#I might do another one with him in the backrooms | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

birb-boyo · 2 months

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LU BACKROOMS???

This is basically me describing backrooms based on the Chain, one on the safer side and one deadly and how to survive them :]

@trippygalaxy @vio-starzz @mushr0oms-and-m0ss @shadowlinktheshadow @raven-does-artstuff-894 @treasure-goblin idk who cares about this but I spent all day on it-

Time

His first liminal space is fairly safe. You can’t die unless you do something diabolical.

His safe room like would be basically like this

You fall down somewhere, probably on your walk home, but you pick yourself up and see that this is very much not the side of the road. This is a grassy field.

There weren’t many grassy fields where you lived. And even those fields were no where near as expansive as this one.

Upon looking around, you see a giant wall and a drawbridge. You start walking to it, thinking that you somehow fell hard enough to pass out.

You reach Castle Town and get weird glances from many. While you’re scouting the area, you spot a little boy in green picking up random dogs. You look at him weird when he puts one dog down and chases after another one.

The boy catches you staring and with one glance, you’re suddenly in that big grassy field again

So yeah, if bro looks at you, you get set back. After a while, this space will easily drive someone insane. This is because no matter what you do, you will meet him, and you both will meet eyes, and you’ll be sent back to the beginning.

So in a way, Survival Rate: 98% but it’s gradual and you might get out of there before you go insane

For his “You’re most likely gonna die” room

I wanted to incorporate Majora’s Mask into it, saying that the masks are hunting you.

There goal is to capture you and bring you to Fierce Deity. He thinks that you killed Link.

But you didn’t because this little kid who told you that he was who the deity was looking for is literally following behind you-

This kid could be regular young Link or Ben Drowned, though it would change the survival rate massively

Survival Rate for young Link: 67%

Survival Rate for Ben Drowned: 15%

This is because the only way to stop being hunted and/or not die is to present a piece of Link to the deity when you’re eventually caught

If it’s Link, he’ll accept it and call the masks off and you’ll be free to move on to the next hell or, if god loves you, you’ll go home

If it’s Ben, you better be fast on your toes because you’ll be hunted until you die or get out of there.

I want to also want to add that the masks don’t just pop up out of no where when they find you.

You know how you have to follow the music in order to learn Saria’s Song? Don’t do that. You’ll be caught

When they emit the Song of Healing, run, Link/Ben will be right on your trail and even if he wasn’t when you stopped running, he’ll always find you even if he leads a mask to you

I forgot to mention that Link/Ben will give you hints as to how you need to give Fierce a piece of his tunic or hair or something close to it

Also that Link/Ben physically can not get close to FD as they are, as the boy says, “part of the same soul”

Twilight

Idea given from @tiercel13 and @link-posting

That whole game has this unsettlingly warm ethereal quality where it's like- you're comfortable but uncomfortable at the same time and it's so weird

But basically I would say somewhere like a large field that's in perpetual twilight. You've never seen it before but it feels safe and familiar, like you've been there a thousand times. Still, there's something just slightly off, and it prevents you from ever being able to truly relax

It’s a village, deserted in the canyons, it’s wooden houses crumbling with time and weathering

Survival Rate: 100%

I think we all expected this one but you’re being hunted. It’s just you, the flora, the fauna, and a big wolf trying to kill you

It’s Wolf Twi but it’s not wolf Twi. Like, that’s the Blue-eyed Beast alright, but that’s definitely not Twilight. That’s a Wolf hardened by the need to survive. A need to eat.

The thing about this room is that it’s very survivable, but only to a select few people

For people who know how to manage in the woods, who know how to make fires without lighters, who know how to properly cook wild animals without utensils and iron, for those who are experienced in the wilds, they have a much easier time surviving this

But for those who are always inside and have little to no outside knowledge, you’re cooked almost immediately

This is a genuine hunt. This wolf can hear god knows how far, this wolf can track you with even the faintest scent

The only reason why the survival rate is as high as it is, is because it hesitates.

That’s how many survive their first encounter with the wolf, the wolf hesitates to take that final bite

I feel like the only real way to get out of here if to survive for a certain amount of time

Survival Rate: 52%

Warriors

Another idea by @tiercel13 because they are so big brained

For safe it's the castle barracks but they have a completely nonsensical layout

there's random doors where they shouldn't be and some of the actual ones are gone, there's things in the rooms like it's just been vacated but a layer of dust covers everything

It must be vacant right? Those shadows that lurk behind the corners are just you going crazy right? Nobody is here. Nobody is here. Nobody is here. Nobody is here-

Survival Rate: 87%

Idea given by @hyrules-feral-hero

You got claustrophobia? That’s too bad, you’re stuck in a fairy bottle now

You don’t get ripped apart or anything like that

Your death will be slow and painful

Conserve oxygen? There’s no reason to, you’re not going to be set free :)

Survival Rate: 0%

Sky

I feel like being blunt with this one

Safe space is just a vacant Skyloft

No one is around, just the occasional keese and Remlits and rapid Loftwings flying about so watch your head!

It’s peaceful and welcoming and airy but empty.

I imagine that this would bring about some sort of uncanny valley feeling, but that is probably the wrong word for it. Because who lived here? Why are these birds so big? Why are these raccoon cats so aggressive at night?

Survival Rate: 100%

Get Silent Realmed😌

Basically just that. If you don’t know what the Silent Realm is, it’s basically a thing you do in SS where you have to get 15 tears

You have to get 15 orbs, if you step into waking water or a spirit’s light or take too long to get one of the orbs, the guardians will be after you

The guardians are what make this space dangerous. If they catch you, no matter how insignificant the gash was, you will die

You can get these guardians off of you when you get the next tear, but until you get all of them and retreat back to where you started, you are at the mercy of the guardians

Survival Rate: 73%

Wild

Picture this, you just woke up in this weird place so naturally, you ask someone where you are.

“This is Faron woods, are you a traveler?”

“…sure…?”

“Great! I can’t really leave this stable with my condition, so could you do me a favor and give this to my wife?” The old man asked

“…what?”

“She lives over in Hateno, up passed the Dueling Peaks!” He shoves a note in your hands

“Sir I-“

“Thank you so much! Here’s your pay for your kindness!” Upon inspecting what he had given you, you see that this is a bare diamond

You were bringing this man’s wife this letter.

Survival Rate: 85%

Evermean forest, good old homicidal trees, need I say more?

Survival Rate: 95%

Wind

Imagine chilling on a boat with your grandpa but your grandpa is the boat.

Yes, the waters are expansive, you haven’t seen an island in days if at all, but this boat is keeping you company, telling jokes, soothing your nerves

Maybe you should be freaking out that this boat is talking, but his voice is nice so what can you say?

You start to joke around, singing dumb sea shanties, he chuckles with your antics, but keeps moving forward.

The sea is vast, but at least you’re not alone

Survival Rate: 98%

Imagine this: You’ve just been dropped in this random place. Now you’re on a random raft in the middle of the sea

Suddenly, the wind isn’t strong enough to push you forward and you’re on top of a tidal wave

Your raft finally gets back on steady water, but now there’s a shadow looming over you

You turn around and you can even comprehend how big it is

It’s probably the Kraken btw

Survival Rate: 0%

You’re cooked 100%

Hyrule

I’m realizing that a good bit of these rooms are in the woods, well, Rulie’s is no better🤷🏽‍♂️

Except these woods don’t have anything trying to actively murder you and eat you

These woods have things trying to help you

Little floating glowing grandmas if you will😌

As soon as you fell into these woods you smelled sugar and sweets, you were still very discombobulated from your fall and now you were suddenly in woods?

Soon enough, you’re swarmed by lights of different colors, they ask you if you’re alright, if you’re ok, what is someone like you doing here

Then they guide you out of the Fairy woods, whether that means that you end up in another room or go home is up to god

Survival Rate: 100%

Idea given to me by @tiercel13

A neverending cave slowly circling further and further down. The deeper you go the more it seems to close in, the air seems thicker, and the voices of people you almost recognize begin to echo off the walls, crying for help

This room, similar to Time’s “safe space” is mostly a “you’re going to go insane” rather than “that thing is gonna fucking kill you” :)

Survival Rate: depends how sane you were when you entered

Four

Imagine going on a wild goose chase for coins kinstones in a field with all the pieces hidden in tall grass

Survival Rate: 100% but it’s hell

This is gonna make some people mad but let me cook rq

You guys know Poppy Playtime? The Smiling Critters that chase you? That one clip from the Hour of Joy when they were eating that one guy alive?

That, but Minish :)

Survival Rate: 0%

As you traverse these woods, you realize that there are no animals in the wake. No rabbits, no mice, not even a wolf.

But this forest is littered with the bones of those lost animals.

So basically for backstory, minish got overpopulated and that meant they ate meat religiously. It was enough to feed, but soon enough, they ran out of food and now they’re hungry again

There is no survival here

There are too many Minish and you are locked in their woods

You can here their chittering and chatting, but if they spot you, you’ll only know by the dead silence of the forest

You can try breaking the bones you find on your path, opening the middle so they can smell the marrow rather than your flesh

But you only have little time and some bones are thick

And- wait…who’s bones are these? These are Hylain bones-

Legend

There are so many choices with Legend…

For his safe room, you’re just chilling on the walls. Not in the walls, on them. Your image is planted on the wall. You can move freely, you’re just glued to the wall, 2D

You’ll probably use this to scare the weird people who live around the house who’s walls you currently inhabit.

Survival Rate: 99.9% (Someone played too much and the family who lived there destroyed the house)

You guys no the movie Us? It’s basically that

There are different versions of you running around and they kinda really want you dead-

Survival Rate: 65%

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pizzaqueen · 1 year

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Pre-slash (but they’re flirty) / about 1k of another ~oh moment for Steve / T

Someone drums on the counter and Steve looks up from the forms he’s sorting into Eddie’s grinning face.

“Hey,” Steve says, “you on a break?”

“Nope. Letting the kiddies fend for themselves.”

Steve snorts. “You’re gonna get fired one day.”

“Pfft. The arcade is a cakewalk. I spend most of my time reading in the backroom. The punters take care of themselves.” Eddie shrugs. “And if I get fired, I can always get a job here.”

“You think so, huh?”

“Sure.” Eddie folds his hands on the counter, resting his chin on them. “I happen to be on good terms with the manager.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m really going to hire you when I know how many times you’ve walked out in the middle of your shifts.”

“If I worked here, I wouldn’t need to skip out to come see you.”

“Hm.” Steve leans one hip on the counter. “What do you want, anyway?”

Eddie straightens up. “Wanna know if you’re free tonight.”

“Nah, thought I might start charging.”

“What’s your going rate?”

“Five bucks an hour?”

“Oof. That might be out of my price range, dude.” Eddie turns out his pockets like some kind of cartoon character. “The arcade might be a cakewalk, but it doesn’t pay much.”

“Well, maybe I can make an exception. Give you a freebie.”

Eddie waggles his brows. “Lucky me.”

“Okay,” Steve says on a laugh, “it depends what you want to do.”

“Just hang out.”

“Hanging out, I can do for free,” Steve says. “I’ll come by yours after work?”

“Excellent.” Eddie drums his hands on the counter again, bopping his head to an unheard tune. “Oh, and bring a movie.”

“Got one in mind? We’ve got a few to choose from.”

“Surprise me,” Eddie says with a wink.

Steve rolls his eyes. And then his gaze is caught by two girls coming in—Amy and Laura, he thinks—and he straightens up a little, runs a hand through his hair. Eddie follows Steve's line of sight, shaking his head when it lands on the girls.

"What?" Steve says.

Eddie shrugs. "Didn't say anything." But his lips twitch.

Steve's brow furrows, but he says, "We could try for a double date?"

"Mm. I'll pass."

"Whatever," Steve says, and watches the girls, running through a few different lines to pull out, though with a little less creativity (and enthusiasm) than he used to. When Laura comes over to the counter with a copy of Cocktail, Steve says, “Cocktail, huh?”

“Yep.”

Steve takes her membership card, punching in the number. “You know, this is a pretty good date movie.”

Eddie makes a derisive noise; Steve ignores him.

Laura nods. “Uh-huh.”

“If you don’t have anyone to watch it with, I’m always available…”

Another tape is slapped on the counter and Amy says, “We’ll stick with Tom Cruise. Thanks.”

“Right.”

“Well…” Laura gives Eddie a coy look. “What about you?”

Eddie presses a hand to his chest, turning to Laura. “Me?” When she nods, he adds, “What about me?”

“Are you available?” Laura asks, leaning into Eddie’s space a little.

Eddie opens his mouth but, before he can say anything, Steve blurts, “He’s married.”

Three disbelieving looks turn Steve’s way. He shrugs.

“You’re married?” Amy asks Eddie.

There’s a moment of silence and Steve waits for Eddie to call Steve’s bullshit so, when Eddie says, “Yep. Super married,” he gapes a little. And then Eddie adds, “Five kids, big house, dog. The works,” and Steve tries not to smile.

Amy’s eyes narrow, but Laura says, “Oh, that’s a pity,” and… She didn’t actually believe that, did she?

"Good ones are always taken right?"

“Yeah, well, I—” Steve starts, but Amy cuts in with:

“Since when is Eddie Munson married?”

“It’s a recent development,” Eddie says.

“And you’ve got five kids?”

“Never said we had them all after we got married, did I?”

"And who are you married to?"

“Hey, this is a video store, not the records office or whatever,” Steve says, waving his hand. "Do you want to rent the movies or not?"

The girls roll their eyes in unison, but they take their tapes and leave, whispering to each other in annoyed tones.

Struck out again, Harrington. Whatever. Plenty of fish in the sea. Or, so Steve’s been told. It weirdly doesn’t sting as much it usually does, even if he made an idiot of himself in front of Eddie. At least Eddie played along.

“So, I’m married, huh?”

Steve winces, but he recovers quickly, saying, “Yeah, heard you got five kids, a big house, the works.”

“And how, pray tell, did this happy event come about?”

“Well, sometimes when a man and a woman love each other very much—”

Eddie groans, letting his head fall back. “C’mon, man, you know what I mean. Why’d you tell those ladies I’m married?”

Yeah, Steve, why’d you do that? “Well… You weren’t interested in a double date, so I figured you wouldn’t be into a single one, either.” Steve lifts his shoulders. “Hey, if I was wrong, then I’m sorry, man.”

“You weren’t wrong.” Eddie bites his lip. A glint comes into his eye and he adds, “So, you weren’t jealous or anything?”

A strange heat shoots through Steve. “What, no— Why would I be jealous? I mean… I suggested a double date in the first place.”

“Thought you might want the ladies all to yourself,” Eddie says around a grin.

Steve blinks. He’d thought Eddie meant…

A kid comes running in, yelling out for Eddie, something about one of the games eating their quarters.

“Well. Duty calls,” Eddie says, giving a little salute as he saunters out of the store, following the kid. "Pick a good movie," he calls back. “Maybe Cocktail,” he adds with what Steve can only describe as a cackle.

Numbly, Steve watches Eddie leave, frozen to the spot. It’s a good few minutes before he can shakes himself out of it. That was weird. What the hell?

It’s not until later, when he’s shelving a copy of Cocktail that it hits him: Steve doesn’t want to keep the ladies to himself. He wants to keep Eddie to himself.

Well, he thinks, taking the tape off the shelf again, and shoving it in his backpack, shit.

Part two

NOW ON AO3!

#steddie #Steve x eddie #Steddie fic #Steddie fanfic #might tidy this up and maybe add a second part for AO3 if anyone’s interested?#pizzaqueenfic #singletakenpining

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lenathekiller · 8 months

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*~Filling the Loneliness~*

A Buggy x gn!reader

Tags: mix of angst, smut and fluff basically, a bit of voyeurism too

A/n: excuse mistakes I'm very rusty at writing but this damn clown has a chokehold on my mind. I wrote this with LABuggy in mind but it could fit Anime buggy as well tbh. The only derogatory word the user is called is sl*t and it's only used once.

Word count: 6683

It was just another day of work, managing the costume shop that you'd come to own somehow. It was a relatively good sized shop, selling a variety of clothing one might use for performances or wear to the masquerade themed parties the town held every week.

Your little costal town had been unofficially deemed a safe space for pirates to come dock without having to worry about being captured for bounty or fought off by other pirates. Hence why the town threw celebrations themed around casting aside one's identity to just enjoy a night of drinking and having fun without a worry for their own safety.

You never cared to attend the celebrations, instead using the time to do trivial tasks around the shop like checking inventory or working on new masks or makeups to sell. You were doing such right now infact.

Behind the counter you sat, working on some paperwork you needed to finish, calculating what had sold best this week compared to last week.

"Welcome in!" You called out when you heard the squeaking of the shop's old door opening, but did not glance up to check whom had come in. "I'll be with you in a moment, feel free to look around and let me know if you need any assistance finding what you need."

Footsteps approached the counter followed by the creaking of someone leaning against the counter across from you. "Actually doll you can help me, I came to get my usual order of things. So where's ole Petey?"

Keeping your eyes still glued to your papers you continued to work as you replied. "That old coot's dead. Died bout 3 weeks ago after drinking himself into a damn stupor and falling into the sea. So I'm in charge of this place now unfortunately, seeing as I was his only employee."

You heard a chuckle "That damn old man. I tried to warn him something would happen but I suppose he got what he deserves after partying too hard even at his old age."

"Got that right. Sure he was a good boss but the bastard drank more than any pirate that visits town." You scoffed finishing up your work and setting it aside. Finally looking up you instantly recognized the man before you. "Now how can I help- oh it's you."

The man stood up straight, fixing his coat proudly with a grin. "I see you know of the Great and flashy Buggy. Of course you would, I mean who wouldn't?"

Placing a hand on your hip as you stood from your seat, smiling back at the Clown pirate. "The boss never seemed to shut up about you, constantly talking about how you were his best customer.... amongst other things I'd rather not repeat."

His face fell a bit at your hinting of the old owner saying less than honorable things about him.

"Don't worry, I never took his rambling of you to heart. He was always a cranky drunkard who'd complain about anything or anyone he could." You reached over and patted Buggy on the shoulder reassuringly, before motioning to the backroom with a thumb. "Thankfully that man made notes about his regulars preferences so I'll be right back. Just gonna go grab em real quick so I can get you what you need without all the hassle of you having to explain your likes and dislikes of products to me."

The tall clown gave a nod, watching you disappear into the back of the shop. Taking the opportunity to glance around at the stock around him, mentally taking note of what had changed since he'd last been here about 3 months ago.

After a few minutes you returned holding his wanted poster, reading the scrawling of notes written on the back of it. "Let's see, looks like you prefer the typical Circus clown makeup, of course long lasting and as smudge proof as possible. Though we don't carry one of these brands anymore...-" You were deep in thought now mumbling as you moved around the shop grabbing the items noted on Buggy's preference sheet.

The said Clown Pirate stood leaning on the front counter, watching you zip around like a little mouse searching for all the usual products he buys. He had to admit you looked quite cute all worked up and focused on your job like that.

"The only thing we don't have from this list is the white face paint, but have no fear my good man for you're in luck." You placed down the small basket of products before him. You gave a small 'boop' to his nose with your finger before proudly crossing your arms. "I happen to make my own white face paint, and am willing to give you my latest batch if your interested."

"Oh really? And just what do you know about clown makeup little shop keep?" He asked you smugly, with a smirk

"A lot more than you think bozo. I was a mime for ten years, hence my fashion sense idiot." You gestured to yourself and your choice of clothing.

He admittedly hadn't really paid attention to what exactly you were wearing, more distracted by your actions and words. Though now he could see you were wearing black pants, that were doing wonders to make your thighs look great, and a oversized longsleeved striped black and white shirt, with some subtle mime makeup. "Huh. I hadn't even noticed."

You stood there silent for a second, before reaching up to pat his cheek a bit mockingly. "It's a good thing your attractive, cause you sure aren't that observant are ya bud?"

The man was thrown off guard at the fact you'd just complimented him, albeit also insulting him along with it. Usually he's the one being somewhat cheeky and flirty to others with no prevail, but here you were just casually complimenting him like it was nothing.

You moved back behind the counter, pulling a container of white paint, a handheld mirror, a few brushes as well as sponges, and a damp rag. "Well here let me show you just what I actually know about clown makeup."

Before Buggy could even process what was going on, you'd already snatched his head off his shoulders, now holding it between your hands. "Hey- Just what do you think your doing?!" He spat out at you in an annoyed tone, head already trying to wiggle free from your grasp.

"Take it easy hot stuff, you're too tall for me to do your makeup if your standing. I'm simply making this easier for both of us." You took a seat in your chair, laying Buggy's head on your lap between your thighs so he was facing upwards. "If you're a good boy who stays still I may even give you treat."

"Forward aren't we? Already putting my head between your legs and I've only just met you. I mean I know I'm flashy and all but I didn't realize I was having such an affect on you babe." He teases as the both of blush a bit at the position your in.

"Oh shut up, fool. Only in your dreams would your head actually be allowed between my legs in such a sinful manner." You cut off any reply he could give by begining to gently wipe the makeup off his face with the damp rag you'd pulled out previously. You made sure not to rub too hard as you scrubbed his face clean, though the red on his nose wasn't coming off at all.

He picked up on your confusion, rolling his eyes and sighing a bit annoyed. "That's not makeup sweetheart. My nose is just naturally big and red."

You smiled sheepishly. "Heh, sorry. I knew it was your natural nose I just didn't think it was naturally red as well."

"Yea yea, crack your jokes now about it so I don't have to hear them later" His eyes were looking elsewhere as he spoke, avoiding your gaze as much as he could.

You paused, looking into his eyes till he eventually gave in, making eye contact with you. "Why would I joke about something you can't control or change about yourself?"

"Cause everyone else does so why wouldn't you as well?" He stated matter of factly, while studying your gaze, seeing a flash of hurt for him in your eyes.

"Well, I'm not everyone else." Shifting your gaze to look at his nose for a second, and smiling faintly as you spoke. "In fact I think it's cute to be honest. Seeing it up close somewhat makes me want to give you a kiss right on it."

Buggy was well and truly lost for words now, just a blushing mess that was forced to look right at you. You just let him stay like that, giggling softly at his cheeks that seemed to be almost as red as his nose, before you finally gave him some sort of mercy by applying new makeup to his warmed face. The both of you stayed silent during the whole thing, you concentrating on the paint you were applying to Buggy's face as his head laid there in your lap, him studying every inch of your face as you worked.

