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#the other part of it is that I’m a fucking goblin
theostrophywife · 2 months
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azúcar.
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pairing: mattheo riddle x reader.
song inspiration: baby by madison beer.
author's note: benjamin being active on tiktok is dangerous for my health. i actually feel like i'm about to crawl on the ceiling from how badly i want this man. literally tweaking. anyways, enjoy 😊
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There were a lot of quidditch related superstitions you were willing to put up with. 
Wearing the same socks during every match. Kissing your boyfriend good luck before every game. Even the rowdy common room parties that you and Mattheo often snuck out of to have a celebration of your own was a tradition you welcomed with open arms. 
But this was not one of them. 
“It’s absolutely absurd,” Pansy huffed, her sleek black hair grazing her chin as she tucked her legs underneath her on the velvet couch. “Blaise has lost his mind.” 
“Sounds like you’re the one losing it, Pans.” 
Pansy rolled her eyes. “You would too if your boyfriend suddenly announced a sex ban as part of some weird quidditch superstition.” 
Since the start of the season, the quidditch team had taken a few hits. Usually, the boys dominated the other houses, but they barely won against Hufflepuff and came to a draw against Ravenclaw during the last game. Ending in a tie was apparently the last straw because the day after the match, Blaise told Pansy that the team had taken a pact of celibacy. 
For some deranged reason, the boys believed that abstaining from sex for a week would help them secure a win for the rematch on Friday. For the next five days, they intended to sleep, breathe, and eat quidditch. Apparently, your feminine wiles would have to be set aside for the meantime. As if sex were the problem and not their constant drinking and partying, which probably contributed to their lack of focus as a whole. Not that the boys would listen to common sense at this point. 
You scoffed. “Please, Mattheo wouldn’t last a day without sex let alone a whole week.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Pansy said rather bitterly, picking at the cushion in her lap. “The lot of them are taking this entirely too seriously. Blaise won’t even allow himself to be in a room alone with me.”
”Well, Zabini has a surprising amount of self-control. Mattheo, on the other hand, is perpetually horny. There’s no way that he agreed to such a ridiculous pact.”
“Lucky you,” your best friend said with a long suffering sigh.
You nudged her knee with your foot and smiled mischievously. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m more than willing to help. Blaise may be disciplined, but he’s also just a man. What do you say we pop into the village? I think I saw a lace emerald lingerie set that had your name all over it.”
Pansy perked up at that. “I knew I came to the right person.”
Your best friend smiled as you hooked your arm through her elbow. “Of course you did. Now come on, let’s bring Zabini to his knees.” 
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Sprawled out on Mattheo’s bed, you flicked through the pages of your novel and waited for your boyfriend to return from practice. The trip to Hogsmeade had been a complete success. Just as you suspected, the little set you glimpsed through the lingerie store window looked absolutely stunning on Pansy. Blaise didn’t stand a chance. 
As a matter of fact, you’d given the two of them privacy tonight. They were due for a study session at your shared dorm tonight, but you quietly slipped out in the midst of their heated argument about the Goblin Rebellion and happily skipped off to your boyfriend’s room. 
Given the late hour, Mattheo was due back any second now. As if summoning him from your thoughts alone, your boyfriend sauntered into the room, looking sweaty and sexy from running though drills all afternoon. Mattheo grinned the second he spotted you on his bed. 
“Hi, princesa,” he greeted, his voice low and husky. 
”Hi, Matty.” You propped yourself up on your elbows and smiled. “How was practice?” 
“Absolutely fucking brutal,” Mattheo grunted as he pulled off his shoes. “Theo clobbered the fuck out of me, but I suppose it’s better him than the Ravenclaws. Mark my words, we’re going to beat those twats come Friday.” 
“I don’t doubt it, babe.” You pushed off the mattress and scooted closer to him. 
Mattheo licked his lips as you neared, breath hitching as you brushed his damp curls off of his forehead. You smirked and leaned in for a kiss. At the last second, Mattheo turned sharply, causing the kiss to land on his cheek instead of his lips. 
