesus Christ. "Actually, Jamie found--"

Jamie is instantly at his side, holding out a bottle of curl shampoo. "Bit of this to reduce the frizz, lad, and some beard oil to tame you up a bit in the front...very professional, that. And if it happens to make you look dead sexy, too, well--" He shrugs and exchanges a look with Keeley, who nods encouragingly like he's really selling it. They're both ridiculous.

Roy rolls his eyes. "So you mean to tell me I haven't been able to shave in days because my trimmer keeps disappearing mysteriously, and Jamie just so happened to go shopping for fucking..." he takes the bottle Jamie's holding, "curl-defining shampoo in that same timeframe? By total coincidence?"

"Exactly!" Keeley says cheerfully.

"You know, two hours gives us plenty of time to try it out," Jamie adds nonchalantly, waving the shampoo. His eyes are fucking sparkling. He's gorgeous. He's always so fucking gorgeous. "Probably best if Keeley and I help you out. Gotta really massage it in to get the full effect. It will take all three of us. We should shower together!"

Keeley's heads bobs up and down enthusiastically.

"And my trimmer is--?"

"Oh hush," Keeley says, edging closer, "You can search for that later."

"...or not!" Jamie adds.

Yeah, he thinks, letting Keeley's deft hands work at tugging his shirt over his head. Or fucking not.

#thanks for sending!#something deeply unserious after the last one hahaha #roy kent depression curls i'm always thinking about you <3 #royjamiekeeley #roy kent #jamie tartt #keeley jones #ted lasso #my writing #my fics #my fanfics #drabble #ship post #asks #ask games #writing games #first sentence of a fic thing

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unknown-lifeform · 1 month

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You know I'm just so lowkey baffled by the time in Rebirth Vincent says he could have gotten rid of Sephiroth many times but he could never pull the trigger in the end (paraphrasing). Like... when??? When did he have those chances??? Because the only times Vincent happened to be in close proximity to Sephiroth that we know of was

When Sephiroth was going insane in the library, but as far as we know Vincent was asleep back then? I mean, Rebirth does make it seem like he had some kind of job in the Manor, although I gotta wonder how he even got it. Like did Hojo knock on the coffin and said since you're staying here act like a security guard? It's kind of weird. But in CC Zack is shocked to find Vincent when he does, and Vincent was as far as we can tell fully asleep then, so I imagine being security is like some kind of hobby Vincent picked up in the past couple years. I don't think he had ever actually used that keycard thing ever before

Of course, back when Lucretia was pregnant, and like... I would hope it never crossed Vincent's mind to shoot Lucretia's stomach. And if I remember right Hojo shot Vincent before Sephiroth was even born, or at most when Sephiroth was a newborn, and again I would sure hope Vincent wasn't thinking about shooting what I assume was a perfectly normal and innocent newborn. Unless that was just a very dramatic metaphor and Vincent actually meant he had had many chances to put a condom on and never did which technically

As far as I know there are 0 other times when Vincent had any chance of shooting Sephiroth. The only possible time for Vincent to have thought about killing Sephiroth is if he had woken up when Sephiroth set Nibelheim on fire (because as far as Sephiroth was just losing his mind in the library I don't think he posed an active enough danger to be taken out). And even then it wasn't that Vincent had many chances. He had, what, a timeframe of about one or two hours from when Sephiroth started killing people to when he got chucked into the reactor? I don't call that many chances unless Vincent literally spent the whole time with his gun pointed on Sephiroth

And like idk. I get it if Vincent couldn't kill Sephiroth at the time, regardless of opinions on Sephiroth's paternity Sephiroth is Lucretia's son and Vincent is first and foremost a romantic idiot. But given Sephiroth was out there murdering a whole town I feel Vincent might have, I don't know, spared a bullet to the kneecaps or something. He was a Turk. We know they are trained to put emotions aside to a degree. He should have been able to non-fatally maim a violent murderer without too much guilt

So when! When!! Did Vincent have chances to kill Sephiroth!!! When did this happen! Squenix please explain

(Also if someone knows and could tell me what Vincent says in the original Japanese that'd be nice, like is it something he said in that version too or did the localization team make it up?)

#ff7 #ffvii #ff7 rebirth #rebirth spoilers #vincent valentine #sephiroth

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mikami · 3 months

Note

It's hard to imagine Light doing a thorough check of criminals being guilty, considering the manga. Volume 3, 6 pages into the first chapter.

"Until now, every time a criminal was reported in the news, | eliminated them that day, or the next day at the latest."

If he's usually killing people off the day they're reported, then all he'd really know is there was enough pointing in their direction to lead to an arrest. Doesn't necessarily mean that an investigation wouldn't have eventually shown innocence. Considering discovery is a process that can take years, there's no way to get an accurate reading on someone's guilt in a day or two.

The other issue is that, despite being in Light's head 80% of the time, this is the first time we're hearing that he actually

does any research at all.

Anon, first of I am SO grateful that you provided a direct citation for your quote, I LOVE HAVING SPECIFIC PANELS TO POINT TO. Genuinely, bless <3

Here's the panel in question for posterity.

And I do think you make a good argument.

I feel like between the panel I showed and this one, we can assume his research amounts to 'reading the basics of the case file' rather than anything in-depth. (And that only when he has the time for it, he obviously does not do background checks on the people he kills via bag of chips TV.)

(The thing I'd nitpick is that criminals would often only get reported a long while into the investigation - in Japan, being ever accused of a crime is life-ruining even if you are proven fully innocent at the end of the proceedings. This also plays into what I mentioned in the other ask: people only get arrested when the investigators think there is a totally certain case against them. )

But that said, yeah, I think you're right - this timeframe being stated for the rhythm of Kira killings drastically lowers the chance of Light actually being able to do more than a cursory glance that rules out cases like 'well, this was a car accident on a slippery frozen road and not an intentional murder'.

I think this is somewhere in between 'Light absolutely killed a lot of innocent people' and 'Death Note as a story is wholly uninterested in the legal drama of false conviction and the narrative itself just kind of assumes all reported criminals are guilty', depending on which angle you want to center in your analysis.

#answers

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accio-victuuri · 10 months

Text

it’s time for some yuguyao/the longest promise clowning… i feel like we will get a couple from this timeframe so i wanna be able to archive as much as i can. 🦢

consider this post as part 3. one & two linked.

• something from lrlg ( please come back to us soon ) and thought to be connected to how shiying reminds xz of lan wangji too. yibo was again speaking to someone so it may seem as random convo that time.

you are like a fairy

what do you mean acting in my true colors? ***

neither you nor him ( laughing )

well send it to me

it possibly points to xz telling wyb that he is acting in his ( wyb ) colors, white as in gusu lan. i’m just so fond of the speculation that zz sees wyb’s color as white. even removing the whole lwj connection — him seeing wyb as the color white, something so clean and innocent just gets me. most of us associate him with green, and rightfully so because that’s what wyb prefers. however it’s so gg to tie wyb with a color that represents purity, and i guess that’s how he sees wyb. a really good boy who’s clean and honest like the color white. 🥹🥹🥹

• another example of them not scheduling things at the same time. I don’t know how long this will hold out but so far they are doing it so well. Yuguyao aired 7.2 and for VIPs, it will end on 7.20. Then on 7.22 there will be a YH concert in Macau and on 7.28 premiere of One & Only. a jampacked July for sure but it’s so good how they don’t overlap!