He had to admit he was trying to memorize every little detail of your face, from the color of your eyes, to every little twitch of your lips while you focused, the way your tongue would poke out slightly and brow furrowed when you were painting thinner lines. He was trying to savor this moment while he could, knowing there was never a moment like this before nor would he ever possibly experience anything like this again. No one was or ever would treat him with such care and attention as you were currently, this truly was a once in a lifetime thing for him and he wanted to remember it forever.

Eventually you finished, putting down the paint brushes, and lifting the clowns head up in your hands to admire your masterpiece. A smile formed on your lips as you stood, moving to reunite Buggy's head to his body again and handed him the handheld mirror.

"Pretty good huh?" You spoke as he looked at your handy work.

You did the exact same look he had on before but there was a noticeable difference between his work and yours. His makeup had looked more messy and somewhat smudged before, as if he practically lived in it, where as now the lines were crisp and colors vibrant. He looked like a clown people would smile and laugh with, no longer one people feared instantly.

"Damn sweetheart, you're even better with your hands than I thought." He teased as he handed you back the mirror, giving you a wink and click of his tongue.

You winked back at him with a smirk. "Don't give me all the credit, I mean I had quite the attractive canvas to work with."

"You seem to really enjoy flattering me." His head cocked curiously at you "Or are you just this flirty with all your customers?"

You shrugged nonchalantly, starting to clean up the counter and repackage the products you used on him. "Nah, just you Buggy. I guess you could say I have a thing for clowns."

A floating hand grabbed your chin gently, guiding your gaze back to it's owner, whom was now leaning in dangerously close to your face. "Hmm, well too bad for you. I don't have a thing for chatty mimes."

He could have sworn your gaze had flicked to his lips for a moment before you licked your own, but he'd chalk it up to his desperately lonely mind imagining things. The hand let you go, reattaching itself as Buggy stepped back, away from the counter. You took a minute to snap back to reality, then went back to packing up his order.

The pirate began to roam a little, looking at all the different costumes and masks you had displayed around the shop. Maybe he could get a few new outfits for some of the crew before they all head back out to sea in a few days. Hell maybe he'd get himself a new flashier coat too, one that would really wow the audience when he makes his grand entrance every night.

"Got everything you need packed up and ready for you. Did you want to get anything else?" Your voice pulling him from his thoughts and luring him back over to you.

"Was thinking bout a new coat, something flashy, but I'll hold off till tomorrow on that." He spoke, pulling out a few coins to pay you with.

"Oh good! So I will get to see you again." A smile formed on your lips as you took the payment and slid the box of merchandise over to him.

"Of course! I would never deny a fan from seeing my greatness up close in person." He takes a dramatic bow towards you, before placing one hand over his heart. "What kind of performer would I be if I did such a thing?"

You just laughed at his theatrics, shaking your head a bit.

He grabs the box off the counter and headed to the door, turning to bid you farewell. "You've been a wonderful audience, but it's time for me to take my grand exit unfortunately."

"Farewell Captain Buggy. I'll be waiting patiently till your next performance." You give a small round of applause for him as he leaves.

You stand there for a minute or two, replaying the whole interaction in your head, letting out a frustrated cry when you realize something. "FUCK! I NEVER TOLD HIM MY NAME!!"

"Didn't tell whom your name?" A voice says, causing you to jump.

Turning you see famed pirate Mihawk, you jump once more. "Ah! Sorry sir! I didn't hear you come in, my apologies."

"It's quite alright, I will not fault you for being so lost in thought in your own store." He stoically dismissed your concerned apology, removing his hat and placing it on the counter. "I seem to have gotten a bit careless earlier and somehow got a cut in my hat. Am I correct to assume this is the place I can get it fixed up nicely and quickly?"

Looking at the mentioned cut you assessed it was something that you could indeed repair, and quite quickly. "Yes, I do not believe this will take me that long to patch up, and I'll make it as unnoticeable as possible of course. Give me about an hour and I'll have it good as new sir."

"Very good, I shall be back then." He gave a curt nod before leaving, and as soon as he was out the door, you immediately set to work on fixing the hole in his hat.

After one hour had past exactly, Mihawk came strolling back in, gaining the attention of the few locals that had come in to browse.

"Perfect timing I finished a mere moment ago." You handed him back his hat, watching as he inspected your craftsmanship intensely.

A smirk cracked on his lips as he glanced back up at you. "Very well done, you can not even tell it is there unless you look extremely closely at it. Of course no one will ever be close enough for that, so you have my thanks." He placed a hefty amount of money in your hands before leaving.

"Whoa! That guy's intense!" One of locals muttered as they came to the counter.

"Yes he is, but thankfully I was able to do a good repair job." You replied, starting to ring up the items they'd set down.

"He seemed quite pleased with your work, maybe he'd be willing to dance with ya at the celebration tonight." Someone else chimed in, as they got in line to be rung up.

"Don't be ridiculous. That man is much too serious for my liking, I'd feel on edge the whole time." You shuttered slightly at the thought. "I never go to any of the parties in town anyways, but even if I did I'd rather spend my time around someone more akin to Buggy honestly."

A scoff could be heard, followed by a disgusted toned response. "Really that loser? He's a pretty sorry excuse for a pirate don't ya think?"

A few other insults and comments were thrown in agreement by others in the shop.

"HEY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" You shouted, causing everyone to jump and go quiet. "If y'all want to shit talk that man then: GET.. OUT..OF..MY..SHOP!" you put emphasis on those last words, pointing your gaze to each person, whom was just talking, with each word.

A few people gulped in fear at what you might do if they say anything more.

"Captain Buggy is a highly valued customer here, so if you want to run your mouths like that about him in front of me then there will not only be hell to pay, but you will also be banned from my shop for life."

Everyone remained silent and somewhat timid of you until they left the store thankfully.

God did that get you're blood boiling, and you weren't entirely sure why. Maybe it was the fact that the clown had just been in here early and then suddenly everyone's throwing around insults about him. Or maybe it was more so the fact that Buggy had wormed into your heart quite easily during the earlier interaction you'd had with him. Whatever it was, it caused you to be uncharacteristically protective of someone other than yourself or the few people you were actually fairly close to. He was risking his life out at sea, putting on showy performances of a lifetime, while everyone in town here just partied and got drunk constantly, yet they'd all looked down upon Buggy in distain.

Shaking your head clear of your thoughts, you began to occupy your time by sketching ideas and designs for costume pieces you could make to sell. Eventually you found yourself drafting up some designs for a flashy coat you'd think a certain blue haired pirate captain might not only enjoy but also look great in.

The squeaking of the door could be heard, pulling you from your current sketching, you looked up to find Buggy back in the shop.

Your face instantly lit up with a smile upon seeing him. "Hey there handsome, I thought you wouldn't be back till tomorrow."

He smiled back at you, making his way over to lean on the counter across from you. "Well what can I say? I was craving the love of an audience... well that and I realized you never gave me that treat for being a 'good boy' like you said earlier."

"Oh and just what kind of treat would the marvelous Buggy the Clown like?" You stood up, making your way around the counter to stand in front of him, placing your hands on your hips. "Maybe something like a free pair of gloves, or a discount on one of the pricer costume pieces, or maybe even a specially made mask that will fit around your cute nose?" At the mention of his nose you gave it a small 'boop' with your finger.

He gently grabbed the hand you used to tap his nose, holding in his as he looked into your eyes. "Actually I was more so hoping for that kiss you claimed you wanted to give me. Ya know the one you you said you want to give me on my nose you seem to like so much."

"Oh-" You were caught off guard a bit, in a good way however as it caused you to blush. "I suppose I can do that, yea.."

A wide smile grew on his face as you placed your hands on his shoulders, leaning up to place a small kiss to his bulbus red nose. You'd only pulled back a few inches away from his face, looking into his eyes for a moment before a mutual pull had you both leaning back in and connecting your lips. It was a sweet kiss, that lasted for what felt like hours but was probably only a minute or two in reality, though it left you both speechless for a moment.

"Uh wow, I um- wasn't expecting that sorry." Buggy said, breaking the calm silence you'd been in.

"Heh, yea me either, but I enjoyed it so don't apologize." You slid your hands up to cup his cheeks on either side of his head. Something felt weird though when you did. "Uh not to ruin the moment but you seem to be missing an ear..."

A nervous chuckle came from him. "Heh, about that..." He stopped speaking for a moment a bit embarrassed as his missing ear seemed to zip out of your back pocket and back to his head. "I kind of left it here earlier."

"When did you put that there?" You were more shocked at how it got his ear into your pocket without you knowing, than you were mad at him for seemingly spying on you.

"I did it while you were distracted with my theatrics of leaving." He smiled sheepishly. "I heard you defending my honor so to speak and felt bad about the whole spying thing after that so I decided to come back."

"Hmm, if you say so~" You squinted at him, being jokingly skeptical of his words.

"I'm willing to make up for the spying in anyway you want." He held his hands up, seemingly in a playful surrender.

You faked thinking really hard for a moment, before smiling and giving your response. "I suppose you can give me another kiss, then I'll forgive you."

A shit-eating grin plastered itself across Buggy's face, while his hands now detached pulled you close to him by your waist. "Oh that I'd me more than happy to do."

The two of you shared in another sweet kiss, this one with a bit more passion pouring from both of you. Neither of you wanted to be the first to pull away, though eventually when your lips had parted from each other's you remained there holding each other still.

A pit started to form in your stomach, the kiss was great sure but you hardly knew him. For all you know he could have a spouse and kids somewhere, yet here you were openly flirting and kissing him without even a second thought. There'd always been a sort of loneliness in you, always craving the love of another but never being able to find it. You had small flings during the time you were a mime, ridding yourself of that lonely feeling for short periods with the fleeting intimacy of your fellow performers. Though it had grown especially harder since you had moved here, to fight off that ache, no longer having the trusted company of others, only visiting pirates that brought danger with them and the townsfolk who only ever seem to care about partying their troubles away.

Then Buggy came in and you couldn't help latching on to the hope that those rumors of him being less of a threatening force were correct. Thinking he might be easier to approach, that he wouldn't be a threat to your own safety, and you could use him easily to fill that void again for at least the night. There would be no worry about catching feelings considering he only comes for supplies every few months from what you'd heard, and he surely would or has met others who catch his eye far better than you ever could.

It was all starting to make you feel guilty the more you thought about it. "I'm sorry Buggy."

His expression flushed with confusion. "Huh? What are you apologizing for?"

"I'm sorry that I don't fear you." You moved out of his grasp slowly, gaze now shifted to the floor.

More confusion. "How is that a bad thing exactly?"

A sigh escaped from you, back now facing the puzzled pirate. "Every other pirate that comes to town leaves me feeling on edge. Sure this town might be big on reputations not mattering here but I can't help but fear for my life around the few pirates that do come in to this little shop. You must have heard the fear I felt earlier over Mihawk's visit, yet I was completely at peace when I saw you. I guess I let the gossip people say about you being less threatening or less strong as others affect how I saw you. I kind of used you somewhat for my own selfish desires today or was at least planning on to."

"What do you mean by that exactly?" You couldn't read his emotion in his voice and you dated not look back at him.

"I've always longed to experience love but I never have been able to. I use to sleep around with my fellow performers to chase off my feelings of loneliness, though I can't do that anymore since I've moved to this town. The pirates bring too much uncertainty with them and the locals are all a bunch of careless party animals, but you've been described as somewhat of a push over. In my subconscious I guess I thought I could use you like a toy to make myself feel better with out caring about your own feelings since we're both pathetic cowards." As you spoke tears began softly falling from your eyes, causing your own makeup to become a mess. "I was wrong to think that though, and I realized it after you kissed me again. You don't deserve to be treated so poorly, especially not by me. I'm sorry Buggy for thinking so little of you, when in reality you are far greater than me."

Silence. No response from the man came, only the sound of you sniffing filled the air for what seemed like forever. Though finally detached gloved hands came to rest on your shoulders, snaking their way up your neck to cup your cheeks and wipe away your tears. Handless arms wrapping themselves around your waist from behind as Buggy's head floated Infront of you, looking into your eyes.

"It's okay sweetheart, there's no need to get so worked up over lil ole me. in all honesty I can't blame you or hate you at all for wanting to use me. I mean I would have used you right back." A bit of guilt hid behind his gaze, a small comforting smile on his painted lips. "I know I'm the great Buggy the Clown, but I'm in the exact same boat as you. Searching selfishly for small cures to fix the deep desire of wanting to be loved by someone. I've honestly used so many random people along my journey, never caring how'd they feel when I'd be gone the next day, never to see any of them again. There's no telling if I'd have ended up doing the same to you or not."

Staying there you a moment, both of you processing what you'd each admitted to, you could help but feel drawn to him again. Even if it was wrong of you to do considering all you'd said just now, you couldn't help but to reach up to cup his floating head, guiding his face towards yours again before kissing him.

"I'm sorry, i-" You started, but he cut you off.

"Don't be.." He said, connecting his lips back to yours again.

The kiss quickly turned passionate, it was clear that you both need this right now and there would be no resistance from either one of you. When you'd broken apart for a moment to catch your breaths, Buggy took the chance to spin you around and put himself together again. Now that your chests were pressing together, he recaptured your lips as one hand flew over to lock the shop's door and flip the sign to closed, before coming back to join the other hand in grabbing your ass. Your own hands found their way to his shoulders, one moving to his back as the other moved to softly tug off his bandana.

Tangling your fingers into his soft blue hair, few groans escaped him when you dared to tug at it. The sound only served to light a quickly growing fire of desire in you, which lead you to tug his hair some more in order to gain another few groans from him.

"Damn you really like my hair don't you?" He teased, trailing kisses down to your neck now, finding your sweet spot quickly, nibbling and sucking on it. "Though it's not fair I'm the only one making noise here."

You moaned at the feeling of his mouth marking up your neck, grinding your hips greedily against his, growing desperate for some form of friction between you two.

"Buggy~ pl-please" You whined a bit and he took the hint, using one of his hands to pin your waist against the counter while the other began to rub over your clothed crotch. He pulled his head away from your neck to watch the faces you were making at his touch. He felt he could watch you all day honestly, the way your eyes had become full of lust and your teeth gnawed on your bottom lip, was so mesmerizing to him. His own arousal and desire blossoming as he watched you try to plead with your eyes for him to touch you more. He maybe a killer but he knew how to be nice when he wanted, and thankfully he chose to play nice tonight by giving you what you wanted.

His hand stopped rubbing against your aching clothed loin, moving to undo your pants and pull them down.

When you tried to push your underwear along with them he stopped you. "No no- not yet." He picked you up, placing you so you were sitting at the edge of the counter, as he kneeled down to place his head between his legs. He started planting little kisses and bites along your thigh leading towards your core untill he was about to plant a kiss directly where you needed his touch the most, but instead switched to the other thigh, doing it over and over again to tease you.

"Captain please quit teasing~" you begged, not knowing how much more his little game you could handle before you'd go insane.

"Alright doll, but only cause you asked so nicely." Finally he removed your last bit of clothing covering your needy sex, planting tender kisses that only served to make you crave him even more.

Gradually he began to use his tongue, licking and sucking in all the right places and in all the right ways, drawing out moans from you, that he could only describe as beautiful. All the little moans, whimpers and curses of his name were music to his ears in all honesty, and he knew once he'd gone back out to sea they would haunt his dreams every night till he saw you again.

Of you in turn would be haunted by the memories of the way his mouth felt on you right now, the way it seemed to be effortlessly drawing you closer to your climax. "Buggy~ 'm close" Your hands tangled themselves in his hair, encouraging him to continue what he was currently doing until you had cum. Thankfully he did, letting you reach your high, then lapping up the mess you'd made without any hesitation.

Once he knew you'd come back down from your orgasm, he stood up and guiding you off the counter where you sat, moving to bend you over it instead. Removing his gloves and undoing his pants, his aching member flew around to your mouth while a few of his fingers began to tease your hole.

"Do me a favor babe, suck on that for me and get it nice and slick with your spit while I make sure your stretched out enough here for me to fit."

He didn't need to tell you twice, instantly you took the floating member into your mouth sucking on it and running your tongue over the tip. You took as much as you could into your mouth and throat, using your hand to spread excess drool over what little bit of length you couldn't. As you worked bobbing your head on his cock, he began to work your hole, starting by slowly inserting two of his digits into you, sliding them in and out a bit before scissoring them carefully inside you, and when he felt you were ready enough he inserted a third digit into the equation.

After a bit when he felt you were stretched out enough, and his dick was thoroughly lubed with your spit, he removed himself from both ends of you. Joining himself back together, he lined himself up with your entrance and slowly pushed in, groans escaping from both of you as he did. His movements were slow and steady to start, letting you get fully accustomed to the feeling of each other.

"Fuck, even with all that preparation your still so tight." He groaned out into your ear, his hands squeezing your hips tightly as he started to speed up his pace a little. "You doing okay? Nothing feels uncomfortable right?"

You shook your head, trying to remember how to speak anything but his name. "No- I'm fine- feels so good Buggy"

He plants a few kisses on your shoulder before he stands himself up straight, quickening his pace more till there's an audible slapping sound of your skin slapping against each other's. Just as you both were getting lost in the pleasure and feel of the other one's body, a knock errupts from the door.

The pair of you glance towards the door, seeing Mihawk standing in the window of it. Without even slowing down his thrusting for a second, Buggy detaches his torso and floats it to the door to answer it.

"What do you need?" You hear the clown ask annoyed, probably glaring daggers at the swordsman.

"I came to talk to the shop keep. I wanted to inquire about replacing the plume of my hat." Mihawk responds unfazed by the current situation.

"Really shit head? You can see were in the middle of something obviously, you couldn't wait till tomorrow to ask?" Buggy crosses his arms, now pissed at the man for interrupting you two over something so stupid. "Get lost, and If you bother me again while I'm fucking their brains out, I will kill you and serve them your heart in a pretty little box. Got it!?" With that he slams the door and relocks it, before his torso makes its way back over to you float Infront of you.

"Mmm~ Fuck that was kinda hot, and I loved the way you threatened him babe." You look up to meet his gaze.

"I know, I felt you clench a bit when I said it." He plants a kiss on your lips. "Now, that he's got me all pissed off I'm sorry but I'm gonna take it out on you. Sorry in advance"

He reconnects his body to his hips, gripping tightly onto your waist before picking up the pace of his thrusting till it's almost painful how quickly he's plunging in and out of you. Your hips are being harshly pressed into the counter's edge by force of his pounding, your brain going numb, only capable of barely forming his name on your lips occasionally or producing various loud groans of pleasure.

Somewhere in the hectic mess of your mind trying to keep ahold of what's going on, you realize you'd cum again, which only furthered the overstimulated mess of pleasure you'd become.

"Nng- Bu-ah-gy~" It was no use, you were desperately trying to beg him to slow down a little but words were far out of your reach in your current state.

"Shhh sweetheart" His removed head came up to rest beside your own to comfort you. "Only a little longer baby, I promise. I'm gonna cum soon and then we can take a break ok? You want me to come in you, right? Want me to make you mine, don't you?"

He weakly nodded in response as he kissed you, your mouths seemingly melding into one.

Finally his hips ceased all movement, burying himself as deep as he could before releasing into you. "Good slut~ see, doesn't it feel so nice to have my cum in you?"

Finally you regained the ability to speak. "Yes~ that was so... wonderful."

"I know it was, we practically had a standing ovation with all the clapping our bodies were making." He joked, removing himself slowly from you. "Now let me help you get cleaned up after that outstanding performance."

"I'd like that. We can go up the stairs in the backroom, I live above the shop." You stood up carefully but when you wobbled a bit Buggy instantly picked you up and carried you up to your bathroom, with the help of your directions. The pair of you bathed, him of course helping you clean and dry yourself off before you both moved to lie on your bed.

"Buggy, will you stay the night with me please?" You rested your head on his chest, curling up into his side.

"Of course. I couldn't even dream of leaving your side right now." He placed a few kisses to the top of your head while one of his hands now comfortingly rubbed your back.

Blissfully you both laid there silent, basking in the soft glow of the moon rising through the night sky and shining through your window. You could both hear the faint noise of people partying in town square, laughing and shouting in drunken glee, it serving as a form of white noise to your thought filled minds.

"Hey Buggy, can I make a proposition, well I guess it's more of a request?" You shifted so you could look into his eyes, that were now seemingly glowing in the low light.

"Sure my starlight. What is it?" A thumb ran over your cheek tenderly.

"Would you be willing to be mine?" You studied his face for a second as he thought. "I know I'm being a bit foolish here but you've filled that lonely void in me more than anyone else ever had. I honestly think I've fallen for you somewhat today and I don't want to lose you. I don't care if we can't see each other for months on end, just please let me selfishly love you for at least a little while and maybe you can even love me too."

Something twinkled in his eyes as you spoke, knowing he felt the same. You'd both lived your lives searching for someone to love, or someone who could love you back and now the two of you were here entwined in bed together. You'd both filled that empty void in each other, chased off the loneliness together and somehow grown attached to the other in less than a day. Even if this was only a fluke, a mistake on your part, Buggy wasn't going to question it in the slightest. You were practically begging for him of all people to love you, of course he wasn't going to deny your love. You were the first person to love him and want to be loved by him, he'd be an idiot if he pushed you away now.

"Of course! I'd give anything to be yours honestly!" He pulled you into a deep kiss, sealing your new relationship with tender passion. When he'd pulled away, the pair of you had eyes filled with joy.

"I do have one request of my own though, besides wanting you to be mine as well."

Curious and excited you nodded for him to continue.

"Can you finally tell me your name at least?"

#one piece live action #buggy x reader #buggy one piece #one piece fanfiction #live action buggy the clown #mine

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atinylittlepain · 1 year

Text

Apothecary - Chapter Five

joel miller x witchy!reader

series masterlist

she and joel try to figure out their new normal. will her upside-down world be too much for him to handle?

warnings | 18+ smut-adjacent, significant angst, mentions of pregnancy (not what you think), feelings

word count (since someone asked lmao): 5.8K

a/n | we are entering turbulent waters, my darlings. but remember, i promised you a happy ending, and a happy ending you shall get. just, not yet. as always, i love to hear from you about what you think of the chapter, drop me a message and let's chat <3

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“Dead man walking at three o’clock, boys.” “Watch out, whatever she’s got working on Miller might rub off on you if you get too close to him.”