“I’m all sweaty,” he explained. You quirked a brow. Sweat, dirt, and grime had never stopped the two of you before, but you brushed it off. He was probably just wound up about winning. Mattheo smiled apologetically and kissed your temple. “Let me shower first and then we can cuddle, okay?’ 
You made the mistake of looking into those big, brown eyes. Damn him and his chocolate eyed gaze. The twat knew it was your weakness. 
“Fine,” you said as you crawled underneath the covers. “But hurry up, I’m getting tired.” 
Ten minutes later, you were fully engrossed in your book again. Just as it reached a particularly steamy scene, the door swung open, revealing a half-naked Mattheo. The white towel wrapped precariously around his trim waist gave you a perfect view of his toned chest and ripped abs, beads of water clinging onto his glistening skin like rain drops. You bit your lip as he tugged on a clean pair of boxers over his legs, cocking your head to appreciate the curve of his arse before he slipped into his sweatpants. 
Unaware of your ogling, Mattheo climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around you. “What are you reading, mi amor?” 
“Nothing that can’t wait,” you murmured, leaning in to kiss your boyfriend.
This time, Mattheo gladly accepted the kiss. His lips slanted over yours, sighing softly as you melted into him. Your kisses were soft and sweet, punctuated by cute little pecks that had your boyfriend smiling against your mouth. You took the opportunity to slide your tongue against his, making Mattheo groan as his fingers slipped through your hair. 
“Damn, mami. You missed me that much?” 
You rolled your eyes at his cocky smirk while you climbed into his lap and straddled him. Mattheo gripped your hips, moaning as your lips latched onto his neck. His pretty brown eyes rolled back as you left a trail of kisses along the column of his throat. You raked your nails along his chest, dragging red lines down to his abs, and tracing his happy trail as he captured your lips once more. Mattheo let out a choked groan as you tugged at his waistband. To your surprise, he grabbed your wrist and blinked up at you. 
“Y/N…” Mattheo said breathlessly. “Maybe we should…maybe we should go to sleep.” His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he tried and failed to swallow his own words. 
You raised a brow and settled over his lap, squirming against his hard length as Mattheo bit his lip. “You want to go to sleep? Right now? While I’m on top of you and willing to do whatever you want?” 
Your boyfriend looked pained. Conflict was evident on his face. Without a word, Mattheo nodded. 
“Oh my god,” you blurted in disbelief. “You agreed to that stupid sex ban, didn’t you?”
Mattheo groaned. “Only for a week, love. We really need to win this match.” 
You scoffed. This was absolutely ridiculous. “I know you, Mattheo. You aren’t going to last a week.” 
“Hey! Have a little faith in me.” 
Rolling off of him, you crossed your arms against your chest. “First of all, you didn’t even ask me if I’d be okay with it.” 
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say. With a shit-eating grin, Mattheo cocked his head at you. “It sounds to me like you’re the one who can’t last a week, princesa.” 
“Please,” you said with an eye roll. “I have my book boyfriends to keep me company. I can channel all my sexual energy into reading smut. You, on the other hand? You can’t even make it through class without dragging me into a broom closet.” 
Faster than you thought possible, Mattheo flipped you onto your back and pinned you to the mattress. A cocky smirk curved against his lips as he trailed them down your neck. “Oh?” he hummed, kissing the sweet spot just below your ear, his hand gripping the inside of your thigh, making you press your legs together to suppress the need. The bloody bastard. “But can your book boyfriends touch you like I can?” 
Channeling every ounce of self-control within you, a calm and unbothered expression clicked into place like a mask. You tugged at his curls, forcing him away from your neck. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about me, Matty. I’ll be just fine.” Mattheo released a choked groan when you palmed the front of his boxers. He twitched at your touch, his cock painfully hard. “Looks like you’re not doing too hot, though. Let me know if you need help. You know I’d be more than happy to give you relief, baby.” 
Mattheo cursed under his breath as his own plan backfired on him. Blood rushed down to his cock as you squeezed gently, making him harder and hornier than ever. You chuckled darkly as he grinded against your hand. With one last squeeze, you kissed his cheek and peeled yourself away from his bed. 
“You know where to find me, papi.”
