#hoping to get ch4 done this week | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

celestie0 · 3 months

Text

gojo satoru x reader | college au [18+]

kickoff ch.5 these feelings are hard to find

ᰔ pairing. college au - soccer player! gojo x film major! reader (f)

ᰔ summary. gojo satoru is the most popular guy on your college campus. he's tall, funny, hot, not to mention he's the most talented soccer forward the school has seen in years. but he's also a frat dude, which puts him in a world very different from your own, as he spends most of his nights partying & drinking while you spend most of yours working on your annoying film major assignments. but when he reaches out to you for a favor, you realize that helping him out might have something in it for you too.

ᰔ warnings/tags. 18+, fluff, angst, smut, college au, fraternities, sororities, partying, drinking/alcohol, mentions of weed, romance, jealousy, pining, slow burn, opposites to lovers, friends to lovers, she falls first he falls harder, gojo being an idiot

ᰔ chapter. 5/x (probably 12)

ᰔ words. 10.4k

a/n. aaaa this chapter took me a while because i was having some pretty bad writer's block. i seriously can't believe it crossed over 10k words, i very poorly planned how much i wanted to get done by this chapter, but i didn't feel like splitting it into two so oh wellll. hope you enjoy! pls excuse any typos we all live on a floating rock.

nav. ch1 :: ch2 :: ch3 :: ch4 :: ch5 :: ch6 :: ch7 :: ch8 :: ch9 :: ch10 (pending)

☾·̩͙꙳ moodboard no.1

♬.*ﾟplaylist

“I really don’t understand why I’m here…” you’re grumbling as you, Mina and Todo make your way up the pavement of the driveway leading to the house party. You glance to your right where Mina and Todo are holding hands, arms swinging as they keep pace together.

It was finally Friday after a particularly long and stressful week, so you were extremely excited to just spend the rest of the night relaxing at home. You had already poured yourself a glass of wine when you returned from your evening class and were sitting on the couch with a blanket on, scrolling through Netflix, when Mina approached you while she was talking to Todo on the phone. She mentioned something about an SAE party tonight that she wanted you to come along for and Todo said he’d extend his other invite to you. When you politely declined, Mina slumped down on the couch and told Todo she had no interest in going unless you also came. And then Todo was bribing you with a hundred bucks. Easiest hundred bucks you’ve ever made.

“Don’t be a downer. You’re here because I think you’ve been working hard and you need to relax a bit,” Mina chirps, now clinging onto Todo’s arm, “and there’s no better way to relax than getting drunk.”

“I could be getting drunk at home,” you mumble to yourself, the night you were imagining for yourself all day being very different from where you find yourself now.

The guy that was bouncing for tonight’s party was scanning people’s phones and engaging in some small talk before allowing people inside. He was pretty handsome and you wondered if there was some sort of requirement written in the rules to the SAE fraternity that they must be good-looking to join.

“Hello, my brother,” Todo says as he approaches, smacking him so hard on the back in greeting that the man stumbles over slightly and sends an irritated glare Todo’s way before he regains his balance.

“Hey, big guy, are these your invites?” He gestures towards you and Mina, his eyes landing on yours and lingering for a moment. You blink at him.

“Yes, this here’s my lovely lady, and this here’s my lovely lady’s friend,” Todo says with a faux suave that only makes you narrow your eyes at him. The man at the entrance sighs and nods before stepping out of the way and motioning the three of you towards the entrance.

The minute you enter, you immediately realize that this party felt very different from the one you were at last week. It was slightly less crowded, but there were still plenty of people bustling around the large expanse of the ground floor with loud rap music that practically shook the walls. It was dark, much more edgy, with the only source of light being the sporadic flashing of lights over by the DJ’s booth. You felt disoriented from the atmosphere, and the smell of weed and alcohol only further dazed you.

“This is insane,” you barely hear Mina say beside you over the music as she looks around the expansive interior of the house. In between the brief flickering lights that lit up people’s faces, you register that Todo is grinning at her as though he was entirely satisfied by her reaction.

You only make it a few steps inside, trailing behind Mina and Todo, before feeling the need to excuse yourself to get away from the intense environment for a second. “Hey, I think I’m going to use the restroom real quick. Todo, do you have any idea where it is?” You feel like you’re shouting just to be heard.

He looks over his shoulder at you. “There are some downstairs but they probably have lines. You could try upstairs.”

You give him an appreciative nod and head over to the base of the staircase at the right, glancing up before making your ascent. There didn’t seem to be anyone else upstairs, which surprised you, but you figured you were just in luck and began to walk up step by step until reaching the top. The music downstairs begins to sound muffled as you turn around the railing post and make your way to the left into the narrow hallway likely leading towards the bedrooms. There's a white door somewhere in the middle of the hallway that could only be either a closet or a bathroom. You wrap your hand around the cold metal door handle and twist, satisfied that it wasn’t locked.

The mumbling noises of people inside doesn’t register in your mind until you’ve already cracked the door open half-way, and your entire body recoils in the immediate rush of embarrassment washing over you as you take in the sight of two people, a man and a woman, getting handsy with one another in the bathroom.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” is all you manage to squeak out, blinking dumbly at the scene.

You’re quick to avert your gaze and about to close the door, incredibly mortified by what’s just happened, when the familiar silhouette in front of you causes you to freeze. You slowly lift your line of sight from the bathroom floor until Gojo Satoru is looking you straight in the eye from where he has a girl on the bathroom counter clinging to his shirt.

“I…” you stutter, face feeling immediately hot as you let go of the door handle and look away from his shocked face. “Sorry,” you say again, this time barely above a whisper, before turning on your heel and making your way down the hallway in such a hurry that you don’t even realize you’re going the wrong way. You hear a feminine voice echo something in the bathroom like what the fuck are you doing?, and then there’s footsteps following after you that sound faster than your own. Ignoring the call of your name, you practically storm into one of the bedrooms, entirely relieved that it was empty, and can only take a couple of steps inside before a hand grabs at your wrist. A chill runs down your spine from the contact.

“Wait, y/n,” Gojo says behind you from where he’s followed you inside, sounding like he’s out of breath. His hand is still holding onto you, keeping you still and you can feel the roughness of his calluses against your skin. When you turn around to face him, he’s close to you and you see his chest is heaving, his hair is disheveled, his shirt is wrinkled at the front and there’s a crease in his brow.

Your eyes don’t stay on his for long before you’re looking away from him again. “I’m…I’m really sorry, that was really awkward,” you say with a forced laugh and an attempt to wiggle yourself free of his grip but he’s unrelenting. The image of his fingers sliding up that girl’s top was still burned in your vision and no amount of excessive blinking at the carpet beneath your feet seemed to make it disappear.

“No, I’m sorry, I was supposed to lock…” his trails off and you notice there’s a rough quality to his voice, “that was just-, we were just-”

You finally brave yourself to look up at him and he somehow seems closer than before, his face just inches away from yours and his eyes briefly flickering to your lips before he meets your gaze with a tense expression on his face. You haven’t seen him look so flustered before, and you’ve certainly never heard him struggle this much to find his words either.

His other hand rubs the back of his neck as he closes his eyes in what looks like frustration, then takes a deep breath to seemingly calm himself down before speaking again. “She’s…We’re just friends,” is all he manages to say.

There’s a silence between the two of you as you blink at him and he stares at you, his thumb pressing into the skin of where his hand was still wrapped around your wrist. You try really hard to bite back the words you’re about to say, but no amount of willpower could’ve helped you. Your chin tips up, looking at him more decisively, and his gaze is flickering to your mouth again. “Just friends…can’t say I’ve ever tried to get my friends naked in the bathroom at a party before.” You didn’t understand why your tone came off so hostile, but it felt good to criticize his choice of words for some reason.

His lips press together, gaze narrowing slightly and eyebrows furrowing further at your words. He leans in closer to the point where your senses were entirely occupied by him and it was impossible to think of anything else. “Well, you weren’t supposed to see that.” His eyes are contrite but his tone is vexed.

You relax your body language and use your other hand to forcefully slide his hand off of your wrist, encountering some resistance from him before he acquiesces. Your skin tingles from the absence of his touch and you take a step backwards away from him. His posture straightens slightly, eyes continuing to dart across the features of your face and wide in anticipation as though he was patiently waiting for you to say something that would put him at ease.

“It’s fine,” you say, trying your best to keep your voice as level as possible, “I accidentally walked in on something I shouldn’t have. You don’t owe me any sort of explanation for it.” Gojo seems to tense up even further at your words, his expression briefly contorting into one of confusion before it reverts to concern again.

You walk around him towards the bedroom door and see him in your periphery watching every step you take until you eventually exit the room. This time, you don’t hear his footsteps pursuing you from behind. It’s only when you make it past the bathroom, not even daring to take a look inside of it, and about halfway down the hallway that you unsteadily let out the breath you were holding in. Your hand takes its place over your chest in a flimsy attempt to calm your heart down as you quickly make your way down the stairs. There was a sinking feeling in your stomach and you knew you just had to get as far away from here as possible.

You’re barely able to spot Mina from where she stood with Todo in a corner near the backyard screen door, and briefly notice that Nanami, Geto, as well as a few of their other teammates were clustered there too. You politely acknowledge their pleasant greetings to you as you approach Mina, pulling her to the side.

“Woah, hey, what’s going on?” She asks, stumbling a little bit and you let go of her sleeve.

“I’m going to go home, not feeling well, I think I just got my period,” you easily come up with a lie, “Nobara says she’ll pick me up.” In truth, you were planning on just calling an Uber for home, but you knew that Mina wouldn’t let you go home by yourself. You didn’t want your confusing and heightened emotions ruining her night.

“Wait, are you sure? I’ll come with you,” she’s quick to say, taking a step towards you but you shake your head.

“No, it’s fine, stay here with Todo,” you demand, “and call me if you need me to pick you up. I’ll let you know when I’m home.” You give her a little hug and she’s standing there confused before hesitantly nodding, and then you make your way to the door. The loud music, flashing lights, and blurred faces around you were so intensely stimulating that when the cold air from outside finally hit your skin, you felt like you were human again.

The Uber comes by in less than ten minutes as you wait for it on the sidewalk. The driver drops you off at the entrance of your apartment complex and the biting chill of the air has you wrapping your arms around yourself as you wait for the elevator to take you upstairs. Glancing down at your phone to check the time, you see a message from Mina asking if you were home yet. You also see that it’s nearly one in the morning.

Finally making your way inside your apartment, you lock the door behind you and text Mina that you’re home, then slide down with your back against the front door until you’re sitting on the floor. The heat inside was so comforting that you just spent a moment to warm yourself up and just breathe.

Memories of your conversation with Gojo from just half an hour ago instantly come to the forefront of your mind and you’re shutting your eyes to try and repel the thoughts away. Still so embarrassed that you walked in on him making out with someone, your brain decides to mortify you even further by asking what if you had walked in a few moments later instead? What would you have seen then?

You squish your cheeks between your hands defeatedly before letting out a sigh and drawing your legs in towards you, hugging your knees to your chest. You didn’t understand why you were so affected by what you saw. You’ve only met Gojo twice, and you knew even before you met him that he was that kind of person. He had a reputation of being involved with a lot of women, so his rather eager desire to explain himself to you just puzzled you even further.

Standing up, you head over to your bed and flop down on it. Your wrist still burns with the memory of the heat of his hand, and all you can see behind the lids of your eyes when you close them is the sight of him so close to you, stealing glances at your lips.

Somewhere along the night as you drifted in and out of sleep, Mina called to let you know that she was on her way home. When you hear her open the bedroom door and set her purse down on the nightstand near her bed, your body finally convinces you that it’s okay to rest, and that’s exactly what you do.

---

The weekend is over in the blink of an eye, simply not enough time to mope around in bed, and you’re walking out of your last class of the day on Monday. You check your phone pretty much every other minute to see if Gojo has sent you any messages regarding their new practice schedule for the week, which you’re sure he’s received by now, but there’s nothing. The last messages sent between the two of you were before the party on Friday, and an uneasy feeling has been settling in. You spent most of last week appreciating how helpful he was being so far, but you didn’t even consider the possibility that he could rescind his help at any time too.

You head over to the Department of Communication & Journalism building, making your way up the stairs until you reach the graduate division floor and walk down the hallway to Room 212. As you make your entry, a toasty and rich scent overtakes your senses.

“Ah, y/n, hello! So good to see you, thanks for coming by. I missed seeing you last week,” you hear Utahime say as she sets down a cup of coffee for you on the conference table in the middle of the room.

“Sorry, I was just…very mentally occupied last week,” you admit to her, setting your tote bag down on one of the chairs before taking the seat where the cup of coffee was placed, the fragrance instantly waking you up as you take a sip. “Thank you. How have you been?”

“I’ve been well, thank you, just working through my thesis,” she says with a sigh and takes the seat next to you. “Just a few more months…just a few more months, and I’m free!”

You smile at her and watch as she pulls out her laptop, the start-up noise chiming before she starts clicking away at the million tabs that were open. “Did you receive the email I sent you for the newsletter shots?” You ask.

Utahime was a 4th-year graduate student in journalism and was also the head of the school’s newsletter. She has so graciously allowed for Film Club photography shout-outs in every monthly issue for the past couple of years.

She nods. “I did,” she says, resting her elbow on the table and tapping her index finger to her chin, “how come I didn’t see any of your photos in there, though?”

You sigh, sulking your shoulders slightly as you peer down into the brown liquid of your cup and watch the steam evaporate. “I didn’t really take great pictures this month.”

“Aw, well are you working on anything right now?” She returns to clicking away at tabs.

“Yeah, I’ll be taking film photos out on the field of the soccer team’s game against Osaka Uni next week. It’s for an assignment,” you tell her and watch as her face lights up.

“That’s wonderful! That’s a pretty big gig, they usually only let professionals out on the field. How were you able to secure that?” Utahime asks you as she tips her head to the side.

“Ah…let’s just say I have some sort of deal with one of their players?” You say. Your heart drops a little when you remember the lack of communication from Gojo as of recently, wondering if he was able to get that referee permission for you.

“Which one?” Utahime asks with a teasing smile, leaning over to nudge you with her elbow.

“Gojo Satoru,” you say and then she’s pulling away from you and rolling her eyes, an annoyed look making its way onto her face. You let out a small laugh at her behavior. “Okay, well now I’m curious.”

She lets out an exasperated sigh as she peers beyond the window of the room. “I was his TA when he was just a wee-little freshman. He was always showing up late to class and trying to flirt his way out of completing assignments,” she grumbles, “is he still a little brat?”

You worry your bottom lip between your teeth, thinking way harder about her question than she had probably intended. “I don’t know…I don’t really know him all that well.” You look down at your hands. Despite the fact that you’ve only known Gojo for a short while, for some reason you felt like you did know him well. You knew the kinds of things that made him smile, you knew the look in his eyes when he was deep in thought about something. You knew what the heat from his body felt like, what the fragrance of his clothes smelled like.

Utahime is silent for a moment as she studies you. “Hmm,” she’s humming next to you, “well, tell you what, send me your photos when you’re done with them. If they’re good, I’ll use your photos for the sports recap in the newsletter instead of the professional ones we get sent from the school. I can compensate you for them as well.”

Your eyes widen as you look at her, jaw dropping a bit as you blink in disbelief. “Utahime…you would do that for me?”

She gives you a smile and a wink. “Of course, talent helps talent. And it’s my newsletter, I can do whatever I want with it. Besides, you want to get into the school’s film graduate program, right? I’m sure it would look great on your application that you’ve had some of your portfolio published to the school’s official reports. The photos have to be good, though.” She points a finger at you and gives you a strict look.

You feel tears prickle in your eyes from her words, so overwhelmingly grateful for her support, and can barely whisper out a thank you before she’s rushing over to the other table to grab a tissue box and set it in front of you.

“Gosh, why do all my undergrads cry in my presence?” she complains as she pulls out a tissue and hands it to you.

You dab it to your eye. “Because you have such wholesome mom energy.”

You say goodbye to Utahime after discussing a few more things and then leave the room. You check your phone and your heart skips a beat when you see Gojo’s name in your notifications.

|| 1:43PM Gojo Satoru: Hey, just wanted to let you know I was able to get that referee permission for you for next week

You let out a tiny gasp when you read his words then clutch your phone to your chest in relief. Utahime’s offer of the prospect of getting published in the school’s newsletter gave you a large sense of purpose, and you felt like it was time to take this assignment of yours extremely seriously to secure the opportunity. And Gojo was the one with the power to help you do that.

|| 1:52PM You: thank you so much, i really don’t know how to repay you

You sigh as you make your way to the stairs, grateful that you were getting some communication from him. The big game on the 28th was next Thursday, and you really needed to practice taking photos with your film camera. You open Instagram again to ask him for his practice schedule, but you see that he had sent you another message.

|| 1:54PM Gojo Satoru: No need to repay me, consider us even. Also sorry for the late notice, but we’re having a formal practice match in about an hour with one of the teams we played against earlier in the season. Do you want to come by?