“Just a matter of time now, don’t you think?” “Better him than me. I like coming home alive, thank you very much. Miller can have her.”

The folks talking at the stables are lucky that Joel couldn’t give less of a fuck about what they have to say. He’s got better things to focus on. As the summer has slipped into those long languid days before the first snaps of fall, it’s become common knowledge around town that Joel Miller is the witch’s man. And he couldn’t be more pleased about it.

The men place wagers on when he’ll wind up dead, and the women, well, they’ve got a different look in their eyes when he comes around now that he’s so clearly caught the attention of the resident witch. But it’s all just noise to Joel, who is completely and unequivocally wrapped up in his woman.

Tommy has cut down his patrol shifts, and Joel knows it’s because of his brother’s own little superstitious streak, though he’d never admit it to him. But Joel doesn’t mind spending more time working the stables, not when she comes around at midday in between her rounds, sharing her lunch with him, and a little sweetness, before bounding off to wherever she’s needed next.

He’s learning more about her everyday. What’s true, and what’s baseless rumor. Just the other day, he had witnessed for himself her strange communication with animals when she had calmed a bolting horse with a light palm and a few murmured words, the mare tilting its head at her like it was listening to what she had to say. When she had turned back around to Joel after leading the horse into the stables, she offered him a smile and a shrug. Another truth.

They’ve made a little routine around each other, something he didn’t think he’d ever get again in this world, and he fucking adores it. Today is no different, when the sun starts to drip low in the sky and he’s finally finished shoeing a particularly skittish horse, he heads off from the stables toward her shop to pick up his girls. That’s the other thing, she looks out for Ellie, and Ellie thinks she’s “the fucking coolest.” Joel can’t help but feel like he won the damn lottery every time he steps into her shop and finds them laughing and talking easily in the back.

“Wait, wait, I’ve got a good one for you today.”

“Alright, let’s hear it.”

“What do you call witches who live together?”

“I don’t know, tell me.”

“Broom-mates!”

“Kid, that one is bad, even for you.” Both she and Ellie whip around from where they had been chatting in the backroom of her shop when they hear his grumbled words. Ellie scoffs.

“What? It’s topical.” She snorts at Ellie’s response, nudging her as she wipes her hands off on a rag.

“It was ok. A little culturally insensitive though. That whole riding around on brooms thing is a total myth.” Ellie’s eyebrows shoot up her forehead at that, and she laughs at the girl’s expression, stepping around her to pad over to Joel.

“Hey there, handsome. Quitting time?” It still catches him off guard sometimes, how easily she slips her arms over his shoulders, leaning in for a quick kiss, calling him handsome, though he can still hear Ellie making gagging noises over the ringing in his ears.

“Mmhmm, yep, yes ma’am. You ready to go?” She smiles, getting ready to answer him and being abruptly cut off by a sharp mroowww. He’s already expecting it, little paws clawing up his pants leg, a less welcomed development that has recently emerged as Stevie seems to take every chance she gets to make Joel her human scratching post. With a laugh, she scoops the mewling cat up in her arms, holding her out to Joel, though he swerves away slightly.

“Oh c’mon, Joel. Just give her a little pet. She’s trying to show you that she likes you.” He begrudgingly gives Stevie two curt pats on her head to which she lets out an indignant mrrp in response, yellow eyes squinting at him. No matter how many times she’s tried to convince him that Stevie likes him, Joel is still not sure what the cat thinks of him, or more importantly, what he thinks of her. There’s been a few times now when he has stumbled down stairs in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and he’s found the cat, frozen midstep, going god knows where out the backdoor. How Stevie got the door open in the first place is beyond him…

Ellie huffs from behind them, shuffling over and taking Stevie out of her arms, the feline immediately nuzzling up to her and purring like the most content engine ever.

“You can’t just bop her on the head like that, old man. Stevie likes a gentle touch.” She giggles at Ellie’s admonishment, her hand that had been resting on his chest coming up to scratch lightly at his scruff as he grumbles.

“Jesus christ, are y’all ready to go or not?”

They certainly make an odd little team walking down the main drag of Jackson, his arm slung over her shoulders, Ellie walking a bit ahead of them carrying Stevie like a baby. There are stares, of course, there always are, and even a loose whisper here and there as they make their way home. Or, he supposes, to his and Ellie’s home, though she spends most nights with him these days.

Pieces of her life have become permanent fixtures at the Miller residence, her “sensitive plants,” as she had called them, lining the windowsills downstairs, a few thick books of hers stacked on his nightstand, her overalls hanging off the corner of his bathroom door. He’d never admit it to anyone, but it actually makes him quite sentimental, these tangible reminders that he gets to call her his. Though there are always a few nights a week that she slips off by herself, going back to the shop or her own place after dinner. He tries not to think too hard about those times, and what she might be up to. After all, there are still a whole lot of things about her that he can’t quite believe, his mind playing catch-up with the strangeness of it all. But he reckons it’s worth it to get to have her like he does right now, an easy hand on her hip as they get dinner ready, Ellie rambling at the kitchen table about something Dina said earlier at school.

And while it feels so good, this routine they’ve slipped into, there’s always a twinge of guilt laced through when his mind wanders to the world just outside of Jackson’s gates, to his past, and the harsh dissonance between this present sweetness and that old pain. He had once asked Tommy about it, how he lives in this strange sliver of normal after the life they’ve known, and his brother had just shrugged and said that maybe it was exactly because of their past that they deserve whatever respite they can find now.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Her voice snaps him out of his mind, eyes focusing back on her sitting across from him at the table, dinner long finished and Ellie off wreaking havoc with the other Jackson teens. Don’t tell anyone, but Joel Miller has traded in his usual nightcap at the Tipsy Bison for a warm cup of whatever she steeps in a kettle on the stove. He doesn’t mind the taste, and it saves him a headache in the morning, and right now, the warmth from his mug anchors him just enough to ask her what’s been on his mind.

“Y’know, you never did tell me how you knew– about Sarah.” Her eyes soften around the edges, smile drooping just slightly.

“Well, I told you that I see the world in threads. The thread between you and Sarah– your daughter– it’s a particularly strong one.”

“Even though– even though she’s gone?”

“She isn’t gone, Joel, not really. I can feel her all around you.” His head spins with her words, tightness settling in his chest, and he doesn’t realize he had been clenching his fist until she reaches out for him, unfurling his fingers in her hand.

“Can you– could you– could you talk to her?” Her brows pinch, lips pressing into a thin frown at his question.

“I’m sorry, baby, I can’t. People– like me– we all have different talents. I had an aunt who’d have long conversations with her husband who had passed on– but that’s never been something I’m able to do.” He swallows hard, nodding, feeling a bit foolish for asking the question in the first place.

“But you said you can– feel her?” That brightens back her smile, and she squeezes his hand in hers.

“We’re all just energy. Even when we die, that can never be destroyed. So yes, I can feel her with you, and how much she loved– loves you.” It becomes too much for him all at once, the hot prick of tears behind his eyes spurring him to tug his hand out of hers. She says his name like a question, but he’s already stumbling out of his chair and toward the front door.

“Wait, Joel– just– where are you going?” It breaks his heart, the concern laced through her words, and when he turns to give her a response, his hand still on the doorknob, he can barely look at her.

“I’m sorry– I can’t– it’s just– I can’t– it’s too much– it’s all too much.” Perfect silence, she offers no reply to his words, and he doesn’t wait around to hear one, slipping out the front door and stumbling into the quickening night.

…

She fucked up, it becoming clear to her with the slam of his front door behind him. All she wanted was for him to have the truth, hoping that it could be a comfort to him. But obviously she had been mistaken in thinking that. He said that it was too much, but the implication of those words was apparent, that she’s too much. She knows better than to follow him, having figured enough out about Joel Miller to understand that any prodding will be unwelcomed, so she stands, feeling a bit helpless, in the middle of his living room. But then she starts looking around, seeing her plants everywhere, a few of her bracelets on the coffee table along with one of her books, knowing there’s more where that came from up in his bedroom, and she starts to think that she had come on too strong, that she was too much.

He was spooked by what she said, there were no two ways about it. She’d recognize that look in his eyes anywhere. She just hated that it had been in his eyes. Suddenly, she wants, needs, to get out of his house, and away from the deafening silence of being alone. She grabs her satchel, hastily shoving whatever odds and ends of herself strewn around his house that she can into her bag. She’s with it enough to lock the front door and slip out the back, figuring that wherever he went, he won’t be back for a while. The hot slip of tears comes before she can stop it, hurrying away from Joel’s house and toward her shop, intent on doing the one thing she knows will calm her mind.

…

He fucked up. He knew it the second he stepped out on his porch, and had even thought about turning back around right then, going back inside, trying to talk it out with her. But there was nothing to talk out, she’d done nothing wrong, he knew that. It had been such a jarring conversation for him, straddling the line between disbelief and something that touched a little too close to bone for his taste, and unable to stay up on the tightrope with her, he bolted.

The Tipsy Bison is quieter tonight, it being the middle of the week, but that’s a blessing to him, not wanting to run into anyone he knows while he tries to fuzz out his thoughts with booze. It plays over and over again in his mind.

I can feel her all around you.

Joel reckons that more than anything else, the feeling that had propelled him out of his house and away from her had been anger, that she can feel something he would give anything to feel himself. Very early on, he’d talk to Sarah, every night, asking her for signs. It had been in a fit of frustration when no signs ever came that he had pointed a gun at his temple and missed. So for her to so easily say that, to bridge that gap he had been clawing at for twenty years, it had set loose a dark mix of emotions he had been trying to stifle for a long time. And he believes her too, no matter how fantastical it seems. He knows that whatever she does choose to tell him, it’s always the truth, which only makes it sting worse.

He feels sick to his stomach after his first tumbler of whiskey, a gnawing pain he can’t shake, his mind replaying the glance he got of her face before he left, a crumpled look, something bordering on fear. And he suddenly has no interest in staying at the bar any longer, pushing away his glass and walking out onto the empty streets of Jackson, having stayed in there long enough for night to lay down heavy and cool over the town.

A pause, trying to get his bearings, to get out of his head, his eyes wander over the storefronts outside the Tipsy Bison, though it’s a figure emerging from between the shops that catches his attention.

“What’re you doing out here, trouble?”

meooowww

He shuffles across the street over to Stevie, meeting her in the alleyway she just sauntered out of. Bending at the waist, he offers out his palm, Stevie rubbing her cheek up against his fingers with a satisfied purr.

“Think I messed up a little.” Stevie lets out a mrow at that, and if she hadn’t been nuzzling at his palm, he would’ve sworn that she nodded her head at his words. Joel sighs, standing back upright, Stevie’s yellow eyes looking up at him, unblinking.

“Better go talk to her, huh?” This time, there’s no other explanation for the little bob of the cat’s head, and Joel has to let out a laugh at the sheer absurdity of it. Whatever this new normal is, ain’t nothing normal about it.

“Alright, trouble, you coming?” He gets no response, because, hello, it’s a cat. But when he starts walking, Stevie falls into step next to him.

The whole walk home, he’s so preoccupied with what he wants to say to her that he’s completely caught off guard when he goes to open the front door and finds it locked. Not a light is on inside, either, and he can’t help the frustration rising in his chest, Stevie starting to claw at his pants not helping one bit. She stops just as soon as she started, giving him an expectant look before turning around and padding down his porch steps. At his wit’s end, all Joel can think to do is follow the cat.

…

This is when she feels closest to her mother. Sweat pricking along her hairline, the sleeves of an old work shirt hiked up to her armpits, the backdoor to the shop cracked open to air out the fumes, and a bandana tied over the bridge of her nose, covering the lower half of her face as she works.

She’s had to make changes to the process in this new world. Where they used to buy lye from the local craft store, she now has to make it herself, leaching wood ash in barrels in the alley outside the shop. Where they used to use exotic oils like neem and jojoba, she now makes due with beeswax and sunflower seed oil. But she still stirs honey, mint, and lavender into the mix, the scent a pure dose of home for her.

Her eyes burn as she stirs, the sharp sting of vapors from the lye a welcome distraction from all the thoughts still winding around her mind. She’s done this a thousand times, moving with measured precision, the mixture swirling thick and black as she carefully ladles it into the wooden mold. They used to make huge batches every spring, rectangular molds the size of garden beds, and once the soap was set and cured, they’d slice it up into small blocks, enough for the year and then some. Now she only makes a little at a time, when she wishes more than anything she still had her mother with her, telling her what the next right step is.

She wipes away the cool drip of sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand, turning the stove off with a jerk of her chin. Some things never get old. But before she can take the now empty stock pot over to the sink, Stevie comes slinking in, nuzzling up against her ankles. She tugs her bandana down from her nose, letting it hang around her neck as she looks down at her girl.

“What’d you get into tonight, little miss?”

“She talked some sense into me.” Her head whips up at the sound of his voice, seeing Joel leaning against the backdoor frame. She can’t help but feel a bit exposed in her ratty attire, and she wonders how much he had seen. She’s never had anyone around when she’s done this before, and it feels like a vulnerability she wasn’t ready to extend to him.

She sniffs, squaring her shoulders and trying to seem unphased by his presence, willing her voice to come out steady.

“Oh?” She feels like she needs to swallow around something thick in her throat, words getting stuck somewhere in her chest.

“I’m sorry– that I just bolted. I wasn’t expecting that– what you said– and I reacted without much thought.” Her fingers itch with want, to reach for him, to thumb away the crease between his brows. But she resists it, staying where she is, her hands bunching into the fabric of her loose shirt instead.

“You don’t have to apologize, Joel. I’m the one who should be saying I’m sorry. You were right– it was too much, and I should have been able to see that. I’m sorry that I pressed too hard.” He kicks up off the doorframe, stepping into the shop, and immediately lets out a few harsh coughs, thumping his fist against his chest as he squints at her.

“Is there– a reason– my throat feels like– it’s on fire?” She curses low, quickly guiding him by the shoulders back out of the shop and into the alley.

“Fuck! I’m sorry! It’s the fumes from the lye. I guess I’m just used to it by now.” She rubs quick circles across his back as he continues to let out wheezy coughs, looking at her with wide eyes when he finally catches his breath.

“What the hell are you doing with lye, woman?” The harsh tone of his words makes her jerk back from him, stepping just out of reach as she crosses her arms over her chest.

“It’s for soap. That’s what I’m doing, making fucking soap. Not whatever all those people you talked to put into your head.” His face blanches in the moonlight, jaw slack at her words.

“That’s not– I didn’t mean it like that.” She scoffs, anger suddenly feeling like a really good idea as she takes another step back when he goes to reach for her.

“Oh really? Are you sure about that, Joel? Are you sure that this isn’t too much for you? That I’m not too much for you?” She regrets the words the instant they leave her mouth, her mounting insecurity a thick sludge in her throat as silence settles between them.

“This ain’t about the soap, is it?” She has to laugh at his timid question, throwing her hands out in frustration.

“Yes– no– fuck, I don’t know. I just– the way you looked at me? When I told you about Sarah? I’ve seen that look before, and I know it well– it usually means that it’s time for me to go.”

“Go? What do you mean go? I don’t want you to go anywhere, goddamnit!” The sharp raise of his voice catches her by surprise, his frustration clear in the long drag of his palm down his face, the sigh he lets out as he squints at her in the dim light.

“Then I need you to tell me right now if what I do, what I am, is going to be a problem for you. Because if it is, I can’t– can’t do this.” She can’t fight it down anymore, the hiccup in her voice, the warble that threatens tears, and Joel’s features soften at the little sniff she lets out.

“You know it’s not a problem for me, you know that. But– I ain’t gonna lie to you, this ain’t easy, darlin. All these things I sure as shit didn’t believe in until I met you. Sometimes I feel like my world’s been turned upside down trying to wrap my head around it all.” She doesn’t step away this time, when he gets closer to her, tentative hand reaching out and circling around her wrist before sliding down to tangle his fingers with hers.

“It’s a lot. But it’s not too much. I promise you.” Words she’s never heard before, and now she really can’t stop the tears muddling up her vision and slipping down her cheeks. He takes another step closer, his other hand coming up to brush away stray salt with the backs of his knuckles. And it finally clicks for her in that moment just how much she wants him to mean it, how much she wants him to stay, and it terrifies her.

“I really am sorry, Joel– about what I said earlier. I should’ve been more careful.” He holds his palm steady against her cheek, dark eyes swimming in shadows.

“I was the one that asked, darlin. I just– I’m gonna need a little more time with– with that.” She sighs, having already reached a conclusion that she doesn’t like one bit, though she knows it’s for the best. She isn’t going to let this be like any of the times before.

“I think that maybe we should take things– slower.” She can tell that Joel doesn’t like that, his brow scrunching up, thumb stilling where it had been stroking along the arc of her cheek.

“S-slower?” She nods, squeezing his hand that’s still tangled up in hers.

“We rushed into this, didn’t we? I mean– it’s only been a few weeks since we really started seeing each other, and I’m already practically living with you.” His face really falls at that, a deep frown settling around his lips.

“You don’t wanna live with me, is that it?” She’d laugh if he wasn’t looking so pitiful about it, instead offering him her best smile as she brings her other hand up to brush his hair out of his face.

“That isn’t what this is about, Joel. I just think it might be good for us– for you– if you’re not in my– upside-down world– all the time, at least at first. Like getting acclimated to a new altitude, you gotta take it slow.” She knows it’s a weak explanation the minute the words leave her mouth, but she also knows she’s right. Joel, on the other hand, still has a displeased scrunch to his face, like someone just told him a tasteless joke.

“Uh, well, ok– if that’s what you want then– I mean, I guess we can– we can do that– we can take things– slow.” He keeps clearing his throat between words, stop-starting himself like he’s trying to convince himself he means it as he’s saying it. And when he finally gets it all out, with a firm little nod of his head, she can’t help but reward him with a quick kiss.

“Thank you, baby. I really think this is important– I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t.” He nods again, his hand that had been cupping her cheek trailing down her shoulder, her arm, until he’s holding both her hands in his.

“So, what does this look like– us taking it slow?”

“We can figure it out as we go. But for right now, I think we can say goodnight, and I’ll go back to my place, and you’ll go back to yours.”

“Can I walk you home?” Her heart tugs at that, his question so earnestly asked, only making it harder for her to respond with a sigh.

“I kinda have to clean up the shop still. I can’t really leave that stuff out overnight, y’know? A-and I obviously don’t want you messing with it, so–”

“No, I-I get it, that’s alright. Um, so I guess, goodnight then.” She’s never seen him so flustered, having to stifle a giggle when he realizes he’s still holding her hands and lets go with a huff. He seems to think on it for a beat, quickly ducking in and pressing the most precious kiss to her cheek, muttering a quiet “goodnight, darlin” as he turns to head home, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and taking a few jerky looks over his shoulder at her before he rounds the corner of the alley.

She turns back to the shop with a sigh, Stevie sitting in the back doorway, head tilted at her.

“What? It’s for the best, you’ll see.”

…

For the record, Joel doesn’t like this taking it slow business, at all. He’s not even sure how she got him to agree to it, he had been so turned around that night, and she had been giving him those eyes… But no, he doesn’t like it, not one bit.

To start with, he doesn’t like that she no longer comes around to the stables at mid-day, no quick kisses, no easy smiles. Nothing. And he doesn’t like that she no longer comes over for dinner every night, and not just because she’s a better cook than him. He doesn’t like that his walk home from the stables no longer includes a regular stop by her shop. And he doesn’t like that he has to hear from Ellie what his woman was up to that day. He hates that they go on dates now, like normal fucking people, scheduling time to be together instead of just throwing out the clock and moving like magnets. But perhaps more than any of his other qualms, the thing he hates the most is that he doesn’t get her in his bed every night.

When he agreed to take things slow, he didn’t know it meant this slow. He didn’t know it meant goodnight kisses and holding hands but that’s it slow. Afterall, he’s only a man, and after getting to have her the way that he did, it feels damn near impossible not to crave that like a drug.

He’ll admit that she was right, taking it down a notch has made it easier to wrap his head around the things that she shares with him. But it’s been three weeks of this, and he’d turn himself upside-down, inside-out, and every which way around if it meant speeding things back the fuck up.

Laying in bed, his mind swirls with images of her. Is it gross that he hasn’t washed his sheets since the last time she stayed over? He doesn’t really care, not when there’s still a faint trace of incense and lavender on the pillow she slept on.

His mind wanders to the last time he had her here. It was early in the morning, before either of them had to go to work, and she had lazily slung a bare thigh over his waist, perfect in the hazy morning light as she straddled him. It had been slow and sweet, taking time that they didn’t really have. She was so warm and soft for him, all gentle sighs, the mesmerizing curve of her hips and the sway of her breasts, an image that works him up now in the cool darkness of his empty bed.

It’s not the same, of course it’s not the same. But it’ll have to do for now. He holds her steady in his mind, a dream, an idol, a fucking goddess, and he palms himself through his boxers, a damp spot already forming from just thinking about her. He kicks his sheets off, shrugging his boxers down just enough to let his cock spring out, pre-come smearing over his stomach where it now rests. Part of him can see how pathetic this looks, rubbing one out every night to the dream of his woman, but he wouldn’t have to if they weren’t taking things so goddamn slow. Now, a normal person would think that maybe he should just talk to her about picking up the pace. But he’s too stubborn for that, and he knows it, and it drives him crazy that he equates having that conversation with defeat. Joel tells himself that he can do this, he can give her what she wants, respect her boundaries, no matter how stupid he thinks they are.

He doesn’t take his time with himself. This is purely about release for him, and he knows exactly how to get himself there, spitting harshly into his hand and wrapping his palm around the base of his cock, scrunching his eyes shut as he starts to work himself over.

She’s all he thinks about in these moments, how her hands are so much different than his, still calloused from the work she does, but softer, and smaller. He thinks about the plush of her lips, and how they fall open when she comes, the little crease between her brow her other tell. He thinks about the way her spine curves and curls, and how his palms would run circuits around the arc as he took her from behind. His mind flashes with images of her, and it isn’t long before he’s coming with a low groan of her name, his spend smearing over his knuckles.

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s been nearly a month now, or maybe he’s just more tired than usual, but Joel feels a particular pang of despair as he cleans himself up, and it’s enough to crack whatever resolve he had left.

He sleeps better that night, having decided that first thing the next morning he’s going to stop by the apothecary and he’s going to tell her that he’s done taking it slow.

