Tumgik
#i am posting this to avoid the desire to write a longer fic. . .
voxofthevoid · 5 months
Text
Twenty Questions for Fic Writers
Tagged by my one and only Jesus @eusuntgratie
I recently cleared out all the ask/tag games in my drafts because I realized I'd reached the pile-up stage of putting things in there and not doing shit. Thanks to everyone who's tagged me in those the last couple of months and sorry I didn't get to any!
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
148
2. What’s your total ao3 word count?
2,005,606 (crossed the 2 million milestone recently and am still buzzing about it)
3. What fandoms do you write for?
I'm only writing for Jujutsu Kaisen, but I'm posting for Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach, and MCU.
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
I was so sure it was going to be all MCU, but nope, it's a mix of MCU and Hannibal. God, that was my first Ao3 fandom, and my Hannibal fics are from 2014. It's surreal people are still reading/enjoying them.
if you're looking for jesus (then get on your knees)—MCU
i'm a ghost, you're an angel (one and the same)—MCU
A darkness seen and shared—Hannibal
Ways and Means—Hannibal
the hand you want to hold is a weapon (and you're nothing but skin)—MCU
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
I do! I enjoy the interactions and discussions. Plus, since I'm not a Discord (or group spaces) person, it's how I find fellow fans to chat with, especially during my initial foray into a particular fandom. I do have a huge backlog of some 1.1k comments from 2020 to mid-2021 because I didn't have much time for fandom in that period. I'm chipping away at it slowly, but I'm pretty prompt about replying to everything on my post-2021 fics.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Hmm, this Hannibal fic, I'd say: Till the bitter end
Let's just say I predicted the series finale in some weird way.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Most of mine end happily—a few are ambiguous, while others are dark.
8. Do you get hate on fic?
Oh yeah. It's only happened with MCU and Jujutsu Kaisen, and they're mostly cases of overgrown children unhappy that I didn't write the ships or dynamics they want.
9. Do you write smut?
It's my specialty now 😎
10. Do you write crossovers?
Nah. I've done fusion-style AUs, but full-on crossovers aren't something I'd like to write. I'll read them, but I'm picky.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Multiple times (MCU and YoI, iirc), both within Ao3 and offsite.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Multiple times, for multiple fandoms! It's always a delight.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I did write one(1) fic that way, but it got yeeted into the void when my co-author deleted her entire Ao3 account. I have a copy, I think.
14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?
I'm the kind of person who's most devoted to whatever is eating my brain at the time, so right now, it's Yuuji/Gojou from Jujutsu Kaisen.
15. What’s a wip you want to finish but probably won’t?
My writing superpower is that if I lose interest in a WIP, I also lose all desire to finish it and any guilt about it. And these days, I tend to start a fic and work on just that till it's done. So the answer is—none.
16. What are your writing strengths?
I write some smokin' hot porn, and I'm pretty good at threading character study through it. The porn is the plot, in most cases. I also enjoy doing background worldbuilding that serves to give the narrative a sense of depth despite the focus being on characters and relationships.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Fight scenes, ensemble casts, and sustained plotty plots.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
Ah, I can feel my Hannibal-era Google-translate Lithuanian judging me.
In general, I avoid it, but when I write for anime set in Japan, I tend to work in honorifics. My mother tongue has those too, so I know from experience that there are no English equivalents that capture the same vibe.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Hunter x Hunter, I think. That account no longer exists. On Ao3, it's Hannibal.
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
I tend to be biased toward my newer works, so this keeps changing. At the moment, it's (let me be clear) every version of the story ends with you being slaughtered (JJK, goyuu).
Tagging (no pressure) 20 people because why the hell not: @possibleplatypus, @actualalligator, @joeys-piano, @cursedvibes, @backwardshirt, @m34gs, @naamah-beherit, @dragongirlg-fics, @crossroadswrite, @spacebuck, @jenroses, @calamitouskings, @knivash, @lo-55, @bookwyrmling, @sorrythatwasamistake, @ddelline, @lilyfarseer, @roughkiss and @deunan306
29 notes · View notes
dykelawlight · 6 months
Note
for the fanfic asks: 7, 35, 79 pls? love your writing <3
Thank you so much!! 💞
7. Post a snippet from a wip.
The phone is still ringing. Teru takes off her glasses, grinds the heel of her hand into her eye, and picks it up. If her voice is somewhat flat with irritation and gravelly with fatigue, that's going to have to suffice. “Mikami.” A familiar, amused little laugh trails down the phone wire and lodges itself directly into Teru’s brain. “Aren’t we all business this morning.” Yagami Light, Teru’s kind-of-not-really-she-wishes girlfriend, semi-frequent sex partner, constant object of affection and desire so desperate that sometimes Teru wonders how she survives it. She and Light and Light’s actual girlfriend of eleven years, L, had had a very successful one-night stand a while ago (the first time Teru had had sex of any kind, let alone any kind of indulgence in alternative lifestyle dynamics), after meeting at a fetish club in Shinjuku, that had transformed itself into something longer. Teru’s spent the last six months walking around with a daily ache in her chest (and occasionally elsewhere) that only abates when Light wants her. She likes L fine, too, finds her reasonably attractive, enjoys having sex with her, appreciates her personal brand of dominance ⁠— it wouldn't work if she didn't ⁠— but Teru would go to war and die for Yagami Light. “Hi,” Teru breathes.
35. What’s your favorite fic you’ve posted?
Hmmmm I think it has to be Hear No Evil 🫡 which is funny because I originally meant for that to be a short kind of comedic oneshot and then it just spiraled into what it IS which is like...a study in Misa ft. background Lawlight horniness. But I really like how Solid and Full ultimately came out, too! (Detecting a trend here of This Was Supposed To Be Short And Oops It's Ten Pages Long Now)
79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?
Nothing you haven't heard already I'm sure! But my thing really is that even as addicted as I am to reading comments while giggling and kicking my feet I really only write stuff that is actively fun for me. Everything you see around tumblr about avoiding writing for the imagined bad-faith reader is soooo true. ALSO re: writing porn specifically my biggest tip is just vomiting out a couple hundred words of disgustingly horny dialogue and then letting it sit in my notes app for a couple hours and returning to edit it and add in breaks for action and stuff. I find that the pure undiluted grossness turns into some of the hottest stuff.
5 notes · View notes
impeccablebackside · 1 year
Note
Have you ever considered taking a collection via ko-fi or something to commission some of your stories into digital comics?
I am flattered that you and potentially others regard my posts highly enough to think they are worth 'monetizing' to some degree. For the past two years now, this blog has been a wonderfully rewarding and fulfilling side to my life in the Cats fandom. I appreciate everyone and anyone who has interacted, so as always thanks to those who do. As mentioned before, this blog is for others as much as it is for me some days.
I have never considered taking commissions for anything I write if that is what you mean. It is not something I am necessarily averse to, but this blog has never had any intention of being a platform for 'selling' anything in all fairness. If you meant that I could write something as a backing theme / to give a story for someone else's comic or provide inspiration for a comic someone makes based off of any given post, again I have never considered that. I certainly would not be doing any of the artwork, but I would be interested in seeing the final outcome. In the end, I will leave my words to paint mental pictures in the minds of others because I am no artist. If one of my posts or ideas inspires some form of art, that may be one of the greater rewards for this blog.
I will put it this way, taking commissions present challenges that I am not sure I am willing to accept now (or potentially ever). Most importantly would be that I am not sure I could write something worthwhile about a character / ship that I personally do not care enough about. My fic-like posts come from my own passion for certain characters and ships, and it could / would be difficult for me to apply that same enthusiasm to others outside of that. There is always potential that I could produce a fic that is deemed worthy enough for a pairing or ship outside of my usual focus, but I think it would be harder. As an extention to this, I would need to have a concrete idea provided to me that I am on board with to initiate any ficlet. Either that, or relative free reign to write what I want. As everything to do with lust is so personally subjective, there is certainly a potentially for me and someone else to have differing desires for how a fic would turn out. I would not be very open to having my work rejected due to that, particularly if someone chose to seek me out to write it. With this, the openess for being made to closely follow someone's vision that does not align with my own would make it difficult. In the end I feel that something akin to that would not happen anyway, as others seem receptive enough to my posts for that likely to not be an issue.
Secondly, taking a commission presents a proverbial pressure / time limit to what I have to write. While I love this blog dearly, it obviously takes a backseat to my job and more primary focuses / responsibilities in life. I do not want someone to be left waiting for me to finish up / complete a ficlet for a long time once they have paid for it. That would be a sort of scenario I would actively try to avoid. Even if it is made clear that there is no turn time around guarantee, I still would not find it to be optimal. Sometimes it takes me a few days, other times weeks depending on my schedule.
Thirdly, in the nicest possible way, I am not in need of the arguably small and irregular funds generated from something like this. Would it be nice to get a little something for writing what I do? Absolutely, especially since I do put in inordinate amounts if time into the longer posts, but in the end that is not what this blog is about. Plus, I would not even know where to start in regards to pricing or anything. The value I put into my time would be much more than what I would end up charging too, but that is neither here nor there. The longer posts I make are self-serving first and foremost, so I do not mind if it takes a long time to get one out or if it is not as smooth as it could be because I have no one to answer to aside from myself.
Anyway with all that being said, do not let the slight negativity of the above dictate or discourage you from anything. If someone has a request or feels compelled for me to write something for them, send this blog a DM and we can discuss it. If I am willing or able, I may take it on. Probably for free to be honest. You never know.
4 notes · View notes
glamorouspixels · 2 years
Text
Even before I could put a name to my issues, I instinctively developed strategies to cope with some of my brain's weirdness. I always fall into a pattern of being absolutely obsessed with something as long as I'm actively interacting with it, and forgetting it ever existed as soon as I let it go.
The first time I finished MFMM, I was completely blown away by how much I loved it and decided not to let this happen again. This was part of my motivation for becoming a writer. I knew I'd found something special and I didn't want to lose it like I had all of my previous fandoms.
I've written fanfic almost daily for more than three years, no matter how busy I've been and whether I've been in the mood. Now, this habit is 100% the reason I've managed to write as much as I have (or anything beyond my first-ever fic, really). However, it's also completely robbed me of the ability to take breaks, and I have no way of knowing whether I "actually" enjoy writing (or even MFMM).
When something shitty happens, say, the author I've been hyperfixating on leaves the fandom, I am forced to confront the reality that other people's brains Do Not Work Like That. Other people get urges to engage with certain hobbies or media and when those urges disappear, they stop engaging with the thing and it's okay. I... do not get those urges, so if I listened to my brain, I would never engage with any hobby, consume any media, etc.
During the initial period of the hyperfixation, the media currently on my mind will be the only thing I want to think about. With MFMM, that initial spark is completely gone (obviously; it's been over three years). It is still my favorite show of all time and the first thing on my mind when I need comfort, and I enjoy writing for it while I'm doing it. However, I no longer light up just seeing Phryne and Jack on my screen and the lack of new fic makes it harder to get excited about it. Plus, for the past two years I've been more busy than a human should reasonably be and it hasn't exactly helped.
Because I am "stuck" in this routine, I can't take a few days off to see if I would still feel the desire to write. I know I wouldn't, because my brain delivers no reliable signal of whether I like something if I'm not actively interacting with it. So basically, I either have to keep going indefinitely or make the active decision to let MFMM go. The latter feels like punishment for having a broken brain, so I would like to avoid that option if at all possible.
However, I'm absolutely terrified of running out of fic ideas, so perhaps I should leave while the decision is still mine to make and before my brain makes the decision for me. It's not what I want, though. I've debated leaving any social media and only posting fics and interacting with MFMM through AO3, because Tumblr is a massive source of stress for me. But if I did that, I would lose one way I keep MFMM present in my mind (i.e., Tumblr posts), potentially taking me further away from my enjoyment and speeding up the process of losing interest.
I know this is deeply fucked up, but I don't have access to any form of treatment and... 😞 I very much want to keep loving MFMM. It just feels like there's no point in having any interest or following any hobby, if it always ends with me completely forgetting it ever existed and having no fond memories of the time whatsoever.
17 notes · View notes
tortoisesshells · 1 year
Note
For the fan fiction writing asks: 70, 76, and 78?
70. Are you subscribed to any writers on AO3?
No - I've tended to subscribe to specific fics, but otherwise I pretty much snoop writers' tumblrs to find fic - or when they've published a new one.
76. How do you deal with writing pressure, whether internal or external?
I tend to freeze or shut down under sufficient pressure, to be honest; there's a lot of coffee, crying, and avoidance that goes into anything longer than a hundred words.
78. What motivates you during the writing process?
I won't lie: feedback. There's some things I write so specifically for me that it doesn't much matter whether anyone else notices it, but the vast majority of the time, I am hoping that someone - either my most esteemed and beloved regulars, or new friends - will pick up the fic and tell me something they liked about it.
That, and an overwhelming desire to be done with whatever latest madness I've embarked upon! At which point (publishing) I will tell myself that this is horrible, that if I want to keep suffering for limited rewards I could just start rolling boulders uphill, that this is the last thing I'm ever posting ... and then, inevitably, I will wake up thinking what if and thus the cycle begins anew.
Fanfiction Writing Asks!
5 notes · View notes
penname-artist · 2 years
Text
A Fic & An Update
Somehow or another I snuck out a 1,600 word piece in the timespan of one evening. Dunno how that happened but here’s an extremely spicy 18+ fanfic of Dusty and Ripslinger being...well, Dusty and Ripslinger.
And now that this is also out, I want to make a relatively small fanfiction update that isn’t going to affect anything too much yet. I really need to clean out the gutters of my Google Documents. Like, REALLY need to clean them. I’m planning to redesign a “fanfiction masterlist” to keep tabs on all of my work in progress pieces as they’re being finished. I also am debating creating a “Junkyard” series, for fics I simply will never complete for various reasons.
I hate the thought of throwing away a piece of writing. I’ve had to do it to one fic in the past because it involved an OC from an individual I no longer associate myself with. (I have another one like that but there’s no way that I can burn 60,000 fucking words) If I can avoid deleting any more pieces though, that would be ideal. Unfortunately, for a lot of my oldest Work in Progress pieces, there’s been too many small things getting hung up on them that I don’t have the motivation to finish it. So, IF you guys are interested in them, I may collect old WiPs I am certain I am never going to finish and post them together in a Junkyard series. Bare in mind that 1) they are typically not very long, and 2) end very abruptly where the writing process was halted. They range like usual from smuts to fluff to some other random things. I’ll also totally recommend that if you as a reader want to make your own “ending” to a Junkyard fic, you’re absolutely free to do so in the comments. So, that might become a thing!
I know that it’s mermay and all and I complete fucking forgot about it, but I’m trying to focus my attentions this month on getting a cleaner station to work on fics. I presume this is a small part of the reason my actual desires to work on my fics is so slow right now. Among other projects, *cough cough* I’m sorry YouTube channel, you have to wait.
A’ight that’s all I’ve got for y’all, enjoy the spicy shenanigans! I’m actually really proud of how it turned out. And until the morrow, fans and freaks!
-Pen
2 notes · View notes
retrievablememories · 3 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
[9:30 a.m.] [m]
you find ten sitting naked in your kitchen the morning after. the window above the sink is open, letting the morning sun and trills of birdsong in. his hair is a black-gilt halo around his head in the increasing light of the sun, thin wisps of it sticking up at odd angles. 
you give him a weary look, standing in the doorway wearing his shirt and nothing else—but not before greedily, privately, drawing your eyes across the lines of his body. 
he looks at you with the teasing expression of someone who knows the best and most interesting secret in the world.
his face only grows more playful at the skeptical expression on your own. “what? you don’t like the view?” and then he spreads his legs—not exaggeratedly or obscenely, but he lets his thighs fall languidly open in a way that’s more sensual than it has any right to be—and you blink rapidly, forcing your eyes to stay above his neck.
“the view is—fine. but maybe i don’t want your balls on my nice chair.”
“you didn’t mind when they were in your m-”
“stop right there!” you throw your hands up as if that will physically halt his sentence. “i think it’s a little early in the morning to be entertaining your particular brand of debauchery, ten.”
he pays little attention to your panic, though, and stretches like a cat for a moment, scrunching his face and lifting his arms above his head. the sight of it is simultaneously cute and sexy, and you don’t know how to handle it except for crossing your arms and pretending like you’re still annoyed.
then he stands from the chair and walks over to join you in the doorway, as if the window behind him isn’t wide open—not that anyone would likely see him anyway, with all the foliage in the way—and you sigh, shaking your head. “you’re such an exhibitionist.”
ten grasps your crossed arms, pulling you closer to him. “then so are you. remember the garden?” he tucks his face into the side of yours as if he’s only whispering into your ear, but his mouth lingers against your skin for a moment too long to be completely innocuous.
“the garden...” you say, voice dry with desire and the still-lingering embarrassment of nearly being caught on that day, “was a moment of insanity.”
“you still enjoyed every minute of it.” well, you won’t argue with that one. not when your lips are currently busy with his own.
ten kisses you and doesn’t stop there. he makes a wet trail of them down your body, kneeling in front of you and lifting your (his) shirt to reveal your bare body to him. “what are you doing?” you ask, breathing slightly harder already.
he hums, kissing your abdomen on down, and silky strands of hair fall over his eyes. “having my breakfast. i’m hungry.”
461 notes · View notes
Text
Come Back Home (Bucky x reader)
Come back home
Bucky x reader
Word count: 3,061
Summary: You were getting worse and were afraid to hurt Bucky, but unable to hide it. Instead of talking it out, you ran away. Embarrassed and afraid, you avoid the calls and voicemails from the man you left. But one night, you can’t help but listen to them, and you need to hear his voice.