After reading his message, you quickly shuffle your tote bag open and peer inside to see that you did indeed bring your film camera with you to campus today. Excited, you type out a response.

|| 1:55PM You: yes! i’ll hesd over right now

|| 1:55PM You: *head over

|| 1:55PM You: lol

You see little bubbles indicating typing in the left side corner.

|| 1:55PM Gojo Satoru: Meet me by the art sculpture, I’ll walk you over

You blink at the message for a few seconds, starting to type out a message before deleting it, and doing that a couple more times over. When someone tries to shuffle around you from behind, you notice you were standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs so you step away and lean against the wall. You press your lips together in consideration as you realize that today would be the first time you’re going to see Gojo again after that awkward interaction that you had with him at the party last Friday, and you were really not sure how you were going to feel having to be alone with him again.

|| 1:57PM You: that’s okay, i don’t want to trouble you

His response is instant.

|| 1:57PM Gojo Satoru: Just meet me there

Once you’ve made your way across campus, you spot Gojo sitting on the concrete barrier surrounding the art sculpture by the fields practically right in front of the please do not sit on the concrete barrier sign. His head is turned away from the direction you were approaching from, arms crossed at his chest and one of his legs impatiently bouncing up and down. You notice he’s wearing the school’s colors, a teal blue shirt and gray shorts that had some highlights of a sunset yellow, as well as gray athletic soccer shin socks and cleats. He looks so ridiculously sports boyfriend that you have to shake your head to try and physically fight the effect of how attracted you were to him.

He must’ve heard you approaching as you crossed the street towards him since he turned his head in your direction. He’s wearing a black sports headband across his forehead that’s pushing the hair up out of his face and you’re startled by the intensity of his blue eyes on you. When he stands up, his arms fall to his side, making you sad that you could no longer shamelessly stare at the way his biceps flexed when he had his arms crossed.

“Hey,” he says simply, staying perfectly still where he stood.

There was only one way to dissolve an awkward situation, and that was to pretend like it never happened in the first place. You tip your head to the side, giving him a curious look before skipping right on up to him. “Hello, there,” you cheerfully say. He looks at you with a borderline annoyed expression.

“You’re in a good mood today,” he comments, his voice sounding deeper than usual. Almost tired.

“Yes, very good mood,” you chirp as you walk past him, “I just got a very good offer.”

The sound of the bottom of his cleats on the sidewalk follow after you as you head in the direction of the softball batting cages. It's not long before he emerges at your side in your periphery. “What kind of offer?” You can tell from his tone that he was trying to restrain his curiosity.

“Oh, you’ll see,” you say as you look up at him and smile. He gives you an irritated expression due to your lack of transparency but you continue to skip forward until you’ve made it to stairs that lead up to the grassy hills.

Gojo’s about a step’s distance behind you as you lightly frolic across the land, your heavy tote bag bumping against your hip with every jump. You feel something fly out of it which halts you in your gleeful stride and look behind to where your bluetooth laptop mouse has fallen onto the grass right in front of Gojo. He’s sighing before crouching down to pick it up, then takes a step towards you and extends it out to you. When you glance up at him, he’s not looking at you and his face is hard to read.

You grab the mouse from him, fingertips brushing against the skin of his palm, and he ever-so-slightly shivers at the touch. His gaze finally meets yours.

With a sigh, you toss your computer mouse back into your bag. “I’m trying really hard to not feel awkward around you right now, but you’re making it pretty difficult.” You were so used to feeling like he has the upper edge of conversation when you’re with him, but now you felt like you were the one with the power.

He raises an eyebrow at you and when you look at his hands, you notice he was apprehensively cracking his knuckles with his thumbs. “Maybe you wouldn’t feel awkward if you actually stayed to talk last Friday.”

You cross your arms across your chest, disliking his tone. “Stayed to talk? About what? How not close you are with your ‘friends’?”

He tips his head up to the sky and closes his eyes, his brow furrowing like he was entirely frustrated by you, before he looks back down at you again. “If you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine, but what’s with you always running away whenever I try to talk to you?”

“I wasn’t feeling well that night,” you mumble to him as you turn away and continue to walk towards the practice field. It was the truth, you weren’t feeling well that night, and it was because seeing him kissing another girl made your stomach drop to the core of the Earth. But that wasn’t something you were going to admit to him. It wasn’t even something you were ready to admit to yourself. “Also, it’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s that I don’t care to believe you.”

“But why don’t you care?” he’s asking you, his voice sounding desperate now as he makes his way to your side again. He’s looking at you but you’re looking straight ahead.

You roll your eyes, continuing to march forwards. “Not everyone cares about your love life, Satoru. Contrary to what you might think.”

He jogs ahead a few steps, now walking backwards in front of you and you narrow your eyes at him. His tongue is poking at the inside of his cheek and then there’s a boyish grin on his face. “Say that again.”

“Say what again?” you ask.

“My name,” he says.

You almost roll your eyes out of your head when you see his amused expression. “I seriously can’t believe this right now,” you’re muttering under your breath and walk past him down the large hill leading to the practice field, his gaze on you burning through your skin until you’re rubbing at your cheek with the back of your hand in a feeble attempt to physically wipe the blush away.

The practice field was much more crowded and busy than it was during the first practice you went to last week. Looking across to the other side, you see a group of men huddled near one of the benches, all of them wearing maroon-colored shirts with black shorts that have gold stripes running down the side of them. None of them were wearing jerseys, but you assumed they were wearing their school colors as some sort of distinguishing clothing that would help them during the practice match.

“Satoru! Where the hell have you been?” You flinch upon hearing Coach Yaga’s stern voice nearby and you look over to where he had his arms crossed and glaring at Gojo through his thick sunglasses.

Gojo walks past you towards the benches and gives Coach Yaga a salute. “Sorry, sir, personal business.” He then makes his way over to the rest of his teammates that were huddled on this side of the field. There were a few tables located on the sidelines that had refillable water stations, bottles of Gatorade, towels and all sorts of other athletic gear. You walk up to one of the tables and fix the settings on your film camera before taking a snapshot of the items laid out on it.

The atmosphere is light since this wasn’t an official match and so you spend some time fidgeting with your camera before they get started. You can only imagine how tense it must be during a proper tournament game at the actual stadium off-campus, the thought of thousands of people spectating from stands sending a shiver down your spine. Athletes were of a whole different breed, despite how wholesome and down-to-earth most of the UTokyo soccer players you’ve met so far were.

Eventually, Coach Yaga and the other coach from the opposing school blow their whistles, both acting as referees for the match, and the players scatter themselves across the field. You notice Gojo is at the center of the circle in the middle, his foot on top of the ball as he scans his eyes across the field to each of the players with a focused look in his eyes. He draws his foot back, and just when you think he’s about to kick it forwards to where he was looking, the back of his heel makes contact with the ball instead and it’s sent swiftly behind him towards Geto. Instantly, all the players begin to move across the field, some of the offensive opposing side charging towards Geto as he shuffles the ball between his feet before kicking it way ahead of him to another one of their teammates. You bring your camera up to your face and take a snapshot when one of the opposing team’s defenders makes an attempt to steal the ball.

The play continues further, both teams playing a push-and-pull with the ball. Gojo makes an attempt at a goal before the opposing team’s goalie lunges for the ball that was flying in the air straight towards the net, catching it in his arms and then crashing down onto the ground. Somewhere along the intense match, the coaches call half-time and you’re shocked by how fast the first half went by.

Some of the players retreat to the benches to quench their thirst and wipe the perspiration off their faces with their towels, while others remain on the green expanse to pace around while catching their breath. Your attention is drawn to Gojo who stood at the center with his hands on his hips and breathing visibly heavily. He leisurely shuffles the ball between his feet with an innate rhythm before passing it off towards Geto who stood a few feet away from him. Gojo pulled his headband off of his face, his hair falling over his forehead onto the sheen layer of sweat above his eyes. With each breath, his chest rises and falls, lips parted in a display of exertion, and then he grabs at the hem of his shirt to lift it to his face, exposing his toned torso, as he wipes away the sweat at his temples. Your eyes widen at the sight, almost entranced as a wave of arousal suddenly consumes you, before he releases his grip on the fabric and it falls back down. He pushes his hair back up out of his face with one of his hands, the other securing the headband back onto his forehead with a snap, and the muscles of his arms tense fluidly with every motion.

You quickly look away from him, afraid he'll catch you staring, and blink at the grass as you notice the fast beating of your heart. Coach Yaga's whistle blows, causing you to look back up again. Players were making their way back onto the field and Gojo found his position at the center again. His eyes darted across the field, making their way onto the faces of each player, and then they eventually landed on you. There’s a glimmer in his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards slightly into a small smile before he's looking back down at the ball by his feet. And then they start the kickoff.

UTokyo ends up winning 3-1, and by the end of the match the sun is starting to set, painting the sky beautiful hues of purple and orange. You lean over to pick your things up off the grass as the players make their final retreat to the benches, and you gently place your film camera back into its case when Gojo’s voice next to you makes you jump.

“Hey. Please don’t run off,” he says. When you turned to look at him, he was still breathing a bit fast and he had a flushed, almost serene, look across his face. “Give me your phone.” He extends his open palm out to you.

“My phone?” You ask him, reaching for where it was located in your back pocket and pulling it out. He nods without any further explanation. You place it in his palm and he’s tapping away at it before handing it back to you. When you look down, you notice he gave a random number a call.

“That’s my number. Save it,” he says. You blink at him. His expression is soft for a moment and then he’s turning around and away from you, heading over to where his teammates were crowded around one of the tables and giving each other pats on the back.

You tip your head to the side to watch him as a couple of his teammates sling their arm around his neck and smack his chest, masculine laughter and jokes filling the air. You can’t help but smile before you pick up your things and start making your way up the hill away from the field, back towards the heart of campus.

---

The following days of the week where you don’t see Gojo play soccer seems like a waste, because why weren’t you spending every single day of your life watching him play soccer? You sigh to yourself at the question as you use clothing pins to hang up the film photos you took up onto a wall in your school’s photo lab. You finished developing the photos from Monday’s practice match, only to realize that you accidentally took them on one of your black-and-white rolls instead of full-color. You step back to take a look at all the images you had clipped onto the string pinned to the walls, snapping a shot of the collage with your phone, before pulling them all back down and stuffing them into a Manila folder.

The only time the photo lab wasn’t bustling with other film & photography majors was usually after sunset, but by the time you finished having dinner with one of your friends on campus, you had made it there around 7PM. By the time you leave and make it to your parked car, it’s pitch black outside. As you step inside your car and turn the key to ignite the engine, the windshield wipers automatically swiping as the control lights inside come to life, the clock on your dashboard reads 10:37PM.

The GPS for some reason prompts you to take an alternative route back to your apartment that avoids the freeway in an attempt to save you from twenty minutes of traffic, and you consider what to do for a moment before the exhaustion in your bones convinces you to take the allegedly faster way home.

As you begin to head in the unfamiliar direction, the excitement you had to make it home as soon as possible slowly starts to dwindle more and more as the streets morph from well-lit and bustling with people to dark and surrounded by trees instead. What used to be a three-lane street turned into one, and you count the seconds between every passing car you see coming by in the opposite direction. You’re worried when your counting makes it past sixty seconds.

You turn your music up in your car to distract yourself from the fear of driving down the secluded and dark road. There was a slight fog settling up ahead in front of you to where you could only see clearly about thirty feet ahead. You spot something on the road, blinking rapidly to focus your vision, and then your eyes widen when you realize what it was. Rocks.

You’re instantly swerving your car to the side, attempting to deftly avoid the scattered rocks but unfortunately you drive over a few of them, causing your tire to pop and you let out a scream when you lose handle on your car. One of the rocks flies up and hits your windshield, cracking the glass, and suddenly you’re driving up over the curb to the right before you finally regain control of your car and swerve back onto the road, slamming on the brakes.

Your heart is beating fast in your chest, adrenaline rushing through your body, and you grip onto the steering wheel while you try to regain your breath. Your windshield had a large crack in it, large enough to where the cold air from outside was whistling its way inside your car, and you were slanted in your seat due to the punctured tire at the front. As you took deep breaths, you noticed how alone you were on a dimly lit street where you hadn’t seen a single car in more than five minutes, fear and anxiety surging through your body. Your hands reach for your phone, shakily turning it on and exhaling in relief when you see that you have reception, then call the emergency telephone line.

“Hello, how can we help you?” a feminine voice on the other end of the line says.

“Hi, um,” you say, voice sounding shaky, “I just got a flat tire on Musashi road, about five miles from the Main Street intersection. I don’t have a spare on me, and my windshield is cracked too…could you send roadside assistance?”

“Yes, absolutely,” the woman says kindly and begins to take down some information from you. “Thank you, ma’am. Unfortunately, there has been a big accident on the freeway, so many of the tow-trucks and officers have been dispatched to that area. It may take about an hour for help to arrive. Are you able to call someone to come stay with you as you wait?”

“Oh…” You press your lips together in thought. “Yes, I should be able to.” After working out a bit more logistics with the woman on the other line, you hang up and then you’re scrolling through your contacts. You first call Mina’s line, which goes straight to voicemail, and then you remember that she was out of town for tonight and half of tomorrow visiting her family. You call Nobara, who also doesn’t pick up, and then a couple of your other friends who go straight to voicemail as well. You start to panic slightly before calling your friend Maki who lives two hours away.

“Hello?” You hear her voice say when she picks up.

“Maki! Oh my gosh, thank you for picking up,” you say to her through the phone, your hand on your chest as you sigh. You explain your situation to her and she’s instantly providing you with soothing words.

“Is there no one that can come stay with you? I feel awful that I’m so far away,” she says.

“It’s okay, they said that help will be here in maybe fifty minutes now…I just really wanted to talk to someone,” you say, peering out into the darkness of the night. You’re still shocked you haven’t seen a single car drive by in the past ten minutes. You pull your phone from your face to check the time and see a notification on your phone that says 5% battery remaining. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Maki asks worriedly.

“My phone is running out of battery…” you say with a defeated tone. Your anxiety starts to rise in your chest again. “I don’t know if I can stay on the line.” You scroll through your contacts again, finger halting the screen when your eyes land on another name. “I…I think I have someone else I can try calling.”

“Good, try that. I don’t want you to be stuck out there with a dead phone and a flat tire. Let me know if this person doesn’t pick up, okay?” She’s saying to you and you send her your location before hanging up.

You’re breathing heavily from fear when a particularly harsh gust of wind pushes more cold air through the crack of your windshield. Pulling your phone from your face, you click on the name in your contacts and bring your phone to your ear. It rings once, twice, almost a third time before you hear a click and then a voice.

“Y/n?” Gojo’s voice calls out, sounding surprised.

Hearing his voice immediately causes a wave of relief to wash over you and you lay back in your seat, having to muffle the abrupt sob that threatens to erupt from the tightness in your throat. “Hi,” you whisper.

“Hey, is everything okay?” he asks.

“Mm…no,” you admit to him, sniffling slightly and swiping at the stray tear that rolls down your cheek with the sleeve of your shirt. “I’m just a bit scared right now.” Your voice cracks towards the end of your sentence and you silently berate yourself for not mustering enough emotional strength at the moment.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he says, his voice starting to sound uneasy.

“I was driving down this road, it was dark, I couldn’t really see much…but I ended up driving over these rocks and my tire punctured. I called for roadside assistance and they said it would take about an hour for help to arrive,” you ramble, “I tried calling Mina, and some of my other friends to come and wait with me, but-” You run out of breath to finish your sentence and you’re sniffling again.

“Send me your location, I’m heading over right now,” he says and you hear what sounds like keys jingling in the background along with some other shuffling noises, “can you stay on the line?”

You pull your phone from your ear and see that you’re at 3% now before sending him your location. “No…my phone is running out of battery.”

He’s silent for a second on the other end. “It says I’ll be there in twelve minutes. Just…hang tight, okay? Make sure your doors are locked.”

You nod before remembering that he can’t see you, so you say I will. He’s hesitant to hang up on you but when your phone flashes from 3% to 2%, you tell him you don’t have much of a choice and then he’s giving you another word of caution before reluctantly hanging up. You’re all alone to your thoughts in your car again, shaking from the anxiety and blinking tears away.