That plan falls apart the moment he enters her shop. The first thing he notices is her bag, strewn out on the floor, a few jars and bottles spilling out of it, and his heart sinks. Next to Stevie, that bag is her baby, and Joel immediately knows that something isn’t right for it to be crumpled on the floor.

He calls out her name, but gets no response, though Stevie comes skittering out of the back room, making a beeline for his legs, frantically mewling as she rubs up against his pants leg, insistent and loud, and that isn’t quite right to him either.

Trying not to step on Stevie as she stays glued to his ankles, he shuffles into the back room, his brow scrunching up when he doesn’t see her, at least not right away.

“Joel?” That’s a voice he’s never heard from her before, barely there, hoarse, like she could only just get the word out. He steps further into the room, peering around the butcher’s block, and that’s when he finally sees her.

She’s curled in on herself, knees up to her chin, sitting in the back corner of the room. Her eyes are red-rimmed and swimming, tears streaking down her cheeks, the sight all but taking his breath away. He moves fast, his mind screaming at him that he needs to fix it, to make it better, whatever it is.

He’s quick to get down to her level, palms steadying her jaw as another resounding round of sobs rolls through her chest.

“Hey, hey– it’s ok, I’m here, huh? I’m right here. What– what happened? What is it?” His questions only seem to make her cry harder, shaking her head in his hands. She brings her hands to clasp his wrists, and it’s then that he notices dried blood lining her fingernails.

“You’re scaring me here, darlin. I need you to tell me what happened, please.”

“I lo-lost her– I lost her, I lost her, I can’t believe I lost her–” She breaks herself off with another sob, and Joel shifts to sit down next to her, wrapping his arms around her shuddering shoulders to coax her into his chest.

“Who– who’d you lose, darlin?” She evens out her shuddering breaths with a hard sigh, her answer coming on a few disjointed exhales.

“Maura went into labor last night– and I– and I– it was a girl– she was a girl– and she wasn’t breathing– she wasn’t breathing, Joel. And I didn’t know what to do.” She dissolves into another sob, and Joel doesn’t know what to do besides hold her a little closer, shock and sadness simmering in his veins. He remembers her telling him about Maura, one of her regular house visits to check on the progress of her pregnancy. She always told him how excited the woman seemed to get to become a mother.

“Is– is Maura ok?” He’s surprised by the bitter huff she lets out at that.

“I don’t kn-know. She kicked me out– told me it was my fault– she’s right– it’s all my– all my fault.” He’s quick to bring his palm to her jaw, coaxing her eyes up to meet his, gentle but firm pressure holding her there.

“Listen to me, it is not your fault. Not anyone’s fault, and it’s especially not yours. Whatever happened, I promise you, it is not your fault, do you understand?” She gives him no answer, just lets out another shaky sigh before burying her face back in his chest.

And all he can do is hold her as close as he can, and will some of her pain to seep into his skin, to make it even a little more bearable, to carry that for her. He reckons that he’d take it all away from her if he could.

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

taglist (lmk if you want added or dropped): @boofy1998 @misspascaliverse @jasminedragoon @beskarandblasters @daddy-din @subconsciouscollapse @avidreader73 @pedgeitopascal @littlelou22 @wannab-urs @hannahlupinblack @whoiscaroline @leeeesahhh @str84pedro @mumma-moonchild @disregardedplant @mxtokko @igloo71 @secretdazeobservation @eddie-munson-dungeon-master @cressida-clearwood @mydailyhyperfixations @mingeniee @the-ginger-hedge-witch @delicious-collection @funnygirlthatgab @thereaperisabitch

#joel miller #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller angst #tlou #tlou fanfiction #the last of us #joel miller fluff #joel miller smut #joel miller series #joel miller au #joel miller fic #joel tlou #apothecary

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ruewrote · 1 year

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𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙.

PAIRING: jake seresin x fem!reader WARNINGS: strong language GENRE: fluff SONG INSPIRATION: nonsense by sabrina carpenter WORD COUNT: 912

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this was now the fifth or sixth time that jake had tried to flirt with you, the previous attempts failing since you had shot him down.

you knew of his reputation and you weren't going to be another notch under his belt.

he probably thought you were just playing hard to get, but he got a little more frustrated every single time he got turned down, but was never forceful, he just didn't think he could like someone this much.

you didn't know what he was trying to prove or who he was trying to prove it to.

you already had enough on your plate, making drinks, wiping tables down. it was far from the first time an aviator tried flirting with you either for free drinks or for your number, of course you never gave it out because they all gave up quite easily or never put enough effort in.

not him though.

man was he persistent, it was nice just knowing that someone was thinking of you. yes he might think there's a possibility that he might be able to get into your pants, but a little flirting never hurt anybody, right?

fluttered eyelashes and small gestures like opening the door for you, him letting you walk in first not before sending you a winning smile.

tonight was no different then the others - well that was until a drunken dickhead decided to think it was a good idea to grab your ass.

as soon as it happened you turned around, fist meeting his nose knocking him onto his butt. shaking your hand a little whilst you kept staring at the creep on the floor.

grabbing his nose, he stood as the blood gushed out of his nose. his face full of rage, you soon regretted your punch when he towered over you, backing away he soon stopped when hangman slid in between the two of you, shielding you away from the guy.

"im gonna have to ask you to leave dude, you've crossed the line, the lady was lucky that she let you get away with just a bloody nose. i would've beaten you black and blue for that."

this just made the guy square up to jake, he stood a couple of inches shorted than the aviator, all jake did was firmly planted his feet where he stood, chest puffed out.

the coward ran out of the bar, seresin stood his ground making sure the guy was gone for good before turning to make sure that you were alright.

the whole bar went back to doing what they were doing previous to when the incident started, you didn't even realise that most people had stopped to watch what was happening - some of them ready to intervene if it had come down to it.

once he had scanned your body for any injuries his eyes landed on your hand, the one that had taken a blow not too long ago.

he lightly ran his thumb over your bruised knuckles as he held your hand, you slightly flinched trying to downplay the pain that you feel.

that led him guiding you to the backroom, penny smirking whilst giving you a nod which made you roll your eyes.

once you got there, he sat you down on a unopened keg, opening the freezer door finding an icepack.

you admired him as long as you could before he turned to make his way back over to you, gently placing the ice on your knuckles cradling your hand.

a sharp hiss left your mouth, which made him apologise profusely.

"ive never had anyone defend my honour before, honestly thought he was gonna lay me out flat after he stood up." that just made him shake his head with a small smile, keeping his eyes on your hand in his.

"you know i would never let anything happen as long as i was there."

you had never been this close to him before, so close that you could see the flecks of brown in his green eyes. feel his breath fanning your face, his eyes flickering down to your lips waiting for a response.

"i know. i believe that..." you both leant closer to each other, you were sure he could hear how fast and strong your heart was beating as your lips met his.

it was everything you dreamt of and more.

it felt right. you felt safe with him.

you pulled away with a wide grin on your face, a nervous giggle falling out of your mouth.

"worth the wait, now you stubborn woman will you please let me take you out on a goddamn date?" he playfully slumped himself against you, head on your shoulder.

of course your answer was yes, how could you say no to him?

after you walked out of the break room it must of been obvious that something happened from the hand holding, payback and fanboy started making kissing noises and rubbing there arms up and down their sides pretending to make out with someone.

everyone else in the bar started cheering which made you rest your head on jake's shoulder as a deep blush spread across your cheeks, all he did was shake his head and snaked his arm around your waist pulling you closer to him kissing your cheek.

"it's about damn time." looking over to see it was penny and pete smirking at you both.

the teasing was never ending of course.

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princess-ibri · 7 months

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Darkside Disney Princesses: Tiana

Guys, I'm so sorry I meant to write out a whole thing for Tiana too cuz I love her (heck yeah, Lousiana gals) but Real Life threw another wrench my way and atm I'm too tired to do writing, so this also might be the last Darkside Disney Princess :(

But my basic idea was that instead of Charlotte taking her aside when she trips at the party after hearing she doesn't get the restaurant after all, Charlotte is distracted by the faux Prince Naveeen and so Dr. Facilier, seeing a desperate soul and never one to pass up an opportunity for a deal, swoops in, takes Tiana aside and starts laying out his whole sales pitch.

And Tiana is angry and tired and feeling humilated enough to make a deal. Hard work hasn't seemed to get her anything but emptiness and disappointed in the end, maybe it is ok for her to use an easy out. Just once.

She doesn't outright wish for the other buyer to die of course, she doesn't want that. She just wants them to be unable to outbide her on the property.

But voodoo dolls are just so convenient for the good doctor.

And so then, of course, she's in his pocket. The guilt over inadvertently causing a man's death and then benefiting from it, is ripe stuff for blackmail, plus once you make one deal, it's so easy to make another amd another whenever things start to look prickly. Plenty of people in Louisiana arn't happy about a black woman running a major business, and are willing to cause trouble in all sorts of ways.

And having some untraceable trouble come back their way is just so much faster--and satisfying--then trying to fight back clean.

Of course its not all bumping off bigots and bad critics. The good doctor knows so many well connected clients who'd be willing to help the restaurant out in less magical but equally prosperous ways--in exchange for some favors here and there, some permanent table seats shall we say? Use of a backroom or account book here or there.

After a while, it just becomes more expident to have the good doctor on the premises, a permanent background fixture at the increasingly high-end restaurant, with its increasingly shady bunch of wealthysharing his skills with so many of Tiana's willing patrons.

Between his front there and his puppet prince Laurence splashing his now orphaned wife's cash towards him whenever he needs, Dr Facilier's doing more than alright for himself. At this rate, with all the souls he's collecting, he'll be paying off his debts in no time. What Lousiana (and Tiana herself) looks like with all this voodoo and increased shady dealings...well, thankfully, that's just the Darkside verse's problem...

#disney #my art #darkside disney princesses #darkside disney princess #dark Tiana #princess tiana #patf #princess and the frog #(oh and Naveen is captured again and stuck in a jar somewhere :s )#dr facilier #disney villains #spooky season #halloween #darkside disney

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cicimunson · 2 years

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How Steve Got His Groove Back

Summary: Season 3 Steve has lost his mojo, but with a little help from you, he might get it back.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Plus Size Female Reader

Other Characters: Robin Buckley, random girls at the mall

Warnings: Reader is insecure, Steve is insecure, a whole lotta dirty smut in this one, reader is kinda bullied.

Word Count: 3k+

Part 2

“Ahoy ladies, didn’t see you there!”

You almost jump back, startled by the loud voice of the man behind the counter.

The girls in front of you exchange amused glances.

He continues. “Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of my flavor with me? I’ll be your captain, I’m Steve Harrington.”

You feel second-hand embarrassment for the guy. Sure, he’s cute, but cute doesn’t make up for that ridiculous outfit he’s wearing or how awkward he is.

The girls walk away laughing and you step up to the counter. “Is Robin here?”

He nods and jerks his thumb to the back.

You can’t help but notice that he doesn’t try any of his cheesy lines on you.

Probably not his type, those girls were thin and gorgeous.

You duck into the backroom.

“Robin, who’s the hot dingus working up front?”

She snorts. “Steve Harrington, former king of Hawkins High.”

“Wow, how the mighty have fallen.”

The windows to the front pop open and Steve sticks his head in.

“I can hear you, you know.”

You and Robin laugh. “Oh, we know.”

“Thanks for calling me hot, by the way.” He offers you his hand.

“Hey, I just call it like I see it. If you look past the sailor suit and the general awkwardness surrounding you, you’re pretty good-looking.” You shake his hand. “Y/N.”

“Steve.”

“So I’ve heard.” You turn back to Robin. “We still hanging out after your shift?”

She nods. “Definitely. I need pizza and horror movies, stat.”

You glance over at Steve. “You can come too, dreamboat, if you don’t have a hot date or anything.”

Robin snorts.

Steve tries to look casual and fails miserably, propping on his elbow and almost hitting his head on the counter when it slips.

“Um, yeah, sure, I can move around my plans.”

“Don’t do us any favors.” Robin mumbles under her breath.

You wait until Steve is out of earshot to give her a scolding look. “Robin, be nice. I feel bad for him. He’s obviously lost his mojo.”

You gesture to her erase board. “That him striking out?”

She nods and giggles. “He’s flopped every time.”

You turn and watch him trying to flirt with yet another customer, dropping her change and almost spilling her sundae.

“What’s wrong with him?” You ask under your breath.

“His girlfriend dumped him and he’s having a breakdown.” Robin replies.

“That explains it.”

“I’ll meet you out front in a bit, okay?”

You nod and gesture toward Steve. “Don’t forget to bring dingus.”

__________

A few hours later you’re all sprawled in your living room, the Exorcist playing while you eat junk food and gossip. Robin is piled up on blankets and pillows on the floor, you’re laying on the couch, and Steve is sitting by your feet.

Robin starts to nod off halfway through the movie.

You take the opportunity to talk to Steve a little more.

You find out that you have similar taste in music and movies. To your surprise, the two of you talk for almost three hours straight, never running out of things to say.

“So, today was interesting, watching you crash and burn repeatedly. Like a train wreck, you just can’t look away.” You tease.

He scowls. “I’m a little off my game lately is all. I’ll make a comeback.”

“Not in that sailor outfit you won’t.” You giggle.

“It’s definitely not doing me any favors. Neither is the fact that I stink of loser.”

“Hmm?”

He sighs. “I didn’t get into college. My dad forced me to take this job. On top of that my girlfriend broke up with me for this dude I thought was a loser but turns out he’s actually okay, which makes me the jackass, I guess.”

“Sounds like it might.” You admit.

“Yeah, well, it’s been a tough year.” He rubs his face with both hands.

“You know what your problem is?” You ask.

“My life is a disaster?”

“Well yeah, but besides that. Your problem is that you actually believe what you’re saying. And you’re projecting it.”

He cocks his head to the side, looking confused. “Speak English.”

“You think you’re a loser, so you’re acting like a loser, and that’s all people can see.”

“Well how am I supposed to fix that?”

“Long-term? Therapy. Talk to you dad. Improve your thinking process.”

He grimaces. “Short-term?”

“Get laid. It’ll boost your confidence and you’ll feel better. People can tell when you haven’t had sex in awhile. It’s like a pheromone or something.”

He seems to be mulling over what you said.

You turn your attention back to the TV.

After a minute or so, you feel his hand on your leg.

You glance over at him.

“Do you wanna fuck me maybe?” He asks so casually, like he’s asking to borrow a pen.

“Oh, you’re funny. That sense of humor could work in your favor.”

“I’m being serious.”

You sit up to stare at him.

He shrugs. “I’m just saying. We could fuck.”

“I’m not really your type, Steve. Not sure how I would help your confidence. And I barely know you.”

He looks confused. “Not my type? Hot is my type. And who says we have to know each other to have sex?”

“My point still stands.”

“You don’t think you’re hot?”

“Not particularly.”

“Why not?”

You gesture to your body. “Not exactly the type of the girl you were flirting with at the mall.”

“I don’t have a specific type. I think lots of girls are hot.”

“Could have fooled me.”

He takes your hand and tugs you close, placing your fingers over his crotch.

“I’m hard as a rock just thinking about fucking you. You say I need to be more confident, right? Sounds like you need to take your own advice.”

You bite your lip and glance over at Robin, who’s snoring peacefully.

Am I really thinking about fucking him?

Steve squeezes your hand, making you grip his length. He moans slightly and flexes his hips. It’s so fucking sexy your breath catches.

Yeah, I’m gonna fuck him.

“Upstairs.” You take his hand and lead him to your room.

Steve wastes no time getting naked, clearly confident about his body. His lips crash into yours and he unbuttons your shirt, pushing it off your shoulders.

You both maneuver toward the bed and he reaches behind you, unhooking your bra with one hand effortlessly.

“Fuck, your tits look incredible.” He latches on to your nipple greedily.

You moan softly and tangle a hand in his hair.

He unbutton your pants and shoves them down, wasting no time sliding a hand into your panties and easing a finger inside you.

“You on birth control?”

“Mhm, pill.”

His lips fasten on the side of your neck. “Can I mark you?”

“Robin will see in the morning.”

“You embarrassed for people to know about this?”

“I just mean she might get upset that we snuck off to have sex.”

“Guess that’s a good point.” He looks disappointed.

Ugh, tugging on my damn heartstrings with that pouty face.

“Fuck it, mark me up.”

He grins happily and you giggle.

Your giggle turns into a low moan as he nips your skin and then starts sucking a red splotch.

“Mmm, feels good.”

He starts pumping his finger inside you. He twists his wrist slightly and uses his thumb to press on your clit.

“Ohhh, fuck.” You whimper.

“Wanna taste you.”

He starts kissing down your chest.

You pull his head back up. “No, it’s cool.”

“I want to.”

“Let me taste you instead.” You offer

You roll him on his back before he can protest. You don’t know how to explain that you don’t want him kissing down your belly because it’s not flat and has stretch marks. You don’t know how to say that you worry because you’re a bigger girl, you sweat down there more than other girls and he won’t like the way you taste.

He fists your hair as you take him into your mouth. “Fuck, Y/N, you look gorgeous with your lips around my cock.”

You lick up and down his shaft. Steve pushes your head down a little further.

“Suck on my balls, please.” His voice is almost a whimper.

You take one in your mouth and suck. His fingers tighten in your hair, pulling almost to the point of pain. You raise your head and take him back in your mouth.

Steve has to fight the urge not to hold you still and fuck your face. He’s never been so horny in his life. Your fucking curves, your thick thighs, how soft and pliant you are, it’s driving him fucking wild.

He pulls you off his dick and up the bed to give you a sloppy kiss, squeezing your thighs. “Wanna ride me?”

“Um, I don’t think so.”

He cock his head to the side and studies your face. “Do you want to stop?”

“No, I’m good to keep going. Did you want to stop?”

“Hell no. I’m about to bust.” He admits. He tugs your panties off and pulls you so that you’re straddling him.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” You murmur, a weak protest as you feel his cock rub against your pussy lips.

“Oh, you wanna be rough?”

This dingus.

“I mean, it’s not my usual style, but if you want to like spank me or something-”

“Jesus, Steve, I meant that I don’t want to crush you!” You squeak, blushing.

“Oh, my bad. I thought you were like, into something kinky. Wait, crush me?”

He grabs your waist and rolls his hips into you. “I can handle anything you wanna throw at me, babygirl.”

“I just meant-”

He rolls you on to your back.

“Enough. Let me tell you what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna eat your pussy like it’s my last meal on earth. And when I’m satisfied with my meal, you’re gonna ride my dick like a good girl.”

You feel yourself getting wetter from his words.

“Enough putting yourself down. When I offered to fuck you, I knew exactly what I was getting into. I want you, got it?”

You nod.

“Say yes if you want this.”

“Yes, yes, I want this.”

“Now, wrap those thighs around my head and let me eat.”

He dives between your legs and starts lapping at your cunt greedily. You gasp.

His hands slide under your legs, urging them over his shoulders.

“Fuck, baby, so wet. All this, for me?”

He mumbles between your thighs, his tongue flicking over your clit. He sucks it hard, making you buck your hips and groan. His mouth moves further down, and he shoves his tongue into your pussy, fucking your hole.

“Oh God, Steve, that’s so good. Fuck, so good!”

He rubs your clit with his fingers, his tongue swirling inside you.

Oh Jesus this man is a sex wizard. Those girls don’t know what they’re missing.

He takes his other hand and presses down on your lower belly. A jolt flashes through your body and you arch your back off the bed, fisting the sheets beneath you as you fight the urge to scream out in pleasure.

He uses the hand on your stomach to hold you still as you become a writhing panting mess beneath his skilled mouth.

You blink away tears as the most intense orgasm you’ve ever had racks your body, leaving you breathless and whimpering.

Steve is falling apart between your legs. Your little moans, the way you taste, how responsive you are, it’s enough to make him insane. He’s whimpering himself, and rubbing his cock against your mattress, desperate for any friction as his precum leaks out on your sheets.

He wants you to cum again. He wants to taste you a little longer. His face being buried in your cunt is his favorite place in the world now, he decides, and he wants to make the most of it while he’s here.

He sucks your clit again, sliding two fingers inside you easily.

You gasp and roll your hips. “Steve, oh fuck, you’re still going?”

He mumbles against your clit and it sends pleasure shooting through you. His fingers pump inside you expertly, knowing exactly how to bend and where to press to send you flying over the edge again. It’s more intense this time, and you have to clap your hand over your mouth to keep from yelling as you cum for the second time. It feels like an out-of-body experience.

You start to come down from you high and realize that Steve is still eating your pussy. You whimper from how sensitive your clit is and gently push his head away.

He looks up at you with lust-blown pupils, his lips and chin wet. He looks fucking feral.

There he is. He’s got it now.

He grabs your waist and flips you on top of him effortlessly, slapping your ass.

You barely have time to get your balance before he’s pushing himself inside you. You slap your hands on his chest and groan as he wastes no time bottoming out in you.

“Fucking ride me, baby. Ride my cock.” He hisses through clenched teeth. “Let me see those tits bounce.”

You start at a slow pace but Steve isn’t having it. He sits up slightly, locks an arm around you, and drives his hips up into you.

“Harder.” He grunts in your ear. “Make it hurt a little.”

You rake your nails down his back and clench your pussy muscles around him.

He sinks his teeth into your tit, groaning your name against your skin.

“Fuck, Steve, don’t stop.”

He looks up at you, pouty pink lips begging to be kissed. You press your lips to his, locking into a heated kiss that leaves you breathless.

“Need this.” He mumbles against your mouth. “Need you.”

You moan. Something shifts between you. You aren’t sure when or how it happens, but you’re suddenly kissing him softly, his thrusts slowing down, becoming lazy and gentle.

His lips mold against yours. “Mmm, baby, just like that. Riding me like such a good girl.”

“Such a good girl for you.” You whimper.

“Come on baby, cum for me.” He pleads. “Wanna see you fall apart for me.”

His hand slips between the two of you and he rubs your clit.

You feel your body start to tighten again. You clench around him, burying your face in his shoulder. He grasps your chin and pulls your face up.

“No, baby. Wanna see it. Wanna watch you cum.”

“Please….Steve…so close.” Your thighs burn from riding him. You wanna stop but you speed up instead, chasing that third orgasm. Steve speeds up too, falling back into the bed and digging his heels into the mattress to push deeper into you.

