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taiyeoki · 7 months

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Kashimo Headcanons

↳ Husband!Kashimo x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Pregnancy

Synopsis: Kashimo being a man being from the Edo period doesn't change the fact that he's a loving husband and a soon to be father for y/n and their upcoming child.

A/N: I am so madly in love with him that I had to make a whole Tumblr account just to put this out there. This is a new account but I've been using Tumblr for years so I know how things work 💀 Except I use chrome so I never had an account. This is just for a personal idea but anyone's free to read! This one doesn't have any smut so it's just a wholesome thing but I'd like to put a warning anyway.

Husband!Kashimo who couldn't believe what he had heard when you announced that you were pregnant. You were sure he'd gone deaf when he needed you to repeat it like four times.

Husband!Kashimo opens the present you gave him. Inside was an adorable baby outfit with a little lightning crochet on the chest. "What's this for?" Instead, you just stared at him with excitement as if you were about to explode into a firework of happiness. With no reply from you, he decided to look back down into the gift box then noticed the pregnancy test with two pink lines on it next to the clothing. Immediately he looked back up at you and you announce, "Hajime guess what?! I'm pregnant!! Uh... Hajime?" He gave no response. He looked so dumbfounded and shocked at the same time you had to take a picture of his reaction.

Husband!Kashimo who finally registers the news and immediately his expression changes to one of absolute happiness. You swear you've never seen him express this much emotion before considering he usually kept an unamused or an angry resting face. His smile is so genuine, smiling ear to ear as he's about to burst into disbelief.

"I'm gonna be a dad?! Are you serious?! It took me 400 years just for this moment!"

Husband!Kashimo immediately tackles you into a hug, both of you laughing in excitement from the news. He snakes his arms around your waist as he nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck. Despite having large hands he uses for fights, they're actually pretty soft and gentle as he brings his hand around your belly and caresses it.

"Y/n," he murmurs softly, "love you so much..."

It took forever for him to let go. It's as if you would disappear if he lets go of the hug. You better believe he's gonna watch over you 24/7.

Husband!Kashimo refuses to let you out of his sight. You knew he was protective but now that you were pregnant he'd grown even more protective over you than he already was. You try to reassure him, "Hajime I'm fine! I'm just going to the bathroom okay?" But he just finds reasons to stay with you. "But what if you get your morning sickness again? At least let me accompany you in case anything happens." Or he pulls the "there are curses everywhere" card on you to let him watch over you.

You couldn't deny his requests of staying with you especially after he gave the softest look. Wrapping his muscular arms around you in a loving hug, he nuzzles close into you making sure to warm you up. Eventually you gave in...

Husband!Kashimo feels bad whenever you actually do get the morning sickness. He tries his best to find comfort in anything at all just for your sake. "Y/n are you okay? How are you feeling now? Do you want some tea?" At first he's too old to understand which medicine he should give you. After all, modern medicine never existed back in the 1600. Instead, he tried to soothe you with tea, herbal soups and warm bathes. Eventually though he does manage to understand what medication you should take and provides you with them but he still prefers it the old fashion way.

Husband!Kashimo dotes on you all the time. He makes sure you're always healthy and happy and whenever you're not, he'd be worried sick. "What's wrong? Are you feeling sick again? Hey how about I buy you some snacks okay. What are you craving for?" Eventually though you actually do cheer up with how much he keeps spoiling you.

Husband!Kashimo is constantly asking you questions to check in on you, making sure you feel loved and appreciated all the time. "Are you hungry?", "What do you wanna eat?", "do you wanna go out? The sunshine will do you good." "Do you want me to make you some tea?"

Husband!Kashimo refuses to let you get hungry or dehydrated. He makes sure to have you well fed everytime. The food he'd prepare are nutritious and healthy with all the right amounts of everything your body needs. Not too much and not too little. Grabbing a cup of water, he hands it to you, "y/n you need to drink lots. I don't want you or the baby getting sick because you aren't eating or drinking well. You both need all the nutrients and vitamins you can get." If you're planning to diet, be prepared for him to scold you.

"Are you crazy?! Dieting during your pregnancy?! You know what- c'mere. You need to eat now."

Believe it or not, despite being a traditional man from the 1600 Edo period he actually knows how to cook. Husband!Kashimo makes the most comforting food you've ever tasted. Although his cooking style is different, it's because of that which makes his food taste uniquely great. It has a delicious smokey aroma to it. At first he wasn't used to the stove and oven so he'd just cook by the log and fire. He started learning how to operate the stove though because you laughed at him for cooking like a caveman squatting down next to the fire like that.

"Pfft Hajime! You don't know how to use the stove?!" He gives you an unamused pout which you honestly found adorable so you decided to teach him how to cook from the stove. Almost immediately he seemed even better than you do in cooking which has his smug face putting you in shame. He's the one laughing at you now because you forgot you were cooking and burnt the food.

"SHIT," you came back panicking from the smell of smoke coming from the kitchen to see him giving you an unimpressed look as if he's about to lecture you. He already had the kitchen under control the moment you arrive. Giving him a sheepish smile, Kashimo doesn't want you near the fire until the baby is out. "Y/n, I'll do all the cooking now. I don't want you burning anything again. What if you get hurt? Right, that goes for the knives too. Let me do all the work."

Husband!Kashimo reassures you everyday that he loves you. It doesn't matter how you look, whether you get stretch marks or leaking breasts. "Y/n, trust me when I say this. In 400 years of my life you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He caresses your growing belly, keeping you in a warm hug as he nuzzles into you and takes in your scent which he always found to be soothing.

"Nothing you do is embarrassing. I love every single part of you. These stretch marks are a reminder of my love for you; our child. I'm happy to know that you're the one carrying my child."

Husband!Kashimo prefers for you to give birth at home because he thinks it's safer there rather than the hospital. He makes sure to hire the best OBGYN, doctors and midwives to check up on you. He looks at you with genuine care and concern, "Y/n the hospital is full of curses. I don't want you getting into any trouble there. What if our baby gets hurt from them?"

Husband!Kashimo instantly gets alert, sitting straight up and checking on you when you told him your water broke in the middle of the night while you two slept in each other's arms.

"Shit- Hajime wake up! My water broke!"

Good thing he hired the midwives. They were already prepared in advance knowing you were going to give birth soon so neither of you needed to panic into the hospital especially since he couldn't drive. He does try to get a license just for you though so he could help with transportation. Hakari helped Kashimo out too, not trusting him to be completely sane with a car and a driving instructor he might end up beating.

Husband!Kashimo is worried sick and upset that he can't do anything to stop the labour pain. The most he could do now is to try and relieve your pain and stress. Giving you a warm towel, a heating pad, making you some soothing tea, anything at all. It still hurts him though to see you like this.

Husband!Kashimo holds you close to him the moment your delivery is about to arrive. If he's being honest here, he's actually quite scared for you, afraid that anything might go wrong. He stays by your side the entire process, reassuring and motivating you.

"Keep pushing y/n, you're almost there."

"You're doing so well!"

"I'm proud of you and our son/daughter"

Husband!Kashimo lets you use him as a stress reliever. Crushing his arm and hands, he didn't expect you to have this much strength. He tries to calm you down, caressing you reassuringly or wiping sweat off.

The moment your childbirth finally ended, both of you are so happy and exhausted. Husband!Kashimo praises you for doing so good and being so strong. He caresses you, keeping you in a hug wrapped in his loving arms as you feel his tense muscles calm down. For a moment you even forgot about the delivery pain as you got distracted by his muscular body. His large veiny hands pull you close into the crook of his neck all snug, "Hah.. I think you broke my bones."

Well your crushing grip didn't break his bones but he definitely woke up with a bruise the next day.

Husband!Kashimo showers you and your son/daughter with so much love and attention. If he wasn't protective enough before, he definitely was now. In fact he'd be considered as overprotective at this point.

Husband!Kashimo doesn't hire anyone to do the confinement for you. Instead he does it himself, making sure to get you the best natural ingredients. He uses the freshest meat, the highest quality herbs and the finest tea. Surprisingly this ancient man knows a lot about women's healthcare, their pregnancy and confinement. Although he uses the 1600 Edo style rather than the modern one but it gives a unique treatment.

Husband!Kashimo gives you a baby shower consisting of practically everyone you knew from Jujutsu High. Gojo, Nanami, Shoko, Hakari, Kirara, and even the first and second years were there. He's not too fond of people and neither does he really call them friends but he does it just for you. Also he wants to show off his brand new family. It was a sweet heartfelt action which has you falling head over heels for him all over again.

Husband!Kashimo makes sure you get all the rest you need. He knows parenting isn't easy especially for the person who gave birth. Anytime you looked tired to him at all, he'll jump in and tell you he'll watch over your son/daughter even though he was already by your side to take care of the baby. Luckily this man has insane stamina, speed and efficiency to be keeping up with the baby's needs although he does tire out.

Husband!Kashimo showers you both with all his love and attention to the point he forgets he was looking for Sukuna. For a moment he even stops fighting just to take care of you both and make time for his family. The man is a fighter but he knows his priorities. Plus he'd rather leave his family out of his fighting business or he'll never forgive himself if anything were to happen to either you or your son/daughter.

Hugging you close and the baby safely on his lap between you two, Kashimo gives your son/daughter a sweet peck on their forehead as they fall asleep. He then leans in close to you and goes in for a kiss. His gentle, soft and warm lips intertwine with your own as you both share a loving, passionate kiss. Pulling away, he brings you closer to him and you rest your head on his chest. Sighing, he asks just in case, "is anything wrong?"

"Nah. I'm just happy that's all," you reply with an angelic smile looking up at him. His gentle expression smiling down at you with all the love in the world as you bring your hand up to caress his soft cheeks and the lightning marks under his eye which you always found beautiful. He leans into your loving touch, closing his eyes momentarily. Slight sparks of electricity sounded and you know it was a clear indicator of how happy he is right now. Being attached to you and your baby, you could see electricity go from one bun to the other in a mesmerizing pattern.

"Waiting 400 years for this was totally worth it."

Overall husband!Kashimo is a very protective father and husband to you and your baby. He'll do anything it takes to keep you both safe, happy and healthy. If anyone were to even lay a finger on the wife and son/daughter of Edo period's strongest sorcerer, you better believe they won't even get a chance to see their life flash before their eyes with Kashimo's lightning speed ending everything in an instant.

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courtforshort15 · 1 year

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These Broken Things

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem Reader

Word Count: 6,200

Summary: Matt Murdock is exceptionally good at closing himself off and pushing people away. It's a bit of a breaking point for you, even while you pray it's not the end.

Trigger warning: talking about death and assault, angst with a hopeful ending.

Masterlist

"I told you to drop it."

"Drop it?" you exclaimed, following him into his apartment and down the long hallway, the lights of the bilboard lighting your ways, hues of blues and pinks playing across the suit jacket of the man in front of you. "You want me to drop it?"

"Yes, leave it alone. Nothing's wrong."

You threw your hands up in the air, exasperated beyond belief at this point, seconds away from pulling out your hair strand by strand. "That is biggest pile of dog shit I have ever heard come out of your mouth, Matthew."

He spun on his heels so fast that you nearly ran into him, only just managing to shift your weight to your back foot in order to stop your momentum from taking you forward. The frustration on his face and narrowed eyes caused your eyes to widen, taken aback by his anger.

"I'm fine. Stop asking me what's wrong." His voice was low, a damn near growl, his mouth twisted in an ugly frown that was so unlike him it was startling. Your mouth dropped, voice caught in your throat temporarily, as you stared at him. Satisfied at your silence, Matt spun back around, stomping into his bedroom.

You and Matt weren't unused to spats between you from time to time, but this was the first time he had ever had a look on his face that looked like that.

You steeled your spine, letting your anger rise up past your shock, as you followed after him, only just managing to avoid knocking your knee on his coffee table in your haste. Standing at the entrance to his bedroom, arms crossed over your chest, chin tilted up in defiance.

"No," you growled out, "you don't get to talk to me like that and then walk away." Matt ignored you, and you watched as he yanked his tie off before swiftly unbuckling his slacks.

His actions alone told you that he was getting ready to go out for the night, despite the fact that the city wasn't completely dark yet, people still out and about on that chilly October evening. You knew him well enough by now that when his blood was up, like it was now, he needed the city to provide him with criminals he could bloody his fists on.

Sometimes you weren't sure who need Daredevil more; the city, or Matthew Murdock.

"Matt." He continued to tear his clothes off until all that was left was his boxers and scarred skin. "Matthew."

He finally tilted his head in your direction, chest heaving rapdily. "What?"

You raised your eyebrows as you stared at him. "Seriously? You're just gonna go out and not even try to finish this conversation?"

Matt scoffed, blank eyes all but rolling. "We're not having a conversation. You asked me what was wrong, and I said I'm fine. Anything you've said after that is on you." He didn't wait for a reply before he walked around you and exited his the bedroom, heading towards the closet under the stairs where he stored his suit. You turned to watch him, but otherwise remained frozen to the spot, completely taken aback.

"When did you get so mean?"

Matt finally faltered.

He kept his back to you, but you watched him run a hand briefly through his hair, pale hand shaking slightly in the dim lighting of his living room. His shoulders rose as he took a deep breath, reaching out to open the closet with a loud sigh. Once it was open, he knelt down and hastily swept his suit up.

He still didn't say anything, and a lump caught in your throat, anger replaced with the spark and sudden growing fire of panic.