The twelve-minute wait felt so long, and eventually Gojo texts you that he’s one minute away when your phone is at 1% battery. You see headlights approaching behind your car in your rearview mirror, the first sight of another human being you’ve seen in probably the past thirty minutes stepping out of the driver’s seat and you immediately recognize his silhouette. He walks up to the passenger side door and tips his head down so he’s visible through the window. At the sight of him, you finally release the breath you were holding in before opening your car door and stepping outside. You both look at each other across the top of your car and you notice him letting out a deep breath of his own as his shoulders relax at the sight of you.

He makes his way wordlessly around the front of your car to you and he’s studying your face intently. You look away from him when you realize he could probably tell that your eyes were puffy and that you had been crying. From your periphery, you see the back of his hand reach out when he’s right in front of you, hesitating slightly before it briefly brushes against your cheek, dabbing at a tear that you must’ve missed. His hand is warm against your skin and the sudden desire to hug him consumes every single fiber of your being, but when you look up at him, the soft expression on his face renders you still.

“Thank you for coming,” you’re whispering to him.

He lets out a short comical exhale through his nose. “I wasn’t going to not come. What kind of person do you think I am?”

You shiver as another gust of wind passes through, crossing your arms across yourself. Gojo slips the jacket he was wearing off, revealing a beige sweater underneath, and then he’s circling around you to place it over your back. It’s cozy and it smells like him.

You’re about to voice your concern for him but his voice behind you cuts you off. “I run warm, don’t worry.”

He walks around to the front of your car, bending over to the side to assess the flat tire at the front, his hands shoved into his pockets. You pull his jacket around you tighter. “Damn, the tread on your tires is horrendous. No wonder. You should really check on them more often.” He straightens himself up and peers at the crack across your windshield. “And that’s definitely not gonna be cheap to fix.”

You sigh in annoyance, his casual tone causing your eye to twitch slightly, but when you noticed your heart was calm and your breathing was normal again, you looked at him with the realization that him just being here managed to soothe you.

He looks back over at you with a considerate expression. “Do you want to sit in my car? It’s chilly out here.”

You press your lips together before shaking your head. “I feel like I need the fresh air.”

Gojo’s walking over to the patch of grass on the pavement at the side of the road and sits down on the curb. He pats the spot next to him with an awaiting look on his face and you make your way to him, sitting to his left. He looks down at the distance you’ve put between the two of you, almost three feet, and he’s sighing before scootching closer to you. “Don’t be greedy with your body heat. I said I run warm, not that I’m a furnace.”

His shoulder brushes against yours and his knee bumps against your thigh as he gets comfortable. You bring your legs closer to you and wrap your arms around them, resting your chin on top of your knee. Gojo was leaning back onto his outstretched arms behind him, legs extended in front as he tipped his head back up to look at the sky. You look over at him. His gaze slowly shifts from one point in the sky to the other, and you wonder what he’s mapping with his eyes.

“Thank you for getting the referee permission for me,” you say, realizing you never thanked him in person. “I’m excited to take photos out on the field next week.”

“Sure thing, my freaky little photographer. I’m sure you are,” he chimes.

You stick your bottom lip out in an annoyed pout. “So, we’re even now.”

He looks over at you and smiles. His blue eyes were a bit darker underneath the starry sky with less light to reflect off of them, and the quality made them look gentle. “No, you’ve gotta make sure Mina stays interested in Todo.”

You can tell he’s just joking, but you respond as if he’s serious anyways. “That was never part of the agreement,” you say, “besides, I don’t really think that’s necessary. She seems to be pretty taken with him already.”

He laughs. “And you’re not worried about that?”

“What’s there to worry about?” You ask.

“I don’t know, the fact they hit it off so fast?” He shrugs and you feel the friction of the movement against your shoulder.

“Hmm, no. Mina’s a smart girl, she’s good at sniffing out those red flags,” you say assuredly before lifting a suspicious eyebrow at him, “should I be worried? He's your friend. Enlighten me.”

Gojo shakes his head musingly at your concern. “Todo’s a good guy,” he says in a soft voice.

“He’s not on the soccer team, right? I didn’t see him the past couple of times I was on the field,” you say with realization.

“Nah, he’s just a mad lad I met in my freshman year econ class. We’ve been friends ever since,” he says, swaying his knee from side to side. “He’s the one that got me to join the frat.”

You two are silent for a moment, listening to the noise of the wind through the trees and crickets chirping in the distance. The previous anxiety you had from the night completely dissipated into peacefulness instead, and the man beside you was responsible for that shift.

“Can you tell me what that offer was that you were so excited about earlier this week?” he asks.

You look up to the sky briefly, trying to remember what he was talking about. “Oh. I might be able to publish the photos I take of the game next week to the sports recap in the school newsletter,” you say.

He turns his head to look at you, eyes widened. “Woah, seriously? That’s so cool. Can you make sure I look hot?”

You roll your eyes and go back to resting your chin on your knees. “Sure.”

A comfortable silence settles before he’s speaking again. “What inspired you to be a film photographer?” He’s turning his body so he’s facing you a bit more directly.

“Well, the end goal is film movie making…but my professor says that it’s important to understand the art of film photography before that,” you say, twiddling with the zipper of his jacket. “He says that ‘if a filmmaker cannot master the single frame shot, then how can they possibly put together a film composed of a million of them’?”

Gojo is humming beside you and nodding in agreement. He turns away from you to face forward again and he starts tapping his foot on the pavement of the road. “Huh. That’s kind of similar to something coach says during drills.”

You glance over at him, a little surprised. He continues to stare forward with a somewhat innocent expression on his face, and then you can practically see the moment another question pops up into his head.

“Why don’t you make your Instagram public? Your photos would probably get a lot more views or likes that way,” he says in an excited tone, like he’s cracked some code.

You let out a small laugh and bury your face into your knees, your voice sounding muffled when you speak. “I did have it public for a while. Until a troll spammed a bunch of hate comments on my posts and I quickly switched it to private after that.” Saying it out loud, you felt a bit silly. You’re apprehensive as you say the next few words. “I guess I’m scared that I’m not good enough to be acknowledged or successful, and that somehow other people will see that truth before I can.”

“Oh come on, y/n,” he’s saying beside you, gently nudging your arm with his elbow. The contact causes your breath to catch in your throat. “You just have to go for it. You can’t accomplish anything if you don’t face your fears.” When you watch those words leave his mouth, you notice he now has a thoughtful expression as he stares ahead to the other side of the road.

Another beat of silence goes by. “Why did you start playing soccer?” you ask.

He’s quiet for a long time as he blinks, to the point where you’re unsure if he even heard your question, but then he finally answers. “My dad used to play in college. He introduced me to the sport when I was younger and I fell in love with it.” Your perk up slightly and tip your head to the side in curiosity. He’s looking down at his lap now.

“That’s really wonderful, Satoru. Was he also center forward in college?” When you ask him this, you don’t miss the way his eyebrows pinch together for a split second before his expression relaxes again.

“Yeah, he was,” he responds, “he got injured in his last year, though. Never got to play after that.” There’s an inflection at the end of his sentence that makes you think he’s about to say more but he doesn’t.

Your face softens when you see him stare down at the curb with a slightly troubled expression. In a moment of tenacity, you place your hand on his thigh and his eyes widen when he sees the movement before he’s looking over at you.

“I’m sure he’s really proud of you,” you say softly, your hand reaching up to brush a few strands of his hair away from his eyes. Both of you are shocked at the intimate gesture and you’re quick to withdraw your hand.

Your faces are close, his side still pressed against yours, and neither of you break eye contact. You take a moment to study the handsome features of his face and your heart aches a little. The cold air has you licking your lips and Gojo’s eyes dart to them, gaze lingering, and you blink slowly when he leans forward slightly. Blue eyes find yours again and he stills himself, searching your face for something, and when he doesn’t see it he continues to lean forward and you lean towards him too. And then his lips press against yours, so chaste and so light that it’s possible you could have imagined it, but just when you feel his warm hand cup your face and he’s about to deepen the kiss, a loud honking noise startles the two of you and you both jump, pulling away from one another. You see Gojo’s face illuminated with bright golden lighting as he winces and holds up one of his hands in front of his face to shield himself from being blinded by it.

You turn your head to the left towards the source of the light and see a tow truck approaching. “Hey! Is this the flat and windshield crack?” you hear the driver shout out from where his head was stuck out the window.

You’re speechless, cheeks feeling flushed from the realization that Gojo had just kissed you, and you turn to look at him. He silently stands up with a weary exhale and a calm expression on his face and then shoves his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, it is.” He makes his way over to the tow truck and you hear him make conversation with the driver as well as the man in the passenger seat. You’re still sitting stunned on the curb, bringing your fingers up to gently touch your lips that were still searing from earlier. Gojo’s suddenly standing in front of you and you’re staring at his legs before you tip your head back up to look at him.

“Do you have any valuables in your car?” he asks, jerking his head in the direction of your car.

“Ah…my phone and my tote bag,” you say. He crouches down in front of you, earnest eyes level with yours, and his hand reaches into the pocket of his jacket where you had stashed your keys. He removes only your car key from the ring, handing the set of other keys back to you, and then he’s unlocking your car to get your stuff out of it.

You remain on the curb, watching as Gojo handles the entire interaction with the tow truck helpers. When they’ve successfully anchored your car to the tow truck and one of the men comes around to shake Gojo’s hand, you see him reach into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and handing the man some cash. You stand up in a bit of a panic and head over.

The tow truck is already pulling away with your car from the curb when you make it in front of Gojo. He hands you a business card with the towing company information on it and then looks down at you with a mild demeanor, letting out a long exhale. “Ready to go home? You’ve had a long night.”

Exhaustion suddenly consumes your entire being and you hesitantly nod.

The interior of Gojo’s car is nice. It’s clean, smells like him and pine, with nice leather seats that have warmers. You’re still wearing his jacket, clenching it tightly around you, as he inputs your apartment address into his GPS and starts to drive you home.

Neither of you say a word to one another during the ride. You watch his hand tighten its grip at the top of the steering wheel occasionally as he drives. He turns his car into the entrance of your apartment complex and parks in the loading zone. You watch as he makes his way out of the car to the passenger side door, opening it for you. You step outside and thank him.

“It’s okay, I’ll head inside from here,” you say, already feeling like you’ve caused him enough trouble. You abruptly remember that Mina isn’t home and the realization that you’ll be all alone tonight creates a hollow feeling in your chest.

He raises an eyebrow at you. “Come on,” he says, walking past you to make his way to the elevator and pressing the up button. It dings before immediately opening and he walks inside like he’s the one that lives here. He places a hand out to hold the door sensors when he sees that you don’t follow him inside. You jump out of the mild trance you were in and quickly rush in before he withdraws his hand and the elevator door shuts.

“Which floor?” He asks, finger hovering over the control pad. You tell him three.

Once you reach the third floor, you step out into the hallway and he follows suit. Your apartment was just seven units down towards the right and the two of you eventually made it to the door. You turn around to look up at him. His expression becomes slightly distressed and when you don’t say anything to him, he shoves his hands further into his pockets and sways back and forth slightly.

“Alright, mission accomplished, I got you home,” he says with a forced jovial tone, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. You notice he does that when he seems nervous about something.

Your mind recalls the kiss from earlier, the feeling of Gojo’s lips on yours, the heat of his body pressed up against you in the cold, the tender way his hand held your face still so he could have more of you, only for it to be cut short. Your heart is beating fast in your chest and your cheeks flush with warmth. He’s looking down at you intently and you’re looking up at him pensively.

You didn’t want to admit it to yourself. Not yet.

Your hands reach into your tote bag to pull out the keys to your apartment. “Yes, home.” He watches you jingle the metal in your hands. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” he says and he takes a step back. Turning around, you push your key into the keyhole with shaking hands, turning it, and open the door to your apartment, letting yourself inside. You look at him from the entryway with the door still ajar.

“Good night, take it easy,” he says to you.

“Thanks, you too.” And then he’s out of your sight as you shut the door.

You lean back against the front door, letting out a sigh and biting down on your lip, the thumping of your heart pertinent throughout your entire body. There was a lingering truth to all of the emotions that you’ve been having recently. It followed you in the early hours of the morning, it followed you as you tried to fall asleep at night, it was present in the silence, lurking in the dark, and it was there with you tonight for every second that he was by your side.

You had feelings for Gojo Satoru.

a/n. thanks sooo much for reading and i hope you enjoyed aaa idk this week felt off for my writing for some reason but i heavily edited it so i hope it came out okay in the end.

➸ take me to chapter six!

tag list: @who-can-touch-my-boob @getitsatoru

622 notes · View notes

abitohoney · 9 months

Text

Bend and Break (Not Just the Rules)

Chapter 3 of 5 - Bring the Walls Down AO3 link

CH1 || CH2 || CH3 || CH4 || CH5

Sevika x female reader

Rating: Explicit, MDNI, NSFW

Tags: Sevika/Reader, Modern AU, College/University AU, Professor Sevika, Student Reader, Humor, Porn With Plot, Eventual Smut, Teacher-Student Relationship, a lot of this is probably super cliché and a bit silly, but I don’t give two shits cause it’s fucking hot and funny, Drinking, Masturbation, Smoking, Teasing, Size Difference, Enthusiastic Consent, Dom Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Sub Reader, Light BDSM, Impact Play, Praise Kink, Degradation Kink, (yes I like the emotional whiplash of both kinks), Vaginal Fingering, Strap-Ons, Orgasm Delay, Choking, Multiple Orgasms, Cunnilingus, Aftercare

Word Count: 3.8k

Summary: When a hot professor in your field of study enters your radar, you’re quick to jump at the opportunity to get closer by taking her class. Temptations eventually lead the two of you to bend and break more than just the rules.

AN: This is already in process over on AO3. Trying to catch up here.

After waking up completely sober the following day, what little regret you held for your inappropriate advances the night prior had been squashed by your determination to win your professor over. By the next class, you had already set your plan in motion to do exactly that. Not a wild approach though. You started slow, showing up in a slightly more revealing outfit than usual and your hair and makeup done a little nicer. Just a subtle change, so as to not look as obviously desperate for her recognition as you really were. Unfortunately, it appeared to have been a bit too subtle.

Professor Sevika was even more stoic than usual, not paying you a lick of attention. She wouldn’t so much as spare you a passing glance or succinct reply when you greeted her in your usual chipper tone. Hell, she even refused to call on you when you raised your hand to answer her questions or ask your own. Her eyes just conveniently passed over your head, ignoring you entirely. It was as if she’d put several walls up between the two of you since that evening you attempted to kiss her. But you were bound and determined to bring those walls down, one way or another.

You continued on like that for nearly the entire week, showing up in slightly more provocative clothing each time and paying extra care to your appearance, all for naught, seemingly unnoticed by your professor. However, by the end of the week, she had finally approached you on your way out of the classroom.

“I could use your assistance this evening if you have time,” she stated, gray eyes on yours through her glasses.

You smiled up at her sweetly, feigning innocence despite your mind racing with ideas that could easily get you into trouble. “Of course. I can always make time for you, Professor.” You adjusted your hold on the books in your arms, not-so-inconspicuously pressing your arms against the sides of your chest to push your breasts up and out more for her.

Much to your disappointment, Professor Sevika’s eyes remained unflinchingly locked on yours. “Then be here by eight.”

“Yes ma'am. I…” you trailed off as she promptly strolled past you and out of the room before you could finish.

She was either in a hurry to do something before her next class, or- as far as you were concerned- she was just trying to avoid you and your attempts to garner her attention.

She wouldn’t be able to hide from you later that night though.

You arrived on campus early to assist Professor Sevika, hoping to get some time to observe her as she finished teaching her last class. You were surprised, however, to find her leaning against the brick wall several feet off the path to the back entrance of the engineering building.

It was dark where she stood, just outside the glow of the nearest lamppost, and had it not been for her bringing a lighter to her face to light a cigarillo, you would not have even realized it was her.

You stopped in your tracks and watched her, mesmerized, as the flame danced near her mouth. It reflected off her glasses and painted her rich, brown skin in an orange glow. She hadn’t noticed you yet, her attention on the task at hand.

So that was why she smelled of warm spices and smoke.

What you would have given to smell her again, to bury your face in her neck, or her dark hair, or her chest. As your mind started to wander, you automatically changed course and headed in her direction.