• i don’t really wanna go into detail anymore about the echoes of CQL that we see in YGY. most likely because this was filmed in Hengdian as well. and Shiying really looks like he will fit right in to Gusu Lan. There are already 2 hot search tags for that comparison/parallel ( 7/3/2023 )

While I can’t fault people for noticing and i agree that it sets the scene for interesting edits in the future, I feel that this kind of topic is prone to being misunderstood and may be used by Antis. These are two different stories. Shiying is not WWX. The way GG acts as Shiying is different from WWX. I would hate for passerby to have the impression that GG can only act a certain way in costume dramas.

but shiying and lwj as friends is my headcanon now. no one can stop me.

• going by the shiying x lwj parallel, here they are in a 2019 interview where wyb says he hopes that ZZ will play a role that is contrasting to WWX. and well it came true, it’s Shiying.

( no but this is so funny, he was once wwx who was silenced. and now he plays a role that can use a silencing spell 😂😂😂 )

• not really a cpn but a fact. i always say this — they have the same values and that’s why they get a long. they also take their careers as actors seriously. they are not idols who decided it’s cool to be an actor and just go along with their traffic. nope. they wanna deliver the best. the parallel between btf and ygy scene wherein the bts scenes emphasized an incident where they both were asking to do one more take. they want to have the perfect shot and it doesn’t matter how tiring it is.

• and my fave, interpreting old candies in a new way. this post from way back of an umbrella have always been linked by the fandom to shiying ☂️

The use of 23 ( Ai Zhan ) the 3 “Go” and emoticons are also 3 ( Zhan Zhan ). The shooting time of YGY started from 20210329 so this day fits the timeline.

What’s more interesting is that the umbrella is in the bucket with water. Is it implying the bathing scene of Shiying? And it happened that WYB allegedly went to visit the set again at that time, because in the fake material room on 6.27, LRLG said very clearly, "Go back to Mr. Wang to pack things" and the conversation between the two also said "I'll be with you when it rains" Have a meal"! And "God also wants to eat" isn't it a clear reference to our great priest shi ying?

sources: one / two / three / four

END.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #PLEASE DO NOT TAG MY CPN POSTS WITH THEIR NAMES PLEASE

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eris-snow · 10 months

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𝐈 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲

Tags: Deku's birthday series 2023, izuku x fem!reader

Izuku's birthday is always bittersweet. No matter how much you wish, the outcome is the same. He'll always forget you.

I’ve heard that exact phrase from you 7 times.

Izuku stares at the note and frowns, trying to work out the implications of your words as he examines the post-it note on his door.

This is obviously a reply to his previous note about his birthday.

Do you know his birthday already? Since when? Did someone tell you?

His eyebrows knitted themselves together as he pondered more.

What do you mean by 7 times, then?

His frown etches deeper.

And how could you know a phrase he’s only said once?

On the 15th of July, 6 years ago, Izuku had been hit by a quirk. Although, with the damage it did to your relationship with your former best friend, the word ‘curse’ seemed to suit it much better.

“It’s an annual occurrence. After each cycle, in this case, each year, his memory would be wiped off you.” The doctor’s words were hazy in your ten-year-old mind, but they’d reverberated off the walls of your head each time his birthday drew near.

“At the stroke of midnight marking the start of the 16th of July, your face will be erased from his consciousness. In each memory, each picture he remembers, every thought he’s ever had of you in that one-year timeframe, you will disappear.” The doctor had put it quite bluntly after your insistent “Tell me, I can handle it!”s. He’d asked your mother to leave the room and had taken you at your word, explaining the painful consequence of the quirk accident.

You had to stop the tears from watering up in your eyes.

“So Izuku doesn’t know me anymore?” You whispered, tears almost bubbling over.

“He doesn’t,” The doctor confirmed. He kneeled down, looking at you at eye level. “The man’s quirk is called Wipe. Say he puts his quirk on Person A. He gets to scan Person A’s memory and choose whoever he wants from his victim’s memories to erase every year. In Izuku’s case, he chose you.”

“Why did I get chosen?” Your voice cracked, a tear sliding down your cheek. You didn’t ask for this. You were a good friend, a good child! Izuku and you were going to U.A. together, and you were going to become heroes together so come on, this can’t happen!

“Can’t we reverse this?”

You didn’t deserve this! You wanted to protest.

The doctor smiled at you, and even though you knew you asked for this you felt like punching him in the face.

“We’ll do our best to find out,” he assured you.

They did not find out.

In fact, everyone around you had accepted that the entire situation was a cold trail, and that the effects of the quirk were permanent since the villain was so tight-lipped about it, and had nothing further to say on the matter.

Even you were starting to lose faith in him too.

Glance at your phone, your eyes trace the date as if it had killed your pet dog. It’s that time of the year again.

The start of every July.

It’s always a bittersweet one because it’s the time when Izuku is the most comfortable with you, while you’re left to count down the days until Izuku’s memories are wiped again.

Izuku catches a glance of you as he enters the gym after his morning run. You both have a silent agreement to have breakfast together every Sunday, and Izuku always knows where to find you on a Sunday morning. He smiles when he sees you on the treadmill, taking you in with a fond gaze before he calls you out like every week before.

“Hey, Starlight?”

You snap out of your thoughts at the sound of your nickname, almost falling face-first on the treadmill when the green-haired wielder of One For All decides to pop up right next to you like a Jack in the Box.

Steadying yourself, you slow down the pacing of the machine, still panting from the running and the minor heart attack. “In all that is holy, what the hell was that, ‘Zuku!” you bite back, easing yourself off the treadmill.

The teen has the audacity to crack up, laughing so innocently like he didn’t almost just give you a concussion. You’re just glad that he doesn’t flinch away from you and bow his head in apology anymore like you were both strangers.

Your face clouds over rapidly.

“I’m sorry!” Izuku chuckles, wiping his tears away. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“You did though,” You point out sullenly, folding your arms. “Now spill before I give you a concussion.”

Looking wounded, the green-haired teen changes the subject. “Thought you would be expecting me. It’s Sunday,” He pointed out. “Look, I wanted to ask you what you meant by your secret this morning.” He showed you the lime green Post-it, flashing your handwriting back at you. “I don’t get it.”

“You don’t have to get it. That’s why it’s a secret,” you sidestep, reaching for your towel on a nearby bench.

The broccoli boy’s gaze trails your every move. “But I—”

“Just ask Kacchan,” You say, taking a swig at your water bottle. Your body freezes like ice.

Izuku’s eyes narrow on you.

Immediately, you start chugging water from your bottle as eager as an alcoholic discovering vodka for the first time.

You wish, because you don’t think you can do this sober.

Green eyes pin you to your spot like piercing nails.

“Did you just—”

“It was a slip of the tongue,” you explain, trying to come off as defensive as you silently grimace at your mistake. “Meant to call him Katsuki.”

Shit, shit, shit—

You’d sworn you wouldn’t mess up the explosive blond’s name in front of Izuku and yet every year, you were bound to do so. Yikes. His reaction was getting more exaggerated with every year.

“Oh,” Izuku blinks, and suddenly, the hard look in his eyes disappears in the blink of an eye. He blushes crimson, rubbing his neck sheepishly as he averts his gaze from you “Sorry. It’s just a childhood thing, you know? Whenever Kaminari calls him that, even if it’s just for fun, it just…feels wrong.”

You cringe at the word “childhood”, like his words slip tiny pins into your heart and threaten to make it bleed out. “I get it,” You respond, trying to get your smile to come out naturally. It works.

Sort of.

“Wanna head to the canteen now? I’m famished.” He offers you an apologetic, nervous smile that screams Deku, and you sigh in relief at the conversation switch up. “That sounds great. Maybe I can get you to eat something other than katsu don there. If not Lunch Rush then I’ll go to—” your mom “—Katsuki.”

“You’re very funny,” He tells you seriously, making the both of you burst out laughing.