"You've become so distant, Matt," you started, hating how your voice shook as your hands fell to your sides and clenched into tight fists. "You don't call as much, you haven't touched me in weeks, and I can't even remember the last time we slept in the same bed. What is going on?"

"Everything's fine."

Your heart was racing now. "Don't...Don't give me that. Everything is clearly not fine."

Matt was nearly done putting on the suit, currently finishing up the last fastenings as you stared at him, begging him to tell you what was wrong. But Matt was a man who bottled things up so tightly that raging thoughts and feelings were sometimes too compressed to ever escape. He'd gotten better recently, the layers of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen slowly peeling back for you, but things didn't always work the way you wanted them to.

Tonight was a prime example.

"I don't know what you expect me to say, then," he muttered, the words loud enough to be heard in his quiet apartment.

You refused to let things go. "Maybe just some explanation for why things have changed? Did I do something?"

Matt gave a loud sigh, one you immediately flinched at, huddling in on yourself before the breath even completely left his body. It was a sigh of annoyance, a sigh of disinterest, a sigh of unadulterated irritation.

"I really need to leave," he said as he very easily ignored the question, sitting on the steps to his rooftop access to tie his black shoes. "I'll call you later."

"No."

"No?"

"No," you repeated, fingernails digging into your palm as you struggled to take a breath. "If you decide to walk out that door in the middle of this, don't bother calling me."

He paused, helmet in his hand, his face a twist of incredulity and aggravation as if he couldn't understand what you were saying. You held your ground, your feet planted from right outside his bedroom, doing your best to eye him down as you bit your lip in anxiety.

"Are you giving me an ultimatum?" he asked, voice betraying his disbelief.

"No," you denied immediately, then frowned. "Well...maybe? I don't know, Matt. I don't know what to do here."

"To be clear, you're asking me to choose between you and Hell's Kitchen," he said slowly, taking a small step towards you. "You're asking me to choose, when you've spent so much time promising you'd never do that."

"I'm not asking you to choose!" you exclaimed loudly, your panic manifesting in frantic words. He looked agitated again, and it took all you had to push the tears back from where this conversation had led to. "I'm asking you to stay here and talk to me before going out."

He shook his head, scoffing, while finally slipping his helmet on and turning his back to you, ready to head up the stairs. "I don't have time for this."

"God, I feel like I don't even know you anymore." A stray, pathetic tear finally rolled down your face, and you swore you saw him stiffen, shoulders stilling and hand clenching on the banister. You knew he could taste the salt on the air, knew that he was aware tears were sliding out.

A few weeks ago you would have expected him to immediately apologize for causing you to cry, any argument dead on his lips as he held you to him, apologies and words of comfort whispered into your ears. With the feeling of utter heartbreak, your head lowered when you realized you didn't know what to expect from him anymore.

With a profound sense of sadness, and before he could respond or walk away in his apparent urgency to go out to prowl the city, you left instead, crossing through his living room and walking down the long hallway. You didn't hesitate when you pulled his front door behind you, too drained to stay behind for a second longer.

He didn't follow.

--------

It had been eleven days.

Eleven days and nothing.

No phone calls. No daytime drop bys at your office with a cup of coffee or an offer for lunch. No midnight hellos through windows, black clothing lit up by the moon that hung in the sky.

But you'd given him what he had perceived as an ultimatum, hadn't you? And you hadn't been the winner.

You'd always known Hell's Kitchen came first. It was something you both loved and hated about him. Long nights spent wondering if he was safe, hours spent stitching him up and putting him back together, countless tears shed when thinking about all the pain he put himself through for a city that would never truly appreciate the blood and sweat he gave for it. And all of it was worth it, if it meant his face was the first thing you saw in the morning, the first voice that said your name.

But this fight hadn't even been about Hell's Kitchen, had it? It had been about something else. It had been about him, and whatever was bothering him that he was unwilling to share with you. It had been about him not letting you in, not fully. After a year together, you thought he would have seen through the anger and panic to the real cause of your distress, rather than deflecting and getting meaner and meaner with each word carelessly thrown from his mouth.

Your fearless, reckless vigilante, whom you loved so much, had shut you out so suddenly and thoroughly without a single word as to why.

It killed you to think about it, but some part of you quickly became convinced that it had been done to distance himself from you in preparation of a break up. It was easy to see things that way when you considered his lack of affection, attention, and the way he'd let you slip out of his apartment without a word, tears slipping down cheeks heated with the exertion of begging him to fight for you.

That's what the voice in your head was telling you, at least. And with every day that went by, the voice got a little louder until it was screaming how much of an idiot you were for holding onto him. Perhaps this was the break up, now that you thought about it. Perhaps you walking out and him not following was the only ending necessary, though it seemed so anticlimactic.

His silence was so very telling. Maybe he thought no words were needed at this point.

And so you spent your waking hours doing anything and everything you could to keep your mind off of him, desperate to spend time outside of the heartbreak coursing through your veins like wild fire. You spent your days with your nose buried in your work. Deadlines you had pushed off were suddenly met way ahead of schedule. You spent your evenings catching up on your recorded TV shows, red wine in one hand, take out in the other, tissues on your coffee table in case of any unwanted appearances of tears. Your apartment was rearranged and scrubbed clean from head to toe.

Twice.

On day nine, you had placed his things in a duffle bag on the floor next to the door, ready to hand it off when, or if, he ever came by for it.

You had ignored the tears that swam in your vision as you did it.

The evening of day eleven found you in bed early, too exhausted and emotionally drained to even try to make it through your favorite ABC drama, curled up in a ball in an effort to keep as much of the world away from your, decreasing the amount of vulnerable skin that was available for bruises. Your arms were wrapped around the pillow you held to your chest, ignoring the thought that the pillow had at one point smelled like him.

You were very nearly asleep when a quiet tap sounded at your kitchen window, startling you for a quick second. You didn't have to think about what it could possibly be, the sound one that you've heard hundreds of times, though it had been absent lately.

Your heart rate spiked, as it always did when he was near, but this time it was in anxiety. It was almost embarrassing that your body reacted to him so obviously. He knew you in the most intimate way possible, each flush of your cheeks or flash of arousal lighting up a world only he would ever be able to navigate.

But tonight, you weren't really interested in him having any sort of access to you and what you were feeling.

"Go away, Matt."

Your voice was quiet, even to your own ears, but you knew he would be able to hear it all the same.

The tap sounded again, this time followed by the creak of a window that was trying to be opened from the outside. He was used to letting himself inside your apartment at night, even if only to crawl into bed next to you to drift off to sleep by your side, arms wrapped around you so tightly that you didn’t know where he ended and you began.

You could practically feel his confusion as he realized that for the first time since you had met him, the window was locked.

The tapping came again, this time louder and more insistent, and before you even knew what you were doing, you were heaving yourself out of bed and making your way into the kitchen.

You threw the window open halfway, noting vaguely that he was perched on your fire escape in black clothing, not unlike what he used to wear before the red suit, his head covered by the hood of his sweatshirt but face open and pale in the dark.

"Are you bleeding?"

Matt frowned, clearly thrown off by the question. "No."

"Are you hurt?"

"No. Why--"

"Then kindly get off of my fire escape." Your hands rose to bring the window back down, and in shock, Matt almost missed sliding his hands under to keep it open.

"Wait!" You stopped pushing the window down, not because you wanted to hear what he had to say, but because you knew your strength was no match for his. "Wait, please. Let me come in."

"No, thanks."

"We should talk, sweetheart."

Though you had spent the last few days preparing yourself for something like this, it didn't stop the cold feeling of dread that poured itself down your spine.

"There's no need, Matt," you said, making every effort to keep your voice as even as possible. "I already know what you came here to say."

"I don't think you do. Please, let me in."

"Look," you started tiredly, tugging on the braid that was resting over your shoulder. "We don't need to do this. Things aren't working out, I get it."

"That's not--"

"You've made it pretty clear that this isn't what you want anymore, and that's fine," you continued, looking away from dark eyes that were all but pleading with you, trying to avoid falling into the man who had seemingly let you walk out of his life. "It would have been nice for you to break it to me gently rather than pushing me away as violently as you did, but it doesn't matter at this point."

"Sweetheart--"

"Don't call me that."

"I didn't come here to--"

"You didn't need to come here at all. I got the point, really."

"Will you just let me talk?" he demanded loudly, yanking the window all the way up, apparently done with being outside while you were inside.

You took an automatic step backwards, leaving more than enough room between the two of you as he let himself in. As always, his presence was larger than life, and in your tiny kitchen, you found it overwhelming in a way it hadn't been before. You found yourself stepping behind the kitchen table, effectively placing it between the two of you.

You didn't miss the way Matt's body lurched in apparent grief at the motion.

An awkward silence settled between the two of you, and it seemed that Matt was struggling with what to say, despite the way he had demanded to let him speak.

"What do you want, Matt?" you asked quietly, eyes finally making their way back to his face. "I haven't been sleeping well and I'm exhausted. I'd like to go to bed."

"I needed to talk to you," he repeated, his blank, beautiful eyes aimed at your chin.

"I already said it wasn't necessary," you shrugged. The impassive tone you took was empty, but that didnt mean it was convincing. "Things got ugly, but it's over now."

"Things aren't over now," he said adamantly, moving around the table, hands lifting to reach for you. "Please, just hear me out."

"I don't...I don't really know if I want to," you said honestly, quietly. Matt flinched, and you knew it was because your heart hadn't skipped on a lie. "This went on for weeks. I gave you so many opportunities to talk to me. I begged you to talk to me. All you did was...ignore how it was hurting me. I don't want to hear whatever lame excuse you're going to come up with."

"I swear it's not an excuse," he pleaded. "I just...I just needed some time. And space."

"Sure," you shrugged again, struggling to maintain the level of calm and rational. "I can understand needing that. I don't know what was bothering you, but you didn't even give me a chance to understand. And now you're...what? Here to officially break up with me? I kind of already figured it was over, seeing as how it's been eleven--"

"Break up?" Matt looked alarmed as his eyes widened. "Is that what you think I'm here to do?"

"Nothing ever good comes from a conversation that starts with "We should talk," Matt."

He took another step around the table, and it took everything in you not to flinch away. Matt had never touched you with anything but gentle hands, and while you weren't on great terms at the moment, you didn't want him to think you were afraid of him.

"Sweetheart, that's not--"

"I love you, Matt," you told him bluntly, cutting him off with a hand raised in front of you, telling him to stop his movement in your direction. "But if the past few weeks were anything to go by, you're not willing, or maybe not able, to let me in. And I don't want to be with someone who hides so many pieces of themselves away from me. It's lonely, and I'm done with it."

He looked absolutely crestfallen, and suddenly resigned. You took a deep breath and soildered on, even as you felt your heart breaking in your chest.

"I'm sorry, Matt."

"No," he croacked out, shaking his head abruptly, eyes sightlessly dancing around the room as he licked his lips. "I'm sorry. I never meant to...have things end this way."

"It's ok." It wasn't. "There's a bag of your things over by the door." You tilted your head toward the duffle bag.

"My...things?"

"Yeah," you responded quietly, gesturing to the door with a hand that seemed limp and lifeless. "Tshirts, hoodies, your extra pair of glasses."

Matt paused for a second in surprise before he walked over to the door, a clumsy gait to his steps that you had never seen on him in the year you'd known him. With obviously shaking hands, he bent down to pick up the bag. His breathing had changed, you'd noticed. It was the breathing of someone about to have a panic attack. You grimaced, hating watching him like this.

Before, you would have comforted him. Held him and played with his hair and whispered how much you loved him in his ear.

But now, you were tired, and knowing what the past few weeks had been like, you honestly weren't sure if he'd even like having your hands on him.

He may have pushed you away first, but here you were shoving him away, too, if only to avoid any further pain on your end. Even if he didn't feel the same way about you as you did him, it was still a painful conversation for both parties.

"I'll swing by on Saturday to grab my stuff," you whispered. Matt let out a shaky sigh, accompanied by a hesitant nod of his head. "I'm going back to bed. Please shut the window behind you."

You left him standing in your kitchen, dark head bent sadly, scarred hands gripping the bag in his hands so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.

-----

Saturday rolled around too quickly for your liking. You had gathered one of your large duffle bags and a backpack to take over to Matt's apartment, unsure of just how many things you had over there.

You both had been toying with the idea of you moving in, so naturally quite a bit of your things had accumulated at his place. Work clothes. Sweat pants. Shoes. Your favorite bathrobe. Little bits and pieces of you slowly blending in with his, a subconscious way of laying down the building blocks for a life together.

With a sigh, and a mournful look at the run down front door you'd come to love, you let yourself into his apartment, taking in the scent of the man who had become your rock in a life that had always felt a little unsteady. You knew that most Saturday afternoons were spent catching up on cases with Foggy at their favorite diner, so you didn't expect him to be home.

You walked down the familiar hallway to the living, but abruptly froze when you took in the sight before you, eyes widening in shock.

His place was a mess.

One of his kitchen chairs lay broken next to the wall, clearly having been thrown against it. There was a giant fist-sized hole in the wall next to his bedroom that was shaped exactly like his hand, so you didn't need to guess whose it was. The trash hadn't been taken out in days, it looked like, and beer bottles were scattered along the counter.

You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose.

It took you an hour, but you picked up and took out the trash and recycling, and scrubbed down the kitchen. Dishes were washed and put away. Counters wiped down, floor swept. He was a grown adult, more than capable of picking up after himself, but seeing his place in such disarray made you...sad.

