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themisimagines · 9 months

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every (damn) time

part 2/? of making my way through the nosebleed club july prompts content: 5+1 formula, general fluff, exceedingly mild nudity, suggestive themes, numbers 2 to 5 under the cut characters: marius focused, fem!reader, generic nxx as window dressing otherwise known as: 5 times marius von hagen was louder than a damn bull horn and 1 time he was not

(1)

Your fingers hesitate over the keypad, the water slowly rising to your chin. Of course, you're panicking, but you can't let yourself - the rest of your team is on the other side of the wall, and you can't let them down.

It's literally a scene from a Bond movie, which this villain has clearly watched too many of. You watch the boys scramble and dive down again and again to find the code that will release the water and allow you to escape. Just as you're about to give up hope, Luke bursts to the surface, and unfurls a scroll from its waterproof covering. He tries to shout the numbers out to you, but it's no good, the rushing water is too loud in your ears, and you're struggling to hit the right numbers, instead of the code that will unleash the crocodiles into the water.

You're all going to die here, just inches away from survival. You want to float upwards until the water covers your head. But then you see Marius snatch the scroll from Luke's hands and somewhere, from the depths of his lungs, pull out a voice which literally pierces your brain, yelling out the numbers one by one, which you punch in because all your lives literally depend on it. The water levels recede. A gaudy exit with flashing lights and sparklers is revealed, because yes, the villain is that much of an asshole.

"Who knew you had a pair of lungs like that?" you hear Luke ask from the other side of the barrier, Marius just laughs in utter relief.

(2)

You're in the dressing room, wondering if the dress suits you after all. It's a shade of pale pink, but as you turn this way and that, you're still not quite sure.

"JIE JIE!" you hear someone bellow in the distance. Probably some kid looking for their sibling.

Just as you are about to unzip yourself from the dress, there it is again, even louder. It seems pretty familiar, actually.

Then, from right outside the changing room: "JIE JIE!"

"Sir," the desk clerk says sternly. "I'll call security if you continue to shout like this."

There's only one person you know who could be this loud, so you quickly step out of the changing rooms to try and defuse the situation.

"Marius, stop shouting. I'm in here."

You step out to see Marius at the changing room entrance, and he beams when he sees you. "There you are Jie JIe! I thought I lost you."

"You know they have an actual loudspeaker, right? You don't have to shout. But anyway, you're literally a fully grown man, couldn't you have just texted me?"

"I thought about it, but they wouldn't let me use the loudspeaker to find my girlfriend so this was the next most embarrassing thing." He winks at you.

You roll your eyes. "Let me at least put my own clothes back on before you cause another scene?"

"The dress looks good on you, Jie Jie!" he says, raising his voice. Then turning to the sales clerk, "Here, take my credit card. Buy all the clothes she tried on in there just now."

(3)

When arguments inevitably occur at the NXX headquarters, Marius is usually the last to lose his temper, but when he does, it's like a small explosion. Even Vyn, usually so used to dealing with erratic patients, is surprised whenever Marius raises his voice, as if shocked by the passion behind his voice. Artem shrinks at it, becoming colder and icier. Luke goes completely quiet. But like a storm, the moment always passes, and Marius is back to his unruffled self, point made. Apologetic, almost, for losing control for that second, but too aware of how much is at stake to back down.

(4)

It's time for the annual sports day held between all the law firms in Stellis, and your event is the 4 x 400m women's race, where you happen to be the final runner. It's been a neck and neck competition between Themis and Baldr so far, and Artem has just clinched victory in the men's race for your team, bringing you both to a tie. If you manage to win this one, it means glory for the firm.

The NXX team is on the sidelines cheering for you, Vyn once again far too overdressed and with a fedora to boot, while Luke and Marius have literally made homemade signs for both you and Artem and are cheering their hearts out.

The starting gun goes and you get into position, heart racing in your chest. you throw the baton back and you squeeze your eyes shut, waiting for your signal. Kiki approaches you, just a few seconds behind the Baldr runner, and you start running, grabbing onto the baton and holding on to it for dear life, overtaking your competitors and then hitting the finish line, so quickly that you stumble to a halt, rolling onto the grass.

Your teammates surround you - you guys have finally won. Marius rushes over you, roaring with happiness, lifting you up on his shoulders as all the Themis Law Firm celebrate, and you're on the top of the world.

(5)

There are many sides to Marius, but the one you see the least is Marius unguarded, not putting up the perfectly cultivated rich boy persona he's crafted to deal with the rest of the world and his status as one of the heirs to the richest family in Stellis.

When you're both alone, however, you try to get his guard down. Marius is notoriously ticklish, and once he starts laughing, he can't seem to stop, cackling even though you've stopped touching him, squirming away from you and begging for mercy.

(+ 1)

"What?" You ask, crossing your hands over your chest. "Say something at least."

Marius is completely speechless for once, mouth open and eyes wide. You feel self conscious, blushing under his gaze.

"Come on, surely this isn't the first time you've seen a woman naked, surely?" You try to tease him.

"You're beautiful," he finally says in an hushed tone, pulling you closer to him, hands wandering all over you as if you're a precious object he wants to savour. Moving further down your body, you think to yourself that perhaps finally you've found something that can keep Marius quiet - for a while.

#tears of themis #marius von hagen #tears of themis imagines #tot imagines #marius x reader #marius von hagen x reader #lu jinghe #marius tot

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vyntilador · 1 year

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Hi It's me from the Tiktok,I Have this Headcanon On Tot Boys Being a Dad Like I'm Sure Artem is gonna Spoil His Children ESPECIALLY Marius Like The moment he hears His Child Mumbling About "Wow This Kitty plushie looks cute" and He be Like "Then Get em" he might Also Buy the Whole Store(I wish a had a marius in my life) AND for Luke,Like i think he's gonna be A Chill Dad yk Like Setting a prank together with his child and do cute Stuff y'all Mostly go out to Have a Family Bonding Since Luke is Busy being a Detective (a hot One) and lastly Vyn i think He's the Type of that Who Enjoy Reading his Children a Story When it's Bedtime and he's the type to also Gossip with his Children like "Dad there's this Kid-" and he go like "C'mere Tell me all about Ur school and stuff" LIKE ISN'T CUTEEE and While Us Just Watching Them Interact and Smiling like an Idiot, anyways This is just What i had in mind ofc ur free to Say no to my Idea But Yeah That's All,Hope you have a good Rest!🖤

Father, May I?

NXX boys as dads</333

————————————

Genre: fluff ofc but I'm adding angst parts after every story bcs it's my specialty duhh(I WAS BORED SORRYYY)

A/N: BESTIE UR A GENIUS THIS IS RLLY CUTE TOO😭😭😭 IMMA HAVE A FIELD DAY WITH THIS ONE TYVM SRY IF I REPLY TOO LATE SCHEDULES PRETTY TIGHT</333 also i might make this into 2 parts bcs it might take long idk depends if I finish this quickly!! Sorry for the wait<3

Vyn Richter

This man is literally A DUKE of a kingdom LITERALLY LOOK INTO MY EYES AND TELL ME HE WONT GO ALL OUT FOR HIS PRINCESS</333

He doesn't rlly flex it often in the stories (except when he literally showed to their faces that only he had an invitation to that one Pluto cruise ship lmao

Speaking of cruise ships, he'd definitely be renting/buying a whole cruise ship for your daughter's birthday or if she's not into those, he'll arrange for her birthday party in the ballroom in their castle/family mansion in Svart

Honestly, he never wanted to ever come back to Svart if it wasn't for his little princess</33

You told her a bedtime story saying that her dad is a king and you're actually a queen which makes your daughter a princess

The story was supposed to make her sleepy but she ended up getting too excited and literally begging her father(Vyn) if they can come to their castle (he didn't agree at first, hesitant onto how the people of Svart and most importantly, his father woulf react but who cares his child wanted to go there so why not🙄)

Yeah with that said, after that, he just went on a spoiling spree on his daughter but he won't overdo it ofc🤷‍♀️ He doesn't want her to turn into someone condescending and just a bad person as a whole and with that kind of raising technique of his, she grows up into such a sweet girl and he sometimes can't help but smile stupidly with how his daughter resembles her mom so much 😭

Angst part

Ok so me and a friend of mine had this hc where like I forgot most of it but it was just how if Vyn decides to leave you and come back to Svart (he doesn't know that you have a child together so u ended up raising your daughter alone)

Can you imagine the shock on his face when he passes by the house he used to live with you in Stellis, only to see you playing in the rose filled garden with a little girl

You turn around to the sound of your name being called, hesitant but you still did it as you recognized his voice. He stood in front of you in formal attire, looking down on you with a soft glimmer in his eyes, seemingly shocked and feeling guilty

He asks you why you didn't tell him about your daughter but you immediately interrupted him saying that he never gave you a chance to speak

If you let him in your lives again, he'll make sure that his daughter lives the best life, guilty with how he almost made her live the same childhood as him</3

But even after the second chance you gave him, you desperately picked up the broken pieces of your heart from the ground as you tear up at the sight of the father of your children and the King of Svart, Vyn, being wedded to a woman on equal footing as him.

Artem Wing

Mkay so first of all, uhm TWINS?? Lets say it's a boy and a girl. Well the girl resembles you in EVERY way possible. She's stubborn asf but determined with whatever she puts her mind into. She sometimes pushes his brother into doing stuff he loves like inspiring him yk??

Her brother tho, she's like Artem lmao💀 He's usually calm and silent in a corner somewhere doing arts and crafts while his sister is in the middle of the room singing twinkle twinkle little stars from the bottom of her heart

You'd think that the sister would be the protector between the two of em but it's actually your son. He's kinda timid and shy but he won't tolerate any unjust actions towards his dear sister</3 (You nudge Artem and chuckle at how much your son resembled your husband</33)

When it comes to what your children want, like toys, clothes etc, I wouldn't say that he'll buy anything they want (that's a lie he actually buys them whatever they want when you're not within the vicinity lmao)

It usually goes like this, your daughter is asking Artem to buy both of em something because their friends have it and he'll usually refuse when you're there but the moment you go out to buy groceries, you'd just end up dropping the bags of grocery you had with you the moment you come home as you lay your eyes on the newly bought bikes that looks expensive asf in front of your home LMAOOOO

Yall remember that one personal story where he spent millions for us during the investigation?? He'd def do that to you and your children

They aren't even born yet and he's already having your house renovated for their rooms, already buying shit ton of toys, going to the mall ONLY for food and suddenly, hes calling you over to ask if this little baby onesie would look cute on your children</3

There is no Angst part. I mean, ITS LITERALLY ARTEM WING. HES THE GREENEST OF THE GREEN FLAGS MY BOY HAS NO FLAWS.

Luke Pearce

Also twins ngl. Energetic ones at that

Twin girls?? Absolutely (do yall know the fanarts of Lukerosa with this daughter named xiaxia😭😭😭)

Well lets just pretend theres two xiaxia's here

Anyway, he's like those uncle/grandmas that give you chocolate or money in secret when your parents aren't looking

Like maybe before you all eat dinner, daughter 1 is already hungry and is sulking bcs you didnt let her have a bite of the ice cream and here comes papa Luke to the rescue, passing her a piece of chocolate discreetly 😭

Gives your daughters piggy back rides especially when going out to family night outs or when just going to the park to have a little picnic. Or at weekend nights when you're both not working, you're all in the living room laughing softly at the 3 of em seeing them dance in the middle of the room to some children's music

OH AND ARRON IS DEFINITELY SUCH A CUTE UNCLE TO THEM OMGGG hes giving them plushies, money...toy guns..(as soon as Luke found out about it, he's immediately banned from coming over lmao/j)

Hes vv soft to his princesses but he isn't too soft that he gives them everything. I'm not rlly sure but I think he'd like practice disciple with wanting stuff like, 'Do you want the chocolate or the animal plushie? If you get the chocolate, it wouldn't last very long but if you get the plushie, you'll have it forever!'

Goes to your childhood home sometimes to hang out in the attic where you and Luke used to play in and introduces your girls to Sherlock Holmes</3

(DRESSES THEM UP AS JOHN WATSON N SHERLOCK HOLMES😭😭😭😭)

Just the best dad overall tbh

Angst part<333

He was very hesitant with having children with you with the thing abt his life and his line of work but the moment that he sees the smile on your face slowly dissipate and turn into a look of gloom, he feels guilty for even hesitating for a moment and immediately hugs you

He knows he won't be around for a while so even if he really wants to give your children proper discipline, there are moments where he just spoils them to their hearts content

Sometimes at night, he sits alone in the balcony of your own home and he smiles softly knowing that you now have little angels to look after you once the time comes.

The burden of all of these dawns on him tho. Like, what would your daughters feel like when they realize their dad's gone? What if his work as a spy results in his family getting hurt? Or worse, what if one of them gets pulled into the NXX stuff?

There are times where guilt and despair overwhelms him so pls go easy on him amd always give him cuddles<33

Your touch used to bring him comfort but why is it that when you brushed your hand against his face to wipe his tears away as you laid half conscious in his arms, it brought an overwhelming sense of fear and guilt?

He hugs your body closer to him as tears fell continously from his face, hurting at how his princesses will probably have to grow up without parents.

Marius von Hagen

He spoils them. No negotiations, no questions asked.

He has a son too btw!! (his son hates him lmao)

Your son hates it when his dad hogs or steals all your attention which then ends up having a mini Marius sulking and hugging your legs asking you with a pout if you love Marius more than him LMAOOOO

I forgot where I read this but I think its the personal story???? idk i forgot Where the cat sneaks in to his home and just hates him overall

Your son would def wanna keep the cat and claim that the cat is now his "accomplice"

Yea but with all that aside, Marius is definitely soft for his son</333 He inherited everything of his dad but he has your eyes which makes him more vulnerable to puppy dog eyes of your son when he asks his dad to get him something

He's well aware of his footing in society so he knows how to stand up to himself well. Or if paparazzi surrounds you, poor baby would scream at them and tell them how he hates them for making his mom(you) have a hard time

Surprisingly, the reporters feel bad and start making way for the three of you to go home

Marius is definitely proud of him for standing up for himself and his mom. Speaking of that, he's another sucker for his kid when you're away. You could literally blink and the moment you open your eyes again, there's suddenly a mountain of toys around u lmao

Angst part

Marius is also very aware of how dangerous it is to live in front of the camera and being exposed to the judging eyes of the public so he tries his absolute best to keep you both safe. Including with scandals, where it's said that PAX CEO Marius von Hagen is having an affair with someone else while having a family of his own. His heart breaks into a million pieces as he looks down on his son thats literally crying and hitting his leg with little to no force because of how hard he was crying.

Hes cursing his own dad on why he has the guts to make u cry like that. His last straw snaps as tears swell into his own eyes as he bends down to pick up your crying son and he hugs him tightly.

He considered leaving PAX and having someone else run it seeing how bad of an effect it left to his family but you begged him to stay there seeing how important the company is but what you didnt expect was that he'll someday put his company first before his family.