Yeah, this feels right, you tell yourself as you sweep the feelings under the carpet that tells you otherwise. Love isn’t a word you would use lightly, and definitely not to Izuku who perceives he’s only known you for a year. There’s no point in telling him, after all.

It’s not like he’ll remember anyway.

Izuku’s note comes back much later that day, returned just as you had returned his. You rip the sticky note off your door and took a great, long stare at it, sighing.

I know you avoided talking about the note. I know that I shouldn’t pry, because it’s your secret to keep, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. P.s. Sleep well. The walls are thin. I'm just next door if you need someone to talk to.

Groaning, you slam your head against your door.

He thought you were crying because you had nightmares of the war.

The only thing you could think of as you fell asleep that night was how much you would prefer that.

#mha #mha fanfiction #deku x reader #izuku x y/n #izuku x reader #izuku midoriya #midoriya izuku #bnha midoriya #midoriya x y/n #Deku's birthday series 2023

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whileyouwait-dm · 3 months

Text

So it begins...

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Miriana had been crossing the street with a group of people one minute and the next she was in a strange dark forest. Obviously she was at least unconscious and this was some kind of dream; at least that was what she was hoping. The alternative was that she was dead. Were that the case, then where exactly she was confounded her. This certainly did not resemble any description of Heaven that she had read of, but it didn’t exactly resemble Hell either. She hadn’t read up on all mythologies though, but she doubted Hell as supposed to look like a dense forest with lush vegetation. So, exactly what happened and where was she? Two questions that she hoped would be answered by someone in at least some kind of decent timeframe.

Miriana turned in a circle, but saw no path or anything that gave a clear direction out of the clearing that she was in. There was just this jagged oval of a clearing where the underbrush was lower, then it grew higher again and the trees were closer together. The canopy was still lush and green, keeping everything below in shade and relative darkness. There were no sounds of birds or active wildlife that she could ascertain, which seemed odd for the middle of the day, but she wasn’t any kind of wildlife or forest expert. Trying to decide which way to go was not easy, since she had no idea where she was and there were no ambient noises to guide her.

Finally, she just picked a direction and headed into the thicker underbrush and darker canopy cover. There was no better or worse option, none of them seemed any different than the other at this point since there were no indicators of where she would find someone else. Hopefully when she did find someone else, they’d be able to tell her where she was and how she got them from the middle of a busy intersection with no memory of it. She’d never been camping or hiking, so this definitely wasn’t one of her friends playing some messed up kind of a prank, they’d know better than to drop her city girl ass out in the middle of the wilderness. Fending for herself meant using the microwave to heat up leftovers, not making her way through the wilderness.

****

“SIRE!” A messenger came running into Djall’s office. He was out of breath and flushed, looking almost on the verge of panic. This could mean nothing good for the ruler of the underworld, so there went his afternoon. “Yes? What is it?” He asked, leaning back in his chair. Hopefully it wasn’t something too bad and he could get back to organizing the newest batch of arrivals according to what demon would be overseeing them.

“There was a problem with the afterlife routing algorithm and we’ve received…………a mistake.” The color seemed to drain from the demon’s face.

“A mistake?” Djall’s dark eyes narrowed at the demon, who was nodding and simultaneously looking like he wanted to become one with the wall behind him. “What kind of mistake?” His head cantered to one side as he tried to figure out how they could receive any kind of mistake. This was Hell. Mistakes didn’t happen in Hell and you didn’t end up in Hell by mistake. You earned your way here.

“Sir, the algorithm sent a murderer to Paradise, and an innocent human girl here. She just landed in the forest of beasts. She was supposed to go the other way. There are a few beings arguing over whose fault it is, but we need to find her before the beasts do. She’s done nothing wrong to be here, Sire.” The demon’s back was pressed against the wall and he was truly terrified that his liege was going to cause him great pain from the look of displeasure currently upon his face.

“I have a completely innocent female IN THE FOREST OF BEASTS?!” Djall almost roared at the information. Of all of the places for her to land, the one that was the most violent and vicious. Of course, because having her land someplace “safe” in Hell would be to easy when the pompous pricks upstairs fucked up. Instead he was going to have to go find her before she was hurt and he had to put a bunch of pieces back together. Had he fucked over some deity that he’d forgotten about? He didn’t think so, but the day was sure shaping up that way.

Pushing on the armrests of his chair, Djall came to standing. “I will be off finding this female. Can you please find out who I’m supposed to call once I have her back here to the manor? Getting her out of Hell promptly is, I'm sure, on the top of everyone’s agenda. And, also, find out how the fuck this happened!” He gave the demon a tight smile and teleported to the forest. This was not going to be fun, and someone would definitely pay for the inconvenience later.

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lifedeathtimespace · 4 months

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TADvent Day 24 - Evergreen

@theamazingdevildiscord

I think the flowers mentioned in Elsa's Song are really interesting. You can, of course, look at the meanings they all carry (sage - health and wisdom, liles - purity, innocence and rebirth, roses - love and passion, forget-me-nots - faithfulness/fidelity, true love, and memory). In forgetting the forget-me-nots, Elsa has admitted to moving on, finding someone new and forgetting about her lost love. What's really interesting about this, though, is the type of plant each of these is.

Sage, roses and (some!) lilies are perennial. Year after year, they will come back. They might fade and wither over the colder months but as long as they are properly cared for, come spring they will return and flower again.

Forget-me-nots are considered semi-perennials, meaning they may well come back for a few years but will ultimately die. If you plant a forget-me-not in your garden, you do so knowing that in a few years you'll have to replace it. It lives on a limited timeframe, and nothing you can do will change that.

Elsa tries to promise to remember her love, but he knows she can't. The flower will die and she will move on. He will die and she will live. She can try, she can water the ground and prune the leaves, she can do everything right, but in the end it just won't matter, because the plant is doomed to die and take his memory with it. Despite her best efforts, her promise is a lie and cannot be anything else.

#TADvent2023 #TADvent #im not a gardner if this is wrong don't @ me #the amazing devil #joey batey #madeleine hyland #song lyrics #amazing devil #tad #music #song analysis #the horror and the wild #love run #ruin #elsa's song

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darkonekrisrewrite · 10 months

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Ochako Needs Toga and Toga Can’t Die

(Toga/Ochako Meta, Toga Survival Meta, Current Spoilers Warning)

Ochako needs her Villain alive, free but close to her and Toga can’t die, not only for her sake but also because Ochako can’t achieve the goals she bet her life on without her.

Toga and Ochako connected and formed a real bond ^.

And it’s one of the most important moments in Bnha but it can’t end here for either of them.

Because neither can truly succeed or get what they really want without the other.

Or at least Ochako can’t.

Because anything Ochako (based on her current Final Arc goals) wants to do, without Toga, she can’t do.

Ochako’s Microphone isn’t going to cut it anymore

The only reason Ochako’s Speech to the Civilians worked was because she told them exactly what they wanted to hear, that they would be protected and returned to normalcy.

Literally begging them to care about the Young Hero who has fought and suffered for them all this time while swearing that they’d get exactly what they want.

She was also very lucky in that some of the Civilians had prior experiences with Deku and supported the sentiment.

Kota and the Heteromorph Woman.

Another advantage she had was that her current goal of helping Deku was aligned with that of the “System” (Endeavor, Hawks, Jeanist and Nezu); no one with any real power was opposed to Ochako.

That’s definitely not the case this time, with her current line of thinking.

Everyone will be opposed to Ochako now, both heroes and civilians.

Not truly for the sake of “Justice” or “Fairness” (if anyone, heroes or Civs. really wanted either of those things; half the Villains wouldn’t be Villains at all) but because both groups stand to lose a lot by accepting that the villains are human beings and their continued existence and autonomy.