He watched in disbelief as you gathered your things, cute little ass swaying farther and farther away from him as you hauled your bag over your shoulder. “You’re seriously leaving?” 
You smirked and waved at your boyfriend as you pulled the door open. “I have a hot date with my romance novel. Good luck with your pact, babe. You’ll need it.” 
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Merlin, Mattheo was going out of his fucking mind. 
For Salazar’s sake, he was starting to get the shakes and it had only been two days since he last had sex. Granted, it felt like an eternity since you were more than determined to get your boyfriend to break. Could lack of sex actually drive a person to the brink of insanity? Mattheo was pretty convinced that the answer was yes as he gaped at the lacy red bra peeking out under your white blouse. 
Had your clothes shrunk in the wash? Mattheo could’ve sworn that your shirt hadn’t been that tight before. You were nearly bursting out of it and the view of your tits pressed together as you leaned across the table to steal a blueberry off of his plate made his mouth water and his dick hard. 
“Stay strong, Riddle,” Theo whispered beside him. “We’ve got this.” 
Never in his life had he wanted to throttle Theo more. The only thing Mattheo had at the moment was a painful fucking boner. Three more days. That’s all he had to endure before they called off this stupid sex pact. 
He could make it. Couldn’t he?
As he looked up at you sucking on a strawberry, Mattheo’s confident wavered. You were truly testing what very little self control that he possessed. You were right when you said that your boyfriend couldn’t last a single class without dragging you into an empty broom closet. You were just so pretty and sexy and hot and that was when you weren’t trying. 
Now that you were determined to tease the fuck out of him, Mattheo didn’t stand a chance. 
All day, you focused on making his life an absolute living hell. Perching on his lap, fixing his tie, smiling prettily while you brushed his curls back and left glossy kiss prints all over his cheeks. His hands were in permanent fists, fingernails digging into the flesh of his palm so deeply that he wouldn’t be surprised to find himself bleeding. This was torture. Cruel and unusual punishment. 
The final straw came when the two of you were studying in the library later that night. Bouncing his leg, Mattheo forced himself to pay attention to the Ancient Runes textbook in front of him instead of ogling you from across the table. It wasn’t working though. Every few minutes, he caught himself glancing up at you. Your lips, your eyes, your hair. There was nothing sexual about you taking notes yet he was so turned on that he felt dizzy. 
Mattheo lowered his head, trying to keep cool. When he looked back up, you were no longer in your seat. Instead, you were reaching for a book on the shelves behind you. Whatever you were looking for was on the lowest shelves, so you bent down to retrieve it. When you did, your skirt rode up, revealing that you weren’t wearing any underwear. Mattheo hissed, scrambling to pull your skirt down. 
”What in Salazar’s name are you doing, Y/N?” Your boyfriend gripped your elbow, anger and frustration radiating off of him in waves. 
You blinked up at him, putting on an innocent smile. “Oh!” you exclaimed, placing a hand on Mattheo’s chest. “Did I forget to wear underwear? Silly me.” 
Your boyfriend groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He muttered something under his breath repeatedly. Breathing exercises. You bit back a smirk. 
On his third count to ten, Mattheo finally opened his eyes. Without a word, he gathered your belongings and hauled you out of the library. He didn’t speak until the two of you were back in the dungeons. 
“I’m going to study in my room,” Mattheo declared as he handed you your book bag. “You’ll study in yours.” 
You grinned. “Oh, Matty. We both know the only thing you’ll be studying is your cock in your hand.” Mattheo tensed as you traced a finger down his jawline. “What a shame. I’d be more than willing to put an end to your misery if you just admit that the pact is stupid.” 
For Salazar’s fucking sake. Mattheo was so close to calling this whole thing off. He wanted you. Screaming underneath him. Crying from pleasure. Moaning his name. But he couldn’t. He had to stay strong. 
Mattheo sighed and kissed your temple. “Good night, mi amor. I love you. Even though you’re determined to drive me fucking mental.” 
You smiled before pulling him in by his tie. Mattheo groaned as you placed a sweet kiss on his lips, barely giving him a taste of what he wanted. “Love you too, Matty. Sleep tight. I hope you dream of me tonight.” 