You can’t help it. You cry out loudly, almost screaming his name as you cum again. He pulls you down for a kiss to quieten you, capturing your cries with his mouth.

His hips stutter, and he slams into you once more with a hoarse cry of his own, shooting his load deep inside you.

He rolls and tucks you into his side, kissing you once more.

“I may never let you out of this bed.” He murmurs into your hair.

You giggle. “As much fun as that sounds, I think Robin would have an aneurysm if she woke up and found us like this.”

“Yeah, I guess I should probably go. Just tell her I left after the movie.”

You feel a twinge of disappointment but ignore it as you both get dressed and you walk him out.

This was just to help him get his mojo back. It was a one time thing. Don’t read into it, don’t dwell on it.

He kisses your cheek. “I’ll see you.”

“See ya.” You echo. He’s out the door. You curl up on the couch and fall asleep almost instantly.

__________

You’re back at the mall a few days later, feeling nervous as you head into Scoops. You hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Steve. You were a little worried about seeing him today.

He’s standing by the counter, talking to some gorgeous blonde girl who looks like she’s never eaten ice cream a day in her life. You glance around for Robin. Assuming she’s in the back, you duck behind the counter.

Steve notices you out of the corner of his eye and stops mid-sentence.

“Y/N, hey!” He calls out, waving to you.

You wave back, plastering a friendly smile on your face.

He pats the blonde on the shoulder and hurries over to you.

“Haven’t seen you in a few days.”

“Mhm.”

“It is weird if I say I missed you?” He blushes.

You ignore his question and gesture to the girl. “Looks like you got your mojo back.”

“Yeah, all thanks to you. You’re the best.” He kisses your cheek.

No, I’m a fucking idiot.

Robin sticks her head out the window to the back. She takes one glance at your expression and instantly knows what’s going on. You hadn’t said anything, but she’d seen the hickeys on your neck and the stains on your sheets and instantly put two-and-two together.

“Well I won’t keep you from your blonde friend, will you let Robin know I’m waiting outside?”

He nods. “Do you want some ice cream before you go?”

You start to shake your head.

“Of course she does.” The blonde mutters.

Oh, what a bitch.

To your surprise, Steve levels a stare at her and cocks an eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She looks flustered. “I mean, who doesn’t want ice cream? It’s so good.”

You cross your arms and glare at her. “I’m sure that’s what you meant.”

She rolls her eyes and turns back to Steve, smiling coyly. “So did you want my number?”

Steve shakes his head. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

Her mouth drops open. “Really?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, really.”

She stalks off.

Steve turns back to you. “So, movie night tonight?”

“You didn’t have to do that, Steve. I wouldn’t have cared if you got her number.”

“Rude isn’t my type.”

“I’m rude.”

“I made an exception for you.” He winks.

You can’t help but giggle.

“So, tonight?” He asks hopefully.

“Movie night sounds great, actually. Robin, you in?”

She shakes her head. “No thanks, I have plans. But you two have fun.”

Steve turns out of Robin’s line of sight and wiggles his eyebrows at you. “Oh, we will.”

#steve harrington fic #steve harrington ff #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington reader insert #steve harrington x female reader #steve harrington x y/n #plus size reader #steve harrington x plus size reader #steve harrington smut #steve harrington x reader smut

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iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia · 10 months

Note

If it wouldn’t be too upsetting, I was wondering about an angsty counterpart to the “M6 meet the parents” post you made awhile ago. Maybe MC finally regains their memories of their parents, only to learn that said parents treated them horribly in some way or another.

The Arcana HCs: When MC remembers having bad parents

~ a lot of people struggle with reconciling a need for parental figures with bad memories of the people who failed to fill that role, and they're not alone. I hope this brings some comfort - brainrot ~

CW for angst, yelling, mentions of toxic parenting

-- to set the scene --

You'd always wondered what your family was or wasn't like. It's been years since your new start on life, and you're content in the family you've found with your beloved.

You did always wonder what the trigger point might be to catch a glimpse of what you used to have - maybe the dad you just passed in the street promising their kid "a treat, but only one, okay?" or maybe the snoozing toddler you saw being lovingly carried home on their mother's shoulder.

You didn't expect it to be the sound of an angry adult yelling at a child for crying outside the window.

Julian

Just as the memories and the yelling and the crying are about to become too much, you hear another familiar voice join in outside your window

You've been expecting Julian home any moment, and it sounds like he's finally here. And like he's ... talking to the kid?

He's speaking gently, and when you peek out the window he's crouching on the cobblestones between the two, using his pocket square to mop up the kid's tears and helping them blow their nose

You hear him say something about grown ups being ridiculous and people who yell doing it because they don't have anything helpful to say and the adult behind him flushes red while the child giggles

There's a moment where you think the grown up involved is about to yell at Julian instead, but one furious look from your beloved is all it takes for them to back off

When he finally makes it inside to take off his coat and greet you, he freezes as soon as he sees the look on your face

"MC? You look upset, my dear, are you hurt? What's wrong?"

Once you're able to tell him everything, you watch his face fall and waver between sadness for your pain and anger on your behalf

"MC ... you deserved to have someone look out for you, too."

He wraps you up in one of his all-encompassing hugs and holds you tight before putting his coat back on and pulling you out the door. It's time Mazelinka made you her honorary grandchild, too

Asra

They saw you tense up from the backroom before they heard what was happening outside

He was just going to take a peek at what was going on, but as soon as he realizes it's memory-related he springs into action

Immediately strides to the shop front, casts a soothing spell on both the people involved (with an added mild sedating effect on the angry adult), turns the shop sign to "closed", and locks the front door before hurrying back to check on you

They approach you cautiously, asking if you're in any pain, and then take you upstairs to snuggle while you work through it

He's not going to pressure you to talk, so he rubs his hands along your back and arms and tucks your head under chin while he asks a few gentle questions in case you need somewhere to start

They'd known that your relationship with your parents wasn't the best, but you had never gone into very much detail before

He's had his own parental difficulties, and he's still working through the hurt and resentment from their disappearance, but he never had to worry about their cruelty

They're quick to shut down any blame you place on yourself. They think you're the most deserving of love of anyone they know, and you definitely didn't deserve to be treated the way you were

Refuses to let go of you until you're repeating back his affirmations

The next time you see Aisha and Salim, they practically offer to adopt you

Nadia

She overheard it from outside the cafe you were sitting in too

She was already very disturbed from the cruelty she was witnessing, but when she saw that it was bothering you as well she stood straight up and sailed outside to deal with the problem

She doesn't need to use very many words. You watch in slight awe as she comes to stand next to the sobbing child and stare down the belligerent adult until their angry shouts turn into quiet apologies

Refuses to let them off the hook until they apologize to the child as well and vacate the premises. Makes sure the kid is safe before coming back and taking her seat again

Confused about why you're still upset when the issue's already been resolved

Shocked and deeply pained when you tell her what's going on. Will make sure that you're somewhere that feels safe to talk before continuing the conversation

She'll make sure all your needs are met before sitting you down with both your hands in hers and asking you to tell her as much as you're comfortable sharing

Hearing about what your parents were like gives her more perspective on her own. She knows that her own hurt is valid too, but your description puts her experience into a new perspective

Quick to tell you that, since you're marrying her, you're part of her family now

Will invite her parents and sisters back to Vesuvia to smother you with love and properly adopt you into the Satrinava family

Never tolerates shouting in her Palace again

Muriel

He started to freeze up a little himself when you passed by the loud situation on your way out of town

He remembers being that kid on the streets, getting yelled at by grown ups who only thought of him as a parasite in child form

He approaches slowly with the hopes of comforting the kid and finding a safe spot for them, accidentally scaring the grown up away in the process (he was frowning very deeply)

He can tell right away that you're not doing too great yourself, but he doesn't want to rush you so he gives the child a wildflower and makes sure they're safe before walking back home while holding your hand

He wants to make sure that you have the time and space to find the words you need, so he gets you situated in front of the fire and sits next to you with a project

Invites you into his lap as soon as you start to sniffle

Listens for as long as he needs to for you to say what you need. All he wants is for you to know that you're not alone anymore

He remembers what it was like to believe that he was unwanted and what a relief it was to learn the truth

He can't imagine how much it must hurt to go through the reverse

Will hold and comfort you for as long as you need it

He'll blush and need to pause a few times, but he'll tell you that he wants you to be part of his family now, both the family of his past and whatever family you find together in the future

Portia

She doesn't even notice that you're upset

She's too busy storming out of the Palace to where the shouting is happening on the bridge and outdoing the angry adult in both volume and fury. How dare they speak like that to a child!

The kid in question stops crying pretty quickly because they're too busy watching in awe as your beloved Portia verbally beats the adult into the ground

She pauses to give the kid a sweet smile and piece of candy before booting the grown up on their way and storming back inside

Continues to rant while she picks up what she dropped. No child deserves to be treated like that! Who does that adult think they are? If a kid is crying, they need comfort, not yelling! What kind of -

Somehow her passionate ranting is both validating and soothing, but even after you've calmed down a bit you still look upset enough for her to pause when she finally looks at you

"MC? What's wrong?"

Starts pacing and tugging at her hair halfway through your answer to keep herself contained and then hugs you so tightly you feel your ribs creak once you're finished talking

Takes five minutes to tell you how loved you are and how mad she is at your parents before bundling you out the door and into town

She's taking you to eat Mazelinka's soup and become her honorary grandchild. She's also threatening Ilya into becoming your adopted older brother (he doesn't need convincing)

Lucio

Genuinely doesn't think anything's out of the ordinary until he sees you becoming visibly upset

He figures that it must be the person getting obnoxious in a public place, so he flies in their face and tells them to shut up and get lost, they're being too loud and bothering his MC

Surprised when you show some compassion for the crying kid. What are you talking about, kids are there to be yelled at - wait - what do you mean they deserve to be treated gently? He wasn't!

... oh

Awkwardly throws the kid a sympathetic smile before pulling you somewhere less vulnerable to continue your conversation

The treatment you describe isn't foreign to him, but when he imagines it happening to you, someone he wants to protect, his perspective starts shifting and he works himself into a rage

Will suggest hunting down and beating up the yelling adult since he can't do it to your parents

Ultimately begins breaking down a little himself, because his need to protect child you from harm is throwing his own past self's need for safety into sharp relief and he doesn't know how to proceed

Ends up back at your living quarters with you and huddling down on the bed together with the dogs to work it out

It's going to be a long journey, but finding a piece of hurt from his past that lines up with yours gives both of you the courage to start the healing process together

#ask arcana brainrot #the arcana #the arcana headcanons #the arcana hc #asra the arcana #julian the arcana #nadia the arcana #muriel the arcana #portia the arcana #lucio the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana fluff #the arcana angst #asra alnazar #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #muriel of the kokhuri #portia devorak #lucio morgasson

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yandere-daydreams · 2 years

Text

Title: Cornered on Both Sides.

Commissioned by the very lovely @letstalktea.

Pairing: Yandere!Tweels x Reader (TWST).

Word Count: 3.0k.

TW: A/B/O Dynamics, Aged-Up Characters, Marking/Biting, Possessive Behavior, Non-Consensual Touching, and Isolation.

The worst thing about being with the Leech twins was absolutely, without a doubt in your mind, that someone had been cruel enough to make two of them.

That was it, really, even if you were willing to admit that it was a little redundant to be disappointed that twins happened to come in pairs. You didn’t like being around either one of them, but you could handle Floyd and Jade in small doses, nights spent in the backrooms of dark restaurants with Jade and Floyd’s hour-long temper tantrums and fuck, even the tense, slow minutes it took for them to trade-off, for Floyd to whine and grumble as he drops you off at one of Jade’s favorite, underground lounges or for Jade to smile and nip the corner of your jaw before he shoves you into Floyd’s open arms. You could handle that. You didn't like it - there wasn't a single part of your current ‘relationship’ that you can honestly say you enjoyed – but you could handle it. You could deal with it. You knew how to deal with them, individually.

But, when they were together? When Jade had to keep up his oh-so-cold, oh-so-cruel reputation? When Floyd had someone to bounce his sadism of off who wasn't the soft, vulnerable thing he’d chosen to inflict it onto? When you disn't have one selfish, possessive alpha to keep happy and docile, but two?

You… weren’t as good at that, even if you knew you really, really ought to be, by now.

Already, you were starting to curse yourself out, to dig your nails into your palms and grit your teeth as you wondered what you’d ever done to deserve the situation you were currently in. You hadn’t expected them to be home so early, to come back to the penthouse they seemed less-than-content to share. You weren’t sure who it really belonged to, or why they bothered living together at all (save for the fact that it meant they’d have easier access to you, of course, but you didn’t want to think of the relationship you had with them as something real enough have such an influence on their lives), but it was where they’d brought you the night you’d met them, where Jade had so politely asked you to sit pretty and stay when neither one of them had time to wear you on their arms. You weren’t sure what happened to your old apartment, if they’d ever actually done something with it. It might still be there, untouched and rotting, months of rent left unpaid and your former landlord ‘convinced’ not to care. You didn’t want to know, if was.

You were drawn out of your thoughts by a long, airy groan, a body so much bigger than yours collapsing beside you, stringing long arms over the back of the leather couch and letting his legs fall open – utterly unbothered, utterly thoughtless. “Cuttlefish’s being so quiet,” He droned, and you knew it was Floyd before you looked up. Jade would never come to you like this, not when he knew he could bide his time and force you to go to him. “Is it ‘cause you know you did something bad?”

“I’m not—” You cut yourself off, biting down on the side of your tongue. No one ever said you couldn’t leave on your own, and you hadn’t made it very far – just to the building’s lobby. Floyd had caught you at the main door, clicking his tongue and throwing you over his shoulder despite your hushed, whispered pleas not to make a scene. Jade had only reappeared once you’d made it back to the penthouse, his smile tight and his eyes void of all light. He hadn’t said anything to you, opting not to waste any time before dragging Floyd into another room for a private conversation, but you knew he was mad. He had to be. It’d be a miracle if he wasn’t planning to skin you alive, if not worse.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” You mumbled, too defensive, too guilty. “I didn’t get to do anything.”

He threw his head back, letting out a deep, melodic laugh. You grimaced, shrunk into yourself, but he was quick to correct you, to snake an arm around your waist and drag you into his side. You tried to turn away, to twist yourself out of his hold, but he only caught your chin, tilting your head back and driving his thumb into your jaw until you knew better than to look at anything that wasn't him. Even then, he took a second to let you go; a long, languid grin stretching at the corners of his lips as his hand drifted from your jaw to the nape of your neck, pulling you closer until your cheek was pressed against his chest and he could tower over you properly. “Cuttlefish’s mad tonight, too,” He drawled, amusement heavy in his voice. “Jade’s gonna be angry, but I don’t really mind that you tried to run away. It’d be sorta fun to chase you around for a while – y’know, like most alphas get to with their pretty little omegas.”

“That’s an awful joke,” You muttered, planting your hands on his shoulders in a weak, admittedly half-hearted effort to push him away. This close, you couldn’t do anything to block out his pheromones – waves of woody cedar and sea salt rolling off of him in waves. His scent was identical to his brother’s, but there were undertones to it that Jade lacked, notes of freshly dyed leather and sharp, metallic copper. It had a way of getting under your skin, glazing over your thoughts and making everything that much harder than it would’ve been, if they were kind enough to give you room to breathe. It would’ve been worse if you were actually mated, if they’d had a chance to mark as theirs so officially, but luckily, they were too petty and too possessive to decide which one of them would get to drive their fangs into your neck, and you'd been able to avoid provoking either one of them, so far. It was one of the only benefits of having the attention of two unwanted alphas, rather than one. Sometimes, they were too busy starting fights with each other to actually pay attention to you. “I… I really don’t want to do this, right now. Can you just—”

A hand at your side, a sharp tug to your midriff. He didn’t let you finish, didn’t give you a chance to protest before dragging you into his lap. He buried his face in the crook of your neck, taking long seconds to inhale your scent, to ghost the pointed tips of his teeth over your throat and soak in the way your breath hitched, how quickly you went rigid in his arms. It was more fear than excitement, but Floyd couldn't seem to tell the difference, only laughing as his chin came to rest on the dip of your shoulder. “I wanna try it. Maybe when Jade’s distracted, or next time we’re alone together. We’ll sneak off for a while, find somewhere nice and dark where I can—”

“That’s enough, Floyd.”

Immediately, your heart went still in your chest, and every ounce of warmth drained out of you in an instant. The terror was sudden, fresh, as vivid as it was sickening, but any shock you might’ve felt was distant, too familiar to really catch you off-guard.

You knew you’d have to deal with Jade, eventually.

Honestly, you could only be thankful you’d managed to put it off for this long.

He must’ve been at work - whatever ‘work’ was. You didn’t know what he did, but you recognized the ash-grey suit he was wearing, the way he’d slicked his hair back, the expression he wore when he was getting ready to deal with one of the unruly, uncooperative clients he’d tell you about in little, murmured nothings when you were curled up in his bed, vulnerable and exposed. His lips were pursed, his eyes vaguely narrowed, more annoyed than anything else. Still, that was enough. He wasn’t like Floyd. You weren’t supposed to know when he felt irritated, or pleased, or nothing at all. The fact that you could tell something, anything about his mood was damning, all on its own.

He didn’t say anything, just settling into place next to his brother, crossing his legs and casting you a vague, blank look. You melted into Floyd, absent-mindedly clutching at his shirt, but that wasn’t enough to save you – with a flick of Jade’s wrist, Floyd was groaning, shoving you off of his lap and into the cramped, non-existent space between them. You did what you could to go stiff, to make yourself as small and as unassuming as possible, but your leg pressed against Jade’s and Floyd’s arm was still wrapped around your waist, his finger drumming idly against your hip. You tried to shift, to get as far from them as you were able to, but Jade’s hand came to rest on your thigh and you froze, bowing your head and shutting your eyes. You could take risks with Floyd. You knew him, trusted that he’d do whatever he wanted to regardless of how you spoke or behaved. Jade wouldn’t be so satisfied with your indifference.

“Darling,” He started, his tone as flat and as cold as his stare. “Floyd tells me that you’ve had quite the day.”

You really meant to say something that’d help you. Something smart, or apologetic, or pathetic enough to prove you couldn’t get away from them, even if you genuinely tried. But, as soon as you opened your mouth, you faltered, cracked, and what spilled out was beyond your control. “Y-you never said I couldn’t leave,” You managed, and then, before you could think better of it, “I just wanted to go outside, and nobody was home, and I was going to come back, I just—”

“And, you tried to leave. Without telling either of us beforehand, at that.” Blunt nails dug into your thigh, a tight smile spreading across his lips. “That should be enough on its own.”

You started to say something, then stopped, biting down on the inside of your cheek. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed – the breathy, labored kind of sigh, like it took all the strength in the world to watch you curl into yourself beside him. Floyd, for his part, didn’t go to such lengths to hide his delight, humming softly as he leaned into you, nuzzling into your neck. “I don’t think cuttlefish meant to get into trouble.” It was benign, on the surface, but you doubted Floyd was consciously coming to your defense. For whatever reason, the grin pressing into your throat did little to inspire any hope that he’d chosen to actually help you, for once. “All that shakin’ and screamin’… You should’ve seen it, Jade. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so scared.”

“It’s not that they're in trouble,” Jade corrected, mercifully choosing to ignore the rest of Floyd’s description. His eyes flickered to his brother before falling back to you, a hand coming up to cup your cheek. He didn’t have to draw blood or drag you into place – it was enough to still feel his eyes boring into you, to see the way his smile quirked as you allowed him to tilt your head back, to force you to meet his steady gaze. Floyd, never one to share his brother’s patience, tightened his hold around you, jerking you backward and into his chest, until your legs had been pulled onto the couch’s seats and you were facing Jade entirely. He hesitated, but nodded approvingly, seemingly satisfied to have your full attention. “You know what you are, don’t you?”

You swallowed, dryly. He’d asked you the same question a thousand times, and he always expected the same answer. “An omega.”

“And you know how dangerous it is for someone like you to be out there, all alone, totally unprotected, right?”

“I wasn’t going to talk to anyone.” It was only dangerous because of alphas like them, but saying as much out loud would only earn you a harsher punishment, a few weeks stripped of all the meager freedoms you’d been allowed to hold onto. “I didn’t even really make it outside. I was just—”

“And you know what we’d have to do if we found out someone tried to hurt you?”

Something very sharp and very slow began to crawl up your throat. “I know, Jade.”

“Perfect. Then, you have to know how much we’re willing to do to keep you safe, too.” He squeezed your chin playfully, his smile taking on a teasing lull. “You’re our precious omega, and there are so, so many alphas out there who’d absolutely love to take a bite out of you. I can’t imagine what Floyd and I would do if you got hurt because we weren’t there to protect you.”

His voice was softened, calmed into something too soothing and too measured not to send a cold bolt of dread down the length of your spine. None of it was true, obviously. If either of them really wanted to ‘protect’ you, Floyd wouldn’t leave your lips bruised when he kissed you, Jade wouldn’t speak so fondly of wrapping a collar around your neck and locking you in some tiny, dark cage that only he had the key to. It wasn’t true, but that didn’t matter, not when Jade was staring you down and Floyd was starting to lose interest in your conversation - finding more entertainment in the lingering, open-mouthed kisses he was pressing into the side of your neck. Unnervingly close to where your mating mark would’ve been, if you had one.

“I… I understand.” Jade’s stare grew easier, his smile taking on a more genuine air, and you let yourself relax. This might be all he wanted. You, humiliated and reminded of your place beneath him, but otherwise unharmed. It wasn’t what you wanted, but it was preferable compared to what you knew Jade could do to you, if he felt you deserved it. “Thanks for looking out for me. I won’t be so reckless again.”

You felt Floyd’s grin sharpen. He pulled back, just far enough to nip at the corner of your jaw, and Jade leaned towards you, cupping your face, holding you in place as his lips brushed against your forehead. “Oh, dear,” He muttered, half under his breath. “You won’t, because we aren’t going to let you.”

You laughed, the noise tentative and stilted. Floyd chuckled, but Jade’s smile only widened. “But, I’m already not allowed to—”

“Clearly, we’ve been too lenient.” He barely even acknowledged you, drawing back and pushing himself to his feet. You tried to follow him, to get up and ask him what you meant, but Floyd was already on top of you, already shoving you onto your chest with all the effort it would've taken him to pluck a petal off of a flower or crush an insect under his heel. In a fraction of a second, he was straddling your thighs, his teeth tearing into the dip of your shoulder as his hands slipped under the hem of your shirt. You cried out, but the sound was muffled by leather and fabric, and neither twin seemed to mind, to bat an eye at any indication of your pain. You weren’t sure why you thought they would.

