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atinystraynstay · 4 months

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Tolerate It - Xu Minghao

Synopsis: Watching the love of your life be with the wrong person should be classified as cruel and unusual torture. While you loved to see him smile, you hated the fact it was because of someone else.

Pairing: Xu Minghao x reader

Inspired by: Tolerate It - Taylor Swift

Genre: Angst - unconfessed feelings, arguments, jealousy, friends to lovers, ft. Wonwoo, Jun, and Mingyu

Word Count: 3.4k

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Living in a city sometimes felt constricting. For the longest time, you always dreamed of living in a major city where there was always something going on. However, coming from home work to loud shouting, blaring car horns, and constant movement all around got overwhelming. And you weren't the only one that felt that way.

You were grateful for the opportunities thrown your way. However, sometimes you just wished you take a step into peace and quiet.

It was Minghao that suggested that everyone should take a trip to the woods. He found a company where you could rent out a company, which was perfect for you and your group of 14 friends. But it seems you miscounted. This whole time, you had no idea that Minghao was planning on bringing his girlfriend as his plus one. You didn't even know you were allowed plus ones!

At the moment, you were in the kitchen washing the dishes after the meal Minghao, Joshua, and Mingyu cooked up together. Minghao, Seokmin, Hoshi, and Cheol took it upon themselves to start a bonfire. They believed it was the only appropriate way to kickoff your weekend getaway. Well, Minghao wasn't helping much. He was more so keeping his girlfriend company, having his arms wrapped around her and holding her close. It made you sick to your stomach.

"You know, if you stare long enough, they might get an idea you're watching them like a hawk," Wonwoo commented.

You didn't even noticed he slipped into the kitchen. However, you noticed he had yellow rubber gloves on and was there to keep you company. To be honest, you wanted to dot he dishes by yourself to sort through your thoughts, but you knew Wonwoo was always a good person to confide in. You smiled appreciatively before stepping aside, allowing him to have access to the pile that filled the sink.

"So, I'm taking it you didn't know she was coming?" He asked. "No, not at all. I didn't know until I got out of Cheol's car," you confessed, a hint of sadness in your voice. "Trust me, none of us knew except Minghao. This was apparently his idea of trying to get us to meet her." "By tricking and trapping us here?"

You both shared a laugh at that idea. It made you feel a bit better that you weren't the only one blindsided. Normally, Minghao was so upfront with the group about his feelings, so you were confused why he's kept her hidden for so long. You only knew of her by him mentioning that he was going on a date with a new girl that Dino set him up with. And the poor maknae already got an earful from you.

"I always thought you two would end up together," Wonwoo commented.

His gaze was locked on the dishes submerged underneath the bubbly water. Your gaze was locked on him. Your eyes were a bit wide, not sure if you heard him correctly. However, he glanced out of his peripheral to see your eyes locked on him. "So you're not denying that you like him? Or did I just make things awkward because you guys are best friends?"

You were at a loss of words. How the fuck did Wonwoo figure it out? Who told him? Or were you that painfully obvious.

There was no denying that you had feelings for Minghao. How could he when he treated the world with kindness? How could anyone not be attracted to him when he looked like he was crafted by the Gods? His visuals and his heart of gold set your heart ablaze easily. But you two were friends. Nothing more, nothing less.

He made that part obvious by being with someone else.

Wonwoo let out a chuckle. Putting the last dish in the drying rack, he grabbed the towel to dry off his hands. "Don't worry, y/n. Your secret is safe with me," he vowed. He pressed a kiss to your forehead before he walked away, leaving you motionless in the kitchen.

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Everyone was gathered outside in a small circle around the fire. Seugncheol and Hoshi looked at the fire with pride at the fire they created. All the rest of the guys were chatting, either drinking beer or coffee depending on the guy. You were sandwiched between Jun and Wonwoo.

Unfortunately, you had a front-row view of Minghao and his girlfriend. Her heart twitched with ache as she sat on his lap. Every few seconds, he would take the time to ensure the blanket was wrapped around her body.

"Stare long enough and he's going to notice," Wonwoo whispered. "Or worse, she might."

If you could, you'd hit him on the shoulder. But it would cause too much attention to the others, which knowing them, they'd pry until your secret was let out. You silently thanked him though as his voice caused you to turn your head.

"Could always just blame the fatigue from traveling." "Wow, look who is using their brain," Wonwoo teased.

You rolled your eyes before leaning back fully in the lawn chair. You had your legs curled up to your chest. Sure, you were decked out in sweatpants, a hoodie with a long sleeve shirt underneath, and a beanie, but it wasn't enough to keep you warm. The fire wasn't aiding at all.

"Geez, y/n. You're practically turning blue," Jun chimed in.

Before you could protest, you were being lifted into the man's lap. You stared up at him, disbelief that he actually moved you but also that he pulled off a move like that. Where was the shy boy you met a few years ago?

He winked at you before wrapping the blanket around you. You weren't sure where it had appeared from but then put two and two together when you saw a pouting Mingyu making his way back to the group from inside.

"Hey! That's not fair," he whined out. "Oh come on, Gyu. The baby is called," Jun called out, motioning down towards you.

Mingyu didn't even notice that you had migrated from your spot to Jun's lap. He softened his pout at the sight of you bundled up like a burrito, your face barely showing thanks to the beanie and dark blanket.

"Okay, you got me there. Y/n, is too adorable to get made at," Mingyu chuckled. He swiftly made his way back to his seat, placing himself where you used to sit which was beside Wonwoo. Much better for everyone. "Sweetheart, do you want a s'more? I'm a pro!"

You nearly popped out of Jun's lap in excitement at the offer. The guys around you laughed as Jun wrapped his arms around you, tightening his grip slightly so you wouldn't go rolling off of his lap.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Jun laughed before kissing the crown of your head.

Your eyes widened slightly at Jun's actions. You peered up at him but all he did was wink. Wonwoo was sitting back in amusement, as the rest of the group didn't really seem to blink twice at Jun's antics. Jun was the type of guy who opened up more as he got comfortable around people.

Yet, you couldn't help but ponder on it. Was it a friendly kiss? You couldn't deny the blush that was coating your cheeks as Jun openly showed rare affection in front of the rest of the group. Did it mean something more?

"Hold on, y/n, how do you like your marshmallows?" Your internal investigation was interrupted by Mingyu calling out to you. You turned over to see Mingyu trying to get the marshmallow to stick to the skewer. Fearing the worst, Wonwoo was on supervising duty.

"As gooey as possible! I don't want it to drop into the fire, but get really close," you smirked, knowing it would be a challenge for him. "Whatever the princess wants, she gets," he declared.

You and Jun chuckled as Mingyu got to work.

These were the moments that you longed for since the trip was proposed. For the first time since arrival, you felt relaxed. It helped that Jun was allowing you to curl in his lap like you were a cat.

For Minghao, this was a moment he didn't expect. His eyes were locked on you and Jun, trying to figure out the puzzle between the four - Jun, Mingyu, Wonwoo, and you. Was there something going on? Did he miss something? "Babe? Baby? Helloooo, Earth to Hao?"

He jumped as his girlfriend called out to him. She had a slight pout on her lips as she gazed up at him. Minghao blinked a couple to reorient himself before he finally looked down at the woman in his lap. Woah, I've never just zoned out like that before.

"I was telling you all about what Sasha told me the other day. Weren't you paying attention to me?"

Part of him longed to be apart of the group. I mean, that's how envisioned this trip going. He thought everyone could come together as one group, not break into two smaller groups. Sure, that happened sometimes with a group as large as this but he didn't think that would happen when they were all meant to be hanging out together now. But he didn't want to be a rude person, so he quickly shook his head.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I think the fatigue of driving today is starting to catch up to me."

She raised an eyebrow and just stared at him for a moment. It was like she was trying to decipher if he was lying or not. However, she just shrugged before talking more about her inner circle.

Has she even talked to my friends once since arriving? Did she even make an effort to do so?

It made Minghao curious, especially when you, his best friend, were able to easily blend into his friend group. He even thought you were better friends with some of the other guys than he was. But that was just a testament to what a great person you are.

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One by one, the group began to dwindle and head inside for sleep. You were still outside with Jun, Mingyu, and Wonwoo whereas Minghao and his girlfriend were inside in the kitchen. He was probably making his nightly tea to help ease him to sleep.

"You're welcome, you know," Wonwoo announced.

Picking your head up off Jun's lap, you raised an eyebrow. You were getting sleepy yourself, so you were contemplating going inside or staying a bit longer. However, Wonwoo's statement woke you up and caught your attention.

Chuckling at your confused state, he sat up a bit straighter. Jun and Mingyu shared a knowing look which just further drew in your curiosity.

"Oh you know, for making Hao jealous?" Wonwoo explained. Your eyes widened as you glanced between the three guys before landing on Wonwoo. Your eyes narrowed on him, about to pounce but was eased down by Jun's hold. Note to self: never discredit Jun's strength again.

"You promised not to tell," you hissed. "Angel, it's not hard to put the pieces together," Mingyu added. "Yeah, I mean, we kind of knew you might have a thing for him but seeing you be a bit quieter around the two of them just confirmed."

You dramatically threw your head back. That's it. Your life is over.

"I think I speak for the rest of the guys when we thought you two would end up together."

Your head instantly sprung back. You groaned slightly from the head rush you caused yourself. Jun snickered before allowing his fingers to trace against your arm, comforting you.

"Don't just be mean and say shit like that, Jun." At least Wonwoo didn't deliberately spill your secret, I guess.

You just didn't know you were that obvious to the others.

"Y/n, I mean it. You guys have a special bond. Not only is it apparent that you care about him on a deep level, but he does for you too. I guess we all just thought you were close friends, but we all saw how your personality shifted when she started coming around." "But he's not into me, guys. If he was, he would have said something by now." "Do you think maybe he was waiting for you to say something first?"

You frowned slightly at that idea. I mean, as much as you were waiting for Minghao to confess, you could have confessed as well.

SMACK

You looked over to see Jun and Wonwoo glaring at Mingyu between them. Mingyu was rubbing his arm, looking at you apologetically. The sight alone caused you to smile and relax a bit.

Deciding it was time to go inky ou tapped on Jun's arms. Getting the hint, he loosened his arms from around you so you could stand up. You stretched for a second.

"I guess we'll never know, boys. But what I do know is that I am exhausted and ready to shower to get the smoke smell off of me."

A chorus of goodnights echoed behind you as you said goodnight yourself and head towards the cabin. As much as you loved a good campfire, you didn't want to bring the smell in with you to bed.

Silently, you moved the sliding patio door to the right so you could slip in.

"I don't get why you are so distracted. Back in the city, you always have your attention on me." "I'm sorry you feel that way, but I also was hoping you would take this trip to get to know my friends? I don't want you to feel like you have to just talk to me." "So what? I'm not as important to you as your friends?"

Yikes. That wasn't what you were expecting to talk into you. You figured the house would be silent and you'd be the one making the most noise as you tried to navigate back to your room.

It got quiet as you quickly closed the patio door, not wanting to allow any chilly air or critters into the cabin. You turned around to be greeted by two pairs of eyes staring at you. One was trying to stare into your soul, almost as if she wanted to burn a hole right through you. The other was softer, almost apologetically and shameful.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll see you both in the morning."

As quickly as possible, you scurried out of the kitchen as you desperately wanted to escape the tension inside.

"And you're still paying attention to other people more than you are wanting to pay attention to me!"

While you had your suspicions about what might be driving a wedge between the lovers, you didn't want to stick around and speculate. Now that you had a small group of supporters cheering for you and Minghao to find your way to each other, you were positive they'd fill in the dots if they also overheard anything.

Your priority right now was to get in the shower and curl back underneath the covers.

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SLAM

You jolted in your bed, your sleep interrupted but he sound of the slamming door. You were sure it had woken up the rest of the house too. Luckily for you and your nosey self, your bedroom window overlooked the front of the house. Quietly, you moved over towards the window.

To your surprise, Minghao's girlfriend was the one responsible for the noise. She had her pink duffle bag thrown over her shoulders. With no Minghao chasing after her. You watched as she climbed into the car already waiting for her, the smoke from the exhaust pipe lifting into the air.

Her voice was muffled but loud yet you couldn't make out the words that she was exchanging with the driver.

Where was Minghao? Was he okay?

You quickly got out of bed, but tried to be light on your feet. In a house of 13 men who were just as nosey as you, you had to be very quiet to not ring any silent alarms. You weren't really in the mood for a line of interrogation seeing that it was in the middle of the night.

Just as you were about to slip out of your room, you heard movement coming from the other side of the door. You halted your movement.

Knock knock knock

You were holding the breath you didn't even know you were holding. From underneath the door, you saw the shadow of two feet. Not much to indicate who was at your door.

"Y/n, I know you're up," Minghao said, his voice soft. He didn't sound angry or heartbreak, especially for a guy who's girlfriend (even if you could still call her that) stormed out of the vacation cabin.

It didn't take much longer for you to grasp the golden doorknob and twist it open.

Before you, you were greeted by the sight of Minghao. He was leaning against the doorway, wearing grey sweatpants and a matching grey hoodie. You were convinced Minghao was created by the universe as an apology for the patriarchy.

"You couldn't have made things easier for me?"

You stepped back, allowing Minghao into your room. He nodded before walking in, heading towards your bed. He sat on the edge but leaned back on his elbows. He was almost too calm for your liking.

Knowing that the other boys may have been alerted by Minghao's presence, you quickly closed the door behind you from prying eyes. You looked at him curiously, your heart pounding. Make what easier for him?

"I may be your best friend, but I am not qualified to be your couples' therapist," you said. "Come on, y/n. I know you're into me. Or are you really going to tell me you are into my best friend without telling me?"

Caught redhanded. Dammit.

You opened your mouth to try to defend yourself but nothing was coming out. Your lack of a response confirmed his suspicions, and actually made him believe Jeonghan who had overheard your conversation with Wonwoo earlier in the kitchen.

"Come here, darlin,'" he called out to you.

Without thinking about it, you made your way over towards the man presented on your bed. With each step towards him, your heart pounded faster. It didn't help that he had his eyes trained on you the entire time.

"I thought best friends weren't supposed to lie to each other," he frowned. "I wouldn't say it was necessarily a lie, Hao."

He scoffed as a playful smile was adorn on his lips. Once you were close enough to him, he pulled you in close. You were standing in between his legs as he peered up at you. His hands slowly began moving up and down your arms.

"But you weren't quite exactly truthful with me. How long did you think you could go without confessing to me?" "As long as possible if it meant keeping our friendship." With one hand on your wrist, the other hand moved up to tuck the loose strands of your hair behind your ear. "Good thing I don't want to be your friend anymore."

You swore you could hear your heart shatter into a million pieces at the statement. What did his girlfriend, or whoever she was now, say to him? "Because I don't think friends can do this."

Pulling gently on your wrist, Minghao seemingly eliminated any space between the two of you. He pulled you close enough so your knee hit your bed before leaning up to kiss you. You couldn't even resist. This was what you always wanted, to be his.

You kissed him back, gently moving so his back hit the bed and you were on top of him. Minghao smiled into the kiss, clearly happy about the reciprocation. His hand left your wrist to hold your way, the other cradling your face. You didn't even have time to move your hands onto him before he moved you over so he laid beside you.

The only sound in the room was the sound of your lips smacking against his. He was just as good of a kisser as you imagined.

Slowly, you pulled back. He offered a gentle smile as you did the same, but he could see there was something on your mind.

"You don't need to worry. I ended things with here. She pointed out that I was eyeing you all night, in the way maybe a best friend shouldn't," he confessed.

Your hands gently moved to cup his face. Hearing that news, you couldn't help but let your smile grow wider.

"Now who was the one who could've made things easier?" You teased.

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writingwithciara · 4 months

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Love Or Something Like It ~Quinn Hughes~

summary: quinn's girlfriend sucks but y/n's boyfriend is the best

word count: 3.2k

pairing: quinn hughes x roommate!reader, brief elias pettersson x reader

notes: another quinn x roommate fic. not set in the same universe as the last one. italics are the past. was supposed to post this on valentines day but did not have access to my laptop

masterlist

quinn and y/n were best friends. had been since they were younger. after she finished her schooling at the university of michigan, she followed quinn to vancouver, per his request.

he needed her nearby and somehow, knowing his best friend was there, made him play so much better.

although they hadn't seen each other in person for months, everything easily went back to normal. it was as if the distance was never a problem.

things were easy, until they weren't.

quinn had gotten himself a girlfriend the third month y/n had been living with him. rebecca was only nice to y/n when they were with other people but when they were alone, she would get angry and threaten y/n with anything she could think of.

it was very clear she was jealous. but why did she have to be? y/n wasn't as pretty as rebecca, a fact that she pointed out whenever they were alone, and she didn't want to be with quinn. she had her own boyfriend back in michigan. one she loved with her whole heart, despite all the red flags he gave off.

it hurt quinn to think that y/n wasn't being treated the way she deserved. he knew he had to do something to fix it. and since valentines day was coming up, he thought it'd be perfect to set y/n up on a blind date & rebecca agreed, offering up tons of suggestions. but quinn already had the perfect person in mind.

so, on valentine's day of 2023, y/n was sitting in a fancy restaurant with quinn and rebecca while they waited for the mystery man to show up.

"hey. sorry i'm late."

y/n looked up when she heard the voice. she had heard it many times before at canucks events. elias pettersson stood before her. his bright blue eyes staring back at her with a smile that didn't seem to want to leave his face.

"no worries." y/n smiled up at him as he took the seat across from her. she may have had a boyfriend but in the moment, her only though was how good elias looked tonight.

as they ate, y/n & elias got lost in their own little world. quinn tried not to notice it but the more she laughed, the more distracted quinn got. he didn't think he was jealous until later that night when rebecca brought it up.

"if you're so into her, why did you set her up with your teammate? better yet, why are you dating me?"

"becca, please can we not do this right now?"

"why not, quinn? it's the perfect time to address these feelings. i've been holding mine in since we met. every time you brought her up in conversations, it made me feel small. you're my boyfriend. you're supposed to love me, not her."

"my love for you is completely different than my love for her."

"so you admit that you love her?"

"of course i do. she's been my best friend since we were 8 years old. i've got nothing but love for her." quinn took a step closer to his girlfriend. "but i'm not in love with her. that's the difference here."

"are you trying to convince me or yourself?" rebecca grabbed her bag and walked to the door. "call me when you get it right, hughes."

and just like that, rebecca was gone.

quinn had tried multiple times to call her and tell her he only wanted to be with her, but only received her voicemail each time.

over the next few weeks, y/n spent more and more time with elias. she was almost never home anymore and quinn was alone 90% of the time. he would drive to practice alone and he would watch as y/n slowly transitioned herself from a hughes fan to a pettersson fan.

she started wearing elias' jersey instead of quinn's and it created an unfamiliar pain in his chest the more it became evident.

when y/n found out her boyfriend had cheated on her, she didn't run to quinn. she ran straight to elias instead, breaking quinn's heart.

he realized that the unfamiliar sting in his chest was jealousy. quinn didn't want to see y/n with anyone but himself but unfortunately for him, he was a little late to the realization.

one night while quinn was at home, y/n was over at elias' place. she came home with a big smile on her face that night & quinn knew why, but he asked anyway.

"what's got you so smiley tonight?"

"elias made me dinner and asked me to be his girlfriend."

and there was that stinging feeling right where it didn't need to be. only it was 10 times worse this time. he was hopelessly in love with her & had no idea how to deal with it.

it wasn't until the beginning of february 2024 that quinn had hope again.

he and y/n were washing the dishes together when she rubbed her eye with her forearm. some of the suds came off on her cheek and as quinn went to wipe them away, her breath hitched and her cheeks were turning red.

"here, let me get that for you." he wiped the suds away and smiled. "there, all gone."

"gee, thanks quinn." y/n flicked some water at him, causing the soap suds to go everywhere. the look in quinn's eyes was enough of a warning for her. she took off out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

"you've got nowhere to run now, y/n." quinn smirked evilly, moving closer to y/n until her back was pressed against the wall. y/n swallowed the lump in her throat before looking at his lips. this only caused quinn to lean down and whisper in her ear. "gotcha." he wiped the suds on her face and smiled. when he looked down at her, she was staring at his lips. "what's on your mind?" he teased.

"n-nothing." she quickly looked away and moved away from the wall. she headed back into the kitchen to finish the dishes. quinn took a moment by himself before joining her.

"so, valentines day is coming up in a few days. you and elias have anything huge planned?"

"he won't tell me." y/n washed the last plate and handed it to quinn. he dried it and put it in it's place before turning back to y/n.

"does he know you hate surprises?"

"i don't hate them, quinn." y/n shook her head.

"you don't like secrets and those are practically the same thing."

"i guess so." y/n turned to quinn. "but elias has been off lately. did anything happen at practice?"

"no. why?"

"i don't know why he's acting this way."

"what way?"

"dodgy? i think that's the word to describe it." y/n sighed. "he's not seeing someone else...is he?" the sadness in y/n's voice made quinn's heart break.

"no. of course not. elias is a good guy. you just gotta talk to him and see what's going on."

"i'll try." y/n walked to her bedroom but before she entered, she turned to quinn. "hey. are you still dating rebecca?"

"no. she, um, broke up with me. almost a year ago."

"good." she looked up at him and backtracked her comment. "i mean, not good as in it's good she broke up with you. i meant good as in it's good that she's gone. she was terrible."

"yeah she really was. and i'm sorry again for what she did and said to you."

"it's not your fault, quinn."

"it kind of is. if i hadn't been dating her to cover up the fact that i was jealous- nevermind." he caught himself before he revealed too much.

"jealous of what? you can't just leave the comment there. who were you jealous of?"