A/N:I think i kept turning away from the og plot im so sorry😭😭😭 i made this at 12 last night bcs i couldnt sleep so m sorry if it does look too good💀💀

I also just went with it and did all of em lmao I WAS ALSO HUNGRY WHILE MAKING THIS SO THATS PROLLY WHY I WAS STRAYIMG FROM THE PLOT LMAOOOOO

#artem wing #artem x mc #artem x you #luke pearce #luke pearce x mc #luke pearce x reader #marius von hagen #marius x mc #marius x reader #tears of themis #vyn richter #vyn x reader #vyn richter x reader #tears of themis vyn

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lukevonhagen · 1 year

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my take on marius von hagen: part two, neglect

hello beautiful world and all who inhabit it, welcome to episode two of "z likes to make marius worse"! in this episode, i'm going to be going over my interpretation of marius' family dynamic in canon, as opposed to how i headcanon it should be (in my humble opinion).

edit: wow this is about 1.2k words and not under a read more, sorry!

the catalyst for this post is a tweet............... that resonated with my version of marius, but i felt didn't make sense for canon marius.

firstly, i'd like to say that to my recollection, canon marius has never given off any kind of indication his family was neglectful. busy? absolutely. but, with the way he explained things, it always came off like they made sure to always make time for him. for example, he talks about the importance of a lover's tradition he has in his immediate family in his card where he bakes with mc, it's such a profound thing that he says he never understood until he himself fell in love. it's intimate and yet, marius had such a close proximity to his family that he was privy to that.

in other words, marius' desire for something so strongly [because he saw what his father and brother had] reads as him being around them plenty enough to be able to discern that romantic love was different from familial love. he confirms he knows what a familial love is in the same breath as his confession that he wanted to know what a romantic love felt like.

the biggest piece of evidence though, to me, is when marius says he hadn't left stellis until he was older because his family was worried for his safety after that traumatic incident that left him afraid of being in dark and claustrophobic spaces.

contextually, all of these things seem to only prove that marius was not only around giann and austin all the time, but as a child he was likely smothered by them because they were looking to protect him. if his family were neglectful of his person, i feel it would reflect in the way he interacts with them in the present. we've seen his relationship to his father, and there's nothing tense about it; they talk comfortably, and austin even teases him like marius teases others. marius isn't uncomfortable with confiding in his father, and he's fiercely protective of his brother; he loves his family, and constantly makes sacrifices to protect them.

now, because i like to make marius worse instead of fixing him, here is where i shift strictly into headcanon territory.

this is how i feel the von hagen family dynamic should be, based on what we know about marius so far:

marius has a strained relationship to his father. giann was the glue that held the rest of the family together, and in his disappearance, the relationship between marius and austin began to crumble once again.

this =/= me saying austin was abusive or that he was a bad father, i just think that in the grand scheme of things, it made sense that he was emotionally absent and unavailable.

short explanation of my thoughts on the topic: emotional neglect is a thing marius experienced because of the tragedy that changed his family before he was even old enough to know a family that wasn't broken up already. austin certainly wasn't around as much and kinda left everything to giann, not because he didn't care about marius, but because he had no idea how to talk to his younger son and how to process his emotions correctly. he lost his wife and was still grieving, and in the wake of his grief, he was unable to tend to the needs of his son who suffered because of it. giann was better off simply because he was the older son and was able to be more independent.

long explanation: after someone else planted the seed that marius was responsible for this horrible trauma that was inflicted on the von hagen family unit, marius began to earnestly believe that he was responsible for the death of his mother.

as a result, marius got really sick, physically, because of the stress this put on his young mind and body. austin, in his own mess, was unable to properly tend to his son because he couldn't internalize and work through his own feelings of grief, and was not present to discuss this brush of emotion marius was left to deal with by himself. austin's only solution due to this separation was to try to get professional help for marius' ailment. when that didn't work, he sent him away, thinking a change of scenery would help him in his own grief.

in this version of events, marius did not heal properly. (as i have mentioned before, i don't believe the ferris wheel story is very realistic or likely, because i don't think marius has the emotional maturity to be able to heal himself from his anguish. he was only a child.) he simply realized that he needed to "atone" for his "sin" of existing by making sure that his mother's death was not in vain. he devoted himself to becoming the picture perfect second son of the von hagen family, in order to protect his family name and make sure nothing befell of them in the future.

after all, he saw himself as a blight that ruins things for the people around him. first, his mother, and then giann when he disappeared. marius worked even harder, by that point, to preserve giann's legacy because it's a tangible thing he could focus on whilst trying to find out where he is and what happened to him. it wasn't that marius didn't not still feel the love of his mother (of course he feels it in the little things that shows she's still always going to be a part of his life, even though he didn't get to know her), but it's more like he felt he didn't deserve it, because he's the reason she lost her life.

all of this trauma and the feelings of self-loathing he internalized as a result of his mother's death forced him to grow up too fast, and he grew up without the emotional attention and crutch afforded from a father. only giann was really there for him in the emotionally complex way he needed to be, but giann had his own responsibilities and his own life to tend to as well.

marius would grow to resent his father as an adult, but would be conflicted in feeling that way, because it all circles back to marius thinking he needs to prove that his mother didn't die for nothing and that he deserves everything that came his way. giann was the person between them that made communication possible, and when he left, marius didn't even have that to fall back on.

i don't mind that in canon, marius and austin seem to have a great relationship; it makes sense that the von hagens stick together when people try to screw them over. it's just not really my cup of tea knowing what i know. if hoyoverse didn't throw in random traumatic events, marius having the picture perfect family and having a more easygoing disposition would be more believable and because of this, sometimes i feel like his traumas do him a disservice. it makes sense that if his traumas were explored in a way that was more meaningful, he and his family would be more broken… and the dog eat dog high society world they live in contributed more to it.

marius' resentment towards the perpetual façade of his fame, in turn, would just be a natural progression of the state of things.

#marius von hagen #tears of themis #lu jinghe #tot marius #z rambles #sorry for being insane. i have cookies tho

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actualbird · 1 year

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now i'm kinda curious actually... do you think when luke got his illness and all, do you think nsb would've let him retire then and there, or is luke just so good of an agent that they couldn't let them go? cause i can sort imagine nsb going like: "hey luke, we can let you off. we'll handle treatment and all. but please live a normal life" but then luke rejecting that offer because he'd still want be useful in some way... HUUUUU

THIS IS A FUN QUESTIONS CUZ LIKE.....i have several different views on how it could go

but before i go into this i wanna make it clear that like, i do Not think that nsb lets or even Wants luke to retire at his current age. illness aside, hes 24 and at his prime in terms of the rest of his health and his skills, AND in canon we see the nsb as still actively giving luke orders and missions (heck, the nsb is the entire reason luke is in the nxx investigation team at all, hes there on nsb orders and im never forgetting that because what a delightful chekov's gun; the only member of the team who has a completely different organization as another power to listen to)

SO all these views on how the nsb lets him go to stellis is less of the nsb allowing a retirement, and more of the nsb allowing a location reassignment. since that seems to fit better with what we see in canon.

plus, in canon, it's already mentioned that the Main Reason luke moved back to stellis was because of the nsb order to join the nxx team, with the secondary reason that luke was aligned with this because this would let him investigate the drug's origin

SO all these views additionally are more talking about like.....more factors to help sway that decision In Addition to the canon factors

so my three views on how this goes is

1 ) they really just let him go/allowed his reassignment when he asked because hes just that good

this is the premise i use the MOST in my fics: in my aaron & luke NSB days fic "excuse me, sir, i am this agent's emotional support babysitter" and what i vaguely imply in the flashbacks of my one lukerosa fic "but little do we know, the stars welcome him with open arms" and the reason is cuz.......personal agency is a great narrative tool and theme

in both those fics, i was basically trying to highlight that luke's biggest enemy and thing that is dragging him down and making things hard for himself is, honestly, himself.

so how it goes in this view of "the nsb letting him go back to stellis" is that luke just has to ask. here's an excerpt from the aaron & luke fic (which, for context, is set before luke gets his illness):

It’s a sensitive topic, he’s come to learn. Luke's reactions swing between being vaguely hopeful to extremely volatile, when Aaron brings this up. “This” being how he thinks Luke should go home, go back to this certain someone he mentions sometimes, someone he seems to really care about. Like high tide and low tide, some days are manageable and other days drown Luke completely. On the good days, Luke stops the conversation and says that he’ll think about it. On the bad days… “I wonder what music she likes now,” Luke mumbles pensively. “You should ask her,” Aaron takes a chance. “When you get back to her.” Because all it’ll take is Luke making the decision. If the mighty Agent Raven appeals for a reassignment to Stellis, Aaron is pretty sure he’ll get it without question. He’s too valuable to piss off with bureaucracy, so all the kid has to do is want to go back. It’s simple. Luke doesn’t think it’s simple, though, and he goes quiet for a few seconds.

and there we have it, this bit in a fic i wrote in 2022 explains view number 1. i dont think the nsb willingly wants to lose agent raven in their main location of operations, but agent raven is too valuable to disagree with.

good thing he never makes any demands, not even the most human demand of wanting to go home.

this premise is a favorite of mine to lean back on in stories since it frames luke's self loathing and guilt as the main factor holding him back from joy. it highlights the unhealthiness of luke's mental state and the sheer consequences it causes. all that was between him and reuniting with his childhood best friend was a request, such a tiny thing that people know would get approved, but he himself wouldnt let him take that chance for a long time.

2 ) they let him go because hes just that good + his illness softened the way because he became less of an asset thanks to his time limit

view number 2 is basically view number 1 but with the nsb being much slimier (which still leads to the good effect of letting luke go back home) but BASICALY here: they REALLY dont want luke to leave the main location of operation, but hes too valuable to piss off and oofsies okay his illness now technically means he isnt at his prime.

their best agent has a time limit now, and thats kinda a bummer from a govt organization standpoint

this view is less "luke go forth and live a better life with the years u still have!" and more of the much unkinder "dang our favorite weapon is breaking :/ and hes not as perfect anymore because of that :/ fine fiiiine go home or whatever if you wanna and be productive to relevant cases there, you might as well"

basically view number 2 is view number 1 but now with more....systemic ableism //cringe emoji

but this is the premise that is the "most canon" in my head, even if i dont use it in fic as much. simply because it takes stock of both of luke's main issues (his horrible mental health and his deterioriating physical health) AND cuz....well....i know the nsb has been mostly shown as neutral-to-benevolent force in canon so far, but can ya blame me for not trusting the shady government organization? HAHA. ableism is definitely the kind of crummy that cld thrive in an environment like that

but speaking of horrid things...

3 ) they let him go because his reassignment to stellis and his illness perfectly coincided with the rise of the NXX Team and i fully think that the nsb has something to do with the nxx drug

AND NOW WE SWERVE INTO SOME BIG BAD GUY SHIT!!

some canon facts:

luke's illness was caused by an nxx contamination of the medicine used to treat him after a Disastrous Mission

that Disastrous Mission was an nsb mission that killed all his colleagues EXCEPT him

luke joining the nxx investigation team in 2030 was due to the nsb giving him orders to do so

some questions i have now about those canon facts

how did luke's medicine become contaminated with nxx?? i assume he was being treated by the nsb in an nsb facility, the security would be tight. how the heck did the nxx drug get past that.

how the heck did the nxx drug get past all that and get to luke specifically? luke who is now a very specific person because he was the only one to survive that mission. lethal drug contamination to only survivor sounds VERY MUCH like foul play was involved, doncha think?

sure, luke's assignment to the nxx team couldve been because it was convenient, they had their best agent there already with worthwhile personal stakes in the nxx drug. but....that seems TOO CONVENIENT, DONCHA THINK???

what im saying here is that i think the nsb definitely was setting this up. either they set up the mission and/or set up the contamination to get agent raven into the nxx team. why? idk yet. but again, i dont trust mysterious govt agencies HAHA, so thats my 3rd view

so...as u can see, all my views dont really posit the nsb as the good guys JHVSKJHFVDKSJ. at most, they can be the Meh guys, but whether or not they have Something to do with the broader nxx drug plot, it IS canon that like...

luke got caught up in an operation with them when he was 16-17 years old, and that led to him joining and led to them getting their most skilled agent

so how much of that was coincidence? and even if it was a coincidence, how much of "letting a teenager into a cutthroat govt organization before he's even legal" is ethical? if the nsb cld allow that, then their broader views of the value of Human Beings seems uh shallow, to say the least. and luke took to that kind of environment like he was meant for it, because even before the nsb and before his illness, he already had a deep desire to be useful, to not be a burden, to protect the people he loves and people who cannot protect themselves.

luke was a martyr in the making honored to take up the mantle. he was perfect for the nsb. way, way too perfect.

i dont think the nsb would let go of somebody like that without good reason, without strings attached, or without the "letting go" not actually being the freedom luke and the rest of us thinks it is

thanks for the ask :D

#tears of themis #i feel like that gif of the always sunny guy pointing at a corkboard of strings and pasted stuff jkhVKJSDF #asks #anon #luke pearce #tot luke #xia yan

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rosa-qing · 1 year

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Themis-Scenario

Artem Wing

Day 18 : body swap au

Summary : he woke up in her body

Artm426-23 Masterlists

The light from the window blinded him, as soon as he opened his eyes. He looked around and found the room to be so familiar. But wasn't this their house in stellis

Is he dreaming, wasn't he in a hotel in City A for since he was invited there to handke a case.

He thinks he might be dreaming. So he sleeps again.

Soon after, the alarm rang, he reached out to it and turned it off.

He slowly opened his eyes and still he found himself in the same room. Confusion filled his mind.

He tried to get up to figure things out, suddenly he could feel something heavy on his chests.

He pressed it and found it to be soft under his touch. Looking down he found his chests to be enlarged.

A screamed left his lips, did he turn into a woman overnight.

He rushed towards the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. But his confusion only grew worse when his reflection was not his own but of his lover.

What's happening did their body swap overnight. So if his in her body that means.

Artem rushed back to the bedroom to grab her phone. He was about to call her but it rings suddenly and his caller ID showed up.

Before she could even speak, he cuts her off asking her some questions

"Is everything okay? How are you? " He asks as if they're not in the same situation.

"I'm fine, just shocked. And it just feels a bit weird being in your body"she exclaimed.

They both find it uncanny hearing each other's own voice on the other end of the line.

"What should we do" she asked him

Artem collected his thoughts, outweighing what solution is best for them. Maybe if they touch each other they could return to their own body. But she was in City A and the case he was handling will be in trial the day after tomorrow

"I'll help you with the case for now we need to try our best to get used to living in each other's body until you can return to Stellis " Artem suggested.

Artem starts to get ready for work, even though he sees her naked body so many times. He still tries his best not to look and touch her sensitive parts as he is showering.

So the whole time he barely had his eyes open. Since it doesn't feel right especially if she's not here.

He arrived at work, trying his best to act like her. He forced a smile and greeted everyone he passed through.

But still keep staring at him.

Reaching her desks, he finally lets out the breath he keeps holding on.

"Are you okay? You're smiling weirdly when you arrive" Kiki asked as soon as he arrived.

Artem panicked a little, is he too obvious

"Maybe I'm just tired. I overworked last night" he explained

"Eh! Don't overwork yourself just because Artem isn't here. You might collapse again" Kiki exclaimed

Hearing her words, it brought back unpleasant memories of him receiving a call cause she collapsed on the street.

" I won't, l'll asks someone to help me in case I needed to" he reassured her.

Convince with his words she goes back to her posts to work.

Since he's in charge with her body. He made sure he eats on time and not to overwork himself.

Also he made some notes on cses he'll help her once they return to each other's body.

Artem returned home early that night, he browsed all the files that needed the case for the case in city A.

He summarized everything to heñp her win the case. He didn't have to worry too much since with her capabilities he's sure she could win the case.

He grabbed her phone and called her.

In the second ring, she answers the phone.

"Artem how's work, Is everything okay?" Before he could speak she cuts him off asking speechless.