(This ^ was their response to being asked to help Deku by letting stay at the heroes own shelter)

If the civilians needed so much convincing just to take some risks to help their Savior (Deku) then no amount of crying, begging or screaming is going to convince them to help their enemy (Toga).

A Path that would require them to take a serious look at their way of life and actions, admitting they’re wrong and make the difficult but extremely necessary changes.

With everything the Bnha Civilians have been shown to be, the only logical outcome of (Megaphone or not) peacefully asking them to change, it’s not going to work.

The civilians are the ones that haven’t shown any desire to change, not in any way that was really genuine.

And the Civilians won’t want to change because all they want is for everything to go back to their selfish “normal”.

(Their ideal normal under All Might ^)

Reminder that any Core Lov member’s life is worth infinitely more than any number of “Innocent” Civilians.

An example of a Hero who definitely won’t be on board with Ochako’s new Path is: Shoji “Shine bright until the one kicking you down feels bad” Mezo.

Whether Ochako (currently or later) realizes it or not, Shoji’s “Heroic Answer” is fundamentally opposed to her own.

Toga and Spinner might not be the same in many aspects but they’re not incomparable, in how society rejected them and in how they came to be villains.

Just like any person so negatively affected by their Quirk (mentally or physically) could become a future “Toga”; any Heteromorph treated cruelly enough could become a future “Spinner”.

And in dealing with these issues in the present, Ochako and Shoji (mostly) reveal how they’re going to deal with them in the future, and their answers couldn’t (logistically) be more different.

(Any timeframe of when that’ll happen???)

Shoji’s personal answer was for him to: “Become the coolest Hero ever”, which honestly I still don’t know what that means.

Coolest as in: Popularity? Heroic strength or influence? Inspiring others the next generation?

Shoji never specified anything about whom or what he wanted to be and he never said that he was actually going to help the Heteromorphs.

He even threatens the other Heteromorph’s children that they’ll be targeted next if they don’t stop, despite the fact that he was a target himself a few years (to current time) ago as a child.

Taking this all together, it doesn’t seem like Shoji’s going to be doing much at all for the Heteromorphs and he’s basically told them to behave until the people who carved up his face (for saving a child) feel bad.

Basically a whole lot of nothing.

Ochako isn’t like that.

She persuaded Toga as an equal and connected with her despite their differences, never putting herself above the person she was trying to convince.

Working with the person suffering directly and offering something real, something that really helps.

(An actual “Helping Hand” being given ^)

And while she hasn’t come right out and said things systemically need to change, the fact that she was willing to go so far to help Toga and committing to that future “for life”, shows that she’s only one step away from reaching that conclusion.

That actually, Heroes do need to directly intervene in situations like this and they should, in that it’s the right thing to do.

Because that’s what a real Hero would do as opposed to telling those suffering to “shine” and then trying to be the “coolest Hero”, whatever that entails.

Even if this doesn’t lead to conflict within the Hero ranks, it does show that Ochako’s not going to have a lot of allies going forward, even with just saving Toga herself.

Tsuyu and Deku might fall in there somewhat, but it hasn’t been made very clear about where they’ll really stand in the end on a larger view.

Whether Deku will expand on his “Helping Hand” previous answer or not.

The only person Ochako’s going to have “Going all in” is Toga.

Someone willing to do whatever it takes for the person they’re loyal to, to life or death, for better or worse, something the Lov specializes in.

Because while Ochako’s other friends are undoubtedly loyal to her, especially Deku and Tsuyu, the things they’re willing to do don’t really fall outside of Ochako’s own comfort zones.

For instance: If Ochako winds up rocking too many boats in hero society (even by just helping Toga) and the current government decides that’s not going to fly, what happens then?

(We still never got any specifics on what any of the “corrupt” Heroes did, more than a little suspicious.)

Because remember Lady Nagant was operating during All Might’s Era, so if Deku wins and becomes the next symbol of “Peace” there’s nothing stopping such things from happening again sooner or later unless Deku himself is willing to throw his own weight around, not against any directly hostile force but at the system/government itself.

Nothing so far has shown that he’s willing to do that.

The closest thing was Deku becoming a fugitive in the third Movie but he wasn’t really fighting against any government or similar institution, so I’m still going to say no there.

And looking back, who was it exactly, that took out the last hero Commission?

(The same commission ^ that employed child soldiers?)

Twice and Redestro did that.

It can’t be a “We’ll try to do better from now on” ending without any elaboration or resistance by every flaw of Hero Society already established.

It may be a Shounen Manga but it’s not a Disney Series, I think it’s fair to expect a little more nuance in things going forward with all the buildup that just keeps coming.

Ochako isn’t going to succeed without Toga

Because nothing her heroic standards will allow her to do will be enough to really make anything better, to prevent more “Toga Himiko” variants from being made.

She doesn’t have the power or the willingness for violence to force change if the Government and Civilians say no, which based on everything we’ve seen so far, they definitely will say no.

No Hero has both these qualities together.

The Lov need the 3 core Heroes to become brighter versions of themselves but the 3 core Heroes need the Villains in case they need to be darker versions of themselves.

Giving the villains hope and giving the Heroes Teeth.

Especially true for Ochako and Toga.

That I think (and logically is) is the only middle ground, working together to meet between Naive Heroic optimism and Nihilistic Villainous destruction.

Toga can’t die because Ochako can’t follow through on her Arc’s conclusion and future (greater) Hero goals without her.

It just isn’t possible.

Now Logical reasons why Toga can’t die:

While Toga did and still does want to live and die her own normal way, she obviously didn’t want to die so soon.

And while she did seem to choose death over imprisonment, I don’t think that was truly the reason so much as Toga wanted to save Ochako no matter the consequences.

It was a factor but not the prime reason.

And keep in mind Toga did survive this:

(With this many small bombs going off inside her body and the damage she was shown to take afterward, I think it’s reasonable to assume that she can handle Blood loss for a while.)

Also This:

Toga did stitch up Ochako’s wound already so the blood isn’t still being lost in such a large quantity anymore.

And prior to the transfusion, Toga had taken Zero Damage in the battle, so she would have all of her own Blood amount going in.

Toga isn’t literally giving Ochako “All of” her Blood, she’s just replacing what was lost while dealing with a (mostly) closed Wound.

While it would definitely be draining for Toga, there’s really no way it should be fatal.

And even if it was leading towards that danger, there is one more person very nearby that should still be able to help, someone that shares Type B Blood (Ochako’s Type and Toga’s current transformation Type) and understands what Ochako is trying to do:

Toga and Ochako’s story can’t end here.

#bnha spoilers #mha meta #toga himiko #Ochako Uraraka #mha spoilers

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reginrokkr · 5 months

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𝐂𝐗𝐈𝐋. Given Dain's high standing in the military of Khaenri'ah, I am still debating whether he knew or not about its dark side (which is huge and lasted for millennia if we take as a solid point of timeframe when Phanes threw the sapphire nails to mend the land from the Apocalypse, one of which landed in Dragonspine and the author of one of the stone tablets already talked about a nation without gods being built somewhere) and in case he didn't and by then he was already destined for greatness —be it by being tied to Irminsul already or something else, thus already gauging a greater picture outside Khaenri'ah, but of the world—, if he was forced to make a decision to not do everything in his power to do something for Khaenri'ah or do something else to think about the future and not so much about the shorter term (if the darkness that spread from Khaenri'ah to the rest of the world were to be left unchecked, the whole world could've gone to poop easily) and come empty-handed because what could he possibly do against the gods?