"nobody. just forget i said anything." quinn smiled at his roommate. "good night."

y/n stood in her doorway with a puzzled look on her face. why did every guy in her life have to keep a secret from her.

y/n shook her head and went into her own room. she called jack because he was the only she knew who wouldn't keep a secret from her.

"hey. what's up y/n?"

"jack, i need some information and i know you'll give it to me because you are the only one i know who never hides things from me."

"well, i can definitely give you information. but it also depends on what it is. i might not know what you're asking about."

"fair point. but it's about quinn and i know you know all about your brother."

"yeah i do. what's the information you need?"

"5 minutes ago, he said he was only dating rebecca because he was jealous but he wouldn't tell me why he was jealous or what he was jealous of."

"he's jealous of you and elias." jack responded with no hesitation, causing y/n to gasp a little louder than expected.

"but he was dating rebecca before i started dating elias. how could he be jealous?"

"maybe jealous wasn't the word he meant to use. he probably was trying to say he was only dating her because he was trying to get over how he felt about you." jack thought for a second. "or maybe he was jealous of you and that michigan douchebag you were dating when you moved to vancouver."

"that's a little more logical. but he doesn't love me, jack. and even if he did, it wouldn't matter. i'm dating elias and i love him. not quinn."

unbeknownst to y/n, quinn had come out of his room and had heard her say she didn't love him. the last few pieces of his heart shattered and he suddenly couldn't breath.

before he made any noise, he made his way back to his room, collapsing against the door. why did he have to love his best friend? his very not single best friend.

for the next 2 days, quinn would avoid y/n at all costs. he would wake up super early and leave the apartment before he saw her & he wouldn't even acknowledge her at practice or at games.

it was breaking her heart but it wasn't known why it was affecting her so badly.

on valentines day, elias had set up a romantic picnic for her in his backyard. she appreciated it but her mind was stuck on the way quinn was treating her lately. and elias wasn't blind or stupid. he could tell she was hurting.

"hey, love. are you alright?"

"i'm fine." y/n smiled and sipped her champagne. "why do you ask?"

"because i know you're not fine. i can see the far away look you have in your eye. you're deep in thought about something and i can tell it's hurting you. and i love you so please tell me what's going on with you. i just want to make you feel better."

"quinn has been my best friend forever but this past year alone, i've been feeling him pulling away and i don't know why." she sighed. "do you think he's tired of having me in his life?"

"what? no that's impossible. who could get tired of having you in their life? and quinn is the very last person who would want to do that to you. he cares about you, a lot."

"i know that's how it's supposed to feel but lately, things have been different. if he cared about me at all, he wouldn't be avoiding me whenever he had the opportunity to do it."

it was elias' turn to sigh. "it's because he's finally realizing he's in love with you. he has been for a while."

"no he hasn't. why does everyone keep saying that?"

"because it's true." elias took his girlfriends hand and smiled. "and i don't blame him. you make everyone fall in love with you like it's the easiest thing to do. and you don't even know the effect you have on us. you should've heard the way quinn talked about you the night he asked me to take you out on that date for valentines day. i already knew you and i had already said yes but he kept saying all these really nice things about you. things a best friend wouldn't say. i'm telling you, y/n. quinn is in love with you." elias sighed. "and i think you love him too."

"well, of course i do. he's my best friend." y/n smiled. "but that doesn't matter. i love you, elias. and that should be what matters here."

"i love you enough to know that being with quinn is what you need." by now, it was obvious they both had tears in their eyes.

"why do you have to be the sweetest human being on this planet?"

"well, i am swedish." he smiled and held her close. "you're always going to be the best girlfriend i've ever had. and not just because you're the only one i've had. you're always going to hold the crown."

"so does this mean we're breaking up?"

"yes. but i still love you. always will." he held her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. "now, let's get you home so you can tell quinn."

back at the apartment, quinn was trying to put something together to express every emotion he was feeling. after he had everything put together, there was a knock on the door.

he opened it and rebecca walked in. she looked around the apartment then back at quinn.

"well this isn't what i was expecting when i came here." she smiled. "but it's thoughtful, quinn. can't believe you went through all of this for me."

"actually, i-" he didn't have time to tell her it was for y/n before rebecca was pulling him in for a kiss.

"seriously?" y/n was standing in the doorway, watching the whole thing unfold. rebecca pulled away from quinn rather harshly at the sound of y/n's voice.

"y/n, this isn't-"

"i'm ruining a romantic moment. i'm sorry. i'll leave."

"you're right. you are and you should. bye." rebecca waved and y/n turned to walk back out.

"no, y/n wait!" quinn called out to her then turned to rebecca. "you need to go."

"what are you talking about?"

"this wasn't for you, rebecca. it would've been if you hadn't broken up with me a year ago. but it's not now."

"then who's it for?" rebecca searched quinn's face for a sign before her eyes landed on y/n, who was halfway out the door. "seriously? for her? thought you said you weren't in love with her."

"yeah well maybe i am now!"

y/n stopped in her tracks and turned back around.

"what?" y/n and rebecca responded.

"yeah. and maybe i always have been. it may have been a subconscious act and maybe that's why i always needed her to be close by. we can't help who we love and you can't be mad at y/n for the way that i feel. she did nothing wrong."

"she's done nothing but come between us since the moment we started dating, quinn."

"just leave, rebecca."

"no. i think i'll go. elias is waiting for me downstairs anyway." y/n turned around and walked out of he building. she got halfway down the street before it started raining.

a car sped past her and she knew it was rebecca just by the way the car aggressively sped through a puddle and nearly splashed her.

"oh tonight could not get any worse!" she shouted in frustration, kicking at a rock in her path.

"y/n, wait!" quinn shouted as he ran up to her.

"quinn, i'm not really in the mood to talk right now."

"then just listen to me. i'll do all the talking."

"fine. but can we go home? i'm freezing."

"of course." they both stayed silent as they headed back to their apartment. quinn wanted to say everything he was feeling but he wanted to wait until y/n was in a better mood. he knew she hated wet clothes so as soon as they walked through the door, he was rushing to his room to get her a tshirt and a pair of sweatpants. she accepted them without a word and went to the bathroom to change.

when she came out, the smell of hot chocolate filled her nostrils and it brought her a sense of joy. only quinn would be this thoughtful when she was mad at him.

she walked into the living room and sat down, silently taking the mug quinn offered her. she took a sip and smiled. that's when quinn knew he was doing good.

"okay. i'm ready to listen." y/n held the mug close and looked at him. his hair was still wet from the rain and she suddenly found herself wanting to run her fingers through the mess.

"okay. um, first off, rebecca and i are most definitely not together. just want to clarify that. and all of this," he glanced up at y/n & gestured around the apartment. "i set it all up for you. i know you're dating elias and you probably got something super romantic for valentines day but i wanted to do something for you too, even if it's only platonic between us. and im fine with that because you're my best friend and im sorry for rebecca and im sorry for ignoring you. it was a bad move on my part. but i heard you talking to jack the other night and you told him you didn't love me so i figured you'd want some space."

"elias and i broke up." y/n set her mug on the coffee table and stared down at her hands. "but it's okay. he's still a really good friend and that makes me happy."

"why'd you guys break up?"

"he could tell i was hurting and he kinda figured out how i feel about you."

"and how's that?"

"i didn't think i loved you until he pointed it out. but now it all makes sense. i was so eager to leave my life in michigan just to move out here to be closer to you & now i know why. i also know why it was weird seeing you with rebecca. it felt unnatural because deep down, i knew you and i were supposed to be together. we've been together our whole lives but never in a million years did i think there was a reason we were so attached to each other." y/n glanced over to find quinn staring at her already. "i do love you, quinn. and i know you love me too."

"i do. i definitely do." he smiled and moved closer. "i always will. and i'm willing to wait for you, however long it takes."

"you're perfect, quinn. i love you so much." she moved forward and threw her arms around him. he held her close and pulled her sideways onto his lap to make her more comfortable. "how about we go on a real date next saturday?"

"that sounds perfect." he looked at her and it took all of his willpower to not kiss her. she didn't care. her hands went to his cheeks and her lips attached to his.

it was a perfect moment for the both of them and neither of them cared about the world around them. as far as they were concerned, it was just the two of them for the rest of their lives.

taglist: @worldlxvlys @fearfam69691

#quinn hughes #nhl #nhl hockey #nhl imagine #jack hughes #luke hughes #quinn hughes x reader

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charlesf1leclerc · 2 months

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Summary- one day your whole world turns upside down and where will your lives go from here

Warnings: childbirth, teen pregnancy

A/N- this is inspired by the stab series bump. Not exactly the same but wanted to give a nod to my inspiration. Also I’m so inspired right now ahh!

Today started as a regular school day, I woke up , placed my uniform on , packed my lunch and left. Another day , final year, then I'm free , no more highschool. I worked hard, I got good grades , I had a small group of friends , my life is organized , put together and I know where I'm going.

I walked down the sidewalk, down my usual route. Today we had an oral presentation. 25% of our final grade , I knew my points were thought out , I was prepared , I got this, I had no nerves. A cramping sensation fills my stomach again. This had been happening since I woke up sporadically, it would come and go for a few seconds but now they were getting further apart and more painful. I warped my hands around my lower body, the pain went away and I kept walking. Upon entering the gates , my ears were filled with the noise of highschool students like every morning. Girls gossiping, boys â€¦. Being boys. The pain had gotten slightly worse on my way over , but again came and went.

An arm wrapped around my shoulder.

“ Morning girl” Madison enthused

“ Morning”

“ Stop being so uptight you are going to smash this “ She nudged me

“ I’m not , I just don’t feel well ok “ I shrugged back

“ don’t tell me your nervous “ Mad’s smirked

“ no of course not” I shot back

Maybe it was nerves, but I never get nervous , something was up.

As I walked further to my locker the pain came back, it was like hell. I felt like I was going to die. This was not normal. The pain hit me so hard, I began to feel dizzy and then something built up in my throat.

My locker door slammed closed and I ran to the nearest bathroom leaving Maddie and my locker very confused.

Upon reaching the girls bathroom I ran into the nearest stall and slammed the door closed, kneeling down by the bowl and pouring out the vomit that rose from my throat. Something was wrong. The pain was intense, the vomit. This was not nerves.

“ Y/N!” Madison yelled, hearing her footsteps come into the bathroom.

I didn't reply. Vomiting again

“ I’m really worried, are you ok? “

I couldn’t reply so I left her un answered

“ I’m going to get someone!”

That was best , I ‘m scared , this feels like death , something was not ok.

Within moments a teacher had also entered the bathroom. Crawling under the bathroom stall door to get to me and seeing my state.

Paramedics were called and before I knew it I was whisked away into the back of a ambulance, displayed to the whole school, I would be embarrassed later but right now I couldn’t take on anymore.

Sweat dripped from my forehead and the pain was unbearable as we drove down the road.

The paramedics tended to me , feeling my stomach, attached to wires.

“ Ok y/n your baby is coming now im going to need you to push” He spoke

Baby? Baby! BABY!

I was not pregnant. This was a mistake, people know when they are pregnant , I did and don’t know that I am pregnant , well was in a few moments time if a baby comes out.

“ No I'm , I'm not having a baby!”

“ I assure you , you are.. Did you not know?” he inquired

“NO!”

Did this seem like a person who knew they were having a baby, I don’t even look pregnant how can a baby fit in there.

“ you’re going to have to push anyway don’t focus on anything else”

The pain was unbearable. He cut at the bottom of my skirt , to allow access and I pushed. I didn’t think I just did.

Hours later

“ A baby” my mum spoke from beside my bed in the hospital looking at the tiny creature next to me. “ Why didn’t you tell me y/n/n”

“ I didn’t know” I spoke emotionless

She sighed and looked away towards the door as the nurse walked in.

‘ Everything looks good on both of your charts” she spoke chipley. “ Y/n there is some counseling we recommend to women who had a cryptic pregnancy, and to people of your age”

I rolled my eyes and my mum took the paper.

“ Thank you” my mum spoke up and the nurse left the room

“ I don't want it” I looked to my mum

“ counseling would be good sweetie”

“ No i don’t want the baby”

My mum sighed “ Babies can be wonderful she may teach you some things, and shouldn’t this be a conversation we have with the father and his family first”

“ I can’t raise a baby, I won’t “

And i didnt even want to start on the father talk I couldn’t think about that

“ Who is the father? “ my mum asked

“ I don’t know” i bluntly replied

She wasn’t convinced but let me be for now.

It later came that adoption can not happen until 30 days after the birth as the mother is not in a state to decide properly.

“ 30 days , we have to take her home for 30 days!” I squeaked

“You can last sweetie get time to bond to see if this is what you really want” She smiled looking at the baby again, easy for her to say. I’m 17 and I can't raise a baby.

How did I get hereâ€¦.

Dad Pov

It was just another day at school. My life was boring, karting, school back home with my siblings, dad and stepmom and repeat. At school I had it all but in life I had nothing. I wasn’t sure about where I was going to go after school, I didn’t even really want to continue school.

It was currently later in the afternoon. I was sitting on the bench at lunch time as I waited for the others to join me.

Lost in my thoughts. Leo came over and slammed himself down on the top of the table next to me snapping me out of my head.

“Sup,dude” we fist bumped my head still remaining straight ahead.

“You hear about that y/n girl?” He asked looking at me.

Y/n the one person I was not into talking about today. I had seen her being taken away in an ambulance today but had not yet heard what really went down.

“ yeah , crazy “ I mumbled

“ yeah apparently she had a baby”

What everything faded had I just heard him right

“ what?” I snapped to look at him

“ yeah she hid it pretty well , she didn’t even know apparently” he nodded placing his food in his mouth.

She didn’t even look pregnant, how could she not of known.

“ Wonder who the father is? You think it’s someone from here?” He intriguingly asked

I was just as curious, my hands began to sweat, surely one night could not have caused all this. It can’t be me!

A/N- ahhhh stay tuned and also vote on who you want the father to be 😉

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emergency-plan · 2 months

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DPxDC Idea

I had a little idea an have no time to actually write a fic, so I just wrote a sorta-summary and am posting it like this.

This is inspired by the game Home Safety Hotline and may contain hints to spoilers for that game. It's really clever, I really like it. I recommend you play it if slightly spooky without any "real" horror appeals to you.

Alright, Danny's been Ghost King for a few years and has realized more than just his usual rogues make their way to the living world, and a lot of those ghosts don't stay in Amity. By himself, it'd take forever to track down all those spirits and specters that are out causing mischief. Luckily, not many that escaped his notice are all that powerful and could only cause minor disturbances, just enough to get noticed by the living.

Many people outside Amity don't even recognize the activity as ghosts, so they blame other sources. Scratching in the walls is mistaken as mice, whispers and apparitions are mistaken as hallucinations and carbon monoxide hallucinations, attempted overshadowings mistaken as stokes or migraines. In this day and age, where does everyone turn to when looking for advice or how to solve problems? The internet.

Team Phantom devise a method to try and track down ghosts that are stuck or tormenting the living by building a website meant to look like a help hotline, and with some algorithm trickery make it one of the top options when searching for signs similar to ghost presences. Add some bits and bobs to make it appear as a more normal-looking website on any computer affiliated with government organizations, and you’ve got some protection from the GIW.

Calls start slowly, so the three of them can handle it by themselves. Once more people are calling, they decide to start a call center. They hired some trusted people around Amity and even a few ghosts who want to help. To get around worrying about the ghosts messing with the tech while personally taking a call, they decide to automate the system to record caller’s reports for the employees to listen to, and then send a report back, offering their services to bring the spirit back to the Realms.

It’s been surprisingly lucrative, and Danny hasn’t had to dip into his kingly funds much other than at the start. He still keeps prices low, just enough to not garner suspicions at offering a free service while paying his workers fairly (he doesn’t want to know why some of the ghosts want mortal money). What he’s started having more trouble with is not enough employees to take the calls. Sometimes ghosts lose track of time and don’t show up for their shifts (he doesn’t blame them, time gets weird in the Ghost Zone), and he’s run out of people he trusts who want the job.

Eventually he decides to put out an ad, deciding he’ll slowly trust whoever takes the job with a little more information over time, see how they react, and measure to see if they’re trustworthy.

What he doesn’t think about is how posting it on the website will let more people than just those that live in Amity apply.

Meanwhile, in Gotham, one Cassandra Cain is looking for a job. She doesn’t need the money, B gives her access to way too much, but she wants the experience. She’s at the age she’s heard most kids get a job, and she wants to see what it’s like.

And she quickly found out retail and fast food are NOT for her. She doesn’t think those conditions are fit for anyone, honestly. She’d have to see if she could get Bruce to work on that. But that still leaves her out of a job. She got overwhelmed with a lot of people, so virtual options would probably be best, and something that let her interact with people without having to speak. There weren’t a lot of options out there, and she wasn’t skilled enough with a computer yet to take programming ones.

That’s when she found the listing for the hotline call center. Based in a small Illinois town, but had virtual options, listen to recorded customer calls, diagnose their issue, and send an information packet on potential next steps. It was indirect, could also help her practice her reading, and flexible. It was perfect.

It didn’t take long to hear back after she applied (Danny was freaking out, he didn’t think anyone outside Amity would apply. He’d turn this kid down, but she’d mentioned her difficulties with speaking in her application and SWEETY YOU DONT MENTION STUFF LIKE THAT ON AN APPLICATION. But she said the job would be perfect for her and he just couldn’t…) and she got the job!

Her first day rolls around and she’s given access to the database. A lot has been redacted, but she has descriptions for common problems like mice, carbon monoxide, black mold, etc. she gets her first call recording and carefully reads through the entries before selecting the one that sounds right. She sends it off and waits for the next. The calls come a little too regularly, with too similar intervals between them, so she figures her new employer is testing how well she’s doing (Danny’s giving her previous resolved calls that weren’t anything supernatural. She even got the ants right! He had even gotten that wrong!)

Eventually, her shift ends and she tells her family how well her first day went at dinner. They congratulate her and go on patrol as usual. The next day, things ramp up a little.

She logs into the database at the beginning of her shift and noticed some new entries. She now had access to descriptions of shades, blob ghosts, will o’ wisps, and more minor spirits. She gets a recording reminding her all this info is confidential and that she’s not allowed to share it with anyone. She’s a little confused, but she reads through each just as carefully. The calls come less regularly, so she figures she’s actually connected to the system now (Danny gave her access to the most common ghosts they get calls about and is listening in while he’s handling ghosts to make sure she doesn’t get anything she’s not prepared for).

Her shift ends and over dinner, she mentions that she’s had to diagnose some odd things. They assure her there’s more pests and hazards out there than you’d expect. She doesn’t tell her family about the distraught woman haunted by the Ecto-Echo of her husband’s habit of making her coffee every morning after he passed a few weeks ago. Or the person who had a Shade masquerading as their shadow. Just about one of her caller's cockroach problem.

The next day follows a similar pattern; more entries, slightly more powerful ghosts, reminder that the info she's been given access to is confidential and could get people hurt if it got in the wrong hands, congratulated for her good work, read through carefully and learn signs of each, diagnose calls, before calling it a day (Danny was so proud of her, she'd only confused a blob ghost with a ghost animal once, and it hadn't caused him any trouble when he went to collect them).

She'd used the bat-computer to check up on some of the callers she'd diagnosed, and they seemed to be doing fine. Some had posted about their weird experiences on their social media and how her employer had somehow helped them, but often didn't quite know how (Danny liked to hide his powers, so most of what customers saw was him using ghost tech. When it couldn't be solved with just a quick souping, he had to pull a little ghostly trickery while the customer wasn't watching). She didn't know how her boss was somehow across the world multiple times a day to help clients in different countries, but he seemed to at least be helping people. She started not having any stories she could tell her family at dinner.

At some point, she heard reports that one of the speedsters probably messed with time travel again before clocking into her shift. She had almost all the available entries and had gotten very good at recognizing tricky cases. She answered a recorded call, just like at the beginning of each of her shifts, but this one was a little different. Danny had sent out an announcement to be on the lookout for a specific phenomena that often occurred after shifts in reality, as they were highly dangerous and needed to be dealt with swiftly.

She studied each entry and paused on what she was supposed to keep a careful eye out for. Revenants, corpses that came back to life, often seen shambling around the graveyards they were buried in. Something about that sounded familiar. A section in their entry said the person brought back often had a ghost in the Realms (which she still didn't know what that was) that was in terrible pain from shifts in reality trying to pull them back to their body, but the separation of dimensions preventing them.

Expectedly, she did get a call from someone convinced there was a zombie wandering somewhere along the east coast. She double checked it couldn't be anything else before submitting it and notifying her boss.

Curious, and she knew no one would be in the batcave around this time of day, she brought her laptop with her down to the bat-computer. She found cameras in the area the caller reported, and froze at what she saw. Shambling across an abandoned street was a rotting corpse. It really did look like a zombie. It was covered in dirt, wearing an old-fashioned suit, and had skin sloughing off its bones.

But what Cass could only focus on was how much its movements read that it was in pain. It was suffering in such a horrible way its mindless being didn't even deserve. It was horrible.

Then, there was a flash of green and an area of the cameras were covered in static. The glitched portion somehow read with kindness and pity. It slowly approached the corpse, simple reaching out gently (what was presumably a hand), ignoring the way it lashed out. It suddenly fell, caught and slowly lower to the ground by the strange being she couldn't see. It closed the thing's eyes before carrying it off in the direction the map said a graveyard could be found.

After that, she finished her shift and went to dinner. Her family asked if she was alright, and she only replied it'd been a long day.

She clocked in early the next day and messaged her boss for more information on Revenants. Dinner that night was one of the few times Jason agreed to come by, and if he noticed how she kept glancing at him, he didn't say anything.