With that, he watched you saunter off in the direction of your dorm, skipping through the common room without a care in the world. Mattheo stared up at the ceiling and counted to ten again. 
Friday could not come any fucking faster. 
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You had to admit that you were impressed. Your boyfriend had miraculously survived an entire week without sex. 
Despite your best efforts to thwart the stupid pact, Mattheo stayed true to his word. A pretty impressive feat given the fact that you’d practically thrown everything you had into seducing him. Sitting on his lap, licking your lips while he talked, kissing that sweet spot below his jaw, wearing your clothes shorter and tighter than ever, and even sleeping in his favorite silk red set, which you knew was particularly hard for him if the erection pressed against your back all night was any indication. 
Still, Mattheo withstood all of your attempts. 
You would’ve been upset had it not been for the fact that Mattheo looked absolutely pained by the whole ordeal. This entire week, his fists were permanently clenched at his side, his jaw locking and unlocking with every suggestive comment you threw his way, his eyes flickering over your body, groaning in frustration as he tortured himself by looking at what he couldn’t have. 
It was amusing to watch your boyfriend twitch at your every move. As you predicted, you fared better than Mattheo had. After all, you had a wild imagination and a collection of toys to hold you over. That wasn’t to say that you weren’t needy and aching for him, but you had ways of coping. 
“I’m so fucking glad it’s Friday,” Pansy grumbled beside you as she took a swig from her flask. 
After the whole bring Zabini to his knees plan failed, she’d been crankier than ever. Neither one of you expected either of your boyfriends to even make it this far without caving at least once. 
“Me too, babe. As much as I’m rooting for our boys, I can’t wait for this bloody game to be over. Win or lose, I know the sex is going to be insane.” 
Your best friend smirked as she handed you the firewhisky. “I’ll cheers to that, babe.” 
Surprisingly, the tension and frustration helped the boys play better than ever. They were ruthless on the field. Theo and Enzo were vicious as they defended the goalposts, giving way for Blaise and Mattheo to chase after the opposing beaters, nearly taking some poor bloke’s head off with a bludger. You almost felt bad for the Ravenclaws. 
When Draco caught the snitch, you cheered loudly. You and Pansy screamed until your throat felt raw and hoarse by the time the game was officially called. The two of you swayed as you descended from the stands, slightly inebriated from your generous swigs, but you didn’t mind. The liquor kept you warm and served as preparation for a night of drinking and debauchery for the common room party. 
Blaise wasn’t at all surprised that you and Pansy pregamed. In fact, he took the flask and downed the rest before tugging his girlfriend towards the castle. 
“Have fun, you crazy kids!”
Zabini chuckled. “Oh, we will. By the way, your boyfriend’s waiting for you in the locker room.” 
With a conspiratorial wink, Blaise wished you good luck as Pansy grinned from ear to ear. You chuckled before making your way over to the locker room. The doors opened, revealing a very smug looking Theo. With a frown, you swatted the back of his head. 
“Ow!” The brunette exclaimed, rubbing his newly acquired injury. “What was that for?” 
“For encouraging my boyfriend to agree to this stupid sex ban.” You crossed your arms and glared at your friend. “I know it was your idea, Theodore.” 
“Hey! We won the game, didn’t we? So obviously, my idea was brilliant.” 
“It was just dumb luck,” you replied with a scoff. “Honestly, I didn’t think you guys would take it so seriously. Especially you. You’re even worse than Mattheo. Celibacy for a week must’ve been hell, huh?” 
Theo shifted his weight, looking abashed. You narrowed your eyes at him as you read the guilt in his body language. “You little weasel! You caved, didn’t you?” 
“There was this really hot Ravenclaw…” 
“With the opposing team, too? You’re shameless, Nott.” 
“Please don’t tell the guys.” He looked genuinely contrite as he pleaded with his eyes. “They’ll murder me if they knew that I couldn’t even stick to my own pact.” 
You rolled your eyes. “Fine, but you owe me big time.” 