It wasn’t until she’d tucked her lighter away in those tight slacks of hers that she finally took notice of your approach. Her brows raised momentarily, seemingly taken back by your sudden appearance, or maybe even feeling as if she’d been caught doing something she didn’t want you to see.

“Evening, Professor Sevika,” you greeted with a sweet smile when you came to stand at her side. You realized, now that you were close enough, that she wore a dark leather jacket over her blouse.

As if she couldn’t get any fucking hotter.

“You’re early,” she mumbled around her cigarillo.

Your gaze fell to her dark lips as they moved. “You’ve said that before,” you replied playfully, recalling she’d said the same exact thing on your first day of class.

She huffed a laugh, nostrils flaring and blowing tiny plumes of smoke from her nose.

That drew your attention away from her mouth temporarily and you watched the smoke curl and twist as it rose higher before finally disappearing completely.

“Don’t you have a class right now?” you asked. You took in a deep breath, reveling in the scent. Clearly, that was where most of her scent came from. That lovely mix of warm spices. And you realized then, there was a hint of vanilla too. Your attention dropped back to where her lips wrapped around the cigarillo.

“Test day. Ended early,” she replied bluntly. Apparently noticing how transfixed you were on her mouth, she raised a brow. “Does this bother-”

“Can I have a hit?” you interrupted without thinking, too lost in thoughts about her mouth. If she wouldn’t allow a kiss, maybe you could have something else intimately related to one.

Her brows furrowed, clearly caught off guard by your request. “You sure about that, sweetheart? This is strong.”

Keep calling me sweetheart like that and I’ll be sure about anything you want.

“Yea.”

She hesitated briefly, eyes scanning the area before finally plucking it from her mouth and passing it to you, smoke billowing from the corner of her mouth and away from you.

You barely contained your coy little smile when you smoothly let your fingers brush over hers to take the cigarillo from her. Narrowed gray eyes met yours suspiciously, but you were certain you played it cool enough to make it look arguably accidental.

“Thanks,” you said softly before bringing the wet end to your lips.

Gods, did it taste just as you expected. Very similar to how she smelled. Warm, spicy, smoky, strong, and just a tad sweet. Your eyes fluttered shut as you imagined her lips were pressed to yours instead of the brown paper of her smoke.

Alright, be cool. Don’t mess this up.

You took a long, slow drag and held it in just briefly. Unfortunately, that was where your suave move ended. Before you could even pull the cigarillo from your mouth to expel the smoke, you began coughing and sputtering as your throat burned.

Your eyes blurred as unshed tears filled them. Blindly, you managed to hand the cigarillo back to your professor while simultaneously coughing into your other arm like a fucking inexperienced idiot, which, in all honestly, you were. Whatever she was smoking packed more of a punch than you were prepared for and you were starting to wonder if it was something more than just a cigarillo. Probably needed to be considering how much she seemed to hate all her students. Except you.

When your throat and eyes finally cleared enough to regain your composure, you rather reluctantly raised your gaze to meet your professor’s. She was watching you with a raised brow and barely contained amusement, her lips curled up at one corner.

“Told you it was strong, sweetheart.”

Had anyone else spoken to you with that kind of snark, you would have had a few choice words and maybe a little something more, but coming from Professor Sevika, especially when followed up by that damn knee-weakening pet name, you’d let her have fun at your expense any day.

“Yeah. You weren’t kidding,” you laughed awkwardly and turned to glance toward the entrance, hoping to hide the way your cheeks burned hot enough that they very well could glow red.

You wrapped your arms across your chest, running your hands up and down the sides of your arms as the chilly night air raised goosebumps on your exposed skin. You were beginning to think that your plan to wear such a flimsy top and shorts was not your best idea. Though, in your defense, you hadn’t intended to spend this much time standing around outside.

“The classroom is unlocked if you want to go inside and wait,” she said quietly.

You turned back to her in surprise and realized she was watching you attempt to warm yourself. Hell if you were about to leave her though. You were finally starting to chip away at that first wall. She was acknowledging you again, even talking- albeit in her typical short and blunt manner. “Oh no. I’m alright. I’ll keep you company,” you insisted with a smile.

“Suit yourself,” she murmured before taking another drag.

The two of you stood in silence for a while. She seemed comfortable doing so, simply staring off into the distance as she slowly smoked. You, however, were terribly uncomfortable in the awkward quietness, not to mention terribly cold. At least until Professor Sevika decided to take care of that for you herself.

“Here. Take this,” she insisted, shrugging her jacket off her shoulders.

Your body stiffened, heart racing as she not only brought her jacket to you, but also draped it over your shoulders, warm fingertips subtly ghosting along your neck. Suddenly, your entire upper half was wrapped in a bone-melting warmth and your head was invaded with the potent scent of her. That warmth spread clear up your neck and across your cheeks, only this time it was not from embarrassment. You peered up at her, feeling terribly small as she stood so close to you. Her expression was unreadable, but the way she paused, for just the tiniest moment, and let her eyes meet yours, convinced you she was having conflicting thoughts.

Good.

“Thank you,” you said softly, but instantly regretted it, as that seemed to knock her out of whatever thoughts she was having and she put some distance between you again.

She gave you a short hum in response and the two of you went silent again. Despite having maybe not made the best decisions the other night, you still would have killed for at least a fraction of that liquid courage again. To ask the hundreds of questions that plagued your mind.

At least you had the comfort of her jacket wrapped around you though. And with every single breath you took, you could smell her.

By the time Professor Sevika had finished her smoke and the two of you made your way into her classroom, you were feeling a bit more confident. Maybe it was from the single hit you took, or maybe it was how relaxed, warm, and fuzzy you felt wrapped in her coat, but you immediately took to asking what she’d like you to assist with, but in a less than academically appropriate way.

“So… what can I do for you tonight?” you asked as you followed her to the desk, tone taking on more than just a hint of flirtation.

She either didn’t catch it, or chose not to acknowledge it. “You can help me by grading this homework,” she said as she took a seat and pulled out several folders from her briefcase. She handed one to you, which you took, but not without first hesitating, hoping she would spare you a glance now that you were in the light of the classroom, and notice your appearance.

You had done your hair and makeup extra nice that night and wore a very pretty top paired with cute shorts, all with the intention of catching her eye. Unfortunately, it seemed that wall remained untouched. Still, not a problem. You’d just have to make yourself more noticeable. She was bound to look at some point. So rather than taking a seat at one of the student tables, you grabbed the closest chair and pulled it up beside her desk, making sure you sat such that your exposed legs were well within her view.

She didn’t immediately notice your presence as she pulled out a thermos from her bag on the floor, but the moment she sat it on her desk, she quirked a brow at the homework you had placed beside her own pile of papers.

“Is it okay if I work here with you?” you asked with feigned innocence as you deliberately uncrossed and recrossed your legs.

Bingo!

The little flit of her gaze down to your legs and back up to your eyes was not quick enough for you to miss, nor was the way her pupils dilated behind her glasses.

Those glasses. Those fucking glasses. Both a gift to your gay little heart, and the bane of your existence. They made an already gorgeous woman that much more appealing, but they also got to sit on that beautiful face all damn day, while you could only dream of doing the same.

You broke away from her gaze to observe her nose. Another feature that only drove your mind further down the same gutter. It was on the larger side, but in the best way. Fit her face perfectly. Cute, kissable, and undeniably perfect for riding.

“Fine.”

That short reply knocked you from your thoughts, and you’d almost forgotten what you’d even asked her.

That’s right. You’d asked if you could sit with her. Would rather sit on her though.

Her tone was stoic and unreadable, so you tried to read her expression instead, only to find her turning to her bag again to retrieve a small flask that she then popped open and poured into her thermos. She side-eyed you as you watched with blatant curiosity, but she said nothing and took a long drink of the mixed liquids.

Something told you that was not just coffee or tea. And considering her other habit you learned of that night, you were pretty sure you had a good idea what it was.

“You’re drinking while working? On campus?” you asked softly, as if someone else could hear despite the fact that your professor had been the only other person you had run into in or around the building that late.

“Guess this makes us even, hm?” she asked, raising her brow in a challenge.

Your eyes went wide for a moment at that snarky comment, but then you caught how the corner of her mouth tugged into a smirk.

She was fucking teasing you!

You grinned wide at that realization. “I suppose you’re right,” you admitted with a playful lilt.

She hummed in response before handing you a red pen and starting to go through her own pile of papers.

The two of you worked in silence for a while.

Grading the homework was unfortunately incredibly boring. Almost mindless with how easy it was. Soon enough, your thoughts started wandering again. Your gaze was drawn to Professor Sevika’s lips again as she took another drink.

“So is there something in particular you fancy in your drinks?” you questioned.

Without regarding you, she hesitated, her red pen pausing in its marking. You thought for a moment she would simply brush off your question. It wasn’t really appropriate between a teacher and their student. But then again, you were pretty sure nothing going through either of your heads would be deemed ‘appropriate’.

“Whiskey. With vanilla.”

Vanilla.

That was the second time that night you’d noted she liked vanilla, so you programmed that useful tidbit into the memory banks for later use.

“Sounds delicious,” you murmured, gaze locked on her lips as she brought the thermos to her mouth again.

“I suppose you want to try this too,” she asked. Though her tone was impassive, her tiny lopsided grin said she was amused.

“Please?”

To your surprise- and delight- she passed the container to you without further question. You took the opportunity to turn the simple task of tasting it into a scene, complete with licking your lips before pressing the rim against the pout of them, your eyes fluttering closed, and releasing a low, soft, and very suggestive moan as you took a sip. It burned your throat much like the cigarillo had, but at least you had managed to take it smoothly, without so much as a flinch.

The theatrics ended up pleasantly worth it, because as you opened your eyes, you found a pair of intense, stormy gray eyes locked on yours. She said nothing, but she didn’t have to. You could see the desire. The way her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared, and her grip on the pen threatened to snap it in two. Hell, you swear you could even feel it. The tension in the air was palpable. And gods did you want to just have her bend you over the desk and fuck you right there.

“Delicious indeed,” you said in a sultry tone when you finally handed the drink back to her.

She said nothing, took the drink, and returned to grading her pile of papers, but you saw how she damn near tore through the sheets with how hard she dragged her pen across them.

Just as planned.

The two of you worked through the remainder of the papers quietly again, but this time you were more than comfortable just sitting there thinking about your tiny victories, and your assured future ones. Not to mention sneaking quick little inhales of her coat collar.

If she tastes even half as good as she smells...

When it finally came time to leave that night, you were tempted to ask if you could keep her jacket, but opted to accept what progress you'd made that night and just hand it back. Though not without first working a bit more of your charm.

At the door to the classroom, you turned to Professor Sevika with a saccharine smile. “Thank you for letting me borrow your jacket. That was very kind of you.”

Though she did not offer you a reply, you were certain it was only because she didn’t trust herself to speak without giving away the desire that burned beneath that hard exterior.

“May I?” you asked as you slipped the jacket off and held it up to her, offering to help her put it on.

She hesitated, eyeing you suspiciously, but eventually gave in and turned to allow your assistance.

You had to stretch on your tiptoes to get the jacket clear up to her shoulders, but it worked in your favor. As you lowered yourself, you let your hands drag down along her arms for 'stability', reveling at the feeling of all that muscle beneath. Temptation nearly had you squeezing her bulging biceps, but you managed to reign yourself in, keeping your intentional touches less... obvious.

She slowly turned to face you again, and you could have sworn that even behind those glasses you could see the hunger in her eyes.

“Goodnight, Professor,” you said, tone honeyed and suggestive. You didn’t give her a chance to reply, knowing full well she wouldn’t anyway, and strode out the door wearing a broad smile.

You showed up to class the following evening early as usual, but instead of donning your typical attire, you strode in wearing a snug tank top and tiny shorts that left very little to the imagination.

Much to your chagrin, Professor Sevika did not immediately take notice, even as you made sure to make enough noise to announce your presence. So you took your time getting to your seat and greeted her as you always did.

“Evening, Professor Sevika.”

Nothing. Not so much as a glance. Not even one of her typical murmured single-word replies or hums of acknowledgment. Apparently she had put that damn wall back up. Maybe simply because she was in the presence of others, but no matter. It wouldn’t be a problem. You came prepared with a backup plan.

The moment one of your male classmates took his seat at the opposite end of your table, you sauntered over, face adorned with a flirty smile. He didn’t seem to sense you coming, his attention on his phone until you leaned the backs of your exposed thighs against the table beside him.

His eyes flit from the pair of legs that entered his periphery to your face, his expression twisted in confusion.

“Hey…” you trailed off for a moment, realizing you had no fucking clue what this guy's name even was, “...you. How are you?”

He shifted nervously in his chair and his gaze dropped back to his phone. “Oh. Uh- fine. I guess.”

How… interesting.

You internally rolled your eyes at his boring response and glanced over your shoulder toward your professor, who, unfortunately, was still far too interested in whatever she had going on her laptop. You turned your attention back on your classmate and hoisted yourself up onto the edge of the table. Your leg brushed alongside his arm- intentionally. That garnered a similar reaction from both of you, only for entirely different reasons. He shivered, seemingly in excitement at the contact, while you shivered in disgust. It would be worth it though, you reminded yourself. Professor Sevika had to notice at some point. She'd have to see how close you were to him. How excited he was. How flirty you were. The contact.

“So how are you liking your courses so far this semester?” you asked, still feigning a tone of interest. You really couldn’t give two shits about this boy, but neither he nor your professor needed to know that.

“It’s- it’s nice. Real nice,” he stammered, his throat bobbing when his gaze fell on the point where his arm touched your leg.

Good god, why did you have to pick this dweeb to pull this on? You released a flirty laugh, ignoring how confused he looked at your reaction. It wasn’t even for him. Another glance over your shoulder and you finally caught her.

Professor Sevika’s gray eyes fell on you and your classmate, but only for the briefest moment before she slowly shook her head and returned to her work. It wasn’t quite what you were hoping for. You wanted her to make eye contact with you, but that would have to wait for another day, as the rest of the class started filing in.

“Well, let me know if you ever need any help studying,” you said loudly with a fake smile before pushing yourself off the table and making your way to your seat.

And that was how much of the remaining semester went with Professor Sevika. It was a bit like a game of tug of war, or more like who can break or rebuild faster. You’d make some progress when meeting as her assistant, slowly chipping away at those stony walls of hers, only for her to put them right back up during the following class. But with each passing evening you spent alone with her, you could feel the increasing tension. Like her resolve was ever so slowly breaking. And even during class, when she’d catch you blatantly flirting with your fellow student, you knew behind that look of mock disgust and disappointment, that she was feeling the heat of jealousy, of the desire to claim you. It was just a matter of time before you would completely bring the walls down.

CH4 >>

#arcane #sevika #arcane sevika #sevika x reader #arcane sevika x reader #fanfic #honey writes

99 notes · View notes

blocksruinedme · 11 months

Text

Fic writing update

god it's so nice to just write some fucking flower husbands fic where they're just flirting and having dinner and gonna bang and talk about some feelings. I'm hoping no one even cries.

I'm at 2127 words and they're sitting down to dinner, and I've done all the summary i need of what their relationship history is. whenever i get a tangent going i try to just keep it short.

in related news I'm putting "i hope you have the time of my life" down for the week cause I think I need some success at publishing to get my back to believing I can get through the "visual nightmare" of the ch4 gdoc. Cricket really didn't believe me at first, until they got to the chart. I wish I could publish chapters 2&3 but i am *sure* I will want to adjust chapter 2 as I finished chapter 4.

AND the traffic after dark event first round is due june 4, and while i have it all planned it's not, like. finished. It's fun and have elements I've never written before... and some I def have. So my plan is I have today for the new life flower husbands fic, and then tomorrow i switch to my after dark fic.

#me #my writing #i hope you have the time of my life #my flower husbands

17 notes · View notes

deludedfantasy · 10 months

Text

Trimax Vol.2

Hello! I’ve been lurking in the book club so far but I wanted to jump in the ring and add my own thoughts to the mix. Fun fact: I actually binge read the manga about two weeks, but read it so fast I didn’t absorb much. I’m taking this as an opportunity to read it more slowly and really savor it, and hopefully understand it a little more. My first experience was fun, but I was also a little confused by the end.

I certainly can’t compare to some of amazing analyses I’ve read so far, but here are some thoughts!