A week later, she asked her boss what might happen if a Revenant was exposed to, as it was called in its entry, a "Corrupted Ecto-Spring" ("...an ugly hole in the fabric of reality that connects the world of the living to the Realms. The ectoplasm that leaks through the tear stagnates and festers into toxic pools that kills humans and makes ghosts sick."). Danny requested a video call.

#dpxdc #danny phantom #cassandra cain #i might continue this later but i REALLY need to get back to my homework #got so many ideas but no time and no energy :(#dcxdp

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ronwestbreeze · 6 months

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bow to me

pairing: geto suguru x non-sorcerer!reader warnings: gore and violence, use of the word "monkey" lol summary: you're your mother's deadliest sin word count: 5.1k author's note: i had fun with this one, hehe. hope you guys like it <3

part 1 | read on AO3

You weren’t a cursed spirit.

Or maybe you were, you weren’t necessarily well-versed in the world of curses and sorcerers. You just knew them by name.

You weren’t human.

Well, maybe you were, just a different kind. Cursed.

Yeah.

Maybe you were cursed.

There was an eerie quiet now. Your mind had never been so quiet. Not in a long time.

It was a rarity. This silence.

You decided that this was what peace felt like and that you weren’t going to let it go. You weren’t going to deny yourself any longer.

In the end, it was pathetically funny. Pretending to be normal whenever you never were. From birth, you had always been like this. So, you leaned back in the chair, your arm covering your face, and laughed.

And laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

It was hilarious.

The bodies lying at your feet were quiet as stone. But you figured they’d laugh too if they were alive.

Once your laughter went to giggles, you peeked over your arm and stared up at the ceiling fan.

“You’re your mother’s deadliest sin.” You sang to yourself. At least that’s what your father always said.

“She’s saved!”

Applause.

You dropped your face into your hands and shivered. Bile coated your throat, tightened with such conviction. But none of it was from the stench of the bodies around you. It wasn’t the taste of flesh on your tongue.

Tears spilled out of your eyes uncontrolled.

You laughed. You cried. You couldn’t really tell anymore.

“You won’t have to suffer anymore.”

Applause.

What the hell were they clapping for?

You opened your eyes, staring straight at one of the bodies lying down in front of you. Lifeless eyes that were once pleading for mercy, staring back at you. And for an instant, that little voice—the you a year ago, still trying to be human, still trying to live life as a regular sixteen-year-old—whimpered.

What am I doing?

You were cursed.

No, no, no, I promised I would. I promised!

Your father saw you as a blessing.

What am I doing? This isn’t me. This isn’t—

And your mother died for it.

“Now you can rest, my sweet girl.”

Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.

Your breathing was shaky. But your body gave in multiple times. You sat up straighter, taking in all the bodies in the small living room.

Perhaps, you went a little far this time.

Then again, you’ve been hungry for a long time now.

“Do you have any more rice balls?”

You remembered their little faces so vividly. The only memory you allowed to snake its way through your mind while pushing everything else back into the tight box. So detailed. Precious. Undeserving of this world.

You failed them. You should’ve fought harder and killed the townspeople yourself.

Unfortunately, someone had beaten you to it.

2007

It’s been a pretty hellish day.

Granted, it might’ve been partially your fault.

You had gone on another binge but made sure to keep the bodies to a minimum of five this time around. But you supposed that was still too much because it drew some unwanted attention.

Usually, you kept to yourself at an abandoned hospital south of Tokyo. That was where you fed and left the bodies to rot. No one questioned it since many locals tended to stay away from the hospital. Something about it being haunted.

The haunted part was also, technically your fault but that’s beside the point.

Earlier in the day, it was pretty regular. You had a new job working at a café which gave you a lot of access to coffee in case you got a little squirmy around people, especially flesh. And the job had been pretty steady, you’ve been in the city for about half a year now. And it’s been pretty simple.

You’ve somewhat learned to control your hunger, choosing certain days to feed. Choosing the type of people to feed from, such as perverted men or just men in general whenever you felt extra pissed that day. Rarely did you go after women unless you were really, really hungry.

Children were off limits.

Sorcerers were a rarity. And all the more fun.

So what you expected as your usual day suddenly turned interesting when an older man you were serving started asking you strange questions.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not on the menu, sir.” Was your casual answer with the usual customer service smile.

The man grinned, “Wow, you almost seem convincing. I’m impressed.” He leaned his elbows on the table with a smug smirk, “Curses have gotten so advanced in this day in age, especially compared to when I first started.”

You kept your face neutral, “Sir, are you going to order or not?”

You weren’t human.

You knew this.

“Tell me,” The man continued, pinning you in place with an intense gaze. “How were you able to hide from us for so long?”

Now you were irritated. Strange how quickly that happened these days.

Instead of taking his obvious bait, you offered a sweet smile, “I’ll go get you another waitress. And when you’re ready to order she’ll help you.” You tucked your notepad into the pocket of your apron. “I have other tables to attend to. Excuse me.”

After a quick bow, you left his table. He didn’t stop you either with another strange question or observation.

This was going to be a long day. But you couldn’t help the secret grin tugging at your lips as you entered the kitchen.

“Heh.”

“And where is the curse now?”

The human man, Geto never bothered to learn his name, swallowed nervously, “It was at the hospital for awhile and then, well, we lost it for a second—but we managed to track it down to a local café. Since then, the curse hasn’t left.”

Geto hummed and stood from the altar, “Any sorcerers?”

“One found it. But updates have told me neither of them have left the café yet.”

The curse was elusive, Geto figured. A month ago was the first time he received word about it. There were many bodies left in its wake, so it sounded like they were quite the powerful curse. A special grade, perhaps.

It’s just that no one has managed to catch a glance of it. But apparently, it was attached to a human girl.

Simple enough.

“Bring Larue. We’re taking a small trip.” Geto smiled passively at the man. “You’re of no use to me anymore.”

He should’ve sent Larue in the first place instead of this monkey. A mistake he would not make again. While yes, the human could see curses, he was still of little use to Geto-sama. Plus, he was slightly irritated that he nearly lost the curse.

That deserved some form of punishment.

Geto sent him another smile, “Why don’t I award you accordingly?”

A curse appeared next to him, startling the human into a frightful scream as he stumbled off and ran.

“Make sure to go and find Larue for me whenever you can!” Geto called happily as the man kept screaming further into one of the temple corridors.

After a moment, he dusted his robes off and sighed, “Alright then. Time to get to work.”

“Huh, I thought you’d last longer.”

You mumbled as your kagune tore straight through the sorcerer’s abdomen and pinned him against the now scarlet-stained wall. By now you were sure that all the coffee was filled with drips of blood from all the deathly pale customers and former co-workers. How unfortunate.

The sorcerer didn’t respond or move. At this point, you were talking to a corpse.

“Aw, man! Now I have to get a whole new job.” You pouted, letting the body drop to the floor with the rest. “You see what you made me do? Could’ve left me be, serving gross-ass coffee. But you just had to play hero—not a very good one—but a hero, nonetheless.”

You allowed your kagune to retreat into your spine and get off the front counter. “Now how should I paint this canvas? Leave you all as is? Let the humans believe this to be a random homicide?” You stuck your tongue out, “Bleh, boring!” You knelt in front of the dead sorcerer and found yourself giggling as if he told you a joke, "Or maybe you killed them all and then yourself. Yeah, seems fitting. Sure to keep the rest of your kind off my back for a little bit. Including the humans.”

With that, you nodded to yourself and hummed a catchy tune to yourself as you went to grab a knife from the kitchen. After dancing to the song in your head, you stabbed the sorcerer in the abdomen multiple times until it was coated in his blood.

The whiff of the blood was delicious and you couldn’t help but get a few licks before putting the knife in his limp hand.

For a moment, you remained crouched in front of him. Staring straight at this corpse. Wondering when you became so used to the blood. To finding flesh so delicious.

Guess you couldn’t help who you were in the end.

Was it sad? Was it relieving?

You couldn’t say.

With a sigh, you stood, instantly catching movement in the reflection of the café front window.

“Hi, there.”

You barely had time to turn and see who else was in the café with you.

It felt as if an invisible chain yanked you back.

And everything turned black. Though, you weren’t unconscious.

And here entered the hellish part of the day.

Perhaps it wasn’t simple.

When Geto saw the curse for himself, he originally, only saw a human. But upon further inspection, he saw it. That cursed spirit. It was just hidden by that human cover.

Was it inside of the human? Was it even attached?

Or was the human the curse?

Either way, he was able to capture it and swallow it down like all the others.

The taste was strange though. Putrid like the rest but there was a sweetness to it. It was a pleasant surprise. Apart of him wished he could taste her all over again. The type of sweetness that was addicting. What a nasty drug.

It was definitely a special grade. That much was clear.

Useful. He needed power like this on his side. He was lucky to have caught it first before those sorcerers could.

Well, technically the dead sorcerer did find it first but didn’t have much time to exorcise it. Clearly.

He chuckled at the scene before him, “Well, aren’t you a gruesome little thing.”

And it was his to claim.

Proud of his recent accomplishment, he and Larue went back to the temple with more work awaiting them, well for Geto mostly.

“They’re all waiting for you, sir.” One of his followers informed him.

Next to him, Larue grinned, “Another speech tonight, Geto-sama?”

“That’s where I do my work best.” Geto smiled with a nod as he walked to the main room.

Upon entering, dozens of followers left from the Time Vessel Association got on their knees and pressed their foreheads to the matted floor.

“We live in a disease. Sickness everywhere we look.” Geto took his seat at the altar, brushing out his robes. “And it is our job to get rid of it. To clean this world of monkeys. And I recognize that many of you are hungry for that. But all followers must be guided in the right direction.” His smile grew as they kept their heads down. None of them dared to look him in the eyes as he spoke. They respected him. They adored him.

It’s what he deserved.

“You all obey me now if you wish to live and see the world we create.” No one objected to this. Larue stood further at the back with a proud smile. “Do you trust me to lead you all without question? If not—”

It’s as if for a short moment, he wasn’t in control of his body. His stomach twisted into painful knots, and his throat both retracted and tightened until he finally lurched forward and retched the ball with the curse out onto the matted floor.

“Geto-sama!”

That had to be Larue’s voice. But Geto couldn’t hear much of him. Not with a bleary mind, dazed in confusion and shock.

Yes, in the past he had vomited after swallowing curses. But they never came back up.

What the hell?

You weren’t sure where you’d end up after scaping but you sure as hell wasn’t expecting to be standing before a bunch of people, bowing but staring at you in utter shock and delicious fear.

Of course, you were still pissed about being captured but your lips lifted upward into a smirk at the sight. That is until your eyes caught on an old insignia on the wall.

The symbol for the Time Vessel Association.

You scoffed, “You guys never give up, huh?” You wiped the leftover blood off your lips and grinned, “Can’t even let it go after almost three years? That’s fine, I guess. More food for me.”

In your mouth, your canines began to ache just as your eyes locked on one of the men. Frozen in fear at the sight of you. Looking like he was just about ready to run out of there.

“Excuse me.”

The voice rang in your ears. Coming from behind you like at the café. Lazily, you glanced over your shoulder only to be met with the last person you ever expected to see.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t eat my loyal followers.”

You didn’t recognize him at first. His hair was longer, and he wore a kasaya over his black robes—but his smile was the same, just with something a lot more sinister.

“Hey,” You mused with a raised brows, “You killed me last year. And took my girls.”

He stared at you too—you were sure he recognized you too with the subtle look of familiarity flashing in his eyes.

Of course, he recognized you.

The sweet store clerk from that village. The non-sorcerer that had made him falter back then—only by a little.

His conviction about it had been long resolved though. To him, you were just like the rest of them. A monkey.

Although, you looked quite different with blood tattooed onto your face, clothes, and body. Wearing it proudly like a second skin.

Showing little reaction to recognizing you was easy.

But it was the way you said ‘my girls’ that made his fingers twitch and his smile become stiff.

“Larue. The meeting’s ending early. Please, escort everyone out. Some important matters that need tending to.”

After the man, Larue, gave you one last cautious stare—you didn’t bother sparing him a look—he led the rest of the group out of the room. Leaving only you and this man. A cult leader if you had to guess.

“I didn’t think you were close with the girls.” He mused as he began circling you, brown eyes staring intently at every part of your body. Almost as if he were looking for something.

“Yeah? How could you after you killed me?” You threw back easily, unmoving from your spot as you let him circle you. It was a little game, you thought. You would pretend to be the prey while you let him be the predator. “Didn’t leave me much room to say anything more either. Not with your—you still on that whole killing humans shit?”

You heard him chuckle faintly behind you, “Yes, I am.”

“Mmm. How quirky of you.”

He appeared in your vision, stopping before you with his hands tucked behind his back. The way he moved was elegant like he was acutely aware of his body and those near it. “I hate to break it to you but they’ve long forgotten about you,” His smirk grew, eyes gleaming as he watched your reaction—or rather something else, you remembered he always did that when the two of you first met. “I made sure of that.”

Of course, he still wanted some reaction from you but it didn’t help that he naturally had the face of a liar—even more now than back then—so you couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at your lips.

The man’s—whom you still had yet to learn the name of—smirk never wavered but he still kept staring. Right through you. “You wouldn’t be meeting them, unfortunately. Not when I’m done with you.”

“Ooh.” A grin left your lips as he continued circling you. “Done with me, huh? By a girl dinner first.” He hummed from behind you. You glanced over your shoulder, having to look up only a little to see his face. Your voice was slow when you asked, “What do you plan to do to me?”

There was a chuckle as he slipped from behind you to appear in front of you once more. “So are you a vengeful spirit? I don’t particularly have time for a random human to be haunting me. I’d just kill you and be done with it.” You tilted your head but didn’t respond. Nor did he look for one. “Or you could just be a simple cursed spirit, but then there’s the question of your cursed energy. It certainly isn’t similar to a cursed spirit. And considering none of the ones I capture come back up, I’d have to cross that possibility off my list.”

“You’re talking a lot more than last time.” You pointed out, watching him curiously. He was dangerously close. And you were all too ready, all too hungry for this.

“Or,”

He continued as if you hadn’t said anything. His eyes still searching, a neutral smile playing on his face.

“Ah yes, now I see. The curse could be attached to you. A cursed human. Now how did your filthy monkey hands get a hold of this curse—”

He was close enough by then. That was his first mistake.

You snatched his neck and slammed him down onto the steps of the altar in a matter of seconds, completely taking the man off guard.

Now you straddled his waist, gripping his neck with both your hands as you laughed with wide ghoul-like eyes. His larger hand gripped your wrist, trying to free himself from your otherwise ungodly strength, his own eyes widening slightly when a red glimmer shot out of your back, sharpening to a point where it was pointed directly at his forehead.

“Who the hell do you think you are, huh?! Some god? Could’ve fooled me! Hey, why don’t we have a rematch? Maybe this time it’ll be a fair fucking fight!”

In a blink, something heavy snatched you up and swallowed you whole.

Geto sat up, rubbing his now sore neck as his curse flung around the room and landed on the ceiling, swallowing you.

“Heh,” He grunted out as he got to his feet.

Maybe he was pissed. Maybe he was intrigued. Maybe a little bit of both. Fortunately, none of his followers were in the room. Imagine they saw you manhandling him with ease like that. What leader would that make him? How could he appear weak like that in front of them?

But that didn’t stop the growing grin tugging at his lips. This was a completely different person compared to the human he met at the store—if you were even human at all. You had been so nice, and sweet—your smile so genuine. And now? Maybe death changed you. Maybe you were a cursed human.

Maybe you’ve always been like this.

“You’re not going to make this any easier on me, are you?” He sighed as he stepped off the altar, glancing toward his curse who still stuck to the ceiling. Watching him patiently. “I was going to offer to kill you quickly and then take the curse, but I see now you don’t deserve my mercy. I could have saved you. Maybe you should’ve stayed dead—either way, I’m going to enjoy having your cursed spirit under my control. It’s useful. Powerful. Something you monkeys lack—”

His curse exploded. Bits of it’s skin falling. Blood spilled onto the floor.

And a blurred object flying toward him at an ungodly speed.

Geto barely dodged you as he jumped out of the way.

You left a large hole in the floor when you landed where the man had been standing. Now your kagune was out and gleaming, hungry, and simmering with rage just as your blood was.

The man landed a few feet away from you, black holes appearing at his side with more curses spilling out of them. You grinned at this and stood straighter at the altar.

You looking down on him. Just as he had done with his followers.

Geto tried not to react at that. Tried not to show how pissed he truly was.

But you noticed it of course.

It made your grin follow into a laugh as you sunk easily into your fighting stance.

“You done spittin’ that narcissistic shit, yet?” You called amusingly. “Or are you ready for that rematch now?”

“That’s enough out of you.” He now didn’t look so amused as his cursed spirits launched themselves at you at once. “That curse does not belong to you. I believe it’s time you hand it over to me now.”

You allowed the two cursed spirits to get as close as possible before dashing from the altar and ending up in front of the man with a sickening sweet smile.

“Make me.”

But he didn’t lean away, your noses practically touching. He matched your grin, white teeth glistening in the dimly lit room.

“Gladly.”

More curses came flying at you. Some large and others small. You dodged and killed the smaller ones. The larger ones were a lot more difficult to get through. Truthfully, you didn’t know much of your limit to your strength or speed since you spent most of your life trying to suppress it all, but it seemed you were able to keep up anyway, coupled with your skills in martial arts.

And it seemed he was using the curses to keep you distracted long enough until he could get up close himself. His arms wrapped around you from behind, restricting you as a flying curse was zooming toward you, its beak wide open and ready to take your head.

“Comfortable?” He whispered in your ear, his chuckle tickling the lobe. “Is this what you wanted when we first met in that store? To be this close?”

You grinned and leaned back into him just a bit, “Your such a tease.”

With that, you smashed the back of your head into his face, forcing him to let you go as you spun and kicked him hard enough that he flew.

Fortunately for him, one of his curses caught him and another smashed into you, throwing you across the room. You quickly tore through it with your kagune and leaped back up to your feet just as he came at you.

His combat style was fast and far more experienced than you were, but you managed to keep up. You managed to land in a few jabs of your own until one of his curses took you down again.

You threw it off and spat out a mixture of spit and blood, “Cheater.”

“Like you’ve been playing fair.” He scoffed, rubbing his jaw from the last blow you had given him.

“Try not throwing your stupid curses at me and fight me yourself.” You challenged, jumping to your feet. “I can’t be the only one making the first moves here.”

Just as you said that you tackled him into the damaged altar stairs, straddling his lap again, tugging his hair so he was looking up at you, “Comfortable?”

He was staring up at you again, this time with visible interest, “You’re not human, are you?”

You rolled your eyes and let his hair go but kept your legs straddled at his waist, “What gave that away?”

“Are you done with your little show now?” He asked with a lazy smirk now on his face.

There was movement in the corner of your eye and you glared, “I swear to go if another one of your stupid curses—”

Another one slammed into you and threw you into a wall. “Asshole!” You grunted, holding your shoulder as you dodged another attack from the curse, “Play fair!”

The cheeky bastard grinned, “Make me.”

Your kagune came out. It was like a tail, almost. An extra limp that was a part of your body but hidden. It swished around, cautiously waiting for your command. Waiting for your next target.

The both of you were bruised and bloodied, surrounded by curses, but neither ready to back down just yet. You wondered how long the two of you would keep at this. Which one of you would eventually give in? Which one of you would die? Is that his end goal here? To still kill you?

Well, with the way the curses and him surrounded you, the latter seemed more possible with each passing second.

That didn’t mean you were ready to give in. Not like last time. Not like that night in the temple. The two of you stared at each other with silent challenge. He was back on the altar as if expecting you to bow down. Like you were supposed to submit like his little followers. He hid it well back then.

Only this time, there was a subtle look across his face. One he didn’t bother to hide.

He was hesitating.

Now was your chance to—

The doors behind you swung open behind you and a call of your name screamed desperately as a smaller body crashed into your back.

Your first instinct was to attack, to direct your kagune at the newcomer. Only when you felt smaller arms wrap around your waist from behind, you faltered.

Now you were hesitating.

Another body came at you at the front, just as small as the other one.

Nanako looked up at you with wide teary eyes, “Don’t hurt him! Please! We don’t want you to get hurt!”

Through your shock, you were a little offended. If they took one look at him, they’d see that you were managing just fine. But you didn’t voice that out loud. Instead, you allowed your kagune to disappear.

“We thought you were dead.” Mimiko whimpered from behind you, her hold tightening. “When Nanako said she heard your voice, I didn’t believe her. But you’re here! And we don’t want you to go!”

“Please don’t leave us again.” Nanako buried her face into your stomach, her voice becoming muffled. Silent tears were falling down your cheeks as you knelt to their height. “Please, please, please, don’t leave.”

“Okay,” You whispered to her, allowing Mimiko to come around and hug you from the front as well. You wrapped your arms tightly around them, ignoring how most of the curses that had surrounded you had disappeared. Ignoring how easily you melted in front of your girls. Ignoring how much your heart had been missing a void up until now. Ignoring how he watched the three of you intensely from the altar. “Okay, okay, I won’t leave. I’m right here.”

Mimiko pressed her cheek against yours, “Promise?”

You chuckled shakily, realizing how much you were trembling as you held them. “Yeah, I promise.”

“Okay, well, we have to pinky promise on it,” Nanako said pulling back a bit as she wiped her tears on her hoodie sleeve. “We kept our promise. Now it’s your turn.”

Nanako held out her pinky which you took instantly. Mimiko lifted her head from your shoulder and joined her pinky with yours. You allowed them to fight over covering your much longer pinky with their little ones, earning small giggles from the girls.

Geto watched the interaction, silently.

The girls never approached anyone other than Geto himself. Not even the people he trusts the most, the girls weren’t as comfortable as they were with him.

