#anyway ignore how i said i didn’t have the energy for this and then typed it all out anyway | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sanjisboyfie · 6 months

Text

๑ keep safe : crimson red icicles (9)

one piece x male reader

chances in my veins,

i'm running out of time

『 prev 』

tw: slight gore (?), self-inflicted wounds

as they were running up the mountain, sanji and luffy were taking part in a very childish conversation. [name] wished he had the energy to be apart of it, but with the way he felt as if his insides were turning into solid ice, he refrained.

he was really, really, really bad in extreme cold climates, same went for hot climates too.

his body wasn’t made to deal with that type of stuff. and it was annoying that he was made like that because now his face felt as if it were completely frozen. his feet, even though they were angrily running across the snowy biome, felt heavier than ever before — the feeling in them was completely gone too.

then finally they came across what dalton warned them about: a lapin.

sparing time for a fight against such a small creature was out of the question. they had no time to waste and they all collectively ignored and dodged it whenever it tried deterring or attacking them.

thankfully, sanji took care of it as quickly as possible. but a part of [name] did feel bad to hear the poor thing cry out in pain from the kick.

[name] grit his teeth as his eyes narrowed at the terrain ahead. it seemed that attacking a lapin was inevitable as now, the three of them stood in front of what seemed to be a whole army of rabbits.

he could make out their figures if he squinted hard enough, his jaw really set in place as he sensed just how many were really out.

“huh? what are those?” luffy said, eyes wide as he saw the sheer size of the rabbits.

“they’re even bigger than polar bears, it looks like,” [name] added on, grunting as he adjusted the grip he had on nami to make sure she was completely secure, getting into a stance that showed he was ready for a fight.

“so this is the size of a pack of them?!” sanji said in annoyance, clicking his tongue at the inconvenience.

“luffy, sanji, do you know what this means?” [name] checked, looking at the two out of the corner of his eyes, “i’m counting on you guys, okay,”

“what? what do you mean by that?”

“idiot, he obviously means that we do all the fighting, nami-san can’t get anymore injured than she is right now! if [name] does anything to fight them back or if he takes any hits, nami-san will feel everything! so you and i have to take on all the fights, understand?!”

luffy took a second to process it before nodding his head, “alright, [name] leave it to us!”

“i will, now let’s get running,” [name] said, dodging one of the bunnies that tried attacking him, and running off to the side.

he didn’t look back once, knowing that he only had to worry about what was ahead of him and that luffy and sanji were trustworthy enough to take care of whatever was behind him.

he ran and dodged a couple of bunnies that were ahead, jumping on a couple of them for a height leverage and made sure that nami was secure anytime that he could.

unfortunately, it seemed that the battle would only grew to be more aggressive the higher they went and [name] was really feeling it to his core now. his breathing was coming out completely white, his face was becoming even more red at its high points and his legs felt like lead.

but for nami’s life, he knew that he had to push forward.

when they ran through many lapins that were standing in their way, [name] thought they’d have a break from being chased down, but his assumptions were wrong. when he thought they were in the clear, there was a shroud of lapins that were awaiting them. they looked like an intimidating white shadow over the horizon.

“i’m about to take care of them myself,” [name] said, trying to control his chattering teeth.

“no! no way!” sanji rebuked.

“i’m a long distance fighter anyway, it’s alright if i take care of some!” [name] said, his patience wearing incredibly thin, “there’s no way we can fight all of them individually, the more we run the more off course we get…if this keeps up, i can’t guarantee nami’s safety!”

“stop trying to jinx things! just leave it to us for now!” sanji said, wanting to fight against [name] participating in fights for as long as possible.

“if they get too close, i can’t guarantee that i will!” [name] shot back, watching carefully as the lapins started to jump up and down. it seemed as if there was no point to their repetitive jumping, but [name] put two and two together: if you assumed they weren’t up to anything, they’d definitely be doomed.

so he stiffened to brace for something to happen.

and when the snow that was far ahead began to crumble towards them, his fists clenched at his sides.

“you’re fucking with me right now!” he shouted out into the snowy abyss, recognizing the signs of an avalanche right away.

he had an idea of how to get away, but he didn’t know if it’d be healthy to use it with nami’s condition. he knew his body could take it, but if nami would even survive him using it once, it was unknown.

so he wouldn’t use soru, he decided. because even if it was conveinent for him to use to get away, if nami’s health could be in an even more compromised position, he wouldn’t risk it.

“the only option is to run, let’s go, both of you!” [name] commanded, adjusting nami once more and hoping that the ropes would stay completely tight. he had to free his hands, use them to gain the most momentum when running away. he couldn’t securely have his arms around her.

he knew that the rope he tied was effective, but having his arms to support her legs was still a comfort he wasn’t exactly the most prepared to give up. the snow was quickly approaching so he cleared his mind and only focused on running.

sanji and luffy were close behind and eventually, he caught sight of a cliff. sanji had the same idea in mind because he soon directed them to all take advantage of the height.

the three all stood at the edge of the cliff, but [name] quickly realized it would be enough. they weren’t high enough.

[name] grit his teeth, ripping off one of his gloves with his canines, spat it out, and took a dagger out from the sheath that was resting on his hip. he stabbed into his palm with no hesitation, gritting his teeth and watched as the blood spurted out.

“oi, [name] what the hell are you doing?!” sanji cried out, watching in horror as [name] maimed himself and also at the approaching avalanche.

“hey! [name]!” luffy shouted in shock, eyes going wide and almost completely white.

[name] ignored them and stabbed himself once more in the arm to cause more blood to gush out of his wound. after putting the dagger away, he grabbed luffy and sanji by their collars with his clean hand and timed his jump with the avalanche.

the trio were completely vulnerable in the air, but [name] quickly thought fast and held the two close to him. he made sure he was facing the ground and focused on the blood spilling from his arm as he held his bleeding and wounded arm in front of him.

“come on, you fucker!” [name] shouted at no one in particular, “i know it’s cold enough, so this shit better work!”

“[name]’s gone crazy!” luffy shouted, looking at him in disbelief.

“luffy, sanji, nami!” [name] shouted, getting ready to time his “creation” correctly, “please pardon the mess!”

the two looked at him in confusion but their eyes widened drastically when they noticed what was going on.

the blood [name] had let dribble down and spurt out of his arm was turning solid underneath them. it was even taking shape. a large sled, the ones that a person would use as a child, was created and solidified underneath them. it wasn’t fancy, just a smooth tube for them to ride to glide down the mountain without suffocating due to snow.

“you two, grab ahold of me — watch out for nami!” [name] commanded, sticking his entire bleeding arm into the snow. he shouted at the pain that shot up his arm, but continued to keep his limb implanted inside.

out of nowhere, the crafted sled turned to the side, fighting against the snow current. [name]’s arm in the snow was slowing them down, thankfully, but the way the lapins were still charging after them made him stressed.

“unbearable bastards! i hope you all get buried,” [name] cursed under his breath, directing their sled and fighting against the current of the snow as hard as he could.

but the icy pain was getting torturous, to the point he felt like passjng out. his entire arm was buried underneath the fluffy snow. his heart was slowing down, it had been the moment they started their journey. slower heart rate meant less blood pumping. less blood pumping meant he was running out of what he could use - without completely endangering his life, of course.

he could always just cut into his flesh once more and he was entirely prepared to - but that was a worst case scenario choice. he still needed to be conscious for the rest of the journey, obviously. passing out due to blood loss would only be more of a burden on sanji and luffy.

“shit, there’s still more snow coming down!” sanji cursed and his grip on the sled was wearing thin. “[name], i’m gonna-”

before he could finish his sentence, sanji went flying and luffy in a concerned filled haze, jumped after him.

“idiots!” [name] cursed, but instead focused on getting nami to safety before he went to rescue those two. finally, they reached a point on their journey where nami would be safe, or as safe as she could be, on her own.

she had blood splattered across her face, which [name] gingerly wiped away before setting her down on the snow. he untied the ropes in a hurry - throwing his cloak over her and promised her that he’d be back.

he looked over the terrain in focus, seemingly glaring at the snow before nodding in determination. he was able to see where luffy and sanji had dropped off. at least they were close to each other, [name] thought to himself before jumping into the snow.

to him, it felt as though it was an ice bath. but he bore through it, understanding that this was not the time to pay attention to that. sanji and luffy were up ahead, a couple dozen feet away. and nami was waiting for him!

he had to bear it for a little longer!

even if he was lightheaded from blood loss, even if he could physically feel his heart going slower — as if it were freezing, even if his legs were close to being completely numb.

“fucking snow,” he breathed out, lifting luffy up from the snow and throwing him over his shoulder, “fucking disease for infecting nami,” he said, stomping through the snow and looking for sanji. “fucking island for only having one doctor, how idiotic is that!”

when he got a grip on sanji’s jacket collar, he brought him to the surface quickly. the both seemed to have passed out, probably due to the sudden cold shock.

but he carried the both of them to where he had left nami.

he got to work in re-tying nami’s ropes, making sure they were tight. the cuts on his arm were no longer dripping, but rather turned into icicles in the cold snowy winds. crimson red shards were attatched to his skin and he grunted as he broke them off, throwing them down the snowy mountain without a second thought.

he looked at the arm and hand he had stabbed, attempting to move it at all. under his cloak was just a simple shirt so he made contact with the freezing snow with no protective boundary. his arm looked like it was turning purple, as were his fingertips now that he had discarded his glove. he cursed under his breath, finding it took a lot of effort to even wiggle his fingers back and forth.

“fucking stupid weather, i hate this island!” [name] shouted into the nothingness that surrounded them. his shouts made luffy stir awake on the ground.

sanji and nami remained unresponsive.

“[name]?! are they okay?!” luffy cried out, running to nami’s side, “is she alive?!”

“yeah, she is, but we have to go, now. you can make it, right?”

luffy’s eyes lingered on [name]’s mauled arm and hand, nodding as his hat shadowed his eyes.

“you take sanji, nami will be with me,” [name] said, luffy following the command easily.

[name] crouched down, getting nami’s cocooned body to rest snug against his. at least she herself provided some warmth to him, but without a doubt, he missed his cloak terribly.

he just hoped that this castle had sufficient heating, he felt like he needed to de-thaw himself as soon as possible. with nami and sanji both accounted for, [name] and luffy began their trek back up the mountain.

“you saved us back there, thank you, [name],” luffy said sincerely, watching with grim eyes as [name]’s arm showed dried blood.

“you’re my captain, she’s my navigator, and he’s my chef,” [name] obviously stated, taking in a deep breath, “of course i’d save you guys!”

he forced himself to smile, to ease luffy’s conscience.

luffy looked at him in shock before bowing his head down.

deep down, luffy began to feel incompetent. there were a bunch of thoughts running through his head, like if it was his fault entirely nami was sick? did he drag the whole crew, especially vivi, down with his antics?

[name] didn’t let him think about it for long though, seemingly reading his mind and pressing his bleeding hand along luffy’s strawhat.

“take it easy, captain, i’ll look out for us from now on,” [name] said simply before picking up his pace. "it's not all resting on your shoulders anymore, not while i'm here."

the two were running as fast as they could, now desperate for medical attention for almost all members of their travelling party. on the way to the top, they encountered a small lapin who was pawing at its parent.

“stupid bunny,” [name] murmured under his breath as he eyes the pathetic creature.

there was a pause as he and luffy both lifted the paw of its parent out of the snow, walking off before they could waste more time.

it seemed, though, their time was just made to be wasted today as they now encountered a familiar face.

“splinter shitter?” [name] asked out loud, recognizing the ugly face of their past enemy.

“we’ll teach you to not mess with us,” the crew next to wapol screamed.

“luffy, no fighting if you can help it! we’re all injured here and have sanji and nami to look out for! be serious!” [name] reminded him, “just keep running,”

“i know! don’t berate me!” luffy said in annoyance, finding it incredibly difficult to hold back his attacks as he could only dodge.

[name] jumped through the air in disgust of their attacks, knowing that they were only fighting so hard against them to take advantage of their weakened friends.

“i’ll kill you guys when i come back!” [name] shouted, tilting his head ever so slightly and causing the two of his lackeys to fall over. but they assumed it was the strong wind and continued their assaults.

thankfully, those lapins they had saved earlier did not forget the kindness of their actions. they jumped in [name]’s and luffy’s defense, creating a wall between the strawhats and the stupid wapol pirates.

“thanks, you saved us,” luffy said quickly, recognizing the animals, before running ahead with [name]. “[name] that was rude, you didn’t even say thank you to them!”

eventually, the wind got so strong that [name] couldn’t feel his arms or legs. but they were so close. the harsher the climate was, the closer they were. and his assumptions were proven correct as they were soon greeted by some cylindrical post, and at the top was the castle.

“let’s go, don’t think twice,” [name] advised. he walked over to luffy and sanji, gently unwrapping the scarf from sanji, quietly apologizing as he did so, and used that to secure sanji around luffy’s waist. he even made the blonde wrap his arms around luffy’s neck for extra security.

“[name], are you ready?”

[name] laughed, “wasn’t this whole journey a good enough sign for you, captain?! let’s get going already!” he ripped off his other gloves, knowing he’s get a better grip on the walls if he went in without a barrier between his fingers and the rocks.

luffy agreed with a hearty shout and the duo began their climb.

[name] was struggling due to the extreme frostbite he was experiencing, as well as the hole in his left hand, and the numbness in all his limbs. luffy was exhausted from running and fighting and only just woke up from passing out a couple of minutes ago.

the both of them were tired beyond their limits, but knew that this was life or death.

nami and sanji were both counting on them.

the wind was picking up the higher they were going and it genuinely felt like someone was cutting [name]’s fingers with each breeze that blew by. he cursed under his breath each time he had to go up one.

then his head whipped around in concern as he saw sanji slip from luffy’s back. that scarf could only take so much weight for so long.

“luffy!” [name] cried out in worry, eyes going white as he saw that sanji was only getting farther away.

“sanji!” luffy shouted, bringing his arm to whip backwards to catch the falling chef. the momentum of his swing, and the fact that the surface they were climbing was completely straight up made luffy fell back as well.