Warnings: depression, reader blames herself, Bucky blames himself, anxiety attack, lots of tears, lots of fluff and comfort
I actually got this idea from @thelifeof.jana on TikTok, she posts different scenarios with comfort characters and I wanted to make it into a fic. 
Tags: @buckfics @buckys2thicc @abitgryffindorky @stucky-on-spiderman @thatfangirl42 @thundering-barnes   
A/N: It’s nearly finals week and it is CRUNCH TIME so I’ve been writing when I can, I apologize for the sporadic-ness of it. Thanks for sticking with me! 
A/N 2: I left a few things to interpretation, such as a nightmare. Insert what you want, I know everyone has different experiences and I wanted this to be as relatable to as many people as I could. I also left out when y/n gives an address because 1) I don’t know New York and 2) It’s likely somebody’s address in real life so...interpretation. 
-----------
Your phone began ringing, piercing the otherwise silent house and startling you
Answer it.
You stared at the phone, taking a deep breath.
Ring 
You picked it up and turned it over, closing your eyes and letting a breath out.
Don’t answer it.
You looked at the screen again, seeing the name of your favorite person.
Bucky…
Ring 
Answer it
No. 
Please, I wanna hear his voice.
I can’t
Ring
Letting a breath out, you put the phone down and sat on the floor next to your bed, leaning your head back and closing your eyes. 
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Then you were left in the silence once again.
You let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding, waiting a few more seconds for the next noise. Sure enough, your phone made a sound, notifying you of yet another voicemail.
Another addition to your library of ignored messages.
You picked up your phone, clicking to see the messages you never listened to.
25 unheard messages. All of them from Bucky. 
Your finger hovered over them for a moment, allowing yourself to ponder listening to them. But you sighed, closing your phone and placing it back on the nightstand. You couldn’t listen to them. Because if you did, you wouldn’t be able to resist calling him back. And you couldn’t take that risk. 
You’d spent this much time without him. Once you heard his voice you’d be spilling everything to him. Just like you used to. Which is why you left in the first place. 
Bucky was special to you. He always had been. Despite all the trauma he’d gone through, he was still kind and gentle. He had been the one to pull you out of the dark place you were in at the time. He was always there to talk to you, listen to you, or help you take care of yourself when you just couldn’t anymore. He’d sat through many of your panic attacks and calm you down if you had a nightmare, just as you would for him. He would drop anything for you, you always came first.
And that was the problem.
He did too much for you, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty. This man had already gone through so much pain and suffering and was finally getting better. He was going out more and the nightmares happened much less often. You were grateful for the love he gave you, and you loved him more than anything.
Which is why you couldn’t bring him down anymore. So, one day when he was out on a mission, you had packed up your few positions and left him a note.
Bucky,
I just wanted you to know that I love you so much, but I have to go now. I’m sorry. 
-Y/n
You had to keep it brief. If you said anything more you knew you’d say too much, and it would only make leaving harder. And if he knew you were leaving because you were hurting too much, he wouldn’t stop until he found you.
Not that he wasn’t looking for you know.
You had rented out a room in the cheapest hotel your could find in somewhere-New-York-City. It was small, it wasn’t the cleanest, but it was fine. You didn’t care, it was functional. Within hours of leaving, your phone started ringing. Not that you answered. You couldn’t, not when you would start crying once you heard his voice.
You got many texts and calls that night. 
What happened?
Where are you? Y/n are you okay??
Tell me where you are, we can talk this out, please.
You couldn’t bring yourself to read more than that. You silenced his messages and let the calls go to voicemail, never able to bring yourself to reject a call, instead letting it ring all the way until he got the same voicemail message every time.
Hi, it’s y/n. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, have a nice day!
The same fake cheery message every time, giving an empty promise.
What you didn’t know was that on the other end of the line, Bucky was shattering a bit more with each voicemail he left. 
Bucky’s POV:
He couldn’t understand what could have happened. Why you had left all of a sudden. He knew you had some bad days, and the first time he had read it he was terrified that you had done something. He usually was able to see when things were getting bad again but he couldn’t think of what he could have missed. When he saw that you had read his texts that night, seeing the word read appear after a few of them, he told himself that you were okay. 
Because he didn’t know what he was going to do if you weren’t.
What you didn’t know was that you had helped Bucky just as much if not more so than he had helped you. His nightmares happened less often because you were there with him every night. He was more outgoing because you had dragged him out to those first few bars and parties. He felt happier because he was helping you, and you made him feel safe and wanted.
And then you left.
He couldn’t sleep most nights, worried about you. Most of the nights he did sleep, he dreamt about you and everything that could have happened. He called you every day, multiple times, needing desperately to hear your voice. He withdrew again, only going on one mission when the team absolutely needed him. It was his only sense of purpose anymore, but it meant nothing compared to what you had meant to him
But you didn’t know that. Because you hadn’t opened any of his messages yet. 
It was late now, and Bucky was discouraged. It had been over a week since you had left, and his texts had gone unread ever since a the first night you left. It wasn’t a long time. But it was still too long. He decided to try your phone once more. 
Ring 
Ring 
Ring 
Ring 
Bucky closed his eyes, begging you would pick up, silently knowing you wouldn’t.
Ring 
Ring 
“Hi, it’s y/n. Leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, have a nice day!”
Sighing, he got ready to leave a voicemail. After the beep he said, broken.
“Please y/n. Come back home.”
Your POV:
You sighed as yet another round of rings echoed through your apartment, hearing the notification soon after, notifying you of yet another new voicemail. 
You looked at the time. 11:03 P.M.
You sighed, knowing you should get some sleep. But no matter how tired you were, you knew that once you closed your eyes, you would have nightmares again. And no one would be here this time. 
You couldn’t deny it, you weren’t doing well. Your appetite had diminished and you relied heavily on caffeine to supplement the sleep you refused to get. Not that it helped your appetite in any way.
You would go through the motions, make it to work (most days) and get through the day just to...get through the day. You weren’t living really. Just surviving. You knew it was getting bad again, some nights so dark you weren’t sure if you would see the light the next day. Yet you couldn’t let yourself call him. You didn’t want to hurt him.
But you didn’t know that you had already hurt him more by leaving than you ever could’ve by staying.
You sighed, knowing that eventually, you were going to need to sleep. Might as well try to. You didn’t know if for sure you would have a nightmare, so may as well try?
That turned out to be wishful thinking.
Major wishful thinking. 
You woke up screaming, drenched in sweat and looking around the room frantically. When you realized it was just a dream, you put your face in your hands and felt tears immediately prick your eyes.
When was this going to stop?
You felt your chest contract as you realized the truth. It wasn’t. Not like this at least.
Just over a week and you were already at your breaking point.
Call him
You looked at the time. 2:47 AM.
You couldn’t call him now.
Call him.
You opened your phone and found Bucky’s contact, finger hovering over the name once again. At the last second, you clicked your voicemail inbox instead, scrolling back down to the first one on the night you left.
“Y/n?”
Your breath hitched as you heard his voice, fresh tears pricking your eyes. Not just from his voice and how much you had missed it, but also the absolute panic in his voice.
“Where are you? Are you okay? Why- why did you leave? Please, answer the phone, I need to know you’re okay.”
You clicked on another one from a few hours later.
“Y/n, please, I saw you read the first few texts I sent. Please answer the phone. We can talk this out, whatever it is just - please call me.”
Tears were falling from your eyes, and you didn’t have it in your power or even the desire to stop them. You flicked to another one that was sent a few days later, this one was longer. 
“Please y/n,” it started, his voice soft and cracking with emotion. “Where are you? Just - just tell me where you are, please. I need you. These past few days it’s like I hear your voice and then there’s nothing. I miss you so much. I’m nothing without you please....please just come back home. I don’t care what you did or think you did or why you left. I love you. And I could never stop loving you. I can come get you, we can talk this out. Please. I can’t do this without you. I - I’m falling apart.”
You were now sobbing as you flicked over to your text messages and clicked on Bucky’s name, seeing texts upon texts from him.
One of the more recent one’s caught your attention.
“I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?”
Never, never in your heart did you ever think Bucky would think that he had done something to drive you away. Your heart broke, realizing he could be blaming himself for your leaving. It was never his fault. It could never be his fault.
With shaking hands, you pressed the phone icon below his name, bringing the phone to your ear as you listened to it ring.
You tried to control your breathing through the tears, falling apart after a few seconds of thinking you had it together.
Ring
Ring
Ring
Please pick up, I need to hear your voice.
Ring 
I’m sorry this is all my fault.
Ring 
Please, I -
“Hello?”
Your breath hitched and your eyes flew open. Your words got caught in your mouth, having no idea what to say. Bucky, on the other side of the line, hadn’t even looked at the caller ID. He hadn’t fully fallen asleep yet, but the tiredness was evidence in his voice.
“Hello?” he said again
“I’m sorry,” you choked out.
Bucky’s eyes flew open and he pulled away his phone, seeing your name across the screen. All exhaustion was gone from his body, and he heard you trying to control your breathing on the other side of the line.
“Y/n?”
“I’m so sorry…” you said again, breaking out into sobs.
“Y/n, can you tell me what’s wrong? Where are you?” he said, panicked and getting out of bed, pulling on a shirt and shoes.
“I’m sorry, Bucky, I’m so sorry,” you said again, not being able to say much else. 
“Y/n, sweetheart, it’s okay. You’re okay. But I need you to tell me where you are, can you do that for me?”
He waited for a moment while you tried to pull yourself together enough to repeat the address of the hotel.
As you did, Bucky was already out the door and in the car, starting it and putting you on speaker, driving as fast as he could to the hotel and ignoring all traffic signals. It was the middle of the night, and you were not okay.
“I’ll be there soon, angel, can you keep talking to me?
“I’m sorry Bucky…”
“It’s okay y/n. You’re okay. We’re okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
His words didn’t reach your ears, your breathing getting harder to control and your tears fell faster. You had fucked up, this was your fault. Why did you call him, now he knows where you are and you were going to burden him with all your shit again. 
He could hear your breathing become labored as he sped further towards your location. He tried talking to you more but he soon realized that he wouldn’t be of much use until he was in front of you. His heart was breaking and he was hoping nothing was seriously wrong. 
But you wouldn’t have called him like this if nothing was wrong.
Clenching his jaw, he scanned the street signs for yours, knowing the city well enough to know he was close. 
When he pulled up to the street, he couldn’t help but wince at how dingy this place was. It was run down and the smell was putrid. He was so sad that this was where you had run off to. He took his phone, saying how he was here but it fell upon deaf ears. You weren’t calm enough to hear his voice from the phone you had dropped when you had moved to cover your face instead.
Bucky took the stairs 3 at a time, getting to your room in record time. He pounded on the door, trying the knob even though he knew it would be locked. Calling out your name and getting no response, he decided to break the door in. It was barely hanging on its hinges anyway.
“Y/n? Y/n where are you?” he called out, met only with the sounds of your labored breathing. He followed it to your room, where you had curled yourself into a ball against the headboard, hands covering your face as you struggled to breathe. 
He walked over to your side, reaching out his hand but thinking better at the last moment. He needed to make sure you knew that he was there, he didn’t want to scare you.
“Y/n?” he starts softly. 
You lifted your head and looked around yourself wildly, startled when you saw the figure of a man standing in front of you, trying to push him away. He grabbed your arms and you tried to break free
How did he get in here? 
What does he want with me? 
Why- 
Your eyes settle on his. Light blue eyes, staring right back into yours. You knew them, you were safe with them. Your own eyes, red  and blotchy flash with realization and you let out a sob. 
“Bucky…”
He took you into his arms as sobs wracked your body, rubbing an arm up and down your back in efforts to calm your shaking form. He was repeating comforting words over and over again. You clung to his shirt as you kept apologizing over and over again, not knowing what else to say - or even how to say it. 
“I’m sorry”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“Shh, y/n, it’s okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m here. I got you.”
You tried to focus on his heartbeat, steady and strong, as you tried to take deep breaths. Eventually your tears slowed down as you still clung to him, tears drying on your face as you were able to deepen your breathing to match his. His hand still rubbed up and down your back as the two of you sat in silence for a few minutes.
You took a shaky breath. “I - I’m so sorry Bucky.”
Bucky took a deep breath and held her a little more tightly. He could still feel her heart racing. What could she possibly have to be sorry for?
“What happened y/n?”
You felt tears prick your eyes again. Sadness, shame, embarrassment and made you feel sick to your stomach. You opened and closed your mouth a few times before you were able to speak. 
“I - I don’t know.”
“Please y/n. Tell me why you left.”
“I just… I was… “ you swallowed and let out a shaky breath. “It was getting bad again,” you said, voice barely audible. 
Bucky clenched his jaw, angry at himself that he didn’t see it. “Why didn’t you tell me? I told you you could talk to me about anything.”
You screwed your eyes shut. “That was the problem…”
Bucky pulled you back to look at you. “What?”
Your eyes darted everywhere but Bucky’s face. You didn’t want to see the pained expression you knew he’d have right now. You took a deep breath. 
“I just… you were doing so well. And I - I just felt so bad for bringing you down all the time. You would drop anything for me, and you were always there and you were always perfect but I wasn’t.” you finally looked at him. “And I left because I realized I was never going to be.” You shook your head slightly. “I didn’t want to put you through that when you were doing so well.”
You looked away, unable to look at Bucky’s sad eyes any longer. Bucky broke the silence after a few moments. “You were the only reason I was better.”
 Now it was your turn to look at him confused. “What?”
“You brought me out to places when all I wanted was to hide. The nightmares stopped because you were there to make me feel safe. Every time I helped you, I was helping me too,” he said, voice cracking. “You were the best thing that ever happened to me. You weren’t too much for me, you never could be.” 
When you still looked unsure, he moved his hand to cup your cheek. “It’s okay to let people help you, y/n.”
Tears pooled in your eyes once again. That had been what you had said to him when he began closing himself off, be it an intense nightmare or being triggered. Back when things were bad. Like they were for you now.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered.
“It’s okay.” he whispered, hugging you again. “Let’s go home.”
1K notes · View notes
its-me-im-coraline · 3 years
Text
First impressions // All
words // 1184
warnings // not explicit smut, more like teasing of smut
pairing // none particular, gn!reader
author's note // if you want to be on the tag list let me know. this is such bad writing omg. I can not easily navigate a scene between so many people without it looking weird i am so sorry and i do hope you like it. sorry for not posting last night but as i said i was having a panic attack. anyway im better now, hopefully ill be able to post one more fic tonight
request // yeap, here it is
summary // The band might have considered more than once of ‘entertaining’ their best friend. After their I wanna be your slave video comes out, sweet ol’ Thomas can not help but suggest they encounter their reacting to the video clip and showing them some of their moves.
Thomas’ idea did not just come out of the blue. It was not a spontaneous thing to do, but a long time formulated thought coming into reality. In all honesty, Thomas, Victoria, Ethan and Damiano had thought about it before, plenty of times. Having Y/N stay with them any time they were at the studio house was flaring up these thoughts like crazy. It was not just one time that the four of them had talked about railing them senseless initiating something more sexual with them, only the fear that they would be pushed away, keeping them from making a move. But after having seen the anticipation from the promotion for theri video clip of I wanna be your slave, Thomas went out on a limp making a move for them all after the video dropped.
“Hey, Y/N, what are you up to?” There were no regards as to whether it was ok to get in or not. The man just sat on the bed, a phone in his hand with it’s screen lit up already.
“Not much, Thomas. I was just finishing some things up on my laptop. What are you guys doing here, all together?” It was not common for all of them to be in the room at once. Usually they only were all together in the living room or outside, the time in any bedrooms spent with two or three at the time and late at night when they couldn't sleep.
By now the other three occupied the small room, sitting anywhere they could: a chair on the desk, on top of said desk, the bed. “We were thinking, cucciolo.” The one to speak up now was Ethan, sitting on their other side, hand in their hair, messing with it just like he always did.
“Our video clip is out and we wanted to see your reaction.”
“I told you guys I’ll watch it when I’m done with the assignments-”
“Did you not just say you’re done?” Damiano had a sneaky smirk on his face, seeing how flushed he made the band’s friend, getting caught in excuses.
Maybe I just don’t want to see it around you, they thought, avoiding to speak, instead nodding their head.
“Then let’s watch it, puppy.” This time it was Victoria’s chance to speak up, taunting the poor person on the bed. The blonde was on the other side of the room but it did not stop her from making Y/N flush in their seat, only fueling her desire to film the up and coming reactions.
Before the video started everyone shifted. Damiano and Ethan were on the right side of Y/N, Thomas and Victoria occupying the left, all within reach of the poor puppy in the middle. They all knew how quickly they’d react to it all, squirming in their seat at the thought of Vic tasting them like a candied apple. “Do you like it, puppy? Want me to tease you like that?” said girl questioned, never weavering from the filming
It seemed like every little thought was simply worse than the previous, the tip of the iceberg being Victoria tied up, all so wonderfully. Such a sight for sore eyes. At it Y/N let out a strained gasp, unable to hold it in.”What is it, cucciolo, you want to be tied like that? I can do it for you,” whispered Ethan, hands quick to tie up Y/N’s with a shoelace he found a few minutes ago. It was not tight but it was enough to restrain their arms behind them.
“So good you are,” he praised, placing his hand in their hair, giving space for Damiano to put his on their thigh.
The video went on, all these scenes with Damiano screaming at everyone’s face simply heightened the already extreme emotions Y/N was experiencing. The man himself could only laugh at that, face coming close to theirs, just like he did for Thomas on the video clip, so assertive, dominating even.
“Are you enjoying yourself, puppet?” His words pierced through them, shivers overtaking their body, a feeling that could only be described as anxiety but also excitement accompanying it.