"Everything fine, I send the files needed for the trial" he said

He could hear a sigh left her lips.

"How about you, is everything fine" he asks.

"Everything is fine, most of the time I just spend most of the time working om the case alone" she replied

Artem felt relieved hearing her words.

"On another note, i found something regarding our swap. The night before it happened there's a meteor shower. Maybe that's the cause of it . But I still couldn't find anything for us to return back" she said

"Don't worry about that, let's figuee it out once you return" he reassured her

"Artem I miss you" she said

"I miss you too" he replied

They talked for a bit more before ending the call

Days passed by, the trial on the City A ended and she won.

" I'm home" she announced.

Artem peaked on the kitchen. And walked towards her

"Welcome home" he embraced her and stand on tip toes since there's a height difference between them and kissed her lips.

She pulled him closer deepening the kiss. Closing their eyes, savoring the taste of each other's lips

"I miss you" she whispered againsts his lips

Suddenly she realized, it was her voiced instead of Artem's

"Wait!" She snapped her eyes open, seeing Artem im front of her she realized their back on their own body.

"We're back" he said a small smile plstered on his lips.

So the only thing they needed to do is kiss

"Now we're back, shall we continue" Artem pulled her body closer.

She nods and kissed his lips, Artem lifts her up carrying her towards tbeir bedroom...

#🥀:themisscenarios #🥀:artm426 23 #tears of themis x reader #tears of themis #artem wing x reader #tot x reader #tot artem #artemrosa #tears of themis artem #artem wing #artem x reader #zuo ran x reader #zuo ran

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pollocamis · 2 years

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Well. I love reading headcanons, and I don't think I saw anyone do this one yet, so I thought I'd do it myself. That being said, I present to you:

NXX AND SWEARING

or: when do they swear & how they react to swearing

Luke

he's very polite so he's not one to swear a lot

and most people think he doesn't bc of that

but he does occasionally in a casual way if among the right people

as in when he's telling Rosa about his day he might be like "my God I had a client today and you won't believe what this motherfucker did"

and yes it might sound surprising to hear he'd say anything remotely bad when Rosa's present but it's also worth mentioning they have a very intimate relationship even before they date

swearing can be a sign of intimacy right

anyway getting back on topic: he definitely swears under his breath whenever he gets hurt in a mission or when shit gets real

bc his job can be and will be stressing and what better way to unwind than dropping an f-bomb amirite

is not phased at all if Rosa swears (they lived together for so long, he's definitely heard her say some abominations)

Artem

you'd think he's at the "never swore before and refuses to do so" tier

but hear me out: he's actually done so before and will do it again

never publicly tho

he's very professional so none of his colleagues ever heard anything remotely resembling a swear coming from him (and they NEVER will.)

but when he's alone he'll probably gently do so if having a hard time in a case or feeling frustrated or in pain or whatever reason

and if his colleagues never heard him swear imagine Rosa

she'll NEVER. EVER. hear Artem swear

unless their dinamic changes a bit later on I'm not sure about this I play the global server :P

tho I don't think he'd feel very comfortable in doing so

now that I think about it, I guess he'd feel guilty or at least strange if anyone heard, especially considering they'd definitely be weird about it (WDYM **ARTEM WING** IS SAYING FU-)

if Rosa swore around him (which I don't think she'd do) he'd be confused and probably worried depending on the situation (the confusion stemming from the fact he's not used to hear ppl swearing unless it's someone blatantly trying to disrespect him)

(she isn't ofc)

Marius

regularly swears

I read "Gordon Ramsay's child" in a tier list and I'm laughing (unrelated)

he's very professional and polite when speaking to ppl in business bc let's be real who in their sane mind wouldn't be haha *sweats in Brazilian while looking at our current ruler*

but put him among close friends and this kid know no boundaries in language

in summary: it's situational and he knows exactly what situations he should and shouldn't do so

as a bonus his father probably also swears with him at home once he's reached a certain age, I don't get the strict language parent vibe from him

I believe he tones the swearing down to a minimum when he's talking with Rosa tho

yk gotta cause a good impression

but will swear if not directed at her like "Artem needs to stop licking Neil's balls lmao" (he'd DEFINITELY say stuff like this if not for censoring)

when she does it back tho he's shocked for a sec but is back on track right away

only for the first few times tho, after that he knows what to expect

Vyn

he either doesn't know swear words on whatever language Stellis speaks or simply refuses to swear

either way he doesn't

at least not that we know of...

nah he doesn't

he's at the tier "has not sworn before but can if so desired" except he still hasn't desired to do so

he's had a strict upbringing as a prince so that's probably why

and also his thing with flaws yk he probably considers bad language a flaw

oh if only he knew about famous Brazilian poet (/j) Cris Nocolotti and her song that goes "when you say 'get fucked' for the first time/ you will retake the reins of your life in your hands" (loose translation)

if Rosa swore around him (which I don't think she'd do especially since she's calls him Doctor Richter after they're dating like come ON) he'd be amused actually (again depending on the situation)

yes I did say he thinks bad laguage = flaw but he seems to like seeing Rosa's multiple sides so there's that

Rosa

she does.

let's be real have you read those stories she's in

she's almost dying every five seconds

if she's never swore in any of those moments she's the most polite girl in the entire world

or simply already dead inside

anyway I don't think she cares a lot if she's not in a professional setting

or trying to cause a good impression ofc

or around someone who doesn't swear, I feel like she'd respect the other person's wishes (hence my thoughts on her w/ Artem/Vyn)

just like Marius: it's situational and she knows the right places

she doesn't get mad at people swearing tho and will be ok with the nxx boys swearing with her

now I wonder when hearing Artem/Vyn swear would she be amused or worried

probably both

#tears of themis #luke pearce #artem wing #marius von hagen #vyn richter #headcanon #this is so dumb I'm so sorry #but it had to be done #wdym I need to learn synonyms

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samsspambox · 2 years

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the nxx villain au you didn't need, but i'll give it to you anyway bc it won't leave me alone

now, stellis is a place with a shit load of crime and tbh, are you sure you wanna invest into the real estate market here? anyway, what if our gaggle of hot protagonists were actually villains? you know, more in theme with the city they live in? i will be offering up some different options for them to be different types of villains in part bc maybe you want them to be morally grey, but also bc i cant decide what villain they should be.

be warned: will be talking about stuff villains do (death, drugs..) so read with caution if you're uncomfortable with this stuff!

red flags aside: here we go!

Luke

okay so going from least morally grey, i think this mf could be a vigilante

hear me out, he already has this innate sense of justice if he joined the nsb (well,, he was recruited when he was 16/17 so did he really join by his own volition?)

anyway

vigilante pearce but he doesn't hold back the punches bc sometimes, stopping someone means getting blood on your hands

it also fits well with his lone wolf tendencies we see in chapter one where he literally shuts off the fucking coms while investigating something

sub point: assassin for hire luke pearce

no moral compass, just having a target and ending the target (:

i also think he could a lab rat/field agent combo for a counter intelligence agency that the nsb doesn't fuck with

or alternatively: what if the nsb didn't find luke but herrison did?

he could be one of the fuckers working on the nxx drug but also? what if he went out and tested it unsuspecting people?? a whole ass menace to society

this one is kinda tangential but: underground mass drugs/arms distribution luke pearce

mob king luke pearce? mob king luke pearce.

i mean hes already in this space in game where he doesn't want mc to see him as raven bc that's the 'worst version of him' so what if, fuck it, he embraces that?

with his bio-engineering knowledge he could be the one making the drugs and save on the labor lmaooo

Vyn

fake psychic

LMAOO HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT

he can easily read people and based on that he can tell them what they want to hear (no, this isn't me plugging the mentalist as a show you should watch, stfu)

anyway he has a flair for the dramatics and can perform magic tricks too, you could put him in a daytime television show and he could make millions

similarly about reading people i could see him being an interrogator but like,, the shady type

they type that if you're held hostage would rip you to shreds and he wouldn't even have to touch you

he can also serve as a type of lie detector??? again, vyn would be pretty good at reading people

here's a big one: traitor to svart

he already hates the place and he's basically given a position of power if he stays

he wouldn't be good at reading people in this one bc he didn't go to school for psych, he focused more on how to run a country

but i feel like vyn just has this really good talent for reading people regardless of training

anyway he kinda just,,, let's people fuck over svart and everyone is none the wiser

Marius

he could be an art thief tbh

i'm not talking about copying paintings— well he could do that as a side hustle but no— i mean like actually going in and stealing paintings

he could resell them under the guise of 'i found this stolen artwork and i just had to save it, you know? now give me money'

he wouldn't even be held as a villain he'd be a fucking hero

next one: he's the son of a person with a conglomerate empire do i really need to say more /j

no but fr him as a villain could just be him not caring for what's happening in the compay

who's to say he wasn't the one to send giann off bc he wanted the company? (yes i am implying that marius had giann killed, this is a villain au)

another one who could be a good candidate for a mob boss but here's the catch: this fucker would also be involved in politics

after all, no one can come after you if you make laws that prevent people from coming after you!

tax fraud, disappearing people, parties, admission fraud, you name it. he's probably done it. no one can catch him tho (:

Artem

listen i mean this from the bottom of my heart and as an artem stan: he's boring.

there's no feasible way for him to become a villain without outside incentives. he's literally one of the least corruptible people in the game, how do we get him to be a villain?

well, we blackmail him. we force him to be a villain.

see, arty will defend his clients to the bitter end. what if he pulls a baldr and that also means 'by any means necessary'? just one time wouldn't hurt, right?

wrong. now ingrid roseworth has some pretty incriminating stuff on artem, but if he signed on with baldr she wouldn't release that stuff

oh he wants to take them to court? pity, then the whole world will know what he did without them even lifting a finger.

so he goes to baldr. it just snowballs from there until he's bribing his own father. there's no rest for the wicked, after all

this is literally the only way i can see artem go villain. he's too straight-laced to actually become a villain and he believes too much in justice

well, he can also go vigilante but again, his moral code wouldn't allow him to do it.

would they be in a group? i don't think so?? i'm like 90% sure that all of them being villains would mean they would clash heads often enough, so no. if i were to put them in a group tho?

id go with assassin luke, traitor vyn, bad ceo von hagen, and then blackmailed artem. they're all plotting the fall of svart so that marius could buy his own country. vyn doesn't care what happens to the place, it isn't home to him. marius just wants a country. luke is there bc he's getting paid and so is artem, though he'd use the fall of svart as blackmail to ceo von hagen, since it was planned from the beginning.

and yeah. those are my thoughts for a villain au involving the nxx! have fun <3

#talks from the spambox #tears of themis #villain tears of themis #artem wing #zuo ran #vyn richter #luke pearce #marius von hagen #mo yi #lu jinghe #xia yan #tears of themis headcanons #tears of themis hc #listen sometimes villain hot #someone send me villain artem suggestions i was really struggling lmaooo

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stellylee · 1 year

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THE INSPIRATION BEHIND... ESTELLE LEE CARTER

monsters / run river north 🎧

capable / the wild reeds 🎧

do bad well / KSHMR ft. Nevve 🎧

stelly is ... the color black, a loud jazz band playing in the French quarter, candles with dripping wax, old polaroid photos from a vintage camera, brightly colored alcohol, dog bones (the edible kind), leather jackets and boots, neon signs, dark rooms, miranda hartman's other half.

Friends... Stelly has been a wild ride. When I tell you that I really did not have any inspiration going into crafting them other than wanting to play someone who was smart, sassy and specifically Stelly, I'm not lying! There really weren't any fictional characters that I feel like I drew inspo from, no one that made me go, 'there, that!' and want to craft someone in their likeness. They kind of just happened organically as I went along, and I like that. Stelly's grown a lot even since their creation, which I feel like... kind of goes with their whole story, too.

Tristin Mays just really fit the vibe that I had in mind for the character: someone who was a little alternative without being full blown goth or emo or whatever phrasing you want to use. She wears a lot of the same clothes that Stelly would wear, kind of has that attitude down, everything just felt like a good fit, and I knew that I wanted to use her. Even though I'm pretty sure I've only ever seen her in Vampire Diaries, which tracks for me.

At the point that Stelly was brought to life in my brain, I had Cage who was a local, Nari who had moved as a very young kid and mostly remembered only life in Merrock, and Rafael who had moved to town as a full adult. Cage was a cis het man who already had his love life planned, ran his own business, was successful. Nari was my sunshine girl who went through life with a bounce in her step. Rafael was all business, all the time. Drama in his past. So, I wanted Stelly to be something completely different, and decided to make them nonbinary, fluid in their sexuality, and having struggled for a while to figure out what to do with their life... before grabbing the bull by the horns and going for it. I mostly just wanted to play someone who was comfortable in their own skin and ready and willing to adapt to any new thing that they discovered about themselves along the way. Mission accomplished.

I was lucky enough to have a built in connection with Lindsey's Chetan, and the idea we whipped together for them to be step-siblings, which gave me a good launching point. I wanted Stelly to have connections to their Creole roots, so growing up in New Orleans only seemed logical. Eating beignets, dancing in the streets, just immersing themselves in the culture of home. (I also might have been inspired a little by The Originals, sue me.) Of course, life would throw them through a loop and after their dad and mom split, they would move to a tiny town in Maine on the advice of their mom's friend (thanks, Aleja...) and end up with a step-brother from hell. Plus, I thought that playing someone who moved to town when they were kid-aged, right on the cusp of the teenage years, might be a little bit different. Having to go through those formative years in a brand new place that they didn't want to be in, really. Add in the fact that they suddenly had to do all of that with a kid that was older and smarter than them, and it definitely made for an interesting dynamic. I really had no inspiration for that, other than me and Lindsey wanting to torture our characters, clearly.

I'm not even sure where the idea of Mandy and Stelly started... but once it did, I think both me and Erin were pretty hooked. Stelly, this sassy, confident person slinging drinks at a sports bar, and Mandy, someone who had no idea about sports, pretending to be into it. Plus, I was inspired to throw Stelly even more into that wearing all dark colors and being a little edge lord... because it really complimented Mandy being a literal Tinkerbell. And we were both were inspired by the fact that they were just so free-spirited and fun to let them do their own thing, not to worry about labeling relationships or anything of the sort: just be happy.

And career wise... I chose to have Stelly start out working in the diner, because living in a small town, let's be real. That's just how it goes sometimes. But of course they decided to do something a little bigger: bartending. I'm not even going to pretend to have inspiration for that. I don't drink. I hate the taste of alcohol. I frequently ask myself, "what did you do, and why?" when people ask Stelly alcohol questions, but it seemed like the best fit for their personality, and I will stand by that! They get to flirt with the people who come in (although admittedly, not so much now with Mandy in their life), or tell them off when they need it. And can be protective over the younger crowd that comes in, too, especially young women. And photography, that one I can take credit for! I love photography. I'm always taking pictures of everything around me, and I used to work in a photography studio, to boot, so it just felt kind of right to feed that into one of my characters, somewhere along the line. Now, they get to take photos of their friends and that's pretty fun, too.

Other than photography, I don't really think Stelly and I have that much in common -- other than our pets being our kids (except Stelly is a dog person, and I am decidedly not, but that's okay). Maybe our love for the arts. Although not an artist in the traditional sense, Stelly admires art, loves to be around art, and I'm a lot like that, too. Oh! Their home. Their home was definitely inspired by me seeing these old, rundown homes... and finding them absolutely beautiful. Someday, they might even get it fixed.