“shit!” [name] shouted, smacking his injured hand onto a particularly sharp edge of a rock and reopening the once frozen wound from his hand. blood seeped out almost instantly, splattering across his face.

but he only focused on sending it down to luffy, “grab on, luffy!”

the rubber man listened, stretching his hand and grabbing onto the solidified and frozen blood of [name]’s wound and grunting as he felt himself stop midair, due to [name]’s anchoring. sanji was now being held up by his teeth and he focused on making it back up the mountain to meet [name].

luffy’s fingers and toes were bleeding, completely ruined by the stone wall they were climbing. [name]’s hand wound was reopened and bleeding profusely. the cold wasn’t helping the h/c haired man’s heart either.

if they didn’t make it to the top soon…he’d surely die.

the treacherous journey seemed to last for hours on end before they finally made it to the snowy top.

[name] grunted, swinging his arm back and launching luffy and sanji forward. it didn’t take long for him to join them, falling face first to ensure that nami wouldn’t feel the entirety of his weight crush her.

just when he thought they were safe, the snow that [name] and nami had collapsed on began to slide at their weight. and before he could stop it, they were falling off of the top.

“save me, you cunt!” he shouted, sensing someone at the top of the mountain — very close by. but he was prepared to use his blood to stop their descent once more, if this figure didn’t act fast enough. but it was unnecessary, as a warm, fuzzy, strong hand stopped their fall.

[name] squinted as he looked up at the figure, feeling his vision go blurry as he tried to catch a look at the savior.

“hah? reindeer?” [name] breathed out in confusion. and those were his last words before he fell limp in the hands of the one who caught them, completely passing out.

『 prev 』 ˗ˏˋ꒰ 🌊 ꒱ 『 next 』

#≡;- ꒰ ° keep safe series ꒱#ks #one piece x male reader #one piece x reader #x male reader #x reader #male reader #one piece male reader #one piece imagines #male reader imagines #anime male reader #one piece fanfiction #one piece fanfic #male reader fanfic #male reader fanfiction

123 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 7 months

Text

For ectoberhaunt 2023 day 13: horror flick.

Roy frowned first at the book, then at the circle he’d painstakingly laid out on the forest floor, sweeping his eyes back and forth, hunting for mistakes. He couldn’t find any. The lines and curves he’d painstakingly carved into the soil and painted over were immaculate. All the symbols were in the right places. The candles were still burning strong. The sacrifices (items with great emotional value to the summoners) were in place, ready to be consumed.

Which meant that the problem wasn’t his fault.

He turned his glare on his two companions. “Did you two do the purification ritual like I said?”

“Yes,” said Aimee. “Don’t talk to us like that. We’re not stupid.”

That wasn’t an assertion Roy would make, but there weren’t a lot of people around who had real experience with the occult and a willingness to, ah, experiment with rituals of this level.

“Did you do the purification ritual?” drawled Beth. She pulled back the hood of her robe and pulled a stray strand of hair away from her numerous ear piercings. “Rituals like this are touchy. Even a tiny mistake can upset things. For all we know, we have the time of day wrong, or the wrong kind of soil.”

“We checked everything, though,” Roy complained. Not only had they checked everything, they’d practiced. They weren’t a bunch of stupid college students in a horror flick. They knew what they were doing. They’d summoned things, real things, before. Nothing as big or as powerful as this, but they’d gotten ahold of some powerful entities.

One of the spirits they had summoned and bound had even traded this book for their freedom.

Maybe that had been a mistake on their part, if the ritual in the book was incomplete or a scam.

Something snapped and rustled in the trees behind him, and Roy turned, scowling. If a deer messed with his summoning circle, he’d scream.

But, no, it wasn’t a deer stumbling out of the underbrush. It was a kid. A short kid. A middle schooler? Roy had never been good at figuring out the ages of kids.

“What are you doing here?” asked Aimee.

“Uh, walking. It’s public property,” said the kid. “What are you doing here?””

“No, it isn’t,” said Beth.

“Uh, yes it is. I know, because I walked here.” The kid leaned sideways and peered around Roy. “Ooh, are you summoning something? What is it?”

“That’s none of your business,” said Roy, wondering if he could get away with setting one of his lesser spirits on the boy. Beth could be surprisingly touchy about that sort of thing. “Leave.”

Between his family, his body type, and his occult power, Roy wasn’t used to being ignored or disobeyed by anyone but Aimee and Beth. The boy didn’t even look up at him, instead starting to walk counterclockwise around the circle.

“Where are your parents, anyway?” asked Roy, feeling out of his depth. It was an unusual feeling, and he didn’t like it.

The kid did look up at him, then, scorn clear on his face. “How old do you think I am?” Before Roy could answer, the kid knelt next to the circle.

“If you mess that up,” said Roy, threateningly, marching over to loom over the boy.

“Roy,” hissed Beth.

“Geez, chill,” said the boy. “I’m just looking. You’ve got a mistake, here, by the way.” He pointed. “You’re missing a line.”

“What?” snapped Roy.

“And the same thing, over there. Is your handwriting this bad, or did you copy these signs straight from a book without knowing what they really meant?”

Roy almost believed the boy for a minute, then scoffed. “What do you know about it? You’re just a kid. You’ve got a good face for lying, though, I’ll give you that.”

“I know more than you,” said the boy. “For example, did you know that when you summon a ghost, they don’t have to portal into the circle? Like, that’s usually easier, because where’re you going to find a natural portal, or a door, or whatever, and you can jump on the energy from the summoning, but you don’t have to. Lots of ghosts can’t, even. They’re not strong enough to make portals, so they just have to deal with the pull until whoever is trying to summon them gives up. Although I guess stronger ghosts do that too? Huh.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Aimee, and, huh, she actually sounded scared.

“Well,” said the boy, straightening and brushing off his knees, “I guess what I’m saying is that if you were trying to get a hold of a ghost that happened to already be on Earth, and nearby, they could just walk to a summoning. Or fly. Personally, I prefer flying.”

Aimee took a step back, her hand dropping to a protective charm. Beth, lips pursed, mirrored the motion.

“Did you know, there used to be separate rings for the summoners in these kinds of rituals? They sort of fell out of favor over time, because most ghosts did portals and they were problematic or something, I didn’t really pay attention to that part, but…” The boy shrugged. “They were there for a reason. All of your protections are in that circle.” He nodded at it. “Not great if someone does come from outside. Useless, just about.”

Then the boy looked Roy straight in the eye for the first time, and smiled.

The smile was wrong. It started out too white, too sharp, too curvy, bright and moonlike beneath glittering eyes. And then Roy’s vision began to blur. Or, no, only the boy blurred, but even as he blurred, two shapes became bitingly razor clear. A dark and burning crown that made Roy want to weep, and a shining ring that made him want to run and never stop.

Bright, unnatural eyes continued to gaze into Roy’s.

“If I were you,” said a voice that could have belonged to the boy, but echoed with the thoughts and feelings of a thousand other speakers, “I would quit now, while I was ahead. You’ve already bitten off more than you can chew.”

Then the presence, the crown, the ring, and all, vanished. Roy looked wildly around the clearing, but the only people he saw were Beth and Aimee, and they looked downright ill.

He took a shaky breath. “So, should we call our first attempt at summoning the Ghost king a success?”

#ectoberhaunt #23 day 13 #23 prompt horror flick #eh23 #danny phantom #ectoberhaunt23

112 notes · View notes

halfrican-heat · 7 months

Text

Famous (E. Jaeger)

A/N: Yeah, I'm high. Hello. This is inspired by Halle and DDG as well as Rapper!Eren that I have been seeing on this hellsite. Keep 'em coming cause y'all bussin' that shit down. I think I was also, more specifically, inspired by some tweet collages made by SOMEONE on this side of AOT but Make it Black™ Tumblr. PLEASE tag them if you know who I am talking 'bout-- I think Eren's tag was "EJTHEDON" in the pictures...

Chile, anyway. Read this story lmao.

Warning(s): Angst; Cursing, Descriptions of flashing lights, Inspired by real events/Fictionalization of real events; Interactive fic with links

Disclaimer: All costumes and face claims are indicative of style and aesthetic not body type. I believe anyone can wear anything they are comfortable with!

Pairing: Rapper!Eren Jaeger x Actress!Reader

The flashing of cameras and rapidly clicking shutters helped ground you to the moment. You shifted, moving your long braids to one shoulder, and flashed a dazzling smile to your left. Paparazzi called to you, begging for your gaze to land on them. Interviewers shouted questions that you could barely hear. You had already done your red carpet interviews, so many of the questions being thrown your way now were for tabloids to pick up some kind of gossip fodder.

You shifted again, opting for an over the shoulder glance to your right with a more demure gaze. Your floor length gown was elegant and aquatic, giving the illusion that you stepped out of the ocean and brought the water along with you. Despite your calculated poses, however, the excitement radiated off you in waves. This was it for you. The culmination of years of hard-work and planning and dreaming-- it all led you to this moment.

The world premiere of your first feature-length film.

You truly felt like you were riding a current and a part of you never wanted the feeling to end. You took a moment, stepping away from the carpet and the cameras, so you could catch your breath. Your manager, standing calmly to the side, handed you your phone and a bottle of water. She looked pensive as you grinned widely at her, but you chalked her cautious stare up to nerves. This was a big night.

You scrolled through your notifications, swiping them off the screen as you looked for text messages from your loved ones. Your twitter was blowing up but you assumed it was about the premiere. You responded to a message from your aunt (she wanted to know how much longer you had on the carpet) and another from your best friend before receiving two texts, back to back, from your publicist.

From: Shae Burgess (7:46pm) Eren’s song just dropped. Handling media coverage right now. From: Shae Burgess (7:46pm) Don’t answer any questions about the song.

You schooled your features, being sure to maintain an easy going facade so that no one with a wayward camera could catch you slipping. Obviously, there was something going on that you weren’t privy to. Now the potential for the paps to catch an off-guard image, and use it to fuel their tabloid bullshit, was higher than ever. You casually handed your bottle back to your manager, smiling though it didn’t quite reach your eyes.

“Angela, what the fuck is Shae talking about?” You whispered, quirking an eyebrow.

You showed her your phone, your features looking amused and humorous. She matched your energy, putting on a casual smirk as she leaned over to whisper to you.

“Stay focused. Don’t answer any questions about Eren,” She said simply, her voice low. “We’ll talk before the showing. I’ll meet you on the other side of the carpet”

She gently ushered you back to the carpet, stepping aside as you posed for the camera. You felt comfortable under the flashing lights, ignoring the shouting from the paparazzi. You took your time, shifting as needed, and making sure your angles were right. This time, however, you weren’t super excited to be standing on the carpet alone. On the outside you looked calm and collected but on the inside? You felt vulnerable and uncomfortable. Still, you pushed through and gave the camera a seemingly effortless performance.

From the corner of your eye, you saw your co-star walking to the carpet.

Relief flooded you instantly. You crossed to Armin Artlert, smiling wide as you embraced him. He was your rock during the filming process, so seeing him at that moment felt like a saving grace. He met your eyes, his own colored with a silent question as he took in the apprehension in yours. You shook your head minutely, embarrassed that he could read you so easily. After months of filming, however, that was to be expected. So, he simply took your hand and talked quietly with you as the cameras captured images of the two of you.

The paps and interviewers went feral at the sight of your hands linked together. Questions about the nature of your relationship were thrown left and right but the two of you ignored them like pros. Armin was a godsend during the filming process and helped you navigate the ins and outs of the film industry with ease. He advocated for you when you didn’t know how to and helped you find your own voice throughout the process. There were seldom few people who would support a black woman in such a way.

Armin Artlet was a true friend and you were thankful for him.

You gave him another hug, preparing to part ways. He gave your shoulders a reassuring squeeze and you promised to save him a seat inside. An escort met you halfway across the carpet, guiding you through the flashing lights toward your manager. As you reached her, one pap’s question reached your ears over the others.

“Is your relationship with your co-star the inspiration behind Eren’s Jaeger’s latest diss track?”

The question made your eye twitch as you resisted the urge to ask him what the fuck he meant by that. Thankfully, Angela was a quick mover and a quicker thinker. She grabbed your arm gently, ushering you off the carpet as she popped off at the reporter.

“I hope you’re enjoying your evening,” She said, with a saccharine sweet smile.

The reporter grinned, nodding excitedly. Surely, she believed she would get some special information.

“Very much so! First red carpet event.”

Angela nodded kindly before her smile fell entirely, her eyes sharp and piercing.

“Consider it your last,” She said icily.

She caught a glimpse of the reporter’s name tag.

“Have a good night Stacey.” Angela said firmly, hustling you into the event space.

She found a secluded corner, away from prying eyes and sneaky cameramen. You took a deep breath, rubbing at your temples.

“Angela, tell me what in the hell that was about,” You demanded, glancing over her shoulder.

You tried to control your features because anyone could be watching you from anywhere- trying to capture you in a vulnerable position. Clearly, there was something going on that you were unaware of. It was imperative no one caught you off-guard- thus feeding the damn rumor mill. That was the last thing you needed at the moment.

But apparently your boyfriend was really showing his ass this time.

Your relationship with Eren had been the source for tabloid and media gossip since the beginning. Many people didn’t like the two of you together, not understanding what drew you to one another. They had an idealized image of you in their heads- a princess or a primadonna that shouldn’t be around the likes of him. The people who loved you, or thought they did, felt that Eren was beneath you. They claimed he was using you for relevance. Your self-proclaimed internet aunties didn’t like the company he kept and the girls closer to your age were either quietly jealous or outright haters.

No matter who they were, however, they didn’t know Eren like you did. So, you went out of your way to ignore the harsh spin they put on your relationship. At the 8 month mark, you had hoped the drama would die down. But today was proving you wrong in so many ways. Hopefully, it wasn’t a repeat of that time Eren’s homegirl Sasha tried to drag the two of you into her drama with her baby daddy, Connie- another friend of Eren’s.