You made your way back to where you'd dropped the duffle bag and headed into the bedroom, a place you'd spent so many nignts with him wrapped around you, beneath you, on top of you.

Hands on your hips, you ignored the way your eyes pricked with tears, and thought about where to start first.

You didn't hear the front door open and close, nor did you notice Matt's presence behind you until he called your name softly. Startled, you took a deep breath before you turned around slowly and braced yourself for the second part of a conversation you didn't want to have.

You were scared he would ask you to stay. You were even more scared that he would outright ask you to go.

"Hey."

"Hey," he echoed.

"I'll just...give me a few minutes and I'll be out of your hair. I'm almost done grabbing my stuff." Matt inhaled sharply, head tilting away from you as you spoke. With a frown of your own, you turned your back to him, walking over to the table on what had been your side of the bed.

You placed the duffle bag on the bed and continued placing items into it, not bothering to be organized or have the items be thoughtfully placed. Your extra phone charger. The book you always told yourself you'd finish reading. Your favorite necklace you always forgot you had on until you were snuggled under the covers, forced to sleepily place it on the table to avoid leaving the warmth of him next to you.

You knew you had his total focus, so you did your best not to tear up while you packed your things. This was hard enough as it was, and as much as he had hurt you, you didn't want to make things more difficult for him than it had to be.

Eyeing the shoes you had left next to his closet, you walked forward to scoop them up. They were your favorite pair of heels, and you had worn them the last time you'd gone out for a nice dinner, his hand laced tightly in yours as he helped you keep your balance on the uneven New York City sidewalks, quiet laughter and declarations of love pressed against your cheek. While you both were always, always busy, you still found a way to make time for each other as often as you could.

The thought caused you to sniffle unintentionally as your lip quivered ever so slightly. You rubbed the heels of your palms to your eyes and took a deep breath that shuddered your body on both inhale and exhale. Matt let out a soft whine behind you, and you knew without turning around that he was wanting to pull you into him. He always made that sound when he could tell you were sad and on the verge of breaking down.

Or, at least he used to want to pull you into him before the last month or so, back when he would still touch you and pour his affection and love into your skin. Now, you weren't so sure what he wanted.

"I'm fine, Matt," you told him, voice shaking. You swept up the rest of your shoes into your arms and walked them back to the duffle bag on the bed. "I'll be done here in a few."

"No."

Your head snapped up to look at him incredulously. "No?"

He shook his head adamantly, blank eyes aimed somewhere around your abdomen. "No, don't go. You can't go."

You stared at him in disbelief. "Where was this attitude when you let me just walk out without a word two weeks ago?"

Matt opened his mouth but didn't say anything, merely licking his lips and tilting his head to the side for a moment.

You sighed in disappointment, shaking your head bitterly. "That's what I thought." Using shaking hands, you zipped up the full bag and moved to leave the room.

Matt quickly blocked you, placing himself in between you and the door way, his body just a few feet from yours as his eyes settled on your chin. "Please, just hear me out."

"Matt--"

"Just give me a few minutes, okay? I need to tell you what happened."

His face was flushed with what looked to be mild panic, and you couldn't tell if it was panic at the thought of you leaving, or panic at having to let out whatever had been bothering him so much that he'd thought the best solution was to violently push you away. Maybe it was both.

You took a few steps back from him, nodding silently, as you tried to put some space in between the two of you. Placing the bag back on the bed, you crossed your arms over your chest, willing to hear him out, but not wanting to stand so close to him. This was bound to be painful, anyway you cut it, and having him within arm's reach would most likely make it worse.

"Go ahead, then. If it's just another lie, I'm walking out and never looking back."

Matt nodded jerkily, licking his lips again like he always did when he was nervous. The corner of his bottom lip was split open, and you cringed when you noticed it. Even in your pain, even in your anger, you hated seeing him hurt.

You watched as he opened his mouth and shut it a few times, as if he was still unsure if he actually wanted to speak. Your frustration grew with each second he didn't say anything, your nerves fraying more and more the longer you stood in front of him.

"If you're not gonna actually--"

"Just...hold on," he said, desperation seeping into his voice. "I'm trying to think of the best way to say what I need to say."

"Why? What could be so bad that you--"

"A woman died in my arms a few weeks ago." The words tore their way out of his mouth so suddenly that you weren't sure who was more surprised by them; him, or you. You faltered, all of your irritation and anger and bitterness in your body stumbling to a screeching stop. You looked at him, your jaw dropping in shock, unsure if you had heard him correctly.

"What?"

You'd been face to face with him for the past two minutes, but you felt like you were seeing him for the first time since you'd realized he was in the apartment with you. Your eyes took in his appearance, wincing at his bruised knuckles, a black eye that seemed to be fading, a long jagged scratch on the side of his throat. Matt looked so sad, so lost, as his sightless eyes seemingly focused on the floor next to his feet.

You had been prepared for a bullshit excuse, while still simultaneously hoping for something that would save your relationship with the only man you had ever loved. But you hadn't been expecting...this.

A shiver when down your spine as you stared at him in growing dread.

"A woman died in my arms a few weeks ago," he repeated shakily. He ran a hand through his hair anxiously, tugging at the dark strands that were ready to be cut. "I was...I was a few blocks away when I heard a man yank her into an alley, a gun in his hand."

You stared at him, horrified. You knew the sorts of things that went on while he was out. Human trafficking. Drug busts. Muggings. Assaults.

Matt didn't like talking about it most of the time, and you didn't like pressing him on it if it made him uncomfortable. But to hear something like this come ripping itself out if his mouth was extremely jarring and you found yourself terrified of what he was going to say next.

He took another deep breath.

"I heard her scream, heard how he slapped his hand over her mouth to quiet her, heard him cock the gun and dig it into her stomach." Matt was fidgeting with the zipper on his hoodie as he spoke, and a part of you longed to take your hand in his, wondering if it might calm his restlessness. You held yourself back, though, not yet trusting your feet to move you forward without stumbling to the ground.

"He demanded that she give him her purse, which she did, of course. But then he ordered her to unbutton her shirt, and she refused."

Your heart hammered in your chest, face growing paler by the second.

"She tried to push him off of her, and he got mad and...pulled the trigger. I was still a few blocks away." Matt walked forward as if he were in a trance, unfocused eyes glazed over, hands feeling around for his bed. It alarmed you that he was so distraught that he was relying on his hands alone to navigate his bedroom, the rest of his senses so wrapped up in a horrifying memory. He took a seat, sinking onto the mattress with a heavy, pained sigh.

"When I got there, I could tell she wasn't going to make it." He briefly shut his eyes in a grimace, an intense full-body shudder wracking through him. "The guy was gone, but I didn't bother going after him because I knew I needed to stay with her. Make sure she wasn't alone." The breath he took was so shaky, and you found yourself finally able to move as your forced yourself forward, kneeling at his feet once you were in front of him. Your hand was grasping his a second later, suddenly unwilling to let him relive this alone as he tore himself apart to finally let you in.

"I held her as she bled out," Matt choked out, as if it was suddenly difficult to breathe. You gripped his thigh, and did your best to rub soothing circles into the muscle that lay under his jeans. "I tried to stop the bleeding, hoping I was wrong, that she could still make it, but the blood was coming out too fast and there was nothing I could do. She was sobbing, begging me to save her, and I couldn't."

You didn't know when you had started crying, but you had to take your hand off his leg briefly to wipe your eyes to clear your vision. His hand shook in yours.

"And she..." Matt paused again, taking another deep, gasping breath. "She reminded me of you."

"What?" you asked, immediately confused, mind scrambling to comprehend what he had just said, suddenly frantic to make sense of what he had just told you. "What do you mean?"

"She reminded me of you," he repeated quietly. "Roughly the same height. Similar accent, the one that only comes out when you're upset. A blouse made of the same material you wear so often. And she...she used the same shampoo."

Matt's hand lifted to wipe at the tears on his face as he struggled to speak. "This woman I didn't know was dying in my arms. And...and even as I tried to comfort her, all I could think about was you. All I could think about was...what if you were in trouble, and I couldn't get to you in time?"

Your mind twisted and turned as realization finally hit you.

This.

This was what had been driving him away from you, this belief that he would never be the kind of man you needed. This was the root of it.

"Matt, love. I'm fine. I'm here."

"I know you are," he let out, hand still trembling in yours, and steadily getting worse. His unfocused gaze landed on your forehead, and you could see the dark circles under his eyes up close. "But even before this happened, this is something I would think about often, something I still think about often. The thought of...of not being good enough or quick enough or strong enough to stop something bad from happening to you."

Taking a deep, unsteady breath of your own, you reached your hand up to cradle his cheek, and he immediately turned his head slightly to kiss your palm, needing the affection only you could provide.

"I trust you with my life, Matt."

He nodded with his eyes closed, swallowing before he spoke. "I know you do. But this...this was so real. It was just literally staring me in the face, this idea of losing you. And while I'm panicking and thinking about you, this woman is dying in my arms. And I can't even give her my full attention to comfort her, because I'm imaging someone else dying in front of me, and I couldn’t handle it."

You made a soft, mournful noise, and unable to stop yourself, you stood up and pushed his shoulders back from where he had hunched in on himself, before settling yourself in his lap. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, with one hand reaching up to slide into his hair. With a shudder, his arms came up around you, holding you to him in a grip that you knew would leave bruises.

You'd let him leave marks all over your skin if it meant he would take even one ounce of comfort from you.

The pair of you sat in silence for a while, cheeks pressed together, trying to match your breathing to his, and vice versa. You rubbed your hand soothingly up and down his back, avoiding any areas that seemed tender. You felt a raised ridge of skin near his left hip and knew it meant he'd needed stitches recently.

You grimaced, wishing you'd been there for him, even if he hadn't wanted you to be.

"Why were you pushing me away, Matt? All I want is to be here for you," you told him gently when his breathing seemed to have settled a bit. You pulled back a bit to hold his face in your hands, where you used your thumbs to wipe away a few stray tears.

His grip tightened and he leaned into you, seemingly trying to keep as much contact with you as he could. And even while he tried to get as close to you as physically possible, you half expected him to pull away from you again. Instead, he surprised you by pushing on, at last tearing down that final barrier.

"It was hard being around you," he admitted softly. His hand reached up to massage the back of your neck, a habit he had started when he was trying to assure himself you were next to him. "I was having such awful nightmares and I didn't want you around while I slept. You sliced your finger open three weeks ago, and all I could think about was you bleeding out all over me. If I hugged you, the smell of your shampoo would bring me right back to that alley, so I started avoiding touching you. And the more you got upset, the more angry I got. But not angry at you, angry at myself for making you feel that way."

You listened quietly, ignoring how your eyes were watering, and how hard your heart was pounding in your chest.

"I was hurting. And because I was hurting, I struggled being around you, to the point where it started hurting you, too. It just became this vicious cycle that I didn't know to stop, and all of a sudden it was too late and you were walking away."

You didn't say anything as you took in what he was telling you. You continued to hold him, lips occasionally brushing over his cheek as your hands continued to run gently up and down his back.

"I'm sorry this happened," you whispered, your voice catching. "I'm sorry you went through that, I'm sorry that I got upset."

"No, sweetheart," he brought a finger up to your lips in an effort to shush you. "Don't...don't apologize. This isn't on you."

"But--"

"No," he repeated firmly. "I should have said something. I was wrong for pushing you away like that. I...I wasn't...I didn't know what to do. Didn't know how to handle it, and I took it out on you. On our relationship."

Your lip quivered. "You can't do that, Matt."

"I know."

"No, you don't know," you told him. "I'm not even talking about how it made me feel. I'm talking about you. I want you to be safe, and loved, and cared for. You deserve those things. You deserve to have someone there to hold your hand and be there for you. But I can't...I can't be there for you and help you if you don't tell me what's going on."

Matt was nodding while you spoke, eyes shut tight as he listened. You knew there was a voice in the back of his head telling you he didn't deserve those things, would never deserve them, and it broke your heart.

You tilted his head towards you and leaned in to press your lips gently to his. He let out a sigh as he brought a hand up to grasp your cheek.

"I'll always fight for you, Matt." He let out a shaky breath at your vow. "I'll always fight for you. Even if I'm fighting you against you. But I...I need you to fight for me, too. Okay? You can't let me walk out that door again. I need to know you're not going to just push me away like that again. You can yell and cry and ask me for anything, everything you need. But don't let me go."

"I won't, I won't do that again," he promised as he continued to stroke your check with his thumb. "I should never have let that happen. And I should have never waited so long to come after you. I love you."

You kissed him again, a little firmer this time, but no less tender. "I love you, too."

Silence took over again as you continued to sit there. You focused on the way his hand was now running up and down your arm gently, while the other brushed at your hip from where it was wrapped around you. Cradling his face in your hands, you placed a series of kisses on his face; his eyelids, his forehead, his cheeks. With each kiss, you felt a sliver of tension bleed away from him, until at last he seemed to sag in relief.

You eyed the duffle bag that was still on his bed, grateful that he had come home when he did so that you could have this talk. You weren't sure how you would have handled living in a world without him by your side. It had only been a year, but you knew this was something you wanted for the rest of your life. Knew that he was someone you wanted for the rest of your life.

You were willing, oh so willingly, to do whatever this man needed, whatever he asked of you.

Glancing at the bathroom door, an idea came to you. An idea that might be a good place to start, no matter how small and insignificant it would seem. Without much thought, you decided to act on it, desperate to help him in whatever way you could.