It wasn't like they’d never hesitated to hurt you, before.

It was a small mercy that Floyd’s attention was such a fickle thing, that he was so quick to draw back, to lap over the open wound as blood began to pool above your torn skin. “I’m afraid it’d just be too dangerous to let you continue on unclaimed,” He went on, faux-sympathy, heavy in his voice. “For the sake of your comfort, we’ve been trying to hold ourselves back, but I’m afraid you’ve made that impossible.”

Lies, Lies, lies. “B-but, I didn’t do any—”

“Cuttlefish tastes so sweet,” Floyd purred, barely lifting his head high enough to speak. He was grinding against you, now, totally unbothered, totally unconcerned. Somehow, that hurt more than Jade’s betrayal, than the awareness of what they planned to do to you. Floyd wasn’t supposed to be this invasive, this controlling. Floyd was supposed to care about you – or, that’s what you’d managed to convince yourself, at least. “Gonna be even sweeter as a real omega, too," And then, as if it'd just occurred to him, "With a proper heat and everything.”

You grit your teeth, forced yourself to jerk towards Jade. “So what?” You spat, no longer trying to clip your words or watch your tone. It wasn’t like they could do anything worse to you. “You’re just— You’re just going to stand there and to let him mark me?"

“Today, he will. And in a few months, when it begins to fade, I’ll have my time with you. Floyd was a little put-off at first, but he came around to the idea after I offered him the first turn.” He squared his shoulders, lowering himself onto one knee in front of you. His hand found its way back to your face, the pad of his thumb running along your lower lip, and something came over his expression – a look that wasn’t totally unlike the kind of quiet, tempered affection you knew he couldn’t be capable of. “You should count yourself lucky. My brother and I aren’t especially good at sharing, but we’re willing to make an exception for you. That’s sweet of us, isn’t it?”

You opened your mouth, ready to curse him out, to scream, but anything you might’ve said was drowned out by a cracked whimper as Floyd bit into your shoulder, again, then the nape of your neck, missing your mating-glands by a hair's width. He was playing with you, marking you – albeit, not the way he would, in a few minutes. You went stiff, unresponsive, but it didn’t help. Nothing would’ve helped, at that point.

“We’re doing this for your own good,” Jade mumbled, despite the excitement tracing at the edges of his tone, despite the awful, darkened glint now shining brightly and unabashedly in his eyes. “It’ll hurt, but just try to remember that. We’re only doing this because we love you.”

You could only close your eyes, grit your teeth, and wonder what you’d ever done to deserve to be trapped between them.

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hornedqueenofhell · 9 months

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Hidden Depths Pt. 2

Part 1

Keith had only stopped in to get his jacket he'd forgotten, he wasn't expecting to see Harrington asleep on the couch in the back room. Even more surprising was Eddie Munson sitting there with Steve's head in his lap.

"You wake him and I will never sell you another dime bag again." Munson threatens in a harsh whisper. Steve wasn’t even scheduled today. What was he doing here?

Keith held his hands up in surrender and carefully inched over to grab his jacket. He knew Eddie was all bark and no bite, kids wouldn’t flock to him the way they did if he was actually cruel. But the memory of the witch hunt stuck with him as it clearly had the metalhead, Eddie had been far more waspish around town unless the dork patrol or Robin or Steve was with him.

“Don’t think we don’t know what you’re doing Keith.” And with those deeply threatening words from Munson he shuts the door to the backroom behind him and breathes out a sigh of relief.

“You didn’t wake him did you?” Robin asks immediately as she waves off her last customer. Ugh so Steve had gotten to her.

“Why do you care about him Robin? He’s a jock, he's everything you and me and even Munson should be against! Why do all of you defend him?!” He finally blurts out.

Robin just gives him this pitying look that causes him to bristle, he was sick of those looks from everyone. He managed multiple of his fathers properties. He was going to learn business at a nice college. He was successful damnit! More so than Steve fucking Harrington who never worked for anything in his life and still everyone flocked to him!

“He saved our lives Keith. No joke, no exaggeration. He was the one protecting Eddie while he was being hunted, carried him out when he almost died in the earthquake.”

“None of that explains why he’s sleeping in the backroom with Munson, who last I checked doesn't work here!”

Robin looks out to the parking lot and he notices a few small piles of litter around, no big deal. Eddie’s van is there but he doesn’t see that gaudy Beemer Steve drives. Still no reason for her to be looking so upset, or for Eddie and Steve to be taking up the breakroom.

“You remember Starcourt burning down right?”

“What of it?” Probably a bit too callus of a response to a tragedy that killed thirty people and exposed their Mayor as a communist sympathizer but he just doesn’t get the point Robin is trying to make.

“Steve and I worked at the mall, we were there when the fire started. He made sure we got out, me and the kids. He had several pieces of debris fall on him getting us out, I thought for sure he was going to die… he almost did. Something like that changes people, changes your opinion of them, it also makes the start of July very uncomfortable for us. So when little shits start lighting off fireworks in the parking lot and aim for Eddie’s van… you can imagine how someone with ptsd might react to that.”

This… was not what Keith expected. He was still waiting for Robin to break, to laugh and say that she was kidding. To smack him in the arm and say that Harrington was just being lazy or hiding out from a crazy ex, but that was a good one right? And then he thought of March, Robin and Steve bruised and beaten after the earthquake. Steve with a scar spanning the entire length of his throat, bandages poking out from the collar or hem of his shirt. Black eyes and broken noses back at school, Hargrove boasting about busting Steve’s face in and Steve weirdly absent from the cafeteria for most of his senior year.

“So he… fainted?” Keith guesses, unable to come up with a less insulting word on the fly.

Robin’s sigh contains mountains of disappointment, Keith feels small under that sound but this time there isn’t the desire to snap back. He’s not sure how to react to her now.

“A panic attack Keith, both of us told you about that.” More Robin threatened to sue for discrimination if he tried to fire Steve again. This was after Keith had gotten on Steve about wearing his sunglasses and Robin ripped into him about Steve having migraines.

“Okay, and?” He didn’t know what panic attacks entailed.

“Your body burns through its reserves of adrenaline in an extreme fight or flight response and once it’s gone you want to sleep for a week because everything aches and you feel like you can’t breathe. You are left completely drained and it can also trigger migraines, sometimes all you can do is sleep it off. Best sleep you can get when you have screaming night terrors, your body just shuts down and nothing but blissful darkness.”

Well, that sounded terrifying. He sighs and fidgets with his jacket.

“Just don’t let me catch Munson in the breakroom again unless he plans on submitting an application.” And with that Keith walks out of the store feeling very wrong footed.

Part 3

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #robin buckley #stranger things Keith

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nogacheloveka-blog · 2 months

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The Bad Sanses somehow ended up in the Backrooms. №9

next 10

prev 8

This is the translation of the another post from Russian to English. I understand English, but it is very difficult for me to write in English, so I asked chat GPT to help me. I have corrected some parts, but there still may be mistakes.

I encountered an organization called "To Be Determined". It inspired me to create this drawing. In this organization, there are 6 people who trade highly nonfunctional and peculiar items. I immediately imagined it as a shop run by lost Temmies (Flowey and Bob) from different AUs within Backrooms.

I noticed that there aren't that many prepared posts about bad guys in the backrooms - maybe two or three more. A couple of weeks ago, I started a new job and haven't been drawing much.

I think these posts about bad guys will be once a week, on Saturdays.

Please wish me inspiration =)

The new rooms were similar to Level 0 in their structure. Clusters of office rooms, with and without office furniture. But now there was a pleasant addition in the form of windows. The closed door of the previous place, as before, disappeared behind them when they passed through it. Nightmer seemed calmer without the negative water supply. (Again, being able to clearly distinguish the auras of his wards was definitely pleasant)

After some wandering, Nightmare sensed another presence nearby. Within seconds, everyone heard a distant

“HOOOOY!”

This exclamation certainly wasn’t what Nightmare wished to hear, yet if these were Temmies (or something like them), then they might provide information — even though their brains seemed similar to confetti made of narcotic flakes. At the same time, the place where the Tems might live cannot be too dangerous.

Following the sound, the group found themselves in a medium-sized office room. Soft bean bag chair (Error felt nostalgic for Antivoid) and strange objects, presumably for sale alongside an old cardboard box, occupied one corner. Something resembling Flowey danced as if trapped in an animation loop near merchandise, becoming slightly animated upon seeing customers. Two monsters dressed similarly to Temmies sat nearby. Bob stood apart, his expression frozen, suggesting he had eaten Temmie Flake.

As it turned out later, two more monsters from this group were missing, busy gathering supplies and goods for the little shop. They all seemed to come from different AUs.

Here were also computers, many of which were operational. They tried to access the Undernet and various sites. They couldn't. Instead, they entered a sort of knowledge base. A local Wikipedia or something similar. The browser already contained open tabs, but they couldn't open new ones - there was no network connection. Someone had left the browser open, he took the equipment with him. And, oh, it seemed they had found gold while looking for copper: by reading the text, they understood that the author of the notebook was making notes from this knowledge base. This was easy to understand by the style. There were about a hundred open tabs: items and entities, but mostly levels. From the amount of new information, their heads were spinning. Some levels were described in an unusual way, requiring attention to details to extract additional information. And nothing about exiting from here. There were levels-dead ends, levels-traps, but nothing about a real exit from here.

However, on the other hand, it became evident that there weren't many people in the Backrooms, and they moved individually due to the nature of how many levels was work. Almost everything here seemed to be trying to kill them. But it appeared that not even the dimension-killer could do anything against their DETERMINATION.

Temmies struggled to provide clear answers regarding humans; instead, they simply told strangers, "Temmies too pieople," and strangers treating them like quirky yet harmless folks. How could such a system work? Perhaps these humans were slightly mad. Or perhaps very tolerant towards others' differences. Either way, avoiding contact would be wise.

The presence of monsters in these places brought some comfort. The Bad Guys weren't the only ones who had a rough time. That was good. But the fact that some other monsters they encountered were distorted beyond recognition - like the Smilers - raised serious concerns. It was nerve-wracking.

While Error, Cross, and Dust were exploring the local equivalent of the internet, others used the suddenly freed-up time for themselves. For example, they tried to trade. They all had some amount of monster gold and items to exchange, which Temmies agreed to accept. Horror bought a "Strange Amulet," sweets, and some food to diversify their diet. Almond Water was certainly good, but it was getting boring, and they never tried to cook Greasy Marshmallow. Considering the amulet useless for himself, Horror gave it to Dast.

Strange Amulet ATK: 10 DEF: 10 Made from butterflies in the stomach. It smells of hopes and dreams turned to dust. Allows forming new friendships.

Killer bought numerous boxes of Temmi Flake and Flowey Seeds, several paint cans, and countless small parts of mechanisms along with some mysterious steel scraps, strange red shavings - it seemed he enjoyed them. He also tried planting grass, but Horror stopped him.

Temmie Flake Restores 1–10 HP and sanity *represented by cut yellow wallpaper soaked in Almond Waters

Flowey Seeds Restore 10 HP *represented by seeds coated in Greasy Marshmallow

Nightmare didn't particularly need any products, but somehow excitedly Temmies looked at his tentacles (too much positivity) and offered a discount. Eventually, he purchased a notebook containing maps of certain stable levels from them. Unfortunately, those maps were unsigned. Since he wasn't sure if damaging traders would be beneficial, he decided to go the honest route this time around. After all, merchants held a special status across worlds.

The group stopped at this location for a couple days to record all the information from the site that could be useful to them. It turned out that sequential exploration of levels was only possible up to level 12. Beyond that, entrances and exits from levels led randomly, and any movement scheme resembled a pot of spaghetti. But in theory, they needed to explore this entire pot to find a way home. There were levels that looked like a one-way ticket, empty, unexplored, strange, surreal, remote, and destroyed. Overall, they could work with this.

Temmies didn't mind their company. Soon returned two departed collectors - underfell!Temmie and Temmie in "Temm Armor". They were surprisingly normal compared to the other merchants and shared some information:

People here can also be dangerous just like Fallen Child of Dungeons;

Many who live outside bases and settlements are mad to varying degrees especially those who haven’t drunk Almond Water for long;

Monsters can safely trade with lone humans;

People at outposts and bases usually think rationally and may attack if they realize you are not human. But even with them, you can negotiate.

Nightmare belongs to Jokublog Killer belongs to RahafWabas Dust belongs to Ask-DustTale Horror belongs to Sour-Apple-Studios Error belongs to CrayonQueen Cross belongs to JakeiArtwork

#bad sanses #cross sans #dust sans #error sans #horror sans #killer sans #nightmare sans #the backrooms #au #undertale au #bad guys in backrooms #bad sans gang #art #underverse #undertale #level 4 #temmie #swap!flowey

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teddybearsandspaceships · 1 month

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Notes for another Cleo stream, this one from April Fools. (Cleo has been uploading VODs again \o/ so it will probably be available on Youtube soon! Still available on Twitch here.) Featuring Real Life talk and permit office shenanigans with Grian, Scar, Etho, and Pearl.

Cleo reads out a message congratulating them on the Real Life win only a minute into the stream [making life hard for the mods, who pin a message not to talk about spoilers, as usual ^^]

Cleo´s opinion on if their win is canon: “Why wouldn´t it be real? Why wouldn´t it be?” The test, going by TV series rules: if the special gets mentioned in a later episode it´s canon.

They discovered the allays having coffee at the kitty café that False put there :D

Apparently the group was initially concerned if people would be mad, but they were still making content. The “April Fools” part was just that it was a one-off.

In-game chat: Grian announces the permit office is open. Special opening hours for April 1st! Pearl and Cleo are immediately suspicious and say it sounds like a trap. Joel says that Grian is actually nice to day (but on midnight he turns back into a nightmare.) Cleo is not at all convinced.

About Real Life: ~"the first thing everybody did was wave to each other, and dance, and give hugs, and I think that says a lot"

Pearl apparently had a 0/10 experience at the permit office. The permit office is closed again. nobody is surprised.

After the recording, Scar mentioned that he was told he should get a lap belt too… Scar is not Scar-safe. Cleo is frequently concerned/worried about Scar, which is only appropriate. "I´m not worried he´s gonna hurt himself, I´m worried he´s gonna, just, tear down the fabric of society.” "He´s a special little sausage, and also needs poking with sticks on a regular basis. Like big sticks – not little sticks, massive, massive sticks."

ooh apparently three glass permits are up for grabs! Grian, Scar, Cleo, Etho, and Pearl have a discussion in front of the permit office. Very soon this involves talking about loopholes to the permit office rules, but Grian tells them to stop it, he will just make up more rules. Pearl says she might be an NPC, Cleo says AI is not that advanced. Scar has skins, hats, and plans for him and Skizz has permit enforcers, but no spoilers

They looked at the permit office and the backrooms, listened to some unsettling music, and then started talking about cooking (more specifically Scar started talking about his meat. That he cooked, as Etho was glad to hear him clarify.) Grian thinks Etho would eat grey sludge nutrition paste.

Etho´s daily sandwich: a foot-long baguette, provelone cheese, hungarian salami, lettuce, tomatoes, salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar-based dressing. With dill pickles on the side. Grian calls it the most gourmet sandwich. "The more I learn the more I both admire and get confused.” Etho doesn´t understand the big deal [tbh neither do I? It´s a sandwich.] Scar says it´s because of how mysterious Etho is. Etho considers dramatizing everything part of the job as a youtuber.

"being tortured by Grian is fun, right? Right?" - Cleo

What would be Cleo´s mission if someone had created her? Pearl: to burn things down? Cleo asked if she´s burned down things recently. Etho: "She´s a trap door flipper."

repeated discussions about if Pearl is an AI or not

"you don´t have to be an NPC if you don´t want to, you can break your programming" - killing Cleo, however, would not be unexpected. Pearl has already stabbed her in the heart repeatedly. Not in Real Life! They were together that series. [Is it just me or does Pearl´s “yeeah…” sound a little more hesitant ^^]

Bonus: Cleo contemplates stealing cOW

#zombiecleo #hermitcraft #hermitcraft streams #hc s10 #real life smp #watch Cleo´s streams they´re awesome #and have good mods #in other news I was tired and made a dumb comment that was deleted and I will now never say anything ever again #<- my brain in anxiety mode

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asmutwriter · 2 months

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Just A Woman (Part 1 Section 1)

DESCRIPTION: You work at the local brothel, trying to get enough money to survive the difficult time period. But then a customer gives you an offer you can’t refuse.

A/N - I have condensed partr 1 (which you can find here) into 4 smaller chunks so that you can have a better reader experience

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

WORD COUNT: 2659

Next / Master List

WARNINGS: swearing, mentions of prostitution, time period sexism, mentions of sex work

DISCLAIMERS

- I wrote this in my knowledge of sex workers and I am truly sorry if I got it wrong and/or is offensive, that is not what I wanted to do and I’m sorry if that is the case

- This is fiction. Please always talk to your partner before doing anything and make sure they are ok with what you are doing beforehand

You go back into the house, a young girl reading a book comes out. You smile and tap her on the shoulder, as she turns to look at you. You grab the book from her hand and run from her.

“Isa!” she yells and chases you

“’Oh and the love of my life did say to me you shall be mine and I’m forever yours’“. You read before she grabs it from you, glaring at you “I can’t believe you read all that soppy stuff”

“It’s romantic”

“It’s slightly sickening”

“I can’t help it if you’re inexperienced in the ways of love” you laugh

“’Oh my dear, I love you and I can’t picture my life without you. Let’s have 20 babies and then I’ll find a nice, younger woman who I can run away with and leave you with my children’. I think that’s love this day and age right?” you chuckle

“Or more like-” she picks her book up “’my dearest love. I think of thee as I watch the sun rise and the moon set and wonder, is this what our lives our like? Destined to be so distant. Only being able to share a few seconds with each other before we must spend our time apart again’“

“Sickening”

“Romantic” you chuckle as you look outside

“Speaking of moons and suns, our sun is setting. So go get into bed. We are to rise early tomorrow. Or as your book would likely say ‘our eyes are destined to bewitch each other one more time before we know we are truly in love’“

“You must’ve read her book before” another girl walks out, sticking her tongue out at her sister. You laugh

“Come on. Bed. All of you!” you yell. 3 more girls walk out of the kitchen, flour covering them “Daisy, can you go get your sister from outside. Guys” you pause, looking at the state of the three of them and letting out a soft chuckle “What happened?”

“It was her fault” they all say in unison and point at each other. You roll your eyes

“Just, get changed and go to bed. I have work tonight so I’ll be back late. If you guys are up when I get back you’ll be in trouble. I’ll eat all of your chocolate” you smile and tickle one of the girls who laughs as you carry her to the bedroom. “Dressed and bed. I’m leaving Daisy in charge of you” you go and grab a bag and a coat “I’ll see you all later, love you all” you blow kisses to them, seeing the eldest as you walk out “I’ve left you in charge. Make sure they are all in bed by the time I get home. And lock the door behind me. I’ve got my key so you’re ok” you smile and kiss her forehead before walking to work.

You let out a small sigh as you reach the brothel doors. You go inside, men and woman grinding on each other as you go to the backroom where you can get dressed. You smile at one of the girls whose smoking. She offers it to you, taking it and having a few puffs as she speak “quite a lot of people tonight. I reckon we might get lucky enough to have them spend out a bit more tonight on us, what do you think?” you nod and hand her cigarette back, exhaling the smoke.

“Hopefully some men who think with their dicks and not their brains” you both laugh as you get into your clothes for the night. You go out, eyeing up a few gentlemen as they walk past. You walk over to a man sitting alone. “Hey there handsome” you sit next to him, hand gently resting on his. He smiles at you slightly, drinking from a glass. “Ooh what drink do you have?”

“Whiskey. Helps settle my nerves”

“Why are you nervous?”

“I’ve never been in a brothel before” he admits to you. You chuckle slightly, stroking his hand with the tip of your finger

“I can show you how it works if you want” he shakes his head

“I’d quite like to just chat to you to be honest” he takes another sip of his drink “what’s your name?”

“What do you want it to be?” he raises an eyebrow at you. You let out a soft sigh

“It’s Isabella. Most of my friends call me Isa though” he nods

“John” you nod.

“What brings you here John? I assume you aren’t here for the obvious reason that is” he takes the last of his drink, ordering another one.

“I normally live in France but I am here for business reasons. I leave for France again on Tuesday. I’m currently at a place just down the road from here” you nod

“Are you staying with family?” he shakes his head

“No. It’s just a house a bought as my vacation home” he chugs his drink “my mother is coming over the weekend as well as some family friends. She’s arranged a ball for everyone” you nod slightly. After a few more drinks he turns to you, a look of seriousness on his face “Isa. I know we’ve just met and I don’t mean this in a harsh way and I want you to know that you are gorgeous, but I’m not going to have sex with you. But-” he places his finger to your lips, to hush you from words you weren’t going to say “but I have another offer for you. The reason my mother has arranged a ball is so that I can find a woman. However, I have no interest in finding myself a woman. But, if I have a woman she thinks I am seeing she will be happy” he smiles at you “would you do me the honour of letting me court you for a week? I will pay you” he write down a number on a piece of paper “in cash”

“I- oh my god...” you look at the number but swallow sadly “I’m sorry. I can’t leave my family for a whole week. I’m the oldest one and Id worry too much” he nods

“The weekend then. Mother comes on Saturday, so come Friday and leave Monday” you nod slightly

“I will have to check in with my family but… yes.” he smiles as he hug you.

“I will meet you here in 2 days” he smiles at you as he stands and walks out. You look at the number he wrote down and squeal in excitement.

You practically run home. You open the door and hear scurrying. You turn and see the girls had been having a mini party by the looks of it. A fort was built from blankets. You fold your arms and pretend to be annoyed. “Sorry Isa” you chuckle, to buzzed from your work night to care.

“I have some amazing news for you all” you show them the number on the piece of paper “guess how much I’m going to get payed this weekend”

“Holy shit”

“Holy shit indeed” the second oldest daughter takes the paper and looks at it.

“We’re going to be rich”

“How are you getting payed that much?”