You didn’t even want to think about that at the moment.

But maybe…the fans were onto something if Angela’s hesitation told you anything.

She sighed, her eyes filled with concern as she handed you her phone. It was opened to Twitter and you frowned seeing Eren’s handle, recognizing his latest album cover as his profile pic.

You clicked the link, confused as to why he would be releasing a song today. He didn’t mention it on the facetime call you had that morning. He seemed normal enough, albeit a bit distracted. Why wouldn’t he mention that he was dropping a single? In fact, you hadn’t heard from Eren since that call. He usually always sent you pictures of him watching the news coverage of public appearances he couldn’t attend or sweet messages to encourage you. You frowned, biting your lip.

The spotify app opened, the song immediately beginning to play. You lowered the volume, holding the phone to your ear. Angela shielded you with her body subtly, trying to give you some privacy.

The lyrics reached your ears, mortification settling into your veins.

Hardest thing I ever did was fall in love with a famous bitch

The song filtered through the speaker, his words feeling like a punch in the gut. He detailed his feelings toward you, verse after verse. He outlined all his insecurities, placing the majority of the blame on you and your career. He questioned your love for him, asking if the men you work with turn you on. He cast doubt on your fidelity and your professionalism bar after bar.

You took a shaky breath, your eyes stinging as the last lyrics rang in your ear.

Just because they filmin’ it, it don’t mean it ain’t wrong.

You handed Angela’s phone to her, closing your eyes as you bit back tears.

“You okay, sweetheart?” She asked, her voice soft. Motherly.

It made you flinch. You didn’t need her pity or concern but fuck all if Eren’s song didn’t strike a nerve. When that bum ass pap mentioned a diss track, you never thought it would be about you. Still, it was not the time to fall apart. Not on a day you dreamt about for years.

So, you sucked those tears up and looked at her firmly.

“I’m fine. That weak-ass shit is irrelevant. Today is about this film, this cast and crew and months of effort,” You said, your voice strong. “Let’s get the fuck back to work.”

You straightened your spine, heels clacking as you walked into the theater with your head high. You sat with your aunt, Angela and Armin as you tried to push Eren out of your mind. The day was about you. If Eren couldn’t respect that, if your job was too much for him, then…oh well. You took another breath, pushing the thought from your mind. He didn’t deserve your time or energy at the moment. Eren Jaeger was not going to steal this moment from you.

Still, as the lights went low and the screen came to life, you couldn’t help but send a quick tweet before putting your phone away for the rest of the night. The petty bitch in you deserved a moment to breathe, did she not?

After all, you weren’t the one to be fucked with. Eren would find out soon enough.

83 notes · View notes

averysmolbear · 10 months

Text

A Second Chance

CW: This is pretty self ship coded. It's vaguely fluffy so not really a need for a ton of tags, I'd think. It's a female reader fic. I'd say the reader and Pietro would be around in their twenties. It's definitely part of a possible series of one shots so it's the beginnings of a friends to lovers type situation. The only thing that could be maybe triggering is the kind of vague mentions of Pietro feeling "trapped" and the reader is there to kind of psychoanalyze him to a certain degree. I'm not sure how else to word that honestly.

Fandom: Marvel/MCU

Pairing: F!Reader x Pietro Maximoff

Word count: ~2.3k

Just a quick note that this would be well after Age of Ultron and I don't care if it's unrealistic, Pietro survived what happened in that movie because I said so (and yeah, that means this is the MCU version of Pietro, not the one in the X-Men movies) so prepare to suspend your disbelief or something. Or don't. I can't tell you what to do. This also means that the reader works for whatever entity really kind of popped up after AoU that the Avengers would sort of be working for before Captain America: Civil War.

Pietro Maximoff felt like an animal trapped in a cage. He didn’t know why they were keeping him locked away. He had healed and was ready to get back out into the world. He felt like they had to know this, especially with all of their incessant poking and prodding. Whenever he asked someone anything, his questions were brushed aside and they would reassure him that he would be out of there before long. And then the cycle would repeat and Pietro would be left alone in the sterile room that reminded him of his time with HYDRA more than he let on.

It wasn’t the fact that he was getting antsy that pushed Pietro to ask when they were going to let him out. His sister needed him, didn’t she? At this point he was starting to doubt that Wanda was aware he was alive, although maybe that was the reason they were keeping him inside. Maybe they weren’t sure how to break it to her that Pietro had survived. It didn’t matter what the reason was though because he knew that eventually they were going to have to let him out and he wasn’t going to waste any time getting as far from this place as he could when that time came.

He paced the length of the room, moving at a natural speed for once. When he first woke up and was moved to his current room, he would run from one end of the room to the other. It didn’t take long before Pietro realized it wouldn’t do him any good. He wasn’t getting out and it only wasted his energy to zip around the room. At the moment he didn’t want to waste any energy on running around the small space but he felt that pent up energy building up and he hated that he didn’t have a proper outlet for it.

When someone knocked on his door, Pietro ignored it. It was common for someone to knock before dropping off food. If it was a doctor, they would enter without his permission anyway. He waited for the slot in the door to open and a tray to slide on to the ledge on his side of the door. It seemed too early for lunch but it wasn’t as if the speedster had any concept of time. He didn’t know how many days had passed, losing count quickly. He didn’t have the patience to keep track after a week had passed but he assumed he had been there for at least a month, maybe longer.

There was a second, more insistent knock on the door and this time Pietro moved cautiously but curiously toward it. No one knocked more than once and he thought that the sound held some level of urgency to it. His head tilted slightly as he listened at the door, not sure he would be able to tell who was on the other side if he tried. Someone knocked again and with a sigh, Pietro finally asked who it was. It was clear they wanted his attention and now they had it, not that he cared too much about who it might be.

“Pietro?”

He noted that the voice wasn’t familiar but it was soft and feminine and youthful. It wasn’t someone he had met before, as far as he could tell. They sounded hesitant which caught his attention more than the knocking. Not many people around this place were hesitant around him. Most seemed to know that there was security everywhere and he wasn’t a threat. He stepped closer to the door when he noticed the little slot had opened. He could see someone peeking inside but he didn’t recognize them. Pietro didn’t say anything but he did place a hand on the door, closing his eyes for a moment.

“I’m going to assume you can hear me, Pietro,” you continued. You cleared your throat. “My name is (y/n). Can I … can I come in?”

Pietro’s brows furrowed but he quietly backed away from the door. His new visitor had him too curious to not let her inside. He moved over to the bed and sat down but didn’t speak. He could be at the door and out of the room before anyone realized what was happening but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. Still he was being stubborn, not wanting to give anyone anything that they could use against him. If they were going to try to use him for who knew what, Pietro was going to make them work for it.

You walked in, opening the door wide enough to be able to slip in. The heavy door slammed shut behind you, making her jump as you heard the door lock, but you didn’t look back at the door. Your eyes were intently fixed on Pietro as soon as you saw him. Someone on the other side of the door gruffly told you that you had 15 minutes before they would come in and you muttered a curse under her breath.

Pietro noted that when you had whispered, it hadn’t been in English and for a moment he wondered what language it was. It sounded roughly like Sokovian but not enough that he was certain he recognized the language. He wasn’t curious enough to ask however. You bit your lip as you stayed near the door, looking him over slowly.

Pietro folded his arms across his chest but still didn’t speak. Instead he fixed you with an intense glare, his brows pulled tightly and a scowl on his face. You were pretty, which he noticed immediately, but he wasn’t going to let them lull him into a false sense of security. He might have been a flirt but he wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t sure who had taken him in, SHIELD or HYDRA, and Pietro wasn’t sure he trusted either of them. That meant he wasn’t sure if he trusted you since he had no idea what your intentions were.

You swallowed thickly as your gaze turned down toward the floor. You weren't trembling but you looked close to it as you slipped your hands into the front pockets of your jeans. You stayed close to the door, timidly glancing at Pietro before looking away when your eyes met. Clearing your throat, you found your voice. “My name’s (y/n),” you repeated, not sure if he had heard you. Your gaze flitted around the room now to avoid making eye contact. “I’m here to talk.”

Pietro rolled his eyes, his arms still folded across his chest as he let out a sigh. He wasn’t sure he trusted that you were as timid as you seemed. It could have been an act. The fact that you seemed afraid of him annoyed the speedster as well. It wasn’t like he was going to hurt you. “I’m not feeling very talkative,” he bitterly said. “After all it’s hard to want to talk to people who keep me locked away in a cage.”

“Oh …” You looked up and stopped short at the look on Pietro’s face. Your lips curled up in a brief smile, trying to show you were there to help. Your hands fell to your sides and you shook your head. Your face softened as you took a couple of steps away from the door although you still kept some distance between yourself and the speedster. “I … I don’t think that’s what they’re trying to do here, Pietro.”

He watched as you moved toward him, his arms falling to his sides. He was still cautious so he stayed where he was, not wanting to let his guard down too soon. He especially didn’t want to let his guard down to a pretty face only to have it backfire. It was better to keep a bit of cautious optimism for the moment. Pietro wasn’t sure what you were doing there after all. He hoped that if he said as little as possible, you would tell him what he wanted to know. It seemed to be working so far although he wasn’t sure if you were as concerned about him as you appeared to be. He supposed it would be easy enough for someone to fake concern.

You swallowed hard again and took another couple of steps until you were standing at the foot of the bed where Pietro sat. “I can’t help you if you won’t let me,” you softly said, your gaze still locked with his for the moment. You bit her lip and nodded to the bed, finally glancing away from Pietro. “May I sit?”

Pietro silently nodded and watched as you carefully sat down. You seemed like you were both terrified and worried. He wondered which would take precedence, although it seemed like it was going to be your concern for his well-being. He felt his features melt into something less intimidating but he didn’t speak, still not sure he could trust you.

Even if part of him wanted nothing more than to trust you. Pietro knew, in the back of his mind, that he could use a friend.

You sighed, reaching up to tuck some of your hair behind your ear. “I’m sure all of this has been very difficult for you. I don’t doubt that it feels a lot like we’re keeping you here against your will,” you said, nodding your head slightly as you spoke. “I know that you have no reason to trust me but I promise that I won’t lie to you, Pietro. If it was up to me, we’d be having this talk somewhere much more comfortable than this.”

You waited for Pietro to speak and when he didn’t, you let out a nervous laugh. Your eyes roamed his face before you looked at your hands as they rested in your lap. You were too nervous to hold eye contact with him for long. “I don’t have much time but I wanted to introduce myself. I’m going to be coming by every day and I won’t stop trying until you open up to me,” you explained.

You looked up and frowned at the distrust you saw in Pietro’s eyes. “I know how that sounds but I’m not going to try to break you. I’m barely a licensed therapist but that’s why I’m here. I need to evaluate you before they’ll agree that it’s safe to …” You shrugged, gesturing toward the door.

“Before they let me out of my cell.”

You looked up, your eyes widening as you shook your head. “No, Pietro. This isn’t a cell. You’re here for your safety,” you said, your frown deepening. “After what happened, well, no one was sure how you were going to react to being … alive.”

Pietro narrowed his eyes again and sighed, shaking his head. He wasn’t going to let you tell him to trust you and then freely give you that trust. He knew your name but he didn’t know anything else about you. Clearly you knew about him or you wouldn’t have been there. He didn’t like being at a disadvantage like this. If you wanted his trust, you were going to have to earn it.

You bit her lip as Pietro sized you up, your cheeks heating up as you took a deep breath. You glanced toward the door briefly, knowing your time had to be dwindling faster than you would have liked. It wouldn’t be long before someone told you that your time was up and you knew you had barely gotten Pietro to speak to you. When you looked back at him again, you smiled shyly. “We have all of the time in the world. As much time as you need. So tell me how I can win your trust, Pietro.”

Pietro shook his head, shifting his weight as he moved away from you. He didn’t like the feeling of being psychoanalyzed, even if you claimed that you were ‘barely’ a therapist, and he didn’t like that you had piqued his interest. He leaned against the wall at the head of the bed, trying to look disinterested. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me,” you said with a quick shrug. Your voice was gentle and a bit timid. You tried to smile as you watched Pietro process what you were saying, hoping he would believe you. “It matters to my boss and his boss. It matters to a lot of people. If you can’t trust me, I don’t know when they’ll let you out of here. I just want to help get you out of this room and out somewhere that doesn’t feel so stifling.”

Pietro laughed humorlessly, rolling his eyes as he looked away. He wanted to trust you. He wanted to get out of this room because he was tired of staring at these same four walls. The problem was that Pietro didn’t know where to begin so he figured he could keep feigning disinterest until you told him something that made him feel safe with you. You seemed unassuming but it didn’t mean you were. Pietro was well aware of that.

“I’ll come back later and see if you feel more talkative then,” you said with a nod. You slowly stood, pausing as you watched Pietro. Your smile grew a bit as he looked at you but it was still timid. “I think we’re going to get along if you’ll trust me. I think we can help each other actually. You just have to trust me.”

Pietro watched as you walked to the door. He debated for a split second whether or not he should push you aside when the door opened to let you out but he stayed where he was. He was still staring at the door after it closed behind you. He didn’t know if he could trust you but there was something that was telling him to try. Maybe it wouldn’t lead to anything but if he could get out of this place, he knew he couldn’t keep being so stubborn about this for long. Eventually you would stop trying and Pietro wasn’t sure what would happen to him after that.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out either.

#tessie writes #marvel x reader #marvel x y/n #MCU x reader #MCU x y/n #pietro x reader #pietro x y/n #pietro maximoff x reader #pietro maximoff x y/n

91 notes · View notes

teshamerkel · 10 months

Text

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 51]

<< First | < Previous | Next >

AO3 Link

Tobias and Nia lead the crew of the Aqua Jet through the dungeon, fighting their way back home.

With the group's formation for the dungeon officially decided, they quickly fall into a rhythm.

Each time they reach a patch of land the riders separate from the swimmers and line up as instructed. When they reach the next patch of water, they regroup. Tobias keeps a sharp eye out for ferals and directs them the best he can, and Nia follows suit from the back of the party, making sure they don’t get attacked from behind again. Tobias trusts Beck, Nori, and Cordelia to keep an eye out underwater for anything that might be lurking there.