Whatever the case is, what I want to address is that chances are that in the heat of the moment, he did hate the gods when Khaenri'ah's fall happened but not even that would blind him to see things from perspective (I will touch on this a tad later). Assuming that he came to witness that even Khaenri'ahns themselves could summon the rifthounds, not so much that perhaps it was the only choice the gods had to keep all that consuming darkness at bay from the potential danger of spreading to the rest of the world (as it ended up happening anyway) because sooner or later, that would've spilled on the rest of Khaenri'ah's civilization and would be cause of serious danger to the citizens— but because people who had nothing to do with the festering obsessions for thousands of years were also brought into the equation, full blooded Khaenri'ahns or not. And what's worse: not only the gods had to destroy their home but they had to cast that bloody curse that, regardless of the purity of people's blood, was horrible in many ways.

However, and as I say, not even this blinds him to the greater scheme of the world at large if we come to think that, assuming that the first nation of Teyvat he resurfaced on was Sumeru, in helping Zurvan alongside the one-armed sage to purify that area and dispel the Sign of Apaosha he cooperated indirectly with no less than three goddesses: Rhukkadevata, Egeria and Nabu Malikata. Considering how early on after leaving Khaenri'ah that was and his still very fresh inner turmoil, there is a great strength in pulling himself together to do something like that and rise as a hero in that area, even if it was so those who continued to come to the surface would have somewhere safe where to stay or so no other innocent people would have to suffer some major consequences— let alone brought by the same people he pledged loyalty to.

In view of this and coming to a more present time where he must have an even bigger view of the great picture than he must've had in the beginning of the Cataclysm, I will say that Dain doesn't hate gods or at least, he doesn't hate them in general and is capable of directing that hatred to the actual puppeteers in a play where the Archons are the marionettes. Of course, that doesn't mean he won't be critical of them as we've seen with Venti, Zhongli and Ei so far, with Zhongli the most out of the three— but just as he criticizes them he also stays on his lane when he doesn't have anything bad to say about some of them such as Nahida and Focalors.

#◟༺✦༻◞ events to be remembered in blue veins ┊addendum.┊#I think that this might be a first on this blog #when I talk about Dain's hatred or lack of thereof #towards the gods #I was definitely inspired after reading #a couple of things on the dash concerning #the incident in Khaenri'ah djfhjg #at any rate #I think that it's not talked enough #the strength in Dain to pull himself together like that #he could've sided with Khaenri'ah even post-destruction #he could hate all the gods without making distinction and have every right to do so #he could've gone bananas against the gods then and / or now #he could've been completely corrupted and join the Abyss Order #or he could've surrendered and go hermit mode somewhere and do nothing #and that's tragic #I'm a great advocate of Dain's strength to resist despite having ALL the odd against him #and for being an individual with great willpower for resisting and see for the good of the world #not only from the Abyss Order but the injustice of the gods and their preordained fates #as a self-proclaimed advocate that people should be masters of their own fate

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vague-humanoid · 8 months

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@chrisdornerfanclub

Courtesy, professionalism, and respect: Those are the three things the New York Police Department promises all of us, the phrase emblazoned on the Dodge Chargers and Chevy Tahoes and Ford Transit vans (and even the dinky little parking enforcement Smart cars) that officers use across the five boroughs.

Yet NYPD officers regularly fail to be courteous, respectful professionals. Instead, they look at their phones all day, decorate their offices with threatening posters, rack up millions of dollars in settlement fees from beating up protestors, detain vulnerable individuals like a grandmother and a Yorkshire terrier, lie, point guns at unarmed people—I could go on. And that's just the stuff we've had time to report on…which brings me to the point of this column.

Every two weeks, we're going to be combing the headlines for a new column called "New York's Finest": a roundup of arrests, firings, settlements, disciplinary board rulings, and anything else we can dig up that involves cops in New York City and the rest of the state breaking the law, harming the people they ostensibly serve and protect, or just being fucked up and weird. At a time when crime and public safety dominate the conversation about life in New York, spurred on by our ex-cop mayor and other right-wing political forces, we think it's important to keep an eye on the people who make up an agency that gets billions of dollars in taxpayer funds every year—are they really making the city a safer place to live?

In this first edition of New York's Finest, we've got knife-wielding cops, Israeli cops, a cop killing a man with a cooler, a cop's death by friendly fire captured in body-worn camera footage, and more:

On August 12, off-duty NYPD officer Elisamuel Samboy was arrested and charged with strangulation after a fight with his girlfriend at the end of July.

On August 16, Gina Mestre, an ex-NYPD officer who left the force in 2022, was charged with racketeering. The former Bronx-based cop fell in love with the leader of a gang called the Shooting Boys, then helped him flee to the Dominican Republic while assigned to a task force dedicated to capturing him. (OK, I have to admit it—that's kind of romantic.)

On August 17, NYPD officers shot a 17-year-old in the thigh in one of Brooklyn's designated "summer violence reduction zones" after he fled the scene of a fight on a Razor scooter. Cops say the teenager was reaching for a gun he dropped out of his pocket when they caught up with him. "These officers…stopped an innocent person from getting shot with that gun," NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a news conference. Maybe!

On August 21, the Civilian Complaint Review Board released a report that showed complaints about police misconduct increased by 40 percent from 2022 to 2023 and stop-and-frisk complaints jumped 87 percent in the same timeframe. "More enforcement means more unwelcome interactions with the public,” a source told the New York Daily News. "It only makes sense the complaints would go up."

On August 23, ProPublica dropped an investigation into the NYPD's handling of the friendly fire death of police officer Brian Mulkeen, who was killed in 2019 after he pursued and killed a man with an illegal handgun—which raised a bunch of very good questions about how the NYPD's Force Investigation Division (FID) investigates police shootings. How does the FID decide when, and how thoroughly, to review body-worn camera footage? How do they decide what parts of that footage to release to the public? Why didn't they press officers who lied about how far they were standing from Mulkeen when they shot him? Surprise, surprise: No one even tangentially related to the NYPD gave comment for the story.

Also on August 23, off-duty NYPD traffic cop Kerrielyn Gugliada was arrested on Staten Island after she threatened a man with a kitchen knife, and Eric Adams took some time to drool over Israeli police drones while on his tour of the country.

And finally, 30-year-old Eric Duprey died in a motorcycle crash August 23 when NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran hit him with a bystander's cooler that was full of soda and water bottles as, cops say, Duprey fled a drug bust on his bike. (Duprey's mother disputed this account in an interview with the Associated Press: "He wasn’t fleeing. He wasn’t fleeing. He was just on the motorcycle talking to me on the video chat. And he passed by that place when all of a sudden the call cut out," she told a reporter in Spanish.) Truly gruesome video footage shows Duran picking up the cooler and swinging it into Duprey, sending the rider tumbling off the sidewalk, over a metal barricade, and onto the street, hitting a Jeep Cherokee. "The use of force here is not consistent with our guidelines," an NYPD official told the Daily News, and clarified that the department "[doesn't] train officers to pick up something and throw it at a suspect." Duran—who has racked up 17 CCRB complaints, one substantiated, over the course of his 13-year NYPD career—has been suspended without pay, and Attorney General Letitia James has opened an investigation. According to the New York Times, which obtained an internal NYPD memo, "the police are preparing for a possible public backlash."

On August 25, the New York Civil Liberties Union shared data with Gothamist that showed that of all the people stopped and frisked during the Adams administration, only five percent were white.

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undercity-princess · 7 months

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Kinktober 1

NSFW prompt: leather/latex

Jinx X Akali

(A.N.: I've never written smut before so please bear with me)

A box and a note was what Akali had left for Jinx. The note said that Jinx was to wear what was in the box and a timeframe when Akali would be back, because she knew she'd worry.