"Let me go, Matt." You gently pushed against the arms that held you to him.

"What? Why?" You didn't miss the way the panic seeped into his voice.

"Just...let go. Let me get up." Confused, he slowly and reluctantly released you. You leaned down to kiss his forehead, before standing up and walking towards the bathroom. You heard him get up behind you.

"Where are you going?" You knew him well enough to hear the anxiety creeping in, this time more insistent. You turned around, kicking off your shoes as you did so. Your shirt was pulled off and thrown to the floor at his feet, and your pants soon followed.

"I figured we'd start with a shower."

"A...shower?"

"Yes. You're going to help me wash my hair until you can't smell my shampoo any longer, and then you're going to keep talking to me and let me cuddle you the rest of the afternoon. You coming?"

For the first time in weeks, the tiniest hint of a smile appeared on his face, though it was brief and utterly bewildered, as his own shirt hit the floor. Matt stil look bemused, but he went along with your idea. He took a few hesitant steps forward until he was right in front of you.

Rough hands gripped your cheek, pushed your hair back behind your ears, and tilted your head forward so that he could place a gentle kiss to your forehead. With a soft sigh, he reached down to grasp your hand, and you let him pull you into the bathroom.

#daredevil #matt murdock #human disaster matt murdock #marvel #matt murdock x gender neutral reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x reader #daredevil x reader #matt murdock fanfiction #matt murdock angst

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lovelytsunoda · 1 year

Text

boy in love // clement novalak (mini fic)

summary: when marcus asks clem about the current state of his love life, they were all pretty shocked at the frenchman's answer

warnings: mentions of sex/kinks, nothing too explicit. clement is just a boy in love <3

author's note: this is so fucking self indulgent bye-

"so, clem, how's y/n?" james harvey blair is the first to ask, popping another bottle of wine open. they hadn't started filming yet, the boys wanted a chance to catch up before they brought the cameras and the microphones out.

"she's good. great, actually. she had some stuff she needed to get done today, but i'm going to see her tonight. we're going book shopping, and then getting dinner." the trident driver hummed, reaching for his wineglass.

marcus armstrong coughed, choking on his drink. "you, in a bookstore? i don't even think i've ever seen you read an entire ladbible post!"

clement rolled his eyes as the guys around him laughed. "yeah, okay, laugh all you want. she was going to go on her own and meet me for dinner later but i insisted on joining her."

everybody had been shocked when clement met y/n. she was so shy and quiet and sweet, and clement was. . . well . . . clement. they had personalities that shouldn't have worked but somehow managed to meld together perfectly.

clement novalak was a boy in love. further in love, in fact, than marcus had ever seen him.

"yeah, but it's always the quiet ones, innit?" liam lawson raises an eyebrow, spreading himself out on the couch. "she's gotta be into something wild, otherwise she'd never be able to keep up with you."

they should have known that liam was going to make the conversation go there. it seemed to be the only part of having a relationship that liam was good at, as of late, with a different girl in each new city before he finally found one that put up with his shit for more than ten hours at a time.

"come on, mate. at the end of the day, that's not really any of our business, is it?" james tried in vain to shut the conversation down. "as long as clement is happy, we should be happy for him."

"it may shock you wankers to know," clement began, setting his glass on marcus' coffee table. "that i have mellowed out sexually since y/n and i have started going out."

"those are words i thought would never come out of your mouth." marcus says, finally taking a seat next to liam on the couch. "are you sure you're actually clem, not an alien from another planet?"

"very funny, armstrong. i'm serious. she's not really into anything, if i'm being honest. the first time we tried to take things a little rougher, when i tried to put a little bit of pressure on her throat, not much, just enough that we could both tell it was there, you should have seen the panic in her eyes. and i just knew that i never wanted to be the person who made her feel like that again."

"does it not get boring?" liam gawked

clement shook his head. "we have our ways of keeping it fun."

"care to share it with the group?"

clem laughed. "i'm not sure how much she's comfortable sharing, mate. i'm not trying to cross any boundaries here. but i'll precursor it with this: have you ever worn silk boxers before?"

the laughter in the room was so loud that marcus wondered if he might get noise complaints. clement wasn't sure what was so funny, but the sheer look of horror on liam's face was enough to make him burst out into laughter along with everyone else.

"i'm serious, mate. she goes wild for that sort of cliché romance kind of stuff. this feels different than every other girl i've bene with has. it's more than just a physical thing when we fuck. it's like we're making love, it's a spiritual thing. i have never felt so emotionally close to another person before."

"and that's called character development." james remarked, reaching for the wine bottle. "does anyone want another glass?"

"i think i'm going to need one if this conversation keep going." liam jokes

"please tell me that she at least gives a decent blowie."

clement's face flushed pink. "dude, i am not answering that! why are all of your questions about sex, seriously? wouldn't you rather hear about how warm and fuzzy i feel when i wake up with her in my arms, or how my knees go weak when she smiles? or about how my perception of an awesome friday night has changed from getting shitfaced with you lot to curling up with her on the couch, sharing a bowl of pretzel chips and watching criminal minds re-runs? or how content and relaxed i feel listening to her read her books out loud?"

especially when the romance books get smutty, he thinks, but doesn't say it out loud. those are always the page numbers he remembers so that they can try reenacting the scenes together later.

james and marcus shared a knowing look. it was a feeling that they knew well.

the feeling of being utterly and madly in love.

"i think i'm in love with her, man. no, wait. i don't think it."

"i know it."

#clement novalak #clement novalak x reader #formula 2 x reader #formula 2 imagine #f2 x reader #mini fic #sort of

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brighteststar707 · 4 months

Note

Faye!!! Congrats on your two years 🎉 I'm so so incredibly happy that we met through good old Mysme I could CRY fr. You are so special to me!!

So I was thinking for a while but didn't want the slots to go, so I'm gonna come outta nowhere and SHOCK HORROR not pick either of my two husbands, Jumin or Zen.

But how about number 30, confiding in them, with Vanderwood. The little tease we got in V's route just made me smitten at the time. He literally is thrust into the RFA drama and I can't help but feel he'd connect with MC. Like lord help us Vandy, wtf is going on.

Lola! Thank you so much for your message! I'm so grateful to have met you, you mean so much to me and I wish only the best for you <3

I'm pleasantly surprised by your request! It's a good event when I can write more than one fic for Vandy.

Picture this: It's V's route, Seven has saved you from Mint Eye, now you, V Seven and Vandy are in the cabin. Your relationship with V is.... not really existent at this point so this fic could be romantic when you squint hehehe

Love ya <3

Confiding in Them

✦Vanderwood x Gn!Reader ✦ Words: 1553

Time in the cabin feels like it has slowed down to a crawl. It is dark outside, and eerily silent. Inside, there are only the sounds of footsteps back and forth across the floorboards, and V’s harsh breathing in the next room. The repetitive nature of the noises has only added to the liminal feeling.

You had reassured the others that you weren’t tired, and then promptly fallen asleep on the sofa, still sitting upright with your jacket draped over your shoulders. When your eyes opened again, you weren’t sure how long you’d been asleep for, or where your dreams ended and reality began. Your life lately has been so strange, it has been hard to keep track. You had dreamt of car chases and cult initiations, the faces and voices of your loved ones so close and yet out of reach. How was that any different to what you had experienced over the last week?

Someone had covered you with a spare blanket when you were asleep, as well as lit a fire in the fireplace opposite you. It was warm, and you were still disoriented from sleep, so you stayed put, wrapping the blanket tighter around yourself and watching the fire dance over the logs.

You allow yourself, maybe for the first time, to process the fact that you managed to get away from Mint Eye and everything they had planned for you. In the (relative) silence of the cabin, with everyone else occupied, it starts to sink in. Back there, with a part of you constantly in fight or flight, it was hard to process the reality of your situation. You were just trying to survive. Now that you’re safe, it all hits at once.

The isolated compound, the flowery pink room, the wardrobe full of clothes made to your measurements. Ray, monitoring your conversations with the RFA, his kindness that teetered on the brink of desperation. The minty blue of his eyes, too vibrant to be natural. The silence in the hallways, so unsettling for a building so full of people.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

You jump and turn your head towards the speaker. You were too caught up in your own thoughts to hear him approach you.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Vanderwood says. To his credit, he does actually look apologetic.

His voice is quiet, deep, and still unfamiliar to you. You have grown used to the voices of the different RFA members, have even started to find a certain comfort in hearing them. On the other hand, he is still practically a stranger to you.

You had very briefly met Vanderwood when he first got to the cabin to help Seven, but you had said little to each other since.

“It’s okay. I’m just a bit jumpy, I guess.”

“From what I’ve seen tonight and what Seven told me – which isn’t much, mind you - that’s not surprising.”

Seven has been keeping an eye on Vanderwood since he entered with a vaguely threatening air you haven’t yet seen from him, reminiscent of someone keeping their attack dog on a short leash.

“What did Seven tell you?”

He joins you on the sofa, sighing deeply before answering. He has been at V’s bedside, tending to him in his terrible state, since arriving, and he has good reason to be tired.

“He has kept most of the story from me. I know that that guy back there has been fed more different drugs than I’ve ever seen before and that you’re his…?” He leaves it open-ended and throws you a meaningful look. He’s still trying to fill the holes in his story.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t even know what we are.” Thinking about V too much makes you scared all over again, so you change the subject. “What else do you know?”

“Nothing except that you were there with them. He’s smart enough to keep RFA stuff away from agency stuff most of the time. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, though.”

“You can say that again.”

You sound wearier than you mean to. The longer you think about everything, the more ridiculous it all sounds. You watch as a log cracks in the fireplace with a satisfying pop and feel Vanderwood turn to assess you for a moment.

“And who are you in all of this?”

“That’s a long story.”

“And I am a very good listener. Literally, it’s part of my job.”

You laugh. He doesn’t.

“Really, I feel like I haven’t talked to a single person since I arrived - Seven doesn’t count. I need a change of scenery.”

It isn’t that his voice softens, but he sounds like he’s choosing his words more intentionally this time he speaks. It makes him sound more sincere. Maybe that’s what encourages you to indulge him. Or maybe, you just need someone to help ground you now that you feel like you’ve detached from reality.

“Well, I was sort of… kidnapped and held hostage in this cult?”

His eyebrows disappearing into his fringe is the only thing that gives away his surprise. He scans you once over, a well-practiced look. He’s looking for any obvious damage.

“I’m fine, you say quickly, “Seven managed to save me before anything really bad could happen.”

He nods. “You can trust him with these things.” He thinks for a moment, before quickly adding, like a sudden thought that came into his mind “were you with the hacker?”

“Yeah.”

“You met him? What was he like?”

The questions tumble out of his mouth faster than he can stop them. Is this what he sounds like when he’s excited? You had heard him discussing the hacker with Seven earlier, asking questions with his eyes wide. Turns out it’s rare for someone to give Seven this much trouble.

“Strange. Kind of sad. I wish there was something I could do for him.”

Vanderwood’s enthusiasm vanishes.

“Then he sounds just like the rest of us.”

In the silence that follows, you both turn your attention back to the fireplace. The flames seem to have a life of their own, and your cheeks feel warm from the heat of it. Somewhere, from another room, you hear Seven’s voice. You wonder who he’s talking to, or if it's just to himself.

“So, if that guy,” Vanderwood gestures back to the bedroom where V is sleeping, “was drugged to oblivion by that cult, how did you get out okay?”

“He has a bit of a personal history with their founder. The whole RFA does, actually, but his is more… delicate, from what I understand. See, I’m the stranger in this equation.”

“Huh. I don’t know why I expected this to be simple. Nothing Seven involves himself in ever is.”

“They used to all be like a family once apparently. I’m still trying to understand it all myself.”

He puts his head on his hands for a second in a show of exhaustion. “Maaaaan…. how are you staying sane through all of this? Just hearing the gist of things is making me tired.”

You’ve been asked this question a few times, but you’ve never given the real answer any thought before. Next to V, who could barely stand upright and was talking to the air last time you were at his bedside, you were always fine. It felt wrong to even imply otherwise.

But now, when you think about where you were a week ago and how much has changed since then, you aren’t so sure. You can’t remember the last time you felt rested and, even though you’ve been reassured that you’re safe here, you’re scared someone is watching you. You can’t even think of walking down the street by yourself before you break out in goosebumps.

"Oh. I guess you hadn’t gotten that far yet, had you?”

“No… I guess not. Is it that obvious?”

He holds out a gloved hand in front of your face and taps your forehead once, lightly.

“You’re easy to read. Or maybe it’s just me.”

With only the flickering firelight on his face, his expression is hard to make out, but you find some comfort in his gesture.

“I feel like none of it is real. At least if you can see it, it means that I’m not making any of this up.”

He nods and you lapse back into a comfortable silence.

“Hey, I know it may not be much coming from me, but I think you’ve got some good people on your side at the moment.”

You’re not sure what possesses you to ask, “Is that including you?”

He seems to be stunned for a moment before he smiles. It transforms him into a brand-new person, and you can imagine what a different life might have looked like on him. Your anxiety gets pushed down by a wave of pride at managing to elicit that expression from him. You have a feeling it’s quite rare.

“Yeah, I guess it does.”

Suddenly, V groans loudly, startling the both of you. Vanderwood jumps back to his feet and quickly follows the sound to the bedroom door. Before he disappears completely, he turns to you and says, “Listen, I need to go back to playing nurse, but can we talk more a bit later?”

