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theloveinc · 4 months

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if i didn't care (more than words can say) - a dabi / touya todoroki x reader fanfiction—NO QUIRK!college-ish!AU

wc: 7.3k — my longest to date :')

sum: a beautiful but notorious shadow keeps following you home. over the course of some weeks, you eventually get to know him.

a/n: more than anything, this is really just a huge ode to my hatred of graduate school, though since the start of writing this, i admit it has gotten a lot better—hence there being a mixture of characters and ocs included. i don't think i was able to nail this exactly the way i envisioned, in clarity and thematically (and it's wordy as all hell)... but i am still delighted by this concept. i hope it tickles you, as well!

a MAJOR thank you to my beloved @weird-dere-writes for beta-ing this! twyla is a a real one whom i adore like the shining sun.

warning: lighthearted in spirit but DARK CONTENT! features stalking, physical assault and mentions of sexual assault, miscommunication, suicidal ideation, talk of death, gore + general sense of unhappiness/unease. gender neutral but some of the pet names include: pretty, sweetheart, lollipop, cookie, hon, baby + etc., also I think you might have a purse?, HAPPY END!

(read on ao3 - coming soon!)

title credit goes to the ink spots.

enjoy!

The sun has just barely set by the time you leave your final class of the day. Fog seeps from over the distant hills that surround your city, subway tracks murmur from underneath the thick concrete, and car high beams yellow in the fading light of the sun and slate blue sky.

Your classmates—those who have all left the lecture hall before you to give each other rides home—laugh, their voices echoing throughout the campus plaza as they disperse; the last students of the night to begin their trek home, down the hill that is your campus, and far, far away from you.

You don’t mind.

…or you tell yourself, at least.

Your walk home is pleasant enough, not so close that it doesn’t feel like a trip worth making, not so far that it feels like you’re a freshman again, tearing out of class just to run to catch the bus in time. It’s the perfect temperature where walking is comfortable, and if timing allows, you’ll get to enjoy the sunset as you go. Maybe today you’ll see the funny looking tuxedo cat that stares at you sometimes from the ground floor apartment window of one of your neighbors; you only recently found out that they have a little tortoiseshell, too.

Besides, while it’s not as though you enjoy your time alone any more than you enjoy anything else in life, home has become a sort of sanctuary, the trip to-and-from, a ritual, from school and the tension that sears your nerves on a daily basis. You still can’t help but wonder why it is that you’re only ever regarded by other students with hateful looks or by plain being ignored, sitting in the front corner of every classroom, freezing from both the weather's cooling breeze and the fact everyone just happened to ice you out by sitting in the back.

It's no surprise that nor can you ignore it, either.

For as much as you try, which is almost as often as you open your eyes in the morning, you simply haven’t succeeded. Hence why, with the cold air nipping at your cheeks and your fingers numbing from a chill you know will only get worse the longer you stay outside… you suppose you should finally start heading back, too.

You notice them first when you stop to adjust a faulty earbud.

A figure behind you that stops. Waits. Lingers. More than a block away, under the newly darkened sky and opaque clouds. A street light illuminates their body as they appear to dawdle; awkwardly hovering about a pole, staring at something you don’t see on the ground, trotting a couple steps, and then looking up at the sky.

You glance at them, the way one glances, with one hand pressed to your ear, the other gripping the strap of your bag tightly as you turn your head ever so slightly to look out of the corner of your eye and pray the movement isn’t noticed.

The figure, of course, freezes–like it’s not obvious, like it’s possible you won’t pick up on the sudden shift from dance to pause, autonomous to marionette, breath to stone. You can’t make out much about them aside from their long, dark clothing as their face is hidden by dark glasses and a hood, but when your stomach knots with something sour, nerves that twist and scream, you know nothing good will come from standing around and waiting to find out anything more.

You let your eyes shift back to the paved street in front of you slowly, as if you just found yourself caught up in the frustration of skippy music. Then, you start walking again, hoping it was all just some coincidence, illusion, pretending that if you were to look back, the figure would have since simply turned the corner and left you behind, like most people almost always seem to do.

But you look again. Peek, from the corner of your eye, briefly, like you normally would when no one is there and you just want to make sure… but this time, someone is, and by the time you really catch sight of them (closer now, like they were walking fast, jogging maybe, red light, green light), you don’t want to draw any more attention to yourself and turn back before you can make things any worse.

Your heart beats. Your breath shudders. You flex your fingers where they’re held, stiff with terror, wondering: is this really happening? What should I do? Am I crazy?

It’s five more blocks until your house. Three stop signs, then two traffic lights. One liquor store, and an empty cafe that has already closed for the day, filled with stacked chairs and little mice you sometimes catch scuttling by the edge of the curb. You live by a school, but since it’s already dark, there will maybe be a total of four cars that pass you by. Maybe. Then there’s a trek up a short hill before you finally reach your street.

You wonder, not once slowing your step, if this is something you need to be worried about, if you’re really being stalked like you’ve always been warned of before, if anyone would even care if you didn’t show up to class tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that… and then, despite the whisper of your unconscious telling you not to be so self-involved, no one wants you, anyway, you increase your step. You want to look back, confirm what you think is happening, face a fight you don’t think is fair but haven’t yet decided whether or not you want to win.

But you don’t, thinking you can almost hear their footsteps now, though maybe you’re just confusing them for the wild thump, thump, thump of your heart and the catches of your breath. And when you check back, they’re half a block away but feel closer than ever, eyes on you and hands halfway around your throat though they’re still hidden deep in their pockets.

You feel a little like hurling, a bit more like giving up and letting them have you (though you’ve only ever written a suicide note, never a will)... but the creature of fear in you ends up prevailing, throwing it’s tentacles up through your gullet into your brain and dragging you into the depths… just as you say a prayer for the first, or any, god willing to listen.

And then you start running.

Heft your bag over your shoulder, suck in an icy breath and charge forward into the night, past the three stop signs and through the red of each stop light that blares at you, really the only thing that seems to acknowledge you as you refuse to waste any time looking back.

Self preservation is one hell of a drug, you only manage to briefly think in between gulps of air, your cheeks stinging with the breeze and your feet beginning to grate and blister against the friction of shoes that aren’t meant for running. You figure at this point you’re more likely to trip and crack your skull open on the pavement than be caught and dragged away by some freak with a violent agenda. Would that really be so bad?

But your answer quickly arrives in the form of making it home and climbing the stairs so fast you manage to forget the thought entirely, along with most of the rest of the world aside from the few people you come up with (and proceed to scratch out) when determining who, if there's anyone, you can call for help.

It's inside, silent and alone in the dark, you try to process what just occurred for so long that eventually your roommate comes home from their shift at the bar. It’s only at their surprise from seeing you still awake (ghostlike, on the couch) that you realize hours have passed in the span of what felt like only seconds, minutes, the metronome of a few steps home–and that you hadn’t actually processed anything at all.

You go to bed that night, not having eaten but not hungry, still feeling the phantom sensations of your bounding footsteps on hard concrete, cold sweat sliding down the slant of your neck, and the feeling of a man just inches from your putting his hands on your back.

The next day during lecture, you are awoken from a hazy daydream by a notification on your phone.

Campus Creeper Found Passed Out in Uni Plaza.

You blink, exhausted after an adrenaline crash made worse by your night of haunted sleep, eventual overheating, and your roommate taking a shower at four am. You were happy to even drag yourself out of bed this morning and make coffee just tolerable enough not to spit out all over your kitchen floors.

Local man, you read after clicking, deemed the “campus creeper,” was found passed out on the Student Union steps early this morning. Identified by a member of student patrol at Mustafu University, the man’s name has yet to be released to the public as it appeared he was suffering from a number of wounds, mostly external.

Despite condition, students have taken to social media to express their relief, as the man has reportedly been following students—

You stop reading, having hardly even processed the words, really, as you try to shake off the fog that keeps you from really understanding what the words are telling you.

A tightness settles in your stomach, heavy and painful with a nausea you can’t shake, a question you don’t yet realize: is this the same person, same man, who scared you half to death last night by trailing you all the way home? It’s unclear from the article, the timing, the picture with his blurred out features… and the fact that he must've been dragged all the way back up to school because he was found nowhere near your home.

While you assume you’ll be more excited once the new sinks in and the nerves turn to consolation (and the person to your left stops chattering into the ear of the person sat behind you), you can’t help but shoot to your feet and run to the closest bathroom in a panic, trying not to hyperventilate looking at yourself in the mirror in between splashing water on your face.

The day has once again fallen into night. Your bag is heavy with the weight of books and pens and your schedule notepad that has all your plans for the rest of the week and even the month beyond that. Today, however, the clouds don’t creep and instead, you see stars, maybe only a handful or so, one airplane too, as the sun descends in a tender calm and the windchill greets your cheeks once more.

You walk, out of class and down the ancient steps of the building, start descending the hill down to the first busy intersection of streetlights where the president of your school was once hit by a car.

It’s not three blocks into the way home, however, that a shadow appears once more. Distantly, though you’re sure it’s calculated enough so as not to ring as intentional no matter how much you know it is, and can feel it in your bones.

You thought he had been caught. The creeper.

You hadn’t realized you were so relieved by the thought. It slipped your mind, the celebration over as quick as it started under the weight of all your schoolwork and the dirty looks your classmates sent you after you came back from dry heaving into the bathroom sink. Maybe it was a different guy they caught, you wonder, then kick yourself for being so naive as to think that maybe you’d been spared.

Of course not, you think. It’s never that easy, is it?

Panic once again bubbles up in your throat, anxiety pooling in your stomach like something hot melting through stone, and tears start to sting at the center of your eyes. You do your best to ward away the urge to collapse, instead trying to focus on the fact that everything was fine yesterday and tonight’s just another dream you’ll wake up from again tomorrow…though by now you know it’s not.

It is easier, this time, however, to begin to run, to bounce on your feet with a purpose you hope isn’t any more transparent than your fear. You’re happy that today you managed to pack light, skipped filling up your water bottle, and happened to put on your sneakers instead of your slip-ons, as if you didn’t spend half of your entire morning trying to convince yourself that potentially saving your own life was a good thing.

By the time you make it to the door, chest heaving with a wheezing heat as your hand shakes the key into the padlock, when you turn back to look one final time before ducking inside, still gasping for air, the shadow is no longer behind you.

The creeper is getting braver, you notice.

It has been weeks since the shadow appeared and the following began. One week of that same distant trailing which had you sprinting like some sort of track star, two weeks of running only the last block home, locking every single bolt on your door (then unlocking when it was time to let your roommate in), and three in total of squinting behind you in stinted moments and wondering what you see.

You think his hair is white.

Now though, tonight, he stays not a block or two behind you but rather, less than fifty feet. You can make him out—see now the faded black of his jeans and the red of his chuck taylors, dirty. He’s young-ish, you think, more noticeable than before, and skinnier–though maybe your eyesight has just gotten worse, or the memories have faded in trying to spare you from another trauma, maybe even from awakening any of the first ones.

You wonder how he was able to speed up, where he was waiting for you, where he came from that first night, the second, and now. And you wonder why you’ve stopped running as fast, even if you’ve been trying to leave campus earlier and earlier as if that will keep you any safer from walking home at night.

(You had remained after class one night to ask your professor a question you no longer remember, and a wispy haired girl sneered at you so badly you ended up weeping on your way out the door. Not only did it kill your urge to ever stay longer on campus than you needed to, it also caused a wane to your desire to even arrive home at all).

One day, the creeper catches up.

Reaches, like he’d be able to touch you, smiles, like his canines are sharp enough to chew through you…hopefully in one bite if he was even able to swallow that much. Maybe he is.

But you swat back when he does. Hoist your bag in close. Glare over your shoulder. Then speed up, and your lungs tighten into stone almost immediately when he speaks.

“Hey—”

“Get the fuck,” you screech, turning back just enough to say the words despite not knowing if you’d even be brave enough to let them out, to get away unscathed, “away from me!”

The shadow, however, instead of shrinking into disparagement like you so hoped… laughs, skipping towards you, laces flying, smiling wide.

“Aw, c’mon,” he jeers, to which you wince as you try to stomp away from his pull. That is, in between your attempts at keeping your eyes on him so that he doesn’t pull anything else fast, or deadly.

“I swear to fucking god. I will call the cops.”

Another laugh, his footsteps now lighter, his voice switching to something airy and cool.

“Don’t be like that, pretty.”

You barely look, but you see a flash of red as he kicks out his foot, the curl of a grin pulling one side of his lips lopsided as he lazily trots to match your hurried pace.

You want to start running, to disappear, dissolve—anything to stop things from developing further into a conversation and your possible demise—but he catches up to you again before you can even try to skirt away in any direction other than forward.

“You noticed quicker than I thought you would,” he almost hums, the words exposing the soft, pink tissue of his gums. “‘didn’t think you would.”

There is a question in his statement, though his voice doesn’t lilt and only his eyebrows give it away, quirking, stretching, falling, the piercing on his left one along with it, when you slow down (hardly, still breathing rough and nervous, not wanting to look) but don’t respond.

“Most people…” he shakes his head, “eh.”

“What?” you stop your stride, more out of surprise than want, and stare at him despite how distinctly you avoid catching his eyes. “Like people don’t know when they’re being followed?”

“Nah,” he says, his mouth remaining open after, humorously, like you’re supposed to get the joke, think it’s cool, that he’s a zombie, maybe. Something. “Like I thought you wouldn’t care.”

You cross your arms, blink at the ground in trying to hide what is most likely a stupid looking pout in your failing attempt to get hot and angry. You shouldn’t even be speaking. “I care when creepy people follow me.”

He laughs again, raspy and free. “It’s been weeks.”

You don’t want to give him the satisfaction of looking at him, but you look at him anyway. Truly focus on the mop of messy white and black streaked hair atop his head, the stained, canvas jacket with extra pockets and copper zippers, and his smile; the delicate, creased skin of his jaw that fades smoothly up his cheeks and down his neck. He isn’t bare of a good amount of piercings, either: he’s got all sorts metal in his ears, nose, and dimples, as far as you can tell by simply looking at him

He’s not really all that creepy-looking after all. To your surprise (and slight disgust), in fact, you find he’s somewhat… handsome.

You swallow.

“It’s been three.”

“Hm, baby?”

You tense, the claws returning, this time aiming for your heart, shredding it open, every insecurity lighting aflame when he smiles that smile again.

“Three weeks. That’s how long you’ve been stalking me,” you say.

There’s a pause, a shift, something you don’t catch and can hardly read. Then, he rolls his eyes, shoving his white knuckled fingers into the pockets of his coat. He doesn’t move otherwise, doesn’t even look angry, or as though he’s going to take any steps backwards or forward, and not like he’s going to lunge at you as if you’re prey and there’s an animal in him that he’s already promised food.

You feel otherwise, though he shakes his head with a ‘tsk. “I’d say stalking is a little harsh.”

You’re not sure why you object, “But–”

“I don’t stare into your window,” he taunts, “don’t have your number, don’t send you stupid love poems every night and every morning that say,‘I love you, be mine!’” He pretends to sing-song,

You can feel the irony, hear the chuckle but turn anyway to resume your walk into the night. Briskly. Refusing to look back and acknowledge the stranger you’re not sure wants to kill you.

“I don’t throw rocks at your window,” he continues to call after you, “or approach you in cafes and pretend you’re crazy when you scream.”

“Then leave me alone,” you shout, hoping the wind carries it far enough behind you to reach him, though you shiver still.

You don’t see it, but he shrugs. And surprisingly stays where he’s put, watching you try not to look like you’re peeking at him before nearly tripping on your own feet. You’re not sure if it’s a relief.

It’s the first night since first learning of him that you’ve walked home alone.

Later, you learn the creep has two names.

It’s been five weeks now, just after winter’s turn, the clouds not so big anymore but often dense with the slightest bit of rain you enjoy only when you wake up in the middle of the night too scared to go back to sleep.

The creeper, the shadow, your stalker, basically lives behind you now, grinning whenever you glance, dancing whenever you glare; it’s like he soaks up your, any kind of, attention like a bonfire being doused with gasoline. You’re still scared, unknowing of what he wants, but now that you’ve spoken, there’s somewhat of a static that’s settled, too; it’s tense and awkward, but the horror of it all is stagnant in build, in wait for the spark to light and set your whole world ablaze.

Though he finds you again, two red lights in, halfway to your house.

“Hey,” he says, following with your name.

You immediately shudder, jerking away from him in surprise as if there’s anything else you could do, but he just laughs that laugh of his, undisturbed he’s now talking to your back.

“Where’d you learn that?” you snap, but you can practically hear his grin when he responds.

“Got classmates, don’t you?”

Most of your classmates ignore you half the time, the other half just roll their eyes. Most of your classmates laugh whenever you speak, the ones who don’t have made you cry in front of your professors.

“They wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire.”

“I would,” he says, pausing as if he’s some sort of pensive, then giving you a look that assures you he’s up to no good, “and they gave me your name. Ibara, Setsuna, Yui–I could go on, you know?”

You’re surprised. You’re disgusted. At him, at them, and you gape, the only thing you can think to do under a circumstance that implies no one has any regard for your safety and yet, hardly leaves you surprised. “I think I’d rather just die.”

“That’s not true,” the creeper laughs, seeming oddly sure of the answer. You’re too nonplussed to decide if he’s right.

“I hate you,” you try instead.

“You don’t even know me.”

And it’s no nice to meet you, but the words slip out before you can stop them.

“So, what’s your name then?”

He hesitates, sucking on the piercing on his bottom lip before letting it pop back out in a sneer that shows pointed teeth. You’re not sure if he’s meaning to come off as upset or pensive, bitter or just plain rude.

“Dabi.”

The words fall off his lips, snappy and hot, like you’re lighting the burner on an old stove, or flicking a match against a matchbox for the first time and getting surprised when it sparks.

You pause, peeking over your shoulder. “‘gonna cremate me once you kill me?”

This time, he doesn’t laugh. “Maybe,” he says, then when you don’t react, “no.”

Your foot taps the ground when you look forward again. “You should really think about changing it, then.”

There’s a pause, a shift in clothes and in breath despite the pace at which you walk. You feel nervous, awkward the way one does when someone catches you with bad hair, or wearing the last clean clothes in the house on laundry day. You’re not sure why you care so much about a man who clearly does not care about you. Or does… in the same way a farmer fattens up a chicken for slaughter.

“Call me Touya, then,” he says, his eyes dark. “That’s what my ma calls me.”

“Touya,” you repeat, sounding the word out on your tongue soft and slow. Lamp. Arrow. A name from his mother. Your lips wrap around it, caress the warmth of the dip, the bend, the aim… and his face breaks into that knowing, wolfish grin.

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

You freeze, one foot freezing in the air, and he bursts into a rasp of laughter so loud your eyebrows immediately shoot up and almost off your head entirely. You go in to shush him like you would as if you were accused of something embarrassing, your expression morphing into a deep frown, and his own lightening with humor but still twisting with something hidden, something you really hope is not satisfaction. His lopsided smile falls just the slightest when he sees you readjust your bag and start, almost, stomping away.

He lets you find distance, of course, he’s always been a shadow not a stable fly, but Touya once again resumes his lazy trailing, joyously humming now, the sound echoing in your ears much longer than it probably should as he falls into a careful step behind you just as he always does… until you eventually make it home.

At six weeks in, he finally drops you off at your house.

Normally Touya stops his trail about a block or two before you make it, today, however, by the time you’re on the stone steps leading up to your front door, he’s a mere ten feet from your side like a chivalrous date making sure you get home safe (or like someone intending to grab your hands when you’re opening the door and rush in after you, as if to mount you right there on the floor). Your knees wobble on the first step when he speaks, though he remains standing politely next to the fire hydrant by the curb, playing with an unlit cigarette in between his fingers.

“Got any roommates?”

You stop, keys dangling from your fingers as you refuse to turn back and look.

“Yeah,” you say, staring at the chopped firewood on your porch as you let the silence sprawl. You would’ve said the same even if you didn’t.

“Good. Smart cookie.”

Your stomach twists. Your face burns. He bounces on his heels. You can’t move.

“That bakery down the street,” he begins again, nodding his head when you peek at him, barely. “It got food?”

You squint, your stiff hands cold and tight, his in his pockets.

“Um.”

He waits.

“It’s got mice.”

Then he bursts into laughter, quickly quieting to suck his teeth and kick a foot forward like he wants to say something but doesn’t know how. There’s a part of you that knows you need to stop indulging this man, for your own safety and sanity, but there’s another part that also doesn’t flip when you think of the possibility of dying. Instead of going inside, you kick your own feet out and ignore your trepidation.

“Why?”

“Wanna get dinner?”

He grins, and you hate the thought as soon as it arises, but it’s lovely; he has the smile lines of someone who has lived a happy life, and he looks so pretty you almost want to cry.

(Today he’s dressed in dark, stained jeans and dirty boots. His hair is still a white and black mess and his smile is boyish and toothy. It sends a current up your spine that makes you jerk when you turn back to face your front door.)

“Piss off.”

You shove your key in the lock to ignore the way he responds with a chuckle as his farewell, goofily waving when you manage to get the stupid thing to turn and yourself inside (which you notice only when you turn to slam the door closed and the curtain ripples).

But later, when you spare one more glance, the way one glances, out of the window of your living room as if to merely check the weather, Touya is smoking his cigarette on the street corner.

Campus Creep Caught Hanging Around.

Busted, but this time, not blue! The attacker who was dubbed the “campus creeper” by Mustafu University students was spotted once more about a mile away from the local school. A local cafe owner claims he saw the man being followed by another of a similar size, but is unsure if the two men are of a related circumstance or other.

He reports that the neighborhood has been in good spirits lately, so this comes as a shock. As we continue to find out more, the public will be updated—

Today your shadow is waiting for you at the end of the block. You spot him from out of the third story window of your classroom, feet sticking halfway off the curb and a lit cigarette between his lips that curls pretty, silver smoke into the golden blue light of the nighttime air.

“Hey, need a ride home?” one of your classmates asks beside you, the one that has your same name, shocking you out of your stupor as they tap the fingers of one hand against your table and swing their car keys around in the other.

You can barely tear your gaze away from the window to look at them; their flushed face, their short curls, tight and bouncing, and their awkward, half-assed attempt at generosity. You wonder if this is some kind of exercise they were told to practice in therapy.

“I heard about the campus stalker,” they continue without prompt. “Shihai and Kinoko are coming too, but you can squeeze in the middle, if you want.”

Their smile looks almost pitying.

“Uh,” you blink, a little stupefied, a little shy. “It’s alright, but thanks.”

They raise their eyebrows. “Isn’t your neighborhood a ways down by that cafe?”

“Yeah,” you nod, pausing to flick your eyes upward, “But I, uh...my friend is gonna walk me.”

You point toward the window, where your shadow, Dabi, Touya, whoever, has stopped smoking and is now bent over (teasing, most likely, with a gray-tinted shoelace) one of the mouser cats owned by the keepers of the small temple that sits snug at the back of your school.

You’re not exactly sure when he morphed into your friend. You don’t even think he has yet… but the words feel natural, eager, and easier than sliding onto leather seats in between two people who have never once looked your way with a nice expression and probably never will.

“Oh good!” same-name laughs, tipping their head back in a way that almost seems exaggerated. “I was scared someone might try to nab you. Not anymore, though.”

You’re not quite sure if they’re joking, but you try to smile and nod along anyway.

By the time he catches up to you that night, he’s half out of breath.

“There you are,” he says, grinning that stupid, wolf-like grin. “‘thought maybe you’d left out the back. Would’ve had to run to catch you.”

You frown, readjusting the weight of your bag on your shoulder like always, distracted as you multitask trying to make sure your water bottle hasn’t leaked as you run through a list of things to remember as well as double check that you haven’t forgotten anything inside.

“The north wing is halfway around campus,” you purposely avoid mentioning you took the long way to skip the corner where Touya usually stands. Instead of his face, you stare at the ground instead, by now resigned to the torture of waiting for your end… even if you’re secretly a tad disappointed he hadn’t brought the cat with him.

“So?” Touya doesn’t look perturbed when you finally face him, almost as if he was waiting for you, “’woulda caught up eventually.”

You make a note to add that to your list of things to remember, raising your eyebrows.

“Why?” you ask, and then before he can tease, “Why bother, I mean?” and you can tell he must think you’re joking by the way he doesn’t answer, instead responding by flattening his face–his eyes sinking back into the cozy crevices where they rest and the skin of his chin tightening with exasperation as dry as tinder.

You try not to be too perturbed by it, instead of pressing him for answers, simply turning to set back off as if that will stop the eye roll he’ll give you behind your back and change his mind about following you home. But, as always, or at least, as of more recently, Touya waits a mere five steps before starting right along behind you like the shadow his is.

“What do you want from me, Touya?”

You ask the question one day, finally, two and a half months in. Classes aren’t over yet, but the end of winter semester is fast approaching. The words seem to scratch at your throat, their destination apparent even if you find they’re hard to spit out and burn on their way out.

“What?” he asks, falling into a perky step beside you. He’s been that close everyday for the last two weeks now. And now, pressed up against you, near hopping like you’ve been friends for years, he doesn’t back away from the inquiry.

You’re tired. Sick of waiting. Sad that you let this whole thing last so long when you’ve been quite aware of your impending doom (not that you ever told anyone, not even your roommate) and have done little to try and stop it.

“You wanna kill me or something? Take me home so you can fuck me then run me over?”

Touya’s footsteps slow, and he halts (for the first time ever of his own volition) a little ways behind you. He’s not as tall as you initially thought him to be back when he kept his distance, but you’ve also since learned that his eyes are the prettiest cyan you’ve ever seen, and his scarred skin is soft and pink. Silver piercings adorn his cheeks like dimples, scars cutting the two different textures right in half.

“No,” he says, then half heartedly and calm, “you know I’ve done enough of that, already.”

You glance at him, pulling your head back in a half-horrified glare. But instead of the only half-serious expression you’re so used to seeing on him, however, you find a shit-eating smirk on his face that tells you he’d laugh if he weren’t so obviously trying to yank your chain by not doing so at all.

Still serious, he jumps at you though, eyes opening wide, hands outstretched and twitching like a monster in a cartoon out to grab you, and you hop back like he’s on fire. No sooner does his face fall that he glances at you as if waiting for some kind of reaction, positive review, happy Halloween (even though it’s ages before Halloween).

When you stay silent, the hands on your chest not falling, your expression still one of terror but to him quite bitter, he rolls his eyes so far up that only the white are showing.

“I’m joking,” he says, his baby ocean blues coming back down to settle right on you. “Obviously.”

You pause, standing still, trying to breathe, comprehend the, the, the predator that has been following you so closely for what you finally conclude has been months now.

All those torturous moments, since that first night of running, all amounted to something even he won’t name. A silent end, for someone as lonely and pathetic as you; it’d almost be fitting, except for the fact that there’s no specific reason for it to be you. You’re a nobody, friendless and unhappy, waiting for the day you finally graduate and can leave this shitty city behind. It’s not like it ever kept you safe.

“Then what?” you ask.

You feel resigned, defeated, undermined… yet he looks at you dumbly, as if you’re supposed to know something you clearly do not, and while you’d normally be embarrassed, you find you’re too worn down to care. Touya raises his brows sharply, the bruised-looking (but delicate) bags under his eyes shifting slightly with the tension of an annoyed frown as his voice strains to mock you. “What do you mean, ‘then what?’”

Your face goes slack, and you think you’d try to hit him if you knew that wouldn’t end up with you on the ground or sobbing alone at home. “Seriously, Touya? We both know you’re stalking me.”

He laughs dryly, one of the few times you’ve seen him so serious (the last time when he pointed out something dead on the pavement you had to stop him from trying to pray for. ‘I don’t even go to temple,’ he had said at the time, sounding so offended that you decided to drop the subject altogether and just let him go for the little dead bird he said he wanted to give to a friend). “I’m not.”

“You are. I know you are. You…”

“I can assure you, hon, if I were stalking you, you’d already be roadkill,” he twists one of his earrings, making a show of staring at the painted nails of his other hand, dark purple, before tsk-ing at you, sassy. “Not like you run from me, anyway.”’

You feel your stomach turn in embarrassment, in shame. You know he’s partly right, but you’re not about to admit that to the man who started it in the first place, who chased you home that whole first month, who, despite the familiarity you share now, still takes pleasure in your pain.

“Because, because no matter what I do, you won't quit chasing me. I’ve been running from you. ‘Cos you won’t leave. Me. Alone.”

Touya rolls his eyes, then sighs like you’re being a hassle. “If you really didn’t want me here I woulda left. I’m not stupid.”

“But I don’t want you here. I never did. You show up out of, of, fucking nowhere, acting like you know me—”

“I’m keeping you safe, lollipop,” he interrupts, though the words hardly register.

“Safe? As if it’s my fault you can’t leave me alone?”

You think of all the nights that had you near paralyzed with terror, from that first day onward, of rubbing your feet raw in your shoes, of wishing someone would come save you, of puzzling why you never ended up dead, to now. You never once thought, realized–

“Not your fault. His. The neighbor stalker.”