Jinx picked up the box. It was too heavy to be lingerie or some kind of nightwear. She tried to guess for a second longer until her curiosity got too much.

She opened the lid and was greeted with black and some pink stripes. She reached in to feel the material. It was... rubbery.

It hit her then. Latex. They had talked about it a few weeks ago. Akali said Jinx'd look hot in it. That she'd love to see it.

She pulled the two pieces out and tried them on. It was a sleeveless bodysuit with a boob window that had even her tin y tits nearly fall out and an open crotch. That was to be covered by the pink skirt that came with it.

Getting it on was no easy feat but once everything was in place it actually felt nice.

Akali arrived perfectly on time, in the middle of her given time frame. She had hurried. Jinx must have seen the present she left. Opened it of course, curious as she was. Akali hoped she liked it. They had spoken about it just once, but when Akali had seen the outfit online, not ordering had not been an option.

She opened the door and stepped in. There was the box, still on the table, seemingly untouched, even her note still on top. She tried not to be disappointed. That was ok, it was a far fetch anyway, they' D talk about it and move on. She'd just send it back. Where was Jinx anyway?

"Kali?" Her voice came from the bedroom "that you?"

"yup, just me? Whatya doin?"

"I might need a hand here"

From disappointed back to intrigued, Kali followed the voice of her lover to the dimly lit room in the back.

Pushing the door open she nearly fainted from the sight. Jinx wore the outfit perfectly with the way she was kneeling on the bed. It left just enough of the lithe body to discover while hugging and showing off her shape.

"Fuuuuck, I... Spirits, you're perfect" was all Akali got out as she closed the distance to her girlfriend. Jinx just smiled like a minx, fully knowing her effect on her ninja.

"you like it?" she asked in fake innocence "then why ya just sittin there starin?"

"cause I'm about to ruin a piece of art" and with that Akali was on her, pulling their bodies flush to each other, kissing her with a burning need. Her hands moved across Jinx's body, using the seams of the suit like rails until she reached the cutout on the chest. Her lips moved from the bluenette's lips to her ear " let's see how stretchy this is, shall we?" She pulled the material down while kissing a line down Jinx's throat to her now exposed breasts. She took time and care for each of them, sucking and licking passionately while rolling the other between her fingers.

Jinx was already reduced to a panting mess. Even thinking about Akali's reaction had her riled up, but this was so much better. She tried to let her lover reign over her, but the pooling heat between her legs demanded attention right now.

"If you think this is nice, I recommend a look down south. Only get better!"

Akali looked up, brown eyes nearly black with lust met pink in the same state.

"who am I to ignore a nice recommendation like that?" She pushed Jinx on her back and moved lower. One hand stayed on her tit, still toying with her nipple while the other carefully and teasingly slowly made its way up from the knee.

She pushed the skirt up to her girl's waist and savoured the sight. The engineers folds were already glistening with wetness, ready to welcome her in. She pushed them apart carefully to let her finger wander around the tight entrance to the already swollen clit.

"Kali... please..."

"please what?" She pinched the nearly neglected nipple.

"touch me, eat me, anything, please!"

"you mean" she gave her a broad sweep of her tongue "like this?"

"Yes, that, anything, something, please!!"

She dove in like a starving woman, greedy sucking on her clit only paused to tongue fuck her. She brought her close to peak, only to pause for a second, pull her back just the tiniest bit. When she heard a frustrated groan she pushed two of her fingers and resumed the sucking.

She felt Jinx shudder and constrict when the world fell apart around her. Akali came too, untouched. It took her by surprise and thus nearly knocked her out.

When she got her bearings she carefully pulled her fingers out and skittered up to a totally blissed out Jinx.

"heya hotshot" nimble fingers moved to undo the brunette's pants "time for me to show some gratitude huh?"

"nu-uh. I just creamed my panties while making you cream my face"

"wait. What?"

"Yeah" she laughed nervously "gotta sort that one out when my brain's back online tomorrow"

"Ok, nighty night then"

"Wha- no, we gotta clean up and you can't sleep in that!"

"sure can just wat..." and with that Jinx was dead to the world.

"Sticky mess in the morning it is" Kali grimaced, but cuddled into her girlfriend and was out a minute later

#league of legends #akali #jinx #kinktober

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mtreebeardiles · 1 year

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Chasing Storms, pt 7

Full chapter on AO3!

"Enny for your thoughts?"

V blinked, shaking his head as if to clear it and glanced up to see Claire watching him from the other side of the bar. Offered her a small smile and a murmur of thanks as she cracked open a new can of Spunky Monkey for him, sliding it across the tabletop.

"Just…thinking about what all needs to get done," he admitted, taking a sip and savoring the burst of sugary sweet carbonation against his tongue. It was earlier in the evening at the Afterlife and he'd already been there an hour or so, going over some of the books when he knew Rogue wouldn't be around to catch him. Busybody as she'd called him with something akin to affection, largely approving of his work ethic when it wasn't being used as a means to salve his anxiety.

And V was a bundle of nerves tonight.

Had been for a few days, if he was being honest, but the cars were as tuned up as they were going to get and even without having much technical savvy Kerry was bound to notice sooner or later if he kept at it. Probably knew already that V was having another flare up of anxiety, if not the scope of how bad it had gotten. It wasn't that he was trying to hide it from his input, exactly, but with Kim showing up out of the blue throwing both of them off-balance…

He didn't want to add to whatever emotional clusterfuck Kerry was probably feeling right about now.

"Uh-huh?" Claire cocked an eyebrow, a knowing look in her eye. "For your trip? Hope so since I distinctly remember Rogue telling you to leave off the business side of Afterlife this week."

V offered her his best innocent smile and she shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"Something ya wanna get off your chest?" she asked after a moment. He'd never been much of a talker, not in a setting like this, and Claire wasn't exactly looped in to the various projects V had on his plate these days. Some newcomers vetted, gigs and jobs with longer timeframes, coordinating small teams for more complicated work -- these were things she could see, at least, and knew enough to not try and seek any further details. But she always made an effort to extend that hand, that offer to talk, even if there were so many things he couldn't say.

"Just… got a lot going on," he replied after a moment. "Y'know how it is."

"I know what burnout looks like, and you, my friend? Are butting right up against it."

A wry smile and he lifted his can of soda in an ironic toast before taking a bigger swig. "Good thing I'm going on vacation then, huh?" He paused, considering, and found something he could talk about, at least. "Taking the Beast, by the by."

Claire smiled, a pleased glint in her eye.

"Glad to hear it," she said. Less of a bittersweet topic these days, and he liked to think she was starting to move on from that all-consuming rage and grief from two years back. Had forgiven him, too, for talking her out of killing Sampson, and he liked to think they'd become better friends in the time since. "She holdin' up?"

"Still runs like a dream," he assured her. "Just gave her a tune up the other day, actually, in prep for this trip. Be nice to put her through her proper paces off these city streets again, y'know?"

"Definitely not an urban vehicle," she agreed with a laugh. "I'm happy, though, that she's found a good home with you. Might never death race again, but at least with a Nomad behind the wheel she'll get out to the Badlands more often."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

#my writing #Vincent Aiello #nomad V #male V #Kerry eurodyne #Kerry x V #Kerry x Male V #Claire Russell #Cyberpunk 2077

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fairymagicheart1 · 2 years

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Horāi Holiday (Rise fanfic)

(This is the first meeting of how I see my OC and Leo first meeting, I feel so good on making fanfics again on these adorable dorks! :D This takes place as I imagine in the timeframe of season 2 and even involves a brand new OC that I created as well! And I finally managed to name the kingdom where Tati and her family lives.)