You smile.

“I’d like that.”

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger vanderwood #mary vanderwood 3rd #mysme #mysme vanderwood #blogiversary 2 #my writing

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haruniki · 1 year

Text

Would this character catch you? genshin impact edition pt 3

a/n: hiiiii making a part three to this because these are actually fun to make! I genuinely don't know how i missing from the previous lineups. A few of the characters im not comfy writing for yet but might add them later? this one includes the Inazuma girls 🫶🫶

Raiden Shogun/Ei: 2/10, she doesn't understand

Ei doesn't quite understand why you are running towards her. Are you in trouble? Was someone chasing you?

When you fall on to the ground, she asks you a bunch of questions. Ei is concerned that you're hurt but first point her to whoever was causing you distress.

When you tell her that she was suppose to catch you, she lets out a small "oh" and a surprised expression appears on her face.

Ei helps you up and takes you to get patched up in complete silence

As you both sit side by side, she takes your hand in hers.

"I'd like to make a small request, if that is alright. If you would, please inform me when you wish to do things like that again. I don't wish to see you harmed in any way. What kind of lover would I be if my negligence caused you harm?"

Yae Miko: ??/10, you didn't even get the chance

Yae already knew what you were going to do. She had overheard you speaking about your little prank to another shrine maiden.

Made absolutely sure that you couldn't find her anywhere. Going so far as to even use her fox form to her advantage to hide in small places

As it gets later in the day and your heading back to the shrine to check one last time for your girlfriend, feeling defeated that you weren't able to jump into her arms.

A figure, well small animal crashing into you shocked you. A small pink fox looking up at you with a slight mischievous glint in it's eye.

And with a small flash and a thud on the ground, you feel a slightly heavier presences on top of you.

"My, My, it appears that I've won this little game. I believe next time you should try yo keep your voice down when you're planning something. It would be so disappointing if someone overheard you doing something so fun and ruined it for you~"

Ayaka Kamisato: 7/10, surprisingly strong!

Hears your footsteps from rather far away and already prepares herself to catch you

Ayaka does move to an area that she deems a better setting to catch you in. Reading all those novel from the Yae Publishing House makes her think that catching you in a beautiful setting will make you fall deeper in love with her

As you find and start taking off, she pretends to not see you until the last moment.

Ayaka is able to catch and manages to spin you both around before stumbling on to the ground. She pouts for a moment before you start giggling to which she starts laughing along.

"I apologize, my dove. It seems that i spent to much time leading you i to a better scenery than i should have. Perhaps next time, I'll be able to find somewhere with better footing."

Yoimiya: 9/10, she deserves to be kissed mwah mwah

You unfortunately caught her at a bad time as she was carrying a box of dud fireworks

When she spots you, she excitedly gives you a greeting and tells(shouts) you that she just needs to place this box down and she'll be able to go get lunch with you.

Of course when she sees you quicken your pace into a run but she does decide to drop the box down and run towards you as well.

Slowing your pace down because your both about collide into each other, Yoimiya crashes into you with a laugh as you both land on the ground.

As your still trying to understand what's happening, Yoimiya begins peppering your face with kisses.

"You seemed so excited to see me so i thought i would just run at you too! Oh, did you get hurt!? I'm so sorry! Here's let's go get an ice pack and some bandages just in case."

Kuki Shinbu: 10/10, She's too tired for this

Kuki knew something was going to happen today for the simple fact that everything was quite peaceful.

No one from the gang was in jail or causing problems.

There was absolutely nothing wrong and everything was peaceful.

And when she sees you, she thinks today couldn't get any better. She'd ask you to accompany her on her walk and even ask if you'd like to share a meal together.

However, you do seem to be moving quite fast at her and don't seem to be slowing down. With a sigh, she gets prepared to catch you.

Kuki catches you with ease and sets you on the ground with an annoyed expression, though her hands don't leave your waist.

"And here I was hoping for a normal day, it seems even with the gang not causing trouble, i can still rely on you to cause some. How about you make it up to me? Let's get lunch together and I'll consider not making you pay for it."

Kujou Sara: 10/10, She'll catch you everytime but uhh, let's not do that infront of ppl or maybe you should?

Sara walking with a few of her men talking about a small issue involving a small string of stealing. Sara giving a few orders of things that she wants done for the investigation

She spots you running up to her in the courtyard. She's knows your about to do something and warns you with her eyes not to do anything.

Obviously, you can't see her eyes from the distance your at so you continue your pace.

As you leap at her, Sara catches you with ease. Her arms instinctively wrapping around your waist tightly, her muscle slightly flexing from how tightly she has you wrapped against her.

Her face flushes red as her the two soliders look at her, not understanding what's going on.

Sara let's you go and dismisses the two men. As they leave Sara pulls you to a secluded area nearby. Her face still a nice red color.

"I think i should punish you for doing that in front of people. What if i didn't catch you? Wouldn't you feel embarrassed? And what of your injuries? If you had gotten hurt, I would be greatly upset. I don't wish to see you hurt. And please, don't do that again in public. I don't mind embracing you in private, but i don't wish to have anyone else see you in my arms."

Kokomi: ?/10, let's not scare her actually

Kokomi was just heading to her hideaway. Enjoying the peacefulness of the the surrounding.

However she does note that something feels off. Usually you accompany her on these walks, you had told that you would meet her there.

Thing is, she's now here and your nowhere in sight. With a disappointing look she's goes to head in to the hide away.

And then she hears a slightly rustle from a nearby bush. Standing back up and summoning her catalyst weapon, she waits

As you jump from the push, you get captured by a bubble from the priestess.

Realizing her mistake, she lets you go and runs to your form that's now on the ground. Worried she embraces you and starts kissing you where she can with frantic apologies between each one.

"IM SORRY! im so so so sorry, angelfish! I thought you were a hilichurl that somehow made it's way up here! I should've waited a bit more before attacking. Please forgive me! "

While you did get bubbled, you got as many kisses as you wanted from Kokomi!

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact headcanons #x female reader #x fem!reader #x gn reader #raiden ei x reader #yae miko x reader #genshin impact kujou sara x reader #sara kujou x reader #genshin kokomi x reader #kuki shinobu x reader #yoimiya x reader #ayaka kamisato x reader #i think i forgot a tag????#.🍓

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inevitablysomber-dark · 1 year

Text

Shackled (Chapter 16)

Dark! Rafe Cameron x Pogue! Reader

Warning: There are some intense, dubiously consenting and nonconsensual sexual themes in this series, MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. MINORS DNI.

Summary: You hate Outer Banks with a passion and are working hard to get out despite all the obstacles in your way. Rafe himself eventually becomes one of those obstacles after a night of low impulse control. Will you be able to overcome him or with you have no choice but to submit.

Slow Burn

Series Masterlist

Tag list:

@sophiexoxo-lol

"I've always wanted to ask, what are these?" Rafe holds up a small circular pink pill to my vision.

"Birth Control," you rasp.

"You take birth control? Since when" he asks

You throw him a look of annoyance and blow a breath of exasperation.

"We had been fucking for several months, and not once did I ever mention anything about a pregnancy scare. Did the idea of me being on birth control never occur to you?"

He shrugs and continues with his task.

Rafe had taken it upon himself to oversee your health, which included picking up and organizing your prescribed medication in your pill box. At first, it was difficult to trust him, so you made sure you had all your tablets before taking them, but he managed to prove himself, and you became too tired to keep up with your tablets.

He'd also gotten into touching you often, especially during bathtime. You've tried to thwart his advances several times, but he always seemed to get his way. Eventually, fear was replaced with chagrin, and every time he dragged his fingers down your forearm, you knew exactly what he was thinking.

You had to go into surgery in the next few days, and you had been waiting for an orthopedic surgeon to travel to the island to assist you, Annie Rose said your ribs weren't healing properly, so she had to put in a referral for one. In the meantime, she said no strenuous activity, making sure to fix Rafe with a look.

It would have been funny if you didn't feel like you were being held captive.

Since the first bathtub incident, you thought of ways to escape Rafe's grasp. You had to heal first, that was a given, and it wasn't leaving that was giving you the issue. It's what you would do after you leave.

You had no money or family; all you had was Rafe, and if he kept on with his possessive ways, he's all you would ever have.

You could always go back to Misty's and beg for your old job back, but then how would you find enough money to get on the ferry, your racked your brain trying to find a solution to this puzzle, but something was always in the way.

You suddenly felt lips pressed against yours as fingers crept toward your nether region.

"What are you thinking about?" Rafe says.

"What if I never wake up from the surgery?" you ask, wanting him to believe that the surgery was what you were worried about.

"You'll be fine, and you'll probably feel much better afterward, so no worries, in fact." he moves his body underneath the covers, placing himself between your legs and pulling off your pajama bottoms.

"Rafe," you call. He ignores you as he rubs a finger up and down your clothed slit.

"Rafe, stop, I'm tired," you beg.

He pulls your panties to the side, shocking you with his tongue to your clit before wrapping his mouth around it and sucking.

You couldn't say anything else. It didn't matter since Rafe would do what he wanted anyways.

So you gave in to the moment. Drowning in forced pleasure.

***

You were fatigued, your body felt limp and heavy, and it took too much effort to move a toe, let alone push away the fingers creeping up your thighs.

You struggle to open your eyes as you look up at the perpetrator attempting to invade your space. There he stood, Rafe Cameron, looking back down at you—the expectation on his face, with a cloud of lust shadowing his eyes.

Of course, it had been him; it could only be him. He'd taken it upon himself these last few weeks to terrorize you with his presence consistently.

You'd just gotten the surgery for your broken ribs, and as you looked around, you saw Rafe had no problem setting you up in his room again. Now he won't even allow recovering at the hospital. He needed you to be around him as much as possible. So you can only imagine his frustration whenever he had to leave for work.

.Since your trip from the hospital, amidst your travels in and out of consciousnesses, he was the only face you ever saw.

Without taking his eyes off yours, he pulls off your blanket, causing your top to pul up, exposing a bit of your navel. He drags his fingers under it, pulling them closer to your pubic area.

"Surgeon says you'll be able to resume sexual activity in about two weeks." He briefly takes his eyes off yours as he uses his fingers to pull at your pajama bottoms.

You whimpered, hoping he wouldn't try anything while you suffered weakly.

"Don't worry, I'm patient."

He looks back into your eyes, bringing his face closer to yours.

"I can't say I'm not excited by the thought." He gently places his lips against yours.

And all you could think of was how you were going to escape when you could barely move your body.

#Dark!Rafe Cameron #Dark!Rafe Cameron x Reader #Dark! Rafe Cameron x Pogue! Reader #Dark OBX #Pogue! Reader #Pogue Reader #dark fics #Rafe Cameron c Reader #Outer Banks #series #Shackled #Shackled Series #dub con #dubcon #dubious consent #abuse #parental abuse #near-death experience

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leegemma · 10 months

Note

Can I request lee Ricky, and ler Kim Jiwoong, and Seok Matthew? Thanks.

Thank you so much for your request! I hope you like it!

(Somehow I made this fic sound like Ricky has a crush on Jiwoong or something at the start but as funny as I find those silly edits and "rumors", that was not my intention and I'm sorry 💀)

Let's say this takes place around the first two or three weeks after boys planet final (^_^)

Enjoy :)

-------------------------------------------------------

Ricky knew he could get akward around people he admired sometimes, and he didn't know how to fix it. So when one day he sitting in his dorm on the sofa in the living room with Matthew and Jiwoong walked in, Ricky suddenly got very quiet.

Matthew, being the other English speaker in the group, knew how Ricky felt being left alone with Jiwoong and decided it was time to fix it. Being Jiwoong's "soulmate" (A JOKE) Matthew also knew how much Jiwoong wanted to get closer to Ricky.

So when Jiwoong sat down next to Matthew on the sofa and started talking to him, doing his best at trying to include Ricky in the conversation to not avail, Matthew nudged Ricky's ribs with his elbow.

The younger boy jumped and rubbed over the area.

"Ricky do you understand what Jiwoong hyung is talking about?" Matthew grabbed Ricky's hand and started playing with it.

Ricky nodded. "Oh- yeah I understand." (THIS IS LITERALLY HOW HE SPEAKS AND YOU CAN'T TELL ME YOU DON'T LOVE IT.)

"What do you think about it?" Jiwoong was happy the blonde was finally talking.

"I like it." To be honest, Ricky had a lot more to say, the subject Jiwoong brought up was a subject Ricky had a strong opinion about. He just wished he was a bit more confident to speak out about it.

Matthew and Jiwoong exchanged a glance, Jiwoong basically explaining to Matthew with his eyes that he thinks Ricky is scared of him or something, and Matthew comforting him.

Matthew then turned back to face Ricky, starting to poke at the other's side. Gaining speed as he kept poking. "Ricky why so shy all the sudden?"

Ricky tried pushing Matthew's hands away while trying to hold in his laughter, only letting out little squeals when the older unexpectedly hit a sensitive spot. "I'm- noT!"

Jiwoong looked over to the younger boys with a shocked smile on his face. "Ricky is ticklish?"

"No!"

"Incredibly~"

Matthew slowly turned the pokes into squeezes, trying to keep Ricky's hands out of the way.

Ricky was now giggling like there's no tomorrow, his usually pale face turning pink.

"Jiwoong hyung, help me with him!" Matthew asked.

Jiwoong got up from his spot and moved to sit right behind Ricky, pulling him in to lean on his chest and holding his wrists up with one hand only.