#merrocktask #all about stelly

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calqlate · 2 years

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NXX AND KDRAMAS

m.list | send a brainrot/request here

CONTEXT: the nxx members are kdrama addicts! what type of kdrama watchers are they, what are their favourite kdramas, and what are their favourite kdrama genres?

— ARTEM WING

i can't see him as the type to watch the typical romance kdramas as entertainment. but if they're for research purposes (as supplements to his so-called study in introduction to the psychology of love and attraction), sure (courtesy of overhearing the ladies in the workplace talking about an actor from the latest kdrama, of course)!

he's the kind to watch kdramas related to crime, like city hunter (2011) and defendant (2017)

if he watches legal dramas, he really scrutinises everything and gets lowkey triggered when the wrong articles and such are used

however, if he's watching kdramas for romance research purposes, he gets recommendations from celestine and she directs him to the super cheesy ones, like he's beautiful (2009) and weightlifting fairy kim bokjoo (2016)

as mockingbird, he will rate and review all the kdramas he's watched. he personally hates love alarm (2019-2021) because he thinks the plot doesn't make sense at all.

— VYN RICHTER

i'm not sure if this guy even watches kdramas tbh LOL. does he even watch tv???

okay but here's a take: he watches the old kdramas. i'm talking about those from the early 2010s.

he watches them just to make fun of everything as well. he's super critical about everything and psychoanalyses everything, the smartass.

another hot take: he watches the period kdramas from the early 2010s. i'm talking about dong yi (2010), the moon embraces the sun (2012), and faith (2012). he likes the old film aesthetics (as compared to kdramas from 2019 onwards) and how dramatic everything is, how everyone retaliates by screaming and the most dramatic scenes of the empress dowager fainting.

he will never tell anyone about his kdrama addiction though, unless you're his special someone

— LUKE PEARCE

this guy will not publicly admit it (unless it's with close friends like rosa) but he's into the high school romance dramas! i'm talking about those slowburn types with a dense female lead and two male leads who are super obvious about their feelings.

he most likely watches those from the 2010s (as what i call, the kdrama prime where there's really good plots), like heartstrings (2011), the heirs (2013), and sassy go go (2015)

he also watches the sad ones when he's in his sad emo times. his favourite sad series is the endless love series (2000-2006), because someone in each season is always dying, and he relates to it on a spiritual level.

he probably got into the kdrama kick because of rosa. before luke left, they watched kdramas together every saturday night. he didn't watch kdramas on any saturday night because he felt guilty about not watching them with rosa. so when he returned to stellis, they resumed their kdrama saturday nights!

— ROSA

romcom queen! anything that's funny and full of cute romance is up her alley!

her personal favourites are extraordinary you (2019), a love so beautiful (2020), and business proposal (2022).

she also likes the ones with some action, thriller, and suspense elements to it (which run alongside the main romance theme), like strong woman do bongsoon (2017) and hotel del luna (2019).

when luke left, she didn't even want to do kdrama saturday night. like luke, she felt guilty watching kdramas on her own on saturday night without him, so she spent those eight years not watching kdramas on saturday night. so when he returned, she made sure to go over to his apartment (or he would go over to hers when she's too swamped up with work) to watch whatever new kdrama that's trending.

she definitely had a nxx sleepover with the boys and watched kdramas with them hehe

— MARIUS VON HAGEN

first and foremost, this guy is capable and will binge one kdrama season in one night. he is not above sacrificing his (already limited hours of) sleep to do so. (he will only do this if he thinks that it is worth bingeing.)

he's also the type to watch whatever kdrama(s) his crush/s/o watches or likes just to have a conversation

he likes watching the dramatic ones with wrist grabs, multiple close-ups of kiss scenes, and the intense yelling. he also thinks those cliché scenes with the rich mom telling the poor female lead to break up with her son are lame (he will actually yell "boo!" and frown at the screen).

he also does a lot of running commentary. this man canNOT shut up.

his favourites are moon lovers: scarlet heart ryeo (2016), love alarm (2019-2021), and a love so beautiful (2020). he's still waiting for a moon lovers: scarlet heart ryeo s2 and will not accept the ending of the series as the final ending.

what's wrong with secretary kim? (2018) has a special place in his heart because he and giann watched it repeatedly when he was younger

— AND SO, THE NXX "TEAM-BUILDING" SLEEPOVER WENT SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

the sleepover was suggested by rosa (under the guise of a team-building exercise), because she thought they could all use an evening to spend time with one another and get to know each other better! they were all awkward about the idea at first, but it doesn't take much convincing from rosa for them to agree to it (she brought up the kdramas).

they went to artem's house because this guy has a fancy in-house movie setup and they connected marius' ipad to the projector because he has a netflix account (which luke says "needs to be abused")

all the boys let rosa to pick their kdrama for the night and rosa flat-out refused, because that's not fair to the others and they should all have an equal chance of picking a kdrama to watch.

they tried to convince her that it's fine, she can pick something out and they're all cool with it, but rosa went full attorney mode and fought with them (verbally) and managed to convince them that they will all pick one out together. that! is! all!

marius originally suggested love alarm, but artem was against it, and was going to fight marius about how it would waste everyone's time but rosa managed to stop them before there was going to be ww3

vyn suggested empress ki, but luke argued that it would take forever to watch since it was 50+ episodes long and they had, at best, 10 hours to spare (if they didn't sleep). they still wouldn't get past 20 episodes if they watched it all at 2x speed

multiple arguments and one exhaused rosa later, she rubbed her temples and halted the debate. a lightbulb popped over her head as she said, "okay boys, what about he is psychometric?"

they agreed and rosa searched the kdrama up, then they all settled down on the couch to watch it

everyone was quiet (save for the sounds of chewing of fruit (prepared by artem)). however, marius kept running his mouth off (as usual) and luke had to grab a pillow to smack it over his head and say, "marius, keep it down! we're all trying to watch this and you're breaking our focus."

begrudgingly, marius snatched the pillow away and hugged it to his chest as he pursed his lips into a straight line to keep his comments to a minimum

when it hit 10pm (they were on episode 2), vyn was out like a light. artem had blankets prepared and rosa carefully draped it over their resident sleeping beauty.

at 11pm (halfway through episode 3), artem fell asleep, leaning on vyn just slightly. rosa adjusted the blankets so that both of them were covered.

at around 1am (near the end of episode 5), marius fell asleep (he had been working late the past few nights and had been running on a couple of hours' worth of sleep) on luke's shoulder, and rosa moved to grab a blanket for him

rosa lasted another hour and fell asleep at 2am (during episode 6). carefully, luke shifted marius so he could grab a blanket to drape it over her before switching marius' ipad and the projector off. he moved rosa's head so that her head would rest on his shoulder before he went to sleep as well.

all in all, a successful team-building sleepover!

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pastsaoi · 1 year

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i'd love to know about all of the wips because of the sheer potential of all of them, really.

bet okay here we go ty for asking!! all of these r drafts so excuse anything that is clunky or weird sounding

part 2 in the 'is marius von hagen an idiot or just bisexual' series

this revolves around marius being allergic to silver. all his jewellery is platinum and he gets touched by luke Who Is Wearing A Silver Ring At The Time. queue a nasty rash all over and he never notices the ring bc he is more focused on luke, which leads to mar believing he is allergic to Luke Pearce and asking the rest of the team about it. he is genuinely distressed at the thought of potentially being allergic to luke

Whenever it was just Vyn, Robin and Artem in the NXX Headquarters, it was quite peaceful. They got on with their work with quiet conversations and no terrible, very bad ideas. With Robin present, it stopped Artem and Vyn from their bickering and, thus, it was calm. Serene one could say. The perfect environment to work and not fuck it up. Though it could also be said that this was simply calm before the storm.

So when the quick pounding of footsteps echoed around the hall near the door, Vyn took a deep breath, Artem rubbed at his temples and Robin clasped her hands together, hoping for something normal for the team like a murder or missing persons case.

"CAN YOU BE ALLERGIC TO PEOPLE?"

Her hopes had not been answered and Robin simply stared at where Marius stood at the doorway, looking… well, like shit.

once upon a fucking december

Okay so. Anastasia is my favourite film of All Time so ofc i had to make a tot au for it!! i have many different variations for this idea such as: rosa as anya and luke as dimitri, vyn as anya and rosa as dimitri, marius as anya luke as dimitri You Get The Idea. i don't actually have a snippet for this one bc its mostly just plots and plans in a gdoc But i will write it one day when i decide who to write as who

nxx unsolved : supernatural

The team go ghosthunting basically. marius signs them up to go explore a supposedly haunted building in stellis after someone asks and he does it under the guise of Teamwork and Team Bonding. its mostly a disaster

"This is a terrible idea," Vyn had stood up to fix himself a cup of tea almost immediately as Marius started speaking, though the whole team knew if he could get something stronger he would.

Marius pointedly ignored him. "We could be like the guys from Scooby Doo! I will be Fred and Miss can be Velma since she's the smartest out of all of us."

"Luke has eaten dog food before so he can be Scooby," Robin pitched in from where she was sitting, sending a bright grin over in Luke's direction.

"Fuck you! I swore you to secrecy!" The dog food eater threw the pillow he was holding at Robin and it was quickly tossed back.

Robin kept her smile, "all's fair in love and war. And I want Artem to be Daphne!"

"Why should Artem be Daphne? They're nothing alike?"

"He's the prettiest out of us all and don't argue, 'cause you know I'm right, Luke!"

backstreets back ALRIGHT DUN DUN DUNDUN

band/idol au thing. i was listening to nysnc and then i sat up and was like Wait A Second and thats how this idea was born. poor rosa is going through it as she deals with their bullshit. havent written much for this one atm but

Robin got the email yesterday that she was getting transferred into group management.

She was being assigned to a newly established boy band named NXX and was now the group manager. Robin couldn't believe her eyes, she was a goddamned PR manager????? Who in their right mind got her to do this??

Sure, she'd done something similar in her first year with TE. Her first job with the company was working with their most successful girl group, JAEI, but she wasn't the group manager???? She was the one who managed their social media and scheduled interviews! That's nothing compared to actually managing a group?? How would she be able to manage this?

Robin needed coffee, and Celestine, and more coffee.

Dead in 3 years?? OR NOT

Right. this one Luke is Dead and is now a ghost who goes around haunting fancy places for fun. he ends up haunting marius' new home which is very fancy and he ends up befriending a ghost luke. again i have no snippet for this one bc. I have not written anything yet but it is an idea that i will eventually write!!!

hey god can you take this guy away

yk the river styx? charon the ferryman who takes over the dead people? Yeah that is luke pearce and marius, a very not dead person arrives asking to go to the underworld

Long boat rides offer a lot of time for thinking, but Luke was really all thinking out. He had been here for who knows how many years and no longer had much to think about, lest he wanted to question his very existence for the 8th time that week.

He has to admit though. This shit is so, so lonely. The lost dead people don't really talk to him and are too nervous about their journey to the Underworld to actually speak so they aren't any fun. You get sick of morbidly enjoying people's stress after a short while, he might be a courier of souls but he isn't a monster!

Which is why, on his next journey over the river, as he was letting people onto his boat and accepting their kinda gross coins from their mouth, Luke was pleasantly surprised to see a definitely not dead guy.

Vyn Richter Loses It

story is in the title tbh. vyn is tired he has had A Bad Week and just wants to get this nxx meeting over with and go home but then the blender blows up and there is a strange mixture everywhere (help Him)

He has zero patience for the members of the NXX team today (excluding Robin, of course). His lacking patience rears it head once again when he walks into headquarter and finds-

Well, it looks like a fucking bomb went off.

Keep in mind, Vyn owns the building that houses their headquarters. He paid for it and while he isn't lacking in money, it was still expensive, it's in the Victorian District for God's sake stuff there isn't exactly cheap.

So, pardon his reaction to finding the entire room covered in something white that quite frankly makes Vyn very nervous. Oh, and really annoyed. Not to mention the blasting of a K-Pop song he recognises since it was both Neil and Giann's favourite song for a while. (For about 5 months straight it was the only song allowed to be played in headquarters and in their modes of transport (it drove Vyn absolutely mad)). The song isn't helping with anything.

There is a distinct odour of vanilla and egg which is quite possibly the worst combination of things he's ever smelt. He covers his nose and closes his eyes in a desperate attempt to keep his growing temper in check and prepare himself for whatever he'll find in there.

RED ALERT VYN RICHTER IS HOT

this is just rosa thinking abt how hot all her team is and also realising that Vyn may be the hottest out them all and needing to go sit and think. this is mildly fanservice-y but its okay

Robin knew she worked with insanely attractive men. She knew it, she relished in it, she embraced it.

However since she is around attractive men so much, she tends to forget just how hot they are sometimes. At random points it hits her, like when Artem stretched his arms above his head and she just stared. And he had a tight shirt on. And she could see everything. (She excused herself and sat on the bathroom floor in headquarters for about 15 minutes, rethinking everything.)

She frequently had these random experiences and she usually handled them quite well. It came with a lot of self reflection and crying at just how lucky she was to be with such works of art regularly.

those r my drafts. my wips. can u tell i like marluke just a Bit

will i ever finish these? Who knows bc i certainly do not i am a busy person but i love them all so maybe one day u will see them on my ao3

#my silly little drafts #wip tag game #tears of themis #are they horrible ideas? perhaps but i like them and i hope u do too #:]!!!!!!!

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merrock · 1 year

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wednesday; hump day!

Morning, folks! We're at the halfway point of our Volunteer Week event, which means there is still plenty of time to get involved! I'm going to highlight the open starters we have seen so far (as of April 26th at 12PM). To my knowledge, all of these are still open for new replies from anyone!

Deacon Newman -- at the conservatory.

Amina Zaidi – at the state park.

Vitus Aydin – at the animal sanctuary.

Chloe Nwokobia – at the beach.

Ramsey Salazar – at harmony ranch.

Alice Zhao – at paradise garden.

Stelly Carter – open location.

All current open starters are writing-based, and you are welcome to make new ones! At this point if you do, please make sure you have replied to existing starters, though! (Also, please be sure if you haven't been replying to starters, period, you take the time to do so before our next check, which will be done very soon.) All starters can be replied to until the end of the OOC duration of the event (April 30th), and new starters can be made until then, too, closed or opened. All threads created before then can be continued as long as you would like, however!

Our thread/plotting call post is still pinned to the top of our OOC blog! If you have commented on the post, take the time to reach out to others who have, as well -- get something going, offer up a plot or thread! I promise you that it will make someone's day to feel included. Please, please, please get out of the mindset of only expecting people to come to you, we want this to be a two way street!

Lastly, if you have not heard from your assigned partner by now, reach out to us and let us know -- one of the admins will happily start a thread with you, or we can find someone who will. xx

#merrockadmin

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vynsvision · 2 years

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Reviewing Vyn SSR cards bc I'm bored and I LOVE his cards a lot.

I couldn't say I prefer all of his cards to someone else's, because each of the boys have their ups and downs. What I will say is he's my favorite of the NXX boys and whenever I think he may lose my bias, I remember a few cards and I remember why he's my favorite.

Average rating: 3.8/5 stars :)

Gonna go chronological or at least the order that I read the cards.

Starting off strong with-

Medieval Suspense - 5/5 stars

This was the first SSR I ever got, and the first one I ever read. The lil guy got in my head and stayed there. Cheers.

Story summary: Vyn and MC go to this sort of LARP thing in Stellis. MC has never done this sort of thing before, but they're glad Vyn is there because he has. (Of course he has.)