“So what do you need us to do?” Asked Leo, leaning on the table with Sénor Hueso and facing the recently reformed Capitán Piel, wondering what kind of trouble did Hueso’s older brother has done now.

Piel just gave an awkward shrug and grinned. “Just another part of my past crimes just resurfaced and just need some sort of appeal?” He had put it lightly.. he had gotten into so much trouble as a Sky Pirate that it didn’t even limited to just the Hidden City..

“So assuming that it’s in the Hidden City..” Leo started, Hueso flinched knowing it could just bring another bag full of trouble. “Actually it’s not in the Hidden City in this case.” Said Piel rather hesitantly.

Leo blinked and Hueso gave a sigh. “What did you do Piel?” He said exasperated at this. “Just an innocent little trouble.. with the Horāi Kingdom’s.. Royal Family?” He answered slowly and Hueso nearly choked as he looked to his hermano with shocked expression and Leo had a more confused look. “Ho-what now?” Leo blinked while Hueso continued “You mean to tell me that years ago you caused trouble for the royal family of the upper class of Yokai society?!”

“Come on bone man how bad could that be?” Leo said nonchalantly, seeing it as no big deal.

“Pepino this isn’t like the Hidden City! The Horāi Kingdom does not tolerate such criminal activities and to be rather honest their guards are a lot more competent.” Hueso explained but massaging the bone bridge of his nose, he did sighed. “But as strict as they are.. the Queen is fair and is willing to listen appeals so you are lucky Piel.” He then stood up, and Leo did a grin as he stood up.

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem! I’ll go with you and help with the Leon charm, and that Queen will be all ears!” He grinned, secretly he wanted to see a new Yokai city. Was it that different than the Hidden City? What residents live there? He has to see!

“Fine.. but I have a feeling that your overconfident mouth might bring more grief.. again.” Hueso sighed, but not before telling Piel to stay behind, they’ll be back with some good news.. hopefully.

After following the bone man to the secluded alleyway leading to a dead end, Hueso found the mystical writings on the wall, showcasing the crest; it summoned a shimmering portal. Unlike the portals created by known Hidden City residents and ones made by Foot Clan, this portal risen up like a veil of sparkles and opened like a curtain. “Sweet! In we go!” Shouted Leo as he jumped in grabbing Hueso before he could protest on his hasty actions, through the portal it felt much more different than before, it felt more like flying upwards through the shimmering tunnel and for once they didn’t land hard!

It was highly different than what Leo was used to, Horāi was no less of beautiful like a Japanese village from watching old movies and there was many Yokai conversing normally with the human sized Fairies, each fairy had differently shaped wings and were even showcasing mystic powers to help with their many daily lives and even live alongside them.

Straighten his hat, Hueso pulled up Leo by his carapace and pointed a finger to him to get him to listen for once. “Now this time Pepino I am serious about this, no trouble and no unexpected events.” He warned but Leo just shrugged it off as he walked ahead.

“Coolax Bone Man, let’s just get to the gates and I can work my face man charms.” With a smug of overconfidence, Leo grinned to himself and pointed to his plastron and chuckled. Hueso just rolled his eye sockets.. it was gonna be a long walk.

Unbeknownst to the two.. two large figures were already in the market crowd, both holding mystic like scanners through the crowd. “Our target is close..”

Elsewhere in the marketplace, there was two others also enjoying their own excursion into the Horāi Village, both are female in hooded capes but clearly in age difference; one was a brunette waist length haired fairy with lovely facial features with a fair complexion and slim figure, wearing a dark blue yukata, about in an age around Leo’s, her bright green eyes were looking around excitedly and the other was an older lioness Yokai, slim but muscular as she glanced around warily, she had an asymmetrical short tan colored hairstyle under her hood, and wearing a short dark colored robe with the sleeves removed.

The young girl just looked up from the brim of her hood keeping her excitement contained.. barely. “Oh you worry too much Miss Kiyoko, we have always done this thrice a week and no one has ever recognized me.” Retorted the young girl having a hint of confidence, apparently having done this often. The lady named Miss Kiyoko just wryly smiled in amusement to the young one, apparently used to this. “As you say Young Miss but I still wish for you to be aware that if-!” She stopped midsection as burly owl brute landed in front of them pointing a mystical scanner.. and it beeped in confirmation “It’s her! Now come with me quietly luv, my boss wishes to meet with you..” He took a step forward to reach for her but was easily grabbed by Kiyoko.

Kiyoko used all her strength to wrestle and push back the owl brute. “Young Miss! Try to get to safety now!” She shouted while the young girl nodded fast and tried to bolt it but another brute Yokai stood in her way.. that was before a portal appeared underneath the brute and was teleported away and into an empty wagon. “And boom with the save!” Said the confident Leo as he he leaned on his Odachi as an unamused Hueso approached from a jog. “What ever happened to no trouble?!” he chastised the Turtle but the young girl blinked twice at the turtle with a light flush but managed to smile and placed a hand on her chest “But he saved me and I thank you for that.” She said, just released a breath she’s been holding but seeing Miss Kiyoko still wrestling with the Owl Brute. “Miss Kiyoko!!” She covered her mouth as the lioness snarled “GO!! I will catch up!” Shouted Kiyoko, prompting the young Fairy to grab her savior and friend to run down a pathway between stalls. Running a good distance to allow Kiyoko to toss away the Owl brute right into pile of barrels and rushed away.

Having a fair enough distance away from the chaos, the teenaged Fairy was holding her knees all out of breath while Leo and Hueso looked at her. “Do you think she’ll be able to handle that brute?” Asked Hueso after letting the young girl regain her breath.

“Miss Kiyoko is an excellent fighter.. she would probably got away by now.” Said the girl while smoothing her yukata, adjusting her hood, and looked to the two in her company, clearly they don’t know who exactly she is.. and it’s thrilling her happily. “This could be a chance..” she said within her thoughts.

“Anyways I’m Leo.” Leo flashed his charming grin. “Call me Sénor Hueso, we were supposed to have more pressing matters to attend to at the Horāi palace.” The skeleton Yokai looked to Leo to remind him. “No need to keep ribbing about it we’ll get there.” Leo joked and to Hueso’s surprise, (and Leo’s internal surprise) the girl giggled! At Leo’s joke! “You may call me Tati, if you wish I do know how to get there.”

“If it’s not too much trouble Sénorita, especially since we had some.. minor inconvenience.” Said Hueso, fearing it might had taken some of her time.

Tati bowed her head and smiled up. “It’s my way of thanks.” She smiled and a gentle wink. Leo couldn’t help it but grin back, for some reason even though she’s strangely formal, she has a GREAT sense of humor and is nice enough to help.

Tati pointed down the pathway down and smiled to say Follow Me and walked in between the two, sparing some glancing at the teenaged turtle and felt her cheeks warm a little.

“Anyways, I know that Owl Man and big Otter, they work for Big Mama, what’s their deal now and why here?” Leo questioned aloud, Tati’s own eyes widen in shocked surprised “That major crime boss sent those two here?!” Tati shouted then covered her mouth in a hushed whispered “Oh mother is SO going to be furious if she finds out about this..”

“You are aware of Big Mama?” Asked Hueso as they navigated through the village. “Yes even here Big Mama has been having some webs around here.. tightly lipped but she has her ways, m-the Queen has been trying to deal with that for years.”

Even a peaceful place all have their shadowy sides, Leo thought but still he grinned. “Hey no worries there Tati girl! We can take them on and they’ll be out of your hair! And that’s fairy true.” He winked and grinned, Hueso sighed at his terrible pun.. but Tati grinned and giggled again. “Has anyone told you, you’re a funny turtle?”