You can barely respond, your arms shaking at your sides, eyes watering with distress.

“But you, you’re…”

He smacks his lips with a yawn.

“Yeah, I beat him black and blue, maybe. But only cuz he was trailing you, I wouldn’t…” he shoves one hand in the pocket of his coat, waves the other dramatically in the air, “go after someone unless—”

“Touya?” you question, your throat rough, your swallows heavy and thick with a syrupy confusion.

“They did something real bad, like messed with a—“

“Dabi.”

He finally looks at you, the sheen in his eyes, for once, solemn, as if he harbors a genuine concern for your safety all brought on by your confusion.

“What?”

It’s a question he asks a lot, but this time, he seems to mean it.

“Dabi,” you repeat, “you mean… you’re not the campus creep? The one on the news?”

He gawks at you suddenly. The silence stretching, the night suddenly looming, the breeze even seeming to laugh. His disinterested expression begins to fade into a blank, unreadable nothingness… and then he howls. Hoots. Yells. His smile returning then, wide, blazing, hot.

He laughs like you’ve never seen anyone laugh before, guffawing joyously and jollily, slapping his hands against the ripped holes of his jeans as his chest heaves underneath today’s thin, white tee.

It’s almost contagious. Almost.

“And here I thought we were bonding.”

You prickle like a cat, digging your toes into the tips of your worn out shoes. “Stop it. I’m being serious.”

“You’re tellin’ me,” he manages in between snickers, “you thought I was the creeper this whole time?”

“You’re not?”

“That guy?” Touya straightens up to wipe his eyes, and you finally notice the crow’s feet that crinkle around his eyes, “Hell no. You think I do this for fun? Wear fuckin’ ugly hats and shit to terrorize pretty students at the school my ass of a little brother attends?”

You say nothing. He starts laughing again, clapping his hands and keeling over. Even in jest, his voice still has that soft, raspy charm as he hoots at the ground.

“Dabi. Touya. Whoever you are,” you plead, the first time ever you think you’ve voluntarily gotten closer to him, grabbing the rough shoulder of his jacket and tugging. He stumbles, maybe more on purpose than because of your grip, closing the distance between you such that his chest is pressed against yours and his hands are on your hips. “Tell me the truth. What’s going on?”

He snorts, the only difference in sound now that it’s muffled by the closeness of your lips, but responds slowly nonetheless.

“I beat the snot,” he emphasizes, exposing teeth, “out of your stalker. And you didn’t even know he wasn’t me.”

“But…” you say, hesitating against him, your hands slipping from the stiff collar of his jacket to the front of his chest, confused. His eyes are as cold as ice but set you on fire when you meet his gaze. “You didn’t have to. I mean, I woulda been fine, right?”

He doesn’t look entirely convinced. “You tell me, when you’re the one still trying to walk your stupid ass home alone at night.”

You flush, cheeks heating the skin all the way down to your neck. Touya seems to have clocked you far better than you ever knew it yourself–that he was never the enemy, that you were trapped in a self pity so deep only he could drag you out of it before choking, that dying, being tortured, being stalked, was far from the punishment you needed to get that kind of smoke out of both your lungs and your head.

And, if anything, that you were lucky to have him.

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t care.” Touya steps back only to purposely step gently on your toes. When you glare at him, hand still stretched out to link the two of you together somehow, he only grins. “Buy me dinner to make up for it. Or kiss me sometime. With tongue. Either’s fine, cookie.”

It’s been six months. Summer is just about to begin, your roommate has already left on vacation, and the closer you get to the end of the season, the more you feel your worries begin to melt off of you like layers upon layers of frost on an icy window of a warm cabin.

The shadow still walks you home, but he no longer trails behind you, and you no longer call him a creep. You call him Touya–now your lamp, now your arrow–and sometimes Dabi (that is, when you feel like he’s not listening).

Though the sun now sets a whole hour later than it did during winter, excusing as much of a need for Touya’s presence in your routine, you have now welcomed him into it, (even if you spent the first couple months of your real relationship trying to make up for your initial confusion at his presence with bowls of soap and burnt bread from the cafe near your house.)

It is a Thursday when a wispy-haired classmate comes up to you on the steps that lead away from campus. She’s the one you knew vaguely from elementary school in your distant home town, and who made herself reacquainted by sneering at you once for eating a candy bar in class; she bared fangs at you like she herself had never been hungry, and then ignored you every time you saw her after (even during assigned group work, when you realized she wasn’t even that intelligent).

But, now, you know, Touya can sneer, too, and sneer for you in ways that light a fire in the hearth of your existence… and he does so, sharply, arrogantly, when she approaches underneath the fading light of the sun and slate blue sky. She looks almost scared, even more so of his smile, big, wide and scary—that is, until you interrupt the moment by calling out to her from behind his back.

“You ever heard about the campus creeper?” you ask, to which she nods anxiously, big, wet tears welling in her eyes as she hobbles right over to your side, Touya already barking into the warming night air as he begins to walk you both home.

#dabi x reader #touya todoroki x reader #touya x reader #oh m god. i want to do another read thru so bad but i am just going to press post.#please please heed warnings but enjoy #i promise it's not so scary #i love you #caitie fic #gen #caitie post #dabi

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sunshine-on-my-mind · 2 years

Text

The Mobster’s Wife

pairing: Mob!Lloyd Hansen x Plus size reader

a/n: hey cuties, this is my first time writing a Mob AU so I really hope you all like it. Please read the warnings before moving forward.

warnings: 18+ Minors Dni Mob AU, mentions of being a mobster and implied themes, no graphic details, angst, arranged marriage, crying, reader has body insecurities, implied body shaming (not from Lloyd), cooking and eating mentioned, doubts of infidelity (but nothing really), overthinking, fluff, soft moments, kissing, mention of sex but nothing happens, flirting. Let me know if I missed anything.

words: 5.3k

Comments and Reblogs are appreciated

-> Next Chapter ; Drabbles ; Asks

Some say you are happiest on the day you become a bride.

In your case, you didn’t even know what to feel. A cloud of confusion wrapped you up when you walked down the aisle. All eyes on you, judging, measuring and probably calculating the outcome of this wedding.

Your eyes landed on the man you were destined to call your husband. His jaw sharp, beautiful blue eyes that had a sense of dominance in them, plump pink lips making a straight line, making it hard to read what might be going in his mind. But the feature that stood out most on his conventionally beautiful face, was a neatly trimmed moustache.

Everything was mechanical after that, the vows, the rings, the kiss, everything. Cheers and claps brought you out of the trance and it hit you suddenly that you were indeed married at that point. You were Mrs. Hansen.

Dinner involved loud toasts and speeches, mainly with the intention of impressing your husband. Everyone wanted to be in his good books, and why wouldn’t they? Lloyd Hansen was one of the most powerful and influential mobsters of the city. And the man lived up to his image.

Even though everything was so loud around you, you didn’t miss the absolute silence that surrounded your husband and you. And that silence continued when you found yourself in front of your new house, a massive one.

Being the daughter of a mobster, you were not unfamiliar with luxury and riches, sure you tried to stay away from all of it as much as possible because you didn’t want to be a part of the mobster life, in fact you wanted to get out of the city, the country if it was possible and live an independent life, away from it all.

But life had other plans, or rather your family. You hardly knew the man you got married to. His house spoke a lot about him, you realised as you walked inside his grand home. Dark hues all around, had a gorgeous glow, minimalistic and fashionable, a lot like the man who was walking beside you. The silence still there.

It was only broken when his men entered, they exchanged a few words, your focus on taking in the interiors of your new home.

When they left, your husband turned towards you, as if finally seeing you. The more his sharp gaze took you in, the more insecure you felt about yourself. You wrapped your hands around your upper body and looked down, but his gaze didn’t leave you yet. You felt heat rushing to your cheeks. The heat was gone in a moment as a cold voice reached your ears.

“Your room is upstairs, you can decorate it however you want to.” Lloyd spoke, his first words to you “My room is downstairs and I like my privacy. I don’t expect much from you but there are certain rules you must follow. There are areas in this house which are off limits. The rest you are free to explore unless I tell you not to, in case I have some important meeting here. Don’t go out of the house without informing me. I’ll arrange a car for you.”

There was complete lack of emotions behind his voice as he went on with the rules.

“I expect you the follow the rules, another thing I expect from you, but won’t demand, is for you to cook for me.” And with that Lloyd left you behind making his way upstairs. When he saw you weren’t following him, he stood in his place and sighed.

“Do I have to invite you? I’m showing you your room, hurry up I don’t have all the time in the world.” Lloyd didn’t try to hide his irritation.

So that was how your married life was supposed to be. Sure it was an arranged marriage, you weren’t expecting love. And you knew from what you had heard about Lloyd that he wasn’t exactly a soft man. You wondered what this marriage had in store for you, as you went up the stairs.

With a huff, Lloyd opened the door of your room. You both went inside. A big but dull room, not like the rest of the house you saw. Perhaps a guest room?

“This will be your room from now on. No one will disturb you here. If you want to buy something for your room, or something for yourself go ahead. here keep this card.” Lloyd gave you a credit card. You were still in a haze about everything. Was this how mob marriages were supposed to be?

Before the wedding one of your main concerns was to share a room and a bed with a stranger. At least that won’t be a problem. But you didn’t feel relieved at all, a pit of doubt formed in your stomach. Was this all happening because of your appearance? He must had known how you looked before agreeing to the marriage right? Or maybe you were overthinking and this was just how most of these marriages were. Mobsters had the image of being with many women. Perhaps Lloyd was one of them.

All you could do was nod to let your husband know you had understood everything. With that Lloyd left your room. As the door shut, a little harshly maybe, all the negative thoughts came rushing to you, and it didn’t help when you ventured in front of the mirror and saw yourself in your wedding dress. Alone, on your wedding night.

You used to have some insecurities about your body but you had tried your best to overcome them and you were definitely in a much better place. That was before you were left alone in that big room, on your wedding night.

It was difficult to explain, because not that you were eager to be sleeping with a stranger, a mobster, the worst ideas about what he might do to you and your body had already flashed in front of your eyes many times before the wedding. Mob families were full of misogyny, hence there was an unspoken, actually sometimes directly spoken rule of pleasing the husbands, and always doing what they said. You were nervous and scared about your wedding night, but even with those multiple thoughts, being left alone somehow didn’t cross your mind. Did Lloyd leave because he didn’t like the way you looked? Did he leave because he wasn’t at all attracted to you?

Lloyd didn’t even talk to you properly, or ask anything about you. Just informed you what he wanted to and left. You hardly knew him but you sure wanted to learn more about the man you were supposed to spend your life with, unfortunately or fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case with Lloyd.

Your luggage was already there in your room and you changed into something comfortable. The bed was big, and soft. You lied down and covered up yourself with a blanket. Sleep sleep sleep sleep. Tried your best to fall in slumber. And you did, eventually after some turning and tossing.

The next morning you woke up and got ready for the day. You made your way down towards the kitchen. All it took was a little exploring, and you found some ingredients and utensils to make a simple breakfast. You didn’t know what Lloyd liked so you decided to stick to classics. Toast, eggs, bacon and a fresh pot of coffee.

Soon you could hear footsteps towards the kitchen, and the confidence the footsteps had, made it clear, it was none other than the owner of the house. You looked at him, even in the morning he was well dressed, hair neatly gelled back.

“Morning” you wished Lloyd and in return got a nod. “I’ve made breakfast, didn’t know what you like-” you couldn’t finish before Lloyd made his way towards the dining table, and started reading a newspaper. Clearly not interested in listening to whatever you had to say.

You took a deep breath, and tried to deny the little pang you felt in your chest. Serving the breakfast on a plate, and pouring coffee in a cup, you took it to the table and placed it in front of your husband. His face was still behind the newspaper.

“I hope you like the food.” And finally the newspaper was out of the way and Lloyd looked straight into your eyes. His piercing gaze had quite an effect on you. No further words were exchanged.

Lloyd started eating and you joined him on the table with your food and coffee. You wanted to start a conversation but didn’t know how. Lloyd’s focus was on the food, his phone chimed and his focus shifted towards his phone. You gave up and started eating.

He was soon done eating and with a quick ‘thank you’ he left you alone. Again.

And that became your routine for the next few days. You were alone most of the time, explored the house, the parts you were allowed to see of course, got acquainted with it. There was a Television in your room and you decided to binge watch something, to keep yourself distracted from other things.

The only time you weren’t alone was during breakfast and sometimes dinner, Lloyd generally accompanied you. He had informed you he was usually out during the day so no need to prepare lunch for him and that sometimes he would come home late so not to wait for him. You always prepared dinner for him though, when he was late you kept it in the fridge. Left a note there, to let him know.

One night, when Lloyd was late again, you decided to wait up. When he arrived it was quite late. You were sitting at the dining table, reading a book to stay up.

“What are you doing?” Lloyd’s deep voice made his presence known. You were quite invested in the book so you didn’t hear his footsteps.

“I’m- I was waiting for you to come home” Lloyd sighed and ran his fingers through his now slightly disheveled hair. “How was your day?” You asked bravely, hoping to get some response from him. Anything.

“I told you, you don’t have to stay up for me. You should have gone to bed.”

“I wanted to. I wanted to check on you.”

“You don’t have to.” Lloyd sighed again. “And to answer your question, I’m alive aren’t I? So you can get from that how my day was.” You gulped and looked down.

“I’ve made dinner.” You almost whispered.

“Yeah I can heat it and have it on my own, you don’t have to stay. You can go sleep.” Only if he understood that you wanted to stay.

Or maybe he did understand that, and that was why he wanted you to leave. Maybe he didn’t want to spend time with you. Not like Lloyd had not done or said anything to make you fee otherwise. The time you spent together felt obligatory or just to maintain decency. You wished him a good night and went back to your room.

There wasn’t much change in the following few weeks, except you stopped trying to make conversation with your husband. You did what you were supposed to and kept to yourself.

“I have a party to attend today” Lloyd spoke while you two were having breakfast. Why was he informing you suddenly? He hardly ever told you his plans for the day. Was he- was he inviting you to go with him? You got lost in your thoughts and Lloyd tried to figure what you might be thinking.

“You’re invited as well but you don’t have to go, I’m don’t think you’ll like the company.” Oh, it wasn’t an invitation. You nodded. Of course Lloyd didn’t want you there. Why would he? He would probably be embarrassed if he was seen with you. The man was quite attractive, gorgeous beautiful ladies were desperate for him. God they’d probably lick his wounds if he just spared them a glance. There was no way he would want to be seen with you.

You let out an ‘okay’ and focused on eating. Lloyd could sense something going on in your head but he didn’t know you enough and shouldn’t assume anything. As usual he was finished eating before you and he left the table with his usual ‘thank you’.

Sleep felt like a distant thought that night. Your mind filled with thoughts of Lloyd and what he might be doing in the party. Did he have a mistress, or many? Was that another reason he didn’t want you at the party, would she be there?

You desperately tried to remove those thoughts from your mind and think about positive things, but you didn’t find any. Eventually your mind got tired of thinking and let you sleep.

The next morning you had breakfast alone. No sign of Lloyd. Later you got a call from him.

“I’ll come home early today, I have a meeting in the evening. I’ll have some people over. And I don’t want you to come down tonight when the meeting takes place, understood? Stay in your room.” And as soon as he was done speaking he hung up the phone.

The rest of the day went by quickly and soon it was evening. You had already prepared dinner so that you won’t have to go down later. Unfortunately you didn’t bring up any of that food to your room.

It was getting late and you were getting hungry. Maybe if you quickly grabbed some food it won’t be a problem. Besides, the meeting was taking place in the office, which was far away from the kitchen.

You silently went down and opened the door of the fridge, but before you could do anything, an angry, very angry Lloyd appeared behind you.

“Do you not know how to follow simple instructions?”

You kept quiet, looked away.

“Answer me. I don’t like repeating myself.”

“I’m sorry I just-“

“You’re sorry? What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? I told you not to come down. It was a simple and clear instruction. Are you that dumb?”

And the angrier his tone got, the more you lost control of your emotions.

“I-“ You looked at him with teary eyes.

“Are you fucking crying right now? Is that supposed make me feel bad when you’re the one who didn’t follow instructions? You know what, I’m done talking to you. Go up to your room and cry all you want there. Just not in front of me. I have a meeting to get back to. I don’t have time-“ The tables turned, and it was Lloyd who couldn’t finish his sentence this time. You ran past him. Went up to your room as quickly you could and shut the door.

Lloyd sighed and went back to his meeting. You on the other hand cried your heart out. Everything piled up together and you couldn’t hold it in any longer. In that moment you truly realised how alone you were. You had no one, and your husband hated you.

When Lloyd’s meeting got over, he went to the kitchen. As soon as he opened the door of the fridge to get his dinner, he realised there was another container of food, resembling the one kept for him.

Oh fuck. You must had come down to get your dinner. Lloyd closed the fridge and made his way up to your bedroom. He wasn’t sure what he would do or say, but his feet were moving on their own towards your room, before his mind could process much.

As he stood outside your room, he could hear your cries. Lloyd didn’t feel much for people, but something about you was breaking all his walls and he was nervous about it. He barely knew you. Lloyd didn’t trust people easily. That didn’t mean it didn’t affect him at all to see you cry. To hurt you unintentionally. He was just trying to protect you from any kind of possible danger.

Lloyd realised that damage was already done and it would be better to give you space. That was how your husband always tried to make you feel comfortable, by giving you space. If he only knew it was having the exact opposite effect.

The next day you didn’t show up for breakfast. Lloyd found the kitchen empty as well as the dining table. He realised he had royally fucked up. Or maybe you were simply late? But you were never late.

Lloyd decided to wait for you. His day was comparatively less packed. An hour turned into two. Still there was no sign of you. With a deep sigh. Lloyd made his way up to your bedroom. He knocked on your door.

You woke up early in the morning after crying yourself to sleep last night. But you didn’t feel like leaving your room. You were still wrapped up in your blanket when you heard the knock on the door. Maybe Lloyd was angry because you didn’t make breakfast, but to be fair you didn’t really care about it at that moment. Dragging your feet towards the door, you opened it.

Your eyes were puffy due to crying. But you made sure not to drop a single drop of tear in front of your husband. No words came out of you, you didn’t have anything to say to be fair.

“You should get something to eat.” Lloyd managed to speak out, his voice had no anger. A little concern maybe but you were too upset to notice.

“I don’t feel like eating”

“But you-“ Lloyd cleared his throat “you haven’t eaten anything since yesterday” A humourless chuckle left your mouth.

“That doesn’t concern you does it? It’s not like you care.”

“Doesn’t matter if I care or not” Lloyd replied.

“You don’t care, just admit you don’t. Admit that you are embarrassed by me and that’s why you didn’t want anyone to see me. That’s why you were so adamant about me not going down wasn’t it? You are ashamed of me.” Your voice was slowly getting louder.

“You think I asked you to stay in your room because I’m ashamed of you? The people who were attending the meeting were dangerous people, bad people, I wanted you to stay here so that you were safe. I was trying to protect you.”

“Really? Everyone is afraid of you, what possibly could those people have done?”

“Well I’m not going to justify my decisions. It’s my responsibility to protect you and that’s what I was doing.”

“Fine, even if that was the case yesterday, what about the day before, when you didn’t want me to go to that party, huh? You even said I was invited, still didn’t take me with you, why? I’ll tell you, it’s because you are ashamed of me.”

“The only reason I didn’t take you with me is because I have heard you don’t like the mob world. I thought this marriage is already a burden for you and that I shouldn’t trouble you more by making you attend these parties.” Lloyd spoke loudly but only to make his point. But he wasn’t angry at you, he was angry at himself for making you feel that he might be ashamed of you. That wasn’t the case at all. Lloyd knew this marriage was just a deal, between two Mob families. Of course it wasn’t an ideal marriage, and whatever he had heard about you, from his different sources, was that you didn’t want to belong in this world of violence, but unfortunately you got married into it. So giving you space felt like he was doing you a favour.

Lloyd wasn’t always proud of everything he did but he knew it was necessary. That made him believe the less you knew about him, the less you would dislike him. He didn’t want his wife to dislike him, or worse, be scared of him. Hence pushing you away seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.

But in that moment, Lloyd realised keeping you at distance had a reverse effect than what he had intended.

“I’m not ashamed of you. I didn’t realise you felt like that.” You kept quiet, still looking away “Hey look at me.” And you did.

“There is actually another party tonight, I wasn’t gonna go anyway, but if you want to, we can both go together.” You weren’t really in the mood to attend a party, but if it was just crumbs you were gonna get as hopes of spending time with your husband, then you were gonna take them.

“Alright. We can go together.” Came your reply, and Lloyd gave you a nod.

“Let’s have breakfast now come on.”

“You haven’t had breakfast yet?” You asked and he shook his head.

“What do you wanna eat?“ You asked.

“I was thinking about cooking today. Do you like pesto eggs?”

For the first time in your married life, you didn’t feel that distant to your husband. It wasn’t like you both talked a lot, hardly in fact, still it felt like the air around you was a little more relaxed than usual.

The pesto eggs Lloyd made were truly very delicious.

“This is so good.” You commented without looking up from your plate. Lloyd smiled.

Your husband had some work to do, he went to complete them in his home office, while you decided to do something about your current cried out appearance. You were nervous about what to wear for the party.

Finally settled on a long black dress that wasn’t too tight, or too loose, just the perfect fit, most importantly one that looked pretty good, and made you feel comfortable.

When Lloyd saw you in that dress it was very hard for him to not keep staring at you. You always looked so cute but tonight, wow.

“You look nice.” You weren’t used to many compliments. And thus you didn’t really know how to respond to them and decided to stick with the classic response, ‘thank you’

“You look nice too.” It was true, actually Lloyd always looked so handsome. You would be lying if you said you haven’t stared at him from time to time when he wasn’t looking.

The car ride to the party was mostly silent. Both of you stole glances when you thought the other wasn’t looking. One time you caught Lloyd looking at you and you couldn’t help but feel shy under his gaze. Before getting out of the car Lloyd finally broke the silence.

“As I had said earlier, these people might not be the best company for you, but since we are here, let’s try to have a good time. But if something happens, if you feel uncomfortable or even boring, just let me know and we’ll leave. Alright?” You nodded as a smile appeared on your face. Maybe he did care about you.

The party was truly nothing you had ever seen or experienced. Mobsters, rich businessmen, influential people everywhere, not to forget the gorgeous women adding to the grandeur of the party. And the air carried a distinct smell of alcohol mixed with hints of danger.

It was all kind of overwhelming, and something about the party wasn’t sitting right with you, maybe simply because it was all new to you, and also because Lloyd rightly said those people weren’t definitely your ideal company.

Lloyd introduced you to some people before excusing himself when he was called by others. You tried roaming around but the way most people looked you up and down, scanning, wondering how you were chosen as the lucky one to be Lloyd Hansen’s wife made you feel uneasy.

You tried to ignore the whispers and poorly covered laughs, you even heard things like ‘her father must be very influential and rich if Lloyd married someone like her’ and ‘of course this marriage is nothing but a deal, look at them, they don’t fit together’

Their words finally got to you when your eyes began to moisten. You made your way towards the bar, but there were too many people present. Who were you kidding when you thought you can belong in this world? Most of those people were either too heartless, too misogynistic or too full of themselves. Definitely not your type of crowd. Those people only understood money and power.

Your eyes automatically started scanning for Lloyd. You didn’t have to look much, as the man appeared right beside you.

“What’s wrong?” His question made you look away to wipe off any sign of tears, his words still fresh in your mind which had made you decide never to cry in front of him.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. Did someone say anything to you?” His voice a mixture of concern and anger, anger which you could feel wasn’t directed towards you.

You shook your head. Technically it wasn’t a lie, no one said anything directly to you. Lloyd didn’t push you more on that topic. The way you avoided his eyes and fidgeted with your hands made it quite evident that no matter what happened, you didn’t feel comfortable in that atmosphere.

“We’re leaving, come on. This party is too boring anyway.”

The ride back home was almost nerve wracking. Would Lloyd be angry at you? He did say you probably won’t like the party but you still wanted to go. And now you’re leaving quite early. Although Lloyd hadn’t shown any signs of anger towards you, the slight tick in his jaw made you feel worried.

As soon as you were home, you decided it’s best to get to the point and apologise before things could go wrong any further.

“I’m sorry.” Your random apology caught Lloyd off guard.

“Huh? What are you apologising for?” His question made you question yourself. Exactly, why were you? Except the part that you didn’t take Lloyd’s suggestion and still went to the party, you didn’t exactly do anything wrong, did you?

“I- I don’t know. I’m sorry to disappoint you I guess.”

“You didn’t disappoint me.” Lloyd took a deep breath. “Can I ask you something, answer me honestly, why did you want to go to that party? It was clear you didn’t feel comfortable there, and that those assholes aren’t exactly your ideal type of people. You have grown up in a mob family, I’m sure you know how those people can get, and I’m also sure you are not like them. So why?” You gulped. Lloyd definitely knew more about you than you expected, or he very quickly had understood a lot about you.

“I get so alone in the house. I didn’t want to feel so lonely, I wanted to spend time with you.” You answered without beating around the bush. Not that it didn’t make you extremely nervous to say those words. A smile, no a smirk appeared on Lloyd’s face.

“Hmm so my pretty wife wanted attention from me? If that was the case you could have just asked for it” Lloyd came closer to you with each word. But then the playfulness of his tone shifted to something more caring “Did I actually make you feel so alone?” You nodded

“Truth be told, I felt giving you space was what you needed. I know it’s not easy giving up your life and start living with a stranger, that to with a mobster. It felt like the less you know about me the better it would be. But now, I guess it wasn’t such a good idea.” Lloyd confessed and gently held your hand. “I’ll try to do better from now on.”

“Lloyd, you know, I thought you kept your distance from me because of the way I look, many people have implied I’m not beautiful before, so I got used to it. And when you didn’t interact much with me, even though I tried, I thought that was the case.“

“Who told you you’re not beautiful? Did someone insult you? Give me names, you know I can-“ Your chuckle stopped him mid-speech. You couldn’t help it, you liked the way he suddenly got all protective over you.

“Listen, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and you have the most beautiful heart. Far too beautiful for an asshole like me.”

In that moment, he didn’t feel like Mobster Lloyd, but just your husband.

“Now coming back to the part where you wanted my attention,” Lloyd teased and you couldn’t help they way you felt warm. Your husband had a smirk on his face as he took in your form.

“How about you go get changed and come to my room?” A soft gasp escaped your lips on hearing that. Lloyd chuckled.

“Don’t worry I’m just inviting you to my room, not asking to have sex with you,” he paused and leaned closer to your ear “Unless you want to.” Shivers ran down your body, because of the proximity and his words. Involuntarily you bit your lip and tried to form a reply.

“No, um- not yet. I don’t even know you properly.”

“Well you don’t need to know someone to have sex with them wifey, hope you know that, hm?” Did the man know what he was doing to you? He definitely did, his cocky attitude and smirk made it clear.

“I know that, but you’re not just someone are you? You’re my husband, and I want to know you first.”

“You’re a smart girl, wifey. I like that.” A genuine smile graced Lloyd’s face “Alright then, freshen up and come to my room.” You nodded and quickly went to your room to get changed.

As you stood in front of Lloyd’s bedroom, you felt excited but also nervous, but before you could ponder much, Lloyd came out.

“Come on in” your husband held the door open for you. Lloyd’s room was not only big but matched his personality perfectly. “You look cute.” You weren’t sure what to wear so you decided to go with some comfy shorts and T-shirt.

“Thank you.” Lloyd motioned at the bed for you to get in.

“Make yourself comfortable.” You sat down on the bed while Lloyd lied down beside you.

“Are you planning to sleep like that?” he asked you with a chuckle. Well he had a point, so eventually you lied down beside him.

It all felt so foreign, and so weird to be sharing a bed with your husband more than a month later after getting married. You were feeling overwhelmed, happy and sad at the same time.

“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours? Don’t think too much okay? Let’s focus on this moment.” Lloyd tried to be as sweet as he could. “I’m happy you are here. I don’t really know how to apologise because I haven’t had to till now, but I apologise for being rude, and hurting you.” You gave him a smile.

“Can we try to be there for each other from now on?” The sincerity in your tone and the soft expression on your face made Lloyd feel things he didn’t realise he could.

“Yeah, let’s try that.” His answer was good enough for you.

After taking your permission, your husband softly wrapped his arm around you. You felt protected. And not alone.

Lloyd leaned in and waited till you gave him a nod, then attached his lips to yours. This was different than the first kiss you shared together, on your wedding day. It was full of care and compassion and didn’t feel obligatory.

In that moment you were hopeful about the future and what it brought for the two of you. Maybe married life won’t be so bad.

“Hey, let’s get some sleep now okay? You’ve had a long day.” It was true, you could feel the exhaustion in your body. You gave him a nod.

“Although before we sleep, I have a very important question to ask” Lloyd asked seriously and it made you look at him curiously.

“What do you think about my Moustache?”