Matthew kept prodding and squeezing Ricky's sides and ribs teasingly, while Jiwoong was digging into the younger boy's armpit with his free hand.

"I think this is the right time to settle this once and for all," Matthew started, completely ignoring the fact that Ricky was definitely not able to pay any attention as he was laughing way too hard. "This thing with you guys? We're all in the same group now and you can't be so weird with each other! How about you tell Jiwoong hyung why you act so shy with him Ricky?"

"I CANAHAN'T!!" Ricky managed to let out.

"Yeah he's probably right." Jiwoong nodded, yet didn't even slow his fingers down.

"I'm not stopping. This is fun." Matthew shrugged.

"FOHOHOR YOUHU" Ricky twisted his hands in an attempt to get them out of the Jiwoong jail.

"Aww don't lie now, you know you love this~" Matthew tickled Ricky's neck.

"I- I HAAHAHTE YOUHUHU!"

"Such harsh words from such a young man..." Matthew gasped.

"Kids these days..." Jiwoong agreed.

"STAHAHAP!" Ricky begged.

"Sure, when you tell Jiwoong hyung why you're so akward with him." Matthew said again.

"ITHIHS- IT'S BECAHAUSE IHIHI- NOHOHOT THERE! IHITS BECAHAUSE IHIHI LOHOHOK UHUHUP TOHOHO YOUHUHU!" Ricky started, he then felt Jiwoong's hand stopping the tickling, only Matthew was still going.

"You look up to me...?" Jiwoong grinned at the cute boy. "Slow down a bit Matthew, I want to hear this."

Matthew did as he was told and only gently kept walking his fingers around Ricky's stomach.

"Ihihi ththink you're cohohol ahand ihi whahant toho behe lihike youhu..." even though Jiwwong was behind him and couldn't see his face properly, Ricky still tried hiding his face away.

"Aww Ricky... you should've just told me that! I thought you hated me or something." Jiwoong confessed, letting Ricky's hands go and mentioning for Matthew to drop his own hands, which he did.

"Hated you? No! I feel lucky to be in the same group as you..." now that Ricky finally started, it seemed like he couldn't hold back.

"Hug!" Matthew's cheerful voice demanded said from the side.

Jiwoong pulled Ricky into an akward little hug. Smiling when Ricky pulled his emotional support Matthew into the hug with them.

"There we go... now we're all best friends." Matthew announced as they all pulled back.

"You're strange..." Ricky shook his head at Matthew.

"So, very, strange." Jiwoong agreed. "Come on Ricky, we'll go get some milk tea..."

Ricky jumped up and followed Jiwoong out of the living room.

"Wow thank you for the invitation, and you're welcome!" Matthew yelled after them. "I'm way too nice..."

#tickle fics #tickling community #zb1 tickle #zb1 tickle fic #lee!ricky #shen ricky #ler!jiwoong #kim jiwoong #ler!matthew #seok matthew

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agentnico · 7 months

Text

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) Review

As the new dawn broke, my eyes fell upon the streaming interface of my Netflix account, and at that moment it was that I noticed it. "What's this?" I cried. "Another Wes Anderson film already?" I drank my cup of water to catch my breath. "But it's only been a month or two since his last one!" I thought. I stood up and slowly applauded Mr Anderson for his dedication to his busy schedule. "Right then, let's get to it." And with that, I sat back down and happily sighed in preparation for the unorthodox piece of storytelling whimsy that awaited me in the next 38 minutes.

Plot: Henry Sugar, a wealthy man, decides to take on an extraordinary challenge - he wants to master an extraordinary skill in order to cheat at gambling games.

I'm in the minority when it comes to my opinion of Wes Anderson's most recent film release - Asteroid City. Even though I enjoy Anderson's uniquely symmetrical and colorfully vibrant directing style, I did find that movie came off a bit too obnoxious and pretentious for my liking. That has not swayed me away from the talented director though, as The Grand Budapest Hotel is still one of my favourite indies to come out this century (if you're a collector such as myself seek out the superb Criterion release of this) and by the way managed to make the colour pink look cool before the Barbie blockbuster came about, and Moonrise Kingdom is an innocent coming-of-age comedy that used humour to deliver its internal message about 'the end of childhood', but presented not as a loss, but more-so a compromise. Wes Anderson is a tour-de-force with his own distinct vision, so individuals such as him should be cherished in modern-day cinema that is saturated with unoriginal mediocrity. So for Asteroid City, I forgive you, kind sir.

With The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Wes Anderson returns to adapting Roald Dahl's works, and seeing as how in the past he so fantastically brought to life in stop-motion Fantastic Mr. Fox, it seemed like the return is a welcome one. And indeed Henry Sugar is a most delightful little Netflix short film, that very much reinstates the fact that Anderson and Dahl are a match made in heaven. This starts right with the title, as with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Anderson sets out to tell a story literally. In the film, all the characters also narrate everything they do and say, as such at times you feel like you're listening to an audiobook. You can literally watch this movie with your eyes closed and you'd still know exactly what happens. Ironically, seeing with your eyes closed is a primary theme of this short. But also you would be doing yourself a disservice keeping your eyes shut. The production design is impeccable with the entire thing feeling almost like a live theatre performance. With the set design and scene transitions, Henry Sugar exudes a distinct theatrical vibe, adding a layer of whimsical charm. And the moving sets are wonderful to look at, with the colors and detail nothing short of superb. The entire thing is simply overflowing with creative charm.

This is Benedict Cumberbatch's first entry into the Wes Anderson verse, yet it is shocking that it took this long to happen, as the Sherlock alumni is known for his fast-talking swift line delivery, and with the amount of dialogue Anderson always gets his actors to churn out in every scene naturally makes Cumberbatch appear right at home. Even at this short's rapid 38-minute runtime, Cumberbatch manages to add layers of depth to the peculiar Henry Sugar, from the small facial expressions as his character processes certain revelations. The rest of the ensemble does their part to add to the whimsy of the whole piece, with Dev Patel shining especially with his delivery of the fourth-wall-breaking narration, fast-talking his lines of dialogue with brisk elegance, and in the same breath managing to throw in the "I said" and the "he cried out loud".

All in all A Wonderful Story is a mesmerizing dance of wit, wonder, and whimsy that is aesthetically pleasing, and the story itself is an enjoyable little bedtime tale that, though not particularly deep. Look, cynically speaking it's a story about a man who reads a book and then learns a technique that allows him to easily make money. That's about it, however, it's the overall presentation and Anderson' touch that makes this the delightful piece of tapestry that it is. If you're a Dahl and Anderson enthusiast, I mean, there's really no excuse then for you to miss this.

Overall score: 7/10

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fluffy-ami · 11 months

Note

If you still doing HCs i’d like to humbly request headcannons for Hu tao and Yae Miko

A/N: YOOOOOO#+-$#@& of course I'm still writing them whenever I have time, friend! I can't even imagine how many times I'm gonna die while writing these, but anyways, I am now alive-

Yae Miko 🌸

Oh lord save me

Well, let's start with Yae as a ler (i am weak)

I think that we can all silently agree that, if she decides to tickle literally anyone, then it's just non-stop teasing-✋🏻

Ei, traveller, Gorou, Sara, literally anyone she's familiar with? Miko doesn't care who you are lmao, she will find your worst spots and you will be destroyed. But not before she's studied all the person's small reactions, the looks on their face at the mention of The Thing, so that she's sure that it doesn't make them scared or nervous in a bad sense. Once Yae makes sure that you don't mind this kind of physical contact, she strikes and after that she'll never let you live that down-

It doesn't matter who her travelling companions are, she's definitely the tickle monster in any group. You know, The Look™, the naiLSSSsss, the electro vision, it all just makes the perfect ler formula and I'm living for it

She's very laid back, both while chasing someone and while being chased, because in the end it's Yae who always decides how to end the chase, it depends on her mood if she's on the recieving end. If she trusts the person enough, she will let them catch her and have their fun for a little bit, but once they're done, Miko will retaliate immediately

“Hm? Where do you think you're going, honey? My little kitsune spirits are hungry for some adorable laughter, they're going to get you~”

But fr tho, the fact that she's electro makes it all so much worse (in a good sense). Using tiny electro shocks while tracing random shapes on your tummy with her nails... 💀

Also, that fluffy pink kitsune tail? If you're sensitive to fluffy things, it's an absolute death, and she would definitely use it to turn you into a giggly puddle-

Miko as a lee tho? She literally doesn't care on what end she's on, she will tease you back with her look and with her playful little threats until you're a blushy mess. And if she becomes “bored” and manages to get out, you better run honey, you better run as fast as you can 💀

As for her worst spots... I'd say Yae is most ticklish on her underarms and belly (ayo don't look at me i don't make the rules ok-), also I think that her fluffy fox ears are pretty ticklish. And her ankles. She just looks like she's ticklish there-

Hu Tao 👻

If the Funeral parlor director finds out you're ticklish... run for your life lol 💀

Hu Tao is definitely the type to dish out surprise tickle attacks or chase her poor victims down while teasing them playfully (“The evil spirit is gonna getcha!~”) in the process, it depends on the person she's planning to attack

Ah, yes, about that. Hu Tao tickles a lot of people. And by that I mean a lot. Zhongli, Xiao, Xiangling, Chongyun, Xingqiu, Xinyan, and Lumine/Aether are her most common victims (she also probably tried to get Qiqi at least once to find her tickle spots akhdjs-), but of course, if she starts travelling and meets new people, they better watch out bro ಠ⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಠ"""

And you can't tell me that she doesn't ✨absolutely love✨ playing “Hide and Tickle”, and of course Tao uses her little ghost friend for the better effect! She just finds it very amusing when her friends' surprised shrieks quickly dissolve into sweet giggles once she attacks from behind <3

Also likes giving cheer-up tickles to her companions! She's very gentle while doing it, just a few giggles is enough for her, because Hu Tao doesn't want the tickles to become overwhelming.

“Awwwh, does our little grumpy pants not want to talk to others all of sudden? Alright then, let's use my special technique! Just so you know, I'll keep going until you tell me what happened~”

Worst spots? Bro, get the ✨thighs✨ bro. Like, you can't tell me they're not insanely tickish, especially the soft inner part. Also the sides of her knees (like, just sorta massage there with your fingers and she'll give you the sweetest giggles aah-💖) and maybe ribs!

She's definitely a kicker. Hu Tao doesn't squirm around all that much, but she kicks a lot to make the tickles less overwhelming! That's why going after her worst spots may result in an accidental injury to the attacker's poor beautiful face-

I think she snorts a lot when she's laughing too hard! Well, she finds it a little embarrassing, but it's actually adorable-

A/N: I guess that's all for now! Finally back to posting occasionally, so let's hope it's not the last thing I'll post in 2023 lmao 💀

Anyways, thanks for the request, and I hope you're having a great day! 🌸✨

#genshin impact #tickle headcanons #tickling #my stuff #yae miko #hu tao #lee!yae #ler!yae #lee!hu tao #ler!hu tao #yospongebobthisedibleintshi 🍔#nah but I was dying while writing the first half of this. 💀#let's not talk about it.

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sexybabystevie · 2 years

Note

Rose 🌹 – Red roses symbolize romance, love, and courage. Send me a short description of yourself, including things you enjoy doing, and your desired character to receive a headcanon on how they would confess their feelings to you!

my desired character is steve harrington! <3

i’m pretty shy and easily flustered, sensitive too but i’m also pretty sarcastic n very open when u get to know me :) i’m very girly, i love makeup, taylor swift, anything pink, and similar stuff! the stuff i enjoy doing is all pretty simple, just stuff like reading, listening to music and shopping! <3

A/n: I just wanna say that we have so much in common that this ask actually took me by surprise! Thank you so much for being the first one to take part in my event, I hope you enjoy! <3 (P.S.: I'm making this a somewhat modern!Steve AU so that I can incorporate your love for Taylor!)

Pick a flower from the Garden!

Steve Harrington Masterlist

Enchanted To Meet You

Modern Scoops!Steve Harrington x Taylor Swift fan, fem!Reader

Tags and Warnings: No Warnings, No Season 4 Spoilers, Fluffy!Steve, Soft!Steve, Wingwoman!Robin, Confessions of Feelings, Headcanons, Scoops Ahoy!Steve, Love Notes.

Word Count: 905

It was almost too easy for you to catch Steve Harrington's eye – the girl, always pretty in pink, headphones forever on, blasting some kind of mystery music that he wondered about every time he saw you wordlessly mumbling the lyrics, who worked in the bookstore across from Scoops. Ever since he accidentally saw you dancing around as the mall was closing up – no doubt assuming that no one else was nearby since you had shut and locked the bookstore's doors over thirty minutes ago – so careless to the world surrounding you, a book in your hand and a song he had probably never heard before silent on your lips, he was starstruck.

So awed, in fact, that it only took Robin two days to figure out that it was you who he was so longingly watching – she couldn't count the number of times she had turned and seen him resting his chin in his hands, elbows against the countertops as he had a goofy, adoring grin on his face – and while she did cherish her best friend, she simply couldn't manage having him rendered lovesick puppy when it was his turn to do inventory. Two days of doing virtually everything in Scoops had been enough for her, so she finally gave Steve the push that he needed to try and actually talk to you. Or, at least, she tried.

"Come on, dingus, you've been giving this girl your biggest heart eyes for days. You need to make a move."

"I can't just make a move, Rob, I've gotta get into the right headspace. Gotta get back into the game."