It was all a dream, or it felt like it. Such situation was too good to be true for Y/N, causing the fear of this being just a very realistic dream. But, Thomas’ kisses on their neck and Ethan’s light tugs on their hair reminded them of the reality they were living inside of. “Use your words, bambino,” said Damiano, the same smirk as before all over his face.
“Yes, I enjoy this,” they finally whispered, words forced out.
The next few seconds were quiet, only facial expressions portraying any reaction, all four of the band members just looking, admiring their beautiful friend and silently agreeing on their next move. It was when they saw Damiano and Ethan kiss and share that pink bubble gum that the band got entertained. Their lips got parted, cheeks flushed to the point of ‘burning’ to the touch, their eyes got wide, all but drooling over the scene unfolding in front of their eyes.
A shock wave shot through Y/N’s body as Ethan grabbed their head, tilting it back, the video clip still in the background, attacking their lips in a hungry kiss. It was hot, wet and sloppy, and it went on for a bit, until the tall drummer ushered his tongue into the mix, allowing the same type of cherry bubble gum from the video clip to move in Y/N’s mouth at once. They did not know what to do, their mind utterly blank and unable to decide on an action.
“Bite it.” Thomas let the two words out of his mouth, straight into their ear. He looked so shy and innocent most of the time, who would have thought he had it in him. “Now move your head, puppy, just like that,” he all but moaned, pulling them back towards him.
“So good for us all,” Thomas spoke again, now him being the one to kiss Y/N, ridding their mouth of the gum and leaving sloppy kisses from their lips to their neck.
Victoria was fed up with how long the escalation was taking, unable to wait a minute longer before she could have her second of fun. With that thought in mind, she pulled the phone from Y/N’s hands, shutting it off and setting it on the nightstand.
“You already know what happens after, pet.” Her voice was more demanding than anyone could anticipate, very bossy one could say, but Y/N was not going to be the one to challenge it.
“Tell me if you are uncomfortable, baby.” Y/N let out a small ‘do it’, opening up their mouth and just waiting, caressing Victoria’s hands on their face.
“Such a good pet,” she praised, going ahead to spit in their mouth before assessing her ‘art’.
“I think we need another ‘rehearsal’ to get it right,” smirked Damiano, “there’s just a few more creative touches we need to add.”
tag list: @bieberhoodforever @tabi-toast @ginny-lily @moriro-da-regina @the-killer-queenie @makapaka11 @teenyweenynightghost @superchrystaldrug
104 notes · View notes
harbouredsoulss · 3 years
Text
Let’s Talk About Love - Part 1
Tumblr media
Author’s note: It’s me again, writing about our lover Angel! I seriously need to put some Ez fics up but I cannot stop myself. I was listening to ‘All The Stars’ by Kendrick Lamar, and SZA when this came to me and I just knew it had to be about Angel. I was inspired more so the beginning of the song, rather than by the entire thing. Specifically, “Love, let's talk about love. Is it anything and everything you hoped for? Or do the feeling haunt you?” 
If it isn’t too much trouble please make sure to Like, Reblog or even comment! It would be greatly appreciated. I am so happy with all the love Is There Somewhere has received! I appreciate each and every one of you, who has liked & reblogged!! 💖
Part two is here!!!
Also if you want to be notified for when I post, I am more than happy to create a tag list, just let me know! 🙌🏻
Angel Reyes X [OC]
Warnings: Swearing 
Word count: 1.1k words.
Summary: The idea of love haunts Angel Reyes. He doesn’t know how to commit himself to it. So he sticks to what he knows and does what he does best and he uses  his best friend to do that. But the thing is, she’s madly in love with him and Angel being the most clueless man in the world, has no idea. 
There was always an elephant in the room and it was colossal, yet there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was dance around the fact that I was deeply in love with a man that did not feel the same. 
I often watched him, mainly from the corner of my eye, always longing to be his; owned by him, body and soul. 
He stood before me now, distress clearly evident on his face. Both hands clasped on either side of the door frame, eyes signalling that he wanted to come in. To relieve himself of whatever it was that was eating him up inside. 
Angel always came to me like this. I was the one he could come to for relief – release. Perhaps I allowed this to go on for too long. Letting him arrive with all those insecurities, those fears, and let him dump them at my doorstep. But I knew, as well as he did that, I would never stop him. 
My heart was close to bursting at the seams with the amount of love I carried for this man. I want to continue to take this, and accept it as enough. I was desperate to. Yet I don’t think I could last realistically, for much longer. 
“Angel.” I answered the door, voice breathless. My confidence waned, resolve breaking as I glimpsed his crumpled face looking at the ground, eyes refusing to meet mine. 
Angel was selfish. He knew this, and he hated that about himself. Hated that he found himself at my doorstep every night, seeking solace the only way he knew how. 
“Can I come inside?”
All it took was a brief nod and he was in, a faint smell of gasoline, mixed with a faint musk that I knew was my favourite aftershave of his. After shutting the door, I turned to face him, finding his gaze still avoiding mine. 
“Do you want something to drink? Eat?” I offered, already knowing the answer. 
“No. Thanks. I just came here to… to talk.”
Talk? That was a surprise. It seemed these past couple months, to me, Angel didn’t know what that was. I couldn’t help but let out a bitter chuckle. Talk! Angel Reyes wanted to talk.
“Okay,” I sighed, arms crossing my chest, “go ahead.”
His gaze finally met mine, widening slightly as they took in my appearance. I was partially clothed. My panties were on, covered by a large oversized hoodie – his hoodie, that ended just above my knees. 
“I-I’m not good with this shit but I-I just wanted you to know that I see it.” An unfamiliar feeling coursed through my body. I couldn’t tell where this was going. See it? See what?  
“I see what I do to you. What this,” he gestured between the two of us, “does to you.”
“I come over, every night without fail and you let me inside, to your home – your body. But I can’t do this. I can’t hurt you like this anymore. I see it querida, I see your face when I leave. I want you, so fucking much – always but not like this.”
Confusion, shock, and frustration were some of the feelings that bubbled inside. I couldn’t understand where this was coming from. I agreed with everything he said, but I couldn’t quite help but let the anger rise. I was Angry that he was the one making this decision. That he thought he was doing it for me, when it was obvious that what I felt - how I felt, was not what this was about. 
“Angel, where is this coming from?” I couldn’t help but keep the exasperated tone out of my voice. This man was infuriating.
“Me. I have eyes; I can see you. You’re fucking miserable and it’s all because of me.”
Shaking my head, I had to bite back a laugh. What a sick and twisted joke this was. Here the love of my life stands before me, ripping me in two. When not too long ago I was considering doing the same thing. Ending us, albeit begrudgingly.
All the while he is thinking that he’s helping. Giving me whatever it is he thinks I desire. At least, that’s what he’s deluded himself into thinking. 
“Angel,” I started, frustration close to boiling point, “maybe instead of assuming, maybe having a conversation would have been productive. Work out what I am feeling. Actually asking me! Instead, you just decided you knew.” I threw my head back groaning, gripping the roots of my hair. I was seething with the audacity of this man. The man I am so desperately in love with. 
“Angel,” I started again, voice cracking as I tried my hardest not to cry. I could not cry, “I am so fucking in love with you it hurts. That’s what you see when you leave every night. You see shame. Shame of what I feel because I know you don’t feel the same. I want you just as badly, but our wants are two different things. You want my body. I want your body and soul.”
I couldn’t say any more. I had to stop. It pained me too much to continue. But I had to. I had to let it pour out.
“I just wish that maybe we could have had some kind of conversation. But you always jump onto something, whether it be a thing or a thought and you don’t think to consider anything else. If you thought you were hurting me, why did you continue? Why did you keep coming by if you knew what this was doing to me? Why not speak to me earlier?
He was so self-destructive, and I tried to lessen the hurt but I had had enough. He needed to know what his actions, and words does to people and that there are consequences.
I could tell I had shattered him; I could see it with his shaky intake of breath. The words stung. His hands were in his front jean pockets, his face impassive as he stared at me. Though he wasn’t really looking at me; his mind was at work here. I tried to reach out to him, take his hand in mine. I wanted to plead to him, and beg him to stay and to tell him I loved him. That he should forget what he said – what I said. But as soon as I reached out, he took a step to the side, knocking into the coffee table. 
“Uh you know what,” he responded, all emotion devoid from his voice, “this was obviously a mistake. I have to go.”
“Angel wait, come on, we have to talk about this.” You can’t just say this shit and leave, I wanted to scream. 
“Angel, please.”
But he ignored my pleas.
His steps did not falter as he left me standing there, staring at the front door now hanging open. I rushed towards it, watching as he backed his motorcycle out of the drive and sped off into the night, leaving my heart shattered into pieces.
209 notes · View notes
Text
Desires and Daydreams
Me: oh yeah I’ll have this edited and out by tomorrow morning! Also Me: Ha! Sike! Time fo post at night again :)
All in all I’m so sorry this took so long for me to get out. A busy week with ball fucked me over time and energy wise. However, I now have a full 7k word fic for y’all so that’s good! I quite literally just finished editing this so I hope it’s as good as my mind told me it was about two minutes ago. Especially considering it’s a little gift of sorts for the amazing @doodlevore (AKA I saw this gem of a drawing, flipped out for a hot minute, and then decided it was writing time) Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy and I hope I did your artwork justice Doodle :)
As always, Vore under the cut :)
“Aw c’mon Doc!” the man halfheartedly whined as he attempted again to grab the small ‘medic’. Once more 2b had ducked under his hand, glaring up at him through his goggles. The taller of the two just laughed at the sight, near daggers of teeth glimmering through his toothy grin. No way in hell could he take that glare seriously like this. “You act like I was planning to hurt you. You really think I’m gonna hurt ya?”
“No,” 2b started, halting his words momentarily to dodge another attempted swipe at him. Getting caught by the man wouldn’t be the worst thing, sure - hell, he could name several things automatically worse than being grabbed by him in this hellscape of Nevada - however that did not mean that he wanted to be scooped up like some doll and put through whatever his teammate had in mind for him and the other two who were both currently busy dodging the taller’s other hand. Again his glare settled on the younger hacker. “But that does not mean I’m going to keel over and let you do whatever, Deimos. Now would you stop trying to grab us for five minutes!”
“But what’s the fun in that?” Deimos protested, swiping at Hank only for the shrunken mercenary to vault themself over his hand. Go figure, he was still going to be difficult. Hell, they all were. When he was the smallest of the group he was at their mercy and even went with it half the time, but the moment he got to have some fun they all decided to be as difficult as possible. In all honesty it wasn’t as bad as he was making it seem. Watching them run around like little mice was pretty entertaining. That didn’t mean he didn’t have plans he wanted to follow through with though! Whatever, he’d play their games for now. He’d get them eventually, and when he did he’d have his fun. “I’d stop if you all would just stand still for five seconds, but no. You all clearly wanna play so I’m gonna keep up the cat and mouse game we’ve got going.”
“But that- Deimos, you aren’t getting my point here at all!” 2b yelled up at the man, ducking under yet another swipe at him made by the youngest of their little crew. He was fairly certain it was impossible to miss what he was saying so either Deimos was less intelligent then he had grown to suspect over the years or he was flat out ignoring the man’s request to quit trying to grab them. A brief comparison of the two had crossed out the former option rather quickly. That cocky, smoking son of a gun. “Sanford! A little help?”
“Why me?” The Chad of a man yelled back as he scrambled to his feet after having to get down to avoid being grabbed. In the back of his mind he already had a sneaking suspicion as to why he was asked. He wasn’t stupid after all.
“He usually listens to you better than me!” The older hacker shot back, nearly running into Hank as he prepared himself for the next ‘attack’.
“So we’re playing that card now. Good to know.” Sanford grumbled softly, no real venom in his tone. 2b was right, at least in most contexts. He probably was the closest to Deimos out of them all and the other two’s usual intimidating approach to get Deimos to listen really wouldn’t work with them the size of the man’s hand. A sigh tugged itself from his throat as he directed his words up at the seemingly giant hacker. “Dei, c’mon now. Can’t you quit with the whole trying to grab us thing? It’s- AH!- not all that fun!”
“Damnit.” Deimos cursed under his breath, having missed Sanford yet again. Who knew trying to just grab his teammates would be so difficult. It was definitely fun, this little game of cat and mouse like in those old cartoons he’d managed to pirate, but it was still harder than he expected to actually grab them. Guess not everything gets to come easy. Or maybe he was going too easy… “Maybe not for you. Just stand still and make it easier on yourself if you’re having such a bad time.”
“That’s- Dei, you chucklehead, quit the games already and stop trying to grab us like rodents!”
Deimos just shook his head, a low laugh rumbling in his chest. His grin still stood proud on his face in all its sharp toothed glory. This was too much fun to give up so easily. Really, they expected him to quit the moment he started having fun? Please. He’d gone through too much to waste his opportunity. Getting his hands on shrinking tech had to be the best thing that’s ever happened to him, despite the difficulties and hurdles he had to jump to do such a thing. What had been a normal, boring day with no missions had turned into him watching his three shrunken teammates dash across the worn table while dodging his attempts to grab them. He was going to enjoy this, whether they liked it or not. Call this revenge for all the times he was teased for being the smallest out of all of them, or call it him being an ass. He didn’t care. For once the younger hacker wasn’t the small one in the group and boy did he have plans for it. Oh he had plans…
“Mmm…how ‘bout no.” Deimos hummed, slamming a hand down on the table next to 2b. Just as he’d hoped the man tensed, trying to keep himself steady on the shaking table. His eyes locked onto the temporarily paralyzed unofficial medic like a hawk’s to its prey, smirk morphing into a full on grin. Without hesitation he grabbed the man in a firm fist. There was one of the three. “Ha! Gotcha Doc~!”
“Mmgh- I can see that, Deimos. Now put me down!” 2BDamned didn’t shout at his teammates often. There were a few times he did, yes. Prime examples of such times included (but weren’t limited to) tracking blood all over the base, doing something absolutely reckless and facing the consequences, not following the plans they had for missions, etc. Not once had he expected to ever be yelling at one of them, specifically the smallest of their team, to put him down. Hank? Maybe. Sanford? Long shot but not impossible. Deimos? No. And yet here he was, trapped within the grasp of the younger hacker with seemingly no way to escape. It’s not like the little wiggling that his loose enough to be breathable yet tight confines could do was helping much.
“But what if I don’t wanna, Doc?” Deimos hummed, resting his other hand on the table for the first time in the past twenty-five minutes that he’d been trying to grab the others. “What if I wanna keep you trapped in my fist for the rest of the day huh? Maybe longer. It’s not like you can exactly free yourself, now can you? Huh? You gonna wiggle yourself out of my hand, 2b? Claw your way out like some baby kitten?”
“I swear to Jebus, once we’re back to normal I am going to kill you myself.” The dissenter growled, trying again to free himself from his confines. He could only imagine how utterly idiotic he looked, wiggling around like some fish out of water in Deimos’s hand. Talk about humiliating.
“Sure you will. Sure.” Deimos rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he thought through his next moves. He could just grab the other two and get on with his plans but…oh that ruined the fun of the chase! His plans and stomach could wait, he wanted to enjoy this just a little longer. Now what could he do to achieve such a thing? “And besides, that’s an ‘if’ to you, Doc. If you get back to normal. Can’t do that without my help after all, so maybe you should let me have my fun~”
“I will. Don’t think I- wait. What?” Well now that wasn’t something anyone stuck at four inches tall wanted to hear. Yes, he could probably figure out how the hell Deimos shrunk him (assuming that the hacker had gotten the information and technology from the AAHW) however Deimos had at least a bit of a point. Things would be so much easier, faster, and less dangerous if he just reversed whatever the hell he did. He….he fucking planned this. He- oh the younger hacker was in some deep shit once they were back and he was the smallest again.
“Mmm you heard me, 2b. Getting you three back requires the help of me, unless you’d rather be crushed under the boot of some agent trying to get back to normal yourselves.” Deimos hummed, his words practically swimming in cockiness. “And I don’t think any of us want that. So either you let me have my fun, or you three get to stay pocket sized until you do.”
“Deimos, don’t you even think about it.” Hank growled, eyes narrowing behind his goggles as he stepped closer to the hacker. Being this small was bad enough. It wasn’t like a MAG agent where they weren’t completely dwarfed in size. No. He was stuck the size of a fucking mouse being toyed with by their basically gigantic teammate. And to top it all off the threat of being stuck at this size now loomed over the mercenary’s head. Just fucking wonderful.
“Aw but what if I did, Hank?” The hacker asked with a raise of his eyebrow, turning his attention from the medic in his fist to the shrunken killing machine that was now glaring at him over his arm. It really was something else to see them so tiny when they usually towered over everyone. How the tables turn. “I would think this is a nice situation for you. So long as you’re hidden it’s not like the Agency could find you now. No ones gonna look for a four inch tall Hank, now are they- Hey! Sanford!”
The mentioned man’s head lifted from where he had landed on the table, 2b now laying next to him after a less than graceful ‘rescue’ from the younger hacker’s hand. His feet scrambled against the old table, attempting to gain enough traction to allow for him to stand. For a moment he looked as if he were trying to stand on ice, feet slipping out from beneath him. The doctor beside him wasn’t doing much better in the department of getting to his feet. Judging by the disappointed stare he felt burning two holes into his chest once he finally got to his feet, Hank wasn’t all that impressed with their sudden lack of coordination either. Wait, no. Hank could come later. Right now he had to deal with the giant Deimos that was currently pouting at him.
“Sorry Dei, but I’m siding with Doc here. Just put us back to normal before Hank decides to find a way to kill you at this size.” As Sanford spoke a tone far less confident then he had hoped for laced his words. Something that probably doomed him to not be listened to. Judging by the new level of cocky smeared across the hacker’s face? He was right too. Well shit. That didn’t help anything.