He didn’t doubt the girls' adoration for him. Not one bit. They were his.

But perhaps he saw why they were also equally yours.

Mimiko and Nanako weren’t secretive about their relationship with you, even after they thought you had died—like he told them. They always spoke fondly of you, despite knowing you for only a short amount of time. Still, in that short time, they experienced the most kindness they had ever received.

He remembered you freeing them from the cage. He remembered your protective stance when he appeared to you at the temple. He remembered the distraught look on your face when the girls willingly went with him. It wasn’t betrayal. It was sadness mixed with the simmering rage that was directed at him.

You weren’t human.

That much was clear.

You weren’t entirely a curse spirit either.

Probably more human than curse.

Geto wasn’t too sure how to feel about that yet.

Not yet anyway.

The girls were now in front of him, staring up at him with big pleading eyes. They didn’t have to say it with words.

They wanted you back into their lives. Now that you were here and alive, they wanted you. Just as much as they wanted to be by Geto’s side.

Then there was the fact that he didn’t want to kill you anymore—which was oddly unsettling for him. Technically, you weren’t human. But there was still so much to uncover about you.

And your power was useful. He couldn’t kill something like that.

He was smiling at you again. That passive one. The one that was meant as a warning as he approached you with the girls following in tow behind him.

“I don’t believe we’ve formally introduced ourselves.” You raised a brow as he leaned forward, your faces now inches apart. “You can call me Geto-sama.”

You didn’t utter your name, but he said yours with ease. Falling off his tongue in his deep and smooth voice.

“The girls told me so much about you.”

“Geto, huh?” You mumbled when the last curse sunk away.

“My followers refer to me as Geto-sama, yes.” He nodded, the smile remaining on his face.

It was annoying.

You sent him a grin, “I’m not one of your followers. Geto.”

Ever so slightly, you could see the subtle twitch in his brow. And at that, your grin grew.

Mimiko was the one to speak next, “Can we keep her?”

#jujutsu kaisen #geto x reader #geto suguru x reader #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #getou x reader #getou suguru x reader #getou imagine #jjk imagine #suguru x reader #jujutsu kaisen imagine #geto suguru imagine #[ *take a bow ]

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samd1o1 · 7 months

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The Disability Coding Of Aphelios

Hey everyone! Today I thought I'd write a little post about my comfort character Aphelios; The Weapon Of The Faithful from League Of Legends!

Specifically I wanted to talk about the disability coding of Aphelios. For those who don't know; coding means the character is written to be an allegory for a life experience. It's about the closest you can get to canon without being necessarily canon. Many stories in magical fantasy universes use this technique. The most common reasons are for hiding from censorship and backlash, and creativity. I personally find coding way more interesting because of all the ways people can think to use magic as an allegory. But I also understand the importance of canon representation. Luckily, Aphelios does both!

So let's start with base main universe Runeterra Aphelios. To be able to talk to his sister and access her weapons he has to drink a special moon flower poison. This poison causes him immense constant pain. It also renders him mute. Obviously he isn't technically disabled. He can choose to not drink the flower (though that would be a dumb decision). But the fact he *must* drink it to save his people and it leaves him to chronic pain and muteness to the point of becoming numb to the world. That screams chronic illness's that cause pain.

Now many League lore nerds are always quick to do an "uhm actually" when you call Aphelios mute. But they're not thinking of the coding of it. Like I said earlier; fantasy stories using coding is very common for many types of minorities, not just disabled people.

My favorite example of disability coding is Hunter from The Owl House. Hunter lives in a world full of witches but he has no magic. He struggles at times but is able to find a way to navigate the world. He uses his palisman as a disability aid and makes do.

Now I'd understand some people not seeing this or just denying it. But what they did with HEARTSTEEL Aphelios basically confirms to me the disability coding was intentional (or at the very least something they're sticking with).

HEARTSTEEL is a boy band in the League musicverse. If there was ever a time to make Aphelios speak, it would be a boy band that sings. But no they didn't do that. In fact they understood the music verse is a more grounded universe (hinted to be our own even) so they made him CANONICALLY disabled.

When Aphelios was younger he had nodes in his vocal cords and they had to be surgically removed. Aphelios never fully recovered and lost his singing voice and the majority of his normal voice. He can't really speak above a whisper. In interviews he whispers to his sister Alune and she answers for him. (Someone teach this poor man sign language).

Another thing I find cool about HEARTSTEEL Aphelios is how he copes. Aphelios is the lyricist of the band. Kayn and Sett's verses are very in character for themselves but K'sante's fits Aphelios as a character way better.

"They wanna kiss me long good night with a rose

Hoping that the Eiffel falls, of course

You don't understand the life we chose

(On life support, life goes)

I need my silence, my privacy so I can heal

And even rockstars got feelings that they feel

In reality, this just repeats like a drill

Always"

This verse shows Aphelios struggle with being disabled. He didn't choose this life, but life goes on. The best part of this verse is that his friends are his voice. The fact K'sante sung his lyrics is very powerful. Shown in the music video, his friends metaphorically (and literally) saved him from drowning.

I can speak from experience that friends are very important. They really can help you through the toughest times and save you from drowning.

(I also feel it is important to mention; that while it's beautiful that someone sung Apehlios thoughts for him. It is suspicious they chose the ONE black champion in the band. The other two who sang solo verses got to have screen time all to themselves for their verses. K'sante isn't present at all for his verse and it is instead Aphelios and Yone.)

Anyway that was a little infodump about Aphelios and why I love his disability coding. I really appreciate that Riot are keeping him mute in all universes so far. (My worst fear is a legendary skin where he speaks.) Riot has stated that while champions are different people with different life experiences in the alternate universes that the champions will keep their core identities. They were mainly referring to LGBTQ champs in this statement, but disability is also a major part of identity. I'm sure it applies here too. Sona has also stayed mute in all universes as far as I know (she just uses aids like telepathy and text to speech).

Anyway see you all later on the rift where I will OTP HEARTSTEEL Aphelios and maybe some Sett support because I'm gay.

#Aphelios #HEARTSTEEL #Settphel #Kinda?#Disabled #Aphelios The Weapon Of The Faithful #Aphelios League Of Legends #League Of Legends #LoL #Legends Of Runeterra #LOR

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all-mirth-no-matter · 1 year

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Time After Time | Chapter Nine

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x Reader, Tommy Shelby x Original Female Character

Summary: You’re invited to stay the night at the Delphi camp. Despite the the way you feel after your reading, Tommy urges you not to cause trouble and to pretend like everything’s okay until you leave in the morning. Easier said than done…

Warning: language, alcohol, harassment, ethnic slur, almost smut

ao3 link | catch up on tumblr here

Chapter Nine: Dancing in the Moonlight

We like our fun and we never fight. You can't dance and stay uptight, it's a supernatural delight. Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight. — Dancing in the Moonlight, King Harvest

You were not a light weight.

Working in a bar for many years and having learned quite a few drinking games in college, your tolerance for alcohol had grown to an impressive height.

At least, that’s what you thought.

The thing was, having traveled back a hundred years, the food and drinks were a completely different animal.

For starters, just the simple access to food was something that, even to this day, you were still getting adjusted to. For the first month, you didn’t think you’d ever go a day when the subtle ache in your stomach from hunger would subside. It felt like a permanent fixture of your daily routine at that point.

You seriously could not wait until home refrigerators became an affordable thing. Or non-mice-infested pantries.

The hunger began to ease once your friendship with Ada deepened and your job with the Shelbys became routine. You weren’t sure if Polly could instinctively sense your in-neediness, or if it was just part of her caretaker character after looking after her niece and nephews for most of their lives — but either way, Polly was always shoving a plate or cup of something in front of you when you found yourself sitting in the family kitchen or the sitting room.

You thought it was odd at first, especially at the beginning when you didn’t think she liked you at all. But eventually you came to understand, and appreciate.

That appreciation bloomed tenfold when the boys came back and you stopped going over to the Shelby house for a couple weeks. Especially on the days when you were so busy and worked at the pub for such long hours, you’d get home and realized you hadn’t had a bite to eat at all since you woke up that morning.

You didn’t let yourself have too many of those days before you got smart, thinking ahead to stash some food in the pub office to eat on a break or when you got off work.

Thankfully, the night you’d played your drinking game with Tommy had been one of those days when you’d remembered to eat.

Today, you were beginning to realize, had not been one of those days.

After you and Tommy left Madam Despoina’s caravan, Johnny Dogs led you both to a bon fire and a blur of people shoved a plate of something in your right hand and a cup of something else in your left.

Not giving a flying fuck in the world about what was in the cup, you knew it had to be alcohol and you were desperate for some kind of solace from the absolute madness that you’d just had to endure.

So you downed the cup. And an instant later, someone was refilling it and you graciously downed it again without even so much as looking at your plate.

How did they expect you to eat after everything that’d just happened? How did Tommy expect you to just hang out with these people like their leader hadn’t just mind fucked the hell out of you? How were you supposed to act normal, like nothing happened, when you couldn’t even understand how your feet were moving under your body at this very moment?

Your cup was full again. By the time you felt a pair of hands grab your waist and pull you toward a seat by the fire, it was empty.

Without even looking to see who’s hands were on you, you knew it was Tommy. You should have been over analyzing the way your body had grown so comfortable with these small touches so quickly, but your brain was fritzing too much to appreciate again.

“You need to relax,” you heard softly, the vibrate of his voice against your ear and body heat against your side made you shutter.

Someone came over to refill your glass again, but before you could raise it to your lips, Tommy relinquished the drink from your grasp. Your brow furrowed as you looked over at him, noticing him give a pointed look at the refiller before meeting your eyes.

His brow lifted at your confusion and nodded toward the still untouched plate in your other hand. “Not ‘nother sip until you eat.”

You pouted slightly, missing the way his stern expression turned into amusement by your disappointment as you started to dig into the meat.

“If you expect me to relax and be sober tonight after what just happened, you’re crazy —“

“What I expect is for you to not cause trouble, to play merry guest to our hosts so that we get out of here unscathed in the morning,” his deep low voice vibrated through you once more at his closeness, and it made you shiver again.

He mistook your body’s reaction to his voice for being cold and wrapped his arm around you, rubbing your shoulder to try and warm you up while ordering you to keep eating. His body felt like a fortress around yours, and your brain began to slow in its spiraling.

You looked up at Tommy, watching the light from the fire dance across his brilliant blues as they continued to scan your surroundings. A feeling crept up in you as you outlined the profile of his face, focusing on where sharp lines met soft curves until you felt him pull you even closer to him, the arm around you tightening.

“May we help you?”

For a moment you thought Tommy was talking to you, having been so focused on him that you hadn’t heard anyone else approach the two of you.

Your head finally turned and your eyes adjusted until they landed on the man who escorted the three of you into the camp standing in front of you. His eyes were moving between you and Tommy, lingering longer on you, which caused Tommy’s grip to tighten again.

“Just wanted to see if the lady wanted to dance,” the man replied, sounding innocent enough as he stepped aside and gestured to the group of people dancing next to the fire. Music was playing somewhere on the other side and you were surprised that you hadn’t noticed it before.

“Perhaps later,” Tommy answered for you. “After she’s had a chance to finish eating.”

The plate that was still in your hand suddenly felt heavy at his words, remembering his instructions.

You were hating that in the last couple days, you felt like your brain was constantly trying to catch up with your surroundings. Usually you prided yourself on your awareness, but ever since Tommy flew into your life it felt like you couldn’t keep up.

It didn’t help that you were at least moderately buzzed at this point.

“Dancing would be fun,” you said, mostly to yourself, once the man left.

You felt Tommy sigh as you continued to pick off another piece of the meat.

“Fine,” Tommy said, rising from his seat. You shivered at the quick removal of his body heat from your side as you looked up at him confused. He offered his hand to you, “Let’s dance.”

“Um,” you hesitated, but moved to set down your plate as you took his hand and he pulled you upright. Your eyes scanned the bon fire where the others were dancing as Tommy led you closer, his hand on your back. “I, um — I actually don’t really know how to dance.”

“Really?” He seemed genuinely surprised at your reveal, pulling you closer to him as you got to the dirt dance floor. “Well, allow me the honor of teachin’ you.”

He smiled as he faced you, taking your right hand in his and you instinctively placed your left hand on his shoulder. Your eyes continued to scan behind Tommy, trying to take in the motions of those around you to mimic as best you could. You saw Johnny Dogs spinning a woman around, both enjoying themselves to the upbeat tempo. There didn’t seem to be a pattern, but everyone looked like they knew exactly what they were doing. It eerily reminded you of dance clubs back in your time — rhythmic chaos.

“Eyes here,” Tommy’s soft voice snapped your eyes back to his, feeling his hand settle once again at the base of your back, pulling you closer to him. “The dancin’ at a gypsy camp is much different than a ballroom. You’ll find it’s quite difficult to waltz when the mud sticks to your soles.”

You chuckled at that, still feeling a little insecure as he began to move, taking a step backwards, and then forward, as your bodies began to hop to the beat. It was simple, like walking. But you couldn’t stop your eyes from watching your feet, unsure where Tommy’s lead was going to take you and paranoid that you’d step on his feet.

“Eyes, Y/N,” Tommy said again, his voice with more authority but still amused as you looked sheepishly back up at him. He chuckled, “If you watch your feet you’re bound to trip. Keep your eyes on your partner and your body will follow.”

“Tell that to your feet later,” you countered, still skeptic in his advice.

“Everyone can do the foxtrot — even me.”

Your chin nudged to the people beside you, who were dancing much wilder than you and Tommy. “And them? What dance are they doing?”

Tommy shrugged, “A variety, I suppose. Looks fun, dunnit?”

At that, Tommy pushed you outward and whipped the hand still holding yours so you’d spin back into him, your arm and his now wrapped around you as your body collided with his. You squealed in surprise, returning back to your original position. Tommy was smiling down at you as he pulled you in closer, moving your bodies faster than previous as the music quickened.

“It’s not far off from the dancing you do in the Garrison,” he reminded you. Your mouth opened to counter, a flush of embarrassment of him having watched you dance and sing when you thought you were alone in the pub, but he stopped you. “Just have fun with it. Don’t think, just feel.”

You hushed your original response and squeezed your lips together. Your eyes moved between his, “First horse steering, now dancing. What else can you teach me?”

He hummed, his cheek rising in amusement as his gaze moved lower to your lips.

Of course, Johnny Dogs chose that time to approach the two of you, dancing happily and obliviously as he shouted his greeting over the music.

“Johnny would be a much better teacher of dancing, I’m afraid you’ve exhausted my abilities,” Tommy said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. You doubted his words, but Johnny perked up at the compliment and bowed dramatically, offering his hand to you politely.

You hesitated, not wanting to leave the comfort of Tommy’s embrace. Before you could counter, Tommy was handing you off and taking a step back. You missed the warning look shared between Tommy and Johnny Dogs as the latter pulled you closer to the group.

You looked behind you as Tommy walked back toward the log you’d previously been sitting at, his hands shoving into his pockets.

Some time passed (ten minutes, an hour, you had no idea) and you were learning that Johnny Dogs was an excellent distraction from your own intrusive thoughts. That, and the drink that kept appearing in your hands. By the fourth or fifth time Johnny Dogs had you spinning with his hand over your head, you found yourself thinking less about the circumstances of where you were and why, and even less about your out-of-time dancing skills, and actually began to relax.

And though you missed the intimacy of Tommy’s dancing, you found that Johnny Dogs was wonderful company. He was a good-time-Charlie if you’d ever seen one, and kept you smiling and laughing with every hop, skip, and beat.

You were spinning again, giggling as you kept your eyes closed before your body collided into another. The person grabbed your waist, and for a moment you thought it was Tommy finally coming back to join you.

But you quickly realized that the touch wasn’t the same, and turned until you faced the man who’d asked you to dance earlier.

You still didn’t know his name, but he smiled and pulled you in closer, taking your right hand into his left and sliding his right hand around to your back. He held you like he knew you, and all your instincts told you to pull away. But you couldn’t help but hear Tommy’s voice in the back of your mind telling you to behave, play nice until morning.

“Finally let you off his leash, did’he?” The man said with a wicked grin as he pulled you closer to him.

You narrowed your eyes at the implication that you were some kind of dog, and was about to say so when he continued.

“Madam Despoina told us you were someone special,” he went on, his eyes scanning your face, “said to be on our best behavior and to leave ya be. We were placing bets on who ya were. My guess was the missing princess.”

Your brow creased at that, for a moment forgetting the creepy grip and focusing on his words. “Missing princess?”

He chuckled, “Aye. Many a royal blood ‘as come to our camp or requested the Madam’s presence. You’d be surprised how many queens and princesses I’ve seen since joining the camp. They’re never as pretty as you expect them to be. You on the other hand—“

His finger ran down the side of your face before you shrugged away, his hand still around your waist.

“I was wrong though. No way you’re the missing princess. I’ve ‘eard Russians before, and they sound nothin’ like ya.”

Russian princess? You thought, trying to filter through your rolodex of historical royals. The obvious came to mind.

“Anastasia? Really?” your voice was less humorous and more ‘are you an idiot’ sounding than you’d meant.

The infliction didn’t go unnoticed. The man’s smiling face hardened slightly and his grip around your hand tightened. You immediately regretted your tone and looked over your shoulder to where Tommy had been sitting, but the log was empty.

“He’s gone,” the man said, knowing who you were looking for. “Went to get his own fortune told, no doubt. Men will pay or do anything for an audience with the Pythia.”

It seemed the old woman carried on the tradition of her ancestors. You wondered if this man was right and tried to discretely look around the camp for him, or even Johnny Dogs. Anyone to keep you from doing something that you’d later get in trouble for.

“Come on, doll face. What, are ya not having fun with me?” he asked, his voice back to what it’d been previously. It reminded you of every guy who’d never taken no for an answer back in your day.

“I’m just tired,” you finally mustered, trying to pull away from his grip. “I want to go find my friends.”

“Tired, huh? I can find you a place to lay down—”

“I don’t think so,” your voice stronger, your resolve to behave quickly starting to crack with the way this guy wouldn’t let go of you. “Please, let go of me.”

“But you’re drunk, love. Wouldn’t want’ya to fall. That face is so pretty. The Madam wouldn’t forgive me if I let anything happen to ya.” His grip tightened enough to pull your body close against him, this time without the pretense of dancing. He lifted his hand and moved your hair behind your ear, your skin flinching at his touch as you tried to shrug away again.

You looked around to see if anyone else was noticing the harassment, but during your dance he’d managed to pull far enough from the fire where no one was paying the two of you any mind.

“I doubt she’d be happy with you pushing yourself on her guest,” you tried to bite out, still trying to maintain some kind of politeness even though you were two seconds away from kicking the guy in the balls and running.

His eyes narrowed and smile began to fall as his hand grabbed the side of your head, his fingers forcing your face to look up at him while his thumb spread harshly along your cheek. “She said you were important. That you had a gift. Know what that says to me? That you can make someone a lot of money, eh?”

“Get the fuck off me,” you finally spit, balling up the man’s shirt in your fists that were sandwiched between your bodies as you tried to push him away.

But his grip tightened as his head began to move closer to your face. You thought for sure he was going to try and force himself on you, and you were already prepping to slam your head into his face before his lips could even try and touch yours.

You didn’t get the chance to. Suddenly, the man was being pulled backwards and Tommy’s face appeared over his shoulder.

“Mind tellin’ me what you’re doing?” Tommy asked the man, surprisingly calm.

The man shoved out of his grasp and shook his shoulders. “We were just dancin’!”

You scoffed, “Yeah, and I’ll dance my foot in your ass the next time you grab me like that!”

The man growled, taking a step forward toward you before Tommy grabbed him by the collar, fist full of shirt as he pivoted himself between the two of you and pulled him closer to his face.

“Do you know who I am?”

The man tried to shove away, but Tommy’s grip was strong and moved to his throat. The creep looked between his captor and then to you, as if you could save him. As if you’d even try. He finally coughed and nodded.

“So you know what I do. I give you this chance because we are guests of Madam Despoina and we’re not here to make enemies. But I’ll promise you this, there will not be another chance. The next time you lay a finger on her, my blade goes through your fucking throat.”

Tommy let go of him, nearly shoving him to the ground in the process. While the man tried to catch his breath, Tommy reached behind him until your hand was safely in his own. He pulled you to his side, his eyes finally leaving the other man as you both walked back toward the fire.

Johnny Dogs was running your way, his eyes reading the situation as he looked behind you and began an apology.

“Save it,” Tommy spat. “Just make sure the horses are ready by dawn. We’re going to the caravan.”

Johnny nodded and you gave him an apologetic look. It wasn’t his fault that the creep had led you away. You weren’t a child and he wasn’t a baby sitter. But you doubted Tommy wasn’t thinking that way.

He brought you to another wagon similar to the one Johnny Dogs had been driving, parked along the outskirts of the campsite. There was a small fire just outside, and a rope tied from the wagon to the nearby tree.

You were about to walk in, the drunk part of your brain (who was trying to detach from the traumatic experience you’d just been a part of) eager to see what the inside of this caravan looked like, when Tommy stopped you.

His grip made you jump, pulling away from it quickly, your defensive guard still sensitive after what had just happened. Tommy held up his hands, obviously reading the situation and silently apologizing.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked, his hand reaching up to gently touch your face as his eyes scanned you over.

You breathed out a humorless chuckle at his calmness, “How are you always so— god, you nearly killed that man after he tried to—“ your voice was surprisingly weak as the words died in your throat.