"From this to your oh-so successful attempts to pick up our customers, I'm starting to feel like this whole 'King Steve' persona was a huge rumor."

Robin teases him some more, laying it on thick with heavy, sarcastic smirks and eye rolls – she knows that eventually he'll have enough and will 'prove' that he can actually talk to you – and to no one's shock, her mischevious plan works. Almost.

Steve is stuck on how exactly he should approach you. He sees the headphones and the books, but he doesn't know enough about them to strike up conversation like he wants to. When he tells Robin this, she nearly rolls her eyes to the moon.

"Steve, she's listening to Taylor Swift. It's blasting on the bookstore radio every other day – the only time she doesn't have headphones on. Even I know that and I'm not the one ogling at her every-"

She's still talking, but Steve tuned her out the second he heard Taylor Swift. He feels a boost of confidence; he knows Taylor Swift. Not her entire discography like you probably did, but he had heard quite a few songs in passing. Enough for him to comfortably say that he was fairly familiar with it.

Still, he really wants to make a good impression, so he goes home that night and listens to all the Taylor Swift songs that he can, especially the ones that he finds more romantic, and before long, he's coming up with some way to say that you – the adorable stranger across the mall – have so effortlessly caught and tamed his wildly beating heart.

So he goes to the mall early one morning, on a day when he doesn't have a shift at Scoops, and he scours every single shop until he settles for a rosy pink notepad, a $25 gift card to the cafe on the ground floor – which, by the way, he highly recommends – and a book that looks romantic enough for him to give you. (He's not really sure what it's about, but it has really good reviews online and he's putting his trust in the book experts this time. God knows he's clueless when it comes to reading.)

He walks into the bookstore later that day, huge smile on his face as he sees that you're behind the counter, and gives a shy introduction.

"Hey, uh.. I'm Steve, from Scoops." He chuckles nervously, cheeks dusted baby pink, and bashfully rubs the back of his neck. He hands you the book he bought you, and on the inside is a handwritten note, written on pink, sparkly notepad paper with the gift card attached.

"I was Enchanted from the moment I saw you. Meet next Wednesday, in the cafe downstairs to Begin Again?"

Is it kind of cheesy? Yes. But does it have you swooning at the mere effort that he's put into it? Also yes.

He's a nervous mess as he waits for you to say something, bumbling on about how his friend heard you listening to Taylor and about how he desperately hoped nothing came off as creepy, but you shut him up as you look him in the eye, goosebumps covering your skin, and say, with a sweet smile that makes his heart beat even more erratically, "Next Wednesday, in the cafe on the bottom floor. It's a date."

He blushes madly, eyes wide at the fact that he just landed a date with someone as angelic as you, and before he awkwardly (but proudly) makes his way out the door, you call out, "Steve? It was enchanting to meet you too."

He rushes back across the mall, a completely flustered mess, to boast to Robin about how he actually got a date. (And, of course, to never shut up about how pretty you were up close.)

#the garden🌷#steve harrington #stranger things #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington headcanon #stranger things 4 #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fanfic #lovely requests

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lovely-showtimes · 2 years

Text

short scenarios ~ ♡

characters - tsukasa, airi, kohane.

type - fluff.

warnings - none.

a/n - my first writing post! i hope you all enjoy~! <3

You had always loved autumn dates. Holding hands while you walked under trees coloured in pretty shades of orange and red, going to a cafe and sipping warm coffee together, and stargazing late at night and pointing out constellations to each other. However, they always had one downside - the fact that they were always so cold.

And it was on a fateful autumn afternoon, a date you happened to be on with your boyfriend, that you were shivering away like no tomorrow. You silently cursed yourself for not wrapping up a little warmer.

Tsukasa, however, had noticed you shivering. It was hard not to, actually, since he was holding your frosty and trembling hand. And so, he decided to stop walking and pull you into a very tight hug, lovingly wrapping his arms around you.

"Wh- Tsukasa?!" You cry out in shock.

"You've been shivering the whole time we've been out, and as your boyfriend, I simply must do something about it!" Tsukasa declared, grinning at you brightly.

After your original surprise wore off, you realised that Tsukasa was actually very warm. You know he always called himself a star, but seriously, it was like a miniature sun was hugging you. It was quite nice, actually, and you much preferred it from how cold you had been earlier.

"Thanks," you said quietly after a few moments, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. Tsukasa laughs lightly and let go of you, taking your hand again.

"Come on, let's hurry home. I would hate to watch you keep shivering like that!" He pulled you off in the direction of his home, to which you followed happily.

"You prepared a whole picnic for me?" You gasped, eyes running over the red and white checkered picnic blanket laid out in front of you.

Your pink-haired girlfriend, Airi, grinned and nodded. "Of course I did! Come on, sit down."

You sat down beside her, marvelling at all of the food she had neatly packed within her picnic basket. "Did you make all of this?"

Airi began rifling through the basket. "Yup! I've been really busy with my idol duties recently, and I haven't been hanging out with you as much as I should have been... Which I'm really sorry about! So, here! I made this for you to show you that!"

She handed you a small box, to which you opened to see one of your favourite snacks, ones you especially loved when it was made by her.

"I put extra love and care into these!" Airi folded her arms proudly. "So you better enjoy them!"

You looked back up at her tearily and wrapped your arms around her in a hug. "I know you get busy sometimes, but you really didn't have to do all of this..."

Airi sighed and hugged you back tightly, kissing your forehead. "I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to. I love doing things for you, dear." She pulled away from you and smiled at you warmly. "Besides, I've already made all of it, so you might as well eat it!"

You laughed and looked back down of your box of snacks. "Yeah, right. Thanks, Airi. I love you."

"I love you too, dummy!"

Watching Kohane perform was thrilling.

You didn't think such a powerful voice could come from someone like her, and yet here you were, shaken to your very core as you listened to her sing.

You were currently backstage at a music event Vivid BAD SQUAD were performing at. They'd managed to get you backstage to allow you to watch from there, which you were very grateful for. You weren't very good with crowds, and you much preferred to view their performance from backstage, anyway.

Kohane's bandmates were incredibly talented, yes. You knew they all had a lot more experience than your girlfriend, but she still managed to sound just as good as the rest of them. When she sang, your heart pounded, and your entire body felt fuzzy and tingly.

You had never watched Vivid BAD SQUAD live before like this. Of course, you'd been to their practices at Weekend Garage, and you'd sung their praises every time they finished. But to watch them at this event, heated up even more than normal, it was a special feeling.

Once they had finished, they began to make their way backstage, all of them grinning and waving to the crowd. An, Toya and Akito quickly greeted you as they approached, as the three of them knew who you were looking forward to talking to.

"That was fantastic, Kohane!" You cried out happily as you wrapped your arms around your girlfriend once she reached you. Kohane giggled and hugged you back, her face flushed from her performance.

"I tried even harder than usual, knowing that you were watching," Kohane admitted shyly. "I really wanted to impress you."

You laughed and leaned forward, kissing her on the cheek. "I'm more than impressed. I'm practically blown away! I'm so glad I was able to see this... God, you're so amazing, Kohane." You sighed and leaned your forehead against hers.

Kohane smiled and leaned against you as well, basking in your warmth and love. She couldn't be happier to be with you here, right now.

#project sekai x reader #prsk x reader #writing #imagines #tsukasa tenma x reader #airi momoi x reader #kohane azusawa x reader #♡ ~ love letter sent!#project sekai #proseka #tenma tsukasa x reader #momoi airi x reader #azusawa kohane x reader

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stargazer-sims · 1 year

Text

Journal Entry #48 (part one)

previously - Journal Entry #47 (part two)

Victor

It's Tuesday.

People tend to think Tuesday is the most uninteresting day of the week, 'cause nothing important ever seems to happen on Tuesdays. Well, that's not true for our household. Not today, at least. On this particular Tuesday, all hell broke loose around here.

Okay, to be more accurate, all hell started breaking loose yesterday afternoon, when Mr. Okamoto came back from the airport with not only his wife but also his brother-in-law. Nobody had any idea Uncle Kaz was coming, not even Mr. Okamoto, and needless to say we were all shocked when he strolled through the door, larger than life.

Julian had what I can only describe as a fanboy moment when Mr. Okamoto introduced him and Uncle Kaz. To his credit, though, he recovered his composure pretty quickly when he realized his celebrity man crush is really a regular guy and also just as much of a nerd as he is. Yuki, on the other hand, didn't calm down until it was almost time for bed. It was hard to say who she wanted to cling to more, her mother or her beloved uncle.

On a side note, at the suggestion of Uncle Kaz, Yuki has started addressing Julian as "Uncle Julian" instead of "Dr. Britt". He's tickled pink over it.

Anyway, in case you weren’t aware, Uncle Kaz brings the party with him wherever he goes. In the midst of all the madness, a boys' night somehow got planned for when things settle down, so Mr. Okamoto, Julian and Uncle Kaz can further their newfound three-way bromance. It was implied that Yuri and I are not invited, which is actually fine with me. I'm not sure either of us could handle it.

Yesterday evening was chaotic. I was grateful that I'd been able to excuse myself from it for a while and spend some time by myself, recording my journal entry. Usually, I don't mind lots of activity, but I'm still not feeling the best, and the constant noise and motion all around me were getting to be too much. The house is a little quieter tonight, by virtue of the fact that Mom, Julian and I are the only ones here, so I'm taking the opportunity to rest and tell you how things have been unfolding since yesterday.

The latest development, which I guess you may already know, is that I'm able to go up and down stairs now if someone helps me. Since stairs are back in my repertoire, I decided I'd spend last night with Yuri in his room so Uncle Kaz could take my spot in the dining room.

Uncle Kaz made jokes about not being able to sleep in his own bedroom in his own house — Yuri's room, as it happens — but his humour was good-natured and no one took it personally. I think he was happy to have his house so full. Meanwhile, Mrs. Okamoto claimed her spot in the laundry room with her husband and Yuki. I don't think this place was ever intended to accommodate eight people, but there we were.

I probably don't need to tell you that Yuri and I had a difficult night. He was in so much pain that no position was comfortable for him, and neither his parents nor I could do anything to ease his discomfort.

I managed to sleep a bit while his mother sat with him, but she woke me up when she was starting to fall asleep herself and said she needed to go to bed. Mr. Okamoto came in after that. He read to us, which I would've enjoyed if it hadn't been for the fact that I was too stressed to concentrate on it. I think he was reading out loud to distract himself more than to occupy us, but far be it from me to complain, in any case. The thought was still there, and that's what mattered.

Toward dawn, Yuri started throwing up, whether from the infection running wild inside him or simply from the amount of pain he was in, I didn’t know.

It was pretty traumatic, hovering uselessly by the bathroom door and hearing him cry for me between bouts of violent retching. There was nothing I wished for more in that moment than to have some magical power where I could hold him and make all his suffering go away. I wanted to be able to fix everything. Knowing I couldn't was like trying to rescue somebody I couldn't reach, just barely touching their hand and then having to watch them fall when I failed to hang on.

"Yuri, Victor's there in the doorway," Mr. Okamoto tried to assure him for about the fourth or fifth time. "There isn't room in here for all of us, but I promise he hasn't left you. He's right there."

Yuri's reply was practically unintelligible, but I made out my name and that he was scared. I couldn't tell what he was saying he was scared about, but in his condition, he certainly had plenty of reasons.

"It's gonna be all right, Yuri," I said, hoping I sounded convincing. "Your dad's taking care of you, and I'm not going anywhere. When you're all done in here, we can go back to bed, okay?"

"Okay," was the barely audible reply.

However, Yuri and I didn't end up back in bed together. He was so weak from pain and fever and the effort of his stomach forcibly emptying itself that he actually passed out in his father's arms.

I'm not ashamed to say I lost any sense of composure I might've had at that point. I'd already pretty much reached the threshold at which I stopped taking no for an answer, but that sealed it for me. Yuri was going to the hospital, whether he wanted to or not. I'd never seen him faint before, and if I'm being completely honest, I was terrified. There was no way we could cope with this at home any more.

Mr. Okamoto was in one hundred percent agreement with me about taking Yuri to the hospital. Like me, he'd been willing to let him stay home for a while, but the situation had escalated from serious to urgent, and nobody was interested in taking any more risks.

"We should call emergency services," I said. The way my voice was shaking might've embarrassed me under other circumstances, but just then I didn't really care what anyone might’ve thought of me.

Fortunately, Mr. Okamoto was the cool head we needed in the midst of our crisis. He addressed me in English, and it startled me enough to snap me out of my panic. "Victor, are you able to get dressed by yourself?"

"What?" I stammered.

I'll never get used to hearing my father-in-law speaking English. He sounds so unequivocally British that it's obvious he learned it in the UK, and it catches me by surprise every time. I don't know why it does, especially since Yuri's accent in English is that stereotypical posh British one too, but anyway... maybe it's because Mr. Okamoto doesn’t speak English to me very often, and in between times I sort of forget.

I took a breath and answered him before he had to repeat himself. "I, uh... I'm not sure if I can. Not completely. I might need some help."

"Very well," he said. "I'll help you. I'm not keen on waiting for emergency services take their time finding their way up the mountain. We'll take Yuri to the hospital ourselves. I'll drive."

"Okay," I said, because there was really no other answer.

"Could you go and wake Rei?" he asked, and then as if he thought I might not know who he meant, he amended, "Mrs. Okamoto. She can write a note for Kazuya and your parents. I don't think it's necessary to wake the entire household, do you?"