Tobias is just glad that he knows dragon rage, because he’s certainly getting a lot of use out of it. The move wears him out quicker than everything else in his arsenal, but it’s powerful and—most importantly—effective against the many water types they come across.

Considering how quickly everything could’ve gone sideways from the start, Tobias thinks it’s actually going pretty smoothly.

It would be going a lot smoother if Cordelia didn’t insist on attacking every feral they see and dragging the entire group into a fight. Tobias glares at the croconaw the first time she does it. The second time, he hisses for her to leave the ferals alone. After the third fight Cordelia starts for no reason, Tobias shoves past half their group to poke a finger into the croconaw’s chest.

“Would you stop attacking?!”

Cordelia crosses her arms. “This is dangerous territory—you said yourself that we need to keep moving to avoid getting ambushed. We should try to get the jump on them when we can.”

“They don’t need jumped! We need to avoid fights when we can!”

Cordelia doesn’t respond, but the set of her thick jaw and her narrowed eyes speak to how stupid she finds his argument.

Tobias throws up his arms. “Look—with a group this big, and an unknown dungeon? It’s idiotic to attack every ‘mon we see. We need to conserve energy.”

Cordelia growls. “If we don’t attack then they will. I could see that quagsire scheming!“

“He was asleep.”

“That’s what he wanted you to think!”

“Okay, okay, break it up,” Beck cuts in, physically stepping between them. He manages to look calm despite the tension in the air. “Delia? One stubborn ‘mon to another—listen to Tobias. He’s more experienced with navigating mystery dungeons. There’s no reason to go rarin’ for a fight if we don’t need to.”

Tobias shoots Cordelia a smug look under Beck’s arm. She wrinkles her snout.

“Y’know,” Nia cuts in. “I’m sure it’s not helping that we haven’t eaten. Why don’t we make a stop by the next set of stairs for a break?”

“All our food’s on the ship,” Ignatius grumbles.

“We have a few apples packed in our bag,” Tobias sighs. “We’ll have to make do with those.”

When they finally reach the next set of stairs, they make sure the room is clear of ferals before settling down by the exit for a quick getaway to the next floor.

They only have three apples packed to split between the eight of them, but Cordelia slices them into halves with her claws. Tobias gives her a look.

“I don’t need one, and the sableye doesn’t eat fruit. Right?”

The sableye jumps as everyone looks to him, then nods. “I-I’m not hungry anyways.”

Nia gives Cordelia a worried frown. “But won’t you get hungry? You need to keep your strength up.”

“She’s right, y’know,” Ignatius huffs, a cloud of smoke following the breath. “Stubborn girl.”

Cordelia pointedly ignores the torkoal and gets up with a grunt to patrol the hallways leading out of the room. Tobias is about to follow her and stuff his apple half down the stupid captain’s throat when Beck yanks him back down.

“What—“

“Save your breath. Not the first time Delia’s decided to be a martyr for the crew. If we haven’t been able to change her mind, you definitely won’t.”

Tobias wants to argue, but he glances at Cas and Nori, and even they have bitten into their apples with resigned expressions.

“That’s stupid,” Tobias growls, sitting down. He scorches his apple slice with a quick burst of fire before biting into the warmed fruit.

Beck shrugs. “Maybe. But she’s our captain for a reason. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

The apple makes the fatigue lapping at Tobias’ heels a bit less noticeable. They wrap up the snack quickly and move on to the next floor as soon as everyone is finished.

The next three floors are uneventful. Their formation works well for defending the group, and Tobias is grateful that only about half the ferals they run into are water types. His dragon rage is getting a lot more use and he feels himself draining quicker than usual, but he tries to keep moving forward at a steady pace.

They’re crossing another patch of grassy land when Tobias suddenly feels the ground underfoot shift with a distinct click. He looks down, panicked, at the faint square outline of a trap hidden beneath the grass.

Then the world spins and Tobias stumbles as he finds himself at the edge of a waterway notably different from his previous location. Beck, Ignatius, and little Cas stagger into being around him.

The back half of their group is nowhere to be seen.

“Great,” Tobias hisses.

“D-Delia?” Cas squeaks, looking around. He trips closer to Beck, looking up at the floatzel with wide eyes. “Where’d everyone else go?”

Beck looks to Tobias, brow furrowed.

Tobias sighs. “Probably a warp panel. There must be a psychic type on this floor who set it as a trap.”

“So the others..?”

“Should still be on this floor. We’ll just have to find them before moving on.”

Ignatius grumbles about his aching feet. Beck wordlessly scoops the torkoal up to carry him. Cas glues himself to the floatzel’s side.

Tobias nods, then turns to head down the grassy corridor, glad at least that they weren’t dropped into water this time. This is an annoying setback, but as long as they can reunite and keep moving, it’s nothing more.

Beck does a decent job warding off any ferals that approach from behind in Nia's absence, holding his own until Tobias can rush back to fling an ember or slash and take them out.

When they reach the next stretch of water, Beck ferries all three of them across with only a little strain. As soon as they touch shore Tobias hears something familiar.

Voices. The rustle of footsteps through grass, quiet but not as silent as most ferals tend to tread.

Tobias runs, following the noise down the hall, turning a corner and—

“Tobias!” Nia yelps, barely sidestepping him before they collide.

“Nia!” Tobias breathes, eyes flicking over her form before moving over her shoulder. He’s relieved to see her unhurt, but... “What happened to Cordelia and the sableye?”

Only Nori stands behind Nia, the golduck giving him a silent nod. Cas makes an excited chirp and runs to hug her leg.

“Cordelia ran off as soon as she noticed Cas warped somewhere else,” Nia says, giving Beck and Ignatius a strained smile over Tobias’ shoulder. “Carnelian panicked when we got attacked and bolted.”

Tobias curses under his breath. “This is why we don’t take escort missions.”

“Noted,” Nia says, voice edged with nervous laughter.

Another sound in the distance catches everyone’s attention. It sounds like…the rush of a water type move. Battle. It can’t be far.

Tobias and Nia exchange glances before heading for it. When they track down the room it’s coming from, they see Cordelia slamming into a bibarel with a powerful waterfall that knocks him hard into the wall of the dungeon. The bibarel slumps, unconscious.

Cordelia is breathing hard but turns with her formidable teeth bared when she hears footsteps. Then she falters, eyes skimming over the group before locking onto Cas. All at once, the tension outlining her body slackens.

“Oh, thank Kyogre.”

“Delia!” Cas sprints to her as fast as his little legs can carry him. Cordelia scoops him up and tucks him against her neck.

She looks back to the group, gaze skimming once more over each of them. “Just missing the sableye, then.”

Nia nods. “He got spooked. He can’t have gotten too far on his own, though.”

“Let’s hope not,” Cordelia mutters.

“Could just leave him,” Ignatius says, surprisingly casual.

Tobias and Nia both recoil from the suggestion. But where Nia looks horrified, Tobias’ face creases with anger.

“We aren’t leaving anyone!”

“We aren’t leaving the sableye,” Cordelia agrees, voice firm. She gives the torkoal a hard look. Ignatius shrugs, seemingly unbothered.

“Nori and I found the stairs back that way earlier,” Nia says, glancing over her shoulder. “So if we can find Carnelian quickly, we at least know where to go next.”

Tobias follows her gaze, trying to catalogue the general direction for later.

“I made a loop around that way,” Cordelia adds, pointing off in the opposite direction. “Didn’t see the little guy there.”

“He could be on the move,” Tobias mutters. But that still leaves a fourth hallway that no one seems to have traveled down yet. Might as well start there.

“This way. Back into formation,” Tobias says.

The group, clearly more tired than they were just a few floors ago, trudges back into order. Tobias takes a breath, then moves to lead them.

They run into two more ferals in the next few rooms—a parasect and a stunky that, luckily, don’t land any of their poison moves.

Then they hear a shrill, terrified shriek, just down the hall.

Tobias’ head snaps up. He bolts, hearing the rest of the group follow, moving loudly through the brush and puddles.

Tobias rounds the corner into a new room, and quickly takes in the picture in front of him.

They’ve found Carnelian. Unfortunately, the sableye has also found a massive crawdaunt. The large red water type is scarred, clearly an experienced fighter. It has the sableye pinned to the ground with one claw dwarfing his entire body. The other pincer is raised high, ready to finish him.

Type advantage or not, a blow like that could easily kill the frail ghost type. And they aren’t close enough to stop it.

If Nia weren’t at the back of the group, maybe she could use quick attack—

Or if Beck hadn’t frozen behind him with a choked breath—

Or if Tobias could—

If Tobias could—

Tobias wills the tired fire in his belly to burn hotter, desperation stoking it with a single quick breath. He braces himself. Molds his mouth into a whistle rather than the usual open mouthed breath of his ember.

Then he shoots a ball of flames lightning-quick across the room. It hits the crawdaunt in the back of the head and makes it flinch.

Tobias stares, panting, as the crawdaunt whips around with an angry chitter.

Did…did he just learn flame burst?

The crawdaunt abandons the cowering sableye and charges across the room. Tobias runs to meet it, opening up the entrance to the hall so Nia can step in to help.

The crawdaunt lunges, and Tobias rolls out of the way of its pincer. The crater it leaves in the dirt makes his heart skip a beat. They can't let themselves get hit by that.

Tobias darts in to try slashing at the feral. His claws barely scratch the crawdaunt’s tough carapace, almost bouncing off of it.

Tobias curses and steps back. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Beck hurrying over to scoop up Carnelian and carry the sableye out of harm’s way. Good.

The crawdaunt takes a breath and shoots out a jet of scalding water. It clips Tobias on the arm, and he hisses as he darts forward to roll under the crawdaunt’s tan underbelly and out the other side.

He has to use his dragon rage—it’s the only move in his arsenal that will even hurt this thing. But he can feel his dragon type energy running dangerously low, and knows he only has a few shots left. He was hoping to conserve them.

Guess he doesn’t have much of a choice.

Tobias inhales deep and releases a plume of purple flames that—finally—make the crawdaunt falter.

Right after, a blur of blue and black slams into the crawdaunt, right near the golden star topping its head. The force of the quick attack nearly manages to topple the water type, Nia rolling past it and clumsily back to her paws.

“About time,” he huffs.

“Sorry,” she pants. “Was dealing with something else.”

Tobias nods, eyeing the crawdaunt as it steadies itself. The quick attack seemed to do as little as his slash. Its hide must be tough—probably a higher defense than special defense.

“Water type?” Nia calls, dodging a heavy claw.

“Something else, too. Fighting, maybe? Or dark. Can’t remember.”

The crawdaunt is taking turns lunging at one of them and then the other. Tobias dodges and lashes out with a lick of purple flames that makes it stumble.

“It might be weaker to special attacks,” Tobias calls, cashing in on his guess.

Nia grunts as she deflects a claw with her aura staff. “Got it!”

Tobias knocks one of the crawdaunt’s legs out from under it with a swing of his tail, then skips back as it shoots another jet of water his way.

While it’s distracted, Nia forms a ball of aura in her paws and flings it into the crawdaunt’s side. It garbles something angrily and takes another swing at Nia that she barely dodges.

“Tough,” Nia huffs.

“No kidding.”

The two of them dart in and out to fight the water type. Tobias hears battling behind him too, where the rest of the group is, and hopes that Beck, Nori, and Cordelia can handle whatever attacked them. He and Nia have their hands full as is.

Nia finally gets knocked aside by one of the pincers. She wasn’t hit head-on, thankfully, but still hard enough to send her rolling across the grass.

“You all right?” Tobias shouts. He shoots another dragon rage at the crawdaunt, but his flames sputter. He’s almost out. Exhaustion drags heavy at his limbs.

Nia shakes her head, but it’s more of a grounding gesture than a no. She stumbles back to her paws, then braces herself. Tobias can see a glint of something in her eyes, and that makes him nervous.

Before he can worry about it too much, Nia darts forward with another quick attack, slamming hard into the crawdaunt. This time, the crawdaunt is sent skidding back. It’s a notable difference from the first time she hit it.

Tobias pauses, panting, and looks at Nia. The riolu is grinning with a victorious expression. Looks like she figured something out.

When the crawdaunt lumbers back to its feet, it’s visibly unsteady. Finally slowing down.

Nia and Tobias move forward to attack again. They both focus on quick, weaker moves to chip away at it while staying out of range.

Nia is the one to finish it, forming a much larger than usual sphere of bright blue aura in her paws. She shoots it at the crawdaunt, and it explodes against the water type with a flash of light.

The crawdaunt goes down, landing with a heavy rustle in the lush grass.

Tobias takes a moment to be sure it’s knocked out. Then, he slumps to the ground to catch his breath. Nia stumbles over and flops down beside him.

“What,” he gasps. “Was that about?”

Nia laughs. “I figured out work up!”

Tobias blinks. “Really? From Cas?”

Nia nods, grinning.

Tobias snorts. “Cool. I think I learned flame burst.”

“New move buddies!” Nia cheers, falling over completely, clearly exhausted and half-loopy with adrenaline.

Tobias barks a laugh, weakly raising a fist. “New move buddies. Sure.”

Tobias finally remembers that they aren’t alone, and looks over to find the rest of their group. Luckily, they all seem to be in one piece, even if Cordelia is limping a bit and Beck is scuffed and muddy.

“Everyone all right?” Tobias asks.

“This one would be better if she would’ve eaten something,” Beck snorts, giving Cordelia an unimpressed look.

The croconaw curls her lip and gives him a glare in return.

“Carnelian?” Nia asks.

Tobias finally notices the sableye huddled up against the floatzel’s belly and shivering with fear. The ghost type jumps at the question, visibly shaking, but nods.

Cordelia whistles. She’s looking past them, at the crawdaunt they’d downed. “Nice work.”

“Thanks,” Nia huffs, struggling to her feet. She holds out a paw to help Tobias up after her.