It wasn’t the first time a man had been grabby with you. Even before your trip to the past, working in a bar and just the everyday life of a girl who enjoyed the occasional night out with her friends. You’d had guys grab you, push themselves against you, even forcibly kiss you. Thankfully, you’d never had anything go further than that. After a time that came too close with a boy you thought was a good friend, you took some self defense classes with your girl friends and started integrating kick-boxing into your workout routine. Since then, you’d only had to use your new skills a handful of times, and luckily each time you’d been able to get away or have the man back off. Even now, in the 20th century, you’d only had to physically fight off one man at the pub, and you’d been lucky to have Harry as backup. But you knew not to let your guard down, especially when you walked the streets after dark.

What happened to you just now, well it felt much different. It wasn’t a drunkard trying to cop a feel. This man felt like he wanted to own you, control you. And you hated feeling like you couldn’t fight back, all because of whatever social standard bullshit this was supposed to be.

Suddenly, you were angry at Tommy for having put you in that position in the first place.

“It took everything for me not to slice his fuckin’ neck open the minute I saw his hands on you,” Tommy replied, his eyes revealing the silent rage behind them. “But that would have spawned a vendetta and a bullet with my name on it by the Delphi family.”

“That what Madam Despoina told you would happen?” you asked, deciding to test the creep’s theory.

Tommy’s brow creased at your query, his mouth tightened and you already knew your answer.

“I had to settle payment for our visit,” he explained evenly. “This wasn’t exactly a favor.”

Your anger evaporated as the realities of the situation came into view through your slightly more sober stupor. “How much? Whatever it was, I’ll pay you. Take it out of my paycheck, whatever you need to do.”

Tommy huffed, shaking his head before he started messing with the fire. “Drop it, Y/N—“

“I’m not a hand out, Tommy. And I’m not a doll to be played with at the will of everyone around me,” your voice was harsher than you meant it to be, obviously still affected by the days events.

It was more than that, even. Your mother, the time jump, being a woman in the 1910s — you were constantly feeling like you were at the mercy of everyone else controlling your life, your future.

Tommy stood up and cautiously approached you, still sensitive to what you’d just gone through. You suddenly felt dizzy — the alcohol, the adrenaline, the lack of food all in your system. Your knees buckled slightly like a scene out of a cheesy rom-com and Tommy caught you, pulling you against him to stabilize you.

Your body froze, for a moment feeling like it was in danger again. But you immediately recognized the familiarity of Tommy’s grip and found yourself relaxing into it, trusting his hold on you.

“You’re a strong woman,” he mused softly, lifting your head up to look at him. “I know you were holding yourself back for my sake. Next time, don’t.”

You all but growled, “You told me to behave.”

“Aye. And I behaved enough for leaving him uncut. But I’d rather face the curse of a fuckin’ angry gypsy than have someone even come close to threatening you again.”

Tommy blinked at his words, obviously surprising himself with them along with you. You didn’t know the first thing about Romani curses, but you knew enough to realize that what Tommy had just said meant something serious.

He cleared his throat, his grip still holding onto you. “I’ll find out from Johnny Dogs who he is in the mornin’. Whoever he is, he’s high enough to be given escort duties. Believe me, I’ll make sure his actions don’t go unnoticed.”

You nodded, surprisingly okay with letting him take the reigns in how to handle this situation.

“Go on now,” he nudged you toward the caravan. “The clothes we packed are inside. Change, and I’ll hang up your dress on the line so the mud dries by morning.”

At his words, you lifted up your skirt and felt the heaviness of the wet mud soaked in the fabric. You surprised yourself with how used to the dirt you’d gotten, not even noticing the weight anymore or that your socks were always just slightly damp.

You climbed up the stairs and sat at the top, leaning forward to unlace your boots and slide off your shoes and sock. He tied the laces of your boots together and hung them and your socks over the line.

You sent Tommy another look as you stood up at the top of the stairs, half worried that he’d disappear again like he had when he left you to dance.

He seemed to recognize your look and moved to the doorway. This was the first time you’d ever been taller than Tommy, and you took in the new angle of his face as your fingers itched to reach out.

“I’m not goin’ anywhere, love. Go, get dry and warm. I’ll stand guard right here where you can see me.”

Silently, you nodded as you finally entered the caravan.

Inside, an oil lamp and a few candles were lit so you could see, and you were surprised at how big the inside was. It was different than the one you’d been in to meet Madam Despoina. It was interesting how much it resembled a modern day sleeping RV — bed palette against the back wall, vanity to your right, even a small stove and fireplace to your left. You ran your hand along the wall and marveled at the beauty of the carvings and ornate decorations that lavished the space. The whole thing was absolutely beautiful and you wanted to meticulously look at every single piece of art that was this caravan.

Your foot hit the bag Tommy had packed you and you remembered what you were there for, rummaging through and grabbing the nightgown Tommy had shoved in there without you realizing. Luckily, it’d been one of the clean ones, and you sent a quick prayer to whatever god you needed to be thanking for this miracle. Even if you were in the 1910s, you’d still be mortified if you had to share a bed with a man wearing dirty clothes.

You paused, both realizing and wondering if you actually were going to be sharing this bed with Tommy tonight. On the vanity, there was an empty bowl and pitcher of water. You peeled out of your warm clothes, peeking over your shoulder to double check that the door was still closed while still being able to see Tommy’s silhouette through the stained glass. The cold air hit your skin, and you were suddenly thankful for this centuries insistence on wearing multiple layers of clothing.

You sacrificed a splash or two of water from the pitcher to give yourself a quick hand wash, focusing on the essentials at the moment — your hands, face, neck, arm pits, under your breasts, and between your legs, even swishing some in your mouth and spitting it into the unlit fireplace. You gave yourself a sniff with semi-satisfaction (not that you trusted your sense of smell at all anymore, though being out of Birmingham and in the outdoors definitely increased the aroma in the air) before finally throwing on the nightgown.

You appraised yourself in the small vanity mirror, pulling the pins out of your hair and combing it with your fingers until some of the tangles released. In the nightgown, a scene from the movie The Mummy came to mind and you felt like Evie from the boat scene, realizing that in just a few fictional years Brendan Fraser would be battling over the City of the Dead.

Shaking the frivolous thought from your head, you gathered up your clothes and finally walked back toward the door, knocking on it before opening. Tommy took them from you and secured them on the line before standing back in front of the doorway. His eyes took you in, and you suddenly felt shy, questioning the sheerness of the nightgown with the light illuminating behind you.

“Oh, you need to change too!” You realized, almost jumping as you tried to figure out where you needed to go in order for him to do that.

“Hand me the bag, I can change out here.”

Your brow creased. “It’s way too cold out here for you to do that.”

“It’s too cold for you to stand out here in just that as well,” he responded, gesturing toward you. Feeling even more exposed, you found yourself crossing your arms over your chest, as if that could hide anything.

He took off his jacket, and for the first time you noticed the shoulder holster. He hadn’t had it on the other night, which you found curious, and you were realizing that aside from the blade in his hat, this was the first time you were seeing Tommy Shelby with a weapon.

Your eyes moved with the movement of his hands as he began to unhooked his watch chain before putting it and the watch back in the pocket. He shrugged off the holster, cradling it in the bend of his arm as he started unbuttoning his vest. The motion snapped you out of your gaze as you stood there awkwardly, wondering if you should be turning away to give him his privacy when he handed the contents and his hat to you. “Hang these on the hook inside.”

You moved at his instructions, ready to make yourself busy. Before you could return to the doorway, Tommy was making his way up the steps. You noticed he’d hung up his breeches, socks, and shoes, as well as put out the fire. He stood in the doorway in nothing but his pants, shirt, and shoulder holster, waiting for permission to enter the caravan from you.

Grabbing the bag that wasn’t yours, you handed it to him and cleared your throat, trying to keep your eyes from staring too long.

In the past few months since you’d arrived in 1918, you’d been so preoccupied with surviving and trying to figure out what was going on, your love life had been the very last thing on your mind. Even before you time jumped, you’d been going through a dry spell in your dating life.

Tommy Shelby had reignited something that you hadn’t realized you’d been missing. And despite every reasonable argument you’d had with yourself since the moment you met him, you absolutely couldn’t deny your attraction to him on both an emotional and physical level.

Suffice it to say, it’d been quite a while since you’d been alone with a man in a bedroom before. And of all the things, there was no way being alone with a 1918’s gangster in his underwear was on your time travel bingo card.

You were wondering if they had the game bingo yet while Tommy rummaged through the bag, grabbing a pair of socks and handing them to you.

“These are bound to be much warmer than whatever is in your bag. First rule we learned in France durin’ the winter was to always keep our head and feet warm and dry.”

Unsure how to respond, you grabbed the socks and followed his orders again. You realized what a militant follower you were when you had no idea what to do with yourself or how to handle your own awkwardness. As you sat on the bed and put on the socks, you watched Tommy start up the fireplace easily, mumbling something about wishing he’d done it earlier. But you were already starting to feel warmer with the door shut, the thicker socks, and the extra body heat within the small space.

You were trying to convince yourself that it was safe falling asleep in this wooden box with a fire burning when Tommy’s voice grew louder.

“Right, that’ll do it,” he said when he finished, rising from the floor.

You were still seated on the edge of the bed when he turned toward you. The air grew thick with a tension you easily recognized but refused to name.

He cleared his throat, dropping his head as he looked down at his feet. “I’ll take the floor. I grabbed the extra blankets when I brought in our bags.”

Your brow creased as you looked from Tommy to the hard, wooden floor, and then behind you to the bed you still sat on. The palette was easily wide enough to fit the two of you.

“That’s silly,” you found yourself saying before you could stop yourself. Tommy paused putting together his makeshift bed and his eyes snapped to yours. You forced your heart to slow and tried to appear cool. “There’s no way I’m letting you sleep on the ground when there’s plenty of room on the mattress.”

“I didn’t want to impose,” he said cautiously, not yet moving to join you on the bed but also not continuing to make the spot on the floor.

“We’re not teenagers. I think we can control ourselves,” you chuckled, trying to convince both Tommy and yourself that this was the only reasonable option. “I can trust you, right?”

You surprised yourself with the vulnerability behind your question. Your voice must have implied the same because Tommy’s throat bobbed as he considered it.

The truth was, you did trust him. The rational part of your brain was calling you crazy, especially after what had just happened. But there was something deep in your gut that made you irrationally feel safe in Tommy’s company. You’d been alone with this man more than you had been with him in the company of others, you realized, and this was nothing different.

You’d just be laying in a bed. Alone. In your underwear.

“Yes,” Tommy answered simply, though the strength in his voice held the weight of the implication. “I’d like to still sleep closest to the door, if you don't mind.”

You shook your head, scooting backwards on the mattress until you hit the back wall.

“You sure you don’t mind?” Tommy asked as he approached the bed, throwing the blankets at the foot. “The camp may talk.”

Your brow creased. “Don’t they already think that we’re together anyway, since they only offered us the one caravan to stay in?”

Tommy shrugged, moving to sit at the edge of the bed, leaning against the wall to face you. “Perhaps. But I could have slept in the wagon we came in, or in Johnny’s caravan.”

“I guess,” you replied, leaning back against the opposite wall. “So why didn’t you?”

He breathed out of his nose before reaching to scratch his neck. “I left you alone once tonight. I’m not plannin’ to do that again, not here at least. If you weren’t comfortable with me staying inside the van, I’d spend the entire night sitting against the door. I’d still do that, if you decide to change your mind.”

You felt your face blush slightly, instinctively moved by the protectiveness of his words. A few hours ago you may have protested against needing the bodyguard-like protection, stating that you could take care of yourself just fine. But after the crazy day you’d had — the dream, the reading, the creep — you decided to give in and let him have his way without the usual color commentary.

Your pride would never let yourself admit it out loud, but in this moment, you welcomed the safety he was offering and tried to not read too much into it.

“I’m sorry again for that. I shouldn’t have left you.”

You shrugged, trying to rationalize the situation. “It’s no one’s fault. He was determined to get me alone, it would have happened regardless. I’m just glad you got there before I knocked his teeth in. Or something worse.”

You both remained silent for a beat.

“I wish you hadn’t left, though. I was enjoying dancing with you.”

He scoffed, “I saw how much fun you were having with Johnny Dogs. He’s a much better dancer than I am. You were loosening up more with him.”

You shrugged. “I would have gotten there with you, if you’d stayed. You make me nervous, sometimes.”

Tommy hummed, an amused smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “You didn’t seem nervous in the wagon.”

Your eyes met his, searching to see the exact meaning behind his words. He was talking about your move to kiss him, though he hadn’t said it outright.

“I was. You hesitated,” your voice softer than you intended, your own insecurities prevalent.

He breathed in as his eyes flashed down to your lips and then back to meet your eyes. “I’m a cautious man, Y/N.”

“And you don’t trust me,” you swallowed, your eyes dropping down to the spot beside him as Tommy’s own words from earlier that morning rang through your head.

You heard him breath in deeply through his nose before exhaling. At the feel of him pushing himself off the bed, your eyes moved back to him as you watched him walk to your side of the caravan before sitting back down.

“I’ll admit, that was an oversimplification to our current situation,” he said as he lifted his hand to your face, his eyes watching your reaction.

You hated how desperate you wanted him to say he trusted you. So much so, your brain began to scramble to find the words to tell him everything right then and there.

“Tommy,” you breathed out, your mouth ghosting against his as your body instinctively leaned forward.

“You have secrets, but no lies. I can accept that and reciprocate.”

“I don’t want secrets,” you managed to say honestly as your eyes moved between his.

“Aye. Neither do I. But until then,” his voice died as his thumb brushed across your cheek and his pointer lifted your chin the half inch it needed to line your lips up to his.

There was no hesitation this time. Tommy kissed you with purpose and depth as his hands raked through your hair to cradle your neck. You met his attention with gusto to match, your hands moving from his chest to his back as you pulled yourself closer.

When he began to pull away, your arms flexed to keep him against you. You felt his mouth smirk as it hovered over yours, your forehead still pressed against his own before your lips met his again. Your kiss demanded to know why he continued to hold himself back.

His only response was to tilt his head and open his mouth as his thumb stroked the pulse at your neck before wrapping around your waist. Without warning, he lifted you up and pulled you onto his lap, your legs instinctively wrapping around him as your hands held on to his shoulders. Your fingers found purchase in his hair as you leaned his head back to connect your lips again.

His hands raked across the expanse of your back and up your sides, his thumb ghosting against the swell of your breasts in an aching tease. On instinct, your hips rolled forward, desperate for some kind of friction to the tightly wound tension that’d been building since the minute you’d seen each other down at the Cut. Tommy’s grip tightened as he groaned at the motion, the evidence of his own enjoyment of your body against his clear as your hips moved to repeat.

A loud bang at the caravan door caused you both to jump, whipping your heads toward the noise as you gasped. For a moment, you were worried it was the man from earlier back for round two. A second knock followed by a voice calling for Tommy determined it was Johnny Dogs. You let out a relieved breath before it turned to annoyance — how did that man always manage to interrupt you both just when things were starting to get good. You huffed, still trying to slow your heart rate as your forehead met Tommy’s again.

“Jesus fuckin—“ Tommy swore as he sucked in a harsh breath between his teeth at the third loud knock.

He took your face between his hands before kissing you again. A fourth knock finally had him pulling away from you as you crawled off his lap.

“Someone’d better be dying,” he said under his breath as he ran his hand across his face and walked across the caravan toward the door. He shouted from the inside of the still closed door, “What?”

“It’s Madam Despoina,” Johnny Dogs said from the other side. “She wants a word. Now.”

>> next chapter << chapter masterlist

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shrowded-eng1ma · 11 months

Text

Sagau with a creator that has My personality (I need something to up my non existent ego, lol)

CW;Sagau, cult Au, blood, murder, Religious Themes.

Reader; Reader is gender neutral

——

Mondstadt

The people of Mondstant think your nice. Your not overly energetic but your not overly inactive

They also find your presence calming (as everyone else does in sagau) you don’t demand much of anything from them, just some food and a place to stay.

If you live in Mondstadt, you’d have at least TWO knights protecting you at all cost, along side Diluc of course.

People love you, some even begin praying to you directly. And you need to adapt to it. As much as you tell them ‘You can stop, it’s not necessary’ they’ll just keep going. So you suck it up.

You hand around vision holders most, the NPC’s are very jealous. Why them? Is it their visions? Did they pray harder or offer more things to you?

Really, it’s because you know more about them then you do the others, and your introverted by nature so it’s pretty hard to socialize, not to mention your inability to pick up on normal social clues.

You always deny people walking with you or sticking beside you all day long, it’s draining enough to just talk you don’t need to make idle chat with.. well I guess your ‘Followers’

You handout with Diluc the most, he resembles your personality the most and understands your major dislike for peoples attention.

Your least favorite person is klee. Mostly because she’s SO fucking energetic, it drains you just being around children.

You brought your phone and Nintendo switch into the world of Teyvat. And since genshin is a game, in your phone, you have unlimited battery and access to download any games or dlc’s to your switch or phone.

If your able to clone your phone you’d give it to your most trusted people, in this case it would be Diluc, and Jean.

Your relationship with Venti is surprisingly normal. Venti is an archon, he’s devoted his life to you and knows what you like and hate, so he’d be more quiet around you but still fun.

Venti would probably try to convince you to drink alcohol, but you always deny.

Liyue

Liyue is probably the most devoted to you.

Anything you want they’ll be damn sure to get it, Food? How much you want? A house? Shit you can take one if there’s. Clothing? You’ll get the best fucking clothes Teyvat has ever seen.

If your a woman, Ningguang is willing to lend you her expensive and comfortable clothing. A man, go to Zhongli, your most devoted follower to exists.

Zhongli most likely has everything you’ll ever want, he’s been alive for 6000 years. He knows every spec of you.

He’s your most ‘normal’ obsessed follower. He’s willing to kill anyone who seems to irritate you, he’s willing to lend you his clothes, anything you want, he’s your man.

Your bodyguard is Xiao, Yelan, and The entire liyue Qixing.

Your favorite person in liyue is Xiao, as in your words ‘Xiao knows how to shut up… he’s also just pretty to look at’

Xiao watches you from the distance while still killing demons. Yelan stays beside you and probably ‘Flirts Respectfully’

Yelan herself would like to train you to fight, if you don’t know how to. Others believe you shouldn’t stain your hand with the filth of those who dare attack you.

Ningguang has a special room made for you on the jade chamber, before she destroyed it. But she’d most definitely make another jade chamber specifically as your home in liyue.

In short, if you want a easy free life with low expectations, go live in liyue.

Inazuma

Inazuma treats everything you do as royalty.

If you walk, everyone will move out the way for you, if you breath, people stop breathing in fear of taking your precious air, if you sit down in a restaurant others might move away from you, fearful of angering you or some might try to talk to you.

Ei herself becomes your bodyguard, while the shogun is busy with political and military affairs, she’s beside you, making sure no one even breaths the wrong way in your presence.

And your fine with it. Ei is an introvert herself and doesn’t ask stupid questions. That and she’s pretty to look at.

You have a room in the Tenshukaku, the only ones who can enter it are you (obviously) and Ei

Ei makes sure you have the most comfortable furniture in inazuma, along with the best view of the city. She’s not only your bodyguard, but your maid.

You want a massage? She suddenly knows how to give them. You want food? She bought a mountain of ingredients and the best chief in inazuma (It’s Thoma) someone’s bothering you? She kills them.

If you believe Zhongli was obsessive you’ve seen nothing yet. Ei acts like a overprotective Yandere, she never wants you to leave inazuma, but why would you leave? What do the other nations have that inazuma doesnt?

You have a archon practically kissing your feet. You have everyone’s respect, your have the best view of the city. Why would you want to leave? Has someone annoyed you that much? Who? she’ll end them!

She’d try to convince (manipulate) you to stay. She’s terrified of losing you, she lost her friends and sister she couldn’t even bare the thought of losing her beloved Creator.

Her obsession is driven by fear of loss and just pure devotion. She’d do anything, literally anything to keep you in inazuma.

Ultimately when you leave, she extremely sad and disappointed within herself. What did she do to make you leave? She’s completely fearful that you’ll perish despite knowing that no one would dare attack you. Give her a break, she has trauma.

Once you return to inazuma she wants to hug you from pure relief, just throw herself onto you, but she just sighs and says ‘I’m glad you came back your grace’

If your able to see her, touched starved attitude you’d hug her and allow her to hug back. She’s been really nice and good to you, it’s only fair right?

Sumeru

Sumeru is the most normal.

They don’t overprotect you, just above average protection.

You don’t really have a bodyguard here. You just have admirers and follower’s. Except Cyno, he’s your bodyguard.

Nahida is your tour guide, wherever you wanna go she’ll point you at the right direction.

You’ll possibly be milked for information about where you were before you descended to them, they’d be very interesting by the idea of ‘Television, and Video Games’

Besides that, Sumeru is quite literally normal, their driven by their logic not feelings.

#gender neutral reader #female reader #male reader #genshin impact #yandere sagau #genshin sagau #cult au #liyue #inazuman #sumeru #mondstadt #fatui harbingers #Senzhyana

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handweavers · 2 months

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was talking with my psych and she mentioned that due to the sheer amount of death i've experienced that the way i interact with the world and the way my mind works is similar to that of her clients who are refugees and survivors of war and other catastrophes, particularly in my struggles to relate to others, anhedonia, chronic stress response, etc. like i have c-ptsd it's all trauma whatever but it's like. the things that repetitive and constant loss not just of people but places and rituals and belonging does to a person. to think of your childhood with tables full of people and the only one who still lives and remembers any of it is you. all of the places are no longer accessible, lost to time. holidays mean nothing anymore. bad things happen and the people you need comfort from are dead, good things happen and the people you need to share it with are dead. life events rendered meaningless. and unable to connect to others because they view this kind of tragedy to be just something that happens to you and thus something you should be used to, and the normal life worries they have become difficult to listen to because they lack the perspective this kind of grief brings. any problem that is not "someone is dead or dying" is a minor issue in my mind, it is all survivable, i can cope with it and quietly find a way through. loss on this scale does not and has not made me a better person, or rather, i have to choose kindness and empathy and compassion every day and hold myself resolutely to that and check myself constantly as much as i can because if i allow myself to be cruel and angry even if it is a righteous anger it will only cause further alienation and further harm. an awareness that if i had not experienced all of this that the things others go through would be greater issues, and committing myself to empathy for others, to be kind and gentle as much as i can (and sometimes failing), even if it feels like swallowing glass. there's no winning or escaping only trudging through

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flyingraven · 4 months

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My MCYT fanfic worldbuilding!