#lloyd hansen x reader #lloyd hansen x plus size reader #lloyd hansen mob au #mob!lloyd hansen #chris evans x reader #chris evans x plus size reader #lloyd hansen fluff #lloyd hansen angst

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dreamingundone · 9 months

Text

Infinite Space

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Female OC Rating/Warnings: No real warnings. Angsty but with a happy ending. Summary: Her life has consisted of work, trying to find her way in the world, and more work. Until he walked through the doors of her bakery. Disclaimer: I don’t own TG:M, Jake, or the lyrics I used for the title and that are at the beginning of the fic, which is from “Infinite Space” by Young Mister. Please don’t repost or translate my work without my permission! Author’s Note: Feeling some type of way about my lack of love life lately. I also read Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison last week and it gave me feelings. So here we are. Hope you enjoy!

Are you listening? Are you sending out a message of your own? Show me some flashing lights Give me a signal I'll be waiting by the window

Baking makes perfect sense to her. It’s scientific, exact measurements that when put together and baked, create something beautiful in the end.

She always thought love was like that too. Two people with the ingredients the other is missing come together, and something beautiful comes out of it. It’s just not been the case for her, ever in her entire life, and it’s something she struggles to make sense of.

It’s not like she’s miserable. She has her friends and her little house that she loves, and her bakery. She spends her days surrounded in a cloud of flour, sugar, and butter, and she makes people happy by giving them birthday cakes, little treats for their friends, and breakfast pastries to brighten up their mornings.

It’s when she leaves for the day that she feels the absence of something to make her feel happy. Her little bungalow, as cozy as it is, starts to feel too quiet sometimes, and if she lets herself think her own thoughts for too long, that emptiness starts to fill her up.

The arrival of the newest Top Gun class keeps her really busy. They come in for sweet treats and coffee and take up space at the tables at the front of the store. There’s whispers about some top-secret mission that no one really knows much about, but also everyone knows about it. It makes her grin. Nothing is ever a secret at Miramar for too long.

She’s in the middle of sliding a tray of mini cinnamon rolls into the oven when the bell over the door chimes, and she frowns, annoyed that someone is coming in this close to closing time.

“We’re–” She turns around and stops, seeing the most bedraggled fighter pilot she’s ever seen standing in her lobby, looking for all the world like he’s been in the air for hours.

“I know you’re about to close, I’m sorry.” He says, dragging a hand across his face. “Any chance you have coffee left? I’ll pay extra for it.”

“Are you okay?” She asks, coming around the counter. She slides out a chair to one of the tables, and he collapses in it gratefully. He looks a little bewildered at her question, like he can’t remember the last time someone asked about his well being.

“I’ll be alright,” he says. “I can go, I’m sorry if I’m–”

“No, I have coffee left. Made a fresh pot a half hour ago. Just let me…” she steps quickly towards the door and locks it, flipping the sign to “closed”. Heading back towards the counter, she grabs a to-go cup and starts pouring, hearing his audible sigh when the coffee steams.

“Long day?” She asks, walking back to the table and setting down the cup.

“You don’t know the half of it.” He says, eyes closing as he inhales the steam. “Seriously, let me pay extra. I don’t mean to keep you.”

She shrugs. “I’ll be here a while longer anyway.”

“Thank you.” He takes a sip, and swallows a groan. She grins. She may be known for her pastries and cakes, but she makes a mean cup of coffee, too. “I’m Jake,” he says, holding out his free hand.

She introduces herself, and shakes his hand. “I’ve seen you here before,” she says, and he nods.

“Anyone who’s been at Miramar long enough knows this is the place to go for breakfast. I think your donuts have single handedly helped me stay in my weight class.” He grins at her now, and it’s such a difference from the man that walked through the door a few moments ago, she’s momentarily blindsided.

“Any reason you’re here in time for dinner, then?” She heads back behind the counter to begin stacking plates for the next day’s morning rush.

He winces. “I’m due back at the base tonight. It’s—” He stops himself, raises an eyebrow. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this.” He stands, and it looks like it takes all his energy to haul himself to his feet. He drains the rest of his coffee in two gulps and sets the mug down on the counter. He starts to dig into his pocket for his wallet, but she waves her hand.

“That one’s on me, Jake.”

And so it goes like that, at least once a week for the next month. Jake comes just before closing to beg for a cup of coffee, and a few times, he scrounges up the leftover pastries to bring back to base with him. He insists he’s not hoarding them all for himself, but really, she doesn’t mind.

Jake is easy to talk to. There’s an alarm bell clanging in her mind every time he leaves, because she knows one day he might not be back at all. He could get deployed, or reassigned, and then where would that leave her?

Right back where she’s been, going home alone at the end of a long day.

They don’t even really know each other besides the basics. She tells herself not to get attached to him, to the way he swaggers in now like he owns the place, that little dimpled smile she’s starting to think is only for her.

He moves from a table to the counter, and watches with his coffee as she preps pastries for the next morning, or does dishes, and he offers a thought here or there about bear claws or croissants or whatever it is she’s trying a recipe for.

In turn, she listens as he complains about work, about the endless training they’re doing for some mission he can’t tell her anything about.

There’s some tension between him and his coworkers that he also doesn’t open up much about, but that’s okay with her. They’re in this little bubble, she and Jake. She bakes, and he samples. They don’t get too deep. She feels like it’s an escape from the rest of her life.

It absolutely aches every time he leaves, and the emptiness she feels when she goes home at night only gets worse. She feels like she’s been waiting forever for a connection like this, and it’s that feeling that makes her hesitant. She’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The next time she sees Jake, he’s tense, his shoulders drawn up and face stoic.

“Jake?”

He doesn’t say anything for a while. She starts to get worried, starts to wonder if it’s finally happening - he’s here to tell her that he’s leaving and he’s not coming back - or worse, going to tell her that he’s been being nice by coming here so often, but that there’s nothing really there between them, and he’s sorry.

“I, uh–” he takes a few steps closer, and when he gets within arm’s reach, he stops, looking at her with an unreadable expression. “You smell like cinnamon.” He smiles, his voice a little rough.

“Occupational hazard.” She replies, smiling.

“I’m being deployed.” He blurts, and he flexes his hands like he’s not sure what to do with the energy running through his veins. “I wanted to tell you, I didn’t want to just disappear…”

Her defense mechanism kicks in right away. “That’s okay,” she says quickly, busying herself by tidying up the counter by the register. “You didn’t have to come by just to tell me that. I mean, we’re not–” she gestures vaguely, not able to meet his eyes.

If she did, she’d see the way he blinks rapidly, taking a small step back, before clearing his throat. “Right.”

She forces a bright smile and looks up, seeing how he’s still standing by the door. “I appreciate you letting me know. I’ll have to stop leaving the coffee pot hot past three in the afternoon, now.”

His answering smile is a little brittle. “Hopefully not forever.” He looks like he wants to say something else, but he just nods at her once. “I won’t keep you. Thanks for… well, for everything. The last few weeks.”

“You’re welcome, Jake.” She says. She wishes she could just open her mouth. She wishes she was brave enough to tell him that she wishes he would ask her out for real, instead of coming by for a cup of coffee and pastry. She wishes she could just say that his company over the last few weeks means more to her than he knows.

She doesn’t.

He leaves.

……………….

What if I never reach you What if I never get to see your face I've been dying to break through I know you're somewhere out there in the infinite space Somewhere out there in the infinite space

Not being picked for the Dagger mission would have been a blow to Jake’s ego on any day, but it’s especially a kick to the gut a week after his last conversation with her.

“We’re not–”

She had said it so quickly, so casually, he was just glad that she hadn’t been looking at him in time to see the way he felt it like a physical blow.

He’s not stupid - he’s not in love with her or anything, but he feels… something. He felt it the minute he came in, hoping the bakery was still open, desperate for a decent cup of coffee to give him the boost he needed to get back to work.

When he looked up and saw her there, it was like a punch right to his chest. She had flour on her cheek and there was the smell of butter and cinnamon in the air, and she asked him if he was okay.

That was all it took, really.

He kept finding excuses to come back, and at first he kept saying it was because he’d never had a neighborhood place, a place where he walked in and they knew his name and his order. This was better. She knows his name, and that he likes his coffee with one sugar and one cream, and sometimes she gives him a free cookie or croissant or asks him to taste something she’s working on.

That’s all it is.

A place where he can go where she doesn’t know him, doesn’t know that everyone calls him Bagman, doesn’t know that he’s a grade A asshole to his friends on a daily basis.

He can be someone else. And the worst part, the part that really makes him wonder where it all went wrong, is that he wants to be someone else. He wants to be better. He wants to be more deserving of that smile he gets from her when she puts that cup of coffee in front of him.

Maybe he read it all wrong. Maybe she was just being nice, humoring the exhausted pilot who kept showing up and mooching her coffee.

He runs a hand over his face, trying to concentrate on the mission specs for tomorrow. Even though he’s the spare for this, he’s determined to be ready for his moment, to prove he’s supposed to be here.

Of course the whole thing goes sideways, because of course it does. His heart is in his throat and he feels helpless the entire time, and finally he just does what he needs to do.

He says fuck it, and he takes off, unable to listen to a second more of everyone else deliberating whether or not they should sit there while Mav and Rooster get killed.

So he goes AWOL, and he does what needs to be done. It’s the first time in a long time that he’s felt he did the right thing, and he can see it in the eyes of all his squadmates.

It makes him feel more like the person he is when he’s around her.

It scared the shit out of him, too - the entire day was one non-stop adrenaline ride.

He wishes he was back in San Diego, wishes he could drive the few miles from base to the bakery, and let her talk him down. She’s always got that smile, and she always smells like chocolate and sugar, and he wishes he wasn��t such an idiot.

He should have asked her out weeks ago, so there wouldn’t have been that awkward moment. At least then he’d be sure he hadn’t just imagined the connection between them, that he wasn’t making it up. He feels like he’s known her for years, and he doesn’t even have her phone number.

He resolves to fix it as soon as they get back, as long as he’s not facing a court martial first.

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

She wonders how Jake’s deployment is going almost every day. She keeps herself busy, tries not to replay every second of their last interaction in her head, and tries to convince herself she did the right thing.

But the look on his face when she told him not to worry about ghosting her… was there something there?

She feels like she’s been waiting for her person for so long, that it seems impossible that one day he’d just show up out of the blue asking for a cup of coffee. But what if he did?

What if she ruined it by trying to protect herself?

Too busy daydreaming, she groans as she looks down at her ruined bowl of buttercream frosting, moving to the trash can to begin scraping it out. All day she’s been like this, distracted and making mistakes.

She’s watching the clock drift closer to time to go home, and without much else to keep her busy, she’s dreading going home where all she’s going to do is overthink more than she already is.

The chime on the door surprises her, and her heart stutters.

“Any chance you’ve got one of those cinnamon rolls left?” A familiar voice asks.

Her heart lurches. “Jake?”

He looks tired, but his eyes are almost sparkling as he looks at her. “Hey.”

“You’re back.” She blurts, and immediately feels stupid. He’s standing right in front of her. Of course he is. It doesn’t deter him, though. If anything, it only makes him smile wider.

“Before you say anything, I just want to tell you that you were wrong, the last time we talked.”

Her brow furrows. “Wrong?”

“When you said it wouldn’t have mattered if I didn’t let you know I was being deployed.” He takes a few steps closer. “When you said we weren’t…” he trails off, gesturing between the two of them. “I know it’s just been a few weeks, and I know we’ve only had conversations over coffee about non-important stuff.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking like he was struggling to find the right words. He looked up to meet her gaze. “I’d like to take you out, if you’ll let me.”

Everything she’d been feeling over the last few weeks felt like it landed on her shoulders in the moment. She felt the relief of knowing that she wasn’t alone in her feelings. She felt guilty for pushing him away in the first place.

“I think I owe you an apology, Jake.” She says quietly, coming around from behind the counter. “I just… I didn’t know if you were just being nice to me, coming here all those nights. I didn’t want to assume anything. And I didn’t want you to feel obligated when you came back.”

He frowns. “I kept coming here for you, no offense to your coffee.” He takes another step closer, so the tips of their shoes are almost touching. “The cinnamon rolls are a plus.”

She laughs, and his grin widens.

“Is that a yes? You’ll go out with me?”

“Only if you tell me what happened on this not-so-secret top secret mission.”

He rolls his eyes. “Everyone around here is such a gossip. I can’t tell you everything but I can tell you about how I was a hero and saved the day.” His smile is smug.

“Perfect.” She says, and there, in the warm light of her bakery, surrounded by everything she’s ever known, she thinks she’s finally ready to take the leap and see if he’s the one she’s been waiting for, the other half she didn’t know she was missing all these years.

And for once, she’s not scared anymore.

#jake seresin x oc #hangman seresin x oc #top gun maverick fanfiction #well here it is a million years late #and this isn't the fake dating fic i promised #that's still to come!!!!

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cherri-balms · 1 year

Note

popular girl reader x sal? maybe they’re seeing each other secretly and she’s kinda mean lol

OMG!! Thank you so much for sending in your request for me! This is my first request so I'm a little nervous, but I'm excited too! I'm kind of going for a very free-form style for the time being while I get used to getting back into the swing of things! ♥♥♥♥♥♥

I couldn't tell you why but I found this particular request very intriguing, I ended up taking a lot of creative liberty as I went going! I really hope you enjoy it!!! >v<

RAITING: G || EWC: 2K || READER GENDER: F ||

♥𝓢𝓪𝓵 𝓕𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓮𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓵𝔂 𝓭𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓸𝓹𝓾𝓵𝓪𝓻 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵♥

♥Getting Together♥

♥〉〉 This kind of reserved, mean exterior is nothing new to Sal, at least after having to deal with Travis picking on him for most of his high school life. So needless to say he's gotten a bit of practice in this department! ♥〉〉 The difference between you and Travis that Sal hadn't dealt with yet (and made it just a tad rougher to get to know you), was that Travis was very clearly a confused kid without a healthy way to deal with his problems at home. You, on the other hand, were a bit more complicated to read.

♥〉〉 It seemed like you had everything a teenager would want. Every guy seemed to want to be with you, and every girl wanted to be you. You had lots of friends, good grades, a beautiful figure, and the most envious trait:

♥〉〉 A beautiful face.

♥〉〉 He couldn't understand why someone like you felt the need to be so stand-offish toward everyone. Maybe you really were just as stuck up and entitled as some of his friends Larry say you are?

♥〉〉 All this together should've made him stop, to pull his hand away from the fire before he got burned... but the temptation of the potential warm comfort outweighed that logic.

♥〉〉 He really became a moth in your light. Sal wanted to get to know you with each interaction, but not the intimidating [y/n] everyone had put up on a pedestal. Rather, he found you to be a rather tricky puzzle he couldn't put down until he solved it once and for all.

♥〉〉 Sal wasn't surprised his hardest challenge was just being able to get your attention. This was the other big difference between you and Travis: Where Travis went out of his way to get a rise out of Sal, you either blew off any attempt he made or one of your friends was quick to take your attention back.

♥〉〉 All while giving him that "Who do you think you are talking to someone like her" look he was all too familiar with throughout his life. It was also something that made him envious of your good looks even more...

♥〉〉 After an intervention from his friend group he was all but ready to give up until he finally got his moment alone with you.

♥〉〉 It was late in the afternoon when all the clubs were letting out and the sports teams were finishing up with practice. Typically, Sal wasn't the kind of guy to stay after school preferring instead to continue his ghost investigation in Addison Appartments.

♥〉〉 But, art was his weakest subject. With Larry and Ash busy getting tutoring from Todd for their own academic struggles he had to take it upon himself into putting in more elbow grease to bring his grades up with the teacher. As the sun began to set earlier during daylight savings, the nearby coast's storm clouds had moved in over Nockfell, making their presence known with the loud warnings of thunder before the inevitable wind and rain.

♥〉〉 Before Sal could worry about getting home, his cell vibrated with a text from Larry letting him know he and Lisa were on their way in place of his dad.

♥〉〉 When he headed up to the front entrance to wait for Lisa and Larry, he didn't expect to see you sitting up against the wall alone, looking down at your phone.

♥〉〉 "[Y/N]? I didn't expect to see you here so late.." His start at conversation only got him a quick glance, your appearance illuminated in the spotlight your phone gave in the dim lighting of the school after hours. Alright so far, not so good it seemed...

♥〉〉 Waiting a few moments to see if you would respond, he tries again, "Are you waiting for your ride? I'm waiting on mine right now, can I sit with you?" Same as before, silence. This time though you had scooted over just enough to let him sit next to you. Hey! That's progress!

♥〉〉 "That was what I was waiting on. I only stayed this late because I was going to dinner with my friends after they finished tennis practice, but they cleared out early when the weather got bad and forgot me. Well..." you move a little closer to show Sal the texts you were just having between your friends, and what he read made his stomach churn.

♥〉〉 The messages revealed they hadn't forgotten to come get you at all, rather they left you there on purpose as a sick joke knowing you had no way home. Sal didn't even try to hide his frustration, not even able to read the rest of the texts.

♥〉〉 "Don't make such a big deal out of this Sally Face. They just wanted to inconvenience me a little, we do stuff like this all the time."

♥〉〉 Seeing this happen to you hit especially close to home, as his "friends" back in Jersey had teased and messed with him in similar ways. It wasn't until he met Larry, Todd, and Ashley that he got to see what it was like to have a proper support system.

♥〉〉 He could also see a little further into your attitude now, it was almost like treating others and being treated with cruelty was just an expectation...

♥〉〉 Sal knew he wasn't going to be able to change your entire outlook with one conversation, but the least he could do was show you that same compassion his friends first showed him as bright headlights soon flooded the room from outside.

♥〉〉 "I'm gonna ask Lisa if it's alright to drop you off home too, it's way too dangerous to walk home at night- let alone in a storm like this."

♥〉〉 "The hell you aren't." The sudden blunt rejection was most certainly not what he was expecting, but neither was the light tint of pink your cheeks held. "Like I'm gonna let you of all people put me in a debt, I'll get home just fine. But, here-"

♥〉〉 You took out a pen from your bag and started scribbling something down on his hand, something he couldn't quite read in the lack of proper light. "This is just so I can let you know I got home safe, alright? Don't be a weirdo about this later." You didn't waste a second after that to leave the building (and him dumbfounded)

♥〉〉 Stepping outside himself, Sal finally got a good look at what you had written down on his hand.

♥〉〉 It was a phone number! Your number! An odd, and honestly quite crude way of giving him your number but hey, he wasn't upset.

♥〉〉 Once he finally got home he shot you a text letting you know who he was and that he was safe, finding himself glued to the screen until he got a reply back.

♥〉〉 Eventually his nerves were put to ease when he got the reply, and for some unexplainable reason, it made his heart skip a beat when he read it:

♥〉〉 > Hey Sally, lyk I'm alive. Drenched, but alive. > Sorry for leaving so suddenly, thank you for keeping me company

♥〉〉 Maybe you really were just a normal girl after all ♡

♥Being Together♥

♥〉〉 Getting into a relationship wound up going quicker than expected after your first proper encounter!

♥〉〉 Sal was quick to realize that you were never intentionally trying to be mean to him, not even really as a front for your friends. Rather, none of your snide remarks had any weight to them at all; the definition of hot air.

♥〉〉 Because of this your relationship was never really intended to be a secret in the start, rather you were still getting used to genuine communication and tended to revert to your typical ways in public. While Sal understood, both of your social circles just thought it was business as usual.

♥〉〉 Even when you had started transitioning into more romantic forms of affection, Sal was already not one for PDA so even your social status aside he wasn't really ready to venture into heavy romantics immediately.

♥〉〉 Which was something you found oddly sweet about your growing bond with him, because as one would expect you had been on many, many dates before Sal. You both had a dynamic where you were able to show the other a foreign kind of relationship you weren't used to.

♥〉〉 The problem arises when you do secretly date on purpose...

♥〉〉 See, Sal is wildly known to be an awful liar, and even worse when it came to keeping secrets.

♥〉〉 Between him turning down hangouts with his group, checking his phone a lot more often, and just in general having a different air to him everyone could tell he was hiding something. Larry most of all had been suspecting Sal had a romantic partner behind his back before anyone else though.

♥〉〉 Furthermore, you had slowly begun drifting away from your old friend group. Not only that, but you'd been rejecting date offers a lot more frequently.

♥〉〉 It finally took one specific day of repeated bad luck for Larry to finally get frustrated enough to say something. with a combination of a failed math quiz, a minor argument with his mom earlier in the morning, and the god-awful bologna to eat Larry was especially not in the mood to put up with Sal's distance in the conversation.

♥〉〉 "Sal, with all due respect can you PLEASE just reveal your secret date or pay attention to the conversation."

♥〉〉 Proceed to the dead silent, blank stares from everyone at the table. Yeah everyone suspected it (and had a feeling Larry was going to bring it up first) but no one thought he was going to go nuclear with it.

♥〉〉 "Ugh- haha Larry- what are you talking about I'm not dating-"

♥〉〉 "Don't even try that Sally Face we all know a man in love when we see it."

♥〉〉 For once Sal was kind of glad he had a prosthetic face. It made it very easy to hide embarrassment in times like these. Either way, the cat was out of the bag and he figured he had to introduce you to his friends eventually, so maybe this was an open opportunity for them to get to know you!

♥〉〉 "Hmmm... How about instead of me telling you, I introduce you guys to her. Is that fair?" The promise of actually getting to meet Sal's girlfriend already piqued the group's interest by far, so they didn't fight him when he left to go retrieve you.

♥〉〉 When Sal came back with you, however...

♥〉〉 Jaws were on the floor, Ashley may have gotten milk up her nose preventing a spit take, and Larry...

♥〉〉 "Break up with her." "LARRY-"

♥〉〉 Unfortunately here is where your previous treatment of Sal is going to bite you in the ass. The gang had a difficult time accepting Travis already, as a friend, but you as Sal's girlfriend is going to take a lot of work convincing you aren't just taking advantage of his kindness.

♥〉〉 It's actually because of this Travis is the first one you were able to befriend within the group- and actually got pretty close with. While in different contexts, Travis believed your claim of being influenced by toxic people in your life and genuinely meant no ill will to Sal. Hell, even outside of Sal's group you two hung out quite frequently.

♥〉〉 No one by far is surprised, but the hardest member to sway over was Larry, but also obtaining his blessing was something important to both you and Sal.

♥〉〉 Time is the only thing that will get his approval. If you stick with Sal long enough to prove you're serious about dating him then he'll know you're genuinely making an effort. ♥

#🍓My one and only!#🍫Chocolat Chocolat you make me feel #Fluff #Sal Fisher x Reader #Sally Face x Reader #Sally Face #Sally Face Headcanons #🌹FIRST POST OUT IN THE WORLD AHHHHH!!!!♥♥

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interpolanticssuperfan · 8 months

Text

nothing natural | ken x fem!reader | part 5 | 18+ only

hi everyone!! wow, i did not mean for this chapter to be so meaty!! i sort of had fun setting up the building blocks for ken's return, so i hope it makes sense and feels necessary. thanks for reading and supporting <3 <3 SMUT IS COMING!! DO NOT WORRY (:

tags: @heyareyoulistening @itsametaphorbriansblog @alyeria @chrispontiass

After Ken leaves you, the weekend passes by without notable interruption. Life goes on, and you have no choice but to keep going with it. If the blues of the sky pale, the whorls of white clouds disentangle themselves into nothing; if the pastels of colored buildings all seem duller afterwards, you don’t say anything about it to anyone.

Not like you had anyone to tell.

Your supervisor ends up buying the flimsy lie you’d concocted as to why you were so behind on reports and emails. To compensate for the hindrance and cover your ass, you worked a handful of hours on Sunday, barely functioning after fighting sleep that night. Blinking blearily into your weak homemade coffee.

The first night without Ken was impressively quiet. Hours of tossing and turning, counting stippled designs on the ceiling and squeezing your eyes shut when the blue or white light of your television grew too intense, your mind repeating on a loop that you’d never see him again. Funnily enough, the obtrusive screen could have easily been turned off, but the idea of laying cocooned in silence was worse than any other punishment imaginable.

You remembered how clean and aromatic Ken had smelled in your kitchen, as you observed the featherlight movement of his stomach, his breath tense under your catatonic stare. Like fresh linen, the initial wave of those pink tulips planted in tiny little rows in front of the library, the relief of a clean, spotless home.

Ken had smelled like a long-awaited sigh, like comfort, like the warm tailend of a nap that you couldn’t be shaken out of. A home you’d never known. Each element of Ken’s ever having existed had blown out the front door and followed him back to a place that didn’t sound real. Maybe wasn’t real.

How could you miss someone you hadn’t even really known at all?

Perhaps you could traipse out of the bedroom, wait out there in silence to see if you could still pick up any lingering traces of him in the dark, if you could pick up any notes of the pure bleach of his hair, pungent like a drying ink stamp.

Something told you even if you had nuzzled against Ken’s head, it wouldn’t smell like chlorine, wouldn’t smell like sodium hypochlorite or aluminum foil, because Ken didn’t need to seek out alterations to make himself beautiful, didn’t need to add to or take away from any part of his physicality to fit some type of standard.

He was naturally impeccable. Easily unmarred.

(Astonishing, really, how little time it had taken for your every waking moment to be consumed with thoughts of Ken.)

But now your living space was stoic. Fragmented by a deficit of light and life and sparkling teeth that glowed like ethereal cave moss.

(Teeth you desired to feel with your own tongue, battling for dominance in his sweet, pink mouth that curved like a marble bow. You wanted to memorize the dips and juts of his molars, his canines, wanted to know them each by shape alone.)

The cold right side of your bedsheets felt freezing to the touch once you’d spent three hours awake in the small of dawn imagining how wonderful it’d be to share it with someone. Picturing the rise and fall of thin fabric as Ken rested, let his body go lax next to yours. The way he wanted to. The way he’d been angling for.

You frowned to yourself, twisting a fraying thread on the empty pillow around your pinky, the silk too plump, too… devoid of blonde companionship.

How could you have pushed Ken away? Was it mere loneliness that had conjured this visceral reaction out of you? The feeling that deep down, you’d never really been seen for who you were and subsequently accepted? Let alone fawned over?

Your head bobbed as if underwater, tumbling out of wakefulness and into disappointment.

The second night without Ken had been fretful. Restless. Two bottles of pink wine sent you straight to sleep, and after brushing Willa’s hair and ordering in ten dollar pad thai, the only flashes of blonde you saw in your conscience were drifting through sleep, hazy through lackluster dreams.

You tried cleaning. Tried scrubbing the tiles of the kitchen for something to do. Anything to remind yourself that you had responsibilities, that life carried on outside of the compelling stranger you’d met at the library.

When Sunday rolled around your work bag felt about as heavy as the ones under your eyes, twin weights that refused to be alleviated.

You wished you understood why this was taking such a toll on you. Even Willa seemed to be raising her eyebrows at you from her tiny enclosure.

You’d been the one to suggest that Ken leave. That he pack it up and go right back the way he’d came.

You’d never really been one for accepting good things that rolled into your life. Whether they made sense or not, had been earned or not. Displays of paranoia at even the most throwaway compliment.

It’s how you’d reacted to receiving a scholarship – awkward declinations that catapulted house parties or family dinners into palpable silence. “No, no. Really, it’s nothing, I don’t even deserve this. Don’t mention it. Can we please stop talking about this now?”

You didn’t even like celebrating your own birthday.

How ironic, that the pinpricks of attention from your loved ones made you shrink under the pressure, but the laser-tight surveillance Ken directed towards you had the opposite reaction. You came to life under his scrutiny. Felt your heart swell and twist with each moment he spent watching you.

The cashier at the corner store nearly dropped his jaw in horror when he caught a glimpse of how ragged you were looking. Hair a mess, eyes barely open, your fingers fumbling with your wallet as you paid for another pack of cigarettes.

“Been a minute, (Y/N). Everything going alright?” What he really wanted to say was, what the fuck happened to you?

You ignore the stilt of his worried voice. “Fine. Thanks.” The kid doesn’t push it, just adjusts his baseball cap and shrugs, watches you shoulder out the front door with a loaded sigh.

Setting up at the library reminded you too much of the sweet, breezy morning you’d met Ken, the sunshine that had wrapped itself around you. You just couldn’t anticipate how you’d react while trying to pay attention there, surrounded by so many reminders of the only interesting, worthwhile thing that had ever happened to you, so the most sensible course of action seemed to be the patio.

You lasted about an hour in the sunshine before the glare bothered you and all you wanted was darkness.

Monday proved to be worse.

Reluctant to leave the apartment, you work again for the day in the kitchen, pouring a glass of wine at noon and logging off early at four when the carpet starts to spin, when email subjects blur into train tracks of nonsense that you can’t make sense of.

Your sister calls unexpectedly at dinner time while you’re dozing off at seven, drooling on the pillow. It goes straight to voicemail. How nice of her to find time away from her son to remember your existence.

Rubbing your temples, you chide yourself. Not nice to think things like that. Grow up.

Not calling her back, you throw your phone on the bed and follow suit, dropping down again and sipping a crushed can of beer from the night before, stale and tasteless.

Tuesday plagued you with the promise of nice weather, a drop in extreme temperature, but again, the second you got dressed to head down to the library, you felt laziness tug at your mind, felt depression sink into your chest.