“Hmm…maybe but, and hear me out, I’ve got a better idea.” No one had to ask exactly what Deimos’ ‘better idea’ was. He was all too happy to demonstrate it, Hank quickly finding himself laying flat against the table with the hacker’s hand pinning him in place. The small shocked grunt from the mercenary didn’t go unnoticed by the other two, their eyes darting to their now trapped teammate. Both failed to notice the brief warning look in Hank’s eyes behind his goggles until it was too late, a warm calloused hand pinning them to the rough grain of the wood. Well, there went the idea of escape.
A sharp laugh chased away the silence that had previously filled the air. Beneath the rim of his visor two eyes simply watched as the three small forms writhed beneath his hands. Proof of the point he had been trying to prove. The point that his three shrunken teammates had wanted to be false. No way to escape now. Not unless he allowed for it, that is. A small lightbulb lit up in his head at the thought. The idea was tempting, were he to be completely honest with himself. Give his friends hope only to crush it like a spent cig under his boot once more by trapping them in a new way. Oh but then there was the option of dangling freedom just in front of them. That was an idea…and there were so many more possibilities too. In the back of his head a small voice attempted to grab Deimos’ attention. Yelling at him in every way it could think of that even thinking about doing that to his friends was wrong, even if it was playful at its roots. He shouldn’t do such a thing to them! Though, thinking logically, there was no way they wouldn’t do the same or something similar were their positions switched. Deimos knew that much, being the shortest of their gang. A soft scoff sounded from his throat, mind made up on the matter. Unfortunately for the three pinned to the table, in the end the voice of reason was all too easily ignored by the younger hacker as he adjusted to lean forward in his chair. The smell of cigarette smoke grew in strength with each hum that passed the man’s lips, the three pinned beneath his hands only able to watch as things seemed to get worse for them.
“Heh. Much better.” Deimos said with a smile, gladly ignoring the glares he was now getting from his little friends. “Now what shall I do with you-“
Ggnnnrrrr……
“-three….”
Anyone with half a mind would think that after being interrupted by your stomach you would be embarrassed and most likely apologize. The three shrunken men on the table thought that after being interrupted by his stomach Deimos would be embarrassed and probably laugh it off. Maybe even give them a chance to run without thinking. What they didn’t expect was for him to start laughing. A deep chuckle from the back of his throat too, not just an embarrassed little giggle. It was a genuine fucking laugh. First off, why the hell was he laughing? Second, what the hell did that mean for them? After a moment of thought one thing became clear. As much as they didn’t want to admit it, the three knew what the answer to the second question was long before it was even asked. Nothing good. That’s what it meant. Especially not with that dumb grin still sitting on his face. 2b, eyes locked on Deimos’ expression, had opened his mouth to attempt prying an answer out of the younger. Before a single word could leave his lips, however, his world was flipped on its head.
Literally.
For a brief second everything stopped. The warmth and pressure from the hand holding him to the table disappeared, cold washing over him and sending a shiver down his spine. That’s when a new type of pressure appeared. It was still rough and warm, the grip of a calloused hand for sure, but it was much more concentrated than just smashing him to the table. Specifically around his right ankle. His eyes couldn’t go ‘dinner plate wide’ any faster than they did the moment he felt said pressure appear. The less-than-manly scream he had heard beside him roughly half a second earlier started to make a lot more sense by the millisecond. Especially once he was dragged backwards and up, a very similar noise escaping himself. For a brief moment everything spun before his sight leveled out. What he didn’t want to see was Deimos grinning at him. Upside down.
“Annnd there we go. Sanford, Hank, I hope you guys still have a good grip at this size~.” The hacker jabbed, grinning at the little chain his friends had formed once he started picking them up. Pinched between his thumb, pointer, and middle finger was Hank’s torso. They were currently holding onto Sanford’s ankle, looking less than pleased with the situation they were in. Sanford was gripping onto the ankle of 2BDamned as he dangled, worry painting over his features. Then there was 2b, dangling at the end of the chain upside down with a look quite similar to Hank’s plastered on his face. All in all, quite the interesting little chain they made up as he leaned back in the chair.
“Damn straight. You two drop me and you’re dead.” The ‘medic’ grumbled, all too willing to make his displeasure known.
“Aw, don’t you worry, Doc. If they drop you I’ll make sure you have a nice, soft, warm landing~”
“Well I’m sorry I don’t want to be dropped on my hea- Deimos, what the genuine fuck does that mean?” He shouldn’t have asked. The moment after the words left his mouth 2b knew he never should have asked what the younger hacker had meant with his words. Dangling over the man’s lap having to stare him in the face while upside down wasn’t ideal. Absolutely not. However, he found much preferred it to dangling inches above Deimos’ open jaws, the smell of cigarette smoke laced breath hitting him almost as hard as the realization of just how sharp the man’s teeth were. He supposed he never noticed with Dei a. rarely ever purposely showing them off, and b. him being smaller than the older hacker. That didn’t stop him from mentally smacking himself upside the head for not taking more notes of it sooner though. Especially when he was getting so…up close and personal with them now. Fuck he was close to those daggers.
“Dei- Dei, think about this!” Sanford shouted as he stared down at the sight of the man’s open mouth, praying that his friend would listen to at least some reason. Sure, they gave him shit for being the smallest of the group often. He especially did. Not once though had he, or the other two as far as he knew, expected that said teasing would lead to them possibly having to spend the day trapped in said hacker’s gut though. If they had, they would have backed off a little. But now the threat was more present than ever. And knowing Deimos? It might be longer than a day too. He wouldn’t put it past the man at all. Jebus Christ….
“Oh I have San. We’re past that point now.” Deimos hummed, his tongue lazily snaking itself over his lips as he glanced over the string of teammates that dangled from his hand. Slowly his stare became distant, his mind beginning to wander. Just how would each of them taste exactly? Would they all taste the same? But what if they each tasted different? Now wouldn’t that be something. Perhaps he wasn’t too far off picturing Sanford as a juicy sausage in his little moments to himself. Oh that would be perfect. The warm feeling of drool trailed itself lazily down his chin, each thought regarding the possible tastes of his friends encouraging an empty rumble from his midsection. He just had to find out now.
“Deimos, lower me any further and I’ll make sure you choke to death.” The man only laughed, eyes fluttering shut as he opened his mouth once more.
“Sorry Doc. ‘S too late to stop now.” Any screams of protest from his teammates fell on deaf ears as Deimos lowered the end of the little chain into his mouth. Immediately he was hit with the taste of black coffee, hints of iron, and oddly enough what tasted like whisky poking through and tickling his tongue. The soft, pleased hum escaped him long before he could even think to stop it, his mind far more focused on getting that flavor to coat his tastebuds than his actions or the saliva steadily dripping down his chin.
2BDamned had a different opinion on the matter. Specifically about the claim that it was ‘too late.’ It was not too fucking late. In fact, it was anything but. Deimos’s mouth, which absolutely reeked of cigarettes might he add, was still wide open. He wasn’t slipping down the tight tube he could see in front of him yet. He was being rolled around and licked over like some sort of candy, something which he apparently had to remind Deimos he wasn’t with a smack to the tongue. Sharp teeth surrounded the unofficial doctor on both sides, Sanford’s grip on his ankle still like iron despite the saliva now thoroughly coating his body. Try as he might to push himself out with his hands they only slipped and slid across the wet surface of Deimos’s tongue. Far too similar to how he was steadily slipping backwards.
“Dei…Dei, you can pull us out now…” Sanford yelled up to the man, ducking his head between his arms to avoid the feeling of daggers dragging down his head and neck. Jebus, his teeth really were sharper up close. The white knuckled grip he held on 2b’s ankle refused to budge as he slipped further in, eyes locked into the sight before him. Not once did he ever expect to watch the older hacker slowly disappear down his best friend’s throat with nothing he could do but hold on and pray. Yet here he was. Fuck. “Dei-!!”
“Sanford, don’t even bother at this point.” 2b groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose through his mask. Deimos wasn’t going to listen to shit. That much was clear now if it wasn’t an hour and a half ago when they’d woken up in his hands. He didn’t want to admit it, not by a long shot, however as he slid further back there wasn’t any way the dissenter could convince himself otherwise. He, and the other two, were doomed. “He’s not going to-“
Ulp~
“…..listen. God damnit.” What else was he to even expect at this point?
Try as hard as he might, Sanford found he couldn’t grip the unofficial doctor’s ankle any tighter. Not without the possibility of breaking something, considering that he most likely had already passed the ‘try not to bruise the man’ stage. No doubt the clearly handprint shaped black and blue bruise would be there in a day tops. A scolding was nearly cemented in his future now, however Sanford couldn’t find it in himself to complain about it. Compared to the hole Deimos was digging himself, with a smile on his face no less, he’d gladly take the talking to. Speaking of the hacker, either he was genuinely out of it for some reason or he was just trying to be a grade A dick.
“Deimos!! Cut it out, man!” He yelled, trying his hardest to squirm away from the licks and shifting of the man’s tongue. Unfortunately for him, nothing seemed to work. It started at his hands but all too quickly the sensation of a wet tongue dragging itself up, over, and around the pyromaniac’s arms and to his torso. The dark lenses of his signature glasses fogged over with each warm breath that washed over his body. Goosebumps dotted all exposed skin, any fabric quickly becoming drenched with saliva. The sensations slowly crawled their way down Sanford’s body, more of him no longer dangling and instead slipping across the hacker’s tongue by the moment. He watched his hands, and by extension Doc’s feet, slowly slip beyond his vision into the void-like entrance of Deimos’ throat. His arms followed not long after, the darkness enveloping more of his vision by the second. Talk about a way to spend your day.
Glk~
A soft groan rumbled around the shrunken men, the sound’s maker all too lost in his thoughts. Tastes of warm sausage, coffee, and the lingering hints of whisky and iron danced across his tongue. Each lick up the parts of Sanford’s body which remained momentarily in his mouth brought a shiver up through his spine. With each second the small body inched further back, pulling his hand toward his mouth. His fingers and the body pinned between them slipped past the hacker’s lips with ease. Layers of cloth, along with the occasional sensation of scarred skin, pressed against his tongue. The taste of a rare steak and a much stronger metallic hint, again not unlike that of blood but somehow much more pleasant, seemed all too eager to attack his taste buds. His spine seemed to reduce itself to jello in a matter of seconds, relying on the backrest of his chair for support. The smoker pulled his fingers from his mouth with a small pop, jaws shutting around his final shrunken teammate and leaving his mind to ponder over the tastes and sensation attacking his mouth and mind alike.
The word ‘still’ had been completely wiped from Deimos’s dictionary, if it had even been there to begin with. At least that’s what Hank would have told anyone who asked. His eyes had narrowed behind his red tinted goggles and now they seemed to grow thinner with each movement from the muscle beneath him. As if the heat and lingering cigarette smell from the hacker’s breath weren’t enough, the wet feeling of saliva continued to sneak itself into every fiber of his being. First his skin, then lighter clothing items like his bandana and mask, and finally seeping through his coat and multiple other layers of clothing. And just what was a better cherry on top then being rolled around near constantly. Every moment they seemed to find themself in a new position within the confines of the young hacker’s mouth. While their grip remained on Sanford’s ankles, the same could in no way be said for his patience with the man who had caused this hell by shrinking them. He swore, Deimos better enjoy his time being able to hold them like dolls because the moment they were back to normal the man would be getting a firm taste of his own medicine. Whether it be by him serving as lunch or by another form of revenge was yet to be decided. Hank could only plot so much, though. Despite how much more bearable he found thinking about a way to ‘return the favor’ to Deimos to be, he needed to at least show a little of his own irritation to the man. After all, he wasn’t just some snack. They were still Hank J. Wimbledon god damn it, and they’d prove it if they had to. How he would do that remained a mystery for what felt like hours of constant licking and flipping…until said proof came. It came in the form of a kick to the inside of Deimos’ teeth. A kick which sent him sliding backwards-
Ulk-
Glp~
And the oddly shaped lump in Deimos’ throat disappearing behind his collarbone.
Deimos’ eyes had widened in shock, a hand quickly pressing itself to his throat as it happened. In his opinion, it happened too quickly. All too fast the warm weight disappeared from his mouth, pushing itself backwards with force into his throat. Far too soon did he lose the previously vivid taste of barely cooked meat and metal, leaving him with only the memory and lingering fragments of it like the other two tastes. Too quickly had the lump in his throat been pushed down by two final swallows, disappearing down behind his collarbone. For a moment he sat there in silence, the room lacking sound except for his heavy breathing. With each rise and fall of his chest he waited. Waited for the one thing that couldn’t seem to come fast enough. Moments passed with nothing before the feeling he’d been waiting for rushed his senses. A filling warmth pooled itself in his stomach, moving around against the walls of the organ and pulling a warm chuckle from the man. His hand trailed to rest over his stomach, feeling the small bodies shift and fight beneath layers of clothing, muscle, and skin. Fangs glimmering in a grin once again as he poked at the squirming fullness in his gut.
“Well look at that.” He laughed to himself, relaxing back into his chair. His stomach gurgled under his hand, what he guessed to be a thank you of sorts now that he had what he wanted within it. Though something told him the others wouldn’t be thanking him all that much. “How are you three holding up in there?”
“Deimos, do not laugh at us or so help me Jebus- Hank, get your arm out of my face!” The words were quickly followed by what Deimos could assume was 2b pushing Hank off him and into his stomach wall from what he could feel. Those three couldn’t seem to stay still. Well, he couldn’t truly blame them if he wanted to. It had to be slippery, trapped in a wet, moving organ like his stomach and all. The mental image of his three teammates slipping around in his stomach, trying their hardest to gain footing or at least a comfortable position, drew another laugh from him. This was great.
“Dei, c’mon.” Sanford added, giving his own kick to the wall in case he had failed to grab the hacker’s attention before. Try as he might to stay out of 2BDamned and Hank’s little squabble fate seemed to have other plans as he was shoved back into them every time he got away. Or maybe that was just Deimos being Deimos. “You’ve had your fun, now spit us out you chucklehead.”
“Mmm yeah no.” Deimos hummed, drumming his fingers mindlessly on his belly as he took in the little shocks that each harsh kick or punch sent through his body to his brain. Each movement registered in his brain as a pleasurable little shock, but the harsher they were the more enjoyment they seemed to cause him. Not that he was complaining. Last he checked his teammates could tire themselves out with squirming all they wanted to if it felt this nice. “See, that’s not really the plan here. Not for a few hours at least.”
“What now?” Sanford’s voice had dropped its hopeful tone, now more monotonous and serious. Beside him he heard a growl, one he assumed to be from Hank. Was the smoker trying to get them killed? Again he punched the wall. “Dei, quit joking.”
“I ain’t joking, ‘Ford.” The young hacker replied bluntly, his shit eating grin more than audible in his words. A long, over dramatic sigh made its way from his mouth with ease as he adjusted his position to one more comfortable. Or at least as comfortable as one could get in an old chair. Smiling to himself he gave his stomach a little shove, feeling the three bodies inside shift and move under the pressure. “I just wanna sit and enjoy this for a while. It feels too nice to just give up.”
Silence fell upon the three currently held within the confines of the man’s stomach, each sitting there taking in Deimos’ words until the pressure from outside had lifted. Once it did, they all reacted their own way. Hank, for example, sat still for about ten seconds tops before a punch was thrown at the wall. Sanford, on the other hand, debated whether Hank’s approach or his attempts at reasoning with their ‘captor’ would be more effective at getting Deimos to spit them up. Then there was 2BDamned, who sat in what would’ve been an unnerving silence had they not known him. Knowing him, though, changed the meaning of the silence from ‘is this man insane to be so calm?’ to ‘Deimos just dug himself a grave’ in a split second.
“Deimos,” The unofficial medic started, “you have ten seconds to at least start spitting us up or I will force myself back up your throat simply to beat your ass.” Despite the warmth of their current confines, a chill shot up Sanford’s back. As far as he knew, the last thing you wanted to be was at the end of Doc’s threats. The man often had little to no issue going through with them, and Deimos wasn’t some special case. The laughter they heard (and felt shaking their ‘cell’ for that matter) was all it took to solidify that Deimos didn’t take them seriously at this size. Guess said threats don’t work when you’re four inches tall at best and your ‘captor’ is a smug ass bastard.
“Ha! I’d like to see you try, Doc.” Deimos chuckled, giving his stomach a firm pat which only seemed to serve to jostle around its captives more. “I might not be able to handle spice like San’ but I do know my way around feisty snacks~.”
“We aren’t food, Deimos.” Hank growled, kicking the floor beneath him. The flesh sunk under his boot, a sickening squishing sound heard as a result. A small shiver trembled up the walls, one which failed to register with the black-clad mercenary as in pain. Oh just wonderful. The sharp toothed asshole was enjoying this.
“Mmm you sure, big guy? Cause you seem like food to me right now.” Within only a few seconds of the words leaving his lips the hacker found himself met with a pleasant shockwave up the spine. Clearly a certain black-clad mercenary didn't like being called food, if the fighting he felt wash over him like a tsunami of warm, fuzzy electricity meant anything. A soft groan crawled out of his lips, his hand lazily tracing circles over his stomach. ”mm oh c-calm down in there. I didn’t mean it. I will let you out, Jeez.”
“Deimos, this isn’t funny. Spit us out.” 2b snapped, kicking the floor.
“Mmm sorry, Doc. Can't hear you heheh…” the hacker spoke, words blurring softly as he melted back into the chair.
“I’m serious!” The words fell on deaf ears.
“Dei, c’mon…” Sanford this time. His eyes drifted softly shut.
“Dei…” His grin turned into a simple smirk.
“Dei…” Didn't he get he wasn’t spitting them out yet?