Ch1

WOW. What an opening. This only gets more horrifying on reread. I was actually very confused the first go around because I thought Midvalley was the one shoving all those people in the trucks and squashing them and my knowledge of him from 98 did NOT fit this at all. It was a great way to reintroduce Legato though

I’m STILL wondering who this giant person is that’s carrying Legato around in his Iron Maiden. Just another Knives minion I guess?? They got put on Legato babysitting duty

Ch2

Well, Legato is somehow more unhinged than before

Genuinely sometimes feel like Legato mauling that steak when I’m reading this manga though

Love when Vash and Wolfwood are being stupid together. Also Vash driving is me when I drive

Vash’s ridiculous greeting Rai Dei is preceded by him having a Very Serious moment staring at the empty town. I appreciate the ability this manga has to insert moments of humor into otherwise incredibly serious situations without it being jarring. 10/10 great character and storytelling

Death skull rollerblades??? Death skull rollerblades!!!

I really like this panel of Vash, right after Rai Dei reveals he knows about the colony. Something about how most of his face is obscured, it really underscores how terrifying Vash can be. Every time something he loves is threatened, he gets very, very scary very fast and the way Nightow shows this is just amazing

Ch3

The cover for this chapter is on point

Not actually sure what Wolfwood is saying here? He’s going to help Vash…because the Gung Ho Guns are inhuman humans? They’re too determined and this will take too long?

Vash acrobatics!! Big fan of Vash acrobatics!!

He just won a fight but he’s such a goofball about it

Ch4

“C’mon. Leading a normal life, it’s not so bad, y’know.” He’s speaking from experience and this line makes me kinda sad. He really liked it, but he had to give it up to do the right thing :(

You know, for some of the backstories of the Gung Ho Guns, it makes sense where they got their abilities from. Like Monev and Rai Dei obviously trained for years and years to become these expert fighters. But for the others, like Dominique and Legato, I’m constantly wondering where they picked up what are essentially supernatural abilities without being plants or something. Though this may just be the fact that I saw tristamp first talking, since they do explain that there.

WHAT? How did I not notice Rai Dei had a gunblade??? My favorite ridiculous anime weapon

Also, uh oh Wolfwood’s done it now

Holy shit, did Vash just punch him?!?!

Hmmmm, oh yes, this scene made me lose my mind when I first read it (last week lol). Wolfwood trying to prove a point about making tough decisions by making Vash literally put a gun to his head and calling Vash a coward for refusing to kill and get his hands dirty

Unfortunately, it also confuses the hell out of me because it feels like they’re having multiple conversations at once and I can’t pick up on maybe more than half of one.

But!! The thing that stands out to me: Vash calls Wolfwood out, saying that he knows he’s better than this, that he wants better than this, but he’s so scared of hoping that he becomes a devil instead. I love how these two really see each other. Even when Wolfwood is kinda scared of Vash, he’s trying to understand him more than anything, and though he struggles, he does see him and get him

On a lighter note…Ahhh yes, the girls are back!! I’ve missed them the past few chapters.

Ch5

Oh no, Wolfwood’s dream :( It makes me so, so sad. He just really doesn’t think there’s any way for him to go back or wash his hands clean

The tone shifts are honestly masterful. Wolfwood goes from having a horrible nightmare to slapstick comedy because Vash crashed Angelina again

Gotta love that Wolfwood just dumps Vash facedown on that couch

Oh my god, Vash, you have a concussion, what are you doing!! Why did Wolfwood just leave him there on his own? I know they haven’t spent that much time together, but does Wolfwood not know him at all? Vash will get into Situations if left to his own devices.

Hmmm, Rob’s situation really underscores the argument Vash and Wolfwood were having last chapter. Especially his father’s line about not everyone being able to gamble with their lives so easily

Jesus, Wolfwood is terrified of Vash. I thought on my first read that this is a bit of an overreaction to this situation, but thinking on it again, after Fifth Moon and seeing all the crazy shit Vash can do, it has to be scary to see a guy who’s hurt and reeling and still manages to cause massive damage. So yeah, can’t really blame him for wondering what kind of monster he’s gotten himself involved with

But then he’s reminded…Vash is also just some silly guy who really likes food. Ah, the duality of man and monster. Again, the tone shift from Wolfwood having serious thoughts of fear and doubt to Vash being a certified goofball.

Ch6

The opening of this chapter is great. We get a little bit of Wolfwood’s backstory and start to understand how dark it is. Who shot him as a child? Where did he come from? But also, we find out he has a deep conviction to stay alive

You know, I completely forgot Rei Dei threatened the colony two chapters ago because for a hot sec I was really confused why they’d been traveling so hard and why the hell they’re on this weird contraption right now.

What’s interesting to me about what Wolfwood says here—about living his life the way he does, about the reason he kills—is because he’s doing it to protect something. Just reminds me of that bit of Stampede where Vash asks Wolfwood if he has something he wants to protect above anything else. And how protect has a different meaning to each of them—for Wolfwood it’s about who he’d kill for and for Vash it’s about what he would do to save them. Idk, there might be more there but I’m having a hard time explaining it.

Vash has a moment of doubt in front of Wolfwood! He admits he’s not always sure of what he’s doing. I kind of read Wolfwood’s silence as him not knowing what to say to that because he wasn’t expecting that

Okay, but how hidden is this place really if there’s a platform and an elaborate construction to get into it. Are you telling me no one has stumbled on it before and wondered where it led?

Vash is so afraid when he opens the door! His first thought is of all the horrors his enemies have promised to him and he doesn’t know if he can face it

Look at him!! He’s so sweet! He’s relieved and immediately goes to play with the kids. (While Wolfwood just poses lol)

Oh god, he gets teary eyed, he’s so happy! How rarely have people reacted to his presence with joy or care?

How dare!! This was cruel. Crueler then if he’d walked in on corpses. He’s literally given something he wants so deeply and then has it snatched away

Ch7

Wolfwood really went, “I’m done listening to your bullshit” and interrupted Leonof’s evil villain speech. Respect.

Ooooh, Wolfwood did it because he was angry. He felt Leonof was too cruel! He cares so much about Vash already.

Hey um so…did Leonof just say his puppets used to be people?!?! That he dissected while they were alive?!?!?! Yeah, no wonder this guy is unimaginably cruel.

Oh, Vash is angry. I love how he’s drawn when he’s like this. He disappears behind his glasses and his face gets very still. That’s when you know he means business.

Vash is crying blood!? And he’s so angry he’s emanating some weird aura that paralyzes Wolfwood and emits a “sensation of death.” I’m actually having trouble finding the words to describe how I feel because this is a very different Vash from the one we’re used to. It’s jarring and terrifying to see him like this. And that feeling also reminds Wolfwood again that Vash isn’t human, something Wolfwood is very fixated on.

Despite that, when Gray the Ninelives appears and Wolfwood makes eye contact with Vash, he doesn’t immediately go to shooting him! We’re making progress already.

That’s that for this volume! Excited to get started on the next one and see how the big showdown with Leonof goes!

#trigun #trigunbookclub

18 notes · View notes

kinetic-elaboration · 2 months

Text

March 10: Writing Project Statuses

So this wasn't the most productive/focused weekend I've ever had, but I feel like I ended it on a high note and I'm decently ready for next week. I think/hope. Plus now that the time has changed, it will be lighter for longer and I'll be able to stay out after work on Fridays if I want, which I think will help me feel more normal overall.

Current writing statuses:

Jasper/Monty Dual Timeline: Writing; wrote one more scene this weekend, leaving me with one scene/one writing session left. I really hope to finish this next weekend! The story doesn't excite me but the idea of having it be done and something I can post does!

D/J College AU: Writing; officially started it this weekend and I am legitimately excited! It's always weird to put down on the page something that's lived in your brain for a while... but the advantage is you get to re-read it. I feel pretty pleased with the first scene and hope I can continue next weekend.

Make a Lot of Money: Editing and Posting; I posted Ch4 on Friday but I haven't mentioned it on tumblr yet because I forgot. I'll do that tomorrow. The only comment I've gotten on it is someone requesting a totally different fic, which honestly makes me want to commit violent acts but--whatever. I just want it posted, I am so tired of the zombie nature of this fic. I still like it and am proud of it but I'm also done, mentally speaking. I've started editing Ch5, which is only 9k, and it's still my goal to get it up by the end of the month.

talk about timing in times like these: next up on the editing list, but I might take a break before I tackle it. It's actually shorter than I remembered--only about 14k I think--but I sort of feel it might be a slog... I don't know. I'm not really in a hurry to post anything other than the Time Loop and that's just because it's a WIP.

Miller/Bellamy Road Trip: Ch 1 is still next on the writing list, though I still don't feel confident in the vibes of it. I know I need to do a little more work at researching and immersing etc. I also keep changing my mind on the specifics of the very first setting so that's not great. It's coming up, though--it's what I plan to put into the slot currently occupied by the Jonty fic.

Free writes: I'm still working on my July Break Bingo prompts... I think I've done 8? Out of 25? It doesn't really matter; if I'm not getting prompts from there, I'll get them from somewhere else, but this is my current main source.

#the year 2024 #2024: writing projects #sdkakfa work tomorrow sakfadf and it's spring break so it will be boring as fuck

1 note · View note

berenwrites · 1 year

Text

Whole New Us Ch19 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Whole New Us: Trauma Bonded and Beyond

Also on AO3 | Or here CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15 | CH16 | CH17 | CH18 | CH19 | CH20 | CH21 | CH22 | CH23 | CH24 | CH25 (Mature) | CH25 (Fade to black) COMPLETE

Summary: Steve has been ignoring his own problems, he’s been busy. They’ve all been busy, preoccupied with fixing everything that was broken. Vecna has been defeated, but the Upside Down is still there, and the gates are not completely closed even though Hawkins has almost returned to normal. It’s been a couple of months and the aftereffects of Steve’s encounter with the demobats is about to come back to bite him. However, it also brings some unexpected hope.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Rating: Teen (with mature content in later chapters)

Chapter 19. Just About Perfect

It had been quite a week. The less Steve had to think about the previous weekend, the better. Not that his brain was letting him get away with that a lot, but he was doing his best. He had never considered it before, not even after Starcourt, but he was thinking of taking Owens up on the offer of a government sanctioned therapist to talk to. While Eddie and Robin were amazing, he was beginning to think having an outside pair of eyes who did not share any of the trauma might be helpful.

However, the week was ending far better. Max had returned on the Friday afternoon and seeing her smiling had been wonderful. She had dark glasses for outside and pretty thick lensed ones for inside, but when she had gone off for treatment, she had barely been able to see at all. Now she could even read. It was awesome.

The whole party had descended on her and her mom’s new, government provided apartment to welcome her home. There had been a lot of hugging, during which Steve had also put forward the invitation to everyone to invade his place for a pool party on the Sunday as a welcome back to those who had been away and a congratulations to the new high school graduates.

Everyone had said they would be there, including the Corroded Coffin boys who Eddie had called once they got home. Joyce had cornered Steve and asked what she could bring, so there was that too.

However, before the gathering, there was actual graduation.

Steve really hadn’t cared at all about his own graduation, but sitting there this year with Dustin, Wayne, and everyone else, he was excited. It was a little bit weird in that there were empty seats among the graduates. Those whose families had moved on and hadn’t come back once they were told it was safe. A couple in memory of those who would never have a chance to come back, like Chrissy.

Jason Carver had an empty chair as well, but Steve refused to think about him. He was dead, he had caused his own demise and that was as far as Steve cared to consider it.

What he chose to focus on were the people he was there for.

Nancy had made valedictorian, which had surprised no one, but made them all proud none-the-less. Her speech was magnificent, in Steve’s opinion. She spoke about fear and strength and grief and somehow managed to chastise the whole town for their reaction to the disaster in the spring in a way no one could object to, as well as praising those who were still there for their courage in continuing their community. It was a masterclass in words and passion and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time she was done.

Steve was pretty sure the world should be trembling at the idea of Nancy Wheeler stepping out into it.

Thanks to the wonders of the alphabet, Robin was up first. She looked spectacularly awkward in her Sunday best and cap and gown, and Steve had listened to her complain about the shoes her mom was making her wear for weeks, but she also looked radiantly happy. As her name was called, everyone in their group cheered as loudly as they could.

Steve found himself on his feet, because how could he not when his platonic soulmate was walking the stage.

Robin smiled and gave them a little wave once she had her diploma in hand. When she almost fell down the steps at the other side of the stage Steve’s heart almost stopped, even as he prepared to dash to the rescue, but she righted herself before disaster struck.

Two members of the basketball team who weren’t seniors walked the stage for Jason when his name was called. The silence felt heavy to Steve. Jason’s actions had come to light when the original cover story had been released. While some in town had decided he was justified, others hadn’t and the tension in the room was palpable.

However, when Chrissy’s name was called, it couldn’t have been more different. There was respectful silence as her brother walked the stage in her absence, accepting her diploma where she could not. A couple of her friends threw white roses onto the stage as well. It was a sombre moment.

Steve made sure to cheer loudly for the person following her to make sure they felt supported even after the show of grief.

When Eddie was next in line at the bottom of the steps Steve met his eyes and gave him a supportive smile. To the outside world, Eddie undoubtedly looked supremely confident. Under the gown, Steve knew there were unripped jeans and an actual button-down shirt, although they were paired with chains, so Eddie had part of his armour on. He was wearing two rings too. Not any of the favourites that had been lost, but a couple Wayne had found in the bottom of a box when looking out some of Eddie’s things for him. They were clearly made for smaller hands. Eddie had one on each of his pinky fingers.

That Steve could feel Eddie’s anxiety ticking away in the back of his brain illustrated quite how good an actor Eddie could be.

When his name was called, their group, once again went wild. Anyone who might have wanted to object didn’t have a chance. Steve felt his heart swell with pride as he surged to his feet. He could feel the eyes that came their way, but he didn’t care. He cheered for his boyfriend without remorse. Eddie deserved his moment.

Unlike what Steve had heard Eddie threaten to do, Eddie did not flip off the principle once he had his diploma. Rather he turned towards their group and did a very dramatic bow, before all but skipping off the stage.

Jeff was next and earned a big cheer from them all as well. It was Gareth who was the loudest for that part.

And finally, they made it to W, and Nancy was on the stage once more, this time to collect her diploma. Jonathan and Mike were definitely competing to see who could be loudest when cheering for her.

Steve couldn’t stop grinning the whole time.

~*~

Robin was celebrating with her family. Nancy was celebrating with her family. And Jeff was celebrating with his family too. Which seemed to be how it should be in Steve’s mind, even if his parents hadn’t even bothered to come back to town for his graduation. Hence Steve had insisted he would be perfectly happy at home while Eddie and Wayne celebrated Eddie’s graduation as a family, but he had been quickly dispelled of the notion.

“You carried my boy out of hell, Son, you are family,” Wayne had said when he had first mentioned it.

Hence, once the ceremonies were over, and all the pictures had been taken and hugs given, Steve found himself in the diner with Eddie and Wayne. There were milkshakes and delicious, incredibly bad for them food, and it was wonderful. They hadn’t had the chance to have the conversation with Wayne they needed to have yet, and they were in public, so Steve couldn’t kiss the blob of cream off the end of Eddie’s nose when it ended up there, but that was the only downside of the meal.

“And now we’re fed, it’s gift time,” Wayne said after they had all eaten fit to bursting.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Uncle Wayne,” Eddie immediately said, but the way he sat forward, and his eyes sparkled, Steve could tell he was excited.

“Ah, shut your trap, Eds, ‘course I did,” Wayne replied gruffy, but so fondly it made Steve’s heart swell. “Now, it’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

The older man pushed an odd-shaped parcel across the table. Eddie grinned before picking it up and ripping into the paper. He made a show of tearing it into pieces like he was attacking it and Steve couldn’t help laughing. Eddie looked positively possessed.

Wayne just watched with a fond smile as if he’d seen it all before, which he probably had. It felt like a tradition that Steve was being allowed to see.

“Oh, Uncle Wayne, I love it,” Eddie crowed as he finally revealed what looked like a mug.

Steve grinned as he found it being all but shoved in his face by a delighted Eddie. It was indeed a mug, a Garfield mug to be precise. It looked like the one Steve had seen on a shelf in the trailer before it had been destroyed, only this one had a graduation cap over one ear.

“It’s great,” Steve agreed as Eddie put it down and surged over the table to give his uncle a hug.

Thanking the universe for his new reflexes, Steve grabbed it before Eddie accidentally knocked it flying. He shared a look with Wayne over Eddie’s shoulder.

As soon as he sat back down, Eddie poured what was left of his milkshake into the mug where Steve had set it back down. Steve was pretty sure the mug should have been washed before use, but Eddie didn’t seem to care.

“Um, I have something for you too,” he said after Eddie made a big show of drinking out of the mug.