He feels exhausted. Utterly drained. What he wouldn’t give to make a nest in the corner of the room and go to sleep right now.

“We’d better keep moving,” he says instead.

Everyone nods, clearly equally fatigued. They get back into order, and Tobias turns their group around to head back the way they came, to where Nia and Nori said they’d seen the stairs.

Tobias tries to avoid battles entirely on the following floors. They’re all tired and they can’t afford any real injuries. All conversation has petered out by this point, everyone just trying to conserve their breath.

They’re on the 19th floor—or maybe the 20th—when Tobias hears a barely-there rustle ahead, and freezes. The line stops behind him.

A little Pokemon stumbles out of the grass, squeaking a hiss when it notices their group. It’s a blue nidoran. A tiny one, no more than a baby. Its eyes are white and mindless, tiny barbs raised with poison.

Tobias can’t look away from the scratch across its side, bleeding sluggishly against pale blue skin. He doesn’t know if it was attacked or just injured by the environment. It wouldn’t take much to hurt something so fragile.

Tobias swallows against a lump in his throat. He has a soft spot for kids, so of course his first instinct is to help. But he can guess how it’ll react in its feral state. How it’ll spit and bite and poison anyone that comes near until it can wriggle free and flee in blind fear.

Could they take the nidoran kit along? Everything in him recoils at the thought of having to knock out a child, and he doesn’t even know when they’ll be able to get to the guild. What if he just makes it worse trying to relocate her?

A louder rustle of brush and a single heavy stomp is their only warning before a much larger, darker blue Pokemon emerges from the brush, towering over even Beck and Nori.

A nidoqueen.

Tobias tenses up now for an entirely different reason. He throws out an arm, hearing everyone behind him hold their breath. The silence is heavy.

The nidoqueen rumbles a low growl that Tobias can feel in his chest. She steps forward to plant herself between them and her child.

They’re at a standstill. Tobias is torn between anxiety that she’ll attack their already weakened group, and relief that the nidoran has anyone to defend her at all. Even relatively mindless, at least feral Pokemon seem to protect their young.

Slowly, the nidoqueen lowers her body. For a heart-stopping moment, Tobias thinks she’s preparing to charge. But then he hears the scratch of tiny claws on hard armor and sees the nidoran climb atop the nidoqueen’s back to settle between her plates. Now that she’s hunched over, Tobias spots a second purple lump already clinging to her: another nidoran.

Tobias wonders if any other kids got lost in this chaos. His chest squeezes.

The nidoqueen rises and turns as if to leave. Tobias steps forward, panicked.

That scratch on the nidoran, it…it’s nothing that would kill the kit on its own, but it’s only been an hour or two since the dungeon started. It could be weeks until their minds clear. What if it gets infected? What if she gets hurt more?

The nidoqueen’s head snaps back to him, thick teeth bared and accompanied by a warning growl.

“Tobias!” He hears Nia whisper-yell.

Tobias lowers his eyes and reaches slowly into their satchel. He feels around until he finds what he’s looking for. Then he crouches, slow. Slow. And gently rolls the oran berry forward so it stops just in front of the nidoqueen.

The nidoqueen hisses, hunching lower and flexing her claws. But then she pauses, sniffing the air. Her blank white gaze flicks down to the blue fruit and back up.

Tobias doesn’t dare move.

The nidoqueen reaches out to snatch the oran berry. She gives it one more sniff before gently biting into it to hold it in her mouth.

She glances at Tobias one more time. Her eyes are still blank, and there isn’t a shred of anything like gratitude or confusion present. Just primal wariness.

But she has the oran berry. Even at a baser level, she probably knows to feed it to her injured kit. It’s the best they can do.

The nidoqueen huffs and continues on through the grass. Her heavy steps quickly fade, and Tobias can feel the tension of the group follow.

Nia, who had apparently snuck closer to stand as Tobias’ backup, sighs. “I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to fight them.”

Tobias nods, trying to put the nidoran kit out of mind. “…Let’s keep moving.”

Nia must be able to tell where his mind is, because she reaches out to squeeze his hand before moving back to the tail of the group.

Tobias is just grateful his partner is enough of a bleeding heart to not get upset about his poor decision to waste their second-last oran berry. She probably would’ve done the same.

Or maybe she’s thinking about the same thing Tobias is. Thinking about how all of these Pokemon are only endangered because of the weakening dimensional border. How it’s only going to get worse from here. If that nidoran survives her time in the dungeon, she’ll die all the same if the border breaks entirely.

Tobias blows out a breath. Then, he forces his feet forward. He doesn’t have time to think about this right now.

Tobias enters an exhausted haze after that encounter. He still tries to pay attention as he leads the group through the dungeon, but he knows he isn’t as alert as usual, and they’re only 20 or so floors in. He tries not to think about what they’ll do if this dungeon is a freak incident and is a hundred floors deep. How they’ll survive. He tries not to think much at all, to conserve mental energy.

Once or twice, Beck and Nori step in when they run into another feral. Tobias knows he must look dead on his feet for them to do so, but he can’t find it in himself to be upset about the help. He’s stubborn, but not a total idiot.

He is enough of an idiot to not even realize they’re out of the dungeon at first.

He just starts walking after they warp, picking a direction. It takes a solid ten steps before he realizes he isn’t in a room, or a corridor. Half-convinced he’s hallucinating, Tobias blinks and looks behind him.

Everyone else seems similarly baffled, looking around with wide eyes. But no, the forest around them is open and unstructured. Natural. Tobias can hear the dull roar of the river nearby.

“Are…are we out?” Cas asks.

There’s a heavy silence before Nori nods.

Nearly all of them slump to the leaf-littered ground, a collective breath of tension leaving them. Tobias tilts his head back against the closest tree and just. Takes a moment.

They made it. He and Nia got the group through the dungeon safely. He didn’t realize how much pressure he’d felt to do so until it was lifted.

After what seems like barely a minute but is likely longer, Cordelia suggests they head back to the river.

“It’ll be the best way to navigate our way north,” she adds once she sees Tobias’ doubtful look. “We follow the river upstream, and we find civilization.”

Tobias, unfortunately, can’t argue with that. With a groan, he drags himself to his feet and trudges through the greenery of the forest beside Nia. Cordelia, even hungry and sporting a limp, can take charge out here. He’s too tired to fight her for the leadership position.

When they get to the river itself, all of the water types relax at the sight of the familiar waterway. As they take another moment to recharge, Cordelia crosses her arms with a thoughtful sound.

“What?” Nia asks.

“Just thinking.” The croconaw turns her head to scan Nori and Beck. “How’re you two feeling?”

Beck straightens. “All right. Little tired.”

Nori just gives her a nod.

Cordelia looks back out over the water. “The river is still high here, but it’s a bit calmer. How do we feel about swimming it?”

Tobias feels his face pale. “Swimming it?”

Cordelia snorts. “Not you, of course. We’d carry you, like we did in the dungeon.”

Tobias doesn’t feel very comfortable with the idea. Or comfortable at all. Whereas the water in the dungeon was relatively calm, this river is still surging quick and frothy and strong. He falls into that and he’s almost definitely dead unless one of the water types rescue him.

“We trusted you to cover us in the dungeon,” Cordelia says, voice confident but not antagonistic for once. “Trust us to get you back north.”

Tobias swallows. “Why can’t we just walk?”

“We could,” Cordelia snorts. “But we’d be moving twice as slow. And using more energy to boot, walking up and down the slopes and around brambles.”

“What about the boat?” Cas asks, voice small.

Cordelia sighs, ruffling the quaxly’s blue head feathers. “We’ll have to wait for the dungeon to pass and hope it makes it out in one piece. Nothing we can do about it as is.”

“Delia has a point,” Beck cuts in. “Water travel would be easier and quicker.”

“Really?” Nia asks. “Even if you have to swim with us on your back?”

“Yup,” Beck says with a wink. “We’re made for the water. We’ll just have to take breaks every few hours.”

“Nori?” Cordelia checks.

“I’m fine with that,” Nori says, quiet as usual.

Nia glances at Tobias, as if to question if he’s all right with this plan. He isn’t, and he knows that if he insisted on walking Nia would stick with him. The whole crew probably would, honestly, but it’s objectively the worse decision.

“Fine,” he mutters. “You’d better not drop me, though.”

“Or me,” Ignatius huffs.

Oh, right. Tobias is perversely glad that there’s at least one other fire type dealing with this less-than-ideal situation.

They move back into a similar formation as the one they used in the dungeon. Cas, of course, hops on Cordelia’s shoulder. Nia, Tobias, and Carnelian go with Beck. Ignatius, heavier than the three of them combined, crawls onto Nori’s back.

Then, with one last look around and an instruction to call for a break as soon as needed, they’re ready to go.

Cordelia leads the way, slipping silently into the dull roar of the river. Nori follows, Ignatius crouched low against her blue feathers.

Beck slinks into the water after them, cutting easily through the current. His tails spin and his body weaves gently side-to-side, and if Tobias didn’t feel so on-edge he’d admire how smoothly Beck is navigating such rough waters.

As is, Tobias scoots closer to the middle of Beck’s back, tail curled tightly around his middle. The water is so close, barely below the level he’s sitting on. Every few seconds, the river sprays high enough to mist painfully against Tobias’ skin.

“Here,” Nia says, offering Tobias his poncho from their satchel. He didn’t even hear her rustling through it.

“Thanks,” Tobias murmurs, pulling the leafy green garment over his head. While his heart slams against his chest still at the closeness of the water, he’s relieved to have the burning cool spray of the river gone.

Nia settles in, pressed against his side. Carnelian sits closer to Beck’s tails, curled around his backpack and dead silent.

“All right?” Nia whispers.

Tobias jerks a nod. He’s as all right as he’s going to get. At least it’s getting close to evening, so they probably won’t be able to travel too long before stopping for the night.

Nia reluctantly leaves Tobias alone to check on Carnelian. The sableye jumps when Nia addresses him, but nods as she asks if he’s all right.

“You didn’t get hurt earlier?”

Carnelian hesitates.

Nia frowns. “What hurts?”

Carnelian shakes his head. “I-I’m okay, I just—just a bit bruised. When I breathe.”

Nia glances at Tobias, concern clear on her face.

Tobias sighs but reaches into their satchel and pulls out the last oran berry to hand over.

“Will this help?” Nia asks, voice soft. “Or can you not eat it?”

Carnelian is surprised enough to actually meet Nia’s eyes with his own creepy gemstone ones. “I-I can eat it, but…I couldn’t take your berry—“

“We want you to have it,” Nia presses. “If it hurts to breathe, that means something’s wrong. Please?”

Carnelian crumbles under the riolu’s sad expression. Not that Tobias can blame him.

The sableye reaches out to take the oran berry with shaky claws, glancing at Nia and then Tobias once more before eating it in two large bites. Immediately after, Tobias can see a bit of the wire-sharp tension loosen from the ghost type’s posture.

“Thank you,” Carnelian says.

“No problem,” Nia returns, smiling warmly. “So it did help, right?”

“Y-Yes. Berries don’t have all the daily nutrients sableye need, since minerals are the main part of our diet. But the healing properties still work.”

“Cool!” Nia says, smiling earnestly. Tobias could guess that she has a hundred follow-up questions that she’s only holding back for the sake of Carnelian’s nervous nature.

The sableye gives her a shaky smile in return before looking away.

Tobias snorts and looks back out over the river. If he wasn’t so terrified of falling into the swift current, he could see how traveling upstream like this could actually be…relaxing. In the late afternoon sun, between the white currents, the river shimmers with reflected bits of light. The trees on either side of the river cast long shadows, a warped mirror of the forest landscape. The dull roar of the water is constant enough to fade to something almost soothing.

Tobias can’t fully relax, but his tense muscles do loosen to something less stiff. As he starts to check back into the Pokemon around him, he notices Nia casting Beck hesitant looks. Every minute or so, her gaze moves back to his head, where his snout is half-submerged in the water. Her mouth opens then closes, as if to say something.

Finally, she speaks aloud. “Hey, Beck?”

The floatzel lifts his head to look back at them over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Don’t see why not! We certainly have the time.”

Nia smiles at the comment, but she’s clearly distracted. She takes a few moments to gather her thoughts, dipping her paw into the water. “Earlier, when you got hit in the dungeon, you called me Hazel.”

Beck looks surprised at that, his smooth swimming stalling before picking up again. “Oh. Well, apologies for that! Hazel’s my mate, y’see. And you…remind me of her quite a bit.”

“I’m not upset or anything,” Nia says, waving her paws in front of her. “If anything I’m flattered. But I just…” Nia trails off, frowning. She’s clearly weighing a question in her mind.

“You said you live up north, closer to the guild,” Nia finally blurts. “Would you happen to live in Afon’s Cap?”

For the second time, Beck’s swimming falters as he blinks back at Nia, clearly surprised. “…That I do.”

That seems to be all the confirmation Nia needs. She beams, leaning forward into Beck’s space. “Then that means—are you Hazel’s husband? The raichu? Your daughter’s a pikachu named Margot, right? A-And your grandkids are Tommy and Theo?”

Beck grins back, equally delighted. “You know my family? How wonderful! How did you meet them?!”

Tobias would like to know, too, giving Nia a perplexed look. She said Afon’s Cap, right? When they went there, it was before they really restarted their team, when he was still being a major jerk.

Funny, how that feels like so long ago now.

Nia wanted to go there so bad to look for someone, a former human, and—

Hazel. Her name was Hazel. The psychic type raichu that Nia mailed a letter to asking for a human bed! Of course!

“Yeah! I went looking for her because—“

Tobias elbows Nia, and gives a pointed nod behind them at Carnelian’s quiet presence.

Nia falters, but then says, “W-Well, I wanted to ask her some questions. Advice, really. I’m from the same place she is!”

Beck’s eyes widen as he catches her meaning. “I had a feeling that was the case after you shook my paw so quickly! Picked up that fun little habit from Hazel.”

Nia giggles. Tobias vaguely recalls staring stupidly at Beck’s outstretched paw when they first met.