“A kind man said he wanted me to be there to impress his mother and friends at a ball this weekend so I will be going to his. Is that ok with all of you? Daisy, you’ll be in charge for a few days” you look at her and she nods. You hug her “you are such a brave girl” you kiss the top of her head “I love you”

“I love you too” you hug her and her 5 sisters, “Were going to be so rich!” you all smile and cheer.

It’s Thursday night. You are at work. You went through all the things for Daisy and her sisters. Showing her how to wash their clothes if they get too grubby and where to place the fresh eggs from your chickens. You share a cigarette with the same friend from a few days ago. “I still think you’re mad. What if he murders you? Who will I be able to gossip with then?” she nudges you as you chuckle

“If he does murder me though, can you look after the girls? I know it’s a lot to ask but if I thought I’d left them alone and they didn’t have anyon-”

“I’ll be glad to look after them” she hugs you “I knew I should’ve talked to him first. Dammit” you laugh at her. Seeing the man you hug your friend

“Goodbye my love” you smile at her as you leave her

“I’ll see you Monday night ok?” she nods and waves at you as you go to the man. He smiles at you

“M’lady” he offers you his hand as you go into the carriage he brought. You sit and look out the window, in pure shock at how perfect the materials are. You’re in even more shock when you approach the house.

“Fuck it’s huge!” he laughs as he leads you in

“We will have our own rooms. I also should tell you that some of my friends are staying over with my mother as it is a very long trip for them” you nod and look around

“This is amazing” you look at him and smile, biting your lip

“My friends are coming around midday tomorrow. I have found some dresses for you and placed them in your room” he leads you upstairs to a room “your room. The dresses are hanging in the wardrobe. I hope they are comfortable and to your liking. I shall bid you farewell and see you tomorrow” he bows slightly and leaves. You squeal and jump excitedly. Clasping your hands together as you run over and collapse onto the bed. Loving the feeling of the soft sheets on your skin. You undress and go over to the wardrobe, finding a nightgown you place it on your body. Getting into bed and falling asleep.

You wake late the next day. You stretch as you see the sun high in the sky. You get out of bed, placing a robe over your body you go downstairs. Seeing it is nearly 11 you see John and nudge him as you sit next to him on the sofa “You didn’t wake me”

“I thought you might want some rest so I told the servants to not bother you and let you wake on your own” you look at him

“You have servants?” he nods

“I do”

“Fuck me...” you whisper. He chuckles

“Our guests will be here soon. Friends about midday but mother will join us for dinner” you nod

“I should get dressed then?” he nods. You go upstairs and shut the door. No more than 10 seconds goes past when a knock on the door happens

“Umm miss” a young lady walks in “I’m here to help you dress”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m your handmaiden for the weekend”

“Fuck he is rich isn’t he?” she giggles slightly at your words as you take your night dress off. Helping you clothe yourself and brush your hair, or more just watching you do it yourself as you insist that she doesn’t need to help you if she doesn’t want to. Once you finish you hear horses outside. Suddenly nervous you turn to the maid “how do I look?”

“You look beautiful miss” you nod and go downstairs. John waits at the bottom of the stairs, holding his arm out for you to take. You do so as he walks you both to the door to open it.

“Lady Bridgerton!” he smiles and greets the woman stepping out of the cart. You suddenly go shy as you notice multiple people getting out of the carriages. You grip the man’s arm slightly tighter with a slight fear. He pats your hand in comfort “This is Isabella” you smile at the family, averting your eyes down. You’d feel a lot more confident if you could wear clothes that fitted you slightly better.

“Ahh yes. We’ve heard wonderful things about you” she smiles at you and hugs you

“You have?” she nods and places a hand either side of your face

“That you are talented and funny. He never mentioned how beautiful you were though” you chuckle slightly at the compliment. They all go inside as John whispers to you

“See? Not so bad” you nod as you all go to the dining room so you can all sit together for lunch. John sits opposite you, a man you believe to be Anthony sits one side and the other side sits a girl who you think is called Eloise. The mother, named Violet you know for certain, sits next to John. She smiles at you

“How did you two meet?”

“Umm...”

“It was an extremely romantic encounter. She was out at a park one day and I literally just bumped into her” you laugh and snort slightly, hand covering our mouth as all of the Bridgerton family looks at you “Sorry, she gets a bit overwhelmed by our first meeting” you nod and take a sip of your drink

“It was just like every girls dream”

After food the day goes past quickly as you read away most of the afternoon. John calls you all to go into a living room. You go and sit, smoothing out the fabric of your dress as you feel one of the older brothers sit next to you. You look up to see the second oldest by you, watching the door as he slumps slightly in his seat. “I’m sorry I’ve completely forgotten your name” you admit to him.

“Benedict” you nod and smile at him

“It’s nice to meet you. Have you met his mother before?” he nods and looks at you, noticing your hands smoothing your dress

“She is a kind woman, you have nothing to worry about” you laugh slightly

“Only the fact I’m meeting a random woman that I know nothing about”

“Has John not told you about her before then?” you look at him as he smiles slightly to you. You stay silent before he whispers to you “you look fine”. Just as the woman in question walks in. She smiles at everyone as she beams at you

“Oh my dear!” she exclaims. She nearly runs over to you “stand. Let me see all of you” you stand up “yes. Oh you and my son will make beautiful children together”

“Pardon?” - “Mother!” you both say in unison

“Oh. You have a beautiful face my dear. How old are you?”

“20″

“And how do you feel about children?”

“I believe children are a wonder to this world. I babysit my friend’s children all the time” she smiles and clasps her hands together

“You are just divine” she sits opposite you and beckons you to sit again, which you do. You feel Benedict smirking beside you at your obvious awkwardness. “Do you sing my love?”

“I do but I wouldn’t say I do it very well” you smile at her

“Do sing! I want to hear your voice”

“Oh no. I don’t like singing in public”

“Please. I do not mind what you sing” you nod slightly and scratch the back of your neck. You avoid eye contact with them all as you sing softly “speak up my dear. No one likes a girl who mumbles” you sing louder. Finishing they all clap

“I’ve not heard that song” the eldest son says

“I hope not, I made it up myself”

“You made that?” the eldest sister asks as you nod

“It’s not the best one I’ve done but it’s the one of the few I can remember all the words to” you pick your nails, slightly embarrassed by the praise they are all giving you.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

#benedict brigderton #benedict bridgerton smut #smut #benedict x reader #benedict bridgerton x reader #benedict bridgerton x reader smut #angst #fluff #benedict bridgerton angst #benedict bridgerton fluff #bridgerton angst #bridgerton smut #bridgerton fluff #benedict smut #benedict fluff #benedict angst

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sailorsenshishitposter · 3 months

Text

Valentine's Day with Vergil

You were dating the elder son on Sparda for a year now and thought it was time that you took him to your local amusement park. You knew your boyfriend didn't have much of a childhood so you thought this might be fun for him. "Where are we going? Can I take off this ridiculous blindfold now?" You stopped the car. "Alright, we're here." you said and the dark slayer soon had his vision back. "What is this!?"

"What's wrong Vergil?" He looked utterly disgusted. "You know what I mean. This clearly a place for children and I will have no part in these festivities." Before he could walk away you grabbed him by his tail coat. "Wait! I'm sorry. I just wanted to do something special and I figured that you probably haven't been to one of these places. We can leave if you'd like."

Before he could respond, a strange man in a suit approached them. "What are you doing!? It's about time you got here!" Before Vergil could question what was going on, the man had dragged him into the park by his ear while you followed. You then reached a small backroom and soon Vergil had a small bag flung at his chest. "Now go get ready, we don't have all day!" After the man left you looked in the bag. "He thinks you work here? Why would he think that?" Vergil tossed the uniform into the trash. "I have no idea and it matters not. If he crosses my path again I shall slash him. A son of Sparda is too proud to wear such a lowly garment."

You exited the building and were now free to roam around the park. You saw some swan boats and decided that would be a nice place to start. You held each others hands and gazed into each others eyes as he recited William Blake's poetry. Everything was lovely until the lights were suddenly gone. You had just entered the tunnel of love but your boyfriend was now reminded of his decent into hell. "Vergil, everything okay?" It was too quiet. Suddenly a ear piercing scream was making your ears bleed and you said "Shit, not again!"

You reached into your purse and pulled out a bottle of diazepam and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. His canines chomped them down like he was eating wonka nerds and you helped massaged his throat so it all went down. He gasped and you patted him on the back. Damn PTSD. "Thanks." he said. You decide the two of you try something else.

"Look, they have stuffed animals! Let's check it out." You went up to the vendor. "Game cost three tickets to play. You get two rounds and you have to knock down the targets with the ball." Vergil flipped his hand through his hair and laughed. Seems simple enough.

_______________________

It was two hours later and Vergil was losing it. "BLAST! WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING!?" He was seconds away from devil triggering and laying waste to everything in his path. "Look... My shifts over so I'm just gonna let the new guy take over." He walked away and you could hear a faint "Good luck!" Vergil become more agitated and said "I don't care which fool it is, just someone hand me a damn ball!"

"Is that anyway to talk to your little bro?" No, it couldn't be. Slowly Vergil looked up to see an employee that had white hair just like him.. "DANTE, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE!?" Dante jumped back a bit. Even though he was behind the counter he still couldn't predict if his brother would attack him in public or not. "Hey, I'm the one who should be asking you that. And who's this?" Dante winked and Vergil started to growl. "Okay, fine. You didn't ask but I'm here so I can pay off some debt I owe to Lady. Anyway I assume you know the game rules?"

He gave his elder brother a smug look and handed him a ball. Vergil was thankful for all the benzos he had earlier or he would have murdered Dante on the spot. Another ten minutes passed. "What.. is it.. that you.. even want..." he panted. You pointed to the oversized minion plush. He was officially done at this point and summoned a group of mirage blades to break all the targets. Dante went to protest but he just flung the baseball into his brothers skull and took the toy when no one was looking.

Dante woke up in the dark and noticed the park was closed. "I hope this doesn't come out of my salary or I'm going to have to start selling my kidneys again."

#devil may cry #vergil x reader #vergil sparda #crack fic #shitpost #dante sparda #devil may cry x reader

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smallraindrops-blog · 17 days

Text

I Know A Place (just for you and me)

Part Three

WMFTD: Drabbles

WMFTD!Y/N X Hypnos

Word count: 7.5k

Warnings: implied sex, AUs out of the wazoo, no beta.

Notes: sorry for being gone for so long. It wasn’t planned. Request that have already been sent are being worked on and I won’t be accepting any for the moment.

Enjoy the randomness

Run (Zombie AU)

The boxes of flavored oatmeal and fruit snacks were out of date but you didn’t care. It might as well have been a delicious bloody steak as far as you were concerned.

It also meant that the group would have food for the night. Maybe even tomorrow depending on how the other runners did.

Quickly you packed the goods into your backpack, flashlight between your teeth. There was a low rumble in your stomach but you ignored it.

You had gotten very good at ignoring your stomach.

The gas station had been destroyed at some point, broken glass everywhere, the shelves tipped over. It must have happened early on since there was a noticeable lack of gore.

After you searched the rest of the building, scowling when you had found the backroom empty of any stock, you began the run back to camp.

With a tight grip on the tire iron that had been with you since the first day, you tried to keep a steady and quick pace. It would be twilight soon and it didn’t matter how fast or strong a person was, no one wanted to be caught in the dark.

Everything had changed so fast. A mere year ago, you were among one of the famous boxers in the world, well on your way to the championship. Now, you were in a town with no name, fighting for your survival.

All because some rich asshole lied and sold meat contaminated with the ‘Wasting’ sickness to every single damn grocery in the nation.

Thankfully the run back was empty of any zombies. Which was odd considering how active they normally were during dusk.

You lifted a hand in greeting at the wall guards, and let the nurse do the check up before opening the doors. You saw that her hands were trembling. At your frown, she offered up a strained grin.

Several pairs of eyes lifted up in acknowledgment when you stepped past the imposing fences. You gave a nod - a silent ‘we got food tonight’ and got smiles of relief in return.

As one of the runners, you didn’t have to cook - thank gods, you weren’t that great of a cook back when spices were readily available, let alone now- and dropped off the goods in the kitchen.

It looks like some of the others had found a dented box of cereal, another found canned peas.

It was clear the group will have to widen the search radius soon. Food was running low.

You rubbed your face in frustration as you left the kitchen. So far the crops had yielded little and no one trusted meat easily now. No one knew how much the wasting disease affected other animals. Since the CDC had thought it wasn’t transmissible in the first place only to be proven horrible wrong.

The dorms were blissfully empty but you didn’t go to your bed. Sleep wasn’t what you wanted. The moment you saw him, a weight lifted from your chest.

He didn’t see you at first, his brow furrowed over the gardening book. His white curls were hidden by a red beanie but it had gotten long enough that his ends curled around his collarbone.

It wasn’t until he flipped to the next page that his eyes snagged on you and his lips curled up in a shy grin.

Gods help you, Hypnos had a gorgeous smile.

His smile had been the first real one you had seen in months when you found the military base. He had looked so angelic in the morning light with his white curls and amber eyes, you thought you really did die and he was there to guide you to the afterlife.

“Hey.” He greeted you quietly, tipping his face up for a kiss.

“Hey.” You returned just as quiet, finally able to breath past the knot in your chest.You kept the kiss gentle, cupping his chin. You just wanted to feel his warmth.

Just wanted him.

Once the kiss broke, you joined him in the cramped bed, dumping your backpack and weapons on the floor. Yours and his legs tangled together as you pulled him close. Until Hypnos, you had forgotten how good it was to just hold someone.

“Any luck?” Hypnos whispered, sighing in peace as he buried his face against the hollow of your neck.

“A little bit.” You muttered, closing your eyes. “Oatmeal. Some fruit snacks. Another runner found peas.”

“Ooh. Sounds delicious. Much better than my day. They had us work on escape routes today.” Hypnos murmured. “It's too bad, I was looking forward to the chance to work in the garden. I think the tomatoes might be fruiting soon.”

Your body tensed up at the words, your eyes snapped open, staring blindly at the lines of beds.

That… wasn’t normal. The practices for escaping were all in weekly rotation, along with training for first aid and weapons safety. Today’s training was supposed to be a refresher on medicine and emergency care.

The nurse’s tight, worried expression flashed in your mind's eye.

“Just in case.” Hypnos rushed to assure you, pulling away enough to smile up at you. “Others didn’t like it either but it never hurts to be safe. You know?”

You said nothing for a long moment, mind rushing. Hypnos’ smile changed into a faint worried expression as he whispered your name. You heard the question in his voice.

Realizing that he was waiting for you to say something, you offered up a smile, running your knuckle against his soft cheek. You prayed that it would be enough to hide your own stress.

“Yeah, you’re right, my love. It never hurts to be safe. I’m just tired.”

Relief bloomed in his face, lighting up his sleepy eyes and he gave you a quick kiss before returning to his spot. “We have time to doze before dinner starts.” Hypnos yawned, already halfway asleep.

You muttered a mindless agreement.

That nurse… Her hands were usually as steady as yours. Flesh made into steel.

But not today.

Then the noticeable lack of the dead wandering around… you thought you had gotten lucky.

Something was wrong.

Your eyes flickered toward one of the windows, it will be night soon. You had a hidden map in your bag. You weren’t that far from the mountains, from possible safety for you and Hypnos.

“Hey, how about we stay in my bed tonight?” You asked, cupping the back of his head. Hypnos gave a hum of agreement, “Sounds good to me. More quieter on your side anyway.”

You had lost everything when the world ended. Your parents, your friends along with most of your humanity.

At the end of the world, you had found him.

You will be damned before you lose him.

Ocean (mermaid, Hypnos’ pov)

Many had whispered under their gills of the lazy, spoiled Hypnos. The last child born to the Great Queen Nyx and possibly her greatest disappointment. But what they couldn’t say was that Hypnos didn’t do his duty to his family.

Hypnos grimaced, lifting his wrist up to study it as he wrapped his tail around the large tip of a jagged stone deep in the reef, his eyes locked onto his wedding band. It was thin but heavy, with pearls and rubies embedded in the gold.

No, Hypnos thought with a dim, hard satisfaction, they couldn’t say that.

Dozens of impossibly small fishes, their colorful scales glinting as they hurried away into hiding holes. Hypnos didn’t move for a moment, watching how the eels ducked deeper into their caves, how turtles began to quietly move away, the gentle anemones closing, even the handful of the sharks darted away.

Then a large shadow was casted over his form.

“You know it isn’t safe out here.” The deep timbre of his mate’ voice rumbled, causing Hypnos to shiver unwillingly, his fins fluttering in response.

Not turning around to acknowledge you, Hypnos straightened his back and crossed his arms. He stared past the colorful reef and out into the depth of the sea. “Well, that's why you are here, right? Everything now should be safe as- as… a school of planktons!”

”Until a whale shows up.” You replied, moving in front to easily block Hypnos’ view with your large form.

The differences between you and him couldn’t be more clear.

Hypnos had the bright colorful scales of his people, his tail was a rich red with dramatic ruffled fins edged with white. A trait that made him stand out the dark greens, blues and purples of his family and he was proud of it even if it made Nyx grimace at the mere sight.

In contrast, you looked like the very beasts that you and your people were meant to protect his kingdom from. At least twice as tall and more than double the size of Hypnos. You looked like you were born to fight with a tail of onyx black, thick and powerful, built to cut through water with a speed and power Hypnos’ kind never could reach.

Scars lined your muscular form, but the ones that caught Hypnos’ eyes were the huge circular marks along your shoulder and chest. He never had even seen a giant squid but you had. You had fought one and survived.

His eyes flickered toward yours, growing wide when he realized that you were studying him. Under your cool gaze, it felt like every ugly, childish part of him was laid out for you to judge. Yet his heart raced, a heated flush growing under his pale skin.

Hypnos scowled, unwrapping his tail as he drifted to the side to put some much needed space between you and him. It wouldn’t do for you to see his unwelcomed emotions.

”Just because we are married doesn’t mean I have to stay by your side at all times, like some poor lovesick anglerfish.” Hypnos muttered, pointly swimming away.

Not that you seemed to care, following him with ease. The deadly trident strapped to your back didn’t seem to slow you down at all.

“I never said that.” You told him, voice relaxed and low enough to rival the deep. If he had turned around, he would have seen the flash of warning in your eyes.

Hypnos scoffed. ”It was implied.”

An uncomfortable silence fell between the pair, one that weighted on Hypnos. He picked up speed, knowing you would keep up. Jerk.

Typically the reef, his home for as long his ancestors had existed, was flushed with life swirling all around. Now the creatures were hidden, waiting for the long shadows of his mate to leave. They never hid from him before. Hypnos wasn’t a predator; however you were and the animals of the reef sensed it.

Fed up, Hypnos swirled around to face you, shoving his hair out of his face. His annoyance deepened when you drifted past him lazily. “Is there something you want from me?” He snapped, his tail lashing slightly.

You stopped and turned to face him, far too close for comfort, the masculine line of your jaw stern as you stared down at him. Then something flickered in your eyes, a shadow that made Hypnos’ instinct scream at him to swim fast and far as he could.

Before he could move, your hands snapped out and caught him like he was a dumb prey. You pulled him flushed against your chest with one arm, your rock tight grip pinned his own arms down, keeping him from escaping.

Your fingers caught his chin and with a firm yet gentle touch you tilted his face up.

Hypnos wanted to scream but all he could muster up was a weak, breathless growl. You leaned down like you were going to kiss him.

Flames licked along his back, the memory of the first kiss shared at the altar rushing back. It has been chaste, soft with your fingers pressed against his cheek but there was a quiet, possessive promise of more.

A promise that Hypnos had been hellbent on avoiding, going so far as to sleep in a separate room from you and trying to stay as far away from you as he could. But it felt like you were always lurking now, watching him with the keen eye of a predator.

You stopped when just a hairbreadth away with a smile, your expression softening. Hypnos swallowed, his breathing shaky, his anger forgotten in the pounding rush of his blood, drowning out anything else. Then you chuckled, the dark sound vibrating through Hypnos.

“If you get eaten by something not me, my little nymph then the whole deal is off. So what I would like is for you to return to our pod.” Your smile dropped. “Now.”

With that you let him go.

With his cheeks burning from embarrassment, Hypnos glared up at you, dozens of bubbles escaping his mouth and gills as he bit back the many foul names he had come up for you.

”Oh, noooo. We wouldn’t dare to hope for that, now would we?” Hypnos finally snapped, not able to hide the bruising his pride just took. With that, he turned around and casted one last longing glance at the silent reef.

“When the pod of orcas are banished from the area, I can bring you back.” You offered. There was an unspoken apology in the undercurrent of your voice.

It was only for the sake of his people that he didn’t turn around and slap you. That and he knew it would fail.

“Very well.” Hypnos said stiffly.

Later, much later with the Reef only a memory, Hypnos returned to his chambers alone. He paused when he spied something on his vanity and drifted over, smiling at Monie, a littler pufferfish Hypnos had since his youth, dozing on the bed of seaweeds.

It was a small box, made from stone and kelp. With a furrow brow, he risked a peek. Inside there was a lovely red anemone resting on a stone, the tentacles swaying.

The note attached read, ‘Not an apology. A promise.’

Snapshots (BTIBN!AU)

The first photo Hypnos picked out was one taken in his junior year of college, with your arms wrapped around his waist, both grinning up at the phone. If one looked close enough, his face had thinned out and there was a shadow lurking behind your eyes. Hypnos never could explain why he picked that one.

He placed it on the wall with a simple black frame. (It was the first day out of the hospital, and you couldn’t stop touching him, he had caught a bad flu the previous winter and you had counted down the days until you could hold him close again.)

When you found one of the photos your parents took on prom night, you couldn’t resist placing it on the dresser.

The shy, happy smile on Hypnos’ face, the way you and he matched with red ties (a detail that Hypnos included for the wedding as well). And you, still a young idiot who was ignoring his parents’ amused eyerolls, were beaming down at Hypnos like he had hung the moon and stars.

You loved it (loved him) and glanced at it every morning as you got ready.

Another photo Hypnos added to the wall was the first day they got Moine. The little puff of cotton stared up at Hypnos with naked adoration in those wet black eyes. The first night they had fallen asleep on the loveseat together, Monie curled under Hypnos’ chin.

You had quietly taken the photo, heart overflowing. (Monie was never impressed by you, always choosing to walk away with a huff when you got home before Hypnos. Whenever Hypnos was ill, the little dog never left his side, loyal as you were.)