Both for anyone who's interested in how I imagine the minecraft sphere so to speak works and for linking to my ao3 page, here is my MCYT worldbuilding! Long post ahead! This gets updated regularly as well.

World

Gods and other beings

Jeb and Notch are the Elder Gods. They created the other gods and the prime players. These days they have disappeared, and nobody seems to know where they are.

Kristin is the goddess of Death, and she’s not a fan of the Watchers. Phil is an ex Watcher, but defected and joined Kristin. They fell in love.

Most of Kristin's angels were originally mortals. On very rare occasions, when someone died in a certain way which really captures her attention she might decide to ask them to join her ranks. This is how Scott became an angel of hers. A few of her angels are kids of other angels.

The Watchers were at war with the Voidwalkers for a while. It ended when the Watchers massacred them. Xisuma and EX are considered to be the only survivors. Hoping something to End and Aether is generally a Voidwalker expression, though older immortals have been known to sometimes adopt it as well.

Techno used to be a mortal who was very good at PVP, so an evil god forcefully ascended him to be a demigod and made him work for him. Techno at one point killed him (probably temporarily, though that god hasn’t been nearly as influential since) and became a demigod in his own right.

Prime players were the first players created by the Elder Gods. It’s unknown how many there are, since they tend to stay in hiding. What sets prime players apart from normal players is that respawns have no effect on their souls and that they don’t age. Meaning they are functionally immortal. There are ways to kill them, but no normal mortal could get them to stay down so to speak.

Players can become admins through training. Not everybody has the natural aptitudes to become an admin. Everyone can access the code of the world if they learn how to, but utilising it wrong can be the end of someone.

You can generally respawn infinitely, but it slowly eats away at your soul. And at some point you don’t respawn anymore. This is generally the same as dying of old age, but it’s not uncommon for very heavy pvp players to die younger because their soul is ruined by continuous respawns.

On ascensions

Any god can ascend a mortal to become a demigod. But it's a violent act and will usually completely kill off the world the former mortal was inhabiting. And it hurts. A lot. The combination of these factors is what made Eret's ascension so bad. Because usually the newly ascended demigod will wake up with their god. But Eret didn't. They woke up alone in a dead realm.

Cults can try to get a gods attention to get them to ascend one of their own to demigod status. Really, no good gods will respond to these rituals. They usually involve mass sacrifice.

Gods can also just choose to ascend a living mortal, but again, this is not often done and when it is, usually only by evil gods. That's what happened to Techno.

Kristin works in a different way. When mortals die she sometimes (very rarely) offers them to become one of her angels. Her angels are demigods, but due to being in her service they are referred to as angels.

Demons are demigods aligned to Kristin's undefined evil counterpart.

Worlds

Worlds are generally connected to hubworlds. Travelling to other worlds usually happens through these. Hubworlds can vary from simple planes with rows and rows of portals to massive cities where people live, interspersed with portals. It’s not uncommon for kids to get dumped on hubworlds to fend for themselves. They often end up banding together, since hubworlds are pretty often fairly hostile places to live in due to the lack of admin oversight. Kids like this are generally called children of the hub.

Besides travelling through official portals there are ways to jump to other worlds. This is why you can protect your worlds with whitelists. They take the form of physical barriers in the code surrounding worlds. Think of it like a satellite defence system around a planet. Worldhoppers are players who make a habit of jumping from world to world without portals. Often these are players who grew up in the hub and learned admin magic through other people. They basically break into other worlds and thus aren’t always seen as the best people. Most worldhoppers are friendly though. Hubkids often end up worldhopping, at least during their teenage years until they find a place to settle down or until a mistake tears their soul apart.

Sometimes worlds connect themselves to each other through rifts. Nobody knows how these occur, and they can’t really be controlled. Maybe gods could control them, but nobody below them.

There is something called being worldlocked. Its generally something the Watchers do to worlds as a punishment. It involves messing with the code of the world and all the people on it. Leaving them unable to leave the world and unable to contact anyone outside of it. A lot of locked worlds eventually devolve into chaos due to the isolation, with people turning on each other.

Improper coding of a world can lead to the world getting corrupted. What happens to corrupted worlds varies, but generally they completely destroy themselves and everyone on it. EVO got corrupted, less due to Grian making mistakes but more due to being an experimental world surrounded by experimental worlds that were corrupted. The Watchers helped the process along as a punishment for Grian.

Hardcore worlds are worlds that lock you out when you die. You simply can’t enter them anymore, only view them through your communicator. Dying in them is also way harder on your soul, so players are weary of playing in them too much.

On exorcising players.

Sometimes players can get overtaken by things. Vexes are the most common, though there are other things. Glitched “networks”, like mycelium or more recently, sculk.

Zooming in more on the Vex. The Vex aren't fully sentient like players or more-than-players are. But they aren’t quite mobs either. They exist in a space between categories, but have a strong desire to achieve… more. The way they try to achieve this is by trying to possess vulnerable players. They don’t often succeed, but when they do they will try to take over servers and hubworlds. They kind of function like a computer virus. Overtaking a player and ‘overlapping’ their code with their own Vex code manipulation.

Sculk and Mycelium work a little differently. They are more so connected through a hivemind. A sculk block is the same as a warden is the same as a shrieker is the- you get the point. The sculk is not an individual block. And it has one goal. To spread. To overtake more of a world. To overtake more players. Similar to Vex it will latch on to a player and ‘overlap’ their code with its own.

Exorcising players from any type of possession is possible, but a nasty process. First of all it requires someone with at powers at least akin to a voidwalker or a prime player. Then they basically have to tear the Vex, sculk or mycelium from the player line by line. Piece by piece. And it hurts. Especially when the player regains enough awareness to recognise that they are being hurt by someone they know, but not why or how. Removing sculk can leave scars akin to burn scars.

Characters backstories (incomplete)

Hermits

Grian: Parrot hybrid. Was a child of the hub at some point with Jimmy, he met Mumbo during this time. Created EVO and was spotted and taken by the Watchers. Escaped them after give or take two years and broke into Hermitcraft during his escape.

Scar: Human-ish. Was fully human until he got possessed by vexes together with Cub. He had to be exorcised by Xisuma. While the vex are now gone he still has powers related to their possession. The downside is that he’s still haunted by hallucinations(?) of their possession. Disabled besides that and uses a cane on bad days.

Pearl: Moth hybrid. Grew up together with Grian and later Jimmy. She can’t really remember her early childhood, but her defining moment was Grian’s disappearance and later the corruption of EVO. Right around the time Grian escaped the Watchers she was taken and turned into one. Later she ran into Grian again on Hermitcraft.

Gem: A young admin who ran small building worlds. She met Pearl through a building competition she was hosting. Gave Pearl shelter after EVO fell.

False: Child of the hub. Was one of the youngest leaders of the group she was in until she gave herself up to a Hypixel manager to rescue one of the younger kids when she was 12. Fought there until she was 17 and Techno and Phil gave her a chance to escape.

Etho: Grew up on an anarchy server akin to 2B2T where he’d attack people with his redstone. Got possessed by corrupted mycelium at one point which left it’s scars on him mentally.

Joe: Prime player. He’s very old (being a prime player makes him immune to dying of old age). Can’t remember where he grew up but he travelled around from server to server until he found Cleo. Then he travelled with her until they joined Hermitcraft. Gets nauseous when travelling though portals.

Cleo: Originally human. From a big city server that fell to a corrupted virus. It turned the server into a zombie apocalypse. She barely escaped with her life and ran into Joe. She later returned to her server after a family member contacted her, but was infected herself. Joe saved her life.

Xisuma and EX: Voidwalkers. Grew up in the end. EX is the older brother but was always treated as evil due to a misinterpreted prophecy. Which became a self-fulfilling one. The entire population of Voidwalkers was attacked by the Watchers, who’d they’d been at war with. Xisuma and EX were the presumed only survivors.

Tango: Blaze hybrid. From the nether, was taken to a lab which he later escaped from together with Doc.

Iskall: Former human, now a human with cybernetic parts. Was in an accident which, due to fucked up respawn mechanics on his homeworld, left him needing the cybernetic parts.

Doc: creeper/human/cyborg hybrid. Created in a lab. Escaped from the lab together with Tango.

Emperors/related to them

Jimmy: Canary hybrid. Child of the hub. Watched EVO get destroyed and barely escaped with his life.

Martyn: Human, was on EVO with the other EVO people and got separated from them during the escape. His shoulder has never quite been the same since he had to reset it himself.

Scott: An Angel of Death. Under the command of Philza and in turn, under the goddess of death. Which means he worked together with Eret, Foolish and Techno.

Oli: Human who dropped out of admin school.

Fwhip: Human admin.

Pixel: Prime player.

Owen: Human(?) worldhopper. Child of the hub who at one point met Eloise and Bek. They travel together. He has admin powers (like all worldhoppers) but never trained officially. Gets nauseous when travelling though portals which also applies to worldhopping.

Bekyamon: Human worldhopper.

Eloise: Human worldhopper.

DSMP/QSMP

Philza: Angel of death, Kristin's husband. Used to be a watcher (it's unknown wether he was a player before this), but defected and joined Kristin. They slowly fell in love after his he joined her. Says he was born mortal as a cover story (may partially be true)

Technoblade: Blood God. Demigod who used to be a mortal until he was forecefully ascended by a higher evil god. Techno destroyed his vessel in revenge and the evil god hasn't been seen since. Works together with Phil and Kristin.

Eret: Demigod who used to be a mortal wither hybrid. Worked with Phil, Techno and Kristin and was/is platonic partners with Foolish. Gets nauseous when travelling though portals.

Foolish: Shark/totem hybrid demigod. It's unknown if he was born mortal or not.

Wilbur: Kristin's and Phil's mortal son. We all know how his story ends.

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ofoceansandtombsanew · 3 months

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I Cherish You, Halcyon Days: ii.

“You’re gonna die, kid. In the worst way possible.”

tags: afab!reader (she/her), angst, slow burn

pairing: gojou x reader + onesided!getou x reader

summary: You’re 15 years old when you’re told you’re going to die. You’re 17 years old when you realize who your killer will be. And you’re 17 years old when you make peace with the fact you wouldn’t want it any other way.

index | previous chapter | next chapter

"[Full Name]," your aunt's tone is stern.

"Now before you start, Auntie, I just want to say you look lovely today."

"[Full Name]."

"Classes were canceled today!" Your aunt looks at you in disbelief and you chuckle nervously. Lying to your aunt isn't normally your style, but you knew the trouble that would be heading your way if you told her you ditched. Your classmates and teacher were easy to lay off when you texted Shoko you wanted to be alone. You don't have the same excuse to toss to your aunt. "Seriously, I told you months ago that this school is weird with its scheduling, didn't I?"

Her brow unfurled only slightly at the reminder, your weak argument somewhat convincing. There isn't much she knew about the world of jujutsu besides what Yaga told her in the initial sales pitch as to why he wanted you to transfer to Tokyo Jujutsu Tech. Auntie Chiharu only knew the basics: curses are real, cursed energy and that's the bulk of what your education would be concerning going forward.

Skeptical as she was, your aunt didn't stop you when you expressed your interest in attending. She only asked that you did what you could to stay safe. "And if it gets too much, you can always go right back to Tsubame High with all of your friends."

You loved that about your aunt. She'd never stop you from the pursuit of self-discovery. It's what made her especially cool to you when you first came to Japan during what was supposed to be a temporary living arrangement. As long as you weren't doing anything exceedingly stupid, you were free to give something a shot. As long as your grades didn't slip, she was quite loose when it came to curfews.

My parents were the kind to be really strict," she told you one day over lunch. "When I remember how uncomfortable that was, I told myself I'd try to be different than them. Just don't take your privileges for granted and I can keep being the cool aunt, okay?" Auntie Chiharu wasn't your family, not by blood anyway. In reality, she was just a family friend ー your mother's host sister back when she did a year long exchange program in Japan. She's been Auntie Chiharu for as long as you could remember.

"Well if you are just actually visiting because you didn't have classes today, then it is nice to see you, [First]," you finally get a smile back from the woman. "You didn't have to come all the way out here. I was going to see you next week."

If you could do so without bringing overt suspicion to yourself, you'd sigh in relief. "I just wanted to surprise you, that's all. And I wanted to see Mina."

Auntie Chiharu makes a knowing sound, "ah ha! So it wasn't me you wanted to see, but Mina. I should have known." Picking up a bucket of fish and ice, the aquarist nods at the one she left behind before leading the charge to where your favorite animal companion lies. "Maybe one day you'll love your aunt like that, you just want me for the aquarium."

Everything about it still feels as magical as the first time you came to your aunt's place of work your first summer in Japan. You were too young to care about things like humidity and the incessant cries of the cicadas and your level of Japanese was nonexistent. All that paled in comparison to visiting another country for the first time and even that fact paled in comparison to getting backstage access to an aquarium. So almost everyday that summer break, you left early in the morning with your aunt to her job. If you weren't helping to feed some of the animals with freshly washed hands and arms alongside the watchful eyes of the staff, you would walk around the place pretending you had rented out the entire place for yourself.

You love all the sea critters in the Wonder Aquarium, Mina is a simply the most beloved part of the 'my aunt is an aquarist' experience. She was 7 and you were 7, a bond meant to be as far as you were concerned back then. Even now, you consider Mina the beluga to be among your very best of friends.

If you weren't busy with school, you were at the aquarium telling her about the little updates in your life, the highest highs and the most embarrassing of lows.

The time you cried as you told her about the accident you had in class because you couldn't remember how to ask to go to the bathroom.

When you finally made your first friend.

Becoming a first year in middle school. Meeting Chinatsu and Tooru.

And of course, you told Mina all about how you got yourself dragged into the world of jujutsu. How the weird demon and ghouls you always saw were called curses and that you were going to learn to how to fight them.

You haven't been able to see her as much since your enrollment. The thought of her being a few short minutes away does something to calm your nerves after the events of yesterday.

Grabbing a bucket for yourself, you follow after your aunt with an enthusiastic skip, "seeing you is an added bonus!"

"How's school been?"

"It's been fine," you keep any mention of dying in the worst way possible at the hands of your beloved to yourself. Auntie Chiharu is many things. One to take fortunes of death concerning her niece with a pinch of salt ? You're sure she'd sooner try burning down your school. You never even told her about the death of the one and only second year at the school a couple months prior. "I told you before how they actually celebrate our birthdays at this school because there's not a lot of students, right? But because me and another classmate ー that Gojou guy I mentioned ー have birthdays just days apart from each other, they're just celebrating ours on the same day." Your aunt makes a noise of curiosity and you explain with your own noise of annoyance. "He was born on the 7th so we're supposed to share the 8th."

"Well that sounds fun."

"Trust me, sharing a birthday party with Gojou isn't going to be fun. He's annoying." I was supposed to be due in late November, right? Why can't I share birthdays with Shoko? But no, instead baby [First] took her sweet, sweet time and decided December 9th was the day for her.

Auntie Chiharu ignores your dismay, laughing at your anguish, "I still haven't met your classmates from this school, you know. You should bring them over when you get the chance. I'll make sure they leave thinking you're really cool."

I'm pretty sure they'd find you way cooler than me. "I'm not really sure if any of my classmates would be interested in coming to an aquarium. Well, maybe Suguru would be, just to be polite." Everyone else comes from jujutsu families whether big name or small. "Then again, I think Utahime would love it here." During an old conversation of yours concerning first date spots that weren't just dinner or a movie, you both agreed that going to an aquarium would be a fun conversation starter. Among your upperclassmen, she is a romantic.

"Suguru sounds like a first name to me," comes says coyly. "So does Utahime. Is there romance blossoming at this special school of yours?"

You roll your eyes in good fun, "I'm on first name basis with almost everyone at that school, Auntie," you tell her before she can run on with her theories about your non-existent love life. "I'm not into either of them and neither of them are into me. I'm holding out for Morris, we've been through this."

"That man is married and 36 years old."

"He's gonna leave his wife some day," you counter with too much confidence for someone only turning 16 in 6 days. "And when he does, I'll be waiting at my wedding venue of choice!" Whatever your aunt says in response, you have no idea as she shakes her head with an exasperated release of her breath. You open your mouth to argue for the sake of arguing when you see a familiar squishy head peering over a wall and any debate concerning your pipe dreams halt. "Mina!" Two more heads pop up, ah yes the other members of her little pod. "Ryuu, Yuu!"

Auntie Chiharu pats your back lightly, "I'll take the boys and feed them before moving onto a different area. I'm sure you can handle your best friend." Your aunt knows the drill. Mina time is private time, like writing in a sentient diary. "Don't jump into the tank," she adds with a pinch.

You chuckle, "that was 10 year old [First]'s prerogative."

And 7 year old [First]. And [First] 8 through 9.

"Hey, Mina," you sigh softly, placing a gentle hand on her melon and giving it a friendly squish. It doesn't matter how many times you've touched it, beluga skin still feels something akin to touching wet styrofoam. "It's been forever since I've seen you, how you've been?" At Mina's friendly whistles you beam. "Good! I'm glad to hear the boys aren't giving you too hard a time. Me? School's been... something." You wait until you hear the telltale clatter of the the tank doors and you know Auntie Chiharu is far enough to not hear anything that comes next.

Another breath leaves you, this time much heavier in nature as you toss a few fish into Mina's jaws. "Seriously something," you whisper. "You already know where I'm going to school now, you don't need a major recap. But," you stall over your next words and focus on feeding Mina fish and ice.

When there's nothing left in the bucket besides melted water and fish scales you place you decide to lay on your stomach, disregarding the cool water seeping through your shirt and pants. "I'm supposed to die, Mina," you murmur at last, touching her melon again. "Looks like we won't be growing up together, after all." You recall Takamatsu's owlish eyes, his near manic grins.

All sorcerers are supposed to be at least a little crazy, apparently.

You wonder what the crazy meter is for someone who can see glimpses of someone's future when they look at them. Crazy enough that I can't ask him 'boring questions' about how I die. "Not really sure when, I forgot to ask. But to be honest, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have liked it if I asked," you tell the beluga about Takamatsu's disdain for lackluster questions. "So don't go asking me when or where. I don't know that either.

"... it's not like I didn't go into sorcerery thinking I couldn't die," you continue on. "It's a huge part of the job description. Warning: being a jujutsu sorcerer will bring in closer proximity to curses and curses can cause death, life threatening injuries, disembowelment, decapitation, more death and oh did we mention death? Ask your primary doctor if being a sorcerer is right for you."

But you promised yourself back when an undertow almost took you out that you wouldn't let fear run your life, just like Auntie Chiharu decided not to. Now here you are, confronted with something scarier than the abstract 'I could die' ー a solid confirmation of death. "... but I guess it's not even a curse that does me in, girl. I'm supposed to be killed by someone precious to me."

You wave your hand and despite yourself, you giggle when Mina rolls onto her side and waves back. "You're not gonna kill me are you, Mina?"

The sea canary makes what you say is a convincing argument that she wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing. "Don't worry, I didn't think you would," you reassure her, letting your arm sink into the chilly water. It's not jumping into the tank, Auntie Chiharu can't make any complains. Death by beluga whale sounds pretty interesting so you're sure Takamatsu would have mentioned it if you asked. "But this person is supposed to be so special that I won't even die mad about it. That Takamatsu guy said I really loved them."

You must really really love them.

At the sounds of clicks and whistles that are distinctly not the beluga in front of you, your eyes wander to the far east of the tank where you know your aunt is. You try to imagine Auntie Chiharu killing you, you try to picture how you'd feel if she did it now.

"I'm," you rest your chin on the hand that isn't elbow deep into icy cold water. "I'm really gonna love someone that much some day," you babble softly on in awe at the statement. "It's kinda amazing when I think about it. I don't really know if there's anyone I love that much right now. I don't even think I love my parents that much. We're the kind of family where our relationship got better after I moved out of the house." No more weird daughter, no more talk of imaginary ghouls. The love you have for your parents definitely has its limits. Your future executioner you adore definitely has to be someone that isn't family. "Who do you think it'll be?"

Mina has no answer for you but you grin anyway, "I wanna meet 'em too."

It's almost 18:00 when you finally finish making your way up the gazillion steps onto Jujutsu Tech's campus and that's when you're caught sneaking back into the dorms by Suguru.

"I thought you were sick in your dorms," the boy remarks when he catches you red-handed.

You laugh sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck, "you wouldn't happen to believe me if I said I'm just a figment of your imagination, right?" Your shoulders sag in relief when Suguru chuckles at your lackluster attempt at covering your ass. At the very least, you knew the taller boy wouldn't snitch on the fact you hadn't actually been moping in your room all day.

"It'll be our little secret," Suguru says at last when his light bought of laughter subsides. Perfect. "How are you feeling?"

"Compared to yesterday? Better," talking to a beluga whale about your problems has been a surprisingly effective tactic since you were 7. "I just needed to clear my head and think for a while. And well I guess I thought, if I'm gonna die anyway, why not knock something off my bucket list. I've never ditched school before," despite your lackadaisical grin, Suguru grimaces at your words and your heart clenches. It's too soon to joke about your fate, even for you. But fake it til you make it. You made your decision. "So why not do it so I'm not laying on my deathbed full of regrets, right?" The lack of banter in return makes you sigh, holding your arm closely to your side. "Sorry. Kinda just figuring out how to approach the whole... dying in the worst way possible thing."