“Deimos…” Oh full names now. How fancy.
“Deimos..?” Wait…that didn’t sound right.
“Deimos.” Was he losing it?
“DEIMOS!”
The hacker jumped, blinking rapidly as his eyes darted around. What was going on? Where were they? Who did he need to kill? Where were the others? Thoughts rushed through his head as wide eyes darted around everything in sight, looking for something they recognized. Anything to show him where he was or what was going on. Relief came to him in the form of Sanford standing in front of him, a hand on his shoulder as if he was trying to get his attention. Most importantly though they were in their base. Safe. No one was here. They weren’t under attack. He was just daydreaming. Sanford and the others were here and he was just…daydreaming- oh damn it. Go figure it was too good to be true. A groan, this time annoyed, rang from Deimos’ throat.
“Jebus- Dude, are you alright?” Sanford asked, eyebrows knit with worry and…an emotion Deimos found himself unable to name. Like he’d seen something. Something…weird. Almost like concern but not at the same time. For a brief moment an idea reared its head, only to be smashed down like a weird game of whack-a-mole within the hacker’s mind. There wasn’t any need for such an absurd idea. It’s not like Sanford could have seen his little daydream. Nope, that was safe in his head. The smoker shook his head to clear it, quickly flashing Sanford a sharp toothed grin.
“Yeah man. Just zonin’ out and daydreaming a little ‘s all. Nothing to worry about here heheh,” he laughed, clapping his friend on the shoulder playfully. His eyes scanned the man’s face again, trying to see if his statement had done its job. Although the worry had dropped from Sanford’s face, the other emotion remained. Now what on earth was that for?
“Daydreamin’ huh? ‘Bout what?” The pyromaniac asked, raising an eyebrow. His eyes flicked from Deimos’ eyes to his mouth, then back again as he spoke. He didn’t seem to not believe Deimos when he said he was daydreaming, so what on earth was that look for? And why was he looking at his mouth so much? Giving into the call of curiosity the sharp-toothed hacker brought a hand up to his mouth, eyes widening mouth momentarily when his fingers found a trail of saliva dripping from his lips to his chin. He’d been drooling. Whoops.
“Eh. Nothing out of the ordinary.” Deimos lied, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand which he then wiped on his pant leg. So that’s what Sanford had been looking at. Oh he must’ve looked downright stupid too. Well now wasn’t that just great? He just had to hope the Chad hadn’t decided to take a photo.
“Honestly I don’t even remember what it was about.” Liar, he remembered all of it. The vivid tastes, the squirmy fullness, the thrill-
Grrrnnnggg…
Ah shit. Busted by his own stomach. For a second the hacker sat there stunned, blinking dumbly as his cheeks heated up with a pink tint. Ok just play it cool Deimos. “….though if I had to make a guess? Food heh.”
“Yeah, that would make sense heh.” Sanford laughed softly, playfully jabbing the smaller man in the stomach. He seemed to buy Deimos’s story, bringing a sense of relief to the hacker. At least he wasn’t going to press on it. “Your stomach was anything but quiet, you know.”
“Go figure. And when I can’t say anything about it too.” Quickly laughter had found itself spilling from Deimos’ mouth, his mind having calmed down when he had heard the sound from the other man. He seemed less concerned, or whatever that emotion he couldn’t name right now was. As another grumble shook through his middle the hacker lowered a hand to rest over his stomach. He got it already. He was upset the daydream of his wasn’t real after all too. Not much more he could do besides try and find something to eat now though. “Say, I’m gonna go try and snag something to shut my gut up. Wanna come?”
“Nah, I’ll pass this time.” Sanford spoke with a small shake of the head and a smile. Try as he might to play it off as friendly, it seemed that odd emotion that Deimos couldn’t name was just bound to show itself in his words. “You just go shut that thing up before the Agency uses it to track us.”
“Oh ha ha. I’m going.” Deimos laughed, giving Sanford one last playful punch to the shoulder before running off. He had food to track down somewhere in this hellscape of Nevada, unless he wanted a beating from Doc that was. He just needed something small or, hell, even temporary if he happened to come across a shrunken grunt or agent. They would work out just fine so long as he didn’t let the others find out what he’d used to shut his stomach up. Couldn’t give away anything that could relate to his little hidden desires. The emptiness in his gut wasn’t something he’d wanted back, but alas, a daydream is only a daydream and he wasn’t getting any fuller just walking around. Now where would his best chance to snag someon- something be…
Sanford watched as his friend ran off, smile slowly fading as Dei disappeared from his line of sight. That look of caution slipped back onto his face as he slowly turned his back to head to his room. He needed a moment to think about what he’d just seen. Try as he might, he couldn’t just forget what was now burned into his mind. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what the younger hacker had been daydreaming about if you had seen him while he was in the zoned out trance of his. Mouth wide open and drooling with a hand pretending to dangle something above it, an active stomach topping it all off like some sorta weird cherry on the sundae of his best friend’s little fantasy. Oh no, he knew what that meant. And hearing him mumble the names of their other teammates, along with his own, at least once through it all? It spelled out the man’s daydream in big neon lights. The very thought sent a shiver down his spine, despite how he tried his best to shake it off.
He wanted to believe it when he tried to tell himself that Deimos wouldn’t ever shrink them, much less try to eat them. He really did. All that he’d seen along with logic itself, however, pointed him at it with the firm proof that his words were lies. The man would no doubt take advantage of it, if he ever found a way to shrink them, even if he were to keep them as safe as possible. Just as he had with any unfortunate shrunken agents or grunts he happened upon when he was alone (or at least when he thought he was) Safe or not safe, the fact of the matter still stood. Sanford did not want to spend however long within the confines of his friend’s gut, especially if he wasn’t alone. Being in there had to be bad enough. Him not being able to do anything about it either only made the situation worse. Reasoning with the hacker was most likely hopeless and he wasn’t about to beg. What was left? Pray? God, if Deimos ever managed to get his hands on the Agency’s shrinking technology then one thing was downright certain. Boy were he, Hank, and 2b doomed…
64 notes · View notes
buckleyblueyes · 3 years
Note
Buddie + 47 "This is home?" 😊
Thank you for your patience, nonnie! I know this took me some time to write and post. Loved this prompt, though! This fic features an appearance by Taylor Kelly, and maybe isn't the most friendly towards her? idk, I wasn’t actively trying to write her to be a bad person or anything, but just in case I thought I'd throw a warning for people who like her/like her and Buck.
Buck yawns and leans back into the cushions of the Diaz couch. He’s exhausted, physically and emotionally. They were called to a grizzly pileup on the freeway just before their shift was supposed to end, multiple on scene fatalities, and more that they lost later, in the ambulance. He had a date with Taylor scheduled for after his shift, but he knew before the engine even pulled back into the station that he was going to have to cancel. Not just for himself and his need for rest and recovery, but for Taylor’s sake. He wouldn’t have been a good date in his current state. He texted her from the locker room that his shift had run long and he was going to head home and rest. She texted him back with a “I understand, get some sleep” and that was that.
He followed Eddie home, because neither of them wanted to be alone, and he wanted to see Chris, even for a few minutes before the boy had to go to bed. They exchanged hugs and Buck and Eddie both pressed kisses to the top of Christopher’s head. Ever since Eddie was shot--since he told Buck about his will, since Buck spent the summer living on their couch and taking care of both of them--Buck took on a more parental role with Christopher. They don’t really talk about it, but it’s undeniably true, and Buck loves it. The three of them feel like a family, are a family.
Buck showered at the station, but Eddie hadn’t. Eddie likes to take his time in the shower, making it into a sort of ritual where he scrubs off more than just the grime of the day, but the stress and trauma of it as well. He’s going to be gone awhile. So, Buck settles into the couch and pulls out his phone.
I know it’s not the same, but wanna FaceTime before bed?
Seconds later his phone lights up with the call. He smiles when he answers it.
“Hey, babe!” Her smile is bright and bubbly as always.
“Hey, Taylor,” he says, forcing himself to keep his own smile up. “Sorry about our date.”
“No, no it’s fine…” Taylor trails off, blinking curiously through the screen. “I thought you said you were going home?”
Buck glances around the room behind him and frowns. “This is home?”
She rolls her eyes. “I know what your loft looks like.”
“Oh,” His smile returns. Of course, she’s only been to Eddie’s a few times, she doesn’t recognize it from the bit of it she could see through FaceTime. “I’m at Eddie’s.”
Taylor’s confusion morphs into exasperation. “I should’ve realized.”
“You’ve only been here a few times, it’s--”
“No, I mean I should’ve realized you were blowing me off for him,” she snaps.
It feels like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. “What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m always playing second to Eddie, and I’m getting sick of it,” Taylor’s tone is huffy and irritated and Buck hates it. “It was one thing when he was still recovering. But he’s fine now, so why are you still spending so much time with him?”
“He’s my best friend, Taylor,” Buck narrows his eyes. “Of course I spend time with him.”
She scowls. “How can you be too tired for me, but be sitting on his couch?”
Buck runs a hand through his ungelled curls. “Look, our shift ran long and it was really rough. My therapist says I shouldn’t be alone during times like this, and I happen agree with her--”
“So why not be with me?” Taylor asks, tone shifting from anger to sadness.
“Because Eddie knows exactly where I’m at emotionally,” Buck sighs. “He was there, he saw what I saw. There’s nothing to explain. And he shouldn’t be alone tonight, either. It just makes sense.”
She frowns. “So, that’s it? I’m not a first responder, so I’ll never be able to understand like Eddie?”
His stomach twists. This conversation is starting to sound familiar. “It’s not--”
“How can I understand if you don’t open up to me?”
Buck doesn’t know what to say to that. She’s right, of course. He isn’t open with her. She doesn’t know about his childhood, or about Daniel. She doesn’t know about the nightmares that haunt him, doesn’t know about the waves and ladder trucks, gunshots and explosions. She doesn’t know any of it, and he has no desire to share it with her. Maybe it’s the way she looks at her phone half the time they’re talking, or the fact that they haven’t really talked about her willingness to put Bobby’s trauma on the news, but he still doesn’t trust her, not really.
“You’re right,” he finally says. “I’ve been shutting you out.” She looks hopeful, which makes Buck feel like a huge jerk because this isn’t about to go in the direction she seems to think it will. “I have to be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever feel like opening up to you. I’m sorry.”
“Oh.” She looks so sad, and the part of Buck that’s terrified of disappointing people is two seconds from taking it all back, when she speaks again. “So, where does that leave us, then?”
“I don’t know,” Buck answers honestly. He doesn’t want to be single and lonely again, but he can’t deny any longer that Taylor isn’t right for him.
“I think you do.” She gives him a weak smile.
Buck blinks. Cocks his head to the side in confusion. “What does that mean?”
“Buck, be honest with me, are you in love with Eddie?”
Whatever Buck is expecting her to say, it isn’t that. All at once it feels like all the air in the room has been sucked out. He knows that he feels more for Eddie than could be strictly described as platonic, but he’s been avoiding those feelings for as long as he’s known Eddie. First because he thought he had Abby, then because Eddie was married, then because Eddie was grieving his wife, and then because they weren’t speaking to each other, and then because the pandemic hit and they had other things to focus on, and then because Eddie was dating Ana...It was never the right time, and he was always too afraid of losing Eddie, when he inevitably had to turn Buck down.
But Eddie changed his will, and Eddie broke up with Ana because “she’s not what I want” and Eddie let Buck stay here, for months, taking care of him and Christopher, and Buck knows in his core that he and Eddie are tied together, no matter what.
“Buck?”
He realizes she’s still waiting for an answer. “Yeah, yeah I think I am.”
She nods stiffly. “Right, well then. I guess we’re done here.”
“I guess we are.” Buck shifts uncomfortably. “Can we still be friends?”
“I don’t think so,” Taylor shakes her head.
Buck opens his mouth to respond, to say goodbye, but he’s cut off by a voice coming from the hallway. “You’re in love with me?” Buck looks up to see Eddie standing there in his sweats, hair still damp and dripping from the shower, brown eyes wide with shock.
Oh, fuck. “Taylor, I have to go.”
“I know,” she rolls her eyes. “Goodbye, Buck.”
“Bye, Taylor,” Buck swallows, setting his phone down on the coffee table. “How--How long have you been standing there? I didn’t hear the shower turn off.”
“Long enough,” Eddie steps forward. “You’re in love with me?”
“I--” There’s no point in denying. “Yeah. Is that...okay?”
It’s a stupid thing to say, but it’s all Buck can think to say.
To say Eddie looks dumbfounded would be an understatement. “Is it--What kind of question is that?”
Buck shrugs “Well, y’know. I thought it might make things awkward.”
Eddie shakes his head and shuffles the rest of the way into the living room, so he’s standing right above Buck. “Awkward? Why--What--Like, at work? We’re adults, we can keep things professional.”
“Keep...it...professional…” Buck’s brain processes the words slowly, but when he finally does, his heart sinks. “You don’t want to be friends with me anymore?”
“Um.” Eddie cocks his head to the side, in almost the same movement Buck made just minutes earlier. “Obviously not.”
Buck feels numb. This is it. The end of everything. Just when he thinks he’s found someone who will stay. “W-What about Christopher?”
Again Eddie looks baffled. “What about Christopher? I think he’ll be happy we’re together.”
Time stops. Together? “Uh-Wh-Huh? Together? Like...together-together? Like dating? Each other?”
“Oh.” The confusion melts off Eddie’s face. “Buck. I’m in love with you, too.”
Buck blinks up at him. “You are?”
“Yeah,” Eddie smiles warmly. “I thought I made that clear when I broke up with Ana and kept asking you to stay, but I guess I should’ve known that I needed to be more explicit with you.”
Buck laughs. “Oh, you think? I’m only in therapy for my abandonment issues, it’s not like I have problems trusting that people want me around or something.”
Eddie leans down and takes Buck’s hands in his. “Evan Buckley, I am deeply in love with you, and I want to be with you for as long as you’ll have me.”
Buck grins, tightens his grip on Eddie’s hands, and pulls the other man down onto the couch, right into his lap. “How does forever sound?”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Later, after they makeout on the couch like teenagers, after Eddie guides Buck down the hall to his bedroom, after they curl up in each other’s arms, it finally occurs to Eddie to ask. “How exactly did your FaceTime with Taylor end up with her asking if you were in love with me?”
Buck doesn’t open his eyes when he answers. “She asked why I wasn’t at home like I told her I’d be.”
“This is your home.”
Buck smiles and snuggles closer. “I know.”
76 notes · View notes
palmett-hoes · 3 years
Text
i said in this post that i have original characters and backstories for neil's extended family. it took me,, a really long time to write it all down. it's been a full month since the original post, and this is still just a run through of things, not full prose, which i might be interested in doing one day but not anytime soon
now, some things to note about what i'm writing, why, and how. methodology, basically. this might not have come through yet in my posts, because i just don't post about my half-finished ideas, but i research a LOT. i like to base what i write about on real life, even if it's just headcanons and fanfic
also, i love helping people with research, so if anyone wants help with research for a fic or just their personal headcanons or anything hit me up!!
as a white person who wants to write characters from different ethnic backgrounds, i feel i have a responsibility to really do my due diligence and research as much as possible to consider things from every angle. and part of that for me is making sure that every character of color has a backstory. they don't just appear somewhere, i have to give them a reason for being there and a story for how they got there, even if that's not what i write their STORY about. people, come from places, basically. i follow a lot of demographic census information and population averages, as well as a lot of history, from as general as transatlantic trade in the last 500 years to as specific as the changes in a single city in a certain year
talking to other writers in the fandom i know i'm a little overzealous, but this is what gives me peace of mind to feel like i am putting the effort in to get things right
so anyway, as for what that means here:
i like writing neil as mixed black/jewish. it works well thematically for his character, as well as just what FEELS right for how i visualize him in my head
only, that can't simply come from nowhere. we know who his parents are. they need to also be poc for neil to be one, and they're a complicated pair to handle in that lens
one choice i made about that, for multiple reasons, is that everything about neil's parents' backgrounds should mirror each other. it can't simply be that one if them is black and one is jewish, or even that mary is both and nathan is white, because that says something i don't want to say any way you slice it. additionally, i want both facets of his ethnicity to be important to neil, and i feel as though he would want to ignore the half of himself from his father.
so: they both have to be mixed, giving them a sort of,, ideological equal footing, as it were. that way, i can also write three different experiences, rather than accidentally implying that This is what being black is, or This is what being jewish is, or This is what being mixed is. and that's also important to me, even if it's just in my head or not even directly addressed. it's still a big consideration of mine anytime i write about any of them
now, finally, onto mary and nathan! i'll put it below a cut because this is already long enough, the under-the-cut is much longer, and i don't want to wear out your thumbs if you don't care
mary hatford
canon timeline, neil was born in 1988. as a tentative number let's say mary was around 30 when he was born, meaning she would be born in the 50s. say her parents were roughly the same age, so they were born around the 20s
like i said, what's happening where in history is very important to me for building these backstories, and major historical events tend to have a lot of influence on population shifts. and well,, jews and europeans in the early-to-mid 20th century? there's no getting around involving world war II. nothing explicit, but it is mentioned and part of the story
mary’s paternal family are the hatfords. they're from the british west indies, largely jamaica, but they've been involved with shipping and trade all over the trans-atlantic region for generations.