Leo was eating this praise up! He’s finally getting some laughs and from a pretty mystical girl. He grinned to Hueso with a teasing grin. “Oh see! She thinks I’m funny!”

“And yet I am amazed, perhaps she meant funny as in strange?” Hueso replied dryly.

But the conversation was cut short with the smashing appearance of the two brutes. “Ay! These brutes are more persistent than an annoying Tanuki!” Tati screamed before Leo quickly pulled his Odachi and at equal speed to strike the Otter Yokai’s claws and kick the Owl man back. Tati blinked in awe and her hands clasped together.

“He’s like a blue lightning bolt! He’s.. amazing.” Tati said in awe while Hueso just glanced to the girl’s exclamation. “I really don’t see that personally.” He just said bluntly but he was just surprised anyone called impulsive and clumsy amazing. He even pulled the young girl to stay out of harm’s way if he needed to fight he will fight. “Well I am pretty electrifying!” Leo grinned, causing Tati to giggle once again, Hueso just couldn’t believe that she could find him funny.. so he was beginning to sense there was something their new friend was feeling.

Before Leo managed to kick back the otter Yokai, he didn’t see the Owl Yokai about to strike him from behind, Tati gasped and without thinking; she picked up a lying sheet of roof tile and using a secret air pressure launch from her hand, she thrown it hard to hit the brute in the head and forced to the ground. “Yatta!”

Leo grinned brightly and winked. “Hey nice arm there cutie!” Causing the girl to flustered.

Taking note of some nearby weights and a large plank leaning against a wagon, Leo quickly thought of a plan. “Follow me and trust me!” He said quickly grabbing the fairy’s hand and Hueso’s arm to the bottom side of the plank. “Pepino! What are you-?!” Hueso shouted.

Leo used his Odachi to quickly portal a heavy weight onto the opposite side of the plank and launch the three into the air. Tati and Leo briefly looked into each other’s eyes are they were accidentally face to face in the air. Even though it felt like an eternity Leo noticed they were going to hit the ground so he took the girl into his arms to take the impact. On instinct, Tati raised her hand from behind to summon an updrafts to create an air cushion to keep the three from an hard impact, Leo opened one eye after letting go of Tati, awkwardly blushing between them.

“I’m sorry but how did we not have a hard landing and not have our faces flatter than diner pancakes?” Leo questioned and even then Tati giggled again. “Oh uh luckily of a sudden updraft.. that Horāi is known for?” She hastily covered but before Hueso could question her, the lioness Yokai jumped down and looked at the group. “No one injured?” She glanced to Tati whom she nodded. “We’re all fine Miss Kiyoko.”

Then before anyone could react, making shocked faces as the two brutes made their crashing charge. “Ok this is getting old!” Leo said in exasperation as Hueso and Kiyoko quickly joined his side to fight.

Before the two brutes could storm up, the ground below their feet suddenly risen up and tightly wrapped around the two brutes, leaving only their heads and upper shoulders exposed as they struggled. “What the?!”

Leo and Hueso blinked as they witnessed next an swarm of fairy and Yokai in royal guard armor pointing their spears directly at the two.. and and others pointed at the two in caution. “No one move!” The guard demanded as Tati quickly rushed up in defense of them. “Wait wait wait! Stop this! They’re with me and I assure you they’ve been protecting me!” Tati quickly explained.. before sighing internally “It was nice while it lasted..” She said sadly in her thoughts as now Tati pulled down her hood to reveal her identity to the guards. To their shock they gasped as they all bowed deeply. “Princess Tatiana!!” They chorused at the same time, Leo just did a grin. “Oh I knew it! There had to be something why those creeps keep chasing us!” He said in surprised realization, though Hueso was surprised, Tati was the most shocked at Leo’s intuitive ability.

“We had no idea!! Please forgive! But what are you doing here outside of the palace?” The guard questioned. “Well I..” Tati started… before a strong but gentle voice came. “That is a question I want most answered.” Came from a tall and elegant fairy with the largest leaf like wings in kimonos of earth tone colorings, her facial features highly resembled an older form of Tati, though her face looks very displeased. “Queen Himari.” The guards parted to make way for her. Bowing in her presence.

“Mother..” Tati said quietly lowering her eyes. “Tatiana we will have a very long talk about this reckless and dare I say unauthorized excursion..” The Queen started off sternly, before pulling her daughter into a tight hug to Tati’s great surprise but returned it. “But right now I’m so glad you’re alright.” She said in relief before the Queen looked up to Leo and Hueso. “Thank you both for protecting my daughter, that is a gratitude I shall never be able to repay.”

Leo shrugged with his usual grin. “No problemba your Queenyship.” He said so casually that Hueso looked shocked of his casual tone he tried to bow. “My apologies for my companion! Your highness I know this is probably a bad time but..”

“Yes I am aware of the appeal you wish to make for your brother, after your courageous actions in protecting my daughter and even unaware of who she was only proves your good hearts, I will make the appeal.” The Queen said, being a powerful Mystic she has her ways of knowing.

Hueso smiled in relief and bowed. “Graciás your highness!” He even looked to the young Princess with a smile in thanks as well.

“I’m glad you’re all sorted out.” Tati said while shaking Hueso’s hand, but her eyes were still downcast. “Back into the gilded cage I go..” She said in a low voice.

Even to Leo, she was in deep trouble and must return to her royal life.. though Himari’s eyes seem to look… as if she was waking up from a daze. “I understand now, Tatiana.. I do not condone this unauthorized visit and you must be punished.. but I do see you’ve made some very good friends.” Glancing to Kiyoko and she gave an nod in agreement. “If you promise to never leave the palace again without direct permission from me, I will allow you to visit New York and to let you meet your new friends with prior permission.”

Snapping her head up with eyes widened in shock, taking the news in and as soon it sunk in.. her wings began to flutter fast and shot right into her mother’s arms. “YES!! YES YES YES!! I promise! I truly Promise and never ever let you down on this!!” She said rapidly, nuzzling her mother’s chest.

Both Leo and Hueso gave a chuckle. “All’s well that’s ends well Bone Man.”

After the nuzzle fest, Tati fluttered down and glanced at the two alongside her mother.

“I believe it’s time to return you both back to New York, have your brother appear here next week and I will see to it.” The Queen said with gentle tones, raising her hands to summon a portal back. “I will and thank you again your highness, Princesa,” the Bone Yokai bowed to the ladies as he stepped through.

Before Leo could follow Hueso back through the portal, Tati quickly grabbed his hand, causing him to turn to her. “Wait! After my grounding is over.. can try my first pizza slice.. with you? Just.. us?” Tati shyly asked, a dust of pink was on her cheeks. Leo returned that with a charming smile and even his own flustered blush appeared. “It’s a done deal and a fairy good pizza it will be!” He winked with his pun, causing Tati to laugh again. “I can’t wait to hear more jokes from you! See you there?” She smiled, both slowly letting go reluctantly Leo returned his own before stepping through backwards. “Count on it.”

Even as the portal closed, Tati’s own smile was dreamy with a deep pink blush, holding two hands to her chest. Even the grounding couldn’t bust this feeling before being marched back. “I will, handsome Blue Bolt.”

Back at Run Of The Mill Pizza…

Leo stepped back grinning still, three beats before a sudden realization came across his face. “Wait, did I get asked out?”

End.

#rise of the tmnt fanfic #rise Leo x OC #rise leo #senor hueso #I feel so glad!#To write something new in so long #XD #:D #rise of teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt oc #rottmnt #save rottmnt

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