Why even bother, you wondered? Why bother when I’ve a perfectly comfortable bed just around the corner where I won’t have to be looked at.

It should have concerned you. The drastic, melodramatic changes you’d been experiencing, the intense highs and lows of your emotional wellbeing all because of some guy you’d only met last week.

Then again, you’d always been like this. Building up fantasy lives and scenarios in your head so fondly (stupidly) that when faced with reality, actual human beings tended to let you down, so this exercise always resulted in disappointment. Locking yourself in your childhood room, scrawling on the walls in pencil and then erasing what you’d written for hours. Your parents left clueless without any idea as to how to handle your outbursts.

Wednesday seemed to tease you. A pointless company retreat at corporate meant your supervisors were all out of town until Friday, inviting you to slack off as much as you wanted – ergo, no one would notice your idling.

So you slept diligently until noon, fed Willa her special pellets during a fleeting moment of salience, and then got ready to catch a taxi to your favorite bar.

Who said you couldn’t work from a sticky countertop surrounded by shots of tequila and boisterous strangers?

Not like you’d be paying much mind to your laptop anyway. You showered out of habit and slipped into a skirt that fit your hips nicely, in your opinion, and shimmied into a tight fitting brown top.

It occurred to you that calling your sister back would be a fruitful use of your afternoon, but shoving your phone into your bag, you decided to put that off for another time.

Perhaps when your head wasn’t spinning with pathetic visions of being shoved into a wall and forcibly kissed breathless, strong hands glued to your side and tracking down the outside of your pelvis, repetitive circles rubbed into your skin with soft thumbprints until you could finally, finally undo the zipper, hurry the rest of his clothes off, shove him backward into your bed –

The taxi blares its horn out front in the road, shaking you from the vivid daydream. Leaving you with nothing but emptiness and a heat pooling in your abdomen that had grown difficult to suppress. Arid summer air filled your weary lungs, and you hid behind a chunky pair of sunglasses which successfully concealed how tired you looked from the driver, who looked to be as old as your father.

“Dropping you off right at Paulson’s? Or you going to the cafe right next door? Place is pretty popular from what I’ve heard.” His attempt at genial conversation was kind, but it wasn’t what you needed right now.

“Actually, Paulson’s is fine. I’m meeting a friend.” Pulse still racing in your throat from what you’d been imagining earlier, it takes mountains of effort to keep your voice even.

“No problem. Just making sure.”

The bar is essentially empty save for you, two employees and a guy slouched into a newspaper near the television. Which is fair, seeing as it isn’t even two in the afternoon.

One tequila soda turns into two which turns into a blistering three which eventually turns into closing up your laptop in favor of chatting gregariously with the bartender, complaining about the weather and the price of gas (even though you don’t drive) and requesting ABBA on the ancient jukebox. Patrons start to trickle in as the sun sets and it’s just as well, you’d been feeling particularly lonely by yourself.

The pack of cigarettes you’d bought dwindles as you reach your fourth cocktail. You light another one, hold it to your lips just as a figure approaches from behind.

A guy with long, stringy brown hair takes the stool next to you, his scrawny frame swimming in a button up shirt too big for him. He’d given you a once over before picking this spot, and you knew it. You swallow, your throat clicking, and think to yourself that were it not for Ken, he’d be exactly the type you usually go for.

Quiet, unassuming guys who don’t have much going on in life besides perhaps their accounting job and a few friends they see in dingy bars. Maybe they play shitty music in shitty bands that you hate staying out to see.

You should hate how it reeks inside this smoking-allowed bar. You should hate that you’re capable of drinking so much in one sitting, that it hasn’t knocked you out, put you to sleep. You should hate the persistent way this skeleton-thin loser is eyeing you from behind his beer, but you don’t.

You should hate how easily you rip yourself open for men.

The guy tucks a strand of that hair behind his ear and it makes you squirm. Any music coming from the jukebox feels a hundred miles away.

“What are you drinking?” A beat of silence passes between you, and you flare your nostrils, unsure of how to proceed but honestly so sloppy from the liquor you aren’t giving it too much thought.

“Tequila.” You take another drag from the smoke, blow it away towards the propped open door, your mouth lazing in an “O”.

“How’s that going?”

“Pretty great.” It wasn’t a lie. If great consisted of your vision fuzzing at the edges and your mind falling blissfully quiet for the first time in days.

“You have beautiful hair.” The offhand comment makes your cheeks flush. It could’ve also been combining with the sizable amount of liquor you’d imbibed.

“Mind if I buy you another round?” You wonder if this a trap. If it’s a trick. The guy’s deep brown eyes swirl under the overhead lights, comfortably dim, and you can nearly smell the sweat circling the back of his neck. It’s like a starving lion fighting the urge to pounce at a wounded gazelle bleeding out profusely on a plain. Agony.

But the idea of Ken accepting a drink from a girl throwing herself all over him has bile crawling up your throat, and you pale at the thought. Absolutely not – no way.

Not like you owned him. Not like you wanted to own him.

“Sorry, I’m actually on my way out.” It’s a blatant lie, it feels thick on your tongue and it’s so obvious to the stranger too with his damp chest on display, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, but it’s not smart for you to entertain him for another moment longer. You round the bar to a less occupied area, take another shot, and close your tab.

Your bag has never felt so heavy on your shoulder before.

The taxi heading back home is initially uneventful, but as soon as the driver peels onto the highway, something about your stomach doing cartwheels and the melting streetlights makes you emotional. You can hear Ken’s voice at your side, hear his words playing at your neck.

“That’s one enormous building, (Y/N). People work way up there? Even right at the top? Oh, man. Did you see that fountain – it’s like a lake! I bet you can ice skate there when it’s cold enough. Would you go with me? When it’s cold?”

You’re about to tell Ken yes, of course we can go skating, when you remember it’s not real. It’s so seamless to place him here, to envision how he’d react to the different sights and sounds of the city. Feels so correct, like it was preordained or something. He’d wrinkle his nose at the way you smell right now, but he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to be next to you.

It’s impossible to hide the tears that flow from your eyes as you rest your forehead against the chilly window. Choking back an audible sob, you dig your nails into your palm, everything so small and futile and fucking lonely. The covered seats smell like patchouli and you just want to get home.

Thoughtfully, the driver clears his throat, turns the radio down a smidge.

“Is there… do you have anyone you can call?” He asks politely and clearly despite his noticeable stutter. For some reason he surmises that you’re in a state to have a conversation.

“Uh, I... do I look that bad?” You question.

“I wasn’t trying to insult you, miss.” He seems offended.

“Well. My sister’s the only person I know within a fifty mile radius of the city, and she’s so busy with her kid I don’t think she’d give me the time of day. ‘Specially not when I’ve been drinking like this. Thanks for asking.”

He peers at the road like he’s ready to drop the subject, but he gives a light cough after a few seconds.

“A boyfriend, then?”

Oh, Jesus. Not this guy, too? Can you ever catch a break? His bizarre advances and body language were about to make you cry even harder.

“There was this guy. He was. He was everything. I pushed him away… I feel like I’m going crazy. Didn't even know him that well. He was so exciting. And he treated me like I was the interesting one, but I'm not. I'm not. And I told him to go home. I always do this.” Snot trickles from your nose in time for your bare wrist to catch some of it. If you weren’t so drunk, you’d apologize to the driver for being such a nuisance.

“I’m sure if he was feeling the same way you are, he won’t be upset to hear from you again. Distance can show a guy what he really cares about.”

Thumb scraping at the mascara clumps under your eyelashes, you nod, surprisingly agreeing with the driver.

“I guess so. I don’t know, it just feels like I screwed things up with him. I have never met anyone like him before. Like if I lost him, I feel like I might die.”

“Sounds pretty serious.” He clucks his tongue, listening intently as the road whizzes by.

“That, or I’m just an insane person. He relied on me for a lot of things.”

“Were you living together?” The driver wonders aloud, flipping to a local late night talk show. It occurs to you to check the time. Ten past nine. You’d been at the bar for that long?

“No, he was just… getting used to the world. He had been away for awhile. If that makes sense.”

The driver nods knowingly, a glint in his eye that you catch from the rearview mirror. “I see. He did some time and now you’re helping him get acclimated to life again?”

“Something like that.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility to put on your shoulders. Doesn’t he have family who can help too? Unless he cut ties with his family. Getting tangled up with the law can put a lot of stress on everyone involved. I know from experience. My brother robbed an electronics store when he was nineteen, he’s still paying for it.”

Normally, this sort of long winded back and forth would annoy you, moreso after you’d been crying. But the driver’s words lulled you back down to earth, reminded you that other humans and situations and problems existed outside of your own insulated world.

“Sorry to hear that. To answer your question, I’m kind of his only lifeline. The only one who can help with all the things he wants to know. Like I’m a mother sometimes. I know how that sounds, but it’s not a horrible thing, not really. I have no idea how he’s going to find a job. I don’t know how much I’m supposed to be involved, or if I should just let him be an individual and figure things out on his own. You don’t mind if I smoke, do you?”

The driver shakes his head curtly, rolls the windows down a pinch for you. You’d been hoping he’d answer affirmatively as you’d already pulled another smoke out from your bag.

“Well, not that you asked my opinion. But I say just be realistic. If you see a need you can fill, I say there’s no harm in helping. Oh, I almost forgot. I volunteer at an animal shelter right outside of town. You know where the Lyons Bridge is?”

“Yeah, my dentist is over there on the corner of Orwell.”

“It’s right across, you can’t miss it. Point being, I can probably talk to my manager, see if we have any work to offer. Not sure how your hubby does with animals, but it’s a start, right? And for someone jumping in fresh, you can’t really beat it.”

The unprompted offer caught you off guard, and you barely had the sense of mind to give him a smile, or positive acknowledgment. You flicked your cigarette with your thumb, watched the ashes dance away. “Wow. I mean. Thank you so much, seriously. That’s so kind of you. If I see him again I will definitely tell him that.”

“You’re very welcome. It was hard for my brother too, getting back on his feet. For years I was the only one in his corner supporting him, so I know how you feel.”

When he pulls up to the half circle parking loop in front of your apartment building, the driver scrawls the name and number of the shelter on a business card. He cracks a lopsided grin, and you realize that this guy is probably way too old to have been hitting on you.

“I really appreciate the opportunity, sir.”

“Call me Mike.”

“Mike. Thank you.” You made to pop open the door handle, ready to face the nothingness of the rest of your night, visions of the wine coolers in your fridge calling to you sweetly, but Mike piped up again.

“Not so fast, little lady. I think you should dry your tears and give him a call. Put on a nice dress, you know? Put your best foot forward. Lord knows he missed you while he was behind bars!” Obviously it was meant to be a joke, but the heart behind it felt a little too real, though you’d lied about the nature of your relationship with Ken.

Ken. Even saying his name had your palms growing clammy, your eyes welling up again with stupid, childish tears. Mike noticed this falter in your face, and he shifted his body fully in his seat to face you.

“No more of that, okay? It’ll be alright. Just get yourself cleaned up and give him a call. Think positive.”

“You’re right. Sorry for making a fool of myself. I’ve just had an incredibly weird week.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

It occurs to you that perhaps Mike is angling for a nice tip. He was your taxi driver, after all. You fish out a ten dollar bill from your bag and hand it to him, taking the business card and sniffling quietly.

“Thanks again. Have a safe rest of your night.”

Wisps of the night air knocked at your ankles, the exposed skin of your arms, and you scolded yourself for not bringing a sweater. Your bag hung heavy at your shoulder, but you just stared down at the business card. Second Chances Animal Haven, the card read. Ask for Dominic – tell him Mike sent you!

As usual, the unexpected generosity of strangers is enough to make you weepy again, so instead you read the card aloud to yourself, digging absentmindedly for your keys as you head towards the back row of apartment units.

“Here at Second Chances, we believe animals and people deserve to be seen at their best. We’ve been proudly partnered with local rehab centers and addiction programs for twenty years to provide employment opportunities to convicted felons, or those reintegrating back into society. Are you or someone you know interested in volunteer or career information? Give us a call at three zero four…”

You trailed off, flipping the card over to assess the cute graphic of a man petting the head of a labrador, absolutely beaming. The dog’s fuzzy snout brought tears to your eyes, and you wanted to scream at yourself, why does everything make me so goddamned emotional? It made you feel so puny and vulnerable, being affected like this.

“Stupid card. Stupid drawing. Stupid tequila, stupid fucking –”

Your embroiled utterances fell flat as if smashed into a wall, your eyes slamming shut instantaneously, registering that you’d just ran straight into something bigger than yourself, something moving –

Something wearing long, chocolate brown corduroy sleeves, expert tailoring obvious even under the flickering sidewalk lamp; something waiting at the bottom of the steps leading up to your unit.

The hard thud of your foot railing against a solid surface drowns out when you fumble backwards, nearly tripping onto your ass, your eyes widening at the speed of light when your vision focuses and drains of moisture.

There was no mistaking it. Waiting at the stoop with what appeared to be… five or six baby blue suitcases (each embroidered delicately with swooping, elegant ‘K’ headings) of varying sizes all stacked up against one another, was Ken, who towered above you, clouded in the veiling mist of the summer evening air.

Through the shadow his piercing blue eyes met yours, startled like a baby deer and even more innocent looking.

Were you hallucinating this? Was this really Ken, standing right in front of you, clad in brown and stunning, silky mustard orange pants that felt otherworldly in its softness, though your arm had only grazed it?

Etched into the face he gives you is instinctive surprise, as if the last thing he thought would wander around the corner was you. You drop the business card to the ground, don’t watch its descent as it flutters down to the sidewalk. Clutched under Ken’s left arm is a thick folder (maybe a book?) filled to the brim with papers stacked neat and horizontal.

For a sickening pause that lasts thousands of centuries, you wonder if Ken’s here to tell you off. To tell you that he was only dropping by before his departure, that he was going far away and only wished to tell your guinea pig goodbye for posterity.

You couldn’t have blamed him. In fact, you would have understood. I deserve that, you tell yourself, but Ken doesn’t say those awful things. He bends at the waist and plucks the business card you dropped, holds out his arm to return it. It’s then that you remember to breathe, remember to say something, and it’s then that you notice Ken’s gripping a bouquet of flowers in his right hand, pink and white thick petals wrapped in yellow that repel the light landing on them.

Ken’s so tall above you, his legs so lean through his almost sheer pants, and you swear you can make out the swells of his kneecaps, the curve of his hip. The incline of muscle in his neck works as he cocks his head slightly, eyes persistent, dancing and twining with yours under the moon, the feeble crackle of the dying, cheap lamp.

Handfuls of silvering blonde hair tumble down across Ken’s tender eyes as he waits patiently for you to take the card. Blinking is an uphill battle. Moving your lips to form a sentence is some sort of sisyphean curse that you’re unsure of how to break.

“I – I’m. Ken. You’re.”

Unflappable, Ken elects to hold off on exchanging the card, and slips it into his pocket. Instead, he takes a brave step forward, and like he’s rehearsed this a thousand times on the sidewalk, puts on his most hopeful smile, extending his pristine hand that holds the flowers that you are starting to suspect might be plastic. Shrouds of crickets kick up their serenade around the both of you.

“(Y/N). These are for you. I tried relentlessly to keep them perfect on my way here, but you would not believe how difficult it is to stop objects from floating while you’re in a spacesuit, I will tell you that much right now.” You hear his heartfelt words but all you can stare at is his face, every inch of him that you can see, the imperceptible flat of his cheekbones, the angular jut of his chin, all of him so illuminated and real and right in front of you.

“You came back.” It’s all you can manage to say. Like as if a prank had been pulled on you. Could it be the case – all these days of torture and self hatred and drinking yourself to sleep had been completely in vain?

Ken’s smirk widens, crinkling the lines of his cheek, but it just makes him look even more like a timeless painting of someone who once had been real. Boyish charm bled from his every move, his honeyed words, every response he could give you.

“Told you I would, didn’t I? Do you like them?” Ken nudges the bouquet even closer to your line of sight, practically begging you to accept them. “Barbie told me – sorry. My friend Barbie who is a florist told me that these are quintessential spring colors. I wanted purple ones too but Barbie said that wasn’t staying on theme.” Ken enunciates every word, relishing in sharing his newfound knowledge of flowers. They appear to be roses, as if they were somehow handcrafted, each one made painstakingly, lovingly.

Jolting at a realization, Ken raises his eyebrows hastily. “How could I forget? I also brought you a banana. From Barbieland! So that you can really understand what I’ve been working with my whole life.”

Something in the lowest part of your heart snaps entirely in half, and with fingers trembling like a leaf, you finally take the flowers from Ken, cautiously placing your nose to the tips.

By some sort of miracle, though they’re obviously not real, they smell exactly like roses.

“Riveting, aren’t they?” Ken’s adding, watching through his curled eyelashes to see how you like them, but he doesn’t notice the stinging tears that rush down your cheeks until you’re crushing the bouquet between the both of your bodies, impatient to feel him for yourself, just to affirm this is real.

The petals don’t budge or compress, they just twirl in different directions to accommodate the pressure, and the breath leaves Ken’s chest at once with the force of it. “(Y/N)? Tell me you’re not crying. The one thing I didn’t bring was a hanky with your name on it, which I was planning on having my friend Barbie who is a seamstress make for you, but my schedule was pretty tight. Here, let me just –”

There aren’t words for how you’re feeling, the relief, the overwhelming adoration, the incredulity that Ken had actually traveled all the way back for you, the sweetness of everything he’s telling you. It manifests as tears that race to escape your eyes and make you look even more disheveled than you already had been.

Ken carefully wipes at your cheeks with the edges of his jacket sleeves, folding the fabric over his thumbs like it’s brain surgery and he cannot afford to mess it up. Without asking permission, he sticks his hand out and tips your face up so it’s level with his. Gentle, so gentle, so endlessly attentive.

“Why are you crying, (Y/N)?” Your brain should be throttling ahead, formulating a cogent response, but all you want is to hold his shoulderblades in your shaking hands and feel his body flush against yours, make him feel what his presence is doing to you, how it’s making you breathe and sway, unsteady on your feet.

“I thought I would never see you again.”

Ken quirks his eyebrows, dusted blonde and light brown, like he’s taken a punch to the gut. His hands don’t move from their spot on your chin, affixed.

“You can’t be serious. When I accept an ultimatum, I never back down, and that’s a fact.” He seems to not mind the brazen tears and snot he’s wiped onto his (expensive looking) clothes, he just looks right down at you with a dizzying openness. Your fingers twitch around the stiff flowers where you’re still clamping them tight.

“I. I can’t. I didn’t know…”

“Look at me.” You don’t have the inner energy to fight him. Maybe it’s the liquor that’s rounded out the edges of your usually combative reflexes, or maybe it was the repressed emotional floodgates breaking, and suddenly you weren’t afraid for Ken to see what you’d really been feeling for him. The seeds you’d been sowing of your own destruction. “You really missed me that much? I thought you’d be working away like nothing ever happened.”

It’s Ken’s turn to feel flummoxed now, analyzing what you’d said, but you can’t allow him the time to rethink. To backpedal.

His chest rises and falls in rabbit-fast motions. You swear he smells like aftershave, but you can’t pinpoint the precise scent, just that it’s minty and pleasant. Ken’s body is like a barricade of warmth and there’s roses in between you and desire gnawed at your stomach like a profanity.

“Please. Please don’t leave again. I need you, Ken.”

“You – what?”

“I need you. I n-need you to be here, with me. Don’t leave again. I. I made myself sick without you. I have a two bedroom place, I don’t h-have to use it for storage, you can have your own room and everything, I’ll be the cleanest, tidiest person in the world. Just. Please, just. Just promise. Can you promise me that? Ken?” It’s embarrassing. It’s humiliating. There's so many things you could've led with: I may be able to help you get a job, I turned into a complete and utter hermit without you here, I think you may be the best thing that's ever happened to me, I've had so much to drink tonight I shouldn't even be standing. But no, it was mushy garbage that decided to tumble out and settle in the cool air.

You know that you should have shut yourself up after the first sentence, but once the first syllable let loose, there was no taking it back.

Ken continues to wipe at your face where you continue to cry, and he rests his chin quietly on top of yours, somehow managing to hold onto everything he’d been grasping and still making just as much room for you as you needed. Your words move Ken to the point that his pulse has quickened, and –

His pulse? Laying your browbone against his neck, just to see if you’d dreamt that forceful thrum of blood, Ken gives a submissive sigh for the contact. “I will never go anywhere ever again unless you want me to.”

“Your heart.” You mention, tucked against his frame but eyes wild with shock.

“I won’t even look out the window unless you think there’s something I should see.” Ken persists.

“Ken.”

“In fact, I think I’d be most comfortable just waiting for you to lay out what we’re doing every day, first thing, so I can get an adequate idea of –”

“Ken?” Your tone is sharp now, because he’s getting carried away – not that you weren’t receptive to his idea of what living together should look like.

“Yes, little firefly?” Ken muses, pulling you even closer to the front of his body.

“Your heart. It’s beating.”

#ken x reader #ryan gosling ken #ken #ryan gosling #barbie movie #ken x fem reader

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stedefxckingbonnet · 4 months

Note

hello hello! i don’t think i’ve seen anything like this yet, so may i request izzy x gn!reader who’s a bit insecure?

maybe they struggle with body image or something and izzy is basically like “how are they so blind??” but he struggles to express it because he’s never had to be so soft for anyone?

of course, ignore it if you’re not comfortable with it! :)

Hi, everyone!!

So, it's been a while. And I mean, a while. Longer than I wanted to step away from writing, and I never really wanted to step away from it in the first place but some stuff happened and yada yada. But I'm truly, truly hoping to be back and writing again to some capacity, I have truly missed writing for Izzy and for you all and I feel as though the world needs Izzy Hands content now more than ever! I truly do hope to be back.

I hope you don't mind that I put my own spin onto this, anon! You provided the lovely central plot and idea, and I simply provided an atmosphere and story to go with. Body image/insecurity is something I struggle with too, no matter how many times people tell me that I am beautiful, and I tried to channel that in this one. I am also not trying to send the message that other people's validation is what can make a person feel better about themself! I am more so trying to convey that the one(s) we love can often show us things about ourselves that we didn't know were there or didn't see before, and that they help us to love and appreciate these things about ourselves, and ourselves in general. You all who are reading this are so, so wonderful and beautiful and extraordinary even if you have a hard time believing it, and maybe your comfort character can help you to believe it a bit more in this little fic♡

Anyhow, please, request! Don't hesitate! My messages are also always open for anyone who needs anything but also just to say hi or talk about anything really. Thank you all for your everlasting support, patience, and kindness especially through my sort of absence ♡ Also, please, if I have used your gif or you know who created it, please credit yourself or them! I am not always good at figuring that sort of stuff out, but I want to give credit where credit is due. Have a wonderful day (or night), everyone!

Love,

Lavinia

What I See | Izzy Hands x Reader

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, slight swearing, struggles with body image and insecurity, very direct izzy (in a good, affectionate way but may be inaccurate ish? but i believe it isn't)

Word Count: 2525

"I just don't understand it!" the first mate angrily threw his hands up in the air. "I just don't understand why Bonnet is dragging us to one of those stupid...fancy people gatherings."

You couldn't help but laugh at such a sight, seeing Izzy Hands so distraught, though his usual cloud of anguish didn't seem to surround him. This was different, something you couldn't exactly place, but it was endearing nonetheless. "A ball, you mean?" your lips curled into a playful smile.

"I don't care what it's called," Izzy grumbled. "All I know is that I don't want to be there."

"It could be fun!" you suggested, your smile growing larger.

"Has Bonnet brainwashed you somehow?" Izzy rolled his eyes, but for just a moment, maybe, you could have sworn you saw a smile on the first mate's visage.

"If worse comes to worse, there'll be plenty of alcohol to drink," you laughed, softly squeezing Izzy's shoulder. Subtle touches like these between the two of you were second nature, almost instinctual, yet you were certain Izzy didn't make much of it and plainly saw them as something friendly. You almost sighed at such a thought.

And perhaps you had your own motives for wanting to drag Israel Hands along to such an event. Perhaps it gave you an excuse to hold him close to you without him suspecting a single thing, just that it was all custom meant to be followed in such a setting. You thought maybe, just maybe, it would be the opportune night to spend some more time with Izzy, just the two of you in the moonlight, dancing and chatting the night away, cheek to cheek...

"Fancy people alcohol," Izzy groaned in response, snapping you out of your daydream, to which luckily, he didn't notice you had slipped into in the first place.

"It's better than nothing," you rolled your eyes playfully. "Now, come on. Bonnet's got some fabrics for us to borrow, he says. I've come to fetch you," you now smiled teasingly.

"Oh, joy!" Izzy exclaimed sarcastically, yet he still followed your lead.

The only reason he was even remotely tolerating the night ahead was to be able to find himself closer to you, away from the chaos of The Revenge and all else it had to offer. Spending a night with you wouldn't be dreadful in the slightest for Izzy, and had you not been attending at all, he wouldn't even hesitate to let Ed and Stede go off to this awful event by themselves. But even Stede knew that your presence was enough to get Izzy to agree to such a thing, and really, what could be more convincing than you?

Before Izzy could comprehend it, your figure was wrapped in an ethereal ensemble. You studied yourself in the mirror, a frown naturally falling upon your face, though it quickly faltered as he came into view.

By the sea gods, you looked astonishing. Izzy already knew you would be the most bewitching of the ball, and that perhaps he would have to compete with other awful suitors of high society to even just get a moment alone with you. He almost became troubled at the thought, but your unmatched beauty was enough to distract him from such a notion. You had taken his breath away and this wasn't exactly a feeling he was used to, though it wasn't one that he disliked. No, not at all. In fact, he could get used to this, and he wanted to. Even though his own reflection stood right before him, he couldn't take his eyes off of you. He never could have fathomed until he met you that someone could be so breathtaking, so...alluring.

But all you were thinking about is how your clothing seemed to accentuate all of the wrong features, in your eyes.

'And the color—it washes me out, doesn't it?' you thought to yourself, almost fighting back tears.

Finally, Izzy spoke, though he immediately regret doing so. "Will you be comfortable?" He almost began to scold himself. 'That's all you have to say? This attractive person is standing right beside you and that's all you can manage to say?'

"Oh, yes. I've got plenty of moving room," you assured him, doing your best to step out of your own head for a moment. You even tried to shoot him a convincing smile. "I'll be just fine."

Finally, your eyes wandered over to his image, instead of focusing either at your own reflection or onto the ground. You felt your face becoming warm as you caught a glimpse of the man before you—how he was transformed, yet, still the Izzy Hands you knew and loved. Only elevated, and even more enchanting than usual. Your jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"What? I look fucking dumb, don't I?" Izzy laughed annoyedly.

"No! No, Izzy, you look..."

Before you could finish your statement, Stede rushed in. "You two ready to go? Oh, look at the two of you! You look divine!"

You looked over at Izzy, sending a supportive, yet spirited smile his way. Izzy couldn't help but return the sentiment as the two of you were ushered off of the ship and into another realm unbeknownst to the both of you.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Some of the sweetest melodies you had ever heard began to surround you as you stepped into the ornately decorated room. You could hardly believe how much space there was in just one part of this residence, and that it was dedicated for dancing and other sorts of happenings similar to these. Before you knew it, for just a moment, you succumbed to your wonder of what having a life like this would entail, though you were quickly reminded of your distaste towards it when you saw a woman weeping and being chased out of the room by a man screaming extreme obscenities toward her. You and Izzy slowly looked toward one another in disbelief, the both of you fighting off laughter.

"It's not too late to get out of here," Izzy whispered.

You rolled your eyes with that same familiar grin this action always seemed to come with. "We're hardly even here."

Defeated, Izzy sighed and slumped against a wall, though quickly coming off it as soon as he spotted Stede glaring daggers at him from across the room. Another sigh escaped his lips, and you burst into a fit of laughter, unable to contain yourself. As annoyed as Izzy was at what just happened, your laughter was an antidote, and he was certainly taking it in.

Though, his newfound smile quickly faltered when he noticed a handsome stranger eyeing you from a few feet away. But you didn't even notice that someone else had noticed you—you only cared if the man in front of you had, and he seemed to be occupied by something else.

"Iz?" you asked in confusion. "What is it?"

Without another word, Izzy motioned his head to the side, to which you finally noticed the attention of another that you had captured.

"And?" you shook your head, unsure of what Izzy had been insinuating.

"He wants to dance with you," Izzy pointed out, rolling his eyes without realizing. "And you should have some fun. Don't let me hold you back."

You opened your mouth to speak in protest, but quickly closed it once again. How would you admit, in the midst of a stuffy room with a plethora of people you don't know who are all dancing and speaking at the top of their lungs, that all you had looked forward to this evening was to sharing a dance with Izzy Hands and no one else? That it was the only reason you even considered forcing yourself into an outfit that made you feel bad about yourself, even worse than you already do, and surrounding yourself with a million strangers whilst doing it? The thought alone sounded like a nightmare, but with Izzy by your side, it sounded like a dream come true. But Izzy was pushing you toward this stranger before you could comprehend it, and then you watched Izzy's figure disappear slowly into the distance as you were whisked away.