they have a complicated relationship with the british empire, having both worked for them and against them at various points, sometimes both at once. similarly, they've tried multiple times through the generations to relocate the family to england permanently, but have been turned away or pressured out
they associate england and the british empire with power, and they both disagree with and desire that power in degrees which vary person to person. they do have a general idea between them though that living in england is a sign of status and authenticity, and while they don't want to leave jamaica permanently they do want their center of power to be in england, and there is a deep resentment against the anglos for not allowing them to stay permanently despite their wealth and influence, the fact that their work will always be looked down on and seen as lesser
i did come into building the hatfords with the primary idea of them being black british, and looking into the organized crime connection second. them being jamaican/west indies is a reference to the jamaican posse, who have a large presence in the london crime scene, although that's really the only connection. the hatfords aren't really yardies in any sense
the hatfords' status as organized crime is a little iffy. mostly they skirt the line between legal and illegal, owning legal trading companies and doing plenty of legal shipping. their main business in the criminal underworld is being middlemen moving supplies for other groups. they have a lot of contacts, and they serve an invaluable role in international smuggling, but they rarely get their own hands dirty. they move things from one place to the other and don't question too much what it is, though they don't deal in people
mary's father is named samuel hatford (first name in reference to samuel bellamy, the gentleman pirate king of the early 18th century). he was born in England, raised largely in Jamaica, then moved back to England as a teenager/young man. he's light-hearted and a bit idealistic for someone from a crime family, seeing the best in people even when they're cold and often believing in principle over profit, which at times put him in conflict with what's best for business
he almost enlisted in world war II, but instead convinced the family to work as weapons and supplies runners supporting the Allies and guerilla resistance groups
mary's mother is named cima ben nahman (ladino/judeo-spanish/sephardic names, doesn't really reference anything or anyone in particular). She's is an algerian jew. Born in algeria (city undecided, though algiers had the largest jewish community at the time), she moved to france for a few years as a young woman, probably for education. she joined anti-fascist organizations which became resistance groups once germany invaded
she's stoic, and has a ruthless mind for strategy. like most algerian jews, she's caught between her home country and its colonizer. the french empire played the algerian muslim majority against the jewish minority as a way to create infighting and distract the algerians from uniting and turning against them, but the algerian jews also then became reliant on the french for protection. (it's a really, really complicated situation)
cima sort of hates them both, both algeria and france. her only allegiance is to being jewish
(contrast this to samuel, who feels that he is BOTH british and caribbean, even when those two identities may be in conflict)
cima and samuel met when samuel provided weapons and supplies to cima's militia group. he took particular interest in them and went out of his way to help, above and beyond the other groups the hatfords were supplying
in the waning period of the war, cima was seriously injured, i'm currently thinking a land mine accident. she survived, but her recovery was slow. she lost an arm and had burns across half her torso, neck, and face. samuel brought her to england supported her through her recovery. in the hospital, they spoke a lot about why they each chose to fight, and the ways they did because neither were formal soldiers fighting for a country. samuel was in many ways fighting for an ideal, while cima was fighting for her people. cima also talked to him a lot about judaism and religion during this time, which samuel took an interest in. eventually, cima decided to stay
they got married. samuel converted, which was somewhat controversial with his family. however, cima agreed to join the family business, where she became an integral but sometimes ruthless member. after algerian independence, she brought some of her trusted family and community into the fold as well, some moving to england and others to france
both cima and samuel believed very heavily in responsibility, though what it meant for each of them was different. cima believed in preparedness and follow-through, samuel believed in family and protection, doing what's right outside of the bounds of the law. this contributed a lot to how they raised their children
when they were born, mary and stuart were raised in england (and i like to think they have an oldest brother). the hatfords were a big family, and influential, although careful about balancing the legal and less-legal sides of their business. the ben nahmans were smaller, and most of them were in france so mary and her brothers saw them less often. they were raised very religiously and culturally jewish, though close with the caribbean side of their family too, as well as being the first generation who were born and raised in england. this put them at a cross-section of three very different cultures, and was where mary first learned about changing and blending in with different groups
mary was the youngest and a little bit spoiled by her father, aunties, and uncles. her mother however was much less tolerant of her. clearly very affected by her time in the war, cima became extremely distrustful and suspicious, and tried to instill in her children a similar sentiment of secrecy and self-sufficiency, avoiding attention and casual relationships. she could be harsh on them, especially mary, who was the most resistant to this
growing up, mary was irresponsible and fun-loving, goading her brothers and cousins, getting in trouble, and starting fights. she didn't understand the tenuous balance of being organized crime, and at times put the whole family at risk by overestimating their sway. her mistakes affected the whole family but it was usually her mother who confronted her about them first and most harshly
she resented her mother's control, and didn't understand the reasons behind it. she also couldn't differentiate between the boundaries her mother sets as a result of her own trauma, and the necessary boundaries she set for the safety of the family, viewing them as one and the same, and leading her to hate any kind of control exerted over her
really, a lot of cima's character is just who mary ends up becoming after being married to nathan and being on the run. i like the story of a child becoming the parent they once hated. rather than learn from her mother, both her failures and her successes, mary becomes her, doomed to make the same mistakes. this is also why cima is wounded by a landmine, because mary dies in fire
---
nathan wesninski
nathan was HARD to come up with a story for, mostly because,,, WHY THE FUCK DOES THIS GUY WORK FOR THE JAPANESE YAKUZA
wesninski is a VERY polish name. the japanese-polish connection is,, not super strong
so anyway, working off the idea of the wesninski family being a polish jewish one, WHERE is he going to meet a japanese crimelord to get into a multi-generation debt/business arrangement with?
turns out, the answer is brazil
brazil actually has a large jewish population (roughly 10th largest in the world). it began with its colonization by the portuguese, but the 19th century to modern population largely comes from central and eastern europe. brazil ALSO has the largest japanese population outside of japan
also this story ended up being WAY more detailed and prosaic than samuel&cima's story, which is basically just bullet points. there's no reason for this i love both stories very much just for some reason the words flowed for me here and not there
to avoid having a second jewish story where wwII is prominent, the wesninskis get a page out of my own family's book: nathan's grandfather (neil's great grandfather) came to the americas fleeing the russian pograms around the turn of the 20th century
so
Wesninski came to brazil (city undecided, have a lot more research to do about individual cities in brazil). he had waardenburg syndrome(a hereditary genetic condition that can affect eyes and hearing) which runs very strongly in his family (his son, nathan, and neil will all inherit it), and he is completely Deaf. while he came to brazil alone, in his new home he connected both with the local jewish community and the local deaf community, and eventually marries another Deaf Jewish woman
eventually they were able to establish a kosher deli and restaurant in the city, one which became a common hangout for the Deaf community. then one day (probably around 1915), a group of japanese men came in, and kept returning
these were the moriyamas, recently arrived from japan, in a place with very few japanese people and businesses. they liked the wesninski deli because they didn't share a language with anyone in there, couldn't even be heard by most of them, and it would also be difficult for the authorities to question them. two layers of protection for a crime family in a vulnerable place
wesninski and the moriyamas were amicable to each other, but as they didn't actually have a way to communicate that was the extent of it. but the moriyamas were polite and payed well and didn't bother the other customers. als, as a jewish establishment, they had a lot of education resources, which were helpful to the moriyamas in learning about brazilian society, including beginning to understand portuguese
now, in japan, the moriyamas were a small yakuza family. they got driven out by their bigger and stronger and more established competition around the time when japanese immigration to brazil was just starting, so that was where they went. though they had little option in where they ended up, they also had little competition in establishing their business
i still have a lot of research to do about the moriyamas. about both how the yakuza operate and about how brazilian organized crime works, and about life in brazil for early japanese immigrants. so a lot of the moriyama details are pretty vague
now the wesninskis had a son, meyer (nathan's father. name in reference to meyer lansky, famous american jewish mobster of polish descent) who was around 14 when the moriyamas arrived. he himself was not fully deaf like his parents, though was hard of hearing and raised in the Deaf community. as he goes through his rebellious teenage years, well, the gangsters are right there
in the early days the moriyamas were still more concerned with mostly the japanese enclaves, but they had aspirations of expanding. meyer wasn't japanese, but he was helpful to the moriyamas who came into the deli to study. he was perceptive and bold, could keep a secret, knew his way around knives from working in the deli, and knew the city. he was a good asset to them, and he was interested in causing some trouble
over the next ten years or so, meyer got increasingly more involved, alongside the moriyamas becoming increasingly more established throughout the city. he goes from someone who helps out occasionally and relays information beyween parties to getting involved with minor shakedowns, bribery, evidence disposal. by the time he's in his 20s he's thoroughly enmeshed
his parents were older when they had him, and his father died relatively young, leaving meyer the store and his mother to take care of. they were vaguely aware of his connections to the moriyamas and didn't approve of what he did with them but he also kept the worst from them, and was always a diligent son, and the only one they had. he assured them no matter how far he went that he wasn't "really" part of the gang
"yakuza have tattoos, and see, ima? no tattoos. i'm still a good jewish son, not a gangster"
now the problem arises when meyer falls for camara da machado, a young Deaf woman who frequents the store
(based on/inspired by/FC yaya dacosta (where the name comes from) and rutina wesley)
she was a Deaf girl born to a hearing family who struggled to give her the support she needed, maybe even just a single mother, and she'd spent a lot of time alone at the deli from a young age (12-ish?). she was shy and quiet and a little bit of a shrinking violet, but the wesninskis became very fond of her. she started tentatively helping them out around the store which became a job. she was often included in family meals and holidays, and always had a bed in their apartment above the deli if she needed one, and more than once had helped patch meyer up after he got in trouble to hide the extent of it from his parents
she was a couple years younger than him but he'd always been sweet on her. and she'd had a crush on him from basically the moment she'd layed eyes on him. they'd known each for years and camara was basically family, and then one day when they were both in their 20s it just suddenly clicked for them
so meyer and camara fell in love. meyer was head of the house, had to keep the deli running, and had his mother, camara, and possibly camara's mother (undecided at this juncture) to worry about and he decided he didn't want to continue working with the moriyamas in case it dragged his family into danger. being a gangster was a fling of youth and he was ready to grow up
when he informed the moriyamas of this though, they,,, did not agree.
while MEYER might not have considered himself part of the gang, THEY didn't think he just got to walk away. he'd worked with them for too long and knew too much. there might even have been a desire to tie him to the family permanently through marriage. and well,, one man against a growing criminal empire can't do much
it was a huge shock to him, and made him truly realize how naive and reckless he'd been. he'd been a dumb kid who wanted to start some trouble, the moriyamas were career criminals. they expected that once you were in, you were in for life, and they did not take kindly to meyer disagreeing with this
he didn't know how to explain this to his family... so he didn't. they'd all told him they wanted him to stop, but he'd meant for the announcement to be a surprise. after learning that he would not be permitted to walk away, he chose to just hide it and continue with business as usual
it worked for a while, maybe a few years, a time during which the moriyamas were getting a lot more brutal as they got more established and increasingly looked to expand, putting them in competition with other gangs and greater law enforcement, until they were a true crime empire spread across whole regions of the country. meyer had lost a lot of esteem in their eyes by asking to leave, leading them to put him under increasing scrutiny and giving him more incriminating tasks, to ensure that he would be incriminated if he ever tried to turn them in. it's during this time that he first had to kill for them
then camara got pregnant
and meyer was terrified. he didn't know how the moriyamas would deal with a kid. the only marriages and children he knew of within the family were endorsed by the boss, many arranged by him, and he knew his wouldn't be approved. yakuza wives were heavily involved with the business too, and he absolutely did not want that for camara
he broke down and told her everything. she's horrified, and furious that he kept it from her, but she didn't want to give up her baby. it would be hard, but she believed they can keep it hidden, and if the moriyamas found out, maybe it wouln't be so bad?
(spoiler: it would)
they have a son, born natan da machado, under his mother's name
meyer and camara never got married. meyer was going to propose after he left the moriyamas but that obviously didn't happen. marriages were supposed to be blessed by the boss, and meyer never dared to ask. they already lived together, anyway
but with natan, they decided that meyer couldn't acknowledge him as his own. in the deli or in the streets, he didn't acknowledge natan. he was camara's bastard son, and meyer didn't want anything to do with him
it was a flimsy disguise at best. natan was mixed, but there was a strong enough resemblance to his father. even if his hair was a darker red or he had brown skin, they had the same eyes
they tried to keep him away from the moriyamas as he grew up, hoping they wouldn't see him and make the connection, but they also kept him very hidden in general, just in case. he spent a lot of time inside, with his grandmothers
and that was how natan grew up, feeling like a secret, his father cold and distant, only acknowledging him in their apartment. cut off from other kids his age. a hearing boy in a Deaf family (natan himself was HoH but still had most of his hearing. meyer and his maternal grandmother could both hear, but they had gotten out of the habit of it and mostly communicated through sign)
natan developed a deep feeling of resentment towards his father and shame about himself from a young age. he felt like a mistake, defective somehow. so wrong he had to be hidden away from everyone
there's only so long that you can hide a child, though, and when natan was around ten the moriyamas found out about him, and they were not happy.
they didn't like split attention or loyalty. they kept children and family under very tight wraps. they should be one hundred percent enmeshed in the moriyama empire, raised to be loyal and helpful in whatever way they were needed. the fact that meyer wanted and was willing to leave for this family, and then hid his son, was a huge betrayal
still, they gave him an opportunity to prove his loyalty: kill camara or the moriyamas would kill them all: her, natan, meyer, and both their mothers
but meyer couldn't do it, and instead he told camara to run and hope they didn't actually care enough to chase her down. and she did. and she couldn't take natan with her. (i haven't fully fleshed out why yet, currently thinking that meyer was given this ultimatium when they already had natan)
so camara left her son, and got away
i built the story of mary's mother as a reflection of mary's story if something had been different, and i built nathan's story the same way. his wife takes her son and runs away with him when the moriyamas try to take him from her. nathan's mother was in the same situation and left him behind
over the next forty years of his belonging to the moriyamas he gets to marinate in that resentment. from the father that ignored to the mother who ran away from him, he internalizes it as being something wrong with him, not the circumstances. the more he's taught to torture and kill and the more he excels at it, the more this belief gets cemented. he's good at killing, he was meant to kill. he's twisted and broken and wrong inside and he always was and his parents always knew
and then when it happens again but differently this time he throws away a decade and millions of dollars and his standing with his boss to hunt down his son and his wife because he didn't get to run away so why should they? why does mary love nathaniel more than camara loved natan?
from here, the exact detail's of nathan's story aren't quite solidified. whether he was raised by his father from then on or by his grandmothers (or whether his grandmothers left with his mother) or whether the moriyamas put him somewhere else entirely, but from then on he lived under the moriyamas' direct supervision, and they taught him how to turn a knife on a man
they took his mother's name from him, though, so he's natan wesninski, not natan da machado, because they own the wesninskis now
and when the moriyamas decided to expand beyond brazil when natan was a young man instead of a child, and settled on the east coast of the US, they renamed him nathan, because it sounded more "american"
---
so that's it. obviously there are still a lot of unfinished details in both stories, but they're strong enough at this point to stand on their own and i haven't changed or rethought a lot of the major details in a long time
i've become extremely attached to these OCs and their stories, and i hope they interest other people too. some day i'd like to write them out in prose properly, along with the story of nathan and mary meeting, but that'll be a while away considering the pace i move at
so until then i just wanted to put this out there
89 notes · View notes
noona-clock · 3 years
Text
What’s Your Sign?: Capricorn
Genre: Dance Studio!AU
Pairing: Jaebum x You (Female!Reader)
Warnings: None
Words: 5,693
Author’s Note: Since I’m so fascinated by astrology, I decided to do a Zodiac series! I will be writing a one-shot fic for each sign featuring different members from different groups (and even an actor!). Each story will be posted on the 5th of the month during that sign’s season. Please reblog, comment, or send in an ask with your feedback! Thank you for your support 💜
Tumblr media
It was clear he didn’t want to be here.
And by ‘he’ you meant the dark-haired guy in your dance lesson whose facial expression betrayed that he would rather be anywhere else and doing anything else right now.
But you were a dance instructor. You’d been teaching for almost five years by now, so you had seen your fair share of begrudging students.
(Though, if you were being completely honest with yourself, none of the begrudging students you’d had so far had been quite this handsome... but that is absolutely besides the point.)
As you introduced yourself to your new class and began to go over the basics, you mentally prepared yourself to spend a little extra time with him -- the handsome, begrudging student. You’d discovered that some one-on-one time with the dancers who didn’t actually want to be dancers went a long way in helping them get more comfortable and enjoy themselves.
Usually, people who had no desire to take your class were being forced by a third party -- for some reason or another -- and it was pretty clear why they had no desire to take your class: their dancing skills left a lot to be desired.
But, only a few minutes into your instructions, you were more than surprised and shocked to see that this guy actually had some natural talent.
A lot of it.
But he also didn’t have a partner, so that one-on-one time you’d prepared for was incredibly easy to manage.
After you’d told everyone to pair off and start practicing the basic waltz square you’d just shown them, you weaved your way through the parquet floor to him with a somewhat cautious smile on your face.
If he wasn’t thrilled to be in your class in the first place, it was safe to assume he wouldn’t be thrilled for you to be his partner, but... there wasn’t much you could do about it now!
“Hi,” you greeted softly when you approached. “I noticed there wasn’t a partner for you, so I’m happy to --”
“Sure,” he muttered.
Of course, his terse interruption made you pause, but you recovered quickly and simply smiled at him. You then stepped closer to him, resting one hand on his shoulder and extending your other arm out to the side so the two of you could get into a waltzing stance.
As soon as he’d slid one hand around your waist and took the other one, grasping your fingers firmly, you waited for him to lead into the four-step box formation.
...And you almost yelped with surprise when he did.
His hold on your waist and fingers quickly became even more firm, and he pushed you subtly but confidently backward, dancing with you smoothly.
You’re not sure why this surprised you so much.
But it did.
And that made you a little uneasy.
“So,” you breathed, clearing your throat quietly. “What’s your name?”