It took some time for you and Hypnos to agree where to place the wedding photos. Eventually some went into a shoebox, tucked away somewhere in the closet. But the ones that made it found a home on the fireplace mantle. Save for one.

Hypnos placed it on his nightstand.

(Meg had a surprisingly good eye for photography and had caught a moment between you and Hypnos. You and him had ducked away for a moment of privacy-or so you thought yet you couldn’t be that upset over it. Under the warm patio lighting, you and him were swaying alone, his head tucked against your shoulder. Your eyes were closed, cheek resting against the top of Hypnos’ head, your face relaxed for the first time all day. )

Countless more photos were added, of bright summer days and laughter. Of graduations, of parties and weddings. Of Monie and his beloved tennis ball.

Then…

Children.

Each one of them broke your heart when they came into the world screaming. Long nights of diaper changes and bottle feeding. Baseball games and ballet recitals with last minute poster boards projects. Bedtime stories and late night snacks. Scraped knees and first bike rides, of their first crushes and heartbreak, of birthdays and mundane ( and utterly perfect) days, of finding their own dreams and paths.

Then somehow they were grown.

(How was that even possible? Photos of their beaming faces, round cheeks with gap tooth smiles that changed into proud expressions with graduation caps, line the walls. Their childhood was told in fleeting moments caught in frames.)

Days went into months that turned into years that somehow became decades in a blink.

Your parents beaming over the dinner table. A few more lines on their faces and a little more grayer.

One of the most favorite photos you have of your parents was in your office. Gray at Pa’s temples, his body worn down by years of nursing and Achilles’ blue eyes made bigger with glasses, it was them simply holding hands during the last holiday with everyone together. As if they all knew subconsciously.

(Gods, only if you had the power to stop time in its tracks. You made sure to keep them together in the end. Not even death kept them apart for long. )

It was when you saw the newest photos Hypnos placed by the doorway that you had stopped in your tracks. You didn’t recognize yourself.

The photo was one of the bunch you and Hypnos had with the children and their partners. Hypnos looked beautiful as always, smiling cheerfully with his cheek on your shoulder.

You… you looked older, lines around your eyes formed, your hair a little more grayer than you remembered.

(It had been a good day, filled with laughter and joy, kisses made sticky with maple syrup and smiles warmed by coffee.)

When did you become this old man before you? You still felt like you were that kid in the letterman jacket, fingertips covered with spray paint and staring longingly at the beautiful boy with golden eyes that belong to the sunset.

You shook your head, scowling as you turned the lights off for the night and went looking for your husband.

He was in the bedroom, curled up with a new book under the thick quilt they had for years. He didn’t hear you come in, so you shamelessly took the moment to watch him, crossing your arms as you leaned against the door frame.

To you, Hypnos hadn’t aged a day. He was just as beautiful as the day you saw him standing on your porch on that summer day, eternal as the sunset itself.

His eyes flickered up, blinking behind the glasses that you had finally managed to convince him to wear. The black frames suited him, making the gold of his eyes vivid. He placed his book down and waited for you to speak.

”When did we get old?” You asked him with a sigh, walking over to your side of the bed. On your nightstand was a photo of just Hypnos, beaming at you from across a diner table, a mug of coffee by his elbow.

You don’t remember the occasion for the road trip. Just that he had looked like perfection in that early morning sunlight coming behind him.

(you could live countless lifetimes, it still wouldn’t be enough time with Hypnos.)

Hypnos smiled, lines forming around his eyes. “Did you just now notice?”

You grumbled, “I don’t feel old.”

Laughing, Hypnos gestured to you to join him and you obeyed as you always did. Like a puzzle piece, he tucked against you, his hand over your chest and you tightened your arms around him.

”I love you.” You murmured into his hair, running a hand along his back. It was the only words you could come up with because how could you even begin to summarize everything that he was to you? To thank him for choosing you, for their shared life, for the children and filling their home with laughter and love?

Hypnos kissed the hollow of your neck.

”I love you, too.”

(How did you get so, so lucky?)

Marks (Soulmate!AU)

“It is a pretty uncommon name. Are you sure that you are on the right website?” Pa sounded distant over the phone, the sounds of dogs barking and running around in the background.

With a heavy eye roll, you spun around in your chair and glanced at the soul mark website. Set up by the UN in the early thousand, it was meant to be a far easier way for soul mates to find each other.

Before the net, people had to rely on letters and documents and often prayer to find their one. Never before in known history, had it been so easy to find a soulmate.

Upon adulthood, most people put their mark’s name in the database along with an uploaded photo of the mark and their own names. If they were lucky, they would meet their soulmates that day.

“Yeah, pretty sure.” You muttered. Honestly, you weren’t in a rush. Most soul pairings seemed way obsessed with each other. Codependent if one would. Including your parents, much as you loved them.

Too much work. Too much time. Too many expectations.

”Hopefully they aren’t in one of those cults.” Dad said, his voice louder than Pa’s, “I have a friend who’s son in law was in one. So if-“

And you were done. You weren’t going to listen to this. Again. “Hey, I gotta get back to work. Love you guys, see you for dinner next week.”

Hanging up the call, you went to close the website yet your fingers lingered over the keyboard. It wasn’t that you haven’t looked for this Hypnos before. The name alone was enough to make you curious but nothing ever came up. Even now that you were comfortably settled in your early thirties.

With a huff of annoyance at yourself, you clicked it close.

The late golden sunlight caught on your mark, the red and gold poppies gleaming around your soulmate’s name. It had been with you since you were five years old, forming on your forearm overnight.

Mindlessly, you brushed your fingers along the flowers then you caught yourself and pulled your hand away like the mark burnt you.

On a damp Tuesday morning, your ancient electric kettle gave out. As in it caught on fire.

With a curse, you tossed it into the sink, black smoke causing you to cough. The smoke alarm began to scream, ringing in your ears and you were not awake enough to deal with this.

Once you were sure the kettle wouldn’t burn down your home, you stumbled out into the world, desperately looking on your phone for a nearby coffee shop.

Wet droplets landed on your face, cold and sharp against your skin. Realizing that you forgot your umbrella, you flipped the hood of your jacket up in vain against the oncoming storm.

Then as if the universe decided that it hated you and everyone else, the clouds began to pour rainwater down on the busy city street.

Today was most definitely not your day.

You picked up speed, water splashing against your legs until you found the small coffee shop and ducked into it. With some disbelief, you stared out into the city, feeling like a drowned rat.

Coffee, then you can sit down at a table while feeling sorry for yourself.

You got in line, trying to find something on the menu that wasn’t a bomb of sugar and cream. A young woman, with forest green dreads and toothy smile, was rushing around mumbling to herself. As she helped the customer before you, she took a moment to turn around and yelled to the closed back doors.

“Hypnos! I got a line and I need help!”

You stopped breathing.

It had to be a nickname. Surely.

Then the door opened, a man with impossibly white curls and an armful of bottles of syrup stepped out.

“I know Dusa, I know.” The man yawned, unaware of you staring at him. You couldn’t help it, he was the most lovely, most perfect man you ever saw. He plopped the bottles down onto the and turned to you as he tied up his black apron.

The first thing you noticed was that his bottom lip was just a little more fuller than his top one. Second, you noticed that his eyes were heavy with dark circles but that didn’t stop him from smiling cheerfully at you.

Gods, it hadn’t even been a minute and you wanted to kiss him.

Your eyes flickered to the name tag and there it was, same spelling and everything.

Hypnos. Hypnos. Hypnos.

“So what can I get ya today, sir?” Hypnos chirped, unaware that he had changed everything for you in a single moment. Thick white lashes framed around his golden eyes and you couldn’t breath.

Your mouth opened but nothing came out so you shut it, trying to come up with something. There were movies of people making the perfect speech, books filled with breathtaking moments of first meetings.

All you could do was stare.

”Sir?” Hypnos said, and he sounded like he was unimpressed with a touch of worry as his golden eyes - and how the world did he have those irises, it seemed too divine for a mortal- darted to Dusa.

“I-“ your voice cracked and you stopped. Now everyone was staring at you. You were being an idiot.

Without hesitation, you yanked up your jacket sleeve and revealed the soul mark. You could have swore the colors were more vibrant, more lifelike than ever before. Like the flowers had come alive just for Hypnos.

Hypnos’s name caught gold in the bistro lighting.

Hypnos’ mouth dropped open, his hand automatically wrapped around his forearm as he stared at your arm. He kept his arm close to chest as if trying to protect himself.

“It is you.” You said finally, like something inside of you had been missing and you had found it - found him, and the last piece clinked in place, like it belonged. You understood now.

For a long moment, he said nothing, only staring at you.

Then with an unusual calm, Hypnos turned to Dusa, “I quit.”

Without another glance at you, he promptly booked it toward the backroom and out of your sight.

You moved before you realized it, climbed over the counter and darted into the back to where Hypnos went. You ignored Dusa’s surprise cry, the murmuring of the customers as your eyes darted around the kitchen.

Realizing that the back door was opened, you rushed back out into the rain, and caught a glimpse of him just as he turned the corner.

With your jaw tight with determination, your heart pounding in a rhythm that belonged only to Hypnos, you gave chase.

Repetition (Reincarnation!au, Hypnos’ Pov)

The Wise ones, all three of them, were smiling over him. Their hands laid on his chest, over his heart. He stared up at the night skies, at the billions of stars. At the countless moments, lives flowing like river water over stone.

He was gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face. His wings fluttered like the delicate petals of Amare willows that bloom outside his childhood window.

He had been reborn.

They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to.

His Captain wasn’t much different from his other lives. Your eyes still burned with the intensity of a black sun, your shoulders were still broad enough to carry the weight of the world and countless scars still marked your body like constellations of the milky-ways.

Hypnos knew it was you the moment he laid eyes on you.

Turn out, finding you weren’t the hard part. It was everything after that. He wanted to fall in your arms, to feel your mouth against his and to rediscover you. He just wanted to be loved and to love you once more.

Maybe patience was the lesson he was meant to learn in this life but if his memory served him right, patience was a lesson he had learned before. Yet here he was, learning it once more.

It was hard, especially when he ached just being near you. Only he hadn’t seen you at all today or yesterday, you must have been too busy writing reports or something.

He stood before your personal rooms, playing with the keycard in his hands. You had given it to him after the second attack, a full three months after the first. It wasn’t for romantic reasons like Hypnos knew it was for some species, you had made that perfectly clear. Purely for emergencies, you had repeatedly told him.

Shaking away the bitter thought, Hypnos pressed on the intercom outside of the door.

It came alive with a faint glow, the robotic voice sounded bored as it spoke. “Name and reason?”

“It’s me. Hypnos. I mean. And I just…” Before he could recall the made up reason he had for showing up, the door opened.

With a deep breath,Hypnos stepped into the room. He couldn’t hide his curiosity as he tried to take in everything.

The living room was spartan, with only a sofa and loveseat that came with the ship. The low table in front was bare of any personal items. The open kitchen was empty as well, not a single bottle of spice out on the counter.

Hypnos was torn between worry and helpless amusement.

It was a faint thing, hazy like the river lethe but Hypnos knew this wasn’t new. It was familiar in a way.

‘A few blankets, pillows, a handful of warm lights and we could make this a lot cozier.’

Then your voice reached him, “Hypnos, in the office.”

”Coming.” Hypnos called out, glancing over the room once more time.

When he found you in your office, you were pouring over a starmap, a glass in your scarred hand. You took a sip as he knocked and waited for your permission to come in, even though he wanted to rush toward you.

You glanced at him, then nodded. Hypnos hurried in, before you changed your mind, the door closing behind him with a click.

He studied your office, unlike many others, You kept it simple, a dark desk with a nameplate and a few awards on the wall. On one side, there was a window, open to reveal the void of space, with far away stars gleaming.

If he knew you and he liked to think he did, you probably had at least ten different weapons hidden away somewhere.

Hypnos settled in the surprisingly comfortable chair before your desk, not saying anything.

You took a sip of your drink, the liquid amber in the dim lighting. “Can your species drink human alcohol?”

Your voice was husky, rich and dark as the mines of his home world and Hypnos shivered. His wings perked up in pure animalistic instinct but he stilled them, his stomach hot with embarrassment and maybe something else entirely.

“I can. Yes.” Hypnos replied, hoping his voice didn’t give away his thoughts.

You politely moved up from your desk to get him a glass and poured him a drink. The whole time Hypnos studied you, admiring the flex of your powerful muscles under the captain’s uniform.

When you came closer to hand over the drink, Hypnos wanted to pull you closer but he didn’t.

Hypnos curled his hands around the drink instead then sniffed it. It was a familiar smell, filled with sharp, warming spices. Where he had known this smell before…

“Rum. The makers claimed they were one of the original creators from Earth.” You told him, and tapped his glass with yours. At the same time, you and him took a sip.

Warmth flooded his mouth and raced down his chest before settling low in his stomach.

Then everything rushed toward him.

Ropes, sea salt, the sway of a ship, moonlight on dark waters, powerful waves crashing against earth, bruises on his thighs and rough kisses with rubies -or blood- and gold spilling everywhere.

Hypnos closed his eyes. Oh yes, he remembered that life. That had been one well lived.

Silence overtook as you returned to the map, writing notes down on a tablet. The starmap casted an pale blue glow in the room, millions of little stars gleaming over your desk.

Hypnos continued to drink, warmed by the liquid and memories that tasted like the ocean, the blue so deep he wondered he would ever see its likenesses again. He shifted, letting his legs swing idly, his wings swaying along in beat.

Then you turned the map off. The tablet dimmed.

Hypnos blinked, his wings fluttering softly with his curiosity.

“Tell me about one.” You ordered, leaning back against your chair. Your eyes were locked onto him. Hypnos swallowed, his pulse racing as he took one last sip. He pushed his empty glass toward you.

A beat of silence, then you grabbed the bottle, and using your teeth, uncorked it. Your eyes unwavering, like you decided you were ready to peel all of his secrets away. Hypnos hated how much he was looking forward to it.

He ached with so many unspoken words.

With a full glass of rum between his hands, Hypnos met your eyes. “Tell you what?”

“About one of these past lives. Or alternative universes or whatever.’” You replied with an unimpressed eyebrow, placing the cork back in, your thumb pressing down on it. “Any of them, your pick.”

Hypnos swirled his drink, his brow furrowed. He didn’t know which one he should pick. What if he chose badly and you kicked him out? Or pick one of the more fantastical ones and you thought him as a liar. Not mentioning the fact Hypnos was still recovering so many moments, like small, precious white shells on the beach, picking them up one at a time.

”It is hard to just choose one.” Hypnos admitted, unfolding his legs and shifted closer to your desk. He took a sip then sighed.

“One of the first ones I remember… Language wasn’t a thing, not really. All we could do was point and grunt if you will. We just hadn’t evolved to speak complex languages, not yet. The one of the courting gifts you gave me was a big clay jar, filled with bright red pigments for cave painting. My favorite color.” Hypnos paused, not able to look at your face.

He was terrified of what he would find in your expression. Yet the words spilled from him, like confessions of sin. “I still wonder if I could find the cave with our handprints. It must be out there somewhere- or maybe that planet had been swallowed up by its sun by now.”

Silence took over for a long breathless moment and Hypnos took another sip, deeper. He felt so warm, like it was mating season and all he wanted- all he wanted…

You finished your drink, the sound of glass loud as you placed it down.

”Tell me another.” You ordered as you stood, and Hypnos watched you move around your desk and stopped in front of him. All Hypnos could do was stare up at you, helpless. You leaned against your desk, powerful arms crossed and gestured for him to continue.

He swallowed, “There are so many, I can recall one where you were a superhero and I worked as handler. Then another world where you were an artist, often struck by fits of madness, you called me your beloved muse. There were so many where we met as children, in one of those lives, we shared a first kiss on a snowy night. Another one where you were a pirate…”

”A pirate?” You said with a quiet laugh. Hypnos flushed at your tone, not used to you sounding so light. He lifted his half-full glass with a smile before taking a quick sip.

“You were quite fond of rum.” Hypnos teased after he swallowed, a knot in his chest slowly slipping open, his stomach warmed. You leaned in, and took the glass from him. Before Hypnos could process what happened, you were downing his drink.

All Hypnos could do was watch, your Adam’s apple bobbing as you polished off the rum. One drop of rum almost escaped, but you caught it in time with a swipe of your tongue. He copied you without realizing it, feeling like he was at a feast but not allowed near the table.

You always kept the full uniform on, and Hypnos wished he was bold enough to reach over and reveal the secret flesh underneath, to trace the line of your neck with his tongue. His wings twitched and jerked, wanting to flare out in a mating display and woo his mate closer.

His wings were going to give him away with how obvious they were.

“The caveman one, was that the first one you remembered?” You placed the glass down. Your foot hooked around the chair leg and pulled Hypnos closer. The sound was loud in the quiet, a final warning.

But for what he didn’t know.

He grabbed the chair arms, looking down with a blush. Somehow he suddenly felt shy.

“Ah.” Hypnos tried to find his words, very aware of how much bigger you were than him. He could swear that he could feel your body heat this close. “No.”

Your fingers brushed along his jawline, curling under his chin and his breath hitched as his face was tilted up.

Like breathless gravity, Hypnos caught in your gaze, like the moon once to earth, lovers so close yet were millions of miles away. He couldn’t look away if he wanted to. Under the heaviness of your stare, he felt weightless.

”Tell me.” You ordered in a whisper, moving slightly closer, your other hand moving past his side and gripped the arm of the chair. Like this, Hypnos was completely trapped in.

Hypnos smiled. There was a touch of sadness in it. One that you noticed judging by the silght furrow in your brow.

“I was an immortal god and you were a dead moral. A man turned to a shade.” Hypnos whispered. He waited, sure you would pull away. You didn’t. Your thumb caressed along his cheek in slow, gentle swipes.

Hypnos let out a shuddering breath, closed his eyes. “Yet we found each other.”

Maybe he should say more but no words came. That life had been so vivid in his mind’s eye, a part of him still wondered if that universe still existed, far out of his reach, one where you and him existed forever in a small corner of the vastness so very happy and loving.

He hoped so, a quiet heaven with you was what his soul was made for.

“You terrify me.” You admitted, causing Hypnos to open his eyes with surprise. You gave him a rueful smile. Your voice was low enough to sink into Hypnos’ bones.

“Me?” Hypnos whimpered, not able to comprehend the idea of him being scary. Maybe if someone had a phobia of naps or of ridiculous creatures who walked into walls on occasion.

The mere idea of it… It was laughable.

”You just came from the stars one day without a single warning. I tried to stay away but I couldn’t. In every room I step into, I look for you.” You pressed your thumb on the corner of his lip. “I should be able to dismiss all these stories without a blink, of these past lives or alternate universes. But I can’t. I just can’t.”

With an easy grace, you leaned down, your breath hot against Hypnos’ mouth. And oh, how Hypnos wanted to lean in yet he couldn’t move.

“When I look at you, when you smile at me; Hypnos, it’s like coming home again.”

Hypnos knew it was coming but he still gasped against the press of your lips, his wings shuddering as you tipped his head up to deepen the kiss. It was so much better than any memory.

A hand cupped his cheek and he looked up at you unable to hide his tears. Your expression was soft and fond - and a little apologetic -as you smiled down at him. You looked so handsome in your military uniform. You promised to return to him the moment the war was over.

In the end, all he had left was a letter that spoke of your bravery and a folded flag.

Tears burned under his eyelids, Hypnos cupped your face between his hands, needing to feel you. He kept you close as the kiss continued between soft gasps and murmuring. His fingers trailed against your cheeks, feeling the start of rough stubbles along your jaw.

“Wait for me!” Hypnos called out, his birdlike wings on his back flapped in effort to keep with you. He was still too young to truly fly but he still chased after you anyway.

You laughed with pure joy, your wings casting shadows over the land as you returned. You dipped lower to grab his hands and lifted him up higher and higher.

In a singular moment, he was one with everything. His heart raced along yours, when you breathed in, he breathed out, two beings becoming whole and perfect once more.

His moral. His warrior. His dearest.

You didn’t wake even as Hypnos shifted, your head heavy on his thighs. Hypnos pushed your hair out your face, running his fingers through your locks.

That finally prompted you to wake just a little bit with a low hum. Your lips quirked up in a lazy smile. “Looks like I’m still dreaming.”

Hypnos scoffed, his heart overflowing as he leaned down to kiss you-

Then the kiss broke.

You pulled back, lips shiny and your eyes blown dark with lust, staring down at him. You panted harshly and Hypnos realized he was doing the same.

”Hypnos.” You said with a ragged and torn voice.

His heart stopped, sure that you were going to push him away. Only you didn’t.

“Hypnos.” You repeated brokenly, staring down at him. It was like you were seeing him, really seeing him for the first time.

The next kiss was just as amazing, he couldn’t tell where you and him began and ended. Memories rushed toward him, burning him along with the growing need deep in his core.

His hands roamed over your neck, shoulders and chest as he murmured your name over and over against your lips. You swore against his mouth.

Before he knew what was happening, you had silded your arms under him and lifted up and out of the chair with an ease he should have expected. You turned around and planted him on your desk, still kissing him, still touching him as you pushed him down onto his back.

Hypnos knew they should slow down, talk it out but he had missed you, craved you so much he didn't have it in him to stop if he wanted to. He felt starved until you touched him. His mating seasons had never felt like now, all gauzy heat and the hard, wonderful press of another body against his.

He was the personification of lust, of the euphoria that could be found in another.

Tangling his fingers in your hair, you and him kissed and kissed and kissed, hands caressing new flesh. Somehow it was new and familiar at the same time. The primal rhythm was built into their DNA, even now.

Hypnos tossed his head back, trying to breathe, trying to move with you as you consumed him, like the void of space swallowed countless stars. It was perfect, it was just you and him once more.

Everything ends, even this.

You buried your face in the crook of his neck and shoulder, your arms braced around his head as you tried to return to normal. There was a growing dampness against his neck. Hypnos blinked slowly up at the ceiling, still floating along the river of sensations and of returned memories.

He caressed the line of your back, pressed kisses against your scalp, his heart growing and love spilling out of him like new constellations as he murmured comforting words.

Later, you and him will speak of everything, of nothing and it will be good, it will be right. Because it will be what it always had been, you and him among the stars once more.

#wake me from this dreaming #hypnos x male!reader

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