Everyone gets costumes according to their roles, and they all meet again in a dining room in character to start the murder mystery. MC's character conveniently has amnesia so they're extra in the dark.

The story itself (the LARP one that the characters are playing) is super dramatic which is delicious. Its later revealed that Vyn's character and MC's character had been a couple, which I think everyone knew Except MC.

Ultimately, Vyn's character was the one responsible for the murder, but im pretty sure the rest of the characters agree to let it slide, lol.

Art is fucking fantastic, even if its a little simple. I'll always be a sucker for this card, as its the first one I ever got. Story is immaculate. Therefore, 5/5 stars, easy.

Near and Far - 1/5 stars.

Listen. The art of the third evolution is kinda sweet. But like. This and two other cards focus on Vyn's job as a psychiatrist (psychologist????) and I do not like how this card was done at all.

First off, it is about MC visiting Vyn at the Giannovyn mental center and they meet a patient with DID. On the one hand, cool that HYV knew about DID before Moon Knight. (Low bar i know.) On the other hand... I, a person who is not a system but was aware of DID before previous stated low bar, dont think it was handled that well. The patient in the card has 2 alters- one is chill and she's assumed to be a sort of host or fronting alter i think, the other has it out for literally everyone. Its kinda interesting later when its revealed how the alter was formed, but... idk. It just feels a little. Weird to me? Again though I'm not a system so my view may be irrelevant.

Another thing in a couple of Vyn's cards is that MC or Vyn are physically harmed. In this card, he gets a cut from the sister alter. I dont super love this because it doesn't seem like anyone else has this trend in their cards.

Art is nice but its just less interesting for the context and story of the card. 1/5 bc art is still well done but its just meh in general.

Heartfelt Suspense - 2.5/5 stars

This is the Lost Gold event card! Set after the end of the event, Vyn and MC are a part of a team to look for contestants that got lost during the event. They find and rescue a woman who had fallen down a rockside. Her ankle is pretty banged up- i think its sprained? She pretty quickly falls for Vyn and flirts pretty shamelessly, causing MC to feel jealous. They have bad reception for the radios to contact the staff, so Vyn goes to look for reception and supplies, leaving MC with the woman. Then MC gets fed up with the woman's pride and need for attention so she leaves. (Wtf MC) They find Vyn as they attempt to cross a rope bridge. They go back to the woman and they're all picked up by staff.

Vyn explains at some point that the woman fell head over heels for Vyn because of a sort of like savior complex due to the adrenaline. MC feels silly for being jealous.

Overall its not a bad card per se, but its not one of my favorites, either. I also. Really like MC's little outfit in this card. So cute. And Vyn's dialog with them on the bridge. Good moment.

2 stars for the chemistry of Vyn and MC even tho they're not together yet, half a star for MC's little outfit :)

A Star In the Night - 5/5 stars

First of all. CAN WE GET SOME COMMOTION FOR THE DRESS???? The third evolution for this card is fucking spectacular while the first two are so plain. The art. Incredible. The dress. Showstopping. VYN DIPPING MC????? FANTASTIC!!!

This is Vyn's birthday event card. God bless.

For whatever reason or other they're both at an event and the entertainment to cap off the evening is this fancy dance to be performed, but oops the professional dancers had to cancel! Luckily, Vyn knows the dance and teaches it to MC. They do the dance successfully. Yay.

Ok but seriously. One if the first SR cards I read was A Gentleman's Game, which was my first indication of omg Vyn isnt from Stellis? So like. I knew that hes this lil royal dickhead that knows all kinds of court stuff. And dances. And etiquette. Et cetera. But the absolute BANGERS of lines in this card. Vyn being sly about how he knows stuff, knowing it's his birthday but he makes it all about MC, his little jerk moves where he's like "I have so much authority and knowledge you couldn't even imagine. But its ok, I choose you regardless." Like !!!!!! SIR!!!!! Honestly, while I haven't read Artem or Luke's bday cards, those seem to still keep the boys as the focus of the card, confirmed in Marius's. But in Vyn's he makes sure MC is the center of attention. Its fucking spectacular. Marvelous. Incredible. Its literally amazing.

Apparently I forgot how much I loved this card.

Anyway, bunch'a stars to the art, bunch'a stars to the story, bunch'a stars to the chemistry. Thank u.

Between Good and Evil - 2.5/5 stars

Symphony of the Night event card.

Sorely disappointing card I gotta say. The art has a lot going for it so thats nice but the whole story is gaslighting a grandma about MC being possessed by her daughter while trying to find information about scammers. Ultimately, the grandma confesses she knows they're just pretending.

The story on this one is funky (/neg) and Vyn just,,, seems kinda out of character in it, especially the beginning part when he does the electric static ball thing. Like yo wtf. Creepy weird. Ick.

2 stars for the art, half a star for benefit of the doubt in case I forgot a good moment. Idk. The rating system is made up mostly. But I'm right.

Blazing Colors - 5/5 stars

Love Poem to Skadi event card.

YO WHEN I TELL YOU THIS CARD FUCKING SLAPS, (a positive phrase, btw) IT FUCKING SLAPS.

Story summary before I ramble- Vyn and MC are still on Skadi after the event so they go to this island off the coast where this volcano is. Vyn is there to visit a friend and so MC comes with. For the culture, of course. Anyway, they meet the friend who's a glass artist. Some dialog happens, I think a day or two passes, they explore some historical war ruins, they visit friend in her shop, and then boom, volcano on the island is gonna erupt. Women and children are assigned to be ferried off the island while men are directed to stay behind to be picked up by helicopters. Somewhere during this, as MC and friend get on the ferries, they both realize that the helicopters won't be able to land because of the ash and smoke in the air, so MC points out canoes and other small boats the men can row out. MC leaves the friend in charge of telling the authorities about that plan, and MC races to where the men were going to be. Meanwhile, Vyn was also realizing the helicopters weren't going to be able to land, so he convinces the authorities to go to the ruins, which are flat and big enough and high enough to be a good spot for pick up. After Vyn leads everyone to the ruins, MC arrives to the airfield to find it empty. They then realize the same thing Vyn did, and follows them to the ruins. Reunion happens and they get off the island safely before things get serious.

(Wrote this before summary and I'm unmotivated to adjust it) I'm kinda a sucker for glass art first of all. So the npc that we meet being a glass artist??? Hello. ALSO THE CHIBI ART IN THIS ONE IS SO CUTE I HAVENT MENTIONED THE LIKE IDK MEMORY THINGS YET BUT THEY BOTH TRY THE FISH AND THEYRE BOTH ICKED OUT ITS SO CUTE THEY TRY TO SAVE FACE AAAAAH

Aaaanyway, yeah, lots of cute stuff happens in this card. And the art is incredible. I dont super love the first two evolutions but I do appreciate them a lot and the FUXKING THIRD EVOLUTION AAAAAND ITS CONTEXT IM GONNA SCREEEAAAAM.

This card is perfect incredible showstopping amazing wonderful stupendous. Its probably my favorite Vyn card.

Art, story, chemistry, everything. Amazing.

Food for Thought - 4/5 stars.

Romantic Rail Getaway event card.

Listen. Slut!Vyn is always good. Idk what to say.

Vyn and MC go back to uh fake France to visit Vyn's wine making friend. Coincidentally, this wine-making friend is a hugely impactful and rich and influential person in the global wine industry. He hosts Vyn and MC but mostly lets Vyn do whatever he wants. Fab.

They harvest some grapes and they also plant a vine together. (The hoops MC leaps through for everything to be "as friends!" is silly goofy in EVERY card but I digress.) Later, Vyn gets aaaaaa little drunk but he keeps his head on his shoulders and knows better than to do or say anything to make MC uncomfortable.

MC also at some point eavesdrops on a conversation with Vyn and his wine making pal about Vyn's parents. We get a lot of Vyn and Svart lore/info in this card.

Art was fantastic, story was cute, drunk!vyn was good, yeah. Chill times :)

Neon Melody - 4/5 stars

Once again Vyn gets jealous as he misinterprets MC's attention on anyone else but him. Dumbass. (/affectionate)

MC goes to a club or something I dont remember why but they see Vyn there in a comPLETELy different outfit and atmosphere than normal. Finds out that Vyn has been in the club music scene for a bit. MC meets a "friend" of his (he's actually a patient/client? of Vyn) and this friend explains what Vyn is doing in this scene.

MC inspires Vyn to write some music about a specific subject and he dedicates the performance to MC while everyone else is gushing and vying for his attention.

Art is great, Vyn naps with his head on MC's lap, VYN RICHTER IN IDK CLUB PERFORMER OUTFIT!!!!!!, vyn being upset about not having MC's attention (chill version) and just. Yeah. Good stuff. :)

Last but certainly not least-

Flickering Moonlight - 5/5 stars.

When I tell you I was excited for this card to be completely embracing au, im telling you I was fucking ecstatic.

The art of this card is so perfect and before it came out I was confused as to how this would make sense to be dressed up like this in Stellis or Khamit. And then. Its. An au. Without any explanation or "hey is this a dream?" or anything. EVEN THE FACETIME CALL ISNT A FACETIME CALL ITS YOU GO AND HANG W VYN AT A WATER FOUNTAIN??????

The immersion. Fuck, man.

AND THE COVERING OF MC's MOUTH SO THEY DONT REVEAL THEIR AND VYN'S HIDING SPOT TO THE PHAROAH AND VISCOUNT OR WHATEVER? "gOOD GIRL"?????????? THE BINDFOLD???? THE EMBRACING AND THE "I'm do glad I found you to be the one like me- questioning the pharaoh and the gods because this truly seems a little sus" like. Bruh. I am. Gone. This card. Fantastic. Probably my second favorite.

Yeah.

Anyway, yes I have all the Vyn cards, yes I know its wild, no im not going to talk about the amount of money I've spent on this game.

Vyn Richter love of my life. How else do I end this?

#tears of themis #vyn richter #vyn richter ssr card review #i'll update this with more ssrs :)#i may combine doing the other boys ssrs bc i havent gotten them all but i do have a bunch so yeah :)

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darpow · 1 year

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THE INSPIRATION BEHIND... DARRIUS REGINALD POWELL

three little birds / bob marley 🎧

wonderful world / otis redding 🎧

chicago / frank sinatra 🎧

darrius is ... pressed tweed jackets, musty history books, old travel brochures, the clacking of dog claws on hardwood floor, empty gatorade bottles at the gym, long conversations over coffee, yelling 'da bears' at anyone in a chicago jersey, family, laughing on the quad with students, drum sticks.

Two of the biggest things that inspired Darrius: my cat and my dad. The latter is simply because he's a huge, huge Bears fan (for no reason), and I know enough about Walter Payton and Gale Sayers to really pull it off. The other, my cat, gave his middle name to Darrius, too. They can share Reginald forever (I miss you, Archy!). Past that, there actually were a couple of fictional inspirations in the back of my mind... or if they didn't inspire Darrius from the get-go, they remind me of him. Chidi Anagonye and Gregory Eddie! Both are kind of obvious go-tos. Smart, educated men. Darrius and Chidi could easily share a wardrobe and have the longest, most intense conversations about anything at all, and I feel like Gregory and Darrius would talk over a beer and end up best friends by the end of it. Did Darrius borrow anything from me...? Not really. I do like history, to an extent! And I'm not against doggos, either. But he's probably one of those characters that I can honestly say I don't have a ton in common with!

By the time that Darrius came along, I had Cage, Nari, Rafael and Stelly -- a country boy construction worker, a fashionista who loves flowers, a guy with a head for business and law, and a person who was the life of the party. Someone who was quiet and nerdy felt like the perfect fit to balance out personalities that I already played. The face claim was a completely random choice, but a great one (in my opinion!). I wanted him to have his own balance, too. So a nerd who liked to go hiking and spent way too much time at the gym, plus took a lot of pride in his appearance just felt right.

Although I already had one character with a large family (in theory!), it felt right for Darrius. A family growing up in Chicago, all Bears and Cubs fans who went fishing on the weekends when their dad had a day off and the dinner table was always full of stories about school or sports or the latest drama in the neighborhood. Although I knew Darrius wouldn't be physically close to his family, mentally and emotionally, he absolutely is. They're a pretty traditional family, too; mom and dad still together, some siblings married with kids, the whole nine yards. And they still visit at the holidays.

My mom is in teaching, which I guess did play a small part in the inspiration for Darrius, even if their fields are vastly different. I like history -- in small doses! -- so it worked for me to throw him there! And to have him struggle a bit to find his footing, because everyone does. But he's smart (and determined) enough to have figured it out. Darrius wanted to teach American History to make sure that the struggles and dark sides that people have gone through in the country that he calls home are never swept under the rug. Plus, the idea of this well put together guy wearing tweed jackets and button-downs to his classes at the local community college and then hitting the gym in the same day, completely ripped in a muscle shirt and shorts also just makes me laugh. The duality of man, I guess!

... oh, the dogs. The dogs were chosen because I'm a cat person, but something about Darrius having these dogs with big personalities just felt fitting. He's a really kind hearted guy, so adopting them made sense. Plus, it was a really good way to let him name pets after two of his all-time favorite football players. He's always dreamed of letting his dogs run on the beach, saving up to move from the downtown to the coast (thanks, Nessa!) And he plays the drums because to me, it's just funny. But everyone has that one surprise hobby, right?

Personality, relationships... well, Darrius can be a little bit of a mess with the latter. He's not a sexual person, like, at all. He's not even a good flirt! It might happen now and then, but most of the time if he's being nice, he is genuinely just being nice. Which means that he can sometimes be oblivious if people are flirting with him. He's been in a handful of relationships; most ended amicably when he couldn't see himself taking things to the next level. A few did get to that next level! But he's just not into sex all that much, not without a strong emotional connection to the person, so you won't find him hooking up. The inspo behind that was, again, just the duality of man: gorgeous guy, all those muscles and brain, the perfect catch for any man or woman interested... but he's just not a sexual being. He does really make up for it in personality, though. Although a little shy and reserved (he's likely to make dad jokes, not sexual jokes), once he opens up, he laughs endlessly -- because we all have that friend that just surprises us when they really get going.

And in a nutshell... that's Darrius. The nerdy guy in tweed suits talking about the darker side of American history turns into the ripped muscly dude at the gym who transforms into the dog loving guy laughing at the park with his friends. Duality of man.

#merrocktask #all about dare

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alstroemeriadissonance · 2 years

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NXX on Valentines Day (Part 1 - Vyn NSFW)

Situational fics where each NXX boy takes Rosa on a date on Valentine's Day. Spicy stuff happens, as usual.

For this set of fics Rosa is unattached to any of the NXX boys.

Vyn: (Lady)killer Under the Stars

Vyn: Do you have any plans for tonight?

Rosa: Nothing in particular, really. I guess I am still unlucky when it comes to this occasion. How about you? I bet there's a lot waiting for your invitation.

Vyn: Really now. As it happens, I was wondering if you could indulge me and be my companion for this Valentine's night?

Rosa: Oh, haha. Really? This is out of left field even for you, Dr. Richter.

Vyn: You may choose to not think too much of the occasion. I only prefer your company for tonight, if you are not opposed to the idea.

Rosa: Of course not. I'd be honored! Where should we meet?

Vyn: I will pick you up from your office later around 8 PM. My apologies for the late hour; there are some things that need to be wrapped up here before I can take my leave.