His gaze had been inconspicuously aimed at the floor, most likely watching his feet, but it shifted to look at you when you asked your question.
“Jaebum,” he answered without hesitation, though his voice was still very brusque.
“Nice to meet you,” you replied with a slight dip of your chin. “I’m Y/N.”
“Yes, I know,” he murmured. “You introduced yourself about five minutes ago.”
You raised your eyebrows, unsure if you were bewildered or offended by his incredibly impolite response.
Probably a bit of both.
“...Right,” you said. But you had to maintain your composure and civility, so you added, “What brings you here?”
Rather than answering quickly and succinctly like he had previously, Jaebum simply furrowed his brow at you.
“You just seem less than enthusiastic, so I was curious as to why you’re here in the first place,” you explained, figuring you could at least be honest to counteract his almost-rudeness.
His forehead smoothed out, and he tilted his head to signal that you did have a point.
“One of my best friends is getting married in a few months, and he wants the wedding party to do this... dance routine.”
“And you’re not too excited about it?”
Jaebum shook his head.
“Well, if it helps, you’re a really good dancer.”
Again, Jaebum furrowed his brow at you, shooting you a confused, sidelong glance. “I am?”
He sounded genuinely perplexed which made you genuinely perplexed. He really didn’t know? Had he never taken one single dance class before?
“Yeah,” you chuckled. “You’re a natural.”
And naturally gorgeous, you thought.
Oh my god, why did you think that?
Besides the fact that it was true, of course.
To distract yourself from that thought, you added, “You haven’t taken any sort of class before?”
“No, never.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” you replied with the tiniest smirk you could muster. “You’ve barely even looked at your feet this whole time, and you haven’t tripped me once.”
Of course, Jaebum instinctively looked down at his feet and almost immediately stumbled.
“See? Once you looked down and thought too much about it, you messed up. You’ve got instinct.”
An expression of clear discomfort flashed across his face, and rather than insisting that you knew what you were talking about, you simply kept silent. You were only planning on continuing this exercise for another minute or so, and you would rather not make him any more uncomfortable than he already clearly was.
But when that minute was up... you realized... that you didn’t want to stop dancing with him.
Oh, boy. 
A student who had made you feel uneasy twice in the first half-hour of class.
That was quite unprecedented.
And... very disturbing.
When the two of you got to a good stopping point, you murmured under your breath that it was time to move on.
Jaebum responded immediately, pausing his movements and loosening his hold on your hand and waist to allow you to step away.
“All right, great job,” you said, turning away to face the rest of the class and doing your best to avoid any sort of eye contact with Jaebum. “I know it may seem repetitive, but this is the foundation of a waltz. You need to be really familiar with these steps, know how to do them in your sleep, before you can move on.”
You had everyone go through the steps on their own while you played different music tracks, helping them find the four-count beat in each song and showing they could waltz to really any style of music.
All in all, it was a pretty typical class.
Except for Jaebum.
You had tried to get him -- and the way he’d briefly made you feel -- out of your mind, and while you had been mostly successful when you hadn’t been looking at him... you had been the opposite of successful when you had.
And once the hour was up, you found yourself doing something you truly hadn’t ever expected to do. The thought had never crossed your mind, yet you couldn’t stop your body from walking toward Jaebum, an anxious grin plastered on your lips.
“I was just --” you began, though you were quickly interrupted by a departing student who thanked you for a great class. “Oh, sure, you’re welcome.”
You pressed your lips together then, your gaze following the student and waiting for her to vanish through the studio door.
When she did, you looked back to Jaebum and saw that he was already looking at you, his gaze expectant. You jumped a little -- though, you weren’t quite sure why you were surprised that he was looking at you. You had been just about to say something to him.
After letting out a breathless chuckle, you inhaled sharply and continued on from earlier. “I was just wondering -- you said your friend is wanting to do some sort of routine? For his wedding?”
Jaebum nodded. “During the reception. The bridal party is all going to do a... ballroom dance... thing.”
“Do you know if the choreography is finished?”
“I believe so,” he answered, slightly lowering his brows.
You gulped.
“I -- I mean, I would be happy to help you learn it if you want to -- have the time. You could stay after class or come in whenever you’re free. I can shift things around if I need to, this job is pretty flexib --”
“Okay.”
And you were surprised yet again.
He had actually said yes? Even though you definitely sounded a bit like a bumbling idiot right now?
“Oh, good!” you said with a relieved sigh, your lips spreading into a grin.
“I can’t stay much longer today, but if you have time tomorrow?”
For some reason your instinct was to reply immediately -- in the positive, of course -- but you forced yourself to actually pull up your schedule in your head to look and make sure.
“I’m very free in the afternoon,” you told him after a few moments. “From after lunch until about four.”
Jaebum nodded tersely and said, “I can be here at two” before murmuring his thanks and heading toward the exit.
You stood there, in the same exact spot, for about five minutes after he left, mainly because you were dumbstruck. You had no idea why you’d done that, and you had no idea why you were so relieved (and excited) that he had accepted your offer.
You had literally never offered private lessons -- private free lessons! -- to a student before. Many students had requested them, absolutely, but you had never offered.
The only reason you could think of as to why you’d done this was because Jaebum was so... intriguing. He fit the stereotype almost exactly for the “Perfect Man.” Tall, dark, and handsome. Strong and silent.
...And did you mention handsome?
Very handsome.
But that was actually more of a reason not to give him private lessons. You wanted to spend more time with him, of course. But you shouldn’t.
You really, really, really shouldn’t.
Tumblr media
Rather than wait in jittery anticipation for Jaebum to show up, you spent the first part of your day keeping as busy as you could.
You had two classes basically back-to-back in the morning, which definitely helped keep your mind off the perfectly handsome man arriving at the studio in the early afternoon. And once those classes finished, you took a lunch break and headed to a nearby deli for one of your favorite sandwiches.
Between lunch and Jaebum’s arrival time, you decided to clean the entire studio from top to bottom because that was just what you did when you were stressed or nervous: you cleaned.
A small cleaning crew visited the studio once a week to keep the floors and mirrors gleaming, of course, but it had been a little while since you’d wiped down your office and deep cleaned the reception area.
You dusted and vacuumed and scrubbed and decluttered and even rearranged some furniture just to change things up -- for almost two hours.
And it wasn’t until a quarter to two that you realized you’d made a rather large mistake.
Cleaning and rearranging furniture for two hours was hard work, and now -- fifteen minutes before Jaebum was set to arrive -- you found yourself exhausted and sweaty.
I mean, you were exhausted and sweaty a lot. Obviously. You were a dance teacher. 
But the exhausted and sweaty parts of your day were always at the end of class, after you’d done all the work, not at the beginning.
...And your classes typically did not involve an incredibly good-looking man whom you were nervous about spending time with.
After putting away the cleaning supplies in the closet, you quickly ran into the bathroom to splash some water on your face. You then headed into your office and dug around in your bag for the emergency vial of perfume you kept in there -- just in case.
Thank goodness you did because it really came in handy in this moment.
Just as you stepped out of your office and back into the studio, closing the door behind you, you heard the clack of footsteps on the dance floor.
“Hello?” a soft but deep voice called out.
You jumped a little, your gaze snapping over to the studio entrance and landing on Jaebum.
A quick glance to the clock above the mirrors showed you that he was almost ten minutes early -- and that only heightened your intrigue.
You loved a man who was early.
“Hi!” you blurted out suddenly, realizing you hadn’t yet answered him. “Hi, come on in. Welcome.”
Jaebum reached into his pocket as he walked over to you, retrieving his phone and tapping on the screen with a wrinkled forehead. “My friend sent me the video of the choreography,” he muttered, his eyes flashing up at you briefly over his phone screen.
“Oh, perfect,” you grinned. You came to a stop in front of him, resting your hands on your hips as you waited for him to find the video and show you.
“Here,” he mumbled before doing just that -- turning his phone around and showing you the video.
You leaned in, and only then did you realize this was a bad idea.
Obviously, watching something on a person’s phone meant you had to be standing rather close to that person, leaning in until your heads were almost touching.
And that’s exactly what was happening right now.
You were standing rather close to Jaebum, your heads almost touching.
And, boy, did he smell amazing.
It took almost every ounce of willpower in you to concentrate on the video and not on how amazing he smelled.
When the video finished, you took a step back, hoping you hadn’t backed away from him too obviously. If you were going to be learning this choreography together, you certainly didn’t want him to think you couldn’t stand being close to him. Because that wasn’t even true! 
It was just... difficult. In a good way. Kind of.
“That seems fairly straightforward,” you said, pushing all these thoughts out of your mind as best as you could.
“Yeah?” Jaebum asked, turning to look at you, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Absolutely. You want to give it a shot?”
He nodded and took off his jacket, hanging it up on the rack by the door before joining you in the middle of the dancefloor. He set up his phone against the mirror, and you began guiding him through the choreography, step-by-step.
Only a few minutes in, and Jaebum stopped you. “How... how do you know the routine already? We watched it once, and you’re not even referring back to the video.”
A frown curved your lips, and you lifted your shoulders into a shrug. “I... don’t know? I just remember it.”
“Seriously?” he asked with a soft chuckle of disbelief. “How?”
“I don’t know,” you repeated. “I’ve always been this way, with dance especially. I can just picture it in my mind.”
“So, you have a photographic memory.”
...How had you never realized that before?
“I guess so?” you chuckled. “I just never thought it was different than what anyone else could do.”
A half-smile tugged at Jaebum’s lips as he got back into the dancing position, and he murmured, “No. I absolutely cannot do that.”
“Well, then, it’s a good thing I’m the dance teacher,” you retorted, trying to suppress a smirk.
He laughed softly, and you ignored the fluttering in your heart.
You spent the next hour and a half going through the first part of the routine, and even though Jaebum claimed he wasn’t able to learn choreography like you did, he still caught on quickly.
“No, you’re honestly doing a great job,” you assured him after deciding to stop for the day. “I told you, you’re a natural dancer. You have instinct!”
Jaebum simply shook his head, but you saw the smile he was trying to hold back.
As he went back toward the door to retrieve his jacket, he glanced over his shoulder at you and said, “Are you free to keep going? Go over the rest of the routine?”
“Absolutely! I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that for a wedding.”
“What if it was a birthday party?”
“Yes, maybe.”
You heard Jaebum’s deep, low chuckle, and even though you’d just spent over an hour touching him and dancing with him and being extremely close to him, the sound of his laugh still sent a shiver down your spine.
What was this guy doing to you?
“What does your schedule look like?” he asked as he slipped his jacket back on.
“Oh, here -- let me write it down for you,” you said, taking a step toward your office.
“Or --” Jaebum blurted out.
You paused, raising your eyebrows and shifting your gaze to him.
“Or you could... just text it to me.” He still had his phone handy from playing the dance video on repeat during the lesson, and he held it up as to emphasize his suggestion.
“Oh!” you chirped. “Well -- I mean, yeah, sure. That -- that works.”
Jaebum opened his mouth to say something, but then he stopped himself. He narrowed his eyes slightly at you and said, “If I just tell it to you, will you remember it without having to write it down?”
Your eyes widened with minor panic. “...Yes?” you replied uncertainly even though you were absolutely certain you could do that.
He let out a soft, breathy chuckle and shook his head.
After he told you his phone number, he murmured his thanks for the lesson and then headed through the door without another word.
You waited approximately ten seconds before scrambling to your office, fishing your phone out of your bag, and quickly entering the number into your contacts.
You wouldn’t have forgotten it, but... still. You didn’t want to take any chances. It wasn’t every day that an incredibly attractive and fascinating guy gave you his phone number.
Not that you would use it for anything other than sending him your schedule.
But. Yeah.
Jaebum was absolutely incredibly attractive and fascinating.
Tumblr media
Either Jaebum was not a busy man or he...
Well, you weren’t actually sure what the other most viable option was.
Because the only things you could think were that he just really wanted to learn this dance routine for the wedding reception... or he just really wanted to spend time with you.
And that was definitely just wishful thinking.
Either way, Jaebum was -- apparently -- able to fit in a private lesson whenever your schedule allowed.
Did he not work? Or was he taking a lot of time off for this? Or maybe his job allowed him to be flexible like yours did.
There were so many questions you wanted to ask him and so little courage you had to actually ask them.
When he came back two days after your first private lesson, you began the lesson with those questions still occupying your thoughts but ended it with another question on your mind entirely.
And, for some reason (seemingly everything about Jaebum was a mystery, I guess, including your reactions to him), you found the question tumbling from your lips as he was putting his jacket back on to leave.
You had just spent another hour and a half teaching him the second half of the choreography; another hour and a half touching and dancing with him. Maybe that had bolstered your courage enough?
“Why do you not want to do this?” you asked, tilting your head curiously. “The dance at the wedding.”
Jaebum paused for a moment before turning to face you. “I just... What -- what do you mean?”
You felt your cheeks warms, but you continued on. “You were just so... not happy to be in that first class, and... I don’t know. Whenever I bring it up, you get this look on your face.”
His eyebrows flew halfway up his forehead. “I do?”
“Yeah,” you chuckled.
He stood there just for a second before letting out a sigh and taking a few steps toward you. “To be honest, I’m not thrilled about having to dance in front of a room full of people I don’t really know.”
While you couldn’t exactly relate to the sentiment, you still understood what it was like to be scared to do something. Or, at the very least, be uncomfortable about it.
“You’re going to do a great job,” you assured him, your heart starting to skip a beat here and there as he got closer to you.
Seriously? You had just been dancing with him. Touching him. 
“I’m not saying I don’t trust you,” he said, shaking his head. “But... I’m just not... confident about it. And I don’t like that.”
Jaebum was such the epitome of the Strong and Silent type -- so far, at least -- that you couldn’t even imagine him not being fully confident in himself. And the way he danced definitely wasn’t something to be insecure about it!
“I don’t know,” he added with a roll of his eyes. “I just don’t see the point in doing a choreographed dance at a wedding.”
Okay, now that made you laugh.
“Because it’s fun,” you chuckled. “Receptions are basically just a big party, and most parties involve dancing, right?”
“Well, yeah,” he shrugged. “But they don’t have to. And you can dance without doing some full-fledged routine.”
“This is true,” you agreed, though it was mainly just to appease him.
“In my opinion, weddings should be about the marriage. The relationship. The vows you make. Not cutting a cake or a DJ playing viral songs no one really wants to hear.”
...Well. You couldn’t argue with him there.
“So, when it’s your turn to get married, you don’t even need to have a reception.”
And your heart was acting funny again. Thinking about Jaebum getting married both made you hopeful that it would be your wedding, as well, and upset that -- realistically -- it would not be. You were just his dance teacher, and he was only taking lessons until the wedding. It was highly unlikely he would come back to continue his education, and even though you had his phone number now... why would you ever have a reason to use it?
“Don’t worry,” he murmured. “I absolutely plan on eloping. Or only inviting my family and having just a small ceremony.”
“Ah, good. Now I know not to be offended when I don’t receive an invitation.”
Um... okay? Why? Had you just said that?
Thankfully, Jaebum simply smiled that tiny half-smile of his and let out a soft chuckle.
Was it weird that after spending time with Jaebum only three times you already knew his signature smile?
Tumblr media
Despite the fact you had taught Jaebum the entire dance backwards and forwards and there was literally nothing else you could do to help him, he continued to request private lessons. He continued to show up whenever you had a free hour or two, no matter the time or day.
And while this behavior would usually suggest some sort of romantic feelings on his part, he also continued to be Strong and Silent.
He talked to you during your lessons, of course, but he was never talkative. He was always polite, but he wasn’t super... friendly.
So, in conclusion, you were still as mystified and confused by Jaebum as ever.
He didn’t like dancing but he was amazing at it.
He didn’t need you to teach him anymore but he still showed up at your studio.
You just wished you could peek into that brain of his -- just for a minute! -- to see what he was thinking.
And, because you were his teacher, you never felt comfortable asking why. Why was he still asking for lessons when he didn’t need them? Why was he always so guarded around you? Why did he never ask about your personal life?
I swear, if Jaebum ever asked if you had a boyfriend, your heart would absolutely combust.
Maybe one day you would ask him all those questions, but by then, he wouldn’t be coming to your classes any longer, and what would be the point?
Apparently, you were thinking too much about all of this because, all of a sudden, Jaebum’s voice broke through the haze in your mind.
“Y/N,” he said, his voice forceful enough to make it obvious it wasn’t the first time he’d said it.
“Sorry,” you replied hastily with a shake of your head. “Zoned out.”
“Did you hear what I said?” he asked as he stood by the coat rack, getting ready to put his jacket back on before he left with hardly a word.
That had become his routine after every class, and you had come to expect nothing different.
“Hmm? Oh -- no, sorry. What did you say?”
“I said the wedding is this weekend, so I won’t need to come back any more.”
...Oh.
That was not what you wanted to hear.
“Oh,” you replied, doing your best to sound... well, not upset about it. “Well, I know you’re going to do an amazing job --”
“I’m more nervous than I thought I would be,” he interrupted.
You froze, your mouth slightly hanging open and your unspoken words hanging from your lips.
But then you quickly pulled yourself together and said, “You are?”
He nodded tersely.
But he didn’t elaborate.
So, you bit. “...Why?”
“Because I know how to dance it with you, and what if it’s different with someone else as my partner?”
“I mean, yeah, it’ll be different,” you confirmed. “But you know the steps through and through. Even if the bridesmaid is a terrible dancer, you’ll be able to carry her through it, I promise.”
Jaebum let out a sigh and his head tilted forward, his chin practically touching his chest.
“You’ll be fi --”
“What I really wanted to say is that I wish it could be you and not someone else,” he said, interrupting you again in a quiet but strong voice.
...You stared at him.
And blinked.
“...Excuse me?”