“She mentioned meeting a—“ Beck glances past them, at Carnelian. “A sweet young Pokemon looking for advice, but I never thought it would be you. What a coincidence! I can’t wait to tell her—she’ll be thrilled to know you’re out saving wayward crews like ours.”

“Tell her I said hi! Oh, and that Tobias and I worked out our issues!”

Tobias flushes at that comment, especially when Beck raises a wry brow in his direction.

“Ah, the troublemaking partner. You put Hazel in quite the mood for days, according to Mar.”

“Sorry,” Tobias huffs, sounding more petulant than repentant. He looks away, embarrassed.

Thankfully, Beck just chuckles and looks back to Nia. “You all come down and visit when you find the time, all right? The girls and my grandkids could always use more friends from outside the Cap.”

Nia, of course, seems thrilled at the thought, already chattering away about it. Tobias doesn’t say anything, instead turning his head to watch the river and the forested shoreline drift by in the approaching dusk.

It’s getting too dark for the water Pokemon to see properly in the water when they decide to pull off to shore. Beck drags himself onto the sandy riverside and collapses there.

Nia scrambles off his back to crouch by his head. “Are you okay?”

“Just tired,” he soothes, yawning.

Nia sits back, relieved, and watches Cordelia and Nori pull themselves onto land with equally fatigued movements.

“We’ll go look for food and wood to start a fire while you three catch your breath,” Tobias says.

Beck raises a paw to give her a thumbs-up. Nia laughs at the gesture and moves towards the treeline, beckoning Tobias after her.

“Can I come too?“ Cas asks, fluttering on their heels.

“Sure!”

“Well I’m stayin’ here,” Ignatius says, settling into the sand.

Tobias rolls his eyes, but grabs their satchel from where it had slipped off his shoulder. A few of their items spill out, and Tobias groans, probably more dramatically than he needs to.

Nia snickers. “Calm down. I’ve got it.”

She crouches to scoop up their wayward items, but pauses once she grabs one of their badges.

“What?” Tobias asks.

Nia doesn’t answer, but she does click their badge on. Tobias bends to see what’s caught her attention.

Oh. They’re in range of the guild now.

“Does that mean..?” Nia starts.

Tobias grins, feeling a relieved sort of exhaustion fall over him. He snatches the badge to look closer. Just to make sure.

They must’ve traveled farther north through that dungeon than they’d thought. They’re finally close enough to the guild for the psychics’ range to reach them.

“Hey!” Tobias calls, looking over at Cordelia’s crew.

The croconaw lifts her head, annoyed. “I thought you were going to find food.”

Tobias wiggles the badge in his hand. “We’ll do you one better. Anyone want a lift to the guild?”

That catches everyone’s attention.

“We’re close enough?” Nori asks.

Nia nods.

“Then what are you waiting for?!” Cordelia says. “Get over here!”

Even Tobias can’t find it in himself to get irritated with the croconaw. Not after the day they’ve had. Everyone gathers close together on the beach as Tobias and Nia prepare their badges to send out a pick-up request.

“All right. Ready?” Tobias asks.

"Make sure you’re touching one of us,” Nia adds. “Or each other. As long as there’s some connection, you should be fine.”

Tobias feels Nori’s cool, webbed hand land on his shoulder and Cas’ feathers against his leg. On three, Tobias and Nia send out their pickup request. The badge in Tobias’ hand glows, and he tightens his grip.

Then, in a flash of golden light, Tobias feels the familiar vertigo of psychic warping.

In an instant they’re back in a familiar room lit by the blue crystals from below the guild. The uneven wooden flooring underfoot is familiar, and the treelike architecture around them even more so.

A pair of abra look surprised to see them, staring at the extra six Pokemon they’ve brought along.

The left abra slumps, voice dry. “That explains the extra weight.”

The right one sighs. “Next time, please alert us if you’re bringing tagalongs.”

“Sorry,” Nia says, sheepish. “Actually, can you, um…show me how to do that?”

While the right abra does so, pointing at Nia’s badge with a claw, Tobias scans their party to make sure everyone made the journey. They did, and the other abra is already going through the usual guest spiel of marking down everyone’s names and species for the records, as well as telling Cordelia where to find the cafeteria and guest quarters.

For the first time since this morning, Tobias feels himself truly relax. Almost immediately, a wave of exhaustion follows. He cannot wait to go to sleep. And in their own soft nest! They haven’t been home in over a week, and there’s nothing like sleeping in your own nest.

When their group finally departs from the psychics’ quarters, they’re in high spirits. Cordelia is running her maw about food and Beck is laughing in response. Cas is looking around with wide eyes, and even Nori and Ignatius, the quietest of the crew, seem at ease.

“So,” Cordelia says, hands on her hips. “Riolu. Charmander. We don’t exactly have much to give you in thanks, considering the Aqua Jet is stranded at the moment. What say we waive your travel fee and let your guildmaster know you two deserve a heap of Seeker points or whatever your reward system is?”

Tobias snorts. Not a great deal, but better than nothing, he supposes. “Fine.”

“Are you heading out right away?” Nia asks, ears lowering.

Beck smiles and reaches out to put a paw on her head. “We’ll stay the night, but then we’ll probably head south. If we’ve gotta stick around somewhere for a few weeks to wait for the dungeon to pass, I want to see my family.”

“And we can at least take odd jobs around Afon’s Cap to earn some cash,” Cordelia adds.

“You’re welcome to join us if you’d like,” Beck offers.

Tobias can see that Nia wants to accept, but she shakes her head. “I…we have somewhere we need to be, unfortunately. Say hi to Hazel and everyone for me?”

Beck’s smile droops, but he doesn’t argue. “Will do. Just make sure you come visit in the future, all right? Hazel would love to talk to you again.”

Nia nods, brightening. “Of course! As soon as we can.”

“Good kid,” Beck says, pulling Nia into a hug. She goes willingly, burying her face in the floatzel’s fluffy chest.

When they part, Nia wipes at her eyes. “Are you sure you’ll be able to make it to Afon’s Cap all right on your own?”

Cordelia snorts. “We ain’t helpless, believe it or not. We’ll get directions and be just fine. It’s not far from here.”

“Thank you again,” Nori says, quiet voice commanding everyone’s attention. She offers them the barest hint of a smile. “For guiding us through the dungeon, and for the company.”

Cas gives them each a hug as well before the crew of the Aqua Jet heads off down the hall, waving their goodbyes and thanks.

“Come find us if you’re ever dying to get back on the water, Charmander!” Cordelia shouts.

Tobias rolls his eyes and turns back to Nia—

Only to realize that there’s still someone here, waiting for them to notice him.

“Oh!” Nia sniffs, wiping the last of tears out of her eyes. “Hey, Carnelian. Do you need something?”

Carnelian shuffles his feet and tugs at his backpack straps. Finally, he says, “Th-Thank you. For protecting me back in the dungeon.”

Nia exchanges a surprised look with Tobias. “Of course! It was no problem.”

“All part of the job,” Tobias adds.

Tobias is surprised when Carnelian shakes his head, voice adamant enough to lose its constant tremor. “No. To many, it’s not. Not for a ghost. I didn’t even hire you.”

Oh. Tobias gets what he means now, and suddenly he feels a hot bloom of shame in his chest for how suspicious and annoyed he’d felt about sableye for the first half of their trip. Ignatius’ lackadaisical suggestion to ditch the sableye in the dungeon comes back to him.

Nia’s ears pin, her eyes wide. “…I’m sorry. That you’ve, um…dealt with that before.”

Carnelian shakes his head, but his voice is back to its usual shaky warble. “I-I just wanted to thank you. And say that I don’t have much to offer, b-but if you ever need anything you think I can assist with, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Nia smiles. “Well, thank you. We appreciate it. Beck mentioned you’re working up north?”

Carnelian nods, something almost like excitement lifting his head. “Yes! I-I’m something of a researcher of rocks and minerals. I was called in to analyze unusual crystal formations found under the Silenfroar Mountains. I should be there for at least a few months.”

“If we ever need to, uh…learn about rocks? Then we’ll keep you in mind,” Tobias says.

Nia elbows him for his awkward statement, and he gives her a pointed shrug. He wasn’t even trying to be snarky!

Nia gives Carnelian a smile. “We appreciate it, really. Safe travels north!”

Carnelian nods, a weak smile flickering across his face. Then he scurries off towards the guest quarters after the crew.

“He’s sweet,” Nia coos.

Tobias rolls his eyes. “He’s fine. A little nerdy.”

“I’m a little nerdy,” Nia counters, giving him a playful glare.

“Yeah, you are. Now. What first? Food? Sleep?”

Nia looks thoughtful. “…Maggie?”

Tobias stops. Thinks of his adoptive mother’s warm smile and relaxing scent. “Maggie. Definitely Maggie.”

The two of them move to take the stairs up to the medicinal floor, slowly for the sake of their exhausted bodies.

“You think she’d let us crash in her room tonight? Oh, but I guess Sage has our alcove now…”

Tobias scoffs. “Forget the alcove. Maggie would be thrilled if we camped out right next to her.”

Nia beams, picking up her pace for the next few steps and bouncing ahead. “Sleepover!”

“Only if she has food. No way am I going all the way down to the cafeteria and back up again.”

“When doesn’t Maggie have food?”

Tobias’ mouth twitches with a smile. “Fair point.”

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #floatzel #riolu #pmd seekers of soul #tesha writes #tesha draws

112 notes · View notes

likesunsetorange · 5 days

Text

bodyguard au snippet

i had posted part of this scene before but i changed some of it lol and here’s just an extended part overall!!! honestly i really just love mikasa in this au so much like she’s just so funny lmao

“I think we have some things we need to talk about,” a voice that would be sweet if it wasn’t so clearly filled with anger calls out, sending a slew of chills down Eren’s spine. He turns towards the kitchen where her voice came from, the image of her smaller frame greeting him, discontent apparent on her face.

“Umm… Sure… What did you want to talk about?” He hates how there’s so much uncertainty in his voice, but he doesn’t know how to act around her. Is he supposed to feel guilty? Is he supposed to be stern? Is he supposed to try and be her friend?

If she wants to come off intimidating, she’s doing a good job, making no effort to give off friendly smiles or warm, compassionate glimpses—her stare is icy and steely, and she leaves no room for small talk, immediately jumping into the matter. “Let’s not play stupid here—I’m gonna assume you’ve put two and two together and realized I’m pissed off at my parents. But more importantly, you want this job for whatever reason, and I want you gone,” she says candidly. “It seems there’s a very simple solution to both of our issues here—whatever my parents are paying you, I’ll double it. And you can go back to that sad little Garden State of yours, and we’ll both be happy.”

The limits of an Ackerman truly know no bounds, just as Kenny had said, proven by Mikasa merely a few hours after their initial meeting. Eren sits bewildered, unsure of how to handle her proposition, knowing he obviously can’t accept her offer, but inciting more rage into her would only make matters worse.

“I was told by Levi and Kenny that you might try and bribe me…” His voice trails off, watching as Mikasa eyes him intently, waiting for him to finish the remainder of his sentence. “And they also told me to be sure and ignore you.”

The grey of her eye is covered by the way it physically twitches at his words. If Eren’s striving to neutralize the situation, he’s failing horribly. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to win in this scenario.

“Of course they would fucking tell you that,” she says, rolling her eyes. Mikasa lets out a sigh, drumming her freshly manicured fingers against the granite, her mind turning—Eren clearly derailing her plans. After a few beats, she clasps her hands together before leaning forward onto the island. “Fine. If you’re here to stay, then let’s get a few things straight, Eren,” the emphasis on his name apparent, plush lips omitting the “N” at the end—something that might’ve been endearing if she didn’t sound so indignant. “We’re not going to be friends—let’s get that clear.”

With Mikasa, it’s clear Eren needs to stand his ground; he can’t falter under unrelenting stares and callous words. So he chooses not to waver, forcing himself to pocket whatever remnants of hesitation or nervous energy that linger. “I expected as much. And you don’t seem like the… friendly type, anyways,” he shrugs, attempting to maintain his usual apathetic demeanor, which for reasons he can’t explain, seems to feel like a foreign concept ever since he’s arrived in New York. “I’m only here to do my job, after all, aren’t I?”

“I’m actually very friendly, just don’t expect me to be friendly to you.” He finds humor in how her voice sounds the exact opposite of the words she speaks. “But anyways, if you’re going to be living in my house, we need to get some things straight here.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one setting rules for you?”

“What rules do I need to follow? You follow me around all day whenever I decide to leave the house, I guess I try not to get into trouble for the sake of my parents , and you lock yourself in the guest room every other hour of the day. Simple as that,” Mikasa says matter-of-factly.

A silence settles over the two of them—on Eren’s end, it’s due to her sheer audacity, mostly because he’s not sure if she’s actually being serious, and on Mikasa’s end, because she expects him to actually agree, awaiting his nod of approval.

Realizing she’s awaiting an approval she won’t get, Mikasa relents. “Fine. You don’t have to lock yourself in the room all day—do as you wish I guess,” she says, releasing a huff. “But this brings me back to things we need to discuss.”

#eremika #bodyguard au #vic’s wips

13 notes · View notes

bastetwastaken · 7 months

Note

I'd like puzzleshipping #2 and hope you're doing wonderfully!

Hey! Hi!

I'm so sorry this has taken so long for me to get around to and I really hope it was worth the wait. I'm doing good, getting through, I've just been struggling to find any time to write properly since work has been so busy but anyway!!

I hope this little Ancient Egypt AU, a little fill in your own plot type thing, finds you well <3 <3

2- "Stay your hand soldier, I'd like to keep this one."

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

Usually his days as Pharaoh were dull, endless issue after issue with seemingly no end in sight but today….today was shaping up to be very different indeed and that was all because of the man kneeling on the floor of his hall restrained by two of his guards.

He shifted on his throne, leaning on one arm, hand propped under his chin as he looked over the situation he’d been presented with. The case was clear…or it should be. The man was caught trying to gain access to the palace, it should be assumed he meant Atem harm and he should be dealt with accordingly.