He pulled the small, wrapped box from his pocket and put it on the table.

“Stevie,” Eddie said, “you shouldn’t have.”

“Like Wayne said, Eds, of course I did,” he replied. “You finally did it, you graduated, even though half the teachers in the school marked you hard just because you’re you. You deserve rewards.”

He had every intention of rewarding Eddie some more once they were home alone, but that was just between them.

Eddie gave him a pleased smile and picked up the gift. He shook it like a five-year-old trying to guess what was in the parcel under the tree, because of course he did. It rattled, even though Steve had put in plenty of padding.

“I found them in the thrift store a couple of weeks ago,” Steve said as Eddie finally tore into the paper. “They called your name and when you got the letter I knew when I could give them to you.”

Contrary to how Eddie had ripped off the paper, the way he opened the box was positively gentle.

“Can’t have you wandering around without your armour,” he said quietly as Eddie stared into the box.

Eddie’s deep brown eyes came up to meet his own gaze and the air felt thick between them.

“They’re perfect,” Eddie said and pulled them out of the box, before slipping them on two of the fingers on his left hand.

Steve had been amazed when he had seen the rings sitting in a basket of jewellery in the thrift store. They seemed like the kind of thing an insular town like Hawkins would have thrown out, but there they had been. They had only cost a couple of dollars, but he had known Eddie would love them. One was a skull with tiny little fangs. The other was a dragon’s head, beathing fire.

“Ah,” Wayne said dragging both their attention off each other, “that’s how it is then.”

The way Wayne was looking between them almost had Steve panicking. He knew what Eddie had said about Wayne’s acceptance of Eddie, but that didn’t mean he was ready for the knowing spark in Wayne’s eyes.

“Yes,” Eddie said, voice low as he slipped a hand under the table and grabbed Steve’s, “that’s how it is. We were planning on explaining over dinner on Sunday last, but we didn’t get the chance.”

“Did wonder on that invitation, Eddie,” Wayne said with a nod. “You’re not usually nervous about eating.”

Eddie smiled a little at that.

“Happy for you, Son,” Wayne added. “Happy for both of you.”

And Steve remembered to breathe.

~*~

Everyone descended on Steve’s house just before noon the next day. The sun was shining with barely a cloud in the sky and the water in his pool was sparkling blue. It was about as perfect as it could get.

“I’m going to go change,” Steve said after greeting their guests.

Robin and Wayne had come over early to help set up and everything was ready. Robin and Eddie had already switched to their pool lounging clothes, but Steve had been too busy making sure everything was perfect.

“Don’t take too long, Dingus,” Robin called as he dashed into the house, “we need to eat soon.”

He took the stairs two at a time. He had no intention of wasting time. The fact he wanted to see Eddie’s reaction to what he had chosen might have been spurring him on. Stripping down quickly, he lathered on some sunscreen, because he always tanned, but the sun was easily hot enough to burn. He’d already had that battle and won it with Eddie, because otherwise Eddie would end up a lobster.

They might have superior healing, but today was not the day to test it.

The clothes he had chosen were secreted in a drawer. He’d chosen carefully for maximum impact. He pulled on the speedos for later swimming, then a pair of longer shorts over the top, before the main focus of the outfit. The cropped, sleeveless Metallica shirt he had borrowed without asking slipped over his head easily. It came down to just above his navel and showed exactly the right amount of skin.

Grabbing his shades from where he had put them, he popped them on his nose and bounced back downstairs. When he made it back outside, Dustin and Mike were already in the pool while El, Max and Will were sitting on the edge dangling their feet in the water. Lucas was off to the side arguing about something with Erica. Hopper had drifted towards the grill that Wayne was watching, although it wasn’t ready to cook on yet. Jonathan and Argyle had taken up two of the loungers and Nancy, Robin and Joyce were chatting close to them with Murry people watching a few feet away.

The Corroded Coffin guys were with Eddie, chatting about something and watching the kids around the pool.

Everyone looked happy, even Lucas and Erica no matter their bickering, and for a moment Steve completely forgot everything else as he felt a wave of absolute love wash through him. These people had all come through terrible things, some once, some many times, and they were closer to family for him than any related by blood. It was just about perfect.

Then Eddie looked up and all but swallowed his tongue. Which was just the reaction Steve was going for, so then everything was perfect.

“Let’s get this party started,” Steve called out and was met by a cheer.

Over the course of the afternoon there was food, so much food, laughter and games. Even the great wasp attack of 86 where a giant wasp had decided Eddie’s hair was the perfect place to alight for a little rest, only for Eddie to need rescuing by Nancy, had not soured proceedings.

Steve found himself wishing he and Eddie were out to everyone already because he wanted to cosy up with his boyfriend, but that was going to take a little more time.

He and Eddie did quietly give the other three graduates the gifts they had got them together, however. Since they had known Robin, Nancy and Jeff were graduating, unlike Eddie, they had been working on ideas for a while. Steve had had to do all the legwork because Eddie hadn’t been “alive” to the rest of Hawkins for some of it, but they were all both their ideas. Jeff’s gift was a new set of dice in his favourite colours. They had bought them mail order from a magazine. Nancy had a holder for a journal or notebook with a pen that said, “This pen slays monsters” on it.

And Robin, well Robin’s had to be special. They had purchased her a copy of one of her favourite art house movies on VHS that Keith had helped Steve track down, but that wasn’t the main gift. The main gift was a bear, a fluffy brown bear in a homemade rainbow skirt, with a little button that said, “Hello, my name is Dot.” Steve had sewn the skirt through much trial and error, and Eddie had hand painted the button with all his creative flair. When Robin unwrapped it, there may have been a few tears.

End of Chapter 19

Chapter 20

#stranger things fanfiction #steddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #eddie lives #stranger things #st: whole new us #fanfic #post season 4 #vampires #kind of vampires #hurt/comfort

6 notes · View notes

cescalr · 1 year

Note

fwiw ch4 👀

👀 Ok! So;

A week goes by. Ron saw less of Hermione. She was helping the Order with their efforts on figuring out the Dark Marks, to see if there happened to be a way to exploit them. Since she got the inspiration for the DA coins from them, it all made sense to Ron, at least. And she was doing other stuff - still going over the texts in the library, and she had been reading about horcruxes, looking a little green but determined. Ron knew why he'd do it, and he wondered if she'd figured it out yet, like she figured out the Basilisk, like she figured out Rita Skeeter. If Hermione knew about Harry. Ron hadn't told her. Hadn't told anyone - hadn't said a word, outside that halted not-really-a-revelation with Ginny. It was just sat there, loud and unavoidable, in his head. The boy must die. Harry knew something - knew that Ron was keeping something from him. And, well, technically he did tell Ginny. So, there were only three people that knew, other than Ron. And Ron didn't know what to make of what he'd seen - what to make of Snape, the traitor, or was he one, really? What was he? Some kind of quadruple agent? Ron thought he couldn't really have been a spy at all. Snape worked for no side but his own, it just so happened that Dumbledore's side was Snape's side, tangentially, which put him mostly in-line with the Order. Until Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him, that was. The Daily Prophet was in shambles about it. Ministry had a chokehold on the whole thing, of course, but even then the articles were all confused. Prophet was never an independent paper, not like the Quibbler, and that truth showed itself now more than ever. Amelia Bones was doing the best she could, but it just wasn't being considered good enough. If she got replaced as Minister... Ron sighed. He leant back from the table, put down his knife and fork. Dobby had been showing up at random intervals wringing his hands and offering his services, but nobody was really sure what he could do. Spying, even though he was a house elf, would have been considered too risky. So, just after whenever he popped in, there they found new food in the pantry. Everyone was always so busy they didn't have time or spare brain-power to question it, but Ron gave him a mis-matched pair of socks, all the same.

I've been working on this off and on for a year, but Uni's been a real drag when it comes to giving me free time in which to do so. But rest assured, FWIW is getting finished... just, uh, not any time soon.

Oof.

Still! Obviously, FWIW - For What It's Worth - was always planned to be, and is shaping up to actually achieve, a rewrite of HP from GOF onwards with Ronarry as the main pairing, and Ron as the POV. It's my fav little funky fanfic, and I'm super excited to get it finished. I mean, for one, wow! me finishing something!! what a novelty! but also, er, yikes. I started this in 2018 - I was 17! I'm 21 now! I'll be 22 in, oh, six days. Yeah. That's a lot of years to have still not finished this fic. Almost six of them!

This is my biggest Ronarry project, and it'll be sad to be done with it - but the end's a long time coming, and I'm really hopeful it'll meet (or exceed?) my goals for it. You know. by being good. :)

#ask game #tag game #<3

5 notes · View notes

lawboyao3 · 11 months

Text

i was supposed to try work on it all day today but i woke up at like 11am and it threw me off. i tried starting ch6 but i could tell nothing i was writing was good. did like 500-600 words (first scene) then burnt out on it :/ ill try work on it tmrrrw so i dont waste a whole week getting barely anything done. id like to b able to finish ch6 in a month, and i was hoping itd b way easier to write, but its not really. ik its going to take longer than a month to finish, so the buffer space is probably gonna disappear w ch6

i havent gotten a full chapter layout rn. i know the like first half of it, but theres scenes/info i wanna include n dont know how to fit them in. theres also plot lines from ch4 i feel like i need to continue in this chapter bc they werent brought up in ch5 and ppl will forget them if it waits any longer

hopefully it goes better tmrrw but idk

#dont know how much info i rly need to include on this blog #was originally planning to just post word counts but #rly wish i had more time in the week to work on it bc 4 days a month isnt much

3 notes · View notes

airlock · 2 years

Text

I’ve been pretty scarce lately, haven’t I? last week this was because uni was demolishing me, but lately, it’s been more about, ehum, the downside of spending like 50% of your social time in Fire Emblem communities when a new game releases, precisely in the middle of the aforementioned demolishment by uni

I’m still probably going to be ignoring non-direct notifications for the next while or so, but now that I’ve finally gotten my hands on the shiny new toy too, I’m eager to become part of the problem for everyone else!

and on that note, I’m here to post my impressions of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes as of the start of ch4

maybe this should go without saying, but goddamn, the DIFFERENCE that it makes to be back to having a protagonist with their very own dialogue as well as a discrete personality. Shez and Arval’s back-and-forths really get the most out of the “gremlin living rent-free in your brain constantly complaining about your dumb ass decisions” by actually having two participants to it. even the none-too-revelant dialogue pick prompts are a lot nicer now that Shez will actually verbalize the option that you pick, which also means you really get the most out of all the funny and/or mean options-

also, Arval is cute and I want to pinch her cheeks no matter how gross the texture there probably is

plus she forced Shez not to call Alois out on telling dad jokes. she gets it

on a related note, I’ve only had this version of Byleth for like three voiced lines, and I’ve already seen more charisma than anything they’ve done in the entirety of Three Houses. y’know, Jeannie Tirado is a phenomenal voice actress -- actually giving her lines to read brings that out all of a sudden, who woulda thunk? (somewhere between this and Xander Mobus complaining about how few actual lines he had as Persona 5 Joker, I’m arriving at the perhaps bygone conclusion that one should maybe not waste highly talented voice actors on silent protagonists-)

anyway, it’s funny as hell to me that they went to all the bother of setting up the whole “hey, you’re a garreg mach student now!” thing, only to shut the academy down and send everyone home in 2 chapters. also I hope Leonie got a refund-

I’m digging the gameplay so far; I was a bit worried that it seemed to be trying to spin too many unique plates at once -- I will, of course, really see yet how all these interlocking systems hold up throughout an entire game, but in this early juncture, it actually feels like everything has a place and nothing is encroaching too hard on anything else.

on the other hand, though, I think I can see what people mean when they said the original Fire Emblem Warriors was surprisingly headache-inducing for a Warriors game. I enjoy the tactical aspect, but it feels like it comes at the detriment of direct gameplay; you decide what everyone’s going to do, it feels awesome, and then you’re like, wait, what am *I* going to do now-

(”I never quite understand which character I’d rather be playing as at a given time” was also a thing that hassled me in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, though, so I guess this is just how Warriors game are designed now. that, or I had it too good with the original Hyrule Warriors)

also, apropos of nothing, but I’d not realized how fucking sweet Ignatz’s new outfit is back at the character trailers. holy fucking hell the man is oozing drip alongside all that paint

(ETA: and how could I forget to mention Holst??? they had me at “ProZD is doing his voice btw” and what can I say, promised and delivered)

if you’ve been beholding my wretched reactions to things so far, though, you know what the thing I’ve REALLY been looking forward to in this game is. and...

just the ch4 basecamp has already hit me with TWO long documents about little details about the Alliance, including new details about the local economy as well as more lords, territories, and details thereof. even Acheron has a household name and even a full name now! and they went and gave him one of the most badass fucking full names of anyone in this verse-- but I digress; I can see I’m going to be eating out of this game’s hand when it comes to worldbuilding. which is to say, I’m high up in the clouds right now, ready for Claude’s first named murdercousin (brother, apparently?) to fly by with his wyvern and kill me instantly.

#my stupid text posts #Fire Emblem is tagged in this post #Fódlan FE is tagged in this post

12 notes · View notes

kmomof4 · 2 years

Text

Happy Fic-a-versary to my first supernatural fic, Of Darkness, Vampires and Soulmates!!!

Two years ago today, I finally posted my first fic for my own event, the Captain Swan Supernatural Summer. And to this day, this fic was the hardest thing I’ve ever written. But once it was done, it became one of the fics I was most proud of writing, so I wanted to celebrate the anniversary of its posting!

@hollyethecurious and @profdanglaisstuff are the two lovely ladies who were most instrumental in making sure the fic actually got finished. Hollye because she’d help me through blocks and discouragement and Saira because of her betaing prowess, endless patience, and knowledge that made sure the historical aspects of this fic were accurate.

And I also have to mention the SPECTACULAR artwork of @spartanguard. She made art for every single chapter, as well as the banner above, and left me a blubbering MESS every week with her efforts.

If you haven't read the fic before, I hope you do and that you’ll let me know what you think. And if you have, thank you so much and I hope you’ll read it again and let me know what you think again. Because, as all authors know, it’s the highest compliment when someone rereads your work and we can never get enough of it.

Summary: The Dark’s minion’s downfall is foretold When True Love’s Kiss doth unfold Between soulmates unbound by time The blue eyed prince and his golden haired Swan Their True Love will break the hold And Dark magic will be no more.

Rating: M (Smut and graphic violence)

Words: 41k

Tags: Vampires, Soulmates, Reincarnation, Prophecy, Black Death, French Revolution, Magic, True Love’s Kiss

On ao3

Tumblr Posts: Prologue Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8

Art: Prologue Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Ch8

Thank you for reading, sharing, and celebrating with me!!