Rosa folded her hands on her lap, quietly throwing glances at Vyn from the passenger seat of his car. It has already been more than an hour into their drive away from Stellis and out into the far countryside.

While the atmosphere in the car hasn't been awkward--it was normal for them to fall in companionable silence from time to time--Rosa felt that tonight, Vyn has been too quiet than usual. However on the rare occasions when their glances did meet he would flash her one of his usual comfortable, reassuring smiles, asking what is on her mind.

Like right now.

"Penny for your thoughts, Rosa?" Vyn asked as he shifted gears as he turned a corner alongside a mountainside road.

"You still aren't telling me where we're going, Dr. Richter," Rosa said, putting on a show of pouting. "You know, if we didn't know each other as well as we do right now, I would be scared and wonder if the one I'm with is a serial killer.

Vyn laughed. "Do tell me more."

How easy it is to laugh and be myself with him.

"Eh? Isn't it obvious?" Rosa held up a fist, raising one finger for every item she rattled off: "First, bringing me to an unknown, possibly isolated area. Second, not telling me where the destination is, luring me with a 'surprise'. Third, the perpetrators are usually handsome and charming..."

"Ohoh?" Vyn hummed as he negotiated a sharp turn. "Am I now? Coming from you, it is a great honor, My Lady." While still playfully flirtatious, his voice lowered slightly as he said the last sentence.

"You literally have a fan club, Dr. Richter," Rosa reminded him.

"Ah. Well." He cleared his throat. "That...sometimes happens when someone of authority is close to their age. The feeling of admiration towards a peer who have achieved academic or career milestones previously thought out of reach..." his voice trailed off.

Rosa giggled. "Don't take me seriously. I was just joking. I know it isn't your fault you're too handsome."

"You are getting bolder," Vyn remarked, smiling. "But I like it. Do go on."

Rosa kept quiet, basking in the playful atmosphere that lingered around them. She let her gaze flit to the beautiful night scenery that flew past them in a dark blur. The roads went noticeably dimmer and darker the farther they went into the countryside.

"Do you recognize this route, by the way?" Vyn broke the silence with his question.

"Hmm. It's night so I'm not too sure, but isn't this the same route to Professor Xumen's village?" Rosa took note of the distinct arboreal winter scenery that lined the highway; the trees that were once verdant last summer were now devoid of leaves in preparation for the great bud burst of spring.

"Correct. We are on the way to the very same village."

"Huh?" Rosa blinked. "That's quite a ways away and...isn't it a bit too sudden, Dr. Richter?"

Vyn only gave her a mysterious smile. "If you are worried about work, I already gave your senior a heads up; it is already the weekend; and he should not be pestering you with weekend overtime."

"I really don't mind, though..." Rosa's words trailed off as Vyn shot her a look that she knew said We have already talked about this many times before. You should take care of and make sure to pace yourself at work.

"...Fine," Rosa relented. "I am in your capable hands, Dr. Richter."

"I am glad," he said offhandedly as he slowly veered to the shoulder of the highway. "We shall make a short pitstop here, if you do not mind." Vyn pulled on the handbrake after the car rolled to a full stop.

"Hmm?" Rosa looked out the windshield. There was nothing around but trees, the road guard rails, and the mountain bluff off to one side. There were no buildings, no facilities, no gas stations around in sight.

And, most importantly, the streetlights lining that particular length of the highway was not lit. The road was, for all intents and purposes, shrouded in total darkness except for the headlights of passing vehicles.

She remembered what she told Vyn in jest earlier; about him possibly being a serial killer. Well, if Dr. Richter is a serial killer, I sure am done for, Rosa thought. This specific route was rather well known for being less traveled especially at night--no one but the village population shuttling to and from their villages and Stellis City used this highway.

Vyn went ahead and slipped out of the car, rummaging through the car trunk to retrieve certain items.

As Rosa watched him through the rearview mirror, she let her morbid imagination run wild the worst way possible: Ah, that black bundle thing is probably the body bag he'll stuff me in. Then that basket probably contains murder weapons and maybe implements he will use to dissect me to more manageable, smaller pieces. He is a doctor, he knows how to...

Vyn then slammed the trunk shut, retrieved supplies tucked under one arm. Then he walked over to Rosa's door and knocked on the windshield with his free hand, prompting her to open it. "Rosa, join me outside? It is chilly, I know, but I do have some blankets here. We shall not be long."

Rosa smiled wryly as she stepped out of the car, her gloved hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket for warmth. "Should alarm bells ring in my head now, Dr. Richter?" She pushed the car door shut. "Are you going to drag me into the forest and have your murderous merry way with me?"

Vyn once again let out a delighted laugh, his mouth producing puffs of breath clouds that dispersed into the cold wintry air. "Silly Rosa. If I were such a criminal, I would probably want to...hmm." The black bundle that Rosa fancied as a body bag was unfurled in one single motion of his arms, revealing a thick blanket that he bunched up by the windshield wiper. He then placed the basket on the of the hood of his car. "Probably have you admitted as a patient in my research center, and then I shall have my merry way with you there."

He then turned to Rosa, his own leather-gloved hand held out towards her. "And in my research center, I can be god if I so wish. In my domain, no one will question my actions. Well," he smiled, a far-off light reflecting on his gold irises. "Do you dare take this serial killer's hand?"

"Only if you promise to make it painless," Rosa remarked, gingerly taking his hand. "But what--oh!"

Vyn gathered her into a princess carry. "Up you go," he grunted as he helped her up onto the hood of his car, which he lined with a mat. He then skipped to the opposite side of the hood and sat beside her.

Still fresh from the long drive, the hood of Vyn's car was comfortably toasty underneath the mat. "Um, Dr. Richter?" Rosa asked. "What are we doing here?"

Vyn fumbled in his pocket for his car's keyfob, and turned off the headlights. The once dim surroundings now fell to almost total darkness.

He sidled up closer to Rosa, then leaned against her.

"Dr. Richter?!" Rosa exclaimed, caught unawares by the absolute close proximity between them. "What--"

Chuckling softly, Vyn reached behind her to pull on the blanket bunched up by the windshield wiper, wrapping it around her shoulders. "There. Let me know if you are still cold. Do you need me to get you a hat?"

Rosa shook her head. "Nah. This is plenty warm, Dr. Richter. How about you though?"

"I am fine," Vyn said. "I am used to colder weather in my domicile of origin."

"You aren't answering my question though," Rosa pointed out. "Um...what are waiting for here, exactly? I mean, I'm not complaining, but..." she smiled. "I've waited long enough for you to brandish your murder weapons and dispose of me."

"I know, and as much as I do not want to test your patience any longer, anatomical limitations dictate that my surprise will show itself in around half an hour. Hmm..." squinting his eyes, he peered at his wristwatch. "A few minutes before midnight."

"Wow. It's that late already?" Rosa said. "Aren't you tired?"

"Never, whenever my present company is around," Vyn said cryptically, a small smile playing on his lips. "I shall be taking care of everything, so please sit back and relax. I would tell you to take a nap, however I need you awake for the next thirty minutes for the...magic to happen."

"Magic?"

"Yes. Magic." He then tipped his head to one side. "By the way, have you noticed anything with your right hand?"

"Huh?" Rosa then felt for her right hand, which was ensconced securely under the blanket. "Wait..." She slipped her hand out of the blanket, then noticed a thin chain looped around her gloved hand. "What is this, when did this get here?" she whispered. Her eyes was still in the process of getting used to the dark, and so she had to lift her hand closer to her face to properly see whatever it is was wound around her hand.

Upon closer inspection in the darkness it seemed to be a necklace, with an ornate pendant of something that had a pearlescent sheen surrounded by something that looked like metal work made to form petal-like shapes. A rose, or some flower.

Rosa gasped. "It's a necklace!" She then looked at Vyn, who smiled back at her.

"I would ask you if you like it, but I do not think your eyes have adjusted well in the dark yet. But," he reached out to briefly brush his hand across her fingers. "Do you require my assistance in putting on the necklace?"

Rosa gulped nervously, and wondered why she suddenly felt a little bit odd around her esteemed friend. "Um. Ah, yes. Please!" She nervously exclaimed as she held out her right hand to Vyn, allowing him to retrieve the chain looped across her palm.

He motioned for her to turn away from him for a bit, so he may clasp the necklace behind her nape. Rosa meekly obeyed, and Vyn slid closer to her, his body flush against her back as he put on her necklace. He was so close to her that she can smell his perfume--sandalwood and roses--and she can even feel and hear his heartbeat against her back.

The time it took for him to put on her necklace felt like forever and not at the same time; Vyn's rather intimate closeness to her made Rosa reel, overwhelming her with a certain heady mixture of feelings and emotions that she was all to used to brushing aside with whatever it was happening at the moment when she was with him.

And now in the darkness, the silence of the almost abandoned highway, and Vyn sitting so close to her, Rosa is left with no choice but to confront the fact that yes, she did have feelings for Vyn Richter, and that yes, she knew he has been making subtle advances toward her for the longest time. That whether or not she was ready, he was there with her at that moment, and regardless if he posed that question she had avoided for so long now, it had to be answered now.

"There," he whispered, his hot breath caressing the back of her head. "All done." Yet even after he had finished putting on the necklace on Rosa, he did not budge from where he sat, so close to her.

Rosa was, by now, acutely aware of his very presence, and the fact that he seemed to be waiting for a certain reaction to come from her. His heartbeat came strong and slightly faster against her back, and she could almost imagine his lips dangerously close to the top of her head...

"Rosa," he broke the silence. "Are you uncomfortable with me being this close?"

She gulped nervously. Yes, it was undoubtedly already that time already. There's no turning back; whatever she will say to Vyn will hold much weight towards their interaction from this point onward. "N-no," she whispered. "I'm totally fine with us being like this close."

"Really?" Vyn moved even closer to her. Now she can definitely feel how strong his heartbeat was, and she can feel the vibration of his throat as he spoke. "Was that hesitation I heard just now?" His voice was low and gentler than usual, as if he was speaking tenderly to a lover.

Rosa had to laugh a little at that. "Dr. Richter, please," she chided him a little. "Of course I would be a little nervous. Dr. Vyn Richter is sitting close behind me, after giving me a necklace. And on Valentine's Day, no less," she said in the most neutral voice she could muster. "I would be utterly daft to not get the message."

"Really now," answered Vyn, softly. "With the way I had to dance around you for the past year I would have thought otherwise."

The mental image of him dancing around her came unbidden, and Rosa found herself chuckling in such an inappropriate moment. "Pfft. Haha...I'm sorry, Dr. Richter. It's just that--"

Her laughing was cut short as Vyn wrapped his arms around her. "I am glad," he said, before his cold lips brushed her cheek, and remained there until Vyn could feel the skin of her face bloom into beautiful heat underneath his lips.

"It is time," he whispered against her cheek. "Look upwards."

Rosa complied, and once again gasped at such sight.

"W-what--whoa--" she stammered. "This--this is so beautiful..."

The sight was already in her peripheral vision since a few minutes ago, but she was too flustered to notice the magnificent hazy band of glittering crushed diamonds across the velvet black night sky: The Milky Way.

"Have you seen this before?" Vyn asked quietly as he kept his arms wrapped around Rosa, letting her head tilted upwards rest on his shoulder as she marveled at the band of shimmering star lights. "Judging by your expression, you haven't yet?"

"No," Rosa murmured, her eyes never leaving the wonderful sight above them.

Vyn smiled at Rosa's awestruck face. "Ah, yes. This will not be visible in a city, or anywhere with even the slightest amount of light pollution, such as Stellis or even any of the villages," he explained, keeping the soft volume of his voice. "You will need to drive out and venture into the darkness of night."

He paused to plant a peck on her forehead, as if on impulse. "I had you wait for half an hour to give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness and let you see the Milky Way.

"This stretch of highway, while dangerous due to lack of lights at the moment, could afford us this wonderful view until they come here to fix and reinstall the lights around this area...How do you like my surprise?"

Rosa didn't notice it at first, but tears pricked her eyes, overwhelmed at the sheer beauty right in front of her...and the closeness of the man she did not realize she harbored much affection for, until that very moment. Her vision blurred with tears; eventually two drops of warm liquid rolled down her cheek...only to be tenderly wiped away with a gloved finger.

"Crying?" Vyn whispered. "Did I upset you, Rosa?"

"Of course not!" Rosa exclaimed, her hands flying to cover her face in embarrassment. "I'm just...I don't know..."

Vyn decided to give her some time to gather herself, quietly holding her as she sniffled, brushing her face every now and then to wipe off her tears.

Eventually Rosa stopped crying, and shifted around so she could face Vyn and look at him squarely in the eye. "You're unfair."

Vyn had to blink this time, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

Rosa was about to explain, then found herself at a loss for words--she was that flustered--her mouth wordlessly opening and closing; eventually she realized she could not convince her brain and her heart into calming down enough for her to make a reasonable argument.

And she merely did the next best thing: pull Vyn down by the lapels of his jacket so she could kiss him on the lips.

Vyn, initially stunned for a few seconds, then coiled his arms once again around her and pressed her closer to him; one hand on her lower back and the other securely holding the back of her head, holding her in place as he deepened the kiss that started out chaste.

So this is how it feels like, Rosa thought hazily, letting herself be taken by his embrace. It's not bad. It's not bad at all... Her eyelids fluttered closed as she let herself be led in the kiss she herself started; her heart beat fast as she felt Vyn's embrace grow tighter, his lips giving way to tongue as he slowly led her to a French kiss. She moaned softly as his tongue slid into her mouth, tentatively tasting her, orienting himself to how she felt in his embrace. It's like a dance, she realized, and she closely followed his lead: her tongue pressed and slid against his, lips locked to his...such was the intensity of their kiss that left them dizzy and breathless.

Vyn reluctantly pulled away to regain his breathing. "Thank you, Rosa," he murmured in between breaths. "Can I...Can I safely assume that my feelings are returned?" There was a tinge of need in his voice.

Rosa nodded. Then, "Hell of a place to confess," she remarked. "On the hood of your car. In the open highway." A pause. "Under the stars."

"Heh. I only planned to show you the Milky Way," Vyn grinned. "But I am glad that the results have exceeded my expectations."

"Please don't talk of us as one of your experiments." Us. Us. Rosa mentally rolled the syllable in her mind. Her and Dr. Richter, an us.

Vyn reached out to gently trace her jawline. "At the risk of sounding cliched, life is a series of learning and experiments," he said. "And meeting you was the biggest conundrum that I had to solve, and there was even a time when I feared I would not like the answer that I would find." He sighed. "You have no idea..."

Rosa noticed Vyn's gaze morph into something more intense; the sparkle of his eyes have dulled considerably, probably due to the darkness of the surroundings. "Vyn...?"

"You have no idea..." he repeated, dropping all pretense of being amiable, now letting slip a little of his darker obsession that he had to tuck into the inner recesses of his mind, only to fully surface as he took apart his thoughts during his nightly personal assessments. "...how much I want you."

And Rosa stared into this certain darkness head on, her olive eyes looking straight at him, unflinching. "On hindsight, I think I have an idea," she said, quietly. "...shall we go? I think it's getting too cold."

The way her eyes held his darker gaze however, spoke of something entirely different.

"Yes. That is a most prudent idea," Vyn said. And like Rosa, his words were entirely different from his actual message:

I want you.

===

When they finally checked in the hotel late at night (or early morning), Vyn made one last-minute change in their lodging arrangements: "Is it still allowed to cancel the booking for the other room?" he asked the yawning front desk receptionist. "It is? Thank you. We only need one room. Ah, it does have access to a hot spring? Wonderful."