Without hesitating, Jaebum strode over to you, only stopping when he was as close to you as he was while you’d danced.
You tilted your head to look up into his eyes, though yours were still too wide with shock to say anything.
“I... I feel more comfortable dancing with you than doing... anything else. And the reason I kept asking to come back even after you taught me the whole dance is because... I just wanted to be with you.”
Okay, you were fairly certain you were no longer breathing.
You certainly couldn’t speak at the moment, so it was very possible that your heart and lungs had just stopped working.
“You are... incredible,” he continued. “Confident and talented and kind and beautiful.”
You repeated the word ‘beautiful’, though you couldn’t even hear your own voice so you must have simply mouthed it.
...Was he really saying all this to you?
To you?
And since it was obvious you weren’t going to actually say anything yet, Jaebum continued.
“You’re why I haven’t stopped coming back. I only joined your class because my friend practically forced me; he’s one of my closest friends, and I would do anything for him, but I truly could not care less about this dumb wedding dance. I would have happily fumbled my way through it if you hadn’t been so... wonderful.”
Okay, at this point, you kind of felt like you were more shocked to hear this many words coming out of his mouth at once. You’d been teaching Jaebum for almost three months, and you were fairly certain he hadn’t said more than two sentences back-to-back.
And you, who normally had no trouble speaking, could only reply with a whispered, “...Really?”
Jaebum simply nodded, and you felt more at ease. A simple nod was much more in character.
But you had no idea what else to say because there was too much you wanted to say.
Apparently, your racing thoughts showed through on your face because Jaebum stopped waiting for you to say something. “I... don’t really want to invite you to be my date to the wedding since... I’m a groomsman and all. You would have to sit by yourself, and I don’t want to make you do that.”
Ah, so, he was thoughtful, too.
“So... maybe you’d like to meet up after the wedding? I mean, like, go out. Not meet up. Go out. On a... date.”
“Yes,” you replied, finally able to force some actual words out of your mouth. “Yes, I would love to. Please.”
And then, Jaebum’s lips curved into a smile.
A real smile.
A full-on, teeth-showing smile -- not the half-smile you’d gotten used to.
Your heart stopped.
I mean, it felt like it stopped.
And you were immensely glad he hadn’t smiled like this before because oh my god. You wouldn’t have been able to go on teaching him. You would’ve fainted.
Even now, you had to reach out and grab a hold of his arms to steady yourself.
But Jaebum must have thought you were going in for the hug, so took another step closer to you and slid his arms around your waist, pressing his fingers into the small of your back and enveloping you in his embrace.
It took you approximately .0001 seconds to melt into him, feeling the strong wall of his chest and the secure cage of his arms around you.
You’d danced with him countless times by now. His hands had held your waist for hours, and yet... You had never experienced this sensation before.
And you knew right then and there that you never wanted to live another day without experiencing it again.
OTHER SIGNS: ARIES, TAURUS, GEMINI, CANCER, LEO, VIRGO, LIBRA, SCORPIO, SAGITTARIUS, AQUARIUS, PISCES
243 notes · View notes
yesimwriting · 3 years
Text
Anastasia (prologue)
A/n ive been talking about my Anastasia x SOC story for awhile and im finally ready to post the prequel,, ive also been working on some requests and thinking about my next multi-part fic (ive made some posts about it lol)
things to know before reading: i tend to like to make up my own countries when writing these type of politically/plot driven fics that revolve around a royal family bc i think it makes it not only easier to write but less confusing bc it takes out the issue of potentially conflicting with canon, so i made up the country ‘Anastasia’ is from,, this also follows the musical Anastasia a little more bc i feel like that version of the story is more mature and easier to write for SOC (the only difference is that not everyone is happy that Anastasia is alive and someone tries to kill her bc they hate the royal family)
Series Summary: y/n makes an unconventional deal with Kaz to save the life of her best friend. No one’s ever made a deal with the infamous Dirtyhands that resulted in them shedding the title of orphan from a revolution-torn country that can’t remember her life before the orphanage and taking on the title of Princess Anastasia. As time progresses, things are made more complicated as y/n has to deal with royals, revolutionaries, a grisha general who has a lot to gain from an alliance with a princess that doesn’t know what she’s doing, and potential feelings for a conflicted Kaz Brekker that has more to do with Anastasia’s disappearance than he’s ever admitted. 
--
The world seems to be made up impossible things. Each day, people defy odds, strangers fall in love, the universe expands, and the Saints watch it all. I am not the kind of person to sneer at a miracle, to try to explain it away instead of acknowledging it for what it is. 
But what this stranger is proposing is laughable. 
I lean more into the chair, doing all I can to get away from the desk that he sits at. A nervous kind of giggle threatens to escape me, a laugh at the expense of the foolishness of the situation. If his demeanor was any less brooding, I would have already laughed at the irony. Kaz Brekker, the Dirtyhands, creating a ploy so colored by the fairytale notions of dreamers.
The longer I go without reacting, the worse this situation becomes. I haven’t seen Verne since Brekker and his people separated us. I can see the world of torment my eldest friend must be experiencing at this very moment while I sit at this desk. 
“Me?” I’m the most ridiculous part of his plan. He said the only reason me and my partner are still alive is because I fit the general description of the kind of person he needs, and if I’m blackmailed into it he won’t need to waste kruge paying me. “A princess?” 
He blinks, as uninterested and stoic as he’s been since he first ordered me into his office. “A pretend one,” his correction feels like a slight, “a surrogate one.” 
My eyebrows furrow together. “But what--I know the odds of the real Anastasia coming back are beyond slim, but if we’re caught in a lie the Dowager Duchess of Avila will have all of us killed. She may be in Ravka now, and her title nothing more than decorative due to the revolution, but she still has people loyal to her.” 
“Anastasia can’t come back.” The graveness of his voice is so certain a part of me has to wonder if he could have anything to do with her death. I dismiss the thought almost immediately, I don’t know his exact age, but he doesn’t look much older than me. He couldn’t have been more than two or three years older than Anastasia when she died, and she was a child at the time. “No one remains missing that long unless they’re dead.” 
I awkwardly scratch the back of my wrist, “You’re the expert here.” No--I did not just say that out loud. “Sorry--I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Not that thinking it makes it any better, but at least then you wouldn’t know and I’d seem like less of an idiot and I wouldn’t be talking about it right now, and just rambling at a really inconvenient time for me to just...” I cringe slightly, opting to stare at his desk instead of meeting his judgmental gaze. “Sorry, again. Normally Verne is here, and he just kicks me in the shin or something to shut me up.” 
“If you’d like to see what apparently is your only source of impulse control alive and in decent enough condition to kick anything ever again, you’ll agree to what I’m proposing.” 
I straighten my posture slightly, nerves and guilt twisting in my stomach. “I’m going to be as transparent as physically possible.” The warning is for both of us, the urge to hide all my weaknesses bubbling in my chest. “Mr. Brekker.” That’s awkward--what am I supposed to call him? “I’m a university student that’s only in Ketterdam because of an academic scholarship. I’m from somewhere average--I’m not from a place nice enough to give me the manners I’d need to pass as a girl who spent her fundamental years growing up in luxury and I’m not from a place grimy enough to make me a quick enough liar to make up for what I don’t know.” I inhale slowly, ignoring the sting of the flaws I laid out for a cruel stranger. “I’m not particularly graceful or sly or talented in any field that someone like you would value. The closest thing I have to talent involves things that can be tracked on paper. I wasn’t even supposed to be here tonight, I was just doing a friend a favor.” 
“You claim that you’re not a decent liar or a thief and yet your closest friend is one who believed himself talented enough to challenge me?” 
I resist the urge to shrink back into my seat. “This is Ketterdam, you try finding someone that doesn’t dabble in crime and ambition.” He does’t reply to my retort, which I think means I won. “Cards on the table, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to save Verne, but you don’t want me for something like this.” 
He pauses, jaw locked and eyes too stony for me to interpret. “Every flaw you just pointed out, every reason you think makes you unfit for this job, is exactly the reason I’m offering you this.” I keep a thousand questions to myself as I wait for him to continue. “Those used to lying lack the warmth that will be needed to sell this. The Dowager Duchess is a grandmother first when it comes to Anastasia, that’s why she’s offering so much gold. She, and the rest of the royals that desire to know what happened to Anastasia, want to believe the story I’m telling. If you present yourself as someone real and warm and you understand table manners enough to not disturb the serene picture they want, they’ll squint at ugly details until they disappear.” 
Wow. I know that he’s intelligent, but what he’s constructing is so much more bullet proof than I thought it’d be. “I’ll admit you’ve constructed an airtight narrative.” 
I know my approval means nothing to him, but it’s the most agreeable I’m willing to be. “A narrative the background you told me of fits perfectly.” I shouldn’t have answered all those questions he asked me earlier so honestly. “A child born in Avila who was sent to a Kerch orphanage due to a war-relief effort during the revolution. A faceless orphan who was found during the height of the revolution with no memory of anything before the morning she woke up in a hospital cot.” 
I say nothing. My skin burns in protest of someone knowing so much about me. He must take my silence as a sign of me teetering the line away from what he wants, because he then says, “your friend is fortunate, if things aligned a little less perfectly he’d be dead already.” 
Dead already. The words elate my heart in a way that pinches. He’s still alive. Verne is alive. “If I agree, you let me see him and then you let him go.” 
“If you need a contract to believe me, I can have that arranged.” The words have an almost mocking edge. I guess it’d be a little ridiculous to get an official contract drawn up for something so small. “If you at any point change your mind, I’ll do the same.” 
The threat is clear. I back out and Verne pays for it in blood. Verne’s safety is once again in my hand. This situation is much more precarious than Kaz Brekker wants it to seem. “You need me to do something that will literally last the rest of my life. Tiaras aren’t something you can slip in and out of.” 
“Yes, I’m forcing you to give up a life in the slums for a palace for your friend’s life. This must be a difficult choice for you.” 
I look down to avoid rolling my eyes. “It’s still permanent, and it’s large because at any point I could reveal the truth and take you down with me.” 
“Remember who you speak to.” His voice has turned to pure darkness. 
Don’t wince. Don’t wince. Don’t wince. “All I’m saying is that you’ve offered Verne’s life to buy my cooperation, but you have yet to mention the cost of my silence.”
His expression is sharp enough to draw blood. “The Dowager Duchess is old and sick, wait at most two years and you’ll have more gold than you could ever spend. The revolution took that family’s power, not the wealth the Duchess took with her to Ravka the night of the massacre.” 
I shift awkwardly. “I’m not trying to get kruge from you for me.” I fold my hands neatly on my lap to avoid fidgeting. “Verne--he’s beyond desperate for kruge, that’s why he risked angering you.” The urge to shy away threatens to break my resolve. I think of all the times Verne has saved me. “Let him keep what he tried to take.” The request is awkward from my lips. I’m asking for more when I should should be grateful any type of mercy came from him. Any type of offer. “Half. Let him keep half.” 
He’s silent for a long moment, weighing the implications of loss. “You’re already entitled enough to pass for royalty.” I don’t let myself shrink. “Deal, but not because you threatened me--try that again and you’ll find yourself wishing you had never left the orphanage you came from.” The relief is practically crushing. Verne is going to be okay. He’s going to live and my resistance earned him enough kruge to have a week or two without worry as he plans what he’ll do in my absence. “You better be as good a study as you made yourself seem to be.” 
I don’t understand the second threat. “Studying?” 
“You didn’t think you could wander into the Dowager Duchess’s home, use the excuse of amnesia to explain why you don’t even know your own mother’s name, and expect them to think you more than an Avilan orphan with a desire for wealth.” 
“I actually don’t know my own mother’s name because of amnesia.” 
He’s in no mood to be contradicted, glowering sharply, “not anymore, anything that doesn’t fit the narrative I’m constructing is no longer true.” He straightens slightly as he begins to pace away from me. “You’ll have five minutes with your friend and then we’ll see where your table manners are at. I know someone who knows enough to correct you.” 
I try to picture where someone like him would meet someone that knows about etiquette. My mind provides nothing useful, but it doesn’t matter--I’ve agreed. It can’t be undone, not without having the blood of my dearest friend on my hands. 
53 notes · View notes
acatnamedpusheen · 3 years
Note
Hii :) this is my first ask so I don't know what to say. I'll get straight to the point, I've read Sweet , your Mark oneshot and OMG, that was so hot. So can I please request a Dom!Jinyoung smut oneshot? I don't see a lot of hard dom (I don't know what it's called tbh) smuts. I don't really have a plot in mind so just go with whatever you like. Thank you💜
UWU there's nothing to say really 😅 Thank you for your request! I don't know what kind of demon possessed me when writing this, I hope you like it ^^
---
Pairing: Jinyoung x Reader
Words: 1140
Genre: SMUuUuUt
A/N: I've no idea what happened with this one :") Also yay! First fic of 2021!
---
He had your wrists tied up to the bed post with a pretty piece of black delicate lace. Your eyes were covered with a satin red blindfold and your whole body was at his mercy, Jinyoung's mercy.
- Earlier that night -
"What is such a beautiful lady doing here all by herself?" an unfamiliar voice called from your side while you were sitting at some bar stool.
"It's quite obvious I think." you replied not even bothering to look at the owner of that voice, while emptying another shot.
"Did he cheat on you?" the stranger pressed and upon hearing that word you set the small glass on the bar counter with a thud as you slowly turned to finally face this man.
He was stunning and you were taken aback believing that he was just another drunk trying to hit on you.
"See? It was that easy to guess." you forced a smile. "Now if there isn't anything else I can do for you..." you motioned for him to leave.
"Actually there is." his mesmerizing gaze went right through you. Damn, he was really handsome especially under the lights of the bar.
"And what might that be?" you sighed attempting to hide the fact that he was turning you on just by sitting next to you, casually and ever so manly leaning on the counter.
"Come with me-" you scoffed at his first three words.
"You're just like everyone else." you shook your head before continuing "Only looking for a hook up. You think of me as a mere toy that you'll use to have fun and then dump." you looked to your front avoiding his piercing eyes.
"What if I told you I could treat you the way you deserve? And then you decide wethere it's just a hook up or not." he spoke with such certainty yet without boasting as you shot him a glance.
-
You gasped when his hand finally came in contact with your bare skin. It traveled from your shoulder down to your waist ever so slowly leaving you burning with desire.
"I haven't done anything yet and you're already that impatient." he chuckled devilishly before you felt his lips on the side of your neck. He sucked making you moan for the first time that night.
"I knew it was better not to use a gag on you. Don't hold back princess, let me hear you, let me know how good I'm making you feel." he murmured against your skin then moved to your collarbone.
You writhed, as if you could free yourself from your restraints and Jinyoung was once again amused by your reactions. "You better do something or else I'm leaving." you knew there was no way out but still wanted to look a little less submissive.
"Oh, I'd like to see you try." even with a blindfold on you swore he had the cockiest grin on his face.
"Would that be enough?" he spread your legs at once without warning earning himself another gasp. Both his hands then stroked your sides before coming to grip your thighs giving you goosebumps.
As soon as his tongue came in contact with your clit you let out a loud moan, you hands involuntarily tugging at the lace hoping they could get a hold of his hair, push him against you harder.
"See, that's what you get when you're patient Y/N." were his last words before he proceeded to devour you. It was an unfamiliar yet blissful sensation, indeed no one had ever eaten you out like that before. He alternated between licking and sucking, occasionally dipping his tongue in your core.
Your loud uncontrolled moans filled his bedroom but just as your orgasm was nearing, his mouth was no longer between your legs. You tugged at your restraints, writhing and panting. You should have expected this honestly...
He gave you no time to complain as two of his fingers entered you. A moan escaped your lips and your legs closed around his hand but his was quick to spread them wide again.
"This is just the beginning princess. Are you giving up already?"
"N-no, k-keep going." you managed to form a sentence while his fingers scissored you.
"I'm close..." you sighed after a while, lost in the feeling of his slow pace and the occasional graze against your most sensitive spot.
Once another orgasm was ripped off, you not so silently cursed yourself for voicing your thoughts just a moment ago.
"Having fun?" he whispered in your ear and the sensory deprivation made his voice ten times sexier as it resonated in your head.
"I believe I should be the one asking that." you chuckled ironically.
"I am having fun indeed and now comes the best part." he bit another mark on your neck before you heard the sound of clothes coming off and felt the bed dip as he came to rest between your legs.
"Now, princess, I'll let you have what you want because you've been good tonight." as soon as his tip was against your core you swallowed hard in anticipation. "I want to hear your pretty moans, I want to hear you scream my  name, got it?" he growled and you could do nothing but eagerly nod.
Even if you wanted to, it was impossible to hold back the deep moan you let out when he finally entered you. Since you could see nothing, the rest of your senses were heightened making everything you felt more intense than ever.
He wasted no time in picking up his pace, holding yout hips down to stabilize them as you writhed. You were clenching your fists so hard, your nails were almost digging into your skin. He was wrecking you in the most pleasurable way possible, going insanely fast then painfully slow until you thought you couldn't make a sound anymore.
"Jinyoung..." you moaned, a thin layer of sweat covering your body. "Please, I'm close...Let me come..." you simply hoped he would let you this time, there was no way you could take a denial at this point.
"Come for me princess." he ordered and you needn't be told twice before you let go, surrendering to the sweetest sensation, letting the wave of pleasure take over you. Jinyoung followed soon after, the way you were clenching around him drove him over the edge.
Coming down from your highs, he moved to take off your blindfold. Your hazy eyes landed upon him as you were still panting and contemplating whether you should admit that he gave you a one way ticket to cloud 9 or not. There was no need for such thing, however, you had made it obvious enough already and so Jinyoung proceeded with a rhetorical question and a smirk on his handsome face:
"So, you were saying?"
97 notes · View notes