"I've never seen you here before," the stranger pointed out. "And if I had, I think I'd remember a beautiful person such as yourself."

These words made your insides twist. Your companion spoke with sincerity, but you couldn't bring yourself to believe it. 'He's just being polite,' you told yourself, brushing it off.

"It's been a few years," you lied, not wanting to blow your cover, or especially Stede's cover, as you were sure he wasn't exactly welcomed back into an environment such as this. "I don't usually speak to many."

"Well, isn't it my lucky day then?" he laughed. "No one here even compares to you. You are something special. What did you say your name was?"

But before the perhaps unlucky stranger knew it, you were nowhere to be found. You kept running until your environs became darker, and the moon was your only source of light. You leaned against the railing of a balcony, your vision blurred by tears. You flinched upon feeling a hand on your shoulder, but quickly relaxed once you noticed out of your periphery that it was none other than Izzy's touch.

"Did he offend you? I swear, I'll have his head before he can even fucking think of using it again—"

"No, no. He didn't. It's fine, really," you shrugged, blinking back tears to the best of your ability. But even the darkness of the night failed to hide your misery. Izzy softened upon noticing your state.

"What is it?" he asked, concern dripping from his voice as he looked at you intently. You stared at your hands gripping the railing, but you quickly tore your eyes away from that sight and stared out into the night.

"I—This is why I didn't want to come tonight!" you exclaimed.

"You—but you were so—"

"Excited? Yeah, right," you laughed sadly, shaking your head.

"What is it?" Izzy repeated, worry written all over his face. "Are you sure I don't need to behead anyone?"

Another laugh escaped you. "No, Izzy. He—he said I was beautiful. That's not a crime."

"He wasn't wrong," Izzy shrugged, a small smile making its way onto his face. With this, you couldn't help but meet Izzy's eyes, and you couldn't help but return a smile. Though quickly, it vanished, and your original demeanor overtook you once again.

"He was though," you protested. "This is why I don't like coming to these things. Squeezing myself into these clothes."

"I know these clothes are a bit ridiculous," Izzy laughed. "But yet you still manage to be so...beautiful."

Your heart began to do pirouettes inside your chest. For once in your life, part of you believed such a statement could be directed toward yourself. But Izzy could see the plagued expression on your face.

"You don't believe me?"

You shook your head as you finally allowed tears to fall down your face and drip onto your chest. Izzy frowned and took a few steps closer to you so as to gently wipe away your tears with his thumb, though his hand lingered for a moment longer, caressing your cheek as he was about to speak.

"You could be covered in dirt and I'd still find you beautiful," Izzy assured you. "You know, when I first saw you, I knew even then that you were. And you become more so every single day. You are the most enchanting person I've ever crossed paths with and laid my eyes upon. And there's so many things about the world I find are awful to have to experience and look at, but not you. You're the opposite of everything that's wrong with the world."

Sobs escaped your chest as you fell into Izzy's arms, to which he instinctively caught you, engulfing you carefully in his arms. He softly wrapped his fingers in your hair as he held you. 'I am holding the world in my arms right now,' he thought to himself, and thank the sea gods your face was buried into the crook of his neck and you couldn't see the grin that conquered his lips.

As for you, you never believed it when anyone else said these sorts of things to you. You found it impossible to believe these things about yourself; there were even days where you'd purposefully avoid any sort of reflective surface just to ensure that you don't break down. Sometimes, you couldn't even bear to look at yourself. But hearing Izzy declaring all of this to you—for the first time, perhaps you would actually be able to believe it.

Your silence made beads of sweat form atop Izzy's temple, but he didn't dare let you go to wipe them away. You clung onto him tighter, which only thawed Izzy's heart even more. He couldn't believe all that he just said, even though it was all true, and your lack of a response made his heart race even more.

"You are beautiful," Izzy repeated as he melted into your embrace, and embraced the shared silence. Something about it was comforting in a way he had never experienced before. If he could, he would exist in this moment forever.

Finally, you slowly pulled away, though your hands still clung onto the first mate's arms, and your faces were a short distance away from one another. At the same time, the two of you leaned in to close said distance between the two of you, and all bits of yearning, desire, love, and desperation poured out into this moment. Even without Izzy's words, he had already managed to make you feel lovely in every way even just by him being around. He was the one person who managed to help you see what was so amazing about yourself. You quickly melted into the sudden collision of your lips and he kissed you with a fervor that you had been craving from him for as long as you could remember. You smiled against his lips, and once air became scarce, the two of you simultaneously sought it. Once you both pulled apart for air, a collective joyous laugh filled both of your ears.

"I only wanted to come to this stupid thing because you'd be here," you admitted, and you were sure your cheeks were as red as the roses in the garden that surrounded you.

Izzy couldn't help but smile. "I wasn't going to come until Bonnet mentioned you would be. I meant what I said, you know. You are beautiful, and I'm sorry, but you're fucking dumb if you don't see that."

You threw your head back as you laughed before meeting Izzy's gaze once again. "You are so beautiful," Izzy repeated once again, all teasing aside to show his sincerity. You reached for his hand and squeezed it tenderly as the two of you looked out into nighttime, but all Izzy could focus on was how even more ravishing you looked as the moon illuminated your face.

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #ofmd season 2 #x reader #izzy hands my beloved #izzy hands x reader #fanfic #ofmd izzy hands #renew as a crew #guys i still have hope for a season 3 because of the petitions and renew as a crew stuff on twitter okay #there is still hope #or else i will cry every day #requests are open #request #please request #anon request #im back bitches #and i missed you all so much

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softxsuki · 16 days

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Hi, this ia kind of an emergency request because i had been feeling really suicidal lately and i thought that maybe reading some angst/confort would help ❤️‍🩹

Soo, i wanted to ask for Izuku in which his bestfriend had been feeling like super suicidal and she has been selfharming.

Thankss 🫶

Midoriya Comforts Sui*idal Reader

Warning: mentions of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, depression

Note: Hope this helps :) <3 and for everyone reading this, urgent requests are now closed for the rest of April, I'll have three more spots open in May :D

Our gentle boy, Midoriya, is great at reading people

So when you begin to isolate yourself and plaster that fake smile on your face whenever you’re with your friends together, he knows something is up

But he’s a little awkward and doesn’t know how to bring it up without accidentally hurting your feelings or making you feel uncomfortable–that’s the last thing he’d ever want

So despite the anguish that hits his heart when you show up at his door with tears in your eyes, he’s relieved that you’re finally opening up to him

He was your best friend, someone you knew you could always rely on, and your favorite hero despite also being a hero as well, you wanted to put your trust in him

So you tell him everything; how you’ve been feeling recently, the self-harm, the thoughts of suicide that terrified you, yet sometimes felt like your only option

And he listened to every word, holding one of your hands as he traced small circles into your skin, encouraging you to continue speaking, not an ounce of judgment in his eyes as you pour your heart out

“Y/N, you’re my best friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today without your support. I’m thankful everyday that you’re alive by my side, I’m just sorry that I haven’t been giving you the same support to where you feel this way now. I’m sorry”

You quickly tell him that it isn’t his fault, he was a great friend who always helped you out and was there for you when you needed him, your problems were rooted deeper and would take longer to heal from

But with Midoriya by your side, you’d be able to get through anything now that he was aware of your situation

He’d show you that life was worth living one day at a time while offering to get you professional help as well, even if it was just having a professional to talk to about your feelings once a week so they could help guide you in the right direction

In the meantime though, he’d do whatever he could for you, showing you beautiful things in the world, making sure you wouldn’t hurt yourself again, and helping you be happy again, no matter how long it takes

“I’ll show you the little things in this world that you won’t want to miss, so stick around so you can see them all,” he says with a smile

Nothing changes with your friendship, he treats you the same, but perhaps is a little more aware and direct with making sure you’re doing okay and reaches out first if he suspects you’re not doing too well

Very attentive and kind as usual, wants the best for you so you can feel like yourself again without the dark cloud hanging over your head

Posted: 4/22/2024

#mha x reader #bnha x reader #midoriya x reader #mha x y/n #mha x you #mha x gn!reader #bnha x y/n #bnha x you #bnha x gn!reader #midoriya x y/n #midoriya x you #midoriya x gender neutral reader #midoriya izuku #mha headcanons #mha comfort #bnha headcannons #bnha comfort #midoriya headcanons #midoriya comfort

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fruitsoxs · 10 months

Note

Hi I was wondering if I can request a very fluffy soulmate au (I'm really a sucker for theses cheesy aus honestly) with Vash and a artist reader?

Context on the soulmate au it's like if you write on you skin it'll show up on the other person kind of deal.

Thank you and hope you have a good day ^^🌻

ah cute. i love stuff like this. here's some headcanons!

pairing; vahs x (GN)reader warnings; none! notes; this is kind of 98 Vash coded, but i left it open! also wrote this with a modern au in mind but it can be read either way

When he first sees the doodles, it’s a bit of a shock.

For the longest of times Vash was so sure he didn’t have a soulmate. He had lived his entire life without getting a single mark, only hearing stories of others who have.

So. when he sees those little clouds appear on his arm, he can barely speak. He just watches as they get more detailed. He can’t help but wonder who could be creating such a picture, and his heart beats a little faster.

He reaches for a pen instinctively, but pauses before the ink can touch his skin.

What should he say? He’s known people who talked through their skin. Gathering information to find out who the other is.

Should he say hi? Should he draw? No, he can’t draw like that. Anything he added would just ruin the picture forming on his arm. Instead he lets the pen drop, and watches as the drawing comes to life.

He likes to wear his soulmate's doodles. He know she can wash them off after they appear on his skin, but he thinks they’re much too beautiful to scrub away. Plus he gets a kick out of showing off the pictures to anyone who looks his way

He notices that his soulmate is rather forgetful too. They often leave little notes on their arms reminding them to pick up food, or to do certain chores. He thinks these little notes are cute and he often stares at them for hours after they appear

He also notices that you like to draw portraits of people around you. They’re rather cute. He should wash them away, but he likes the art you create. It’s like he’s being supportive of your work.

He still doesn’t write back, despite having every opportunity to.

Not until you write him a direct message that makes him stop in his tracks. On his hand, in little letters, forms “Are you there?”. When he sees the words his entire world flips.

You’ve probably been worried this entire time over whether you have a soulmate of your own. Doodling to gain his attention, and getting nothing in return.

He immediately starts searching for a pen in his pockets, finding nothing. Suddenly panicking, he darts around the street asking everyone in sight if they have a pen. When someone finally does give him one, he immediately draws a little heart next to your question

He’s still not sure what to say, but a little doodle is enough for you. You respond back with a heart of your own.

After that the two of you speak in mostly doodles. His are wonky, and messy. He thinks it’s a little silly to look at his art compared to yours.

Eventually he starts using words. Simple things at first. “Good mornings.” and “sleep wells.”

This turns into small conversations, and he soon realizes why the universe paired him up with you. He starts falling in love with you

And then one day he sees himself on his hand

He’s sitting in a random café, eating some delicious treats. He notices the start of one of your drawings, and immediately pulls out his hands to watch the lines appear. He almost spits out his food when he sees the familiar spikey hair. His head swivels around as he searches the café for anyone

He sees you sitting in the corner, sipping on some form of drink. The only reason he knows it has to be you, is because you keep glancing over at him before looking back at your hand

He isn’t sure what to do at first

Then he gets this idea

He pulls out his own pen and starts sketching you. He notices your drawing has stopped. You must be watching what he’s doodling.

When he’s done he leans back proudly and looks over to see your reaction. He frowns when you don’t immediately jump up and look for him.

Then he sees what you write back

“Is that a dog?”

He can’t believe his cute idea was ruined by his terrible artistic skills.

He sighs and stands up making his way over to you. He lifts up his hand to show off the matching marks and says “it was supposed to be you.”

You look at his hand, then at him.

Then the two of you smile at each other.

#vash x reader #vash the stampede x reader #vashheadcanons #request

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babyjakes · 1 year

Text

holy ground. [blurb.]

〈 disclaimer: this blog posts content not suitable for individuals under the age of 18. minors are strictly prohibited from viewing, sharing, or interacting with this blog. for more information on this blog's commitment to protecting minors, read our full statement here. 〉

event | april '23 ddlg-themed blurb night

summary | love is an ocean; you and jake are diving in, head first.

pairing | best friend!jake jensen x little!reader

warnings | jakey and reader are exploring ddlg together for the first time. this is not my typical smut!! it's much more abstract, i just enjoyed writing it very liberally and creatively. p in v sex, not very descriptive. alludes to size difference/kink. they cum together <3. i wrote this in past tense and idk why, it just felt right. an obnoxious amount of taylor references.

word count | 548

an | okay so i had a few jakey requests hehe! you guys really get me :'-) i've never written daddy!jakey, but it's probably time given the url change lol— thanks to the sweet nonnie who sent in the idea of best friend!jakey trying out ddlg with reader, and @brandycranby for the size kink idea <3 i love this dynamic with jakey so much, just being so close and vulnerable with each other already, slipping into daddy land feels so natural for him and reader! this did turn into quite the expressive piece for me, i feel like i rarely write smut this way but with jakey i just couldn't help it lol, hope everyone likes it regardless! <3

It was an incredible scene to witness, though both of you knew not a soul beyond the other would ever know about its occurrence. It was something special for just the two of you, something sacred. A careful step forward, as big of a step as it was. A single spark blooming into a timid flame. It was new to both of you— new and special, oh so rare. Skin on flushed skin, hands intertwined, lips searching across inches of body that felt like miles; he foraged all of you, left no part of you untouched or unloved.

"So beautiful," Jake's words swam through the thick cloud of your shared apartment's warm air. "So beautiful for me, baby. All mine, aren't you? Say it."

Your droopy eyes peered up at him through tears, the beam of sun pouring in through the window hitting him at the most glorious angle; he was straight out of a movie. Outlined by the golden rays, he shone before you, beads of sweat forming on his tender forehead as he thrust himself back into you once more. His size was overwhelming, leaving no hint of you unfilled as his tip slammed up against your bruising ceiling. "Yours," was all you could manage in response, "yours. Yours. Yours."

Towering over you, Jake's gaze was so full of love that it was overflowing from his eyes in shimmering droplets as he leaned down, pressing his forehead against yours. "Safe with me— always," his words were an oath, and you knew he'd be true; there was no one in the world you trusted more than the man before you. "You're safe with Daddy, baby."

"D-Daddy," the word was so sweet as it tumbled from your lips, the simple act of speaking it into existence like the birth of a spring fawn, such a tender and sacred thing. Out in some abandoned field, it was just the two of you there to see it; maybe that's what made it so holy.

"Your daddy, sweetie. Yours, all yours," he returned the words to you as his thrusts began to pick up in pace. "Daddy'll take care of you—" he swore, the sweetness in his voice slowly getting swallowed up by starvation. He had hungered for this, for you, for his whole life. And here you finally were, and you were more than willing to let him feast, "—make you feel so good, s'that what you want, baby? Tell Daddy what you want."

His tender fingers fell down to search between where your two bodies met, stroking in broad circles over your fiery core of pleasure. Your voice came out begging, "Please... please..." You sounded so foolish; it was music to Jake's ears. "Want it... want you— please Daddy..."

You fell over the edge hand in hand, warmth overcoming the both of you as your booming heartbeats aligned, lips crashing together as you searched desperately for something— not breath, not air. Only each other.

It was a beautiful sight, body on trembling body as the two of you swallowed each other down, tears mixing in your mouths through scattered breaths and 'I love you's. Noses rubbing together, you kept your eyes shut as you wept against him. And to him, there you were; he had found you at last.

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hitomisuzuya · 1 year

Note

REQUESTS ARE OPEN?! NO WAY.

SO.... I've been in a complete Xiao kick lately, for some reason. Could I request a fluffy confession followed by smut?

I really don't have many preferences, just afab reader and preferably dom Xiao.. I'm just down bad for anything related to him right now.

~ 🫧 anon

Dom!Xiao x fem!reader. Smut. Fluffy love confession.

a/n: I am keeping a close eye on the poll, everyone. It seems like Scara is gonna be the clear winner with Nagito in second😌 I'm curious to see who wins tomorrow. And hello there, Bubble anon (I couldn't find the cute bubble emoji on my phone😭). I hope you enjoy, and I hope you don't mind that I wrote the reader confessing😌 and Happy Easter, everyone who is reading this.

Tagging @xxventiswindblumexx and @kichikichiko

It all started with you asking Xiao to go on a walk with you. The sun was starting to set, and what Xiao didn't know is that you had a small handful of almonds in your pocket.

You had it all planned.

You asked him to come with you to Wuwang Hill, what you thought was the prettiest place in Liyue.

Your heart started to pound when Xiao abruptly asked you, "What are we doing here, y/n?" You looked so beautiful standing underneath the purple red clouds. He couldn't help but marvel at the sight. "You look pretty, by the way," He breathed out in a shy tone

"I'm glad that you asked, Xiao," You replied, blushing in a way Xiao found totally adorable. You reached into your pocket, and cupped your hand around the almonds.

They were kind of almonds you would put in Almond Tofu. His favorite.

"I love you, Xiao," You confessed, fidgeting nervously, holding out the almonds to him. "Please, accept these almonds as a token of my love for you."

Xiao stared at the almonds in your hand. He blinked once, twice, then three times before he spoke, "You love me?" He asked in quiet disbelief. He didn't think anyone would ever fall in love with him, much less someone like you.

"Yes, Xiao, I do love you. I have awhile now. I mean, I know there are much prettier girls out there than me.." You trailed off, biting your lower lip in a way that made Xiao almost moan outloud. How many times had he fantasized about biting your lower lip as he kissed you?

Xiao's body moved on it's own, his lips crashing against yours in almost an instant. One hand cupped your jaw, his thumb skimming over it. You felt his other hand on the back of your head, pressing your mouth against his.

He pushed his tongue into your mouth, curling it around yours. "Don't say that about yourself," He mumbled against your mouth, his teeth grazing across your lower lip.

Moaning, you.wrapped your arms around his neck, pressing your body against his. "I want you, Xiao," You said, reluctantly pulling away from the kiss that left you both breathless.

There was something about your tone of voice that made his cock harden. He swore his brain stopped working a moment. "Then, get down on your knees, and serve the Conqueror of Demons," He growled.

Nodding, you sank to your knees, palming your hand over his hardening cock outside his pants. Xiao groaned, tangling his fingers in your hair before gripping it tightly. "Your mouth is going to look so pretty wrapped around my cock."

Once you took his cock out from his pants, you pumped your hand along it a few times, making him rut needily into your hand. Your swept out to lick the precum off the tip, teasing the tip of your tongue before sucking on it.

"Suck just like that," Xiao commanded, pushing his cock all the way into your mouth, making your throat spasm around it when you coughed. He gave politely gave you time to start breathing through your nose before setting the pace for you, using your hair as leverage to bob your head up and down on his cock.

Your moan vibrated along his cock, making it twitch and throb in your mouth. You flattened your tongue as you sucked, keeping your eyes on him the entire time.

The wet noises your mouth made as you sucked made both of blush because of how lewd it sounded. It turned Xiao on more, making his thrusts sloppy as he fucked himself into your throat.

"I have always wanted to ruin your throat first before I take you back to Wangshu Inn and fuck you raw. I'll make you scream for me while I cum inside of you," He babbled, his eyes transfixed captivated at the drool pooling from the corners of your mouth onto his pelvis.

When his cum painted his throat, Xiao's fingers loosened on your hair, letting you suck until he felt he was spent. You gagged a little before obediently swallowing.

#genshin impact #genshin smut #fem!reader #xiao #xiao smut #xiao x you #xiao x reader #xiao x y/n

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lookwhatyoumademedohaha · 1 year

Text

Bad Blood - Morpheus x Reader

'Cause baby, now we got bad blood You know it used to be mad love So take a look what you've done 'Cause baby, now we got bad blood (hey!)

Now we got problems And I don't think we can solve 'em You made a really deep cut And baby, now we got bad blood (hey!)

Did you have to do this? I was thinking that you could be trusted Did you have to ruin What was shining? Now it's all rusted Did you have to hit me Where I'm weak? Baby, I couldn't breathe And rub it in so deep Salt in the wound like you're laughing right at me

Oh, it's so sad to think about the good times You and I

Summary: An insane and maniacal enemy visits you reminding you of your past and taunting you with your present. Morpheus and you find new and surprising revelations for your feelings for each other lingering in your hearts.

Pairing: Morpheus x Goddess of Hope Reader

Warnings: Pure fluff, angst and comfort, humor, toxic family, slight violence.

A/N: Hi everyone! First of all, let me start with a huge thank you to everyone who has given so much love and support for Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 , Part 4 and Part 5 of this fic.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE - I have taken down Part 1 and Part 2 of it’s time to go because I felt it needed some reconstruction and rebuilding for the story. So don’t worry if the links aren’t working. I plan on finishing the first two parts and uploading them again to this work! But this work can be read without the first two parts as well, so keep on reading!

Thank you so much for the overwhelming love and support you had given to this fic. Your support and love means so much to me and encourages me to keep going. I apologize for taking such a long time to come up with Part 6 but between work and studies and working on my mental health, I wanted to create a really good and beautiful story for myself and you all as well. So I really hope you like it even though it is slightly long because there are new revelations in Morpheus’ and Hope’s feelings for each other and highlights Hope’s past a little bit more better.

So here’s Part 6 of it’s time to go ! It’s a bit long but I promise you it’s worth reading until the very end! Please do read it until the end and let me know what you think!

Thank you so much for your love, encouragement and support. You are the best! You are all so sweet, kind and amazing and make me believe that the world is full of nice and good people! Please let me know if you like this story that I worked hard on because your feedback means so much to me!

I love you all! This is me to all who encourage, love and support me!

Part 1 - it’s time to go

Part 2 - Meet Me in the Afterglow

Part 3 - Forever Winter

Part 4 - Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve

Part 5 - Sweet Nothing

You rose when the sky was still dark. You would see to your morning’s business of your respective Realms as you dressed and walked into the gardens where you looked over your papers. You looked at the red box with the seal of the Queen full of reports and papers regarding important matters of the Realm, ready for you to tackle as you took a deep breath and opened it and began to read, process, sign and tackle each one carefully.

“I need coffee.” you muttered as you tackled a problem with Desire’s realm because how could the world be full of problems before dawn? It simply was not civilized.

When you finished, you realized it was dawn. You passed through the bushes of beautiful flowers that bloomed in pretty shy pink, lush passionate red, pure white, as she reached the manor with its terraces and white statues that was clouded with mist filtered with the first rays of golden sunlight that made it look like a beautiful bride. You felt reminiscence and adoration for this home that had been full of happiness for a certain amount of time until you had felt loss and grief once again. This hour should have felt peaceful and yet all you saw were figures of your past dancing around you, a tall gentleman with a bright and shy smile offering a bouquet of pink roses as he walked beside you talking kindly and listening to you. Laughter echoed around you, shy smiles were all you saw, playful bickering and banter was all you heard until you felt nothing but painful reminiscence and wistfulness.

But you had watched them all fall. You had watched him fall. You had been there among them. You vowed after that never to let anyone into your heart because people only left and for that pleasant fantasy to be a reality, you had to be strong against the Dream Lord who was insistent on winning you over.

You strode through the halls of the manor into the kitchen where the morning light had turned bright and rosy, as you conjured up breakfast. As you finished sending your solved reports and signed papers to your Realm, you closed your eyes as you understood that today you would not start the day alone. You snapped your fingers and your mansion was spruced and sparkling, beautiful flowers bloomed, the scent of fresh tea and sweet orange blossoms filled the air as the table was laid with a lavish spread of breakfast.

The strong scent of false promises and sweet chocolate filled the air as you heard light footsteps of high heels out by the door and you tensed as you called out “I know you are out there.”

“I know you know I’m out here.” replied the silky and soft voice as the clicking of the heels stopped as the door quietly closed behind the familiar stranger.

“Then why are you playing hide and seek in my home with those ridiculous high heels?” you called out confidently as you thought of how the this stranger was too over confident about their ability to outsmart and outmaneuver you in your home.

“Because I’m hurt that you didn’t see the forty three missed calls I left you. Why didn’t you answer?” replied the silky and soft voice teasingly and playfully echoing from another part of the room, as you listened carefully preparing yourself.

You snorted in disdain as you rolled your eyes, still cautious and careful as you stepped toward the direction of the voice, replying with disdain and sarcasm “Do you think I’m your fiancé?”

The twinkling amused laugh echoed from the living room as you held your breath, your eyes glowing hazel golden as you scanned through the walls and saw the flash of blonde hair, cunning eyes of the stranger skulking in the room with weapons in their hands. You had expected to see them but you didn’t think that they would visit you today, so quickly with a death wish in their heart. You were always prepared for their visits because they always appeared without invitation but this visit felt different because they had lost the right to step into this particular house, to speak to you as if they knew you better than anyone.

As if they could read your mind, the voice spoke what you were thinking, with a hint of anxiety present in the voice as they tested the waters “And because I distinctly remember you saying that if you ever saw me again, you would kill me.”

You reached for your weapons as you stepped cautiously and quietly “Oh, I remember.”

The silky and seductive voice grew steady and solemn calling out to you “So are we going to talk like proper grown up sisters?”

You transported into the living room to see the tall graceful figure of a flash of beautiful angelic blonde hair, ocean blue eyes gleaming with cunning and resourcefulness as she whirled around to looked in surprise at you who replied “Funny. Is that what we are?”

There was a tense silence between both of you as you eyed the beautiful and charming lady in a red silk dress and black high heels, her sapphire ocean blue eyes gleaming with sweet promises and dangerous heartbreak, her cheeks dabbed with blush of first love, her angelic golden hair curled around her in flawless waves, her lips rouge and red as the bloodied bodies and red roses.

You stared at the gorgeous visage of stormy heartbreak and cruel passion, your sister Love.

“Leave now.” you warned in a steady voice as you stepped backwards and Love took a few steps forward. “Before I make you.”

“Watch your step.” retorted Love playfully but there was a hint of smugness as you nearly slipped but you just chuckled because you were infuriated with your sister’s smug superiority.

Both of you stood still and silent, the moment between you lasting for eternal seconds that ticked slowly as both of you looked at each other with the memories and emotions that time couldn’t erase as they both glared at each other in distrust and disdain, scanning each other wondering what lay beneath the surface.

The frozen moment of analyzing and scanning each other’s weaknesses broke as you seized her hand from reaching her wand and twisted it and she seized your hand from reaching your special dagger reserved for occasions just like this. You kicked her fiercely in the chest making Love gasp in sharp pain and yelled as you held her tightly and slammed her on the posts of the door with your strength and brutality, feeling twisted satisfaction at hearing her yells of pain.

Love glared at you with a brutal gleam in her ocean blue eyes as she curled her hands around your neck, her sharp polished nails clawing into your skin as she choked you mercilessly. As you spluttered and gasped for air, Love shoved you onto the cabinet, the precious trinkets and pictures crashing and falling as she slammed you hard, her grip growing stronger on you while you struggled and thrashed against her infuriated by her smirk.

Elder sister and younger sister. Once two sisters who understood each other. Defined by their choices. Separated by the paths they took.

Elder sister always tried her best to gain attention and shine in the spotlight. But the younger sister who knew she would be of interest did not know she would naturally attract such an overwhelming amount of attention from the universe just because she was herself.

The big sister was trained to fight. The little sister was trained to kill.

Love was equally as good as you, though you would never admit it. It was something that filled you with rage and shame. Everything you did, you always tried to be better than her. All those tests where Love would pass with flying colors and you would miss by a mark as you watched her being showered with praise. All those duels where your father who had trained you both, pitted you against each other, Love and you fought each other with perfect technique and sharp desire to win resulting in Love winning many times but it was you who had learned new lessons from each loss and won as time went on by using your wit and cleverness against Love.

Love smirked smugly with superiority as she pinned you down, as you choked and struggled against her “I always knew I was the best in the family.”

Oh hell no. No way in hell were you losing this duel to this cocky, arrogant little shit.

You screamed in frustration and anger as you bit her hand fiercely and slammed a precious vase on Love’s head making her scream and bleed in pain as she stumbled a few steps back in shock. You were quick to stand up as you whipped out your whip but Love caught it as she wrapped it around your neck as she held you tightly in her arms but you lifted your leg and pushed your weight against her freeing yourself from her grasp and threw her across the living room making the glass on a mirror shatter.

You wasted no time as you caught your breath and unsheathed a knife from your weapons belt as you flung it across at Love with fierce determination because you were seriously angered. Love’s eyes widened with terror and horror as she took a few trembling steps back and conjured a shield. In the moment you flung your knife at your sister with brutal intentions, Love ducked it as she protected herself with the shield. You kicked away the shield as your sharp knife grazed the torso of your sister’s body.

Love screamed with tears in her eyes as she grabbed your arm and tossed you to the floor but you were quick to get up on your knees as you swung your knife again, swiping it across her chest as another nasty wound appeared. Love kicked the knife away from you as she screamed in terror and pain and jumped on you as she gripped you tightly with her arms to try and contain you.