===

Despite the initial warnings that Vyn gave Rosa about the slight discomfort that making love in a hot spring may pose, she still found herself straddling him in the hot water, in the middle of yet another heated kiss.

Steam rose from the pool, creating a hazy ambience that Rosa found rather conducive to erotic encounters, as she had learned earlier after she accidentally floated towards Vyn, when all she was trying to do was relax in the hot water.

It was as if everything, even the water, conspired for them to just go ahead and have sex to finally release all that tightly-wound up sexual tension that gradually built up after a year or so. It was like one of those serendipitous moments where their desires matched each other's; it only took one look for them to understand what they wanted from the other: Vyn pulled her into a kiss, and Rosa allowed herself to be taken in, eventually mounting his hips and letting things happen from there.

"When I invited you to bathe with me," Vyn murmured as he briefly pulled away from the kiss, "I honestly meant just bathing." He gave her a lopsided grin before he leaned over to kiss the side of her neck. His hand emerged from underneath the water, settling on the swell of her breast. "The room is nice, after all. And we have all night," his hand slid from the curve of her breast, down her stomach, and stopping just between their hips. "...are you sure you want to do this?" he whispered. "Birth control?"

Rosa chuckled. "Dr. Richter," she said. "I am married to my work, and having sex certainly wasn't in the cards several hours ago." She moved her hips against his; her cunt sliding along the shaft of his cock, eliciting a low groan out of Vyn's throat. "I will need your assistance in getting me birth control."

"Gods, you are incorrigible when it comes to not taking care of yourself," Vyn moaned. "I will try my best later. But now," he licked his lips. "Let us get carried away in the moment, shall we?" He adjusted himself under the water, and his hands slid to Rosa's hips. "I warned you, little girl," he said quietly, "That having sex underwater may be a bit uncomfortable due to lack of lubri--"

"Less doctor talk, please!" Rosa hissed impatiently.

Vyn groaned once again, and lifted Rosa by her waist, the reduced gravity in the water aiding him along. "I hope you are ready," he purred as he slowly yet steadily impaled her with his long-erect cock, which had been hard ever since they started kissing in the cold wintry air under the stars.

"Ahh!" Rosa cried out, then remembered that they were not in the safety and privacy of any of their homes. She bit her lip to further stifle her cries.

"Ssh," Vyn shushed her as his hands held Rosa in place as he started fucking her from underneath. "It is early morning and we are most probably the only guests awake--they will easily hear and know, how much we are enjoying each other's company."

Within the water his cock slid and out rather easily; but Vyn, even in the throes of sexual pleasure, carefully watched Rosa's face for any signs of discomfort. Yet all he saw in her face was the sweet mixture of impatience, pleasure, and pure need that only made him want to fuck her harder and deeper. "Ah--just, just let me know if you're in pain..." Vyn managed to say in between thrusts.

Rosa whimpered, and her hand flitted between their hips, starting to rub herself. She stifled the urge to cry out by leaning forward and biting Vyn's shoulder, intending to only suppress her noise, but she inevitably marked him. The man hissed in pain, but found that it turned him on even more; and so his retaliation came in the form of railing her harder in the water.

Both were doing their best not to make any sounds; the only aural evidence of their sexual coupling the rhythmic sloshing sounds of the water as the hot spring rippled at Vyn's every thrust.

"Nngh," Rosa couldn't help but moan, removing herself from her biting hold on Vyn's shoulder, leaving deep bite marks made by her incisors. "Ahh...I think I'm...!" The telltale coil of pleasure in her loins suddenly wound tighter, even catching her unawares; the imminent pleasure threatening to overflow.

And when she finally came, she couldn't help but throw her head back; but before she could shout her orgasm out loud Vyn had the presence of mind enough to slip in two fingers inside her mouth, preventing her from making any loud noise aside from small whimpers that leaked out of her lips.

"Haha...did you like it, Rosa? Oh, damn," he muttered as the orgasmic spasming of her inner walls eventually pushed him over the edge, making him come in copious spurts inside her.

===

"Have I sufficiently killed you enough to your liking, Rosa?" Vyn murmured as he nuzzled his newly-minted lover's neck, their limbs entangled with each other's, and the sheets.

After the literally hot and steamy encounter in the springs, they were surprised to find out that they still had the energy to copulate for a few more times in the comfort of their hotel room.

And copulate more they did.

"What 'kill' are you talking about, Vyn?" Rosa moaned as she rolled closer to him, letting her limbs lazily drape over his body. "That sounds so random."

"You were cracking jokes about me being a serial killer earlier, if you remember."

"Oh. Haha," Rosa laughed weakly--her strength drained out--"Uhm...yeah. You killed me. You killed me just fine."

Vyn sighed, planting a kiss on her hair. "Rather than a serial killer, I wanted to fancy myself as a magician, hence the tricks earlier with the necklace and the stars."

"Nothing's stopping you from being both." Rosa murmured sleepily.

"True. Mayhap I can do some magic and pretend you were killed," Vyn deadpanned. "And then I can have you all to myself."

#tears of themis #vyn richter #mo yi #tears of themis smut #vyn richter smut #tears of themis fanfic

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kingskwing · 3 years

Note

Hello!! M not too sure if ur busy with requests but I love your writing so I wanted to give this 'idea' that I've had for a bit now. If you don't mind, can I request a fic with Marius where he and reader broke up bcs he chose being the CEO of pax over the reader? It's really angsty ik but maybe with a happy ending? Thank you!!

ANON IM LIVING finally some good fuckin hurt/comfort || engineering major!reader inbound, it's also mentioned that the reader does commercial art, sorry 💔

Warnings: argument? They’re talking but it's a disagreement, breakup, SPOILERS for Marius’ story, kidnapping, Mild spoilers for Part 5, blood ment. and gunfire

》 M.list

crisis control

It started, as it ended, with an argument. Of course, the beginning was far less emotionally charged than the gentle, sinking wreck that came later, but isn't such the case with all things? When time and effort is put into something, a piece of yourself is put within. And, when it eventually shatters, the pieces are hard to pick up.

》》¤

Being a student at Stellis University, admission to the campus art gallery was free. Your evening was uncharacteristically empty, so you decided to stop by to see the things your peers submitted for public view. On your way in, you waved to Professor Richter, having taken his class the year prior.

You’d heard something about another Z piece being shown and kept an eye out for it, eventually spotting it and approaching. There was someone already there, so you stood next to them as you analyzed the piece.

“What do you think of the piece?”

The voice startled you and you faced the young man who’d been there before you. Taking another look at the piece, you spoke honestly.

“I don’t like it.”

“Oh? Why is that?” He seemed surprised.

“Now, I’m a mechanical engineering student, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but the composition and colors are just barely… off. They’ve got this beautiful spiral leading the eye to the center point, but there aren’t enough rigid structures for contrast. That, and this green in the bottom left quarter of the painting,” you gestured to it vaguely, “is slightly too warm for the tone. Then again, I struggle when color-picking for pieces, so it may be either a shared difficulty or a misperception on my part. Also, this stroke here, it’s far more textured than the surrounding area, setting a really strange feel for that specific area. How do you feel about it? It appears you like the artist, so I’m curious to hear your thoughts.”

As you spoke, his eyes flitted across the painting, brow set in thought. “First of all, you said you were an engineering major?”

You nodded. “I do my own art on the side, much more commercial than this.”

“I see. You wanted my thoughts and I let myself get distracted,” he smiled. “I do see the extra texturing on that stroke, it does make the area discordant, but I disagree with the rest. I believe the color works well with the piece and that the spiral composition isn’t erratic enough to warrant the contrast you spoke of.”

“Tastes are always different... It's fun trying to see it from your perspective. Wait, I don’t think I told you my name,” you laughed. “I’m Y/N.”

He took the hand you extended and shook it firmly. “Y/N, huh? Good to meet you! I'm an art major at a school-hosted art gallery, so I expect to see you at the upcoming STEMfest next Saturday. What's your booth number?”

“You just assume- not important. 41B, why do you ask?”

“Great! See you then, I’ve got to go. And bring some of your art!” The man was walking away by now, leaving you confused in front of Z’s painting.

“What? Wait!” You ran around the corner, only to see him opening the gallery doors. “You never gave me your name!”

》》¤

It’d been a long day at STEMfest, entertaining kids and networking with professionals, but the art student from the week before was the most exhausting thing about your day. You recognized him as soon as he passed your stand. All seven times, in fact. He kept side eyeing you as he talked to every booth worker in the B section except you. He’d approach your booth, you’d reach for your portfolio, and he’d smile as he walked straight past you to talk to someone else.

Only when everyone began packing up did he finally approach you.

"Hey, artsy engineer," he smiled, lifting a box from your hands and following you to where it needed to go.

“Are you always this much of an ass?”

He was visibly surprised at your candid words and looked almost worried, but then he pouted when he saw the disbelieving grin on your face.

"You scared me, I thought you were really mad!" He nudged you with his elbow, a playful scold.

"Hmm, I should be, shouldn't I?"

His answering 'nooo' was too adorable to resist.

He was easy to spend time with, the sun setting quickly while you two discussed art, history, engineering, and the general ways of the world. You'd been caught up in a conversation about whether or not planets feel like they're dancing when you saw how orange the sky had turned.

"Marius, it's getting late. I hate to leave you, but I ought to get home."

“Allow me to escort you to your car, my liege.” His exaggerated accent made you laugh.

“Ah, I walked,” you grinned.

“My car it is then!”

"Say, Marius, didn't you mention an upcoming day off? I'd like to go to a cafe with you sometime.

His whole body seemed to lift up, eyes sparkling in the evening sun. "I'd love that, can I pick you up?"

"Of course, if you let me pay."

“Nope!”

“Hmm, you can’t stop me.”

“I’m sure I can.”

“Is that a threat, Marius?”

“I would never.” His grin was blinding, so much so that it almost distracted you from the gleaming sports car he led you to.

“What major are you in again?” you asked, breathless. His car was beautiful, cutting edge and intelligently designed.

“Art and Art History, why?”

“Ah, so it’s daddy’s money,” you muttered cheekily before entering the vehicle.

You laughed upon hearing him sputter, relishing in the wide, flustered smile he flashed when quickly opening his car door to face you.

“I bought this myself, I’ll have you know.”

“Just teasing, Marius,” you lightly hit his arm before he started driving. “Wait. I must have blacked out the last couple minutes, you’re a near stranger and I’m in your car. Oh my god, that’s so irresponsible. You’re not going to kill me, right?”

“Ahaha! That’s for the coffee date.”

You froze for a moment, caught between a smile and a worried frown. However, before you could decide, he winked at you, prompting you to hit his arm again, harder this time.

“Marius!”

“Hey, dear engineer, if you’re going to refuse to let me pay for coffee, I get to tease you as much as I like. It’s only fair.”

You directed him towards your dorm hall, joking and smiling the whole way. Of course, his position at Pax was revealed when you asked his last name to put his number in your phone, having recognized him from online headlines. However, that didn’t deter you from happily confirming the pickup time for your second date.

》》¤

He noticed everything, even if he didn’t realize it sometimes. Your heart swelled every time Marius complimented something new you’d bought, and despite his teasing about you adding his photo to your phone case, you know he was more flustered by it than you were. Every time you refreshed your phone wallpaper and lockscreen, every time you wore a new fragrance, every time you acted out of the ordinary, he noticed, be it passively or consciously.

Walking around Stellis was common for you two, stopping at every ice cream shop to try their novelty flavors. However, no matter how many bizarre ones there were, he got your favorite flavor for himself. He claimed it was because he liked it too, but you didn’t fail to notice that if you didn’t like the flavor you chose, he’d “share” his cup by giving you the entire thing. Surprisingly enough, seeing your face pucker at a flavor that was just too “out there” wasn’t his favorite part about ice cream joint hopping with you. No, his favorite part was messing with you. Early on in the relationship, Marius would often swipe his thumb across your lip to wipe away ice cream. You were too flustered to realize you weren’t enough of a messy eater to warrant such an action. Eventually, you caught on, checking in a mirror after eating and watching him pout when you didn’t let him.

“Marius, if you’re going to touch my lips, you may as well go all the way,” you shrugged, walking ahead of him.

He didn’t waste a second catching up to you and searching your eyes for sincerity before pulling you in for a light, teasing kiss.

》》¤

Even over a year into your relationship with the young CEO, his eyes still lit up whenever you agreed to go somewhere with him and his heart soared whenever you invited him places. Yes, he had a hard time balancing his busy schedule, but that just meant any time spent with you was made all the more precious.

When you moved in together, he was hard-pressed to keep his smile down when you played music while showering or working on projects. Some days, when you thought he was out, you blasted songs that made him tear up from trying to reign in his laughter.

He teased you for days each time.

》》¤

Moving in with him allowed you even more insight into his true self, the bashful, playful Marius who hides his artistic prowess behind a famed pseudonym: Z. He regularly showed you his pieces as he worked on them, leaving room for teasing when he kept works from you. Secrecy from Marius was relatively rare, so whenever it had to do with art, you poked and prodded him to show you what he had hidden underneath the veil over his easel.

“Goodness, Marius, is this how you see me? I’m flattered! It’s nice to know that under all that suave, you’re still a total simp.”

“No! Noo, don’t look at that, babe! It was supposed to be a surprise,” he whined, voice becoming clearer as he quickly approached the studio. His face reddened upon seeing how genuinely enamoured your eyes were as they scanned the piece. “Ah, well, you’ve already seen it. I suppose all that can be done…” He walked behind you and sat at the stool. “... is to work on it with you.” An arm wrapped around your middle and Marius swiftly pulled you into his lap. His chest rumbled with laughter against your back at the yelp you let out and he gripped you close as he could. In an instant, his breath was on your ear. “Isn’t this more comfortable than me hiding things from you?”

“Nope!” You shuddered at the odd feeling against your ear and worked to calm the heat in your cheeks.

“Aww, come on! I’m warm and loving, among other things-”

“Oh my god, one more word and I’m moving out,” you laughed.

“Babe, you’d never do that to me,” he pouted, turning you in his lap and resting both hands on your waist.

“No, I wouldn’t, Marius.”

“Good,” he chirped, eyes quickly shifting back to his regular dangerous humor before he lifted you briefly, rose up, placed you on his stool, and made for the door.

“Marius Von Hagen!”

His home was filled with all kinds of laughter that day, from huffs of humored disbelief to mirthful peals.

》》¤

Though your time together was easy and delightful, things fell through after a little more than two years of dating. Your heart hurt watching him burn himself out day after day, coming back after a long shift at Pax to spend time with you and to paint in his studio. Time after time, especially after the forgery mess and the encouraging words of Sven Phillips, you pushed him to follow what he wanted. He was performing as Pax’s CEO to prove something to his father and lost brother. While you wished his reasons for it were healthier, your issue did not lie specifically with Pax. No, your concern was his willingness to give up art in exchange for recognition of his ability to keep Pax running. Was his self-esteem truly so low that he’d drop everything important to him when he could easily get recognition for something he was passionate about?

Unfortunately, you got your answer.

》》¤

“Marius, you know what I’m going to say.” The moon was high in the sky; you’d woken when Marius turned on the light to get to his studio.

“Then don’t say it. I don’t have time to do this again, I’m exhausted and haven’t gotten a chance to work on my piece all week.”