Yet he was struggling to shake the feeling that something about the man before him was familiar.

There was an energy around him which Atem felt he knew, and he looked closely at him. He took in the wild unkempt dark hair, the clothes which fit him so poorly, a face weathered by sun and sand… then he saw it.

Those eyes. He could never mistake them.

He brought a hand to his mouth in an effort to hide his amused smirk by looking thoughtful. He even hummed and forced a frown to add to the act.

The man on the floor shifted and the guard to his right raised his hand as if to strike him but Atem reacted first.

"Stay your hand soldier, I think I'll keep this one." He said, making sure his voice was strong.

The guard shot him a worried look but quickly bowed his head in agreement when Atem glared at him. He didn’t care what his men thought he wanted with the supposed assassin, all he cared was that he got him away from them as fast as possible.

He knew the man on his knees had caught his intention when their eyes met and he saw the smugness in them, the subtle change in him.

It took every ounce of restraint to refrain from laughing in front of his guards but he managed a command to have the man taken to his chambers.

He couldn’t follow immediately, but it wouldn’t be long before he would be satisfied with the knowledge that he was right about his identity. He caught the smile on the man's face as he was pulled to his feet and escorted from the room though and for now, that would have to do.

—---

He wasn’t surprised to find him standing freely in his room when he opened the door, not surprised to see the chains which had held him sitting uselessly in a pile on the floor, not surprised that he seemed so comfortable in this space rather than fearful of what may happen next.

The man turned to him as he stepped into the room, a smirk on his borrowed face and Atem fought the urge to laugh just long enough to dismiss his guard.

“You can drop the act.” Atem said as the door closed behind him. “It’s just you and me now.”

The glamour fell away before his eyes, leaving Yugi’s familiar face looking back at him, a smile tugged at full looking lips and Atems breath caught in his throat. How long had it been this time? Too long, that was for certain.

“One of these days I’ll manage to trick you as easily as I do your guard.” Yugi teased.

He laughed and shook his head.

"You know, if you wanted to see me so badly, you should have used the amulet I gave you." He said with a sly smile. “No need to get yourself arrested to gain an audience with me.”

Yugi shrugged and casually leaned back against the table behind him.

"I wanted to test the security of this pretty cage they keep you in." Yugi told him.

He ignored the term Yugi used. He knew the others' thoughts well enough by now. Knew how he viewed his lifestyle and everything that came along with it, even though he had once been a part of it.

The worst part was that he didn't disagree.

“How many of my guards did you harm this time?” He asked with a sigh as he walked over to the smaller table between them, peering into the jug there and thankfully finding it full.

“None.” Yugi shrugged and threw him a wink when he glanced up. “I know you don’t like me hurting them, and as much as I hate to admit it, they do keep you safe.”

“Wait, you actually did as I asked?” He said, feigning shock as he poured the liquid into two gilded cups.

“You say that as if I never took orders from you before.” Yugi laughed. “You forget that you always outranked me.”

He hummed as he picked up the now full cups.

"One of these days my guards may not be so kind to you." He said as he walked closer, holding out a cup to his lover.

"Why would I be afraid of that…" Yugi paused and took a cup, smiling sweetly at him. "When I know you'll protect me."

He sighed quietly then sipped his wine. He knew he would never truly get Yugi to understand the risks of their…relationship, even if the words he was speaking were true.

"I would try to, yes." He said softly. “But you know the position you put me in each time you attempt one of these stunts.”

Yugi laughed, shooting him a confident smile as his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“I could put you in more fun positions, I’m sure.” Yugi told him, eyes dropping to move over his body.

“I don’t doubt that.” He replied, laughing softly as he stepped closer.

"Seriously though, you act as if anyone would dare speak against a living god." Yugi said. "The embodiment of Horus himself. The figurehead of society. The man who drove away the army from the South with the power of the gods themselves. The man we all owe our lives to."

"You speak against me." He said curiously, watching as Yugi rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the table behind him so they were even closer.

"No." Yugi shook his head and downed the rest of the cup Atem had given him, placing it gently behind him. "I speak against what you stand for. I do not speak against you."

"But what I stand for is all I am." Atem said.

"For someone so educated, you can be frustratingly dim." Yugi laughed.

"Well then, wise one, feel free to enlighten me."

"You may wear the crown, carry the symbols of the dynasty on your person and have your name carved on stone among the Pharaohs before you but you are not just this." Yugi said. "You may have the title of Pharaoh, but that is not all you are."

He said nothing but stepped closer, their chests almost touching as he moved to place his cup with Yugis on the table.

"How about the man who loves cats more than people? The man who hates spiders. Who is ticklish under his arms. Who has the voice of an angel but never sings loud enough for anyone but me to hear...who loves so loudly it is a wonder no one has noticed yet that you have fallen for a common outlaw."

"I would hardly call you that." He said with a smirk, Yugi's words brought butterflies to his stomach.

"Ah, well." Yugi waved a hand at him. "Perhaps notorious is better?"

"You're the most wanted man in all of Egypt." Atem laughed. "I think legendary would suit."

"Legends are what we become once we leave this world." Yugi said, placing a hand against his chest and smiling sadly. "We can't all be gods after all."

"Would you want to be?" He asked, leaning closer, his eyes moving down to kissable lips.

"Oh, most definitely not." Yugi laughed, the hand on his chest moved to cup his cheek. "I see how you suffer."

"You know me." He said quietly. He felt Yugi's hand push up into his hair, taking the crown he wore with it as it left him. "Me. Not the Pharaoh, not the man I have to be for the people."

"I do know you." Yugi said softly, tossing the crown onto the table behind them. "And I know what we can never be."

"I-" A finger was pressed to his lips as Yugi looked back at him sadly.

"We both know that we can't." Yugi said. "It doesn't matter what you tell them, what you say or do…they will not accept me."

"I wish it were different." He sighed. Yugi's hands moved to the back of his neck, easily unclasping the golden collar he wore and gently pulling it away, taking the various amulets attached to it off his collarbones and leaving his chest feeling lighter.

Yugi smiled sadly as the jewellery joined his crown behind them. Atem knew he missed his old life, although he would never admit it. He knew he wished that the events of the past never happened…that a certain item had never come into their lives.

"As do I." Yugi whispered.

He took the hint, followed the pull of Yugi's hands in his hair and pressed their lips together in a sweet kiss he’d dreamed about ever since their last meeting. Their complicated history never seemed to matter when Yugi pulled him closer, when his hands found their way under weathered clothing to rest against soft skin warmed by the heat of the day, when they fell into his bed and lost themselves…

—-----

"One day you will be caught for real." He said, rolling onto his side to look at his lover laying on his back next to him. "Then what will you do?"

"I'll know when the moment arrives." Yugi shrugged.

"Spoken like a true rogue." He teased.

"My ways have served me well thus far." Yugi said, then he smirked and held up the pendant he always wore around his neck. "I suppose carrying the power of a god helps matters."

"You'd better not be using that for nefarious purposes." He said as he moved closer, wrapping an arm around Yugi and pulling him closer.

"Me?" Yugi laughed. "Now would I do that?"

"Do not take me for a fool." He said, dipping his head to place a kiss on Yugi's shoulder.

"Never." Yugi sighed happily and melted into his hold.

"The guards are none the wiser yet?" He asked.

"No." Yugi’s voice was full of pride. "I must admit, I thought you kept better staff, but they seem completely unaware of even the simplest enchantment…"

"Magic is not their strong point." He said dismissively. “But I thought you would be glad of that.”

He listened to Yugi's soft laugh as he placed more kisses on his skin.

He may be a noble turned outlaw, possibly the most wanted man in the entirety of his kingdom, but he was no threat to him. They’d known each other for way too long, they were too close.

Only he understood the reasons Yugi had left his previous life, only he knew just how that escape went because he was there.

He’d been the one who fought off the people who wanted to hurt Yugi, the one who had hidden Yugi from sight, the one who had helped him make a place for himself away from the city and those who wished him dead.

Atem would have joined him had he not been thrown into power so soon afterwards.

He knew Yugi wanted him to join him, to run away with him and leave this life behind…but he also understood just why Atem had to stay.

They both did.

The darkness which loomed over their world wouldn’t ever be defeated if Atem left. He was pretty sure that his secret rituals were the only thing keeping the monster at bay.

Yugi knew that too.

Just as he knew that Yugi would have to leave shortly, Atem would have to let his guards take him to the cells below the palace, and he’d have to act just as shocked as he always did when the report came of Yugi's escape.

Then he’d have to wait with the uncertainty of not knowing when Yugi would return…if he’d return…but that was a problem for the future.

#puzzleshipping #fanfic #atem #yugi mutou #ygo dm #fanfiction #no I will not be taking feedback about historical accuracy this is a fanfic not a history exam k thx bye

22 notes · View notes

reclusiverisottonero · 1 year

Text

🌧 Rain Can Only Heal So Much 🌧 Ao3 Link

⤷ Risotto/GN!Reader, 1.5k words

Notes/Warnings:

⤷ SFW, cuddling, kissing, mentions of depression, sleep deprivation ⤷ This work was written exclusively with myself in mind, no pronouns or descriptions of body type mentioned, but there might be some references to other physical attributes or other subjects that will not match up with everyone and their experiences. Do not read if this will be an issue for you, thank you.

Risotto's been negligent, and you've been sleep deprived.

For as much of a light sleeper as you are, as fast as your mind races in the dead of night down a spiral of existential dread, the sound of rain hitting the windows of your little flat is one of the few things that calms you enough to block it all out. Brings you a sense of peace for reasons you can’t explain but happily accept. Anything to help get you into a headspace that will have you get some real sleep, no matter how short that sleep might be.

The other thing that helps is Risotto, who’s enjoying the soft pitter-patter of the rain as well. Or maybe the content expression on his face is because he’s here lying in bed with you.

It was easier than you’d thought it would be this time to get him to stop his work early (much earlier, by his standards anyway) and join you in this thick cocoon of blankets and soft pillows. At first he refused, like he always does when urged to get some sleep any earlier than midnight. You’re tired though, so goddamn tired, that you didn’t even bother to argue back like you usually do. Instead you pressed at the dark bags of your swollen eyes, and uttered I sleep better when I’m with you, while trying not to sound as pathetic as you felt for saying it. At the tone of those words his attention had immediately snapped up from his workload to look at you, truly look at you, and any rebuttal he had formed evaporated at the sight.

There’s a strange buzzing going in and out of the sleep-clouded haze of your mind, a heavy, loud sound that’s growing with every exhale. You stir slightly, tightening the grip you have around Risotto’s waist and letting out an annoyed grunt when you hear it again. The buzzing ignores your grumbling, and when your breath hitches hard in the back of your throat in a coughing sputter that’s when you realize the noise is coming from you. It’s your snoring, so loud and hard that you’ve woken yourself up, and probably Risotto as well.

Said man’s arm is like solid metal resting warm around you, holding you carefully against his side as you return to consciousness with a harsh jolt. The deep chuckle you can feel reverberating through his body and into your ear pressing on his flank makes a pleasant shiver run down your spine.

“Oh fuck, Risotto, why didn’t you wake me earlier?” You moan out in embarrassment, turning a little to bury your face into said man’s side.

“You needed the rest.” He replies in low tones, just enough for you to hear.

“Ugh,” Is your witty comeback. “I didn't wake you up, did I?” You attempt to sit up, but Risotto’s hold is unwavering and you don’t have the energy to fight back. The drumming of the rain and distant rolls of thunder are close to pulling you back under when he finally pulls away, turning over on his side and together you both shimmy around to adjust for the height difference until you're properly looking at one another.

Risotto’s hand rests against the curve of your cheek with a delicacy that makes your heart swell and eyes tear up, “I’ve been awake for a little while,” He begins, quickly amending when your face twists in horror, “but not because of you, I promise.”

Biting your lip hard enough to peel back the chapped skin you nod. Risotto rarely likes to make promises. His anxieties at being capable of following through or being seen as genuine hold him back from making them more often.

“What time is it?” The curtains in your room are blackout ones, with the blinds also drawn down tight to keep even the most stubborn of light from the outside from peeking through. Beyond them, the rain continues its steady beat with the sound getting stronger as the seconds tick by.

Here in the darkness Risotto’s eyes are something ethereal to behold. Their soft, warm glow is a beacon you can always rely on when you’re drowning and need to find the shores of sanity again. Caught up in them as you are, it leaves you unprepared for the kiss Risotto gives. It’s a soft, tender press against your lips, filled with warmth and comfort that sinks down deep into the marrow of your bones. Relaxing further into him with a sigh you try to deepen it, but a jaw popping yawn pulls you away from the attempt.

“There’s still plenty of time for you to get more sleep. We don’t have anywhere to be for a long while, so don’t worry.” Risotto says in lieu of a proper answer to your question. It feels like there’s something productive that you could be doing other than lazing about like this. For sure you have things to do, but your mind is still cloudy with sleep and can’t focus on anything but the warmth of Risotto’s body and the way your lips still tingle pleasantly from the kiss.

His thumb brushes across the puffy skin of your under-eye, the calloused pad pressing down slightly and you lean into the touch with a soft hum. Without any more words needed you bury your face into his neck at the same time he wraps his arms around you again, your knees knocking together gently before they entwine and settle in. You jolt a bit when Risotto’s hand starts massaging the spot on your back that you always complain about being sore but relax into the motions quickly. As the pressure deepens and the knots in the muscles dissipates you moan, unaware of how much you needed this until now.

“Just relax, and get some rest.” Risotto murmurs, following his words up with a row of kisses along the top of your head before he speaks again, “Sarò qui quando ti sveglierai, amore mio, te lo prometto.”

Something nags at you in the back of your mind at those last few words, but sleep beckons like a siren's call. Pushes your consciousness to fuzz around the edges until your eyes are too heavy to stay open and the combination of rain along with the soft, rich tones of Risotto’s voice lulls you back to sleep. When he feels your breathing slow to soft, even puffs of air against his neck he moves on from your back to your hair. Catches the soft strands between his fingers while he spaces out, lost in thought.