Suguru's look of sympathy isn't one you know if you should accept full-heartedly, "he let you ask questions about it, so there might be some way to change what happens to you. The future is malleable."

You remember how the seer looked aghast at you even asking how you die and snort, "those answers were helpful and unhelpful at the same time. So, I'm not really counting on things changing much." Not unless you really didn't like what you saw in the future. "Either way, I want to see this thing through and see what happens. It's terrifying, don't get me wrong," you divulge truthfully with a shaky sigh. Shit yourself levels of terrifying if you're being particularly honest.

Death may be part of your job description but you don't want to die. "You got 'hey man, you're gonna have some tough life decisions' and I got 'you're dying, not sorry'. And I don't even have a timeline I'm working with," you curse yourself again for not asking Takamatsu when you'd die. But if I did, he'd probably cut off letting me ask anymore questions in the first place. That sounds like a boring question, after all. "But living in fear isn't my style. So I'm just gonna keep doing me until I'm in the dirt. We're all dying some day, I'm not special."

And there's someone I want to meet, you keep to yourself. I want still want to choose my own future. So you will.

You'll meet whoever it is you're supposed to love so much you wouldn't even care if they killed you and you'll judge for yourself if they're someone you actually want in your life. With un-tinted glasses.

With an internal pat on your back, you give Suguru one that is much more external in nature, "so don't worry about little ole me. I'm pretty sure I'm not dying any time soon based on what I was told though, so don't get all sad on me. My birthday's coming up though so if you do wanna be extra nice, just get me extra presents or something."

You get a small smile in return, although you're sure your classmate isn't thoroughly convinced. You accept the smile as a win despite that. "I'll try to catch myself from moping too much then. I'll tell Satoru to be extra nice too," Suguru turns a sharp but playful eye toward you. "You're birthday buddies, after all."

"Please be for real," you squint back in displeasure. "Now we're gonna be stuck together all day on the 8th. Be lucky you don't have any birthday buddies." Utahime and Suguru's birthdays were a comfortable enough distance in February that neither had to worry about sharing anything other than a birthday month. Apparently that's too much to ask for yourself. "Let's switch birthdays, actually," you rest a fist on your other palm, a metaphorical light bulb lighting up over your head. "He's your best friend, it would perfect!"

"No way, I can't handle that much Satoru in my life." You roll your eyes, sticking your tongue out petulantly. "If it's any consolation, we didn't get along much our first couple weeks of school." It didn't offer much comfort so much as amusement. According to Shoko, their first day of school, Suguru and Gojou got into a fight so bad classes had to be canceled the rest of the day. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that squabble. "So it'll probably be the same for you," he smiles to himself, lost in whatever thoughts of friendship and rainbows he must be having. "It'd just be nice for the two of you to get along seeing as you're both friends of mine."

You hold your index fingers up in an 'x', "don't jinx me please. I'm a proud member of the We Hate Gojou Alliance with Utahime, I'm not betraying my girl like that." In spite of your vehement protests, Suguru laughs. He can laugh all he wants, I'm not giving up my badge of being a hater. A yawn falls from your lips. "Anyways, I'm hitting the showers," you yawn again, the lack of sleep finally beginning to catch up to you. "I've been out all day and I'm tired."

"Where'd you go anyway?" Suguru asks as you finally continue making your way to the dorms. "You smell like fish."

You laugh sheepishly. That's a drawback to the backstage aquarium visits. Good ole fish smell.

There's a reason no one wanted to be next to you on the train. "Enoshima."

"... Enoshima?"

index | previous chapter | next chapter

Extra

Alt. chapter title: Local teen trauma dumps to beluga whale, results may very

Auntie Chiharu's name is written with the characters for small '小' and spring '春'. That isn't important, I just think it's a cute name. She's got a degree in marine biology and works as an aquarist in Enoshima. She's not your average aunt, she's a cool aunt. Has heard many of your Gojou-related rants in the past. She deserves a medal

#look she's writing #jjk #jjk x reader #gojou x reader #gojo x reader #getou x reader #geto x reader #gojo satoru x reader #gojou satoru x reader #getou suguru x reader #geto suguru x reader #i cherish you halcyon days

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kallie-den · 10 months

Text

Renewable Energy

Ziratha, an intrepid young succubus researcher, finds the ultimate solution to the looking Succubus Energy Crisis: a device that brainwashes its subjects back into nourishing, delicious, easily-flustered virgins - even rough, experienced, punk trans girls like Vivi

This was a delightful commission from GrillFan65, one of my patrons, and features a very, very fun TF ;)

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“Wow. This is a succubus’s lab?” The crust punk trans girl looked around Ziratha’s research laboratory and sniffed. “I would have expected more candles. Magic circles. Maybe a few jars of goat semen or something.”

Ziratha the succubus rolled her eyes as the punk laughed at her own bad joke. “That’s a stereotype. You’d think humans would know better now. We’ve been living amongst your kind for decades now, and-“

“And succubi are simply people just like us, living perfectly normal lives, except for the whole needing sex for subsistence thing,” the punk interrupted. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard the history lesson before.”

Ziratha had to suppress a groan. Alongside her PhD research, a full-time job in its own right, she worked part-time as an adjunct making minimum wage. She’d forgotten what a good night’s sleep felt like. Half her blood was coffee. She was way too tired for this.

Unfortunately for her, this punk girl - Vivi - was the best shot she was going to get at seeing her research reach fruition.

“Anyway,” Vivi piped up, “hurry up and tell me why I’m here already.”

“You’re here,” Ziratha replied tersely, “because I caught you breaking a window at the back of the lab. Probably looking for something to sell. And because if you help me out, I can delete the feed from the security camera. Got it?”

“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” Vivi shot back. “HRT ain’t free, you know?”

Ziratha sighed. In truth, she didn’t hold the attempted theft against her. It was simply that the succubus really, really needed just one single research subject. One was surely all it would take to get the funding board to sit up and pay attention.

“So, c’mon,” Vivi insisted. “What do you need me to do?”

Ziratha took a very, very deep breath. “OK, let me explain. Firstly, what do you know about the SEC?”

Vivi sniffed. “Sounds familiar.

“The Succubus Energy Crisis,” Ziratha told her patiently. “We succubi depend on energy harvested from our sexual partners. You clearly know that much. However, what you may not know is that sexual energy isn’t a sustainable resource.”

“How’s that?” Vivi seemed more interested in scoping out Ziratha’s messy lab than in the answer.

“The amount of energy a succubus harvests from her partner is inversely proportional to their sexual experience,” Ziratha went on. Reciting this was practically automatic. She’d been over it a hundred times in class. “The potency of sexual energy declines after, well, sex. Especially sex with succubi. The more we take, the less they have to give. Sex with ‘well-used’ partners yields negligible energy - and furthermore, might actually kill the human.”

“OK.” Vivi laughed offhandedly. “So what? There will always be more virgins, right?”

“That’s what people used to say about coal and oil,” Ziratha pointed out. “As it turns out, no. Thanks to a declining birth rate, an increasingly sexualized culture, and a constant expansion of liberal sexual mores into untapped parts of the world, reserves are depleting faster than they can naturally refill. Humanity’s store of sexual energy is trending towards zero. Starvation for succubuskind.”

“Right…” Vivi said skeptically, before shrugging. “I don’t see what that’s got to do with me.”

“I was getting to that,” Ziratha retorted. “I’m working on a solution, OK? See, traditional succubic magiscience holds that the depletion of sexual energy following virginity loss is a spiritual-metaphysical phenomenon. In other words, completely and totally irreversible. But that’s bullshit!”

Vivi looked up sharply at the sudden outburst of passion from the succubus.

“Those idiots in the academy just don’t want to let go of their precious little doctrines!” Ziratha fumed. “They’d rather sink billions into pipe dreams than admit the textbooks could be wrong. I mean, the SuperCharm Collider? Seriously? It’s a joke! But once I get my funding, I’ll be the one who’s laughing!”

She let out a loud, rich cackle worthy of her demonic forebears.

“See, my research indicates that the source of this problem is purely neural-psychological,” Ziratha ranted. “In other words: if you can turn back the clock on someone’s mind, you can completely refill their sexual energy. It’s a perfect solution. Renewable energy for all, forever. But the Institutional Review Board won’t give me the damn funding for a proper set of clinical trials.”

“Hold up,” Vivi broke in. “Are you about to tell me that I’m your guinea pig? And… you want to turn me back into a virgin?”

Ziratha grinned, her eyes flashing behind her nerdy glasses. “Exactly! Behold my Transcranial Magical Stimulation Unit. Which I expect to be known more widely as: the revirginization helmet!”

Reaching over to her workbench, she picked up something that looked halfway between an old VR headset and a military-issue tin foil hat.

Vivi folded her arms over her battle vest. “There’s no way I’m wearing that.”

“It’s safe!” Ziratha insisted defensively. “I made sure of it. If it wasn’t, this would kill my entire career.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Vivi replied, unconvinced. Then, she tilted her head to one side, and a crafty, dirty grin slowly spread across her face. “Hey. How about you and I go someplace comfortable and find a solution to a different kind of energy crisis?”

“Huh?” Ziratha blinked.

Vivi kept grinning and winked.

“Oh, I see.” Ziratha smiled wearily. “You want to have sex.”

Vivi giggled and nodded. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” the punk girl said, “but you look like you could do with a little top-off.”

Ziratha frowned. “Rude!”

In truth, though, she couldn’t be too offended. It had been a long time since Ziratha had fed properly, and it showed. Proper, nourishing partners weren’t easy to come by. Her deep red skin had taken on a slightly unhealthy pallor, her horns were nubs, and her tail was just a thin, dainty little thing. It was a far cry from the kind of overbearingly transhuman appearance succubi could have if they were permitted to glut themselves to their hearts’ content.

Admittedly, Ziratha wasn’t exactly playing to her own strengths. Instead of anything particularly alluring, she was dressed in the universal uniform of the overworked grad student: an old t-shirt, grey sweatpants and comfy sneakers, with a lab coat over top. Her hair was tied back in a hasty ponytail, her huge, round glasses made her look like exactly the nerd she was, and she hadn’t bothered with any makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes.

Beneath it all, though, she still had a killer body. She was still a succubus, after all.

“What do you say?” Vivi proposed. She glanced pointedly at Ziratha’s chest. “Wanna turn those C-cups into something bigger?”

Ziratha was surprised Vivi knew so much about how energy levels affected succubi. “You’ve slept with my kind before?”

“Sure have.” Vivi’s smirk was infuriatingly cocky. “A few times. And don’t worry - they were never disappointed. I know just how to treat a girl - mortal or demon.”

Ziratha rolled her eyes at the lewd comments, but she was smiling too. This made Vivi the ideal test subject. It was what Ziratha had been hoping for when she’d first laid eyes on her. Vivi was tall, hot, and confident, and while Ziratha knew better than to judge a book by its cover, Vivi did look like someone with a certain amount of ‘experience’.

She was pure punk, top to bottom. Vivi was wearing a battle vest covered in patches and spikes over a simple, loose-fitting top, and beneath the belt she had on a pleated skirt, some torn stockings, and an impressive pair of boots. A lot of the skin she was showing was covered in ink, and both sides of her head were shaven, leaving her with a messy streak of hair that was dyed neon blue.

Ziratha would have been pretty shocked if Vivi had told her she was a virgin.

“As attractive an offer as that is, I’ll have to decline.” Ziratha didn’t bother to conceal her weary sarcasm. “You’re a guinea pig.”

Vivi rolled her eyes. “Fine. I guess I can think of worse things than getting my ‘sexual energy’ replenished - whatever that’s gonna feel like.”

“Great. Great!” Ziratha immediately started ushering Vivi deeper into her lab before the punk could change her mind. “Take a seat, please.”

She gestured towards a chair that looked like it had been ripped out of a hospital examination room, with all kinds of wires and machines hooked up to it. Vivi glanced at the chair dubiously, but still moved to sit down.

“What’s all this, huh?” she asked, settling.

“Just monitoring equipment,” Ziratha explained. “Taking your vitals, measuring neural readings. That kind of stuff.”

“Nerd stuff, got it.” Vivi winked. “OK. I’m ready, I guess.”

Ziratha could barely contain her excitement. This was it. Her breakthrough. Her triumph. But the succubus was too much of a scientist to count her chickens before they hatched. “Here. Put this on.”

She handed Vivi the helmet she’d spent hundreds of hours designing and building. The punk looked at the strange, ramshackle device even more dubiously than she had at the chair, but she did as she was told. Once the helmet was properly adjusted, the screen mounted to it hung in front of Vivi’s face, obscuring most of her vision.

Ziratha tapped a few keys on her laptop and the screen came to life. A few lights and indicators on the helmet started to glow and flash, and the whole apparatus began to hum as the large capacitors mounted to it started to charge.

“Hey, so, how long is this going to take, anyway?” Vivi asked. The punk sounded a little less brash and a little more uncertain now. “Is this, like, some kind of long-ass meditation thing? Because I have places to be.”

“No, don’t worry,” Ziratha answered. “It’s much quicker than that.”

The succubus tapped a few more keys, checked a few readouts, and then hammered the space bar.

There was a huge, bright flash, like an old camera going off.

Vivi went still and stiff for a moment, and then groaned faintly.

“What the fuck?” she complained. “What… was that it?”

“That was it,” Ziratha confirmed. Her tail was very straight, and her voice was thick with anticipation. “How do you feel?”

“My head is throbbing.” Vivi slipped the helmet off her head and blinked as her eyes readjusted. “You could have given me some real warning, you know. So, did it work?”

Ziratha glanced at her laptop screen. “According to the diagnostics, it should have worked.”

“How’s my, uh, energy?” Vivi asked, a faintly mocking smile on her face. “Any of your fancy instruments tell you that?”

Ziratha simply returned the smile. “Oh, I don’t need any instruments for that at all.”

The succubus reached out and took Vivi’s hand, and let her demonic sixth sense for energy tell her everything she needed to know. Her smile immediately became a wide grin. Oh yes, it had worked. Succubi could always tell when someone would make a good meal. It was no different from any other predator’s sense of smell, although physical contact made it far more precise. Right now, Vivi had the scent of a ripe, untouched virgin.

This was it. The breakthrough Ziratha had long searched for. Her invention was about to change the world.

Despite such heady thoughts, though, Ziratha wasn’t celebrating. Something else had caught her attention. There was something very strange about the way Vivi was reacting.

The punk girl was trying not to let it show, but she kept squirming and shifting in her seat. A distinct pink blush was showing in her cheeks, and Ziratha could feel Vivi’s palm starting to turn hot and sweaty as they held hands.

The succubus tilted her head. Now this was very, very interesting.

“Vivi,” Ziratha said. “How do you feel now?”

Vivi couldn’t seem to meet her gaze. “I-I’m fine,” she blurted out in reply. “It’s nothing.”

Ziratha wasn’t buying that for an instant. She had a succubus’s instincts. She could tell when someone was seriously flustered. Experimentally, Ziratha lent in closer and squeezed Vivi’s hand.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Jeez!” Vivi’s voice was a little too strained. Under Ziratha’s watchful gaze, she twitched tellingly. “You’re just being kind of l-lewd.”

Lewd? Just by holding her hand? “Fascinating…” Ziratha murmured.

The succubus pulled away, allowing Vivi to breathe a sigh of relief, and inspected some of her equipment readouts more carefully.

“It clearly worked,” she said, as much to herself as to her test subject. “But there’s signs of something else, too… hey, Vivi. Remind me: you’ve had sex, right?”

In contrast to her earlier, cocksure attitude, Vivi now looked like a deer in headlights at the question. “W-w-well, yeah! Of c-course!”

“So your memory hasn’t been affected, just…” Ziratha murmured, before turning back to Vivi and clapping her hands. “I think I know what’s happened!”

“What?” Vivi demanded. “I mean, uh, nothing. Obviously. But what?”

“Just as I was hoping, my revirginizer helmet completely returned you to a virgin state regarding your reserve of sexual energy,” Ziratha explained. “But I theorize that it also affected some of your closely-related inhibitions, skills, and arousal responses.”

Vivi blinked. “And what does that mean? English please.”

“Well, do you remember being a blushing, nervous, inexperienced teenager, years ago? Remember how much ‘steam’ you had to blow off on a daily basis? Remember how it made you feel when a girl so much as looked at you?”

Vivi nodded, and waited for Ziratha to say something else. But when Ziratha just glanced at her significantly, the punk girl turned as white as a sheet.

“N-no way,” Vivi protested. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m afraid so.” Ziratha giggled. “It’s all connected, it seems. Congratulations. In just about every way that counts, you’re a virgin again.”

Vivi turned from white back to red upon hearing the v-word said out loud. She made to stand up. “I-I can’t believe you did this to me. I gotta get out of here.”

“Wait, wait,” Ziratha urged. She moved to Vivi’s side and calmed her with a simple hand on her arm. “I should really run a few more tests. Just to make sure.”

The succubus’s nostrils flared. She was shocked at how potent Vivi’s energy now felt. It was palpable, even when they weren’t touching. She could sense it in the air. Clearly, she had to investigate further. All in the name of science, of course.

Vivi was back to looking flustered, but she still threw a mutinous glare at Ziratha. “Y-you’re crazy! I can’t believe I even…”

Ziratha swiftly decided that if the betterment of succubuskind wasn’t a good enough reason for Vivi, she’d have to resort to other forms of persuasion. She bent down at the waist, putting her face close to the punk’s, and made her eyes very big and alluring.

“Please?” she whispered, in a voice that was suddenly soft and intimate. “Won’t you stay with me?”

Vivi looked like her body temperature had just shot up ten degrees, and Ziratha noticed that she couldn’t seem to meet her gaze properly. The succubus was sure she wouldn’t have fallen for that five minutes ago, but now she was a total sucker. “S-s-sure,” Vivi managed, in a strained voice.

“Wonderful.” Ziratha licked her lips. The distinctive virgin-scent Vivi was starting to give off was just delicious. “These readings - and reactions - are extraordinary. And I’ve done nothing more than hold your hand.”

Vivi whimpered plaintively.

“I can’t help but wonder,” the succubus murmured, “what kind of yields you might produce with slightly more purposeful stimulation.”

Vivi’s eyes registered alarm but, before she could protest, Ziratha slipped closer and planted a kiss on the punk girl’s cheek.

Her reaction was as immediate as it was striking. Vivi let out a faint gasp and her back arched slightly, even though she was clearly trying as hard as possible not to show it. But even more striking was the intensified deer-in-headlights look in her eyes, like she was desperately struggling to figure out what this meant and what she should do about it, even as she was so devastatingly flustered she couldn’t even manage basic addition.

Ziratha’s nostrils flared again. This was amazing, and she was starting to become aware of just how long it had been since she’d had a real feeding.

“Wow,” she said teasingly, momentarily letting her instincts get the better of her. “Just from one little kiss, huh?”

Vivi whined indignantly. "I-it’s not… that’s… t-this is nothing!”

“Yeah?” Ziratha couldn’t resist a giggle. “It’s just so funny - you seemed so cocky before. So experienced.”

“I am experienced!” Vivi tried to insist. “I’ve f… um… fu… I mean, you know… I’ve had s-s-s-“

Ziratha’s grin just kept growing as she watched the previously fierce punk trail off, her blush growing steadily deeper as she struggled to bring herself to actually say it. The transformation was quite the sight to behold. She had to keep pushing Vivi further. She just had to. It was part of the experiment, somehow, she reasoned. The succubus took advantage of Vivi’s helpless spluttering to press closer still and put her lips right by her ear.

“Sex?” Ziratha breathed, pouring as much suggestion and seductive glee as she possibly could into that one, single word.

Vivi looked like she was about to explode.

“You see?” Ziratha drew back, smirking victoriously. “You’re not experienced. Not really. Not anymore. You can remember that you’ve had sex before - but that’s it. And you can barely even bring yourself to think about those memories, because you might get too worked up. Neither your mind nor your body knows how to handle it.” She giggled. “Typical virgin.”

“I-I’m not…!” For a moment she thought Vivi was about to start tearing up, but then the punk girl managed to rally herself. “Y-you’re just messing with me! That’s all! It’s your stupid little machine, making me all confused. T-that’s the only reason I can’t think straight right now. I’m not, um, w-worked up.”

“Yeah?” Ziratha challenged. “Then explain this for me, please.”

She reached down and rested her hand firmly on the big, unmistakable tent in Vivi’s skirt.

Immediately, Vivi went as white as a sheet. Clearly, until that moment, she hadn’t noticed the huge hard-on she was sporting. She attempted a protest, or perhaps an explanation, but all that came out was a few strangled, incoherent sounds.

“My, my.” Ziratha licked her lips again, without even realizing it. She was so very hungry. “You see? You’ve become so adorably excitable.”

Vivi whined as Ziratha started stroking her fingertips along the surface of her bulge. “Y-you can’t just… what the hell are you d-doing? This is harassment!”

“I’m a scientist, Vivi,” Ziratha chided, in a voice that made her sound anything but scientific. “After my experiment, it’s only natural for me to give you a nice, thorough examination.”

The punk girl let out another whimpered protest, seeming to sense Ziratha’s ulterior motive, but under the succubus’s ministrations that soon gave way to a weak, pitiful moan. The new virgin was like putty in Ziratha’s hands. The power, the energy, the scent - it was all intoxicating.

“In particular,” Ziratha decided, “I think it’s only proper that I get a reading on your, ah, endurance. I really think - I really do think - it could be very, very scientifically interesting.”