But you were persistent, fierce and spiteful as you gasped for air and kicked your sister in the crotch and pushed her fiercely against the wall and through the French windows as both of you crashed into the gardens outside. She wrapped her legs around your neck and tossed you to the ground as she took your whip and wrapped it around your neck tightly. But you seized it, and did the same to your sister, wrapping it around her neck tightly until she gasped for air and slammed her hard and fiercely to the ground.

You tightened your grip around the whip never letting go, stubborn and persistent to choke your sister because you would rather die than lose a battle with Love as you glared fiercely and stubbornly at her when her ocean blue eyes glimmering with tears stared into yours and gasped with a cough “You win.”

You tightened your grip again because you wanted to hear those word once more and Love coughed in pain, letting go of her hold of the whip on you “You win!”

You grinned maniacally as you gasped for the sweet morning air that your lungs were deprived of and retrieved your whip and Love looked over at you “I forgot how much I really hate you, you little murderous cockroach.”

“The feeling is mutual, Love.”

“Come on. Let’s have a cup of tea.”

You brushed away the glass and the dirt as you marched into the nearly destroyed house with your sister. You had just fought your sister with all the anger and pain in your being, in a situation of life and death and now here you were, handing a cup of tea to your sister who you had nearly killed and who had almost destroyed your property.

Yeah, sounded like a pretty normal day.

You both sat in tense silence as you handed your sister a cup of tea made in the way she hated, and Love’s eyes flickered with irritation when she realized that you had placed the teacup handle precisely away from the hand she normally used but turned it around. You poured yourself a cup of coffee with hidden amusement at seeing the little trick that annoyed your sister and watched in delight at seeing the revolted look on her face the moment she took a sip of tea.

“All these centuries and you still don’t know how to serve a decent cup of tea.” stated Love mockingly as she shook her head at you in disappointment.

“Oh, I reserve my best tea for my honored guests and people I care about.” you replied lightly and carelessly with a smile that infuriated Love who hid her pain in her eyes “The tea I served you is for cunning tricksters and cruel villains.”

“I’m honored. Every fairytale needs a good cruel monstrous villain. You need me.” said Love with a dark twinkle in her stormy ocean blue eyes as she looked at you with apathy and emptiness “Because we’re very much alike... you and I. Otherwise, without me... you’d be bored. You always were bored.”

“You are getting married, I hear.” you replied calmly and steadily, unshaken by Love as you sipped your coffee slowly.

“I’m the all - powerful Goddess of Love, the Deity who every creature needs every single day... you think I can’t seduce a simple idiot who craves love and affection?” crooned Love in amusement, her voice dripping with delight and humor. “I assume you are going to attend and keep your promise.”

“I owe you.” you replied coldly, your voice full of sharp edges of steel and danger. “I will be collecting as promised.”

“If after all these centuries, you are still feeling sentimental about your friend -” Love started laughing in amusement. “You should let bygones be bygones. Be a Goddess, not a sentimental human being.”

“Don’t you dare walk in here - and speak to me about sentiment!” you snapped in fury and anger as memories flooded into your mind.

Love grinned maniacally in amusement but there was a glimmer of nervousness in her eyes “Are you still upset about what happened to your friend?”

“What do you think?” you snapped in quiet anger as you gripped the handle of your cup very tightly.

Love smirked knowingly with no remorse and regret as she took a sip of her tea “I think you blame me for what happened when you knew it was your fault all along. You knew it was inevitable but you let yourself believe that you could be an ordinary girl who could have a happily ever after.

“All of it... his blood is on your hands. He was a good man who had many days ahead of him that he could have lived happily. He should have lived his life, should have had the chance to make a difference.” you said quietly in heartbreak and sadness at the remembrance of your good friend who had been ridiculous and kind, always wearing a bright smile and a heart full of goodness and energy to help those who were powerless. Not only was he a talented and powerful man, he was an uncommonly kind man who had the sweet disposition of seeing wonder in a world full of cruelty and brutality.

Your dark anger and unforgiving fury blazed in your dark eyes as you remembered the piercing screams, the gasps for life and the blood on your hands as you tried to stop Death itself and glared at Love with centuries of unforgiven and unforgettable emotions “Your twisted and sick games and schemes led him to his death. You murdered him.”

“I murdered him? He was just another unimportant casualty in the long game.” replied Love smoothly with a huff of amused laughter with no trace of remorse and shame in her face that made you so angry that you wanted to kill her slowly and painfully “Although, it was touching the way he snuffed out. Casting himself in front of you to protect you... sacrificing himself to protect an almighty Goddess because his love for you was powerful than his love for his own pathetic life! Mortals are quite foolishly funny like that but his death was so beautiful-”

You had enough as you seized her with white hot rage that clouded your senses, your mind only filled with ideas of murder and torture to make your sister suffer slowly and painfully until she begged for mercy “How dare you mention him! His death - his death was not beautiful! It was horrifying, wrong and -”

“Oh dear, but it was beautiful!” Love laughed maniacally, unafraid and unregretful even though her own sister was almost one step away from murdering her with true outrage as you felt red hot burning outrage run through you and you shook her as she laughed “Your dear friend died for who he loved and for what he stood for. Like it or not, it was beautiful.”

“You’re insane.” you spat angrily as you shook her nearly on the verge of murdering her but his loving and smiling face flashed in your mind. You felt the outrage grow but there was something that whispered he would disapprove of your actions. “He died!”

“BUT THAT’S WHAT MORTALS DO! THEY WITHER AND DECAY AND DIE BECAUSE THAT IS THEIR PATHETIC PURPOSE IN LIFE!” snapped Love loudly and sharply in frustration and anger making you release her in shock as she glared at you fiercely and inhaled a sharp breath “You are Goddess above all of them who knows this universal truth and yet you hide from it. I’m so sick of you pretending to be one of them... ordinary and normal!”

“Face it, the universe calling you for help is what really gets you excited. Not a normal life of groceries and... complicated little emotions.” retorted Love in amusement and honesty as she grinned widely at you. “Imagine that. You would go mad and die of boredom.”

You rolled your eyes at Love as you replied sassily in a cruel and cutting tone of knowing arrogance “Oh yeah? Well, you’re not exactly cut out for domestic bliss yourself either.”

Love was taken aback in shock and after a moment’s pause, she scowled fiercely at you who seemed to settle into an air of carelessness and indifference as she replied in annoyance and irritation “Maybe it’s like a tone thing... but you could really work on the way you speak. It’s very... maddeningly, infuriatingly, irritating and annoying.”

“I don’t care. How are you feeling?” you asked controlling your anger and pain with great determination.

“Never better. Do you have to collect your debt now?” questioned Love calmly and steadily but her voice cracked slightly in fright, her ocean blue eyes betrayed fear “Collecting your debt will not return what you lost.”

“No. But I’m bored and I promised you.”

“Well, you can’t because my fiancé believes that we are absolutely two loving sisters who care for each other.” replied Love with a cunning and triumphant grin surprising you as she took a sip of her tea “I’ve told him that you have promised to be my maid of honor and give the toast at my wedding.”

You could not believe what you were hearing because you were angry at yourself for not seeing this coming “You little, conniving, fucked up -”

“Hey dearest sister, mind your language. He’s really looking forward to meeting my sweet sister who loves me very much.” replied Love sweetly, delighted and happy at your spluttering outrage and hatred direct toward her because it was amazing to have the upperhand over you. “He will be puzzled when you attend the wedding with the intention of destroying me.”

“I am not going to be your maid of honor or give a toast at your wedding.” you said steadily in a non - negotiable voice wearing a stubborn expression

“But I’ve told all my guests you’ll be there for me. They are so delighted when they heard the Goddess of Hope has promised to be there for her sister on the big day.” replied Love lightly and innocently with cruel delight sparkling in her shimmering blue eyes “I can’t believe you would let me down. Let all of them down and break your promise to me.”

You glared at Love feeling absolutely struck in shock and outraged that you didn’t see it coming and feeling the urge to slap her in the face, but your eyes gleamed with cold fury and quiet calculation as you voiced the one question that echoed throughout all the betrayals and games between you both “Why are you doing this? What do you want? You don’t want power or glory... not really. What is it that you really want?”

“That’s been the question I want the answer to all along. The foundation of our Great Game. Have you found the answer to it?” asked Love sweetly in a sing - song melodious voice that taunted and irritated you as she looked at you knowingly “I did tell you but did you listen?”

You remained quiet as you rested your chin on your intertwined fingers, irritated and annoyed by your sister’s troublesome presence, the knowing and cruel glint in her ocean blue eyes as she smirked at you “How hard do you find it? To say I don’t know?”

“I don’t know.” you quipped swiftly and smartly with a smirk as you rolled your eyes at Love.

Love chuckled irritating you as she twirled a strand of her shining golden hair between her fingers, looking at you in mocking admiration and amusement “Oh that’s clever. That’s very smart. Speaking of clever... will you tell our family and the everyone else?”

You raised your brow “Tell them what?”

“Tell them why I am hosting my wedding at our home realm? Tell them why I am suddenly bezzie mates with my dear sister?” replied Love smoothly and silkily as she took a sinfully delicious red apple and reached into her pockets to take a knife to carve and cut it up.

You scoffed in ridicule “No.”

Your sister nodded in delight and understanding as she looked at you with an expression almost close to respect and amusement “But you understand?”

Your eyes glimmered with understanding “Obviously.”

Love grinned in satisfaction as she laid back on the armchair, popping a piece of apple in her mouth as she looked at you with twisted encouragement and cruel delight “Off you go then. Indulge me, little sister.”

“You want me to tell you what you already know?” you retorted in exasperation and irritation because every time you met your sister, this was the kind of twisted mischievous game she would play with you, trying to be cleverer than you and test you.

“No. I want you to prove to me that you know what I already know.” replied Love calmly and smoothly, her voice dripping with cruel amusement and cold encouragement.

This is what she did to you. She knew you could never resist the chance to pass her little tests and prove that you were clever. That was who you were. You remembered how long ago when you were children with flowers in your hair, running through the corridors of the endless palace where they hid behind the curtains planning how to sneak out of the palace but when you had suggested to scrap the plan in the last minute out of fear, she had stared at you with a curious smile and whispered...

“What’s the point of being clever if you can’t prove it? You’d do anything, anything to stop being bored. You’re not bored now, are you?”

You hated that memory, those words that fired in your head when the war of memories with your sister clashed in your head. Was she right? Perhaps, yes, you did hate being bored and you liked a good game. But you also wanted peace and rest and hated this betrayal and games that you played with Love. You disliked that you never moved first against her but she always initiated games to hurt you and cause you sadness and heartbreak and headaches.

So you were truly fed up with her.

“You lied to everyone because it was necessary. Your need everyone in the family to love and support your fiancé. You lied to everyone about us because you need them to believe the lie is the truth.” you began with a deep breath as your mind analyzed the thoughts that had formed in your mind the moment you had heard of your sister’s engagement and her news of you becoming her maid of honor. “You need stability and support.”

Love smirked approvingly as she ate another piece of the apple “Good. And?”

“You lied because you need stability and support of a marriage and a powerful Goddess and family member in order to seize what you’ve always wanted.” you replied seriously and solemnly, feeling absolute disdain and dislike for your sister wishing you could erase her out of existence.

Love nodded in approval as she carved on the apple with a cruel smirk “Very good. Because?”

“Because you know the value of my support and a good marriage in the eyes of our father and his kingdom. Because nothing in this universe matters more to you than ensuring that you are the one our home realm supports and father chooses as the Crown Heir to the Kingdom of Chaos between you and Wisdom.” you finished easily and intelligently because Love’s intentions had been transparent and clear from the start. It was quite predictable and boring but also startling and alarming because you knew Love was insane and with that kind of power, there was no telling what she could do.

“I can open new doors anywhere in the universe and create madness with just the power of the Crown of Chaos. No such thing as restraint and control... I will control and dominate the entire universe once I’m the official heir and Monarch of Chaos.” stated Love smoothly and coldly with terrifying cruelty and dark ambition written all over her face, shining wildly in her eyes “I could blow up this pathetic little planet, attack any kingdom that challenges me or bring doomsday destroying everything in my dislike for them. In this universe, chaos ultimately reigns supreme and the one who has access to it rules the universe.... and you should see me in a crown.”

“You don’t want the Crown. You just want to show the universe what you can do.”

“And your reputation... the fact I’ve told them you’re my sweet big sister is helping. Big client list. Rogue criminals, monstrous monarchs, intelligent scholars, terror communities... suddenly they all want me.” replied Love smugly in satisfaction and delight, her ocean blue eyes gleaming with dark cruelty and twisted amusement, chuckling happily as she watched your face grow pale in understanding and realization at the terrifying situation that was unfolding.

“You could do anything. See the universe. Create something beautiful. What do you care about a client list?” you snapped in unrestrained anger and hurt that Love had used your hard earned name and good reputation for her own twisted dark deeds and cruel plans.

“I don’t. I just like to watch all of them competing for my attention. Mommy loves me the best!” mocked Love in cruel amusement, her eyes gleaming with superiority and darkness, the very antithesis of what humans thought what Love was supposed to be “Isn’t the universe filled with such gullible, stupid, adorable creatures? Well, you know all about adorable pets. You have that troublemaker. How is he by the way?”

You stiffened at the mention of another heartbreak from the past that you were slowly trying to heal from as you inquired with a bite in your voice “You know I will stop you.”

Your sister didn’t look intimidated and threatened but amused and nonchalant as she bit into a piece of her apple casually “How’s your newly returned dear husband... the Dream Lord... Lord Morpheus? You’ve been around him a great deal since he returned, I hear. Did you have a pleasant evening with your dearly beloved last night?”

Love’s eyes darted upwards towards the floor where Morpheus was sleeping as she smirked cruelly and you stiffened in tension because you suddenly felt a fearful urgency and protective tendency unleash in you hoping that you expressed no feelings in your face but Love continued “Love. It’s so sickeningly sweet and utterly pathetic what idiots do for love. Adam and Eve. Achilles and Patroclus. Hades and Persephone. Orpheus and Eurydice. Paris and Helen of Troy. Diana and Charles. All of them absolutely tragically wonderfully amusing. Do you know my favorite story out of all my years of experience in my duty?”

You rolled your eyes at her “I don’t care.”

“Once upon a time, there was a fair and beautiful young princess loved by all and she fell madly in love with a handsome dashing powerful King. Unfortunately the King was already lost in his grief of a broken heart over someone else.” began Love with as a cruel smile twisted on her beautiful face, her voice dripping with sweet honey and deadly poison as she watched in pleasure when you stiffened in pain and tension, your knuckles gripping the chair so tightly that they turned white “The King and Princess married each other but the minute the vows were spoken and duty was done, their marriage was effectively over and the King started to find comfort in the arms of others. They did remarkably well considering how unhappily they were living ever after.”

You were furious, your rage blazing beyond understanding as it grew white hot at the insult paid to you as you listened to your sister speak about with such casual amusement. It was a crushing weight of insult and cruelty to be subjected to the miserable story you had lived throughout the centuries unhappily and feel your sister, the Goddess of Love herself rejoice in your suffering as she enjoyed playing her sick twisted games with you.

Your sister paused, her face falling into an expression of sympathy and understanding, her voice softening and yet you glimpsed the hints of cruelty dancing in her eyes “But... there comes a point in any failing marriage - and I here I truly understand the princess who realized that there was no point trying any more and it was easier to let the hatred take her away.”

“After years of neglect and absence, the King had a change of heart, understood that the princess was the only one for him and runs to prove that she is the love of his endless life. Unfortunately for the King, the princess has nursed grudges and unforgiving hatred against him. And now the poor unfortunate soul’s afraid that the saintly princess will never love him the way she did once upon a time and is willing to sacrifice and do anything just to see her laugh, ensure her happiness and earn her heart.” finished Love with a maniacal grin, unfeeling darkness gleaming in her eyes as cold cruelty and unpredictable amusement written all over her, the very picture of her foreign to the image the mortals painted of her.

You had scoffed when you read, heard, listened and seen mortals describe Love as kind, patient, sweet, and understanding.

Clearly, none of them had experienced having Love as a sister and enemy.

Little Miss Perfect, the Goddess of Love was not wonderful. Love was a storm of manipulation and cruelty, finding sick amusement in pain of others, unfeeling and heartless and very dangerous.

But there was something about Love who narrated the story, that felt almost comforting today. Generally, you would be wary and throw yourself at her with the intention of killing her if she started to mock you but today though she had started with the intention of mocking your marriage, it had ended with a quiet sisterly comfort and understanding that was very rare in your relationship. You knew when Love was being genuine and when she was insane. Although she was always insane, there were moments you glimpsed a glimmer of goodness that made you hope that the sister you had cared about was still in there. Today as both of you sat with your cups of coffee and tea on opposite sides as you stared at Love, you felt welcome comfort and quiet understanding.

“If there was a prize for rotten judgement, I guess the princess has already won that.” you replied sassily and smartly as you ran your hand through your hair in exasperation and amusement as you both chuckled feeling comfortable “No man is worth the aggravation... that’s ancient history, been there, done that!”

Love’s eyes gleamed in surprise “Are you quoting Disney?”

“It’s a classic. You know it’s my favorite Disney song?” you replied enthusiastically as you looked at Love who was listening in amusement and surprise.

Love was carving an apple as she laughed in good humor “Isn’t it like a sappy song?”

“Okay, the lyrics are incredibly beautiful. The voices are just heavenly. I listen to it all the time and I will fight you if you hate on it.” you retorted defensively as you glared at Love fiercely and ferociously at Love who was chuckling at you muttering something about what a child you were for a Goddess.

Love smiled warmly and genuinely after a few moments of silence as her ocean blue eyes met yours and you saw the glimmer of the genuine good - hearted sister you used to know as she replied “I like Hercules too. I love the Muses. And Meg... she’s an absolute badass! And Hades’ characterization... it’s absolutely just so funny.”

“I know right! I mean, literally when I see Hades on screen, I start laughing when I think of our Hades! And Meg and the Muses, they’re so cool, right!” you exclaimed happily, amazed that Love and you had something awesome in common and you forgot momentarily your anger and fury toward your sister.

“Totally awesome.” said Love with a warm grin and teased playfully as she kicked one leg over the other “You know your favorite song is about Meg’s conflict of new feelings of genuine love and holding herself back because she fears heartbreak and grief if she lets herself be loved and love again.”

You shot your sister a sharp look knowing where this was going to go as you pointed your knife at her “Shut up. Don’t even start -”

“Who do you think you’re kidding? He’s the earth and heaven to you. Try to keep it hidden. Honey, I can see right through. Girl, you can’t conceal it. I know how you feel and who you’re thinking of.” Love began singing beautifully and playfully with a teasing smirk, her ocean blue eyes shimmering in delight, creating humorous and knowing expressions at you making you feel exasperated and shy.

That knowing expression on your sister’s face irked you because she knew you were thinking of a certain ethereal Dream Lord who was slowly beginning to crawl his way into your head. And yet as you watched your sister singing carefree and loudly, you were reminded of the long past good times where you both shared laughter and fondness for each other instead of desire to betray and destroy one another. These kind of moments were incredibly rare in your relationship with your sister, and very precious to your heart so when it happened, you cherished it and lived in it.

“I thought my heart had learned its lesson. It feels so good when you start out! My head is screaming ‘Get a grip, girl!’” you joined in singing dramatically and divinely, exaggerating playfully as you grinned brightly in amusement at Love who was swooning, sighing, gasping and fanning herself and you pretended to stab yourself in the chest “Unless you’re dying to cry your heart out!”

Love laughed warmly at your dramatic exaggerations as she shook her head at you and gestured at you in an equally dramatic manner as she waggled her eyebrows “You keep on denying, who you are and how you’re feeling. Darling I’m not buying.”

You stuck out your tongue at Love glaring at her teasing and playful expression that liked irritating you as you sang “No chance, no way, I won’t say it, no, no.”

Love winked in playful knowing as she wore an expression of disbelief “You’re doing flips, read my lips, you’re in love again!”

You rolled your eyes at Love with an expression of exasperation and annoyance as you sang “You’re way off base, that’s not the case. Get off the my case, I won’t say it.”

“Alright, don’t be proud, it’s okay if you are falling in love.” replied Love suavely and smoothly with a smirk as she looked at your annoyed and exasperated expression. “It’s quite sweet... Lord Morpheus and you... if you’re thinking of moving on from him, then think again because that idiot may actually love you. But what about you?”

Your face hardened, your eyes darkened with quiet protectiveness, feelings of - what exactly? You remembered last night, the quiet blissful intimacy between them that has blossomed. The soft smiles and the sorrowful tears shed, the guarded memories shared and their hearts opening to each other without reservation. It felt new, intimate, beautiful and fragile... an unexplored territory as you remembered the Dream Lord’s intense eyes full of adoration and affection for you throughout the evening.

“None of your business. You have interfered in my life with the intentions of making me unhappy and you have succeeded a thousand times over.” you said in a steely and cold voice, the warmth and affection of sisterhood vanishing in an instant, forgotten and replaced with the deadliness and danger of an enemy “I will keep my promise to collect. And I will stop you.”

“No, you won’t.” said Love sweetly and lightly, cruelty and poison heavily dripping in her voice, her eyes devoid of kindness “Shall I tell you what will happen if you try to stop me?”

“Oh let me guess. Ruin my life.”

“Ruin your life? No, no, don’t be boring. No, if you stop me, I will break Lord Morpheus, the unfortunate soul weakened by the captivity at the hands of pathetic humans.” replied Love coolly and kindly but there was undying cruelty and hardened hatred in her as she looked at you who had stiffened in tension “I’m going to burn down his pathetic and vulnerable Dream Realm. I’ll kill each of his subjects and make him watch as everything and everyone he loves dies and fades away in front of him. And you will be helpless as he sees you for who you truly are and rips your heart out again.”

“I can reliably inform you that I do not care for Lord Morpheus in any way at all.” you replied coldly and quietly, silent rage and protectiveness simmering and burning within you at the thought of Morpheus’ fall from grace once again.

You had never been certain of much regarding Morpheus but you were certain that Morpheus adored and loved the Realm of Dream and Nightmares more than his endless life. It was his pride and joy. To see it burnt down would be his greatest suffering. You hated his pride and arrogance but you did not want someone else, especially your cunning and cruel sister to take a blow at his pride and strip him of it.

Love smiled knowingly with a soft and sweet smile full of cruelty and cunning as her eyes darted upstairs for a few moments and then met yours with a twinkle “But we both know that isn’t quite true.”

You felt something in you squirm and burn as you shot a deep glare at your sister who chuckled easily “Two conditions and I will tell you the name of the captor of your husband and promise to stop all the games with you.”

You froze slightly at the words of your sister “State your conditions and I will take them into consideration and you will do my conditions accordingly.”

“Alright. My first condition, do not collect your debt as until death does him apart from me. My second condition, do not reveal my plan to our family.” stated Love coolly and calmly with a smug smirk because she thought she had you at her mercy.

But Love was unaware that you were feeling rather smug because Love had just revealed her cards to you. Love had revealed her weaknesses to you, the things that she cared the most about. Love generally didn’t care about anyone or anything, lacked empathy and kindness so it satisfied you that she finally found a fiancé who she loved with all her heart that she couldn’t bear to lose and had a great desire to achieve the throne at any cost.

“Well... it’s quite hard to say yes to. I mean, I did make you this promise. And even I was to state my conditions, you’re a deceitful creature who won’t fulfill my conditions. How do I even know how far you’ll go to make my conditions happen?” you replied calmly and carelessly, rolling your eyes at your sister with disbelief chuckling in amusement.

Your sister was stripped of her arrogance and cruelty she wore but now looked pale and vulnerable, every inch pathetically mortal and weak as you laughed in cruel and twisted amusement as you playfully taunted “Come, come, dear Love... you didn’t expect me to keep all your secrets and forget your betrayals for nothing? What would our father say if he heard of your side venture to double cross him?”

Love’s expression turned dark and cruel but she smirked “You always were a thorn in my side. But there is nothing stopping me from cutting you from my life.”

“Because you know that before you can take another breath, I’d have slit your throat and ruined those very expensive cushions you are sitting on.” you replied coolly with a dark and amused gleam in your dark eyes as you twirled your knife lazily in your hand.

Love inhaled a sharp breath as she felt intimidated by her sister but shot back fiercely “You forget I was trained by father too. Come on big talker, let’s see whose blood spills on the floor.”

“Father may have trained you but you forget I was raised by Lucifer Morningstar and Mazikeen.” you replied elegantly and majestically as you lifted your chin proudly looking at Love daring her to challenge you but you were satisfied when you saw a flicker of fear in her ocean blue eyes.

You were glad to see fear dominate Love because although she considered herself powerful, she certainly did not have the support of Lucifer Morningstar, the second most powerful creature in this universe and if anything happened to you, you knew Lucifer Morningstar would seek vengeance in your name.

Ah, there were perks of being the Devil Regent, second in command to Lucifer Morningstar.

Your sister was resigned finding no way out because she did not want to risk the wrath of Lucifer Morningstar “Very well. Name your conditions and I promise to honor them as long as you honor my two conditions.”

“My first condition is that from now on, you will not interfere in the personal and professional matters of the Realm of Hope and Realm of Dreaming. Leave them out of your nefarious plans for the universe.” you stated calmly with a hint of danger and warning in your voice as you observed your sister’s face fall slightly and you took note of your sister’s beautiful fair face falling in disappointment. You realized that these Realms were part of her nefarious and monstrous schemes to bring hell into the universe.

“Very well. Your second condition?”

“My second condition is that I will collect my the debts that owe me and you must pay me your debt. You cannot negotiate it.” you replied smoothly and calmly with a twinkle in your eyes seeing your sister infuriated.

“You can’t do that. I do not owe you.” laughed Love as she tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear but she was nervous and scared.

“Yes, you do. You owe me for agreeing to your two conditions. You owe me for keeping you breathing for so long. You owe me for keeping your secrets. You have long list of debts, Love... and I will begin collecting them very soon.” you said with a superior smirk, confident and calm in yourself as you stared at Love daring her to challenge you.

“You can’t kill my fiancé! You promised not to collect that debt!” snapped Love furiously and darkly but nervousness and fright were flickering in her dark ocean blue eyes.

“You don’t listen, do you? I won’t kill your fiancé even though you deserve it, even though I promised you a long time ago. So you owe me a debt for not collecting that debt from you. So... I will be collecting all your debts from you and you will pay without excuse. Write that down.” you retorted casually and nonchalantly with a smirk as you tilted your head smugly at Love. “Finally... I will agree to your conditions but you must... beg for it.”

“I will not beg from you!”

“Fine, consider your conditions disagreed to. I will collect my debt and ruin your plans of taking over the Kingdom of Chaos.” you said with a happy smirk as you slung your leg carelessly and indifferently with grace and superiority.

Love was desperate, too desperate because she had seen the careless and vengeful gleam in your dark brown eyes that signified you would go above and beyond everything to destroy everything Love held dear to her heart and ruin her in disgrace and Love found herself pleading in a childlike, vulnerable voice “Y/N! My sister! Please... please don’t do this! Please don’t take him away from me! Please don’t ruin this chance for me to rule! Just please - I’ll do anything - I beg you, don’t do this!”

You were more of an evil queen reigning gracefully on her throne of bloodied bones as you lounged lazily on your armchair, eyeing your sister with pleasurable indifference and careless nonchalance as you smirked ruthlessly with delighted amusement and replied dangerously “I like you begging... Do it again.”

Your eyes glowed a dangerous golden green as you eyed your sister with dangerous ruthlessness that would not spare her unless you were given what you wanted. Love remembered all the times you had begged for her mercy and support but Love had turned you away with mocking laughter and cruel taunts that made you burst into tears and scream in fear and pain as she took away what you held dear to you in the twisted schemes and games she played with you. Now, Love could see clearly that her sweet sister who had patiently tolerated her games was not so kind anymore, she was full of darkness and vengeance that would be unleashed on Love if she crossed the line.

Love felt frightened and scared of you, fear rattling deep in her bones as she bowed down to you deeply, begging for mercy for she could not live without the love of her life “I beg you... please spare us. I beg you... please don’t ruin me. I’m begging you, Your Highness... please.”

You tilted your head slightly considering her words as you took pleasure in savoring the helplessness and powerlessness of it all and stared at Love cruelly for what felt like an eternal moment and you twisted your fingers with a dark smirk “Alright. I suppose I could be merciful.

Love exhaled a breath of relief but felt unsettled when she met your eyes gleaming with darkness and cruelty, your voice burning with danger and rage “I agree to your conditions as long as you agree and honor my conditions. So... do we have a trade?”

Love looked as if she had swallowed a poisonous toad as she looked at you darkly and nervously and finally took a deep breath and slit the palm of her hand, blood dripping “Yes, Your Highness. Will you, Y/N, Goddess of Hope, to the best of your ability, fulfill my wishes and conditions, with honor, nobility, truth and justice?”