#fic a versary #of darkness vampires and soulmates #cssns20 #krystal writes #art by spartanguard

15 notes · View notes

korodere · 3 years

Text

hajime headcanons

i wrote these out for a cc anon but i wanna post em all in one place here

he has freckles and tans easy

i like trans ftm hajime . though i flip flop between cis hajime and trans hajime in my works haha. i rlly love him as trans tho.

he knows how to skateboard HAHA its one of the hobbies he still participates in at times. you would never guess by looking at him, though.

if he didn't get into hopes peak i swear on my life this dude wouldve been the business major in college who just picked that because he doesn't know what to do with his life & its the Default major for mfs who have no goals

he probably has lots of random knowledge about various hobbies and skills because he's tried to do so many and find his "talent", like knowing one or two songs on several instruments, knowing how to repair various utilities. he probably jumped through electives and clubs in middle school & high school. so i think hajime on his own would be a slight jack of all trades, master of none. But then he gets izuru'd and he really is a master of all trades.

as is canon he's one of those kids that fades into the background, so i bet he didn't have much of a social life. he seems like an overachiever kid, too, so he probably spent more time working and trying to find his talent than he did socializing. he probably only had unmemorable friends throughout school that didn't stick. though he does attract the attention of the sdr2 kids pretty hard, he probably had a LOT of friends. just people who came to him for help on studying, projects, etc, whatever. gets invited to some parties just because everyone kinda knows him, vaguely, and probably owes him for some help. but no close friends, no girlfriend or boyfriend. he'd be really inexperienced with close relationships by the time he meets the other sdr2 kids.

i actually like the idea that he hung out with sato & natsumi, you know, before all of that went under. i think in a non-despair au they could've been a good friend group.

really cookie cutter family. both parents working office jobs. he's emotionally detached from his family. loves them, but, there just never was the time or that big of an effort made on anyone's part to become really tight knit. he still has fond memories of his childhood, though.

kusamochi is his favorite food because it's traditionally eaten on new years. it's also one of the first foods he ever learned how to cook, with his extended family on new years. when he was younger, they would have gatherings with all extended family every new years, especially because it was hajime's birthday. but as he got older those happened less and less, and now, after everything, he still makes himself kusamochi every new years.

chiaki was his first real crush, but it was unrequited. since she was also kinda his first real friend, it was hard to differentiate between friend love and genuine crush. he knows now after everything it was probably the former, but he still loved her immensely, most than most things. even when she wasn't the best, or couldn't help him like he needed.

i think if he had a pet he would have a cat. a childhood cat he grew up with and passed away when he was in his teens, hasn't gotten a new one since because he's too focused on school & with his hopes peak workload, and his busy parents, there just wouldn't be time for caring for a pet. and i bet he would've named his cat mochi when he was little, because he liked kusamochi so much <33 sobs

post-dr3 hajime doesn't completely effortlessly use his talents, and with a lot of them, he needs to concentrate and think hard to focus and apply them. some things are reflexive, but others are more dormant. because of this, he can still get distracted and screw things up. when he does start using his talents, though, he goes more on the "izuru" side of his personality, very intense, a little scary from an outside perspective, and more cold and calculating.

he has days that are more izuru than others, since they're both him now, in essence. and because that's just, irreparable damage done onto your brain, he can have mood swings, bad days, even weeks, where he's much more cold and unfeeling. in these states, though, he tends to just work himself into a hole because it's all he can do, since that sense of "boredom" comes back on days like these. (like anhedonia, in depression. there's just some days like that, you know?) and the only one capable of helping him through these states is komaeda. (sorry, im slipping in my komahina agenda)

i kinda have a guilty pleasure for the headcanon that he grew taller from all the drugs and surgery they put him on during the project, especially because he was 18? so he still had room to grow taller. he's 5'10 in the nwp so i think 6'0 izuru/post-game hajime is, kinda hot. Though if you go by his localization height (5'8) then just put him right back up to 5'10 LOL

for the trans agenda, the reason he dislikes sakuramochi so much is because it's a treat typically eaten on "girls' day" in japan, and he always hated that day.

this isn't a headcanon. more of an observation, really. but i really dont like calling hajime "tsundere" because he doesn't fit that mold at all. he's dense & just comes off as blunt and rude, plus he's easily irritable. this isn't a tsundere trait, he isn't purposefully mean to hide his feelings for someone. he's just confused and doesn't even understand his own feelings most of the time, especially when it's a complex relationship like with nagito. if anything, hopes peak or ch4 nagito is more of a tsundere haha cuz he purposely is mean to hajime & talks down to him to hide his own feelings that is already aware of, because he's trying to force himself to stop caring after learning hes a talentless nobody & fell to despair.

#hajime hinata #danganronpa #kota.txt #izuru kamukura #nagito komaeda #chiaki nanami #sdr2

141 notes · View notes

apexqueenie · 3 years

Text

The Blood King (Bakugou x Reader, Medieval AU) Ch1

Synopsis: In fairytales, princesses like you got to marry handsome princes like your best friend Shoto, but you’re not living a fairytale. You find the harsh realities a punch to the face as you and Sho run away outside palace grounds and into the real world. But the harsh brings out the beautiful, and in your case, it took the form of the scarlet covered barbarian king, whose territory you disturbed.

A/N: This is the first long series that I’m writing, I hope you all enjoy!

Warnings: Swearing, a bit of violence (This is Bakugou lol), eventual smut (I’ll put a warning dw, totally skippable)

[Ch1]->[Ch2]->[Ch3]->[Ch4]->[Ch5]->[Ch6]

You didn’t know how much more badly a plan could go, but here you were, lost, wounded, and scared in the middle of the freaking forest, the sound of a very angry beast trailing after you. You tugged at the unconscious man on the floor, his head bleeding severely. He was losing too much blood and you couldn’t keep pulling him along without stopping the bleeding first. Your only option was to fight. How did this all start exactly? Well, it started when you decided to ditch your wedding.

***

In a daze, you pulled yourself from your slumber, rising to the sound of gentle knocks at your door. “Who’s there?” you mumbled, rubbing your eyes.

You shivered slightly and crossed your arms, realizing that you had kicked off your blankets in your sleep. Your best handmaiden, Ochako, barged in, not even bothering to answer the question.

“Good morning princess” she sang delightfully as she opened your large curtains, allowing the morning light to spill into the huge room. Ochako, although not being of royal blood, was a close friend of yours throughout the years. It was her job to serve you, but you loved her and treated her as your sister.

“Chako, I told you (y/n) is fine when we’re alone” you said with a yawn.

Ochako hummed as she walked to your wardrobe, sifting through it for the perfect dress. “Ah, but you see your highness, we aren’t alone.”

Before you could question her, a familiar face peeked around the door, heterochromic eyes glancing around the room. “Hi” he says before entering the room and closing the doors behind him.

“SHO!!!” You yelled, launching yourself out of your bed to give your childhood friend a big hug. You haven’t seen him since last summer.

The both of your fathers were Kings of kingdoms who traded with one another, meeting in person once a year to discuss the details. While they both enjoyed a bit of drinking and chess, you and Shoto ran around the gardens barefooted with sticks in hand for fake swordplay. They were always about knights and dragons, and since there were only two of you, you took turns being the dragon or the knight. Princesses weren’t taught to practice swordplay, so Shoto took it upon himself to be your mentor. He taught you what he remembered from his private lessons, insisting that if you were to meet a real dragon like in your games, you would be able to fight it off.

“But won’t you be here to protect me?” you asked, lowering your stick.

“Yeah,” he said, “but when we meet a real dragon, we’ll be protecting each other.”

Every year, you two would meet to run around the gardens, hiding from your handmaidens and butlers until meal time. Every year, you would shy a bit away from the games and start sparring for real, Sho providing the wooden swords to teach you what he’s learned from the top sword fighters across the continent. Every year your blades danced with his until the both of you could read each other’s movements with a single glance. And every year, you felt a growing affection for the boy that you were too afraid to bring up.

The two of you talked about your home lives often, sharing stories and complaints about being “perfect” and a “role model” to your citizens. Shoto’s father constantly pushes everyone in their family to their limits, causing the Queen to go insane and burn Shoto, leaving a signature red scar on his left eye. While she was locked in the medical housing part of the castle, Shoto started to understand why his mother lost her mind and silently started to rebel against his father. Your father was similar, always correcting you and forcing you to practice perfect mannerisms. You were his first born, you were supposed to be the perfect example of what a future Queen was to be, especially for your younger siblings; the second born son barely of age to train by sword. If you were anything less, you were to be locked in your room until you had time to “reflect”, your maids unable to speak to you in fear that the King would hear and throw them in the dungeon. Your mother, being too vain to involve herself with any of her children, never saw any of you until your birthdays. She opted to drown herself in self-pampering every other day. Both of your lives were royal hell until “The Meeting”, where the both of you could forget about being perfect for a day.

You wrapped your arms around Shoto’s neck and buried your face in the crook of his neck, the both of you clutching each other close. His body radiated its own heat, warming you more than the thin fabric of your nightdress could. You pulled away, realising he got even taller this year.

“I missed you Sho!” you smiled.

“Likewise” he replied, slinging his sword from his back, only there was another object wrapped in silk next to it. “Did...anything interesting happen this year?”

“Hmmm,” you pondered, walking to your vanity and grabbing a brush. “Well, Jinko is pregnant again.”

“Your mother?”

“Heh, she was never around enough to be a ‘mother’, she’s merely my birth-giver.” you snorted, combing your soft locks.

“So, is that the fourth…?”

“Fifth.”

“Well then.”

“Yep, and as soon as she’s done pushing it out, she’ll ignore it 364 days of the year. Hell, Ocha was there more for me than my mother ever could be” you say, earning a small blush from the girl.

Shoto sighed, taking a seat on the edge of your bed and placing his sword next to him.

“Anyways, what’s the meeting about this time?” you asked now moving onto cleaning your face.

“That’s… uh...well, I have to talk to you about something soon, but first, I brought you a gift” Sho said a bit awkwardly. He turned and handed you the silk wrapped object. You took it gently, afraid of breaking it, that was, until you unwrapped it. Your mouth dropped as you felt the silk fall off and onto the floor, completely forgotten as you held up the object in awe. In your hand was a long silver blade engraved with delicately curved patterns surrounding a single mother pearl at the center and down the blade itself. The hilt fit perfectly in your hands, the weight completely balanced.

You were damn near about to cry. “Sho...its-”

“Get dressed so we can try it out” he smiles and hands you the sheath.

Giddily, you sheath your sword and headed to the dressing curtain where Ochako waited for you with a big smile. She seemed to have known about this whole visit because she held up a bit more of a casual dress, one that wasn’t as long as it normally would be. You never understood why you had to wear dresses as a princess, but it couldn’t be helped, you had no control over your clothing choices. Ochako however, had the power to hem the dresses for you so you could run with a bit more freedom.

***

“Sho! I can’t believe you did this! How’d you manage to sneak this by your dad?” you ask once you are dressed. You moved to take the direct route to the gardens, but Shoto pulled you to a different route around. “Sho?”

“That’s the thing I have to talk to you about,” he said, peeking into all the rooms and hallways before entering, “I don’t want to run into anyone else right now.” He pulls you along swiftly until you reach the gardens, taking one last look around you before relaxing a bit.

“Hey, Sho, what the heck is going on?” you ask, lowering your voice.

The boy in front of you couldn’t look you in the eyes. He was worried about something, which was totally uncharacteristic of him. Trying to ease his nerves, you reach out and gently squeeze his hand, but he doesn’t respond back. Instead, he just sighs, finally about to say something.

“So...you know how we...always meet up every year?” he asks.

You nod, slightly confused at where this was going.

“Well, our fathers have been discussing…”

“Discussing what?”

“Something very.. special for next week-”

“My birthday isn’t for a couple of months”

“It’s not that-”

“Then?”

He turned his head and sighed.

“...Discussing our marriage…” he trails off.

“Sho! Oh wow, This-this is great!” you beamed. You always thought about the day you’ll have to marry someone. Your role as a princess was to marry a prince, and become a beloved Queen to your kingdom. You dreaded that it would be for trading purposes, that you’d have to marry some pudgy old man so that your father could share more land, but you had the option to marry your best friend! Anyone would be delighted at the thought...anyone but Shoto.

Your smile quickly faded as you studied his face. He expressed a mix of guilt, awkwardness, worry, and something you haven’t seen before…was that fear?

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, still unable to look at you, “I can’t do this-”

“Is it too early still? Because it’s ok, we don’t have to-” The words stung, but you couldn’t let that get to you.

“No! No, that’s not it, it’s just that I can’t”

“You can’t what? Tell me what so I can help you.”

“I… I love you (y/n), just...not like that” he says, furrowing his eyebrows.

“What? Wait, what do you mean?” you asked, stomach dropping.

“I just mean that I, I don’t see you like that.” he said.

“So, I’m not good enough?” you shook your head.

“-No-”

You could feel the tears stinging in your eyes, “so...there’s someone else?”

He lets go of your hand to rub his arm in a nervous manner, “No, that’s not it either, I just don’t know how to explain it-”

But he was lying. You knew Shoto was a bad liar around you. It was bad enough that he couldn’t look at you, but even worse that he was taking steps away from you, slowly inching backwards in the opposite direction. He wasn’t trusting you with something and you didn’t know why, but your anger took over, and suddenly, you didn’t want to know why either.

“Well then, I’ll leave it to you to inform our fathers that this wedding won’t be happening, Todoroki.” you huffed. You saw the hurt in his face when you called him by his last name, but you could care less right now. You turned around and headed back to the castle, back to your room, and back to Ochako so you could cry in comfort. You kept your eyes trained at the ground, a silent message to all your servants to leave you alone. However, the message was left unknown to someone who didn’t live in the palace, someone like King Enji.

You were cut off from the path to your room by the tall and heavily built man, his eyes cold and harsh staring at you from above. You stopped and immediately curtsied in respect, as you were representing your father every time you met with a leader of another kingdom.

“Good morning, King Enji.” you said, giving him a well practiced ‘princess smile’.

He only grunted in response, nodding his head to the sword strapped to your back. “I see you received my son’s wedding gift, do you find it satisfactory?”

“Oh-the sword, right! It’s beautiful, your greatness. I am so humbly honored to receive such a gift.” you bow. You had completely forgotten it was there after what happened with Shoto. It was supposed to be a wedding gift, a sign of his love for you, but he didn’t love you like you loved him. You should be throwing this thing away, you should feel disgusted...so why did those words come out so naturally? Why did the sword feel so familiar? Hopefully Ochako could help you answer those.

King Enji nodded in approval, motioning to some servants he had waiting out of your sight. “You have good manners, young one. Perhaps my son could learn a thing or two from you when it comes to respecting his elders.”

Two female servants took place besides you, awaiting further instructions from their King.

“Your father has agreed to allow me to provide the dress, courtesy of the profits he helped me make last year. My servants will be taking your measurements, as well as note your likes and dislikes for the preparations.” he says before walking off.

All you could do was smile now. You couldn’t make your father look bad, even in front of servants. You continued to hold back tears as the handmaidens escorted you to your chambers.

So much for spilling your heart out to Ochako.

***

The maidens were merciless, insisting that every measurement be as precise as possible. You tried to delay them, but your efforts were futile. They brought every bit of conversation back to the dress, and to the wedding plans you know you won’t have. Guards were installed in front to ensure no one came in or out until every inch of your body was measured to perfection. They measured your breasts and behind about five times over to ensure that “your best qualities were perfectly framed” for the wedding. Best qualities? Were you just boobs and ass for the future King? You sighed, still letting them continue their measuring. Shoto wouldn’t have cared…

No, he was Todoroki to you now, until he can give you an explanation.

But...do you even deserve one?

As King Enji’s servants gave you a break to bring out supplies for your fitting, you walked over to the sword your “fiance” gave you, unsheathed for its glory to shine on your bed. He knew how you liked it, designing it to perfectly mirror you. He took note of everything you loved, remembering your style interests from whenever you two would talk for hours on end. You traced the flawless engravings on the blade itself, almost tearing up again. Turning the sword over, you saw the engraving on the bottom of the hilt, small, yet beautiful nonetheless.

“Let’s protect each other from now on”

All the anger you felt before was gone, replaced by pure guilt.

He really did love you.

Just not in the way that you had hoped.

You were being selfish, and you needed to make it right.

Before you knew it, you were yanked back to the full length mirrors for more measurements.

Both the measuring and interrogations lasted nearly the entire day with the servants drawing several designs and re-measuring you for each one. Of course, they didn’t accept a “that looks fine” or “this one is good'', so they continued to create new ones, each more extravagant and beautiful than the last. Evening came, and the maidens packed their materials to head back to their own kingdom. You thanked them sincerely for all their hard work and rushed off to say goodbye to Shoto until he disappeared over the hill and into the forest, like you’ve always done...except you weren’t.

You arrived to meet your father, King Enji, and Shoto in the main hall a little out of breath while they said their last goodbyes. King Enji broke his attention away from your father to give you a polite nod, acknowledging your presence. Your father noticed this and turned to give you a big hug, laughing heartily.

“Can you believe it? You’re getting married in a week! I need to tell your mother straight away! She would be so proud.” he says, pulling strands of your hair behind your ear.

“Yes, I believe she would” you smile. You weren’t in the mood to explain that she’d only use this as an excuse to out-fashion you on your own special day.

Shoto hung his head in silence right next to his dad, still not making eye contact with you. You tried to pay him no mind and instead focused on building up your courage to ask something of King Enji in the politest way possible.

When you got the chance, you squeezed out every bit of bravery left in your system to say “Erm, King Enji, is it alright if Prince Shoto stays?”, twiddling your fingers innocently.

The red headed man looked a bit taken back by the question, but he didn’t seem opposed to the idea. He snorted, waving his hand to Shoto, who stared at you with an open mouth.

“Ah, young love,” your father chuckled, and went to see his comrade out the door.

Without a second to spare, you grabbed Shoto’’s hand and led him to your room, closing the door behind you quickly.

“(y/n), what are you doing?” he asked, watching you shove a chair underneath the handles of your doors. You had enough palace servants for today.

You turned around and immediately threw your arms around his waist. He stood rigid with surprise before hesitantly hugging you back with a light grip. He was still confused from the fiasco earlier, but didn’t blame you.

“Sho....I’m so sorry, I should have understood.” you whispered. “I hope you could forgive me..”