Science was increasingly slipping out of view. Ziratha’s gaze was set firmly on the huge tent in Vivi’s skirt, and it was getting harder and harder to think clearly. After a little teasing, that sweet, sweet virgin energy was coming off Vivi in waves. The laboratory was thick with its scent.

Vivi was still giving the succubus that achingly alluring deer-in-headlights look, but after a moment, her willpower started to wane. She nodded. Ziratha’s nostrils flared. That made sense too. What kind of virgin had the resolve to say ‘no’ to a succubus?

In exchange, Ziratha decided, maybe it was time to make good use of some of the inherent succubic talents she’d spent all of grad school neglecting.

Ziratha straightened up and, as Vivi watched, shrugged out of her heavy lab coat. As it fell to the ground, she reached up and removed her hair tie, shaking her head to make sure her hair cascaded down around her face. Vivi was all but hypnotized by the sight.

But that was only the beginning.

Next, Ziratha took her t-shirt by its hem and lifted it off over her head. She moved slowly, though, letting the helpless punk watching her savor the sight of her tummy and cleavage being revealed. The way she slipped out of her sweatpants was even more seductive. She made a dance of it, swinging her hips from side to side as she peeled them away from her body to expose her long, sculpted legs.

The striptease left Vivi with a little trail of drool escaping one corner of her mouth. She couldn’t seem to stop leering. Her eyes were shining like she couldn’t believe her luck, and the tent in her skirt was now marked with a growing spot of damp precum.

Underneath her clothes, Ziratha wasn’t wearing lingerie, merely a comfy sports bra and a matching pair of boxers. But that, she decided, was plenty to work with when it came to a virgin.

And from the look on Vivi’s face, she was right.

“Tell me,” Ziratha panted, “have you ever gotten a lap dance before?”

Vivi looked almost panicked as she shook her head.

“Great,” Ziratha purred. “Then I suppose this will be a genuine first.”

Effortlessly, the succubus eased her weight into the examination chair, and backed up inch by inch until her naturally huge, curvy ass was pressed right up against Vivi’s hard bulge.

Vivi squeaked like a mouse.

At this point, her every little noise and twitch was like a red rag to a bull. The newly-restored virgin’s scent was so thick in the air Ziratha could taste it. Her hunger was awakening instincts she’d never known she had. Moving to the sound of unheard music, she started grinding and gyrating like she’d been doing it all her life.

The effect the lap dance had on Vivi was nothing short of explosive.

The punk looked like every bit the virgin she now was. Her eyes were wide and practically bulging, and her mouth was contorted into a goofy, uneven shape halfway between an amazed grin and a look of desperate, anxious disbelief.

She looked like she was about to blow.

“C’mon,” Ziratha mocked, in a voice dripping with honey and brimstone. “You can do better than this, right, virgin?”

Her teasing elicited another strangled whimper that just made the succubus want to push Vivi further and further. She danced her way up the punk girl’s body and turned to face her, rolling her hips as she pushed her ass back out behind her to grind into her throbbing bulge.

“Be a good girl,” she teased. “Hold on a little longer for me.”

Vivi just nodded haplessly. Her eyes were scrunched up closed, and she was gripping the sides of the chair so tightly her knuckles had turned white. Ziratha could just imagine what was going on in her head. Baseball scores. Times tables. Whatever she needed to help not utterly humiliate herself.

“Let’s see if you can handle something a little more… direct.”

Ziratha arched her and straightened her tail, daring the virgin punk writhing beneath her to open her eyes and stare at her amazing tits. Then, she reached back and used her deft fingertips to unfasten Vivi’s skirt. Vivi let out a moan that was as much protest as eagerness, but it didn’t stop Ziratha from using the motion of her hips and thighs to slide the garment out of the way, and then pull aside her panties until her hard, leaking cock was completely exposed.

Zirath’s long, forked tongue lolled out of her mouth as she stared at it, dripping drool down onto Vivi.

She needed it.

“Good news, punk,” she breathed, shivering. “You’re about to get your cherry popped.”

“W-w-what?” Vivi exclaimed pitifully.

“It’s, uh, for the experiment,” Ziratha reasoned. She was frenzied as she tore off her bra and panties. “I need to sample, uh… and, well, get a reading on the volume of…” She rolled her eyes and licked her lips. “Actually, forget the science. I’m just hungry, and you’re ripe for the eating.”

“B-b-but!” the trans girl spluttered, as Ziratha positioned herself against her cock. “I-I don’t know if I’m ready yet!”

“Yeah?” Ziratha paused, bemused.

"I mean… uh…” A bashful look came over Vivi’s face. “It’s just… I maybe… I wanted it to be special. You know?”

“Oh my god.” Ziratha snorted a laugh, and grinned wickedly. “You are going to be just delicious.”

In a single motion, she dropped her hips and impaled herself on Vivi’s cock.

Immediately, Vivi’s voice shot up an octave, and she let out a girlish cry of absolute pleasure. Right after, Ziratha’s rich, gleeful moans joined the chorus. The succubus couldn’t believe how good the virgin’s cock felt. It wasn’t just the sensation. It was the sustenance. Merely being in Vivi’s presence for the last few minutes had made Ziratha fiercely hungry. Now, at last, that hunger was being sated.

Once she recovered from the initial hit, Ziratha started moving her hips and bouncing greedily on the end of Vivi’s shaft. With each bounce, the punk girl underneath her thrashed madly in a clumsy, instinctive attempt to meet Ziratha thrust for thrust.

She mostly failed. But the attempt, at least, was adorable.

As she rode the sensitive, inexperienced punk, Ziratha started howling with glee. She’d never had the pleasure before, but it was true what they said - there was nothing like milking a virgin. Her body was humming with energy, and every time she buried Vivi’s cock to the hilt inside her pussy, the sensation got sweeter and sweeter. Something about the flavor of a virgin’s energy was utterly transcendent, and it was made all more nourishing by what it represented.

Ziratha’s complete and total victory.

Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before Vivi’s moans started to peak, signaling that she was at the edge. Clearly, despite her memories, the virgin had absolutely no stamina. Ziratha wasn’t going to complain. The orgasm was the sweetest part of the meal.

“Go ahead!” Ziratha urged. “Blow your load already. We both know you can’t hold back anymore.”

With a cry of absolute, mortified bliss, Vivi exploded inside her.

Ziratha’s moans peaked too when she felt Vivi’s virile, nourishing cum paint her insides. It was better than anything she’d ever felt before. The power, the pleasure, the feeding - all of it. Ziratha could already feel her body priming itself to swell and change with the infusion of fresh energy.

The ecstatic rush of it made her greedy. She wanted more. She wanted it all. Ziratha squeezed down on Vivi and started riding her harder and faster than ever. Every bounce, every thrust, coaxed more and more sweet, sweet cum from the virgin’s cock, until Vivi was whining in blissful agony as she came down from the high of orgasm. Eventually, Vivi’s eyes rolled back into her head and simply passed out, her mind overwhelmed past its limits by sheer pleasure.

Ziratha kept riding her all the same. The succubus didn’t stop until she’d milked her for every last drop.

Eventually, though, once her hunger was sated, she slumped down next to the punk girl, giggling intermittently in giddy, light-headed glee. The succubus’s head was already filling with daydreams of fame and wealth when Vivi came to and pulled her into a hesitant, needy embrace.

“Hey, u-um,” Vivi whispered earnestly, in a voice that was anything but punk. “W-was it good for you too?”

“Huh?” Ziratha roused herself. There was something strange about the way Vivi sounded. No; about the way she felt. Ziratha had expected her to start returning to something closer to her normal behavior.

“I-I-I just, uh…” Vivi was once again turning bright red. “I-I thought it was really special. You know? Like, um, maybe we really have a connection.”

Ziratha seized Vivi’s hand again and, as Vivi stared at her hopefully, paid close attention to what she could sense from the punk girl. When the penny dropped, she started cackling.

“Oh my god!” she howled. “I can’t believe it. You’re still the same way. As fresh as ever.”

“What do you mean?” Vivi sounded defensive.

“I’m definitely going to need to hold you for some… oversight observation. Just to make sure.” Ziratha licked her lips suggestively. “But I can already tell. It’s like your brain can’t adapt anymore. Not just your energy levels. Your social skills. Your inhibitions. Your stamina. Everything.”

“What?” Vivi pressed anxiously.

“It’s the revirginization,” Ziratha pronounced. “All of it. It’s permanent.”

***

Mere weeks later, it was a very different Ziratha that stood upon the stage to make her big pitch to a room packed full of succubus leaders and investors. It wasn’t just the confidence - although she had that in spades, now that her Nobel prize was apparently all but assured. Her body had changed too. She stood taller. Grander. She exuded power and presence, and all of her body’s assets had gone from merely ‘hot’ to inhumanly mouth-watering. Her horns were a massive, knotted crown upon her head, and her tail was as deft as a whip and as thick as an anaconda.

All thanks to her favorite little meal.

Vivi was standing a little way behind her on the stage, and while physically she was unchanged, she seemed to have shrunk just as Ziratha had grown. She exuded a fragile, nebbish submissiveness despite all tattoos and piercings. She wore a choker collar bearing Ziratha’s name around her neck, and she was wearing a dress.

Ziratha liked her that way. And Vivi was no longer able to argue with the succubus.

“So, as you can see from our data, our early clinical trials have borne out the most promising of my invention’s results,” Ziratha was saying, as she rounded off her speech. “The regression to maiden status is, both psychologically and metaphysically speaking, permanent. The process isn’t damaging, but the subject’s mind naturally sheds its ability to develop new sexual skills or comfort zones, physical or social. Accordingly, their energy levels remain at peak capacity and potency - forever.”

Ziratha paused for a beat, letting the crowd of succubi sitting in front of her drink that in.

“In short,” she concluded, “they’re helpless perma-virgins. Isn’t that right, Vivi?”

Vivi blushed an incredibly deep red and looked down at the floor, but nodded.

“So!” Ziratha clapped her hands. “It’s safe to say that we’re ready to move into pre-production. Soon enough, each and every one of you could have one of my devices in your very own hands - assuming you’re willing to provide me with funding, of course. What do you say, ladies? A future of infinite, renewable energy awaits us!”

As expected, the auditorium was immediately filled with thunderous applause.

The age of the Succubus Energy Crisis was over.

The age of perma-virgin mortals and succubus dominance was about to begin.

---

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#story #RenewableEnergy

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mar3ggiata · 3 months

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professional help, c1. 'The Pilgrimage'.

simon riley x original character.

trigger warnings: violence, sexual assault, mentions of rape, trauma, sexual themes, swearing, use of alcohol and drugs.

song to listen to when reading this: I think, Tyler, The Creator.

abstract: this is Simon, this chapter is about the time Jude crashed a meeting and started talking about a book or some shit, no one really knows who she is or what she does for a living, she is annoying as hell. don't have anything more to add, honestly. bye.

A year later she appeared on the door of the briefing room. He almost didn't recognise her. First of all, she wasn't what he was expecting when Laswell said someone named 'Jude' was going to drop by cause they had 'something to say'. Fucking weird introduction as well… The captain already knew about Jude, apparently. Had they worked together before, he didn't know. She opened the door and the world stopped. Her eyes scanned the room, she was attentive. She looked smart. No one said a word. She looked exactly like she belonged in every room she had ever been in. She looked like fire. A dark fire, a smoky fire. She was dressed in black, she was stoic. Like someone who works in an office or a law firm. She stood as he remembered her, with her back straight. Between the eight men in the room, no one dared to speak. Yet, she was calm. 'Captain' she was the first to speak. Her voice was low. She had an accent. 'I think Laswell told you I was coming' she continued.

Her accent, where are you from? Southern England? Are you Australian? No, you're way too good looking. Definitely not American English, she sounded posh. She looked like she had just been on vacation in a sunny place. She looked like caramel. She blinked slowly, while the captain approached her, saying that they were in the middle of a briefing and she could wait in his office. No don't go just yet, he thought, I haven't finished. He watched as her lips gently curled into a smile. Not a good smile though, a 'poor man, you really are stupid' smile. She relaxed her shoulders and shifted her balance. She wore high boots. She was tall and slender, she was swallowing the room like a black hole. 'I don't think I made myself clear.' She said. The air was cold around them, like someone opened a window in the back to let in a cold, silent winter breeze. 'I think you want to ear about this now.' She finished. She was still smiling, she looked like reality was whatever she wanted it to be. The captain stood speechless but complied, made her have a seat in front of him. Now that she was sitting closer to him, he had access to more details. She had earrings, lots of them. She was right-handed. She had a tattoo on her left wrist. An arrow?

'I found out something that I believe you could use for your… ', she was trying to find the right word ' …investigation.' Her hair was long and shiny. How can you work in a world of cruelty and death and war? What is your business here? His colleague in the seat next to him glared in his direction, as to say, why is this stranger talking to our captain like she owns the building. At this point, did she own the building? And why is everyone calling you Jude… The captain stood captivated by the presence of the woman sitting in front to him, calm and collected.

'Yes, Laswell mentioned you recently had a session with Amir…' Price was trying to collect his papers on the desk, but she was faster. 'Arash, sir' she corrected him, leaning closer to the table. 'Arash Tehrani'. She slid a folder on the desk in the direction of the captain. A folder with his details? How did Jude have access to those. From where he was sitting, he could see the curve of her nose, and part of her rosy cheek. She looked European. Russian? Swedish? 'There we go, Tehrani. What's his deal?' asked Price crossing his arms on his chest. 'Well, we had a session on Monday, we normally do two sessions per week. He recently requested to see me only once every seven days', she started, but the captain interrupted her, with a look around the room. As he forgot there were 7 other soldiers in the room with them. 'Jude does therapy', he informed them, 'Military counsellor. It's a programme for soldiers who require some… some extra help. Professional help. Please go on.'

So that's what you are, a therapist. You're a psychologist, were you a psychologist when he gave you that ride to your house a year back? Why were you scared back then, why aren't you scared now? 'Yes’, she continued talking, 'we started to have one session only, I didn't think much of it, I thought it was a bit strange considering he really needs therapeutic help, and he knows it.' She paused for a second. She talked like she learned English as a second language by the choice of her vocabulary, she talked like an Harvard professor. Her eyelashes were long, painted with black makeup. She looked down for a second, lost in thought. 'He was stressed. Something was bothering him. He was fidgeting with a pillow in my office, he was stuttering.' She was talking with her hands a lot, making gestures. Her nails were very long, black and pointy. Her fingers were slender and bony. 'I asked him what was bothering him but he brushed off my question, and he usually doesn't do that, he takes therapy very seriously'. Everyone in the room was captivated by her little tale. 'I tried to get him to talk about his situation with his promotion, but that wasn't it. I tried to ask him about his night terrors but he wouldn't speak. He told me…', she reached for her bag, ' he told me he had found this book. To read it, that it would inspire me.' Her voice was solemn. She was worried, she was getting everyone on this little secret of hers. He saw some of his teammates approach the table to see the book. He stood up as well, and so did she. She wanted to remain in charge. She was still very short compared to the rest of the people in the room, yet she had an aura around her. Of power. Of knowledge. She let everyone get a good look of the cover before opening the first page.

''The Pilgrimage' is a fictional and religious novel about revolution and freedom.' All eyes were on her. 'It's about this young soldier who fights for his country, loses his family… betrays his friends…' she said that last part with particular distress. 'He begins his journey in the River Jordan, he says it's the first challenge of the journey… Then he goes all the way through the desert, walks some more and he prays and he ends up in the Persian Gulf. The whole story is basically about him walking and praying until he finds his truth' she concluded, having a look around the men's confused faces. She even looked at him for a second. Does she remember? Her face showed no emotion. 'What stood out to me is that you were recently there, in a town called Al-Jareena if I'm not mistaken.' She stated, the captain nodding. 'You were there to find and kill Mahdi Khorram. The dictator?' she said. Price was nodding, conscious that the recent mission didn't exactly go as planned. Ambushed. His eyes are fixated on the girl. She probably already knew this, since she knew so much. How did she know so much? 'You didn't find him. He got away because he knew you were coming. Am I correct?' She didn't wait for any of them to respond. I hate you, he thought. 'As if someone told him you were coming. You know,' she shifted her balance again on her high boots, she bent over the table to reach the book and open it, 'During his journey the young soldier meets many friends, it's a Little Prince kinda thing.' She quickly looked up to realise none of the present soldiers knew the Little Prince. She resumed, 'He meets friends, but always leaves them behind or kills them in the name of God. All of his friends have English names. All of them don't support his journey. He knows what he's supposed to do, he hears a calling. So you were in the exact same part of the world where the first part of this book is set.' The pieces of her puzzle started to take form into his head, and he could see his companions reacting to her words. 'Your mission goes to shit and you think there's a mole in your base, because all your attacks failed. My patient is just now changing his behaviour and letting me know he recently found this book that tells a tale about revolution and…' One of the men stopped her, 'Are you saying he could be the mole? That he is in contact with the troops in Al-Jareena and he's…' she stopped him again, regaining control of the room. 'He's protecting the leader of his country, yes.'

She was looking at Gaz. 'Yes I think he disagreed with your plan of execution, if you remember correctly he left the briefing room months back when the mission was announced. You told me some of your soldiers weren't happy with the attacks, you were talking about him.' They looked at the captain, she was referring to him. So they had worked together, they knew each other. He nodded. 'He's attached to his country and wanted to find a way to protect it. His family is there. I think he read the book and found the strength to go against the army. I did a little research on Arash…' she started speaking again, he was surprised she was still talking. How much did she know, why was she telling them this, why hadn't they figured it out before her?

He watched her take out of her bag another folder, put it on the desk and open it. By then, the group of soldiers were gathered around her. It was printed CCTV footage, what she had in the folder. 'Your first attack was October 5th. This is my patient on the day before, exiting the base to go to a doctors appointment. You know, the reason he's not deployed is because of a hand injury.' She moved the first picture to show the second and third. 'All the days before your failed attacks, Arash would exit and come back in the span of an hour. October 11th and 23rd. So I drove from here to the hospital, to check the timings' she raised her eyes for a second. Now that she was closer he could see them better, they were green. Light green. 'It doesn't add up, he couldn't have made it no matter how fast he was going. Even got reports back from the doctors, had to pretend I was his girlfriend', she let out an embarrassed chuckle, 'he was never there'. She finished. Price breathed out, a breath he was probably holding in from the moment she started talking. 'It's a pretty bad accusation you're making Jude'. He uncrossed his arms, keeping his gaze on the pictures.

'I know, captain. That's why I did some more research.' She was serious again. She was trying to prove her point. How much proof did she have? Christ, who is she? 'This is his bank statement, now,' she stopped briefly to make sure everyone was seeing the printed page in front of them. How the hell… 'I am not gonna share how I got this. I would like to direct your attention to the three amounts that I highlighted.' She did, in fact, highlight in yellow three recurring payments of 5.000 dollars to a foreign account. She pointed at the paper with her fingers, with her pointy nails. She was a witch. 'He has been transferring the same amounts every month since the mission was announced… When was it announced, do you remember?' she asked, but no one spoke. They did that thing when no one really knows the answer and no one will admit it. 'I'm gonna remind you, it was August 27. Guess when he made the first transfer.' She waited for them to have a look. It was August 28. 'He did it every month since, same day. Same bank account.'

'He's transferring his founds at home for his family or…?' The Scottish man to his left spoke and she finished his sentence, 'or for himself. Cause he's planning to go back and fight for his country.' She was done. It sure made sense, straight out of a movie. Jude had just turned around their mission, with her little earrings and shiny nails. Jude, the therapist. Why was she aware of all this stuff and not them? What the fuck was going on, it felt like the most surreal experience of his life. 'Thanks Jude, I'll make a call, would you mind waiting here a moment?' said the captain before quickly turning away.

She still looked calm. She gathered her things, the folders and the book and put them in her bag. He wanted to approach her and ask her about what had happened a year back. He could, if he wanted to. Make it look like he was asking about her findings. He was Lieutenant, he could ask her. He moved slightly close to her, checking his companions were chatting amongst each other before speaking. 'Do we know each other?' he said. She had to remember him, his mask at least. She looked up at him for a millisecond. It was enough. She had beautiful eyes, beautiful green big bright eyes. She looked at him and she looked like a fox. He could see her makeup on her cheeks he could see her hair brushing off her shoulders, the skin around her nose slightly red, like when you blow your nose too many times. 'We got drunk together in Ibiza and got matching tattoos, I'm surprised you don't remember.' She answered. What? Who the fuck are you, what are you doing here? What kind of answer is that, you can't speak to me like this. He stood silent next to her, she was finishing up packing her bag. She put a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked up again. It was his turn to say something. Should he say something funny? Was she expecting a joke? 'No seriously' he said, he spoke gently, like she was going to fly away if he raised his voice, 'I remember you. I gave you a ride to your house in June I think.' She smiled a little, but she wasn't looking at him anymore. 'Yeah, I know. I remember.' she said. 'What happened back then?' he continued, but his time ran out, the captain was done speaking on the phone. 'That's classified' she murmured. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised to find out she killed somebody. 'Alright Jude, thanks again ehh…' Price stared speaking, regaining the attention of the group. 'We're gonna keep an eye on Arash and try to find out more… Thanks again' She offered him a little smile and put her bag on her shoulder. Price was opening the door for her. She was gone just like that. A mirage.

'That was intense'.

notes: I did it, there you go chapter one!! so, what’s the deal with this bitch? what happened last year? i feel like a LOT of this fic is just Jude’s life and Ghost is a part of it. she has a lot going on all the time, she's cool as fuck and Ghost just manages to squeeze into her world. ideally, this is set before mwii, we will get to those events in about 30 chapters...a reminder, everything about this story is fictional! everything is invented, none of this is real. if a book named the pilgrimage with the same plot exists then it's a weird coincidence. let me know what you think!!

love, mare.

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