You slit the palm of your hand, blood dripping in rivulets as you grasped your sister’s bleeding hand “I will.”

You squeezed your sister’s bleeding hand as a silver chain began to form from the beads of your blood that mingled with hers “Will you Love, the Goddess of Love, honor, fulfill and satisfy each element of all my wishes and conditions agreed upon by both of us through honor, nobility, truth, loyalty and justice devoid of trickery, deceit, disloyalty and hatred?”

Love’s eyes were true and dark “I will. And will we both accept the consequences of breaking the deed through our willing actions and carry out what is necessary to mend the fracture?”

Love’s dark ocean blue eyes met your steady dark brown eyes as you both nodded “We will.”

Their hands were bound by several silver chains formed by both of their blood, that roped around their hands and sealed the deal every time they promised to each other and finally, the silver chains glowed and blazed brightly around their hands as they both felt the strength and gravity of the promises they had made to each other.

“Well, I better be off.” said Love rising from her seat and dusting off invisible dust from her dress, directing a cheery and lovely smile at you though she looked slightly shaken “Well, it’s so nice to have had a proper chat with you after ages. I see you are still sentimental about your pets. Speaking of your little pet... where is the creature you seem awfully fond of and hate at the same time? Has he been causing any trouble lately? Well, he wouldn’t have a way to do it...”

“What do you mean? What have you done?” you questioned feeling worried and anxious, a sinking feeling began to form in your heart as you thought of your troublesome friend who was a bit of a troublemaker who you were trying to help out but he was out having his own adventures. You hadn’t heard from him for a long time and even though your friendship wasn’t what it used to be, you were still worried about him. You had a bad feeling that Love had something to do with why your troublemaker was missing for so long.

“Oh, you are still so protective over him after everything you’ve been through. Isn’t that sweet? People do get sentimental over their pets.” replied Love with an amused and delighted smile as she made her way toward the door with a twinkle in her ocean blue eyes and when she caught the dark gleam in your eyes, she put her arms in surrender “Honestly, I didn’t do anything. This time the blame is not mine.”

You made up your mind to check up on your troublesome frenemy when Love called out with a honeyed voice “I look forward to seeing you at my wedding, dear sister. I hope you prepare that speech nicely.”

“Who knows I might start a war just to miss your wedding.” you retorted sarcastically and sassily infuriated by Love.

“You know, I want you to be my maid of honor and prepare a speech in my honor because I want to torment you.” replied Love with a grin of amusement as she looked at you with delight and slight hesitation.

You weren’t surprised at all as you rolled your eyes at your sister “Why am I not surprised?”

“And because you’re the sibling, perhaps the person in this universe who is the closest to me and means the most to me in a twisted and odd manner.” stated Love honestly in a thoughtful and matter - of - fact voice, her ocean blue eyes gleaming with truth and sincerity as her lips curved into a small sad smile “No lover, no friend has ever been so fun, so constant in my life except you... my best enemy, my oldest friend, always so brilliant from the first day we met.”

“I would love to have my oldest friend... my greatest enemy at my wedding.” said Love quietly and softly with a wistful and reminiscent gleam in her ocean blue eyes full of sadness and pain as her lips curved into a smile of a sister who was on opposite end of the spectrum and yet had a special place in her heart for Hope.

There was a pause that seemed to last an eternity because this was a confession of undying love from a sister who you grew up with, an enemy who loved chaos and wanted you to love it too and it felt rare, beautiful, tragic and deceiving all at once shocking you to your core, leaving you speechless.

You looked at your sister who was vulnerable and quiet waiting for you response and you exclaimed finally recovering from your speechlessness “What the hell am I supposed to say to that?”

“Congratulations?” suggested Love with a small smile, her ocean blue eyes softening with hopefulness and quiet pain. “I love you, dearest sister?”

“I hate you, you pain in the ass.” you replied hiding a grin as you shoved your sister out of the door but there was an amused twinkle in your eyes as you nodded at Love whose lips curved into a small smile as you shut the door in her face.

At that very moment, Morpheus strode down the stairs, every inch a king, his face looking considerably rested and hair slightly mussed. Morpheus’ who had woken up in an empty bed came down to see you standing in the middle of broken glass and destroyed antiques, bruises forming on your face and blood dripping as you wore a thoughtful and troubled expression on your face.

His gorgeous blue eyes widened in alarm as he took in your tousled wild hair, the blood dripping in rivulets and the sweat on your brow, the shards of glass and broken edges on your clothes that were messed up and he caught you in his arms before you fell onto the floor, your strength giving away “Y/N! Y/N, are you alright? Who did this to you?”

“I’m fine.” you replied slightly unsteady and pale as you took a deep breath and cracked a smile at Morpheus whose eyes were filled with an unfamiliar emotion that you had never seen directed toward you. Fear of losing you. “I’m fine.”

Seeing him feel fear of losing you terrified and unanchored you with uncertainty because you were beginning to feel the treacherous spark of hope in your heart as his beautiful eyes skimmed along every little detail in your face.

“You’re hurt.” stated Morpheus, with seething sharp rage and quiet gentle concern burning within him as he brushed the shards of glass away from you and his shaking fingers touched the bruise blooming on your cheek “Who did this to you?”

You were touched by the beautiful gentleness that he gave you because he had never quite being so kind to you in your marriage but goosebumps rose on your skin as you heard the undertones of a sharp storm of oncoming rage and anger toward the person who had done this to you.

You opened your mouth to lie because you had handled it on your own but Morpheus sensed it “Please share your burden with me, Y/N. Who did this to you?”

You wouldn’t ask him to promise not to get mad. It was not in your nature to ask him to make promises he would not keep.

You could have lied to him and guarded yourself but the words slipped easily from your lips as his fingers danced softly on your cheek “Love. My sister, Love unexpectedly turned up today to invite me to her wedding and have a chat. And we greeted each other in our usual way.”

Morpheus looked at the broken French doors, torn curtains, shattered glass and vases, messed up trinkets and his dark blue eyes darted towards the bleeding cuts and bruises you had “And do you generally greet each other with such... murderous hatred?”

“There you go. You finally understand my relationship with Love. I’m fine, honestly. This is nothing. You should have seen Love when I finally won and beat her.” you replied with a weak chuckle, a proud glint in your eyes but Morpheus did not look amused as you began to heal yourself while he still held you as if you would vanish if he let you go “What is sisterly love if not the desire to slit each other’s throats?”

Despite all the bad blood that used to be happy affection and strong sisterhood that had turned into problems that couldn’t be solved, the trust that had burned into ashes and bruises and deep cuts, you had a flicker of hope that Love was still the good person who had once known and shared good times with and you could still save the bond of sisterhood sabotaged in their war.

“Touching. But your sister has crossed a line in harming you.” replied Morpheus coldly and darkly as his grip around you tightened in protectiveness surprising you, your heart skipping a beat as you felt breathless at how much Morpheus cared about you “She shall not do so any longer. She will be punished.”

Morpheus had thought the rivalry between these two sisters were not as deep as you had felt. Morpheus had thought last night it was merely two sisters who had deep misunderstandings and scars of pain lashed across their hearts from each other but there was a possibility of reconciliation. Morpheus had even given thought to gently persuading you to consider reconciliation and understanding with your sister because he knew what it was like to lose a sibling to hatred and he did not want the same fate to befall you.

But you seemed to take this deep, hateful rivalry and encourage it further with deeper anger and darkness. Morpheus gripped onto you tightly as he looked at you with protective concern knowing that this kind of rivalry would not end until one of you were dead. Morpheus saw the damage inflicted on you and felt an a storm of seething rage and anger toward your sister for even daring to think about hurting you. You were never to be hurt again. No one would ever dare think of touching a hair on your beautiful head.

Morpheus would ensure your sister Love would regret her actions and not escape the consequences of hurting you.

Panic swelled in your chest as you remembered Love’s quiet insane threat toward the Dreaming as you snapped “No! Do not harm her in anyway!”

Morpheus’ eyes were alit in fury and pain “Why do you care? She was going to kill you!”

You were deeply moved and shocked at how much Morpheus cared for your life that you thought did not matter to him as you replied with a mischievous gleam in your dark eyes with a bright and cheerful laugh “I’m not dead.”

“How can you laugh at this?” murmured Morpheus softly, his voice full of pained concern as his eyes flickered with gentleness and concern and noticed the red strangling mark left on your neck by your sister as his fingers hesitantly touched your reddened skin gently making you gasp at his soft touch “Your sister has hurt you. I cannot let this pass.”

“Why do you care? Because I’m your wife? Because you’re intent on showing me your chivalrous side so that I can easily be won over?” you snapped as your cheeks burned red at Morpheus simple touch, feeling something hurt and pained in you that Morpheus was finally caring about you far too late when he should have been so sweet, tender and gentle with you from the beginning.

This Morpheus who was with you was different to the one who you had been married to... here he was holding you making you feel that this was too good, too lovely and too good to be real as you held back a gasp at how much you craved his gentle and silk soft touch “I am not fragile and in need of protection. I can protect myself and if I require assistance I will ask for it!”

“You belong to yourself. Not to me nor anyone else. But I cannot let this pass because seeing you hurt is...” whispered Morpheus taking a sharp intake of breath as he looked at you earnestly and tenderly, lost for words and grasping to find them “...is terrifying me.”

You felt heat rise in your cheeks and your heart pound loudly in your ribcage so loudly you were certain the whole universe could hear it as you stared at Morpheus in disbelief and speechlessness because it felt strange to have him care about you. It just felt strange to have anyone care about you, about your life at all.

All your life you felt your very existence ruined Morpheus’ life and yet here he was staring at you with earnest tenderness and genuine fear of seeing you hurt because you were infinitely precious to him and you finally found your tongue “I - thank you for your concern. You - um - but - I want you to know you shouldn’t worry over me too much.”

What were you doing? Why on earth were you stuttering like a foolish girl with hopes of love as you felt Morpheus’ tender stare burn you? Why were you suddenly blushing in shyness averting Morpheus’ tender eyes? Why were you shy in the first place? You didn’t like him!

Dearest sister, you can't conceal it, I know how you’re feeling and who you’re thinking of.

No chance. No way.

You swoon, you sigh, why deny it?

Please shut up and leave me alone.

“I believe someone needs to worry about and take care of you. You seem to have the tendency to land yourself into trouble and fight in it all alone.” replied Morpheus softly and tenderly as he stared at you as if you were the universe, vast and infinite, beautiful and precious.

You were frozen and breathless as you blushed but you retorted charmingly and cheekily “It’s not my fault trouble is attracted to me. And I’m too charming to get into trouble.”

Morpheus snorted in disbelief and amusement and you smacked him in his chest in exasperation as he chuckled “Perhaps your charm attracts dangerous trouble and bloodthirsty murderers.”

“Well, if not for my charm, you wouldn’t be alive. Or in love with me.” you replied casually and calmly with a cheeky wink that made Morpheus blush to your amusement as you finished healing yourself “Dangerous trouble and bloodthirsty murderers? Sounds like my kind of a good time.”

Morpheus cocked his head slightly as he looked at you in confusion and puzzlement “Sometimes when I think I have you figured out, you puzzle me even further. You are an unfathomable riddle I cannot understand.”

“Very good. Just the way I like it.” you replied as you snapped your fingers and everything in the house mended and had fixed as if there had never been a bloodthirsty fight in the first place. You were glad he was confused because you didn’t want him to figure you out yet. “Alright, I have a very busy day ahead of me but I’ve made breakfast for you... you can eat and then continue your quest with Matthew.”

Morpheus felt a pit of disappointment and despair form in his stomach as he realized you had left his arms and stood up away from him as if the intimate and sweet moments between you and him yesterday and today had never happened. Morpheus felt you were trying to guard yourself and distance yourself from him. Morpheus wanted the easy companionship, playful friendship and intimate moments they shared yesterday and today to grow and continue but today you had changed from a girl who blushed at his touch to a goddess who was guarded and calm, distant from him.

And Morpheus realized he had to find the ruby. It was of utmost importance to find it as soon as possible because in the wrong hands it would cause chaos and disaster. The sooner he found the ruby, the sooner he could rebuild the Dreaming and make it stronger, gather and unite all Dreams and Nightmares and restore their faith in him as the King of Dreams and Nightmares.

But as he looked at you finish stuffing a muffin and gulping down coffee, Morpheus realized that he could not let go of you easily. The Realm of Dreaming could wait for a few hours but the bond between the both of you were still fragile and vulnerable. You didn’t know how lovely you were but Morpheus wanted to show you how much he needed you and loved you. Morpheus wanted to fight for what they had shared yesterday, the intimate moments and domestic bliss of sharing secrets, companionable silence, playful friendship and blossoming affection and tenderness. The affection and tenderness between them was there buried deep within the damage of their relationship but Morpheus wanted to root it out, and plant it, nourish it and water it and make his relationship with you stronger and intimate and get to know you better.

Morpheus found himself wanting to be with you today and share his day with you, wanting to see how you spent the day as he burst out “Actually, I was thinking of spending the day with you. Me. You. Us. Together.”

You dropped your dagger that you were tucking into your belt as your eyes widened in amazement and shock at Morpheus’ words. Your shock was justified because Morpheus never cared about your duties and your Realm of Hope. In the beginning of your marriage, you had encouraged and tried to persuade him to accompany you in your duties and let you accompany him on his. But Morpheus had been cold and heartless letting you know that you were lesser than him in every way and he had no interest in your duties that he believed to be trivial and unimportant that came in the form of cruel remarks and hateful arguments. In time you had given up trying, and resigned to ruling your Realm alone and doing your duty with dedication.

You never expected to face the day where Morpheus himself suggested that he should accompany you on your duties.

You realized he was serious and as you picked up the dagger, you shook your head “It’s not a good idea. You have a quest to restore the Dreaming to its strength, My Lord. And I believe you should attend to such important duties instead of wasting time accompanying me performing my trivial and meaningless duties.”

Your voice was full of loathing and bitterness as you gripped another one of your knives tightly, tucking them into your belt remembering all those cruel and cold days of humiliation and loneliness “I shall be fine on my own.”

Morpheus’ jaw was clenched and his eyes were full of shame and remembrance at how he degraded and humiliated your very role and existence in this universe.

He looked hopelessly and helplessly at you holding yourself full of defiance and guarded composure knowing that he wanted to make amends with you “I am sorry.”

You stopped mid step as you heard him apologize sincerely and took a deep breath to see Morpheus state sincerely and honestly “All the time in our marriage, I disrespected and humiliated the importance of your role, your duties, your purpose and very existence in this universe. I thought of your duty as trivial and meaningless because I was ignorant to the very meaning of what you stood for. But in that cage... years and years... I understood then exactly what you stand for and how important you are. In those dark years... I learned exactly what humiliation and hope felt like. How important you are to everyone in the universe who feels that tomorrow may never be better, to everyone who believes there is no light at the end of the tunnel and believe that they are alone.”

“You are important. You are powerful. You save everyone in the universe. You have saved me.” said Morpheus quietly and sincerely, with genuine and passionate glint in his eyes stunning you with his passionate outpouring of words “I was an arrogant fool to think that you were nothing when you are the most powerful in this universe. Spending time with you is not a waste of time. I want to know what I should have known from the beginning... I want to know how your day is, I want to learn how you fulfill your duties as the Goddess of Hope.”

You remained silent. You were stunned. Your brain was still processing the surprise of receiving an apology from Morpheus for humiliating your very existence and purpose as the Goddess of Hope as tears sprung into your eyes.

“Please.” pleaded Morpheus softly in determination and kindness, his beautiful starlit eyes gleaming with tenderness and affection as he stared at you with a small soft smile. “I’ll do everything you say. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

You opened your mouth to protest, a warm and tender feeling blooming in your chest “I appreciate your apology but no, you can’t just bat your pretty blue eyes and get what you want from me! No, no - you are not doing this! You are not coming with me!”

“Well, it is my sacred duty as your husband and the Dream Lord to ensure that you do your duty uninterrupted by bloodthirsty demons and crazy family members who want you dead.” replied Morpheus smoothly and calmly, stubborn and unfazed by your exasperated gaze as he shot you a smug smirk as he relished the small compliment you had given him.

You processed his words and the warmth in your heart made you feel special and shy as you smiled shyly in amazement and disbelief at Morpheus “Are you guarding me?”

Morpheus nodded in steady unwavering tenderness and gentleness “Yes, yes, I am.”

You couldn’t help it, you burst into a bright and amazed smile as your dark eyes twinkled in wonder and shyness at the beauty and simplicity of this moment you thought was a fairytale and Morpheus’ lips curved into a tender and happy smile as he stared at the joy and shyness glowing in your face that he cherished with all his heart.

You laughed in disbelieving amusement and heart skipping wonder as you stared at Morpheus who was smiling at you “You’re seriously going to accompany me all day while I’m doing my duties?”

“Yes, I promise. I won’t leave your side.” replied Morpheus honestly and sincerely with a soft and tender smile, his universe blue eyes full of joy and hope that was blooming within him as he stared at you with unhidden affection and adoration. “I’ll be by your side until the very end.”

You wanted to argue but you liked this feeling of daylight and hope that was treacherous and traitorous but for once you dared to let it bloom as you smiled at him “Well then, let’s get a move on, Lord Morpheus.”

Morpheus smiled brightly as if you had granted him all of the universe and you grinned at him widely feeling butterflies flutter in your stomach as you made your way with him to the world that awaited your touch of hope.

Morpheus and you shared hopeful glances feeling that what laid ahead today for the both of you was going to be a special adventure for both of you.

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100 notes · View notes

ravenssh1t · 1 year

Text

Midnight Kisses - X.T.

telekenesis!reader, Wednesday’s twin!reader, gn!reader, mindreader!reader (lmao), fluffy, SFW

AN: hey beautiful people! this is my first fic that im acc publishing so please be kind. that being said i am always open to constructive criticism. if you enjoy this, please let me know, and if you’d like me to write more, or for other characters, just drop me a message or an ask! I will write for a whole plethora of characters so just let me know which characters and maybe a small prompt if you so desire!! i hope you enjoy!! <333

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I looked over at my alarm clock. The bright red number glared 00:34 back at me. I'd only been at Nevermore for a week or so, and already it was a torturous experience. The glares from Barclay and her minions, the rumours, everyone walking on eggshells around Wednesday and I. It's a miracle neither of us had pulled another 'piranha incident'. There was one thing that never seemed to care about the rumours though. Well, one person. Xavier Thorpe.

Wednesday had met him before. His godmother's funeral. Allegedly, she saved his life, which is rather unlike my dear sister. However, in the long run it's been rather helpful.

Since starting at Nevermore, I had only really become close to two people. If you could even call it close. Our new roommate, Enid. And Wednesday's old acquaintance, Xavier.

Right now, I need a distraction. From the thoughts that clouded my mind and prevented the graceful release of sleep from my grasp. Enid, Wednesday and Thing were all asleep. I decided to head down to Xavier's dorm. Since Rowan was expelled (killed, left, whatever) I've ended up in Xavier's room a few times. Once for stalking purposes, once for homework, once for... well I'm not entirely sure how to define it. But I know that he's what I need right now.

I crept out of the window, and distracted the housemaster with an illusion of a hamster that I know he loves. I crept up the stairs and knocked on Xavier's door. No answer. I knock again and poke my head in and softly say "Thorpe? You in here?" Nothing again. He must be in his art shed.

The brisk walk through the grounds was not unwelcome. It gave me quiet. I saw the lights on in Xavier's shed and picked up my pace a little. Something about that man makes me feel a weird tingling in my stomach. It's a new unfeeling. But not unpleasant.

He doesn't answer when I knock, but I can hear the not-so-delicate sound of Deftones playing through decrepit doors, so I doubt he heard me. I decide to just walk in, and he's got his back towards the door, so I just take a seat on one of the stools and watch him paint. Something about him seems to draw me in. I can't help but admire the way his hair looks in a messy bun with the front strands poking out. The way his tall stature towers over his canvas. His masterful hands sweep the paint in particular ways just to fit his liking.

I accidentally knock over a plastic cup full of multicoloured paint brushes and he jumps and turns around swiftly and catches me and says “Jesus Christ, Y/N! Do you make a living out of scaring this shit out of people?” and I smirk and say “No, but that is the goal.” He scoffs at my retort and saunters over to me while he asks “What’s wrong?”

“Who said there’s anything wrong?” I ask slightly bitterly albeit unintentionally.

“Drop the tough guy facade, we both know that Wednesday and Enid are asleep, so you found me. Now, what’s wrong?” Damn. He read me like a small children’s book.

“I couldn’t sleep. Needed a distraction. For some reason my brain seems to find your company tolerable.”

He decides to ignore the last statement and instead questions “Do you want to see my new painting?”

“If I must.”

We walk over to one of his canvases and he spins it round. It’s me. Well, my hand. My hand in the middle of culminating an illusion with my powers. The deep crimsons and maroons contrast against the vibrant scarlet just like they do in real life. He even got the rings I wear down to a T.

It’s incredibly rare that I am rendered speechless. But alas, here I am. My mouth ever so slightly agape, mind void of all language. Just pure astonishment. He breaks me out of my trance by saying “Sorry. I know it’s a bit creepy. I can get rid of it if you want-”

“Xavier,” I interject. “It’s beautiful. I love it.”

He smiles at this and the tip of his nose and his cheeks turn a distinct rose-tinted pink. He lifts his hand over the portrait and animates the picture. It moves exactly as mine do. The astonishment I first felt came sweeping back over me like a tidal wave. “Thank you, Xavier. This is amazing.”

“Amazing enough for a hug?” He questions boldly.

“Fine.” My reluctance is entirely feigned because the one thing I need right now is a hug. He practically jogs over to me in excitement and wraps his long arms around me tightly. My head sits just at the nave of his chest and it feels like the final two puzzle pieces finally slotted together. “You can hug back, you know?” He (not so) subtly hints as his chin rests on the top of my head. “I know.” I grumble back stubbornly. I hesitantly wrap my arms around him. Oddly comforting. Something in me tells me this is exactly where I’m meant to be at this moment. I don’t notice myself relaxing into the embrace and tucking my head impossibly closer to his chest, but he does. “We can do this more often if you need it.”

“I may just take you up on that, Thorpe.” We stay there for a few seconds longer, then he lets go, and I do too. I wander back over to the desk and take a seat on the oak plank. He follows me and leans over me to ‘grab a paintbrush’ or so he says. He gently places his hand on my hip as he does, and I feel my face flush bright pink. He catches this and says “Am I that good?”

“You wish you had that effect on me, Thorpe.”

“Oh, I know I do, Addams.”

“How’s that then?” I query, genuinely hoping he is completely oblivious to the way I feel about him.

“You’re a dick to pretty much everyone here. But with me? You had a soft spot almost immediately. You blush every single time I touch you. You watch me paint for hours on end while pretending that you’re doing homework because you don’t want me to notice that you’re staring at me. It’s obvious!” He chuckles out the last statement with the cockiest smirk on his smug, beautiful face.

“Well, what about you Mr Loner who can’t seem to want to spend enough time with me? You touch me every chance you get. You painted a picture of my hand for God’s sake!” It’s possible I may have gotten slightly defensive.

“Y/N. I never said it was a bad thing.” He etched ever so much closer to me until he was only two inches away from my face. He placed his strong hands on my delicate shoulders and gazed into my eyes. “Can I kiss you?” Speechless once again. I try to force out something, anything coherent, but I just stammer silently. “Ok, answer me this,” He notices my nerves. “Do you want to kiss me?”

‘Yes! Yes, Xavier Thorpe! Of course I want to kiss you! It’s my dream, my livelihood, my reason for being alive!’ is what I want to say. No. What I want to scream from the rooftops. But all that comes out is a hushed and hesitant “Yes.”

He puts his long pointer finger under my chin and lifts my head towards his face so I have no choice but to stare into his beautiful green eyes once again. “Speak up, sweetheart.” If he wasn’t standing in between my legs right now, I would be forcing them closed. “Yes, you dick.” I force out, it comes out slightly louder than I expected, but the excitement is evident in my voice. “Then can I kiss you?”

“Yes.” I assert firmly this time.

His hands move down to my hips, and he squeezes them gently. He leans down and pecks me on the cheek, then the lips. Feeling unsatisfied, a sudden overwhelming confidence regains control of me. I wrap my hands around the back of his neck and suggest that “If you’re going to kiss me, you should at least do it properly.” He smirks again. God, he loves doing that. If it wasn’t so attractive I might just complain about it. “Like this?” He asks, grasping my hips harder this time and before I know it, our lips collide again. This time, it’s not as soft and fast-lived. It’s passionate, deep. If I thought the hug felt like two puzzle pieces fitting together, this is ,oh, so much better. Our lips move together in perfect harmony. My hand moves up into his hair, and I tug it gently, which covets a deep groan from the bottom of his throat into my mouth. I had never heard such a beautiful noise in my life.

He pulled away softly. “Yeah. Like that.” I mutter breathlessly.

“Thought so. Let’s go back to my dorm.” Yet another bold move from him.

“I’m not that easy, Thorpe.”

“No, idiot. You’re staying in my dorm tonight. You’ll sleep better.”

That makes me smile. “Okay,” I accept. “but I expect more kisses.”

“You read my mind, Y/N.” Oh, the irony.

#xavier thorpe #wednesday #xavier thrope imagine #xavier thorpe fluff #xavier x y/n #xavier x reader #fanfic #series?#oneshot?

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hugsandchaos · 6 months

Text

WARNING: Contains graphic descriptions/depictions of death, including one character death. Please don’t read it you don’t like this. Those who do read this, I really hope this isn’t rushed or sloppy. With that out of the way; Happy Halloween!

Ton-Ton smiled at the fifth s’more placed in front of him and chomped down at it, getting the whole thing into his mouth with that one bite.“This is fun!” He said with his mouth full. Dozer cringed inwardly at this action, but simply looked away to try to ignore it.”We should definitely do this more often!” Ton-Ton added before finally swallowing his food.

Skya nodded in agreement.”Yeah, it’s nice spending a bit of time away from the garage.” She said. Above them, the clouds that seemed to be ever-present in the dark forest blocked what could’ve been a beautiful view of the night sky, but at least the slightly increased darkness made the lightning bitbugs’ glow nicer to look at. The dark forest was also eerily quiet beyond the sounds of the lightning bitbugs and the group—

SNAP

Everyone turned around, some of them scared while others calmer, and were very surprised to see D-structs standing there. A broken twig laid in front of his right tread, which Revvit believed could suggest that it was on purpose to get their attention instead of it being an accident. After all, they hadn’t noticed him until it snapped, and they should’ve heard his treads or something. Still, it was understandably hard to believe that an entire t-trux, and a scraptool, managed to sneak up on them. For some weird reason, D-structs was carrying Skrap-It by biting his back. He looked around the camp and found a branch near his own height, and reached over to place Skrap-It on it.

They snapped out of the surprise they felt, except Click-Clack, who screamed and sprinted into one of the bins of spare bits.“What is it now? Here to ruin our camping trip?” Skya asked sarcastically. Dozer lowered his blades and got ready to charge, but luckily spotted Ty raising one of his tiny arms to signal him to chill.”Relax, we’re just here having a good time.” He said.

“I’m not here to fight either.” D-structs replied. The group went quiet. The dark t-trux sounded almost nothing like himself. It was obviously his voice, but certainly not his usual tone. He sounded... a little scared. It was assertive in a way, like he was calm and serious, but also paranoid. Hearing that kind of voice from D-structs of all trux made the group wonder what could be going on that would make him worried about them. They glanced at each other, confused and a little scared, until Ton-Ton spoke up.”Uh, dude, what are you talking about? And why do you sound like that?” He asked, sounding pretty scared himself at the end.”It’s creeping me out.” He added with a quiet tone.

“I’m trying to be nice, so listen up, scrap heads. You really shouldn’t be here. You got extremely lucky last time you went in, but maybe not this time.” D-structs said. He glanced up at the sky, and when he saw nothing but the clouds, he looked back down at them.”Stay in this group, and we’re all going to leave right now.” He instructed. No one knew what exactly do to. They felt compelled to listen because of how out of character this was for him, but they didn’t exactly trust him. For pretty obvious reasons. The air was more tense than chilly, until Ty unexpectedly let out an irritated groan.“Is this about the monster trux? It’s just an old story!” He said exasperatedly. He knew that it had been around for long enough to get good roots in the minds of the crater’s inhabitants, but he was honestly tired of trux believing the silly old tale. D-structs ignored him at first and placed the lanterns in Ton-Ton’s bed.“You’re right. The monster trux is a story I made up.” He said.

“WHAT?!?” The entire group shouted. Even Ty. He still didn’t believe it, but he was just as confused as to why D-structs would make something like that up. D-structs’ eyes widened and he looked around in alarm, hoping there was a chance their collective shouting wouldn’t alert... whatever he was paranoid over — of their whereabouts. Most of the group didn’t notice his sudden anxiety and glanced over at Ty with confused looks.”I thought you didn’t believe in the monster trux, Ty.” Dozer said with a hint of sarcasm.

Ty shook his head and ignored the tone.“I don’t, but what?! And why?!” He asked. Revvit nodded, he agreed that the question really needed an answer.“Because of what’s actually here. Telling the truth wouldn’t have worked.” D-structs replied.