“That’s exactly it, though. You’re always too tired to do anything you enjoy! I know you’re busy at Pax and with your secret engagement, but you need to take some downtime or drop something. Your art fulfills you too much to let it fall by the wayside. I’ve respected your secrecy regarding where you go between Pax, SU, and here, so I don’t have any info on how rigorous it is. So, as far as I know, the one thing taking the largest toll, both emotionally and physically, is Pax. Something needs to give."

"No, I'm handling everything just fine. Stop bringing it up."

"You take ten minute naps instead of resting well! Your art screams for some kind of break, you need to make a choice, Marius!"

He was quiet for a good minute.

“Then… I choose you,” he whispered.

Silence fell.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” You knew what he meant, but your heart had fallen to your feet and it needed time to catch up with your mind.

“I choose… to drop you.” He was crying now, but you were too shocked to shed a tear.

“...Are you sure?” you asked.

He was surprised at your composed tone and quickly wiped his eyes, visibly holding sobs in. “If I’m honest, the thought has crossed my mind. I’ve done well managing my time between you, Pax, my art, and my side gig this past year, but things are heating up and I can’t… I can’t give you what you need.”

“What I need?” Your voice broke. “Marius, it’s what you need. I would never say this to anyone else, but I know you better than you know yourself at this point, and I’ve seen, felt the way everything falls away when you’re in your studio. Z is a beautiful thing you’ve created for yourself and it’s lucrative enough to keep plenty of your lifestyle afloat. Every time you tell me about Pax, your eyes age decades. I love you, Marius, and you love your art, but this constant striving to prove yourself is killing you.”

“Proving myself? I don’t have anything to prove,” he said lowly, brows furrowing above his red-rimmed eyes.

The quiet was deafening.

“Marius, I… I respect your decision.”

He seemed to snap out of his mild anger and started tearing up again, but you missed his hand reaching for yours as your head was down and your gaze was on the floor.

“I’ll pack some things, feel free to send the rest over when you catch a minute,” you said, voice breaking again. Turning toward the bedroom to gather your essentials, you let a tear slip and he let his hand drop.

He was sitting quietly in his studio when he saw you putting your suitcase into your car. It was only when he saw your head rest on your steering wheel and your shoulders shake that he let his own cries loose, moonlight glinting off the tears that fell and his sobs rang into the empty hallway.

》》¤

Marius felt he could breathe easier without the need to keep up a relationship, but he didn’t feel good about it at all. He knew where you were coming from, and you were right. However, despite his self-awareness, he couldn’t let go of Pax. He was tired and sad almost constantly and any reminders of you hurt his heart.

Z's works were considerably more gloomy now.

Marius heaved a sigh upon exiting his car, entering the very cafe he’d taken you to two years prior. Ordering his drink went slower than usual since he was caught up in his own thoughts, eyeing your regular order listed on the menu with tears burning to escape. In the few months he’d been apart from you, he hadn’t made any effort to reach out, unsure how you’d respond to a continued friendship after he’d selfishly picked Pax over you. Hell, he’d considered dropping art altogether if it meant he could have you back in his life, but he knew it was too late and you’d never accept that course of action anyways.

He’d only just sat back in his car when he received a call from Vincent.

“Sir, someone’s hacked into Big Data. They’ve uploaded a video-”

A call from Luke interrupted Vincent, and the rest of the assistant’s words went unheard over the ringtone.

“Hold on Vincent, I’ve got to take this.”

The case the NXX was working on at the time was highly sensitive as they were trying to find alternate ways to indict Heirson until more information pertaining to Opaline village was found.

“Hey there Raven, what seems to be the proble-”

“Marius.” That was odd, Luke almost always referred to him as King when discussing NXX matters. Marius straightened in his seat. “Drop everything, you need to come to the NXX.”

“Has it got to do with the Big Data hack? Something about a video?”

“Yeah, but it’s far more serious-”

Marius sighed, not wanting to put up with another Big Data breach, not when he was thinking about you. “I’ll be right there,” he interrupted, hanging up without paying heed to Luke’s cries for him to wait and listen.

》》¤

Marius regretted not letting Luke finish. Maybe, if he had waited, he wouldn’t have been so stunned seeing you struggle against the bonds tying you to a chair in that godforsaken video. The other members were discussing who at Heirson could have captured you and who was confident enough to do such a thing, but Marius was glued to the screen. Every time he looped it, he noticed something else. The cut on your brow. The bruise on your lip. The blood staining the edges of the ropes keeping your wrists in place. The fear in your eyes. In all the time he’d spent with you, he’d never seen you afraid. But now? Seeing how terrified you were? He was scared.

Marius hit the play button to loop it again, causing Artem to close his eyes and grit his teeth. He couldn’t listen to the person onscreen struggle any longer while the voice behind the camera made their demands, despite not knowing the hostage. Rosa covered her ears, closed her eyes, and allowed Luke to pull her into his side, the detective's eyes set in anger at the captor and pity for Marius. To everyone’s surprise, it was Vyn that snapped.

“Marius Von Hagen! Do not play that video again.” Marius paused the video but did not turn around. “I am aware of your feelings towards them,” Vyn gestured to the screen, “but you fail to consider the others. Rosa is terrified, Libra and Raven are both upset, but none come close to how I am feeling. It was enough to watch my former student struggle in terror once, but to hear it over and over is a special kind of torture. Remember, Marius,” the young man flinched at another use of his name, but remained facing the screen. Vyn placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “You’re not the only one who cares for Y/N.”

At last, Vyn pulled lightly on Marius’ shaking shoulder so the young man would face him. Hearing your name after so long, especially with the situation at hand, broke him. Marius let his tears flow freely, keeping his sobs to hiccups and whimpers in Vyn's ear as the psychologist pulled the younger man into his arms.

The others were surprised, having never seen Marius so vulnerable.

The young heir did not show up for work that day.

》》¤

The team toiled day and night for around a week trying to find you. Marius, being less capable with computers, felt useless. He resorted to pulling strings from above, reaching through connections to identify the captor, the location, anything. Finally, they narrowed down the possible locations to just two dock warehouses. Luke needed to be onsite to figure out which location you were at, so the team split in half. Marius didn't listen to the decisions on who would go where, he simply started preparing his gear.

"King? You don't even know where you're going," Rosa said, concerned.

"I'm going south. I don't care who comes with me, but I know they're at the southern dock."

"Intuition, huh?"

"Something like that," he smiled. Rosa noticed his eyes were afraid, but opted not to comment on it.

Vyn took Rosa up north, just in case, but Luke trusted Marius' gut and went with him to confirm. Artem, being the sharpshooter of the group, joined the party heading south to provide extra cover.

Artem entered the driver's seat of one of the NXX's unregistered vehicles (provided, of course, by Marius), not trusting Marius' judgement enough to let him drive. Streets passed quickly, the commercial buildings shifting to the lesser-known outer edge of the city.

The more Marius let his mind run free while he sat in the backseat, the more his grip tightened on the firearm in his lap.

》》¤

Upon arrival, Luke called Vyn to let him know your captor was indeed holed up at the southern location, in case he and Rosa could drive down and provide support. The detective put away his signal tracker and drew his gun, joining Artem and Marius in quietly traversing the yard. The tracker wasn't made for pinpointing an exact location, but it was precise enough for them to know you weren't being held in the warehouse, leaving the storage yard out back.

Artem and Luke were quietly conversing on comms, updating one another on any sectors cleared or noises heard. Marius was uncharacteristically quiet, only chiming in when he cleared his own sections.

The process was slow, but it picked up speed all at once. Gunshots went off in Luke's section, prompting Marius to rush over. Upon arrival, the young CEO hesitated. He looked between your captor and the open container behind the man. Seeing the man who captured you, injured you… Marius saw red. However, hearing a muffled noise from within the storage container caused him to stay back, momentarily caught in the middle.

Artem came up on him from behind and noticed his dilemma.

"King! Luke has him engaged, get inside and help the hostage." The senior attorney's voice was authoritative, accompanied with a shove to the shoulder to snap Marius out of his stupor before Artem left to support Luke against his surprisingly competent adversary.

Marius rushed into the container, heart breaking upon seeing you scared of the shadow that appeared before you. You'd assumed you were being rescued due to the commotion outside, but gunfire isn't exactly the most comforting sound. Marius' voice, on the other hand, was the peace you needed to think clearly.

"Y/N, Y/N, babe, I'm so sorry this happened, I never thought being involved with you would make you a target," he rambled until he couldn't breathe, apologizing for every circumstance that led up to this and for every slight wince you made as he undid your bonds.

You hadn't even had the chance to get a word in, much less move, before he scooped you into his arms and sank to his knees, holding you against him like a lifeline.

"Ah, Marius, not there-" his arm was pressing on what you assumed was a broken rib, but he quickly adjusted and silently brought your face into his shoulder with his other arm. His own head mirrored yours, his whole body almost curling around you protectively.

He'd been taking shaky breaths the entire time, but now he was full-on sobbing into your neck. His arms kept adjusting to cling to you ever tighter as his tears wet your skin.

Luke and Artem had taken the man into custody by now and rushed in to check on Marius.

For a moment, they thought you might have been dead, what with how Marius was crying, but a defensive look from you quickly fixed that. In turn, your expression softened, gathering that they must have come with him to rescue you.

Artem and Luke had taken to gathering the hostile's equipment as evidence while they waited for Marius to have his moment. Speaking of, Marius had calmed over time and loosened his grip, but his breaths still shuddered.

"Marius," you said at last.

His head snapped up to look at you, eyes misty from hearing you say his name again after so long.

"Hey engi-dear."

You laughed with him, heart equal parts light and heavy at the silly nickname he'd bestowed upon you.

"Thank you."

"What for? If I hadn't let myself get involved with you-"

You placed a finger over his lips. "I'd like to think the issue is that I wasn't with you, under your watchful gaze."

His watery smile lifted your spirits. Although you were still terrified from the experience, your love for the man before you was all you could think about.

"I missed you," he whispered. "And seeing you on that screen…"

"Hey, I know. I'm pretty shaken up myself," you laughed lightly. "But," you cupped his tear-stained cheeks, "you still came. And you did save me, I can't see a better outcome than that."

"I never thought I'd say this, but now is not the time for banter."

"Thought I'd give it a shot, didn't know a few months were enough time to make a responsible man out of you."

His chest rumbled against yours in laughter as he lifted you from the ground, one arm supporting your legs around his waist and the other across your back, hand splayed to hold you upright.

He carried you to the entrance of the storage lot where two cars idled. The walk was quiet, both people needing a mental reprieve, until Marius broke the silence.

"Hm, I know a wonderful psychologist to talk to about all this. Who knows, maybe he'll be able to cure your ill-timed humor."

"Mister Richter!" you exclaimed, seeing the professor himself over your shoulder.

His stern face lifted into one of relief, happy to see his former student alive and relatively well.

"Dearest Y/N, I'm so happy you're alright—" his gaze darkened as his eyes flicked over you, taking in your injuries. "It appears I spoke too soon. Let's get you a private physician, you don't need the hustle and bustle of a general care hospital after that."

Marius seemed to get impatient, hefting you up again with a little huff and pleading eyes.

Vyn smiled at the young man's irritation. "We'll discuss how regularly you'll meet with me to process the incident come next Wednesday," he smiled, walking off to his shared car where a young woman stood. She was unfamiliar to you, but waved with her own relieved smile nonetheless.

A young man with brown hair and a windbreaker entered the car with Vyn and the woman, presumably for a bit more privacy with Marius. Your boyfriend placed you into the backseat with the utmost care before rounding the vehicle and entering on the other side while Artem started the car and prepared to drive you to a trusted doctor, Apothecary, an NXX sideliner.

You were thankful Artem was driving, in part because you'd met him briefly before, but mostly because you were able to spend the drive close to Marius. The entire ride was quiet, save for the sound of gentle kisses being pressed to the top of your head every so often.

》》¤

Healing was far from enjoyable, what with the lack of activity and regular pain. However, Marius' regular visits made it all the more bearable. He came as often as he could, even though he was using silence to avoid the elephant in the room.

One day, well into his visit, you called his name. He turned to you, calling attention to his eyes. They'd been stormy since the rescue and you were confident you could guess why. Relationship stuff could wait, though.

“I assume this is your ‘secret engagement’?”

He winced a bit, looked to the floor, and lifted his hand to soothingly rub at his own neck. “Yeah, yeah it is. I’m sorry for not telling you earlier, but I didn’t want to stress you out. It’s not the safest hobby, is it?”

“Of course it isn’t! But I can tell what you’re thinking, and my answer is no. I’d never have asked you to let the NXX go, what you’re doing is too important. Not only that, but being at Pax is a huge help and I realize why you were so adamant on keeping your position as CEO. Marius,” you grabbed his hand that laid on your bed, causing his gaze to flick over every movement of your fingers on his hand.. “I never should have pushed so hard. Regardless of your motivation, as your peer, as your... lover, I never should have presumed to know better than you. NXX aside, your reasons for sticking with Pax are valid, I just don’t want to see the other side of you crumble beneath the weight of a demanding company.”

“...I agree that the push to rethink my position could have been gentler, but you were ultimately right. You weren’t presuming, you did know better. I’ve tried and failed to find a better balance since I realized that, but… something’s missing. You’re missing.” His eyes met yours once more, purple hues gentle amongst his resolute expression. “Y/N, you brought something to my life that no amount of inspiration or... validation could ever match.” His hand moved from beneath your fingers to hold your hand in his, grip firm, but still loose enough to allow you to escape. “If you’ll allow it, I’d like to have you back in my life, in whatever way you’re willing.” He squeezed your hand, his eyes pleading.

You withdrew your hand from his, not missing his face falling. Quickly, before he could make any more assumptions, you lifted his warm hand to your cheek, turning to press a kiss to the heel of his palm. His eyes misted as you spoke, tenderly thumbing your cheek.

“Marius Von Hagen,” you whispered, “I’d be honored to come back into your life and resume my place as your lover. If you’ll allow it, of course.”

He didn’t miss the teasing lilt behind your words. “Always making fun of me, eh, engineer?”

You didn’t have a chance to respond as the hand on your cheek pulled you in and Marius kissed you lightly. It was more breath than kiss, both parties feeling overwhelmed at the familiar feeling. However, that didn’t stop him from diving back in, pressing a flurry of kisses in varying lengths to your smiling lips. His lips slid over yours, pulling them in and releasing them seamlessly. His light, happy laughs echoed into the air between and around you both, mixing with the sounds of your own joy. He kissed you slowly, softly, deeply, absorbing all he’d been missing for the past months. Whatever Pax threw at him, whatever dangers arose, whatever stifled his creativity, he felt he could conquer it all with you by his side to pull him through.

Some time later, Marius was laying next to you, curled into your side. The quiet was comfortable, until you decided to break it.

"You really should have told me about the NXX."

His face fell again, but you were right. "I know, there wasn't any real reason for keeping it from you-"

"So irresponsible, keeping things from your partner. You ought to be a better boyfriend," you chided, barely holding back your smile.

"Y/N! You had me worried! Again with the ill- timed humor, it's too soon to tease me!" His adorable pout was the only thing on your mind as you kissed him for the umpteenth time that night, relishing in his presence.

Yes, he had a lot to figure out. But so did you, and it certainly felt better to work out the walks of life with someone you truly love by your side.

#tot marius x reader #tears of themis #tears of themis x reader #file retrieved!#marius von hagen x reader #wait thats it innit :/#marius angst #idk #ngl! i hate this #started well then the pacing was all wrong #hhhh

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