He gave you a slight squeeze, “Of-course, (y/n). I’m sorry too, I-”

“Stop. You don’t need to explain anything to me. All we need to do is get this wedding cancelled.” you interrupt, looking up at him. “Also, I’m glad you didn’t say anything.”

He looked relieved, giving you a soft smile. “Thanks, (y/n).” He pulls away from you and takes a seat on your bed next to where your blade still sat, unbothered. “But, I realized that if I were to tell my father, he’d assume it to be an insult no matter what I say, and end the friendship. with your people. Then he’d have me married off to someone else and make my life more hell than it already was. I’d rather be married to my best friend than a stranger.” he smiled.

You opened your mouth to say something, but the words escaped you. You were stumped. After all of this, it turned in your favor, but you didn’t want this anymore.

You huffed and stood up abruptly, heading to your drawers and searching through them.

“What are you-?” Sho trailed off, standing up with you.

Finally, you found an assorted set of bags you use to collect things on your trips to the forest. With most of your years being devoted to molding you into a perfect queen, you haven’t used these for anything more than bringing home a pretty set of rocks in hopes that your mother would pay attention to you. Now, you were finding the biggest ones, planning to fill them with essentials to help you survive the woods.

“We’re not going to do anything we’re forced to be into,” you said, “No matter what, our fathers won’t allow us to cancel this, but they can’t do anything if we’re not here.”

“(y/n), you’re not thinking of leaving are you?” he asked, worry apparent all over his face.

You handed Sho a bag, staring him straight in the eye. “I’m absolutely thinking of that.” You grabbed a bag for yourself and shoved the rest back into your drawers. “We both have siblings who can inherit the throne, right? And if we disappear together and write a note saying something like “oh this is going too fast and we decided to take a break together in the mountains”- neither of our fathers could blame each other, so-”

“Hey,” Sho laid a hand on your shoulder, “we don’t have to do this. I told you, I really thought about this, and as long as it’s you, I’ll be happy-”

“No, Sho,” you said, shrugging off the hand and looking through your closet for extra clothes, “you can tell yourself that, but that’s not going to be true. I want you to be just as happy, and that’s not gonna happen if we go through with this marriage. Look, I know Ocha’s grandmother lives in a small town East of here, past the forest. If we can get there, we can rest and figure out what to do, ok?”

You looked at him for confirmation, his brows furrowed and his lips spread into a thin line. For a few seconds, he contemplated the terrible outcomes of your plan, but he knew you would just do this yourself if he didn’t come with you.

Finally, he nodded before he could change his mind.

This probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but at least you were together.

#bakugou imagine #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #mha medieval #bakugou #x reader #bakugou x y/n #bakugou x reader series #shoto todoroki

159 notes · View notes

berriusagi · 3 years

Text

Stomach Bug Ch4

Afternoon Date

It has been a minute, hasn’t it? Sorry for making you guys wait for the next chapter I hope you like this one too. Love the support and the kind comments.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Marinette and Damian were lucky when it came to their schedules as their classes ended roughly around the same time; making it easier for them to plan their dates during the week so they could get as much time together as possible. The following days after the announcement at Wayne manor the teens spent as much time around each other as they could. Though they did have to sneak around the family for privacy and keep a low profile to not raise any suspicion from the media.

The perks of having a well-known designer as your significant other made it incredibly easy for them to be able to hide in plain sight. Only proven by the fact both were sitting in a small coffee shop enjoying some pastries and hot chocolate as everyone around them was none the wiser of just who was in their presence.

“I’ll never understand how you do it.” Damian chuckled softly as he sipped on his drink looking around the coffee shop as Marinette just giggled.

“You have a very specific style. It's how people pick you out, change the style and they’ll be none the wiser.” she smiled before leaning in to whisper, “average people aren’t that perceptive that’s how heroes like Superman and the Green Arrow can blend in so easily outside of the costume. They don’t see faces, they see the clothing or anything ‘off’ about them.”

“Makes sense,” he nodded relaxing back in the booth wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she settled in sipping on her hot chocolate, “Is that how you figured me out so quickly? You looked at the face, not the clothes?” he hummed rubbing her arm.

“Actually for the first three months all I did was look at the clothes because they are an affront to fashion.” she giggled, “I get that its tradition but did it have to be so garish? Did you have to use the brightest colors for the darkest and gothic city in America? It’s like you want to get shot,” she said rolling her eyes.

“I think it had more to do with Batman wanting to keep track of a small child in dark alleyways, bright colors stand out more.” Damian chuckled.

Marinette hummed seeming to accept that answer as she finished her pastry and hot chocolate. They fell into a comfortable silence just enjoying each other’s company cuddling together. “It’s getting close to the holidays. Is there anything you or your family want?” she asked.

Damian thought about it for a moment trying to think of anything his family mentioned wanting in the past few weeks. “Hmm, I remember Todd saying something about his leather jacket getting too worn, I think Drake could use a new sweater too. It's looking a bit threadbare. Grayson hasn’t complained about anything specific and since he doesn’t live in the Manor I can’t exactly look through all his clothes. Father and Pennyworth I’m not too sure on.” he said after a long stretch of silence.

“What about you? Anything special you want?” she smiled looking up at him.

“I’ll be happy with whatever it is you choose to give me.” he smiled leaning down to kiss her gently on the forehead, “You’re already giving me the best present,” he added, placing a gentle hand over her belly.

Marinette giggled a soft blush settling across her cheeks; “I would have never pegged you as a sappy dad.” she smiled holding his hand over her belly, “It’s so unlike you.”

He shrugged a soft pink dusting his face, “I’m just excited.” he mumbled.

She smiled softly leaning up to kiss his cheek, “I know you are, how about we head out and can go window shopping at a few stores to get an idea of what all we’ll need.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” he nodded, getting out of the booth taking her hand to help her stand. Once she was on her feet he wrapped an arm loosely around her waist and guided her out of the shop and onto the busy street. They steered clear of any overpopulated areas not wanting to risk anyone recognizing Damian, as well as any alleyways not wanting to mugged or jumped.

They took their time making their way to the shopping district talking quietly to each other about their plans for the following weeks. Marinette was slowly losing her mind with her commissions that seemed to get more and more complicated with less and less time between each to finish. Damian was adamant to claim his brothers were driving him up the wall now that they knew about Marinette making his desire to stab them all that stronger. Though he’d never admit he liked that his family welcomed Marinette so readily.

“What are you hoping for?” Marinette asked as they looked in the shop window at some baby clothes. There were an array of items from over the top frilly dresses full of ruffles and lace to make it obvious to anyone that the child wearing it was meant to be a little princess. While on the other side were little onesies with cheesy sayings and cute art printed on them causing the people passing by to coo and laugh at the phrases pointing them out to their friends and partners.

“A healthy child,” Damian said, hugging her gently to his side, “I don’t care about the gender so long as they are healthy and I have you by my side,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss her gently on her cheek.

Marinette blushed though and was smiling brightly as she buried her face into his chest breathing deeply as she soaked up all the warmth and love he was showering her in. “I feel the same,” she mumbled before pulling him away from the clothing store to head into a shop to look at other supplies and furniture they’d need.

They lost hours in the department store as they looked over different strollers, beds, changing tables, anything and everything marketed for a baby. They took their time looking it over and comparing the items until they had a solid idea of just what it was they needed. “I want everything to be neutral in color,” she mumbled as they were looking at some toys.

“Hm?” Damian asked, holding up a green rabbit plush testing how soft it was.

“I don’t want anything too gender-specific you know I don’t want everything pink, as much as I love the color or blue. I think it should be a neutral color or a variety of colors so we’re not forcing our kid in just one color.” She said picking up some blankets gently running her fingers over the soft fleece.

“We could always get everything in robin colors.” Damian joked.

“I will divorce you.” Marinette deadpanned looking up at him.

“Ouch okay no robin colors.” he chuckled, setting the toy rabbit down and hugged her, “we have plenty of time to decide on the colors, but I do agree we won’t use pink or blue it’s been overdone quite a bit.” he nodded.

She nodded as they left the baby aisle and started to head towards the front. Once they were back out on the street the sky was beginning to darken quite a bit. “It’s getting late. I should head home and pack, Mum said she’d bring me by the manor after dinner.”

“I’ll walk you home and make sure the room Pennyworth set up is suitable for you.” he nodded guiding her down the street. “Will you be bringing any of your projects along?” he asked as he helped her cross the street.

“I’ll probably bring the quilt I’m working on and the jacket Uncle Jagged commissioned.” she hummed as they made their way towards her apartment. “I’m almost done with the jacket and I want to get a few more squares done on the quilt before Monday,” she added.

He nodded as they fell into a comfortable silence and continued to walk, keeping close to each other so as not to get separated in the crowds. Once they reached Marinette’s apartment building she pulled away and smiled up at Damian, “I’ll see you after dinner have a safe trip home.” she said getting up on her tippy toes to kiss him.

“You have a nice dinner and pack some warm pajamas. The manor can get a bit drafty at night,” he warned, kissing her back. He smiled and waited until she was inside the building and in the elevator to take her to her floor before he turned on his heels and began to head home.

He was only able to pass a few blocks before ducking into an alleyway and crossed his arms waiting as someone landed behind him. “Really? You tailed us the whole time we were out?” he deadpanned turning to face Nightwing.

Nightwing just crossed his arms looking away with a slight pout, “I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” he said, “you were walking around in broad daylight anyone could have seen you two.”

“You’re lucky she didn’t notice you, how would I have explained why a vigilante was following us? When the sun is up leave us alone if she’s out after dark feel free to tail her if she’s not with me.” he said glaring at him, “She doesn’t need the added stress and doesn’t need to be looking over her shoulder every few blocks because she saw someone following her.”

Nightwing sighed rolling his head, “Fine I won’t but I can’t say anything for the others.” he said before sending up a grapple and whisking himself away.

Damian sighed, rubbing his temples, “They’re going to scare her off I just know it.” he muttered heading out of the alleyway and continued his trek home.

~.~.~.~

“Marigold are you ready?” Ivy asked after cleaning up the kitchen from their dinner. She knocked on the door before opening it slowly as she peered in to see Marinette attempting to shove her sewing machine into her bag. “Marigold I think the sewing machine can stay here.” she chuckled walking in grabbing the machine from her hands and set it back on the table.

“I have projects I need to finish though.” Marinette groaned looking at the fabric squares for the quilt and jacket she had packed in another bag.

“You and I both know all that’s left for the jacket is minor touch-ups. You can hand sew it and you’d been hand sewing that quilt all week so you don’t need the machine.” Ivy said leaning on the desk, “Besides you’re going to be with the Wayne’s for the weekend instead of working on your projects why don’t you take a break and get to know them?”

“I just want to finish Uncle Jagged’s jacket. I already closed down the site and won’t be reopening it until new years. I’ll take a break when all my projects are done and have been shipped out.” she said trying to get around Ivy to get the sewing machine.

“Marigold I said no sewing machine.” Ivy said blocking her, “you shouldn’t be carrying it back and forth anyways. I’m sure you just mentioned in passing you needed a sewing machine while in that manor you’ll have one before the end of the day.”

“Mum! That would be manipulative!” Marinette gasped appalled at her mother’s suggestion.

Ivy sighed, gently taking hold of Marinette’s face and leaned down to be eye level with her, “it’s not manipulative. You could just ask Bruce or Damian if they had one if not and you don’t want to use their money then convince Damian to join you to buy yourself a sewing machine that can stay at the manor.” She said gently, kissing her forehead.

Marinette pouted, bowing her head, “so no sewing machine?” she said eyeing the trusty machine she brought from Paris when she moved.

“‘Fraid, not kiddo now finish packing up Harls will be back from walking Bud and Lou any moment then we’re heading over to the manor to drop you off.” Ivy chuckled patting her back as she left the room to let Marinette finish packing for the weekend.

~.~.~.~

The Wayne Manor was in a state of chaos as the occupants prepared for the arrival of their weekend guest. Bruce watched on with a type of exhausted fondness that only a single parent possesses as they watch their children make complete fools of themselves. Beside him was Tim his second youngest who was nursing yet another large mug of coffee the bags under his eyes deeper and darker than the waters of the Mariana Trench. “At least they’re excited?” Bruce muttered watching on as Jason and Dick continued to argue about what they’d learned about Marinette in the last week through means of tailing her and digging up her past.

“They’re going to scare her off.” Damian deadpanned standing beside Bruce on the other side of him watching the two eldest argue looking as if they were going to physically fight.

“No offense but if she didn’t run for the hills after meeting you I think she’ll be able to handle them.” Tim yawned as he took a long drink from his coffee as there was a soft knocking at the door.

Alfred easily walked past the fighting siblings and went right for the front door opening it to reveal the Isley-Quinzels, “Pleasure to see you again Miss. Marinette.” Alfred nodded stepping aside to allow her to enter carrying with her two large bags.

“Sorry to intrude,” Marinette said as Damian rushed overtaking one of her bags off her arm.

“Nonsense you’re always welcome here.” Alfred smiled and looked at the two women, “would you like to come in?”

“Nah we got plans we’ll be back Sunday to pick you up, Marigold.” Harley smiled hugging Marinette, giving her a big kiss on her cheek as Ivy stepped in to give her a kiss and hug goodbye.

“Try to relax this weekend,” Ivy said patting her back, “You lot treat her well or I’ll make you into fertilizer.”

“She’s in good hands Ivy you two have a nice weekend,” Bruce said, nodding his head to the women. Harley and Ivy nodded and blew Marinette a few more kisses before they made their leave after Alfred closed the door.

“I’ll show you to your room Habibti,” Damian said, taking her bags and making a point to ignore his family watching him as he guided Marinette away and up the stairs to the room Alfred prepared for her.

Once they were out of earshot of the rest of the family Marinette looked up at Damian with a raised eyebrow, “You’re not putting me in the room Alfred prepared are you?” she asked following him.

“No, you’ll be in my room so I can keep an eye on you.” He said leaning down to kiss her as he pushed open his bedroom door and carried her bags in. “You need to sleep a reasonable amount and I know you sleep better when you’re warm and this way I can make sure you’re warm.”

“Just say you want to cuddle.” Marinette giggled sitting on his bed as he went about putting her clothes away and setting her sewing projects on his desk. She smiled watching him move with such familiarity as if this was a daily occurrence for them. As she relaxed on the bed a comforting weight settled across her lap. Looking down she saw a tuxedo cat lounging across her legs purring loudly and quite content.

Marinette smiled reaching down and gently started to run her fingers through the fur, “You must be Alfred.” She smiled gently scratching behind the cat's ears. She was so occupied with petting the cat on her lap she barely noticed the weight of another animal climbing onto the bed and curled up behind her. She turned and looked smiling at the large Great Dane she leaned back resting her head on the dog’s side reaching up and started petting him with her free hand, “You must be Titus.” She giggled as Alfred the Cat crawled up to rest on her chest.

Marinette was content to relax on the bed cuddling with the animals when she felt another weight settle on her lap and looked down to see a turkey perched on her legs watching her. “Hello, Jerry.” She giggled, stopping her petting of the cat and dog to reach down and begin gently stroking the turkey’s feathers. She alternated between the three animals trying not to make any feel left out as she pet them soon dozing off from all the warmth and comfort the animals provided.

Damian found her passed out on his bed, one hand resting on Jerry’s back and the other reaching back to scratch Titus’ ears. He huffed out a soft laugh looking over the scene before pulling his phone out quickly taking a picture before shooing Jerry and Alfred off her so he could get her in bed and into a more comfortable position. “Good job everyone,” he whispered to his pets as he took her boots off and gently took her hair out of her pigtails before tucking her into bed.

Once she was comfortably curled up under the blankets he pulled back and laid out some pajamas on the nightstand closest to Marinette in case she woke up long enough to change and set about getting into his pajamas and turned off all the lights before climbing into bed and pulled her to his chest relaxing back. “Good night habibti.” He mumbled, kissing her forehead.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

@myazael @beautiful-disasters-sunshine @moonlightstar64 @moonlitceleste @stainedglassm @casual-darkness @mochegato @ultimatetornshipper @heemsanddamemes @nathleigh @qualitypeacepainter @raven-frost-21 @maskedpainter @demonicbusiness @dood-space @trippingovermyfeet @emimar7 @indecisive-mess-named-me @changelinggarden @zerotosiki @alysrose-starchild @s-and-n @wolf2118 @athena452 @jjmjjktth

#daminette #damianette #damidad #mominette #maribat #maridami #ml x dc #teen pregnancy #stomach bug

235 notes · View notes