“What is it?” Skya asked. She was just as nervous as she was curious and excited about what could be really lurking through the trees.“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you, and there isn’t enough time. Let’s just go.” D-structs said, still surveying the area instead of looking at them. It was clear that something was bothering him enough to get him paranoid, but Ty wasn’t going to give up just yet. He wasn’t sure if he trusted him anyways.“Alright, alright, you’ve convinced me. We’ll go.” Ty agreed. The rest of the group turned to him in slight disbelief until they noticed the smile on his face.“If you can catch me!” He said before speeding off. D-structs’ eyes widened as Ty left the camp, but before he went after him, he briefly glanced at Skrap-It and gave him a quiet growl that oddly sounded a lot like clicking. Soon after they had both left, Skrap-It stayed on the branch and Ton-Ton looked up at him.”Dude, why’d he growl at you?” He asked. Skrap-It turned to look at him and shook his head.“Oh, no. He *skrrch* just said “wait here”. He has many *skrrch* different roars and growls that mean different *skrrch* things.” He replied.

“Ah, that’s cool.” Ton-Ton said.

D-structs wanted to shout for Ty to stop and come back, but he knew that would make things worse. One of Them would target them, if they hadn’t already. D-structs hoped with every circuit he had that they either had another target or weren’t in the mood for a fight. Although remembering his last encounter with them, he unfortunately knew that the second one wasn’t very likely. The only shouting he could do was in his mind. Meanwhile, Ty was completely oblivious to the danger, and while D-structs felt a bit jealous about the fact that he didn’t feel the same dread and helplessness he felt, it was always infuriating when he was ignored or not listened to.

“Hey, what’s that?” Ty asked. He quickly made a turn towards what D-structs knew was a small opening. D-structs lunged forward in an attempt to grab his tail with his jaws, but he missed and froze in knowing horror when he saw what Ty was referring to. He was too late. Ty rolled over to the stegarbasaur laying on their side with a look of confusion, which soon changed to shock once he got close enough.

There was some kind of glowing yellow liquid that slowly dissolved what remained of their left back tread and on their side, making the wound worse. Their eyes appeared open, but not awake. Not even alive.

The stegarbasaur was dead.

Upon this realization, Ty’s mind went blank and wild at the same time. What happened? What was the liquid? Was it some kind of acid? How? He hasn’t seen any acid pools outside of the Acid Baths, which was on the other side of the crater, and no acid he’s seen glows. Taking another look at the damage this poor trux died feeling, one question stood out from the rest, which was followed by another question that felt slightly less important, but still a very urgent matter.

What had done this? And was it still here?

D-stucts finally rolled out into the small clearing and saw the same thing, but wasn’t focused on that anymore. Instead, he was focused on getting him out of there and back to the others. D-structs bit Ty’s tail, which he could barely process through his mind trying to deal with the gruesome sight in front of him, and began heading back. Just as they re-entered the tree line and Ty was just about ready to move on his own again, they both heard some kind of sound. It could only be described as a metallic flap and a powerful wind, not quite like a scrapadactyl’s wing flap. It was quieter, yet also sounded stronger. Like the wings were bigger. D-structs briefly froze before continuing to drag the shocked red t-trux back to the others, but at a much slower pace. He somehow became much quieter and managed to avoid multiple pieces of debris from the treetop. Like he was trying to go by undetected, and he was doing a great job.

The sound grew closer and D-structs pulled into a particularly dense cluster of trees. He stopped pulling and lowered his head before releasing Ty’s wrecking ball, then moved in front of him. Ty snapped out of his terrified daze seeing D-structs conceal what caused it in the first place, just enough to understand what he would say.“Stay quiet.” He instructed. Ty couldn’t do anything but nod, but D-structs could tell he took in and understood every word.”Turn your beams off.” He added, turning off his own light. Ty listened and D-structs moved to hide himself in the cluster. He nearly looked as if he had vanished completely, like Ty wouldn’t have known he was there unless he had watched him go there.

The sound flew over them, followed by a strong breeze, and over the small clearing. Something dropped down from above with a small thud. A creature. Not quite like a trux, tool, or scraper of any kind. Not to Ty’s knowledge, at least.

The creature stood on two legs and had two rather long arms, each with three long claws at least half as long as the arms themselves. The claws were more straight than a scraptor’s, but still slightly curved, and it was kind of hard to see the hand they were attached to. Their head was small and not exactly round, but it seemed kind of like that.

They had a pair of wings with odd, curved pieces of metal on the forelimb and what looked like spikes from the elbow joint to where it connected to their back. The tail was just as odd. It was thin and black, which would’ve made it pretty hard to see if it wasn’t for the light of the small propellers at the joint of the wings shining on it and the glowing part of it at the end. The glowing stuff swished around like a liquid and illuminated what looked like a clear container and hook connected to the tail.

The liquid in the tail barely lit up the area around it unless something was very close, so when it moved around the rest of the creature’s body, Ty noticed that part of it was dark and... bigger. It almost appeared to be covering its actual body, shielding its back, neck, and upper part of its legs from view. It almost looked like it had no neck, especially with that weird, flowy clump of stuff on its head and dangling over the shoulders by a few inches. The creature leaned over its side and used its claws to stab into the poor trux and tear open the wound further. It lowered its head, getting closer to the open injury, and closed the gap between its head and the stegarbasaur. It began drinking the oil leaking from the wound.

Ty felt like he stopped breathing for a moment until he remembered to take a breath in to avoid passing out. He had the urge to keep his breathing as silent as possible and only took in slow, deep breaths. After a few seconds, D-structs silently came out of his hiding spot and grabbed Ty by the tail again, dragging him slowly away from the thing. The creature heard them move and whirled their head around so fast that Ty thought it was going to fall off, then he saw its face and any worry he felt about its wellbeing disappeared.

Most of its face — from the top of its head to where the nose would be — was pitch black, almost as if it’s not there, and yet it also looked as if it was there. Those moments where little bits of light would reflect onto a piece of glass were what gave the impression that the part they couldn’t see very well was simply very dark, or maybe it’s face was made of glass. It didn’t seem to have eyes, either, but instead had a sideways or stretched out X symbol piercing through the darkness. The glowing symbol made Ty feel more watched than ever before, like a cold glare through his very soul. Another indicator that it was there was that the weird white stuff on its head didn’t move underneath the head when it would move backwards.

Speaking of the weird white stuff, it looked... well, it was very tough to describe. It looked slightly clumped and moved a bit when the wind blew. Kind of like leaves or weird plants growing out of the top of its head, but not exactly plant-like. The lower part of their face was practically the opposite of the glass. It kind of curved across its face, starting up right by where the audio receptors probably were, going down a bit, then back up around the middle. Its mouth was stretched in a terrifying grin, which looked to be unnaturally wide. Knowing that whatever this creature was knew that he was there filled Ty with an unfamiliar feeling of dread. Every bit of this thing felt too different to be part of this world, from the flat feet planted on the ground up to its sadistic smile. It watched them leave for only a short while and soon began to ignore them in favor of its fresh meal.

Once they were back with the others, Ty still didn’t say a word. On the way back, he had been able to snap out of it enough to start driving on his own, but D-structs had to occasionally push him on the way back so he didn’t hit something that would’ve made more noise than he was already making. Now, they were following him in a single line, with the exception of Click-Clack, Ace, and Waldo riding in Ton-Ton’s bed, Revvit on Ty’s head, and D-structs once again carrying Skrap-It with his jaws. It was slightly irritating with everyone trying not to bump into each other or roll over each other’s treads, but none of them argued much when they saw the state Ty was in when they returned.

“Dude, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Ton-Ton asked. Then he gasped.“Or the monster trux! Or the ghost of the monster trux!” He continued.

“Calm down, Ton-Ton. Panicking yourself never helps someone who is panicking.” Skya chimed in. She turned to Ty.”But he does have a point. What’s gotten into you?” She asked. Ty blinked and shook his head. He glanced over at D-structs, who was looking like he was ready to leave. Honestly, Ty couldn’t blame him.“What was that?” He asked.

D-structs lowered his head to place Skrap-It on the platform over his left tread so he could talk.“I don’t know. As far as I know, there are only three.” He replied. The group looked between the two, wondering what they were talking about and starting to get frustrated about not knowing. Except for Click-Clack, he seemed happy with not knowing.“There’s three of them?” Ty asked quietly, his voice shaking a bit. The fear in his voice was almost nothing compared to the terror he felt imagining three of those things rushing at him. Then Ty realized something. He briefly forgot all about the fear and looked at D-structs with a look of shock on his face.“That’s why you want us out.” He said. The older t-trux didn’t reply to him or glance at him, he just surveyed the area around them as they moved.

Revvit looked down at Ty’s face from his spot on top of his head.”Ty, we need to know what you saw. You’re really worrying us here.” He said. Ty didn’t respond for a few moments. He glanced over at D-structs as if expecting something from him, but then spoke when he didn’t.”There was this... this thing. I don’t know what it was. There was also a dead stegarbasaur with these weird claw marks and glowing yellow acid stuff on it, and it... I think the creature was responsible.” Ty said. The entire group went dead quiet, aside from the sound of their treads. They glanced between each other, then at Ty.“It was drinking its oil.” He added.

“Stop!! I can’t take it anymore!!” Click-Clack shrieked. D-structs spun his head around and glared right at him.“Quiet!” He snapped at him with a whisper. Click-Clack flinched from his tone and Waldo quickly pulled him back into his panic room to try to de-escalate things.

After a few minutes, Revvit spoke up again. He got the message that they needed to be quiet, so he whispered his next words.“What did it look like?” He asked. Ty opened his mouth to explain, but he was stumped. He wasn’t sure where to start, or even describe it at all. Ty tried to think of how to answer Revvit’s question, but luckily for him, there was an irritated sigh from D-structs and he began explaining.“Bipedal, straight posture, a pair of wings bigger than its body, long stinger tail, flat face mostly made up of a screen, usually has three claws on the end of each arm, but it can change them and switch for something else. I’ve seen them use chainsaws, weird long blades, four numbed claws, and something that can be launched and explodes upon contact with its target.” He explained.

Revvit turned to face him and took a few steps forward on Ty’s head, leaning slightly upwards to the other t-trux.“You’ve faced them before?” He asked. It was probably an obvious question, but he just wanted to make sure before he assumed anything.“Unfortunately.” D-structs replied.

Despite it not being his center of attention, Revvit couldn’t help but notice Skrap-It looking up at D-structs and D-structs occasionally glancing back at him. There was something off about their expressions, and not in a bad way. It was simply a way he hadn’t exactly seen before. D-structs shrugged and Skrap-It put a clamp up against his side, which got his attention again. Skrap-It smiled and D-structs seemed to think about something before giving him a subtle nod.

While Revvit was very curious about what they were doing, he had more important matters to talk about.“Then you’re our best bet at beating them. Please, tell us what you know.” He said.

D-structs shook his head.”There is no beating them. There is no killing them, either. They reattach their limbs, and if they can’t, they’ll regrow them.” He said. Behind him, Revvit heard an irritated groan that was undoubtedly from Dozer.“What I want to know is how anyone even started believing him.” Dozer said. He raised a good point. D-structs wasn’t exactly the trustworthy type. They didn’t believe him themselves until Ty came back looking horrified and following D-structs. So how did he convince the entire crater of something so well that they took it as fact?

D-structs rolled around a tar pit and the others followed as he briefly shone his lights into the pit to let them know it was there.”They appeared pretty soon after I decided this crater would be my new territory. They’re nocturnal, hunt for oil, and one trux, around the size of a dozerstops, is usually enough to keep them from killing another for a few days, I think. I tried warning others, but that didn’t work, so I came up with a new plan.” D-structs started. Everyone glanced at each other shocked as he continued.“Next time my brother visited, I told him about it and we went out to areas where trux gather the most to talk about it again, but this time, we talked about a made up legend about the forest so others would overhear it. At first, it only made the stupid ones braver, but when entire groups of explorers never returned and attempted rescues failed, the crater began to accept it as a fact. I hoped that everyone would stay away long enough for them to leave in whatever way they came.” He finished.

At first, Revvit thought that wouldn’t answer his next question, but then he realized that it didn’t take a genius to understand why he came in after them. He had basically stated the reason in his story.“And if they get us, that would give them more food and more of a reason to stay!” He said. Dozer grunted when Ton-Ton accidentally hit his back tread again.”But we’re a group of five dinotrux and four tools. They wouldn’t stand a chance!” Dozer argued. His hotheadedness was starting to show a bit. D-structs briefly turned around to glare at him, like he was scolding him.“They would, and they have in the past. Multiple trux would go in at once, more than five, and they always met the same fate. They’re more than you think.” He said.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Ty stopped to, and that caused a small chain reaction of the group bumping into each other and getting mad about it.

“Ow, watch it, Skya!”

“Well, I didn’t expect us to suddenly stop! I can see far, but not into the future!”

“Ton-Ton, I think you scratched something!”

“Sorry, Dozer-dude!”

“Guys, be — *skrrch* — quiet!”

Everyone looked ahead to glare at Skrap-It, but he didn’t notice. He was busy looking through the trees for whatever D-structs was staring at. He growled angrily at something, and that something finally revealed itself.

Jumping down from a branch and slowly walking towards them was an odd bipedal creature, yet it wasn’t the one Ty saw earlier. This one had much thinner legs that were covered halfway up with black and yellow warning stripes. Their upper legs were halfway covered down with black, followed by another, thinner stripe of warning stripes. They had a black thing on them very similar to the first one, except it was only covering their upper body and their upper arms. The second creature walked in a slow, tense manner, like it was stalking them. D-structs kept his eyes on it as it stalked to the left and looked at them. No doubt, it was sizing up its opponents. Its tail swished around and slashed against a trunk, leaving what looked like the same yellow acid Ty saw earlier. The tree made a sizzling sound and barely dissolved, but other than that, it didn’t seem to do much damage.

Maybe it takes a lot to leave lasting damage, or maybe it’s slow. Or maybe it doesn’t work on organic matter like trees?

The creature had only been sidestepping the whole time, it didn’t come any closer than it already was and stuck close to the trees and foliage incase it needed to run. It took a step towards Ton-Ton and D-structs snapped — literally. He rushed towards the creature and snapped his jaws at It, but missed as It jumped back and leapt on top of his head. It immediately dug Its long claws into his head, making him roar and thrash his head around to try to shake It off.

Ty was the first to try to help.”Hold still!” He said. Surprisingly, D-structs stopped moving to let Ty grab It with his jaws. When Ty yanked the creature off and tossed It back into the forest, It tore some of his plating off, too. Skya saw It grab onto a tree as It collided with it and look back at them, still with that unsettling, teeth bearing smile. It crouched down and two large wings came from its back, as if from nowhere, and flapped them to propel itself forward. Skya barely had enough time to wrap her hook around It and tugged on It to prevent It from reaching Ty, but It still managed to graze the side of his face. She swung It onto the ground, where Dozer was waiting to charge at It.

He hit the creature with a good amount of force to send it tumbling into a tree. Unexpectedly, D-structs was still in the game as he grabbed It with his claw. In a swift motion, he turned around and threw It. Because of how dark it was, they couldn’t see where It ended up. In Ton-Ton’s bed, Waldo and Ace turned around upon hearing one of the bins open. Click-Clack peeked out ever so slightly.”I-Is it over?” He asked in a hushed tone.”Yes, Click-Clack, it’s over.” Ace replied.

“For now.” Waldo chimed in. Click-Clack yelped and the lid promptly closed again.

Skrap-It climbed up to see the damage done to the top of D-structs head. He made a sound of disgust and shock when he saw it and looked down at the pieces of metal that fell onto the ground.”That’s gonna leave more *skrrch* than a mark.” He said. Revvit, who was also observing what happened, nodded in agreement.”I think you’re going to need some help with that when we get out of here.” He added. Before either could respond, asking what exactly they meant by that, Skya wrapped her hook around the fallen metal and lifted it up to put it in Ton-Ton’s bed. Skrap-It and D-structs glanced at each other before D-structs turned back and continued moving.”I don’t think *skrrch* they’re going to change their mind.” Skrap-It mentioned quietly.

The group continued on, now more alert after seeing that thing for themselves. They understood why Ty looked the way he did when they came back after seeing one. Looking at that thing gave them a feeling of unfamiliar dread and... Well, the other one was hard to describe, but knowing that thing was nearby made them want to speed off. Like fighting It would be useless, even though there was only one at the time and It was only around Dozer’s height. Even worse, they didn’t know It was there until D-structs growled at It to get It to come out.

They hadn’t exactly been paying attention to where they were going as they were more focused on keeping an eye out, so they were a little confused when D-structs began leading them into a cave. As if sending their confusion, he briefly turned around.”Those things hate enclosed spaces, and they’re definitely coming back with friends, so our best bet is probably to wait in here until sunrise.” He said. The others followed inside and Skya had to duck her head really low, lower than she’d like, so she could get inside. When she lifted her head, she was even more irritated to find that she could only lift her neck a foot higher than the entrance.”Ow! And how long do you think it’ll be until morning?” She asked.

Even when everyone was inside, D-structs still stood guard at the side of the entrance from the inside, likely preparing to lunge at whatever comes in after them. He stared at the sky for a few seconds before answering.”I’d say around 6 to 8 hours.” He said. Skrap-It looked up at him from his spot back on one of his tread platforms.”That *skrrch* gives me enough time to fix your head!” He said, jumping down and running over to Ton-Ton to fetch the pieces. Waldo and Ace helped him get the pieces out of his bed and even bring it over to D-structs, who lowered his head when they got closer. Waldo and Ace dropped their sides and backed up a little, and Skrap-It did the same, except he was confident in his steps and didn’t drop his jaw when D-structs lifted the pieces onto his left tread platform. Skrap-It climbed onto it while D-structs kept his head still in front of the platform.

Without a word from either of them, Skrap-It got to work on repairing him. Revvit climbed down from Ty’s head and began approaching them to help, and nearly stopped when D-structs glared at him. He still continued to get closer and climbed onto D-structs to help Skrap-It.”Let’s see what we’re working with here.” He said. Skrap-It stepped to the side and let him have a look.

Luckily, the extra covering on his brain systems were barely damaged. Skrap-It had already fixed a few knocked out wires by wielding them together. Surprisingly, it looked like the only problem was getting the plating back on. Before Revvit said anything on how to do that, Skrap-It already had a task for him in mind.”I need you to hold the plating still.” He said. Revvit wasn’t happy about his thoughts being interrupted, but how was Skrap-It to know when and where his thoughts are going? Besides, he must already have an idea in mind, so he did just that, starting with the one placed the closest.

He pulled one onto his head and carefully stood on the systems, trying his best not to cause more discomfort than he had to. Once it was in place, Skrap-It turned on the weird thing on his head and lowered it. The reptool couldn’t quite see what exactly it was, but he had an idea judging by the blue sparks.“What are you doing?” Revvit asked.

“Wielding it *skrrch* together.” Skrap-It replied, stepping to the side very slowly.

“But doesn’t that hurt?” Revvit asked, glancing over to where D-structs eyes are. He expected an answer from the dark t-trux, but Skrap-It spoke for him instead.“He doesn’t *skrrch* talk when I’m repairing anything on his head. Yes, it does *skrrch* hurt, but he’s pretty tolerant if you ask me.” He explained. Revvit tilted his head slightly in confusion.”What about bolts for some of the edges? We have some spares, and we grabbed some of the ones that fell.” He suggested. Skrap-It stopped and looked up at him.”Wait, really?” He asked.

About ten minutes later, Skrap-It and Revvit had tightened in that last bolt and weirded the last crack. They both climbed down from the platform and D-structs lifted his head back up as both tools back up to give him room.”How does it feel?” Revvit asked. D-structs stared at them quietly, but it wasn’t a glare. He gave them both a small nod and Skrap-It smiled.”Glad to hear *skrrch* it!” He said. D-structs turned back to the entrance of the cave to check for anything.

Revvit turned to Skrap-It with a confused expression.”He didn’t say anything.” He said. Skrap-It briefly closed his eyes and raised a small claw.“Actions *skrrch* speak louder than words.” He said.

“Hey, guys! Come check this out!” Ty called out from deeper inside the cave. While they were repairing D-structs, the others were trying to think of ways to not fall asleep. Skya and Dozer decided to have an argument while Ty opted to explore with Ton-Ton to keep themselves awake. Both tools turned to the tunnel and started walking to see what he was talking about. However, Skrap-It paused and looked over at D-structs.”You coming? *skrrch*” He asked. D-structs took one more look at the area outside before turning around and rolling towards them. Skrap-It hopped onto his platform and looked down at Revvit.”Come on!” He said. Revvit glanced up at D-structs, whose only response was to roll his eyes. He hesitantly climbed up incase he was suddenly told to get off and held onto one of the railings as D-structs continued deeper into the cave.

Down with Ty and Ton-Ton, they had reached presumably the end of the cave and found what looked like an old scraptor nest. There were dead and dismantled trux and scrap everywhere. It was horrifying, and maybe Ty shouldn’t have called the others down here. He couldn’t change his mind, though, since D-structs pulled up next to them.”What do you want?” He asked, accidentally startling the two since they hadn’t heard him coming and his beams were low-light.”Dude, that was scary. I mean, you appeared out of nowhere! Do it again!” Ton-Ton said. D-structs let out a low, irritated growl and Revvit jumped from his platform onto Ty’s. Once he made himself comfortable on his head, he looked around.

“This looks like an old scraptor nest.” He said, coming to the same conclusion as Ty.“That’s what I was thinking.” He said. He rolled over to look at the rest of the large cavern and inwardly cringed at the new dead trux he saw. Both of them were glad that the scraptors who did this weren’t there. Then they found something that made their systems stop cold.

There was a t-trux down here, laying on his side. One of his spikes was broken and his lower jaw was torn apart. His tail was severed and one of his treads was bent the wrong way. The t-trux looked a lot like...

”Uh, D-structs? You know who this is?” Ty asked. Surprisingly, D-structs rolled over to investigate. Upon seeing the stranger, his jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. When Skrap-It saw the same thing, he put a clamp over his mouth. He slowly glanced up at his friend.”Is he...?” He trailed off, clearly not wanting to finish the question even if he could. D-structs slowly nodded. Skrap-It’s expression changed to one of sorrow and he put his clamp up against D-structs.

Whatever sentimental moment they were having was short lived because D-structs suddenly shot his head up and looked at the other.”We need to get out of here, now.” He said with an authority tone.

“Why? Aren’t we safe here?” Ton-Ton asked. That probably wasn’t the response D-structs wanted because he grabbed him by the tail and pulled him to the tunnel they came in from.

“No, now get moving!” D-structs replied. He began pushing Ty towards the tunnel as well. Ty grunted and turned around to glare at him. He didn’t exactly appreciate what he was doing right now.“If there’s something wrong, just say it already!” He shouted. He didn’t get why they suddenly had to leave. D-structs stopped and shot him a glare, either for shouting at him or being loud at all, but obliged to his request.“As you saw, those things have wings, ones that might be difficult to use in caves and tunnels. From what I know, they hate spaces like that. This place could be dangerous for them...” D-structs trailed off. The group wondered what he was going to say next, but Revvit quickly realized what he was hinting at and gasped in horror.“But it’s also dangerous for us!” He exclaimed. The rest of the group, aside from D-structs and Revvit, gasped.

“They were betting on us coming here!” Ty said. He began moving on his own again and looked at Ton-Ton to get him to follow, but stopped. His eyes went wide in terror and the group turned to see what he was looking at.

One of those things was already in there with them.

The creature laughed, but it wasn’t exactly a happy or evil one. It was a laugh coming from the depths of insanity. The creature opened its mouth with a sadistic grin and a deep, male voice, similar to D-structs’, came out.

“I’m over here, brother.”

It didn’t move its mouth as it spoke, as if it was its voice alone. Or perhaps not its own voice at all. After those words, all hell broke loose. D-structs let out the loudest roar they’ve ever heard from him and charged at the creature. Skrap-It cried out and held onto the railings as best as he could.”D-structs, wait!!!” He shouted. The t-trux ignored him and swung his claw around to smash the creature, but it was faster than him. It swiftly moved to the right and lunged forward to slash him. It managed to leave deep claw marks, deep enough to tear the plating and expose a few systems, and luckily, it missed Skrap-It.

D-structs grunted and swiftly spun around to growl at it as it readied itself to charge at him again, but Ty reacted quick enough to swing his own wrecking ball and smash it against the wall. D-structs rolled over to get in front of It, exposing his left side to It, but also using himself as a barrier between It and Skrap-It, who was still on the platform of his right tread. He was also a couple feet in front of the group, so in a way, he was also protecting them. The creature hissed at them, baring all of Its small, but sharp teeth. It glanced between all of them like It was trying to figure out what to do. Then It did something confusing and unbelievable.

One of Its hands retracted into the arm and was replaced by something very odd. It looked denser than the claws and had a weird point at the other end, like it was some kind of cone. No one knew how to describe it at all, but D-structs seemed to know what it was. He gasped in horror as It aimed the odd new hand at the ceiling and turned to the others.”Everyone out!!” He shouted. No one argued and began to hightail it out of there with D-structs at the back, having waited for Ty and Ton-Ton else to start leaving to go himself.

As they rushed to get out as he instructed, D-structs anticipated hearing the explosion, which would be followed by possibly the entire cave system collapsing. He didn’t know for sure if that would really happen, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He couldn’t keep letting those things live, and the entire group dying would feed them for probably a year. Once they got up to the entrance, Dozer and Skya were already waiting for them to come back since they heard the shouting.”Go, go, go!!” Ty yelled. The two listened and were the first out, followed by Ton-Ton, Ty, and then D-structs. Even when everyone got out, D-structs kept going. Without a second thought, Ty followed him, along with the rest of the group. Behind them, they could hear some kind of rapid thumping, like something running. They all knew what it was and tried going faster without bumping into each other.

They kept going and going, anticipating an ambush every time they heard a thump until they finally breached the tree line and turned around to see the creatures. Not one, but four of them. None of them left the edge of the trees to attack, despite it still being night time. Instead, they started to leave one by one.

Once the last one was gone, the group looked at each other. The whole thing felt like it ended just as quickly as it started, even though it probably last for over an hour. They felt like they could finally breathe again, and that’s what they did.”Everyone okay?” Ty asked. He got positive confirmation from his friends, and even Skrap-It.”That was terrifying!” He said. He glanced up at D-structs.”I don’t *skrrch* think I’ll be able to sleep until *skrrch* morning.” He said. D-structs rolled his eyes and turned to leave.”Wait!” Ty said. D-structs knew what he was going to say and growled.“I still want you out of my crater.” He said. He continued his way back to his cave to finally get some sleep and ignored Ty’s second attempt to talk to him.

The stroll back was rather peaceful, especially compared to what happened. They avoided the places trux usually slept at and enjoyed the silence for a while.“Let’s *skrrch* never do that again.” Skrap-It purposed. D-structs nodded in silent agreement and looked ahead, but Skrap-It could tell he was actually looking out into the distance. He was doing that thing where he only moved to avoid obstacles when they got close enough instead of moving around a yard away from it.“There’s something you need *skrrch* to talk about, is there?” Skrap-It asked.

“Yes.” D-structs replied.

“Is it *skrrch* going to give me nightmares?” Skrap-It asked.

“Most likely.” His intimidating friend said with a light shrug. Skrap-It let out a sigh, the type that let D-structs know that Skrap-It knew whatever that was coming was going to be bad, and he wasn’t going to like it, but he was still more than willing to tough it out for him.“Alright, what’s bugging ya? *skrrch*” He asked.

The cave soon came into view, which brought them both a sense of safety, especially Skrap-It. D-structs was the type to expect being attacked in his own home.“There were smaller bite marks on my brother’s body than the ones we encountered could’ve made, and the one in the cave didn’t follow through on its threat to destroy the cave despite being able to. That wasn’t an old scraptor nest, either.” He said. Skrap-It tilted his head in confusion and thought about what he said. They reached the ramp and Skrap-It waited until they were at the top to hop off.“What does that— Ooooh! Oh, *skrrch* no. Oh, no!” He realized what that meant and ducked down despite no threat being there at the moment.“Please don’t tell me you think they have children?!” He exclaimed. D-structs didn’t answer. After all, he asked him not to and he said please. He didn’t have to, though.

“I’m so not going to sleep well.” He repeated before going inside.

D-structs made himself comfortable in one of the corners of the cave, where his back would be facing the wall and it’d be harder for him to be attacked from either side. At least without him noticing.“They overheat very easily. They might’ve gone into that other cave, but it was cool and damp. This one is hot and dry.” He said, watching Skrap-It climb onto a nearby rock and curl up.“*skrrch* Oh, thank goodness.” Skrap-It said. Despite his earlier claims that he wouldn’t sleep well, he fell asleep pretty quickly. D-structs on the other hand needed to wait around an hour before he finally managed to fall asleep.

#dinotrux #d structs #skrap it #ty #dozer #ton ton #skya #dinotrux fanfic #character death

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