I thought about it, and concluded he was right. Mom and Julian would certainly want to know what was happening with Yuri, and I was sure Uncle Kaz would as well, but there was nothing they could do just then. It made sense to let them get as much sleep as possible. I could call my mom from the hospital later, once I was satisfied that Yuri was in safe hands and that he'd be all right.

"I'll be right back," I said.

"Be careful," said my father-in-law.

Mrs. Okamoto was already awake, as it turned out. She was sliding the laundry room door open before I even finished knocking. Despite having claimed she was exhausted, I assumed she hadn't gone back to sleep at all after Mr. Okamoto came to trade places with her in taking care of Yuri. I couldn't say I blamed her. She was probably too worried to sleep.

She asked me what was going on, and I quickly explained everything. I even awkwardly blurted out that Mr. Okamoto was going to help me with my clothes so that we could get going sooner.

"I'm already dressed. I'll help you, if you don't mind," she said. "Kenji will have his hands full enough."

Any other time, I would've said no, but this was not the moment to turn down well-intentioned assistance.

"That'd be good," I said. "Thank you. And would you mind writing a note for my mom, please? I don't want to get her out of bed, but I also don't want to just leave without telling her anything. I'd do it myself, but.. you know.”

"Of course," she replied. "I understand."

"Thanks."

We'd just turned to head back to Yuri's room when Mr. Okamoto emerged from the bathroom with Yuri in his arms. I caught the scent of Yuri's favourite strawberry soap. His father must've been trying to clean him up as best as possible, which I know from experience is not easy when the person you’re washing has absolutely no strength to participate in the task.

Even though I couldn't make out any details, I could tell Yuri was awake again. It looked like he was clutching his father's shirt. He was making small whimpering noises; not quite crying, but rather making the sound of someone who's too weak and exhausted to cry.

"I'm sorry, Papa," I heard him say. "I'm sorry."

I felt like my heart might shatter into a thousand pieces at that. The idea that Yuri thought he had to say he was sorry tore at me, and I wanted to tell him he had nothing to apologize for, especially not to his father. It wasn't his fault that he was sick. It wasn't anyone's fault, and he wasn't letting anyone down because of being unwell.

I had the irrational urge to yell at my father-in-law, This is what you've done to him! But of course I didn't. That would've been the worst possible thing.

I reminded myself that it was evident Mr. Okamoto was trying, and even though his current efforts were nowhere near enough to undo the years of emotional harm he'd caused, it was still progress. Maybe he was moving in the right direction to repair the damage he'd done, and if that was the case, I didn't want to be the one to break that fragile new thread between him and Yuri.

I wondered how Mr. Okamoto would respond, or if he'd even respond at all. I caught myself holding my breath. Forcing myself to exhale, I took a shaky step forward, my mother-in-law guiding me with her hand in the crook of my elbow.

What happened in the following seconds was unexpected and absolutely extraordinary.

Mr. Okamoto, who was still moving steadily toward Yuri's room, said quietly, "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"You… you shouldn't have to do this."

"You're my son," Mr. Okamoto said. "It's not about whether or not I have to. Do you remember what I promised you a long time ago?"

"No," Yuri admitted.

"I promised I'd always take care of you. That you'd always be my treasure. Even if you don't remember, I do."

"I… I'm sorry.” Yuri’s voice broke on the last syllable, and he made a sound that might’ve been a sob if it’d had any energy behind it.

"Shh… it’s all right, Yuri. Everything’s going to be all right.”

"It... it isn't. I promised myself... I wouldn't..."

The tail end of whatever Yuri was saying was mumbled, and they were passing through the bedroom doorway too, so I didn't understand it, Obviously his father did, though. Mrs. Okamoto and I had just reached the doorway ourselves when he said, "You're not a failure. Being who you are is all I ever expected from you."

"But, you don't like it," Yuri said miserably. "Who I am."

"I don't always agree with your choices, but that doesn't mean I don’t like who you are,” Mr. Okamoto said. “You haven’t failed at anything in my eyes. Even if you had, I wouldn't try to justify breaking my promise because of it.”

“But… you stopped loving me. I thought… Why…?”

As Mr. Okamoto carefully laid Yuri on the bed, he replied so softly that I wouldn’t have heard it if I’d been more than a couple meters away. "No, my treasure, I’ve never stopped loving you. I’m sorry if you believed I did. No matter what, I will never stop loving you.”

#ts4 #sims 4 #eagames #snowy escape #victorsworldadventures #Victor Nelson #Yuri Okamoto #Kenji Okamoto #Rei Okamoto #tw sickness #tw chronic illness #tw vomiting #tw injury #tw hospital #stargazersims

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mongrelcave · 3 months

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Blood and Water - .ii

She wakes to the sound of wood creaking.

There are stars above her.

No. she realizes that they're not just above, but all around her. She's in space. She sits up and runs her palm over the cool wooden planks underneath her before actually scanning the perimeter. From what she can tell, she’s on a galleon ship right next to its shrouds, and everything's relatively clean for what she assumes is a pirate ship - judging by the jolly roger she sees tied to the ship's jibboom.

“…Where-“ she startles at the sight of a very strange creature that looks like a wad of pink chewing gum approaching her. What’s stranger is what follows: Ryan, grinning and clad in old-fashioned pirate gear while other people that look unfamiliar to her trail closely behind. He looked more leaderlike than usual, here. There's a twinkle in his eye - one he lost after the recent 'incident'. "Welcome aboard!" He holds out his arm, inviting her to let him help her up. Irene blinks and obliges. Somehow, he was able to pull her up with ease despite the differences in stature and weight between them. "Ryan--" Her eyes narrow when she 'receives a message'.

search his mind. find the truth.

"Hell," she facepalms. "I must be in your brain." "Into the brain…" He blinks and looks off. Irene follows his gaze to see a pink planet in the shape and color of a brain. "That's where we're going now!" "What? No, Ryan, you're dreaming. What is all this about, anyway?" "It's an epic tale of my journey to get the treasure from the Dread Pirate Roberts." He bowed and mocked a British accent. "'With Pride. What can I do you for?'" She frowns slightly at his ridiculousness, although what he said sounded quite familiar. "We need to get out… I do, anyway. Let's go." Irene takes a step toward Ryan, but his smile disappears as he takes a step back in return. He looks upset, which makes Irene panic. His emotions might make this a lot uglier than it should be. "You're not…" He grumbled and suddenly Irene was wearing a full pirate costume, hat and eye patch included. Now it's her turn to grumble. "Much better! Now we can travel to Teller Prime!" "Teller what?--" He turns and points firmly at the brain planet. "Full speed ahead!" Irene isn't given the time to react when the ship makes a sharp turn - which would have knocked her down, if she hadn't held onto the railing. As commanded, the ship sails toward the planet at full speed. The angle at which the ship is sailing doesn't help, either. She looks off to the side only to see that Ryan and his crew stood completely still on the slanted ship.

Irene blinks and suddenly, they're no longer on the ship. In fact, the ship is nowhere to be seen. An old western style took over, pink sand under their feet - although she, Ryan, and the other crewmates continued to wear pirate outfits. The citizens of the old city rushed around busily. Irene takes in the scenery for a moment before turning to face Ryan. "Fun's over," she puts her hands on his shoulders. "You're in a dream. I'm from the real world." He blinks and everything around them slows. "Woah… Okay, lucid dreaming." He follows that up by closing his eyes with a pinched expression as if focused on something. Irene's hold tightens and her eyebrows furrow in frustration over what to say. "This isn't lucid and I'm not from your imagination. Notice how I'm the only one talking to you directly?" He pushes her off and looks around. He flinches when he rubs his shoulders. "Ow… Manage your stress. I know a guy--" "Ryan!" She snaps. Ryan holds his hands up defensively. "Woah! Don't like therapists. I get it but--" he's cut off by a hard smack, leaving a stinging mark on his cheek. "You need to wake up!" He rubs his face with a shocked frown. "That felt real… Okay. Yeah. Easy." Ryan stares at the ground with a strained expression. "Wake up… Just… Wake up!" Irene stares at him expectantly. He looks like he'll pop a vein, but he gives up at some point. "I can't wake up…" He exhales deeply. "Is this…Is this some Bucket prank?" Irene tenses as her heart sinks. She fears what will happen if she lingered here any longer without fulfilling her duty. Although, she doesn't exactly know what Jackson meant when he wanted her to find the 'truth.' Is Ryan hiding something from her? She ceases the thought and replaces it with something else. "Can you contact Leach?" He blinks out of his disappointment and looks up at her. "True! Ahem. Leach! Hey buddy!" They both just stand there for a moment. Nothing. Ryan looks back at her with a shrug. "No luck. Huh… I never tried contacting Leach in a dream." Irene sighs. As expected, Jackson wouldn't make it that easy. How is this even possible, anyway? She doesn't recall Jackson having this ability - then again, he does have two gods in him. Perhaps one of them is the god of dreams. "Alas. I suppose this will continue until I fulfill my part of the contract," she says bitterly. Ryan makes a neutral hum. "What, so Jackson can send people into minds now?" He mutters. "I don't know. Doesn't matter much now, though. I'm supposed to be 'finding the truth'," she makes air-quotes with her fingers, "but I don't know what that even means." To that, Ryan huffs. "I'm an open book, Irene. We can just tell Jackson," he stood on his toes to get close to Irene's eyes like they were camera. "To fuck off!" She cracks a smile but immediately goes back to her serious composure. "As much as I'd love to, I think the messages are a one-way thing… Maybe if we just look through your memories? Your history?" "Yeah. Let's go into my repressed memories like this is Inside Job. Maybe there's a folder of all my traumas organized neatly. Like the time my superman undies got caught in my locker the first day of middle school," Ryan scowls. "Honestly Irene. I don't know why he sent you here." Irene stares at him.

he's hiding something. isn't willing to show it. he doesn’t trust her…but she doesn't need trust.

She shakes her head. "Shut up." He frowns. "Damn, okay." She looks back at Ryan apologetically. "No, not you… Just- Him. He's driving me nuts," He nods. "Maybe he can let us out?" She gives him a thin-lipped smile. "Well you know him. He's not one for charity." That comment was meant to be light-hearted, but it just makes her heart sink even deeper. Despite the fact that she's been bound to Jackson for only a day, this felt all too familiar. The contract pulled out memories she had buried deep within her psyche. She's known men like him, and he knows this. He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants.

There's an awkward silence. Maybe it was too soon to jest - she isn't quite used to doing that. She tries for another: "I can't believe I'm stuck in your head now." Maybe that was too rude-- "There are worse places to be," he hums, looking off at the middle of nowhere. Seems that time has stopped completely. This isn't working. Get to the point. "Look. I know this situation is…bizarre, but help us out here. It will be uncomfortable, but we've gone through worse together." Ryan scoffs, still not meeting her eyes. "Let's just find a way out." "Please, Ryan," she pleads as gently as she can. He needs to make this easier for her. For the both of them

Another beat of silence. She takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry--"

he doesn't trust you. that's fine. you know when to use force.

Her voice is caught in her throat as all her nerves set off at once. Irene awaits a command.

command? she doesn’t need commands. he’s nothing but a pest - much like a mosquito, and mosquitos are better off squashed - but before that…

She steps forth. He doesn’t know why, but the act makes the hair on Ryan’s neck bristle. He takes a step back in response - but this proves to be futile when she grabs his wrist quicker than he could react. She closes their distance by yanking him toward her. “Did nobody-” he tries pulling away to no avail. “Did nobody teach you about personal space?” The silence that once surrounded them is filled with the grinding of wood from the western buildings and the whistles of wind as it kicks up sand beneath their feet. “Don't you want to wake up?” she snarls, grip tightening to a painful degree. He winces. "Irene- how are you-" Irene takes a deep breath, as if to calm herself. Then, she gives him a thin, eerie smile that doesn't meet her eyes. He doesn't like this. "Very well." She finally lets go and Ryan turns to rub his sore wrist. He looks around to see the barren, pink wasteland with broken planks of wood, furniture, and glass buried under the sand. Then, he barely hears Irene mutter: "I never liked using force…Given me no choice."

Everything warps. His heart sinks.

"Irene!" Ryan turned to face Irene, his eyes were filled with horror, tears caught on the base of his eyelids. The junk sinks into the sand, and his surroundings start to look foggy - like he was staring at a closeup of a Monet painting. His mind feels like it's being dissected as his dream shifts into a recent memory. The cave. He's struck with the stench of dried bodily excrement and mold. The memories of voices echoed around them as the new scene settled into place. Like a movie screen circling the two of them, they watched the scenery change again: his home, his brother - what he had and lost; a memory within a memory. Ryan stood frozen helplessly as the memory played. All of his emotions washed over him and Irene all over again as he stood paralyzed. Tears fell silently from his face, he dug his nails into his shaking arms. In the corner of his eye, he sees her flinch. His voice was shallow and full of resentment. "Is…is this what you wanted?" He didn't look at Irene. It wasn't entirely clear if he was talking to her or Jackson. She hesitates. He barely hears her muttering a quick apology before disappearing without a sound.

He sniffles, wiping away his tears, and he tries waking up - but he doesn't. He's pulled deeper into the graveyard of his buried memories, and he starts to panic.

He tries again,

Fuck.

The nightmare worsens. Memories mixed with horrific things he didn't even know he could imagine. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake up. Irene simply abandoned him.

She lied.

.iii

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