He should have noticed sooner that your sleep was getting thrown out of whack again, that your depression was coming back full force because of it. Just how long were you trying to handle this by yourself before breaking down like that? You hide your pride so well sometimes that Risotto forgets he’s not the only one that has trouble asking for help when he’s struggling. Shame sinks like stones deep into the pit of his guts as he reflects on how often he’s shut you down recently when asked to join you for sleep. Your face tonight when the facade of strength finally cracked threatens to make those stones rise up to his throat, but he pushes the sob back down. He has no right to self-pity, not when he feels in part to blame for your current state.

Pressing against him like this for so long the amount of body heat building up starts to make him uncomfortable. His arm trapped between your body and the bed is going numb, too, but he doesn’t dare move. Not yet. He’ll endure it for as long as he needs to until—

At your first snore a smile breaks across Risotto’s face. It’s drawn out and obnoxiously loud and he couldn’t love the sound of it more if he tried. Satisfied with how relaxed you are he takes back his arm. He scoots back to stare at your sleep soft expression, and a small laugh escapes him at the endearing way your cheek is squished against the pillow.

What the hell is wrong with me, he thinks as he strokes your cheek with the back of his hand, how can anything be more important than you?

Risotto knows these thoughts are drenched in a sense of romanticism he works hard to suppress deep within himself, but right now he makes a conscious decision to let them roam free. To let those feelings guide his heart into creating a plan for how he’ll make things right again once you’re feeling well rested. For now, he closes his eyes and buries his nose into your hair, inhaling the comfort of your scent with a shaky breath.

Rain falls gently just beyond the windows in a pleasant rhythm, but Risotto tunes it out easily. He focuses on the harsh pattern of your snores and already can feel himself drifting off, as nothing else can lull him to sleep quite like you.

#risotto x reader #risotto nero x reader #risotto nero #risotto jjba #risotto jojo #risotto nero jojo #my writing #i finally feel comfortable posting this fffff #no fancy graphic with this one since i dont have photoshop on me atm #maybe next time

57 notes · View notes

bots-and-cons · 2 years

Note

How would Predaking, Darksteel, and Megatron hell am s/o who’s feeling mentally exhausted and like burnt out? (Maybe how they’d react if it meant their s/o goes non verbal for a bit bc it takes too much energy?)

Ty! Have a good day :]

I didn’t do Darksteel, because I don’t remember what he was like at all so I wouldn’t be able to write about him believably. I’m seriously not happy with how the Megatron one turned out and I dropped the non-verbal part for Predaking because I felt like I couldn’t write it well. I wanted to write scenarios for these, and while I did manage to do that, this is definitely not my best work

~Megatron~

Megatron had noticed you’d been getting more and more stressed lately. You snapped at him about pretty much anything, which then caused him to snap back at you. It wasn’t very good for either of you, so when the amount you talked started to lessen drastically over a period of a few days he got pretty annoyed. So when you stopped talking completely, he thought you were irritated with him and had decided to give him the silent treatment.

You just didn’t feel like talking, at all. You felt like it took way too much energy and you just couldn’t be bothered. You were tired, exhausted even.

You were just laying around in Megatron’s habsuite, not really feeling like doing anything, when he came in. You looked up from your phone and gave him a little wave, before going back to looking at it.

“My love?” Megatron asked as he sat down on his berth where you were laying.

You raised your head and put your phone away, sitting up and giving him your full attention.

You motioned for him to continue talking, and he did. “Why do you refuse to speak to me?” Megatron asked bluntly.

You got a quizzical look on your face and for a good reason. You weren’t refusing to speak to him, you just simply didn’t have the energy. You didn’t really know if he would understand if you just explained it like that, but you decided to try anyway.

You typed a short text out on your phone and showed it to him.

“I’m just exhausted and don’t have the energy to talk, it just feels like too much. I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel ignored or something, I didn’t want that”

“Oh” Megatron said.

You shrugged, and smiled at him apologetically.

“Should I let you rest?” he asked, already getting up from the berth.

You grabbed his thumb with both hands to stop him, and he sat back down.

You scooted closer to him and leaned your back against his thigh, pulling his hand into your lap. You didn’t mind if he had something else to do, you would’ve let him go, but since that didn’t seem to be the case you wanted him to stay.

Megatron stayed with you, since that’s what you seemed to be asking of him. He let you pull his hand into your lap and he kept caressing your leg with his thumb.

~Predaking~

You’d been getting closer and closer to feeling like you just wanted everything to stop. To quitting everything and just lay around for three months, doing nothing, having no obligations and having no responsibilities. That sounded like such a good idea.

Predaking had been noticing there was something going on with you for a while now. He didn’t really know how to approach the whole thing, so he went with his usual very blunt way of asking you about things. He was walking around the Nemesis with you on his shoulder and decided now was as good a time as any.

“Love?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“I would like to know what you are feeling. I have noticed some abnormalities in your behavior lately and would like to know if something is upsetting you”

“Oh” you said, surprised he had picked up on your well veiled exhaustion. “I just think I’m burnt out. All the stress I’ve been under lately is finally catching up with me” you chuckled, trying to make it not sound so serious.

“What do you require? I will help you in any way I can” Predaking announced.

“Well if you can go to work for me and basically take over my life for like, I don’t know, the next three months, that’d be great. I just don’t want to deal with anything for a while, I just want to rest”

“I do not think that is possible, but I could ask Shockwave if-”

“Preda love, that was a joke” you said with an amused smirk.

“Ah. That does indeed make more sense”

“I appreciate you wanting to help, but I don’t really know how you can. I guess it just takes time for me to get past this, and get into a more normal state of mind” you shrugged.

“I will do all I can to aid you in your recovery” Predaking said.

You were so happy he would say that. You scooted closer to his helm on his shoulder and placed a kiss on his cheek, before whispering a sweet “thank you” in his audial.

#transformers #tfp #transformers prime #decepticons #megatron #predaking #tfp scenarios #transformers fluff #comfort #reader insert #transformers x reader #tfp x reader

215 notes · View notes

babygirllinds · 11 months

Text

First Lines of 10 Fics Game

rules: share the first lines of 10 of your most recent fanfics and then tag 10 people. If you have written less than 10 fics, don’t be shy and share anyways :)

tagged by: @mackwinnon (thank you for tagging me 💗)

I have 14 published fics on ao3, so I’ll just be pulling from there. 8 of them are Top Gun fics and 2 are from The Magicians :)

1. lend a helping hand (complete)

“You need to ask one of them, Mav,” Carole’s honey-sweet southern accent rang through the phone. “I reckon one of them would step up without making a big deal of it. They’re good men, as well as good alphas. Nick always said so.”

“They didn’t like me at first,” Maverick stressed back. He was leaning up against the counter of his base housing, twirling the twisty phone cord with his fingers to distract himself from his anxieties. “They’re civil with me now, but I don’t want to upend what little friendship we have by making it awkward.”

“Honey, trust me when I say this,” she says slowly like how she talks to Bradley when explaining things, “Alphas would jump at the chance to be with any omega during their heat. They’re not going to worry about ruining a friendship if you’re offering yourself up. Especially with what you’ve told me about Tom and Ron. Either one of them would be happy to help.”

2. I saw him first (ongoing)

Slider had seen him first.

Before ever stepping foot in the classroom where he had to watch Ice stare him down like a predator waiting for the right moment to catch his prey. He’d seen him roll up on the motorcycle outside while waiting for Ice and was struck for a moment at how beautiful the other man was. If Slider had seen him out at a bar, he’d have no reservations about approaching the man and inviting him back to his housing.

3. Let me Teach you a Lesson or Two (ongoing)

The sitting room outside the dean's office is quiet for the most part. The only sound is of clicking computer keys coming from the receptionist's desk and Pete is starting to get antsy. He's been waiting to see the dean for 20 minutes now. Boredom has him staring at his thumb nail and picking at the skin around it until it starts to bleed. His hair is falling into his face and he tries to blow the strands out of his eyesight as he watches a small dot of blood bead around the nail bed. He winds up flicking his hair out of the way and tilts his head back, sticking the thumb in his mouth to suck away the red liquid. The iron taste is unpleasant and his stomach turns.

Then the sound of a door opens and he's snapping his eyes up and over to the sound, only to be met with piercing blue eyes hidden behind wire-framed glasses. His blonde hair is gelled back and he's tall enough that Pete has to crane his neck up from where he's sitting. The man looks like a classic nerd, but he's muscled and carries himself confidentially. He's actually quite handsome and is Pete's type to a T. He lets his thumb go with a pop and the man lets his gaze on Pete dissipate quickly before walking off. Pete watches as he leaves, lingering on the way the man's back muscles shifted under the tight button down.

"Mitchell," Pete's head snaps back to the open door. Dean Metcalf stands there, back straight, face hardened. "Come in."

4. seduction plan: failed? (complete)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell was having a crisis.

He was the type of man who made girls and guys swoon at his feet. He could knock someone's socks off and make them laugh until they cried. He was sweet as sugar and confident with his words. He was wickedly charming, albeit a little shit as well, but people liked that about him. So he knew a thing or two about making someone someone fall for him.

What he didn't expect was the person he was head over heels for to ignore every effort he made.

Tom "Iceman" Kazansky was this all-consuming man. He was handsome, funny, smart, and he could match Mav's energy verbatim. He was quick to whip back each retort Maverick threw his way and then tease him endlessly until they were both laughing.

5. say you’ll be my wife tonight (complete)

Maverick was used to snide remarks and sly comments thrown his way. He had put up with it his whole life, even more so when he stepped foot in the Navy. Men loved to rib him on his height, on how he played loose with the rules, and how his father was a coward. Those comments didn't bother him anymore. He took them with stride, knowing he was more than just random words being hurled at him.

But this was new.

"He treats you like his little wife, like a bitch who needs to be put on a leash," the words were snarled at him, sharp and piercing. "Kazansky got you trained good? He calls and suddenly you're the perfect little wife?"

6. Merry Christmas (complete)

Tom had never really enjoyed Christmas all that much. His father was absent quite frequently because of the Navy and his mom spent her time depressed when his father wasn't home. Christmas felt like any other day, only with presents. The presents were just material things. What he craved was how the kids in his class were able to spend the day wrapped in warm joy with family. He'd never had that, instead his mom sipped champagne while his sister and him opened presents. She'd smile a small, sad smile when Tom would hold up a new toy he was excited about, then continue to stare blankly at the window.

Now that he was older, he knew his mom was just longing for her husband to be there. She didn't understand how to be more than a shell of a person under her husband's thumb; to be openly there for her kids. His sister was the one who showed him warmness during the holidays. She'd spend the day making sure he was shown happiness and some semblance of Christmas joy. She showed him how to make Christmas cookies from scratch and then they'd spend the day huddled in pajamas, watching Christmas movies with hot cocoa. His sister was the only fond memory of the dreaded holiday.

Growing up, he realized that only some people that came into his life were going to look out for him. After learning that lesson, he became closed off and aloof to others. That's when he took on the ice-cold persona — Iceman.

7. happiness (complete)

Honey, when I'm above the trees

I see this for what it is

Maverick knew this was coming to an end one of these days, but he hadn't expected it to crash and burn so suddenly. He's spent so many years trying to be enough — trying to show Ice that there was more in the world other than settling for his father's version of his future. He wanted to prove that he could be enough.

Ice's father wanted him to marry a decent girl and start a family. Cue Maverick who crashed into his life and halted all plans that pointed to a future that was expected of him. Until now at least.

Ice had stopped frequenting Maverick's home, stopped staying the night after fucking him into the mattress, stopped whispering sweet nothings as they cuddled on the couch. Back was the cold demeanor that Maverick had first encountered when meeting the infamous Iceman. He didn't smile like he used to and when he did meet up with Maverick, he smelled of a woman's perfume. Maverick was losing him and he knew Ice was dragging out the inevitable.

8. Danger is Calling my Name (complete)

When Ice told Maverick that he was dangerous, he wasn't lying. The man flew too close to the edge, never once following the rules set in the parameters of the mission. But when Ice said those words, he held an entirely different meaning in mind.

Maverick was dangerous in the way he confidently held himself – head held high as his green eyes sparkled and his smug smile pulled back to show his teeth. He was dangerous in the way that Ice had to hold back from pinning him against a wall; had to let himself flush with anger, not lust. He was dangerous in the way that Ice was willing to lay his life with the Navy on the line just so he could lay Maverick down in his bed.

9. Illicit Affairs (complete)

Make sure nobody sees you leave

It's nearing six in the morning; the sun still chugging it's way over the horizon to light up the new day. He hears Margo's light snores down the hall, and the soft patters on hardwood of him and Eliot making their way past her door. They both know she knows, but neither ever mention it aloud. Leave it to Margo to turn a blind eye, but leave the glint of knowing in plain sight.

He looks at the back of Eliot's head, curls messy from the night spent in his bed. Quentin aches to reach up and soothe the wisps of hair down and feel the softness that comes from years of pampering himself. He's beautiful, even in the morning, and Quentin wants nothing more than to kiss him in front of everyone.

Too bad he can't.

10. Happy Birthday, Q (complete)

"Jules, no." Quentin frowns at his best friend from where he's sitting. "I don't want to have a party. You know I hate them."

Quentin turned 28 today. He's not particularly fond of his birthday since his dad died two years ago. They had a tradition of getting breakfast at the crack of dawn and then, per Quentin's request, they would watch whatever movie was currently playing at the small theatre in his Jersey town. Then Julia would come over for dinner and they'd eventually end the day sitting on the porch as his dad pointed out constellations to them.

no-pressure tags: @waaugh @r-dtoblack @polar-equinoxx @brainjuicey @destinedtobeloved @blazingstar29 @broketraveler87 @sunwarmed-ash @honckity @abliafina-18782 (tagging all of y’all bc I confidently know you all write because I’ve read some of y’all’s work 😅)

#thanks so much for the tag 🥹#tag game #first lines of 10 fics #my fics #my writing #top gun #icemav #slimav #slicemav #the magicians #queliot

43 notes · View notes