Theo smiled before leaning over to kiss your cheek. “You’re the best. I’d say see you at the party, but with how tense and insane your boyfriend has been, I probably won’t see you two for the next few days.” 
“I wonder who’s fault that is.” 
“The pact was my idea. Teasing him was yours. Honestly, he almost stabbed a fork through my hand because you bent over in front of him.” He smirked as he held the door open. “You’ve got that man on a tight leash.” 
You fought a smile. “Leave before I get the urge to hit you again.” Theo nodded, making his way out. “Oh, and congratulations on the win.” 
After a cheeky wink, Theo was gone. Leaving you to find your boyfriend on your own. When you rounded the corner, you could hear the sound of water running echoing off the tiled walls. You ventured farther in the stalls and found Mattheo standing underneath the scalding hot shower, tipping his head back against the spray. With a smile, you leaned against the wall and admired your boyfriend. Merlin, he really was beautiful. 
Mattheo was a sight to behold; biceps flexing, abs taut, and back muscles tense as he washed away the sweat and grime. Your gaze trailed down to his trim waist, licking your lips as your eyes snagged on his backside. The longing sigh you released gave you away. 
Water glistened on his skin as Mattheo looked over his shoulder, a playful smirk tugging at his lips as he surveyed you. Your boyfriend didn’t bother covering himself as he sauntered over to you. His chocolate brown eyes roamed over your body, smiling softly when he saw that you were wearing one of his jerseys. Mattheo traced over his surname embroidered right above your heart. 
“The Riddle name looks good on you, mi amor,” he whispered huskily, backing you against the tile. “I can’t wait to make it official one day.” 
You hummed while you tangled a wet curl between your fingers. “Oh? That won’t be happening any time soon, Matty.” Mattheo frowned as you caressed his cheek. “Not with the way you’ve neglected me this week.” 
“Don’t be like that. You know it was hell for me, princesa.” 
“I know,” you said with a grin. “I’m just teasing you. In reality, I’m kind of impressed. You didn’t cave once even when I threw everything I had at you. You were so good, baby. You crushed those Ravenclaws too.” Mattheo groaned as you kissed his jaw, nipping at his sweet spot. “Maybe the pact wasn’t so stupid after all.” 
Your boyfriend groaned as he gripped your hips and pinned you against the wall. “Oh, I won’t be doing that shit again.” Mattheo rested his hand on the base of your throat, eyes black and filled with lust as he squeezed. “It was torture not to touch you.” 
When you spoke, your voice sounded husky and seductive thanks to his possessive hold. “Could’ve fooled me. You seemed perfectly in control. So much so that maybe we should extend it another week. Abstinence really helps clear the mind, doesn’t it, baby?” 
Mattheo chuckled darkly. He knew you were baiting him. You weren’t used to not getting what you wanted in your relationship. Your boyfriend was well aware that he spoiled you rotten. You were going to make him work for it tonight, but he didn’t mind. In fact, the idea thrilled him. He wouldn’t have been dating you if he wasn’t up to the challenge. 
Without warning, Mattheo tugged you into the shower, making you squeal as the water soaked your clothes. He wasted no time before crashing his lips onto yours, claiming you in a starved and possessive way that had you gasping for breath. Your boyfriend was frantic as he hoisted you up and wrapped your legs around his waist. 
Mattheo sucked harshly at your flesh, his dark chuckle a seductive caress against your skin. You groaned as he grinded his cock against your clothed pussy, which was already throbbing and aching for him. “Brace yourself, sweetheart. We have a whole week to make up for and we’re not leaving here until you’re properly punished for teasing me like the little brat that you are.” 
You flashed him a saccharine smile. “Do your worst, baby.” 
“You’ll regret that, mami.” 
With a wicked grin, Mattheo slid your panties to the side and teased along your folds. He hissed when he felt how soaked you were, practically dripping down his fingers as he eased one into your pussy. You bit down on your lip as the delicious pressure awakened a familiar heat in your core. 
“Not so brave now, are you?” Your boyfriend taunted as he slowly fingered you. After going without, you were embarrassed to find that a simple touch was enough to set your teeth on edge. “This is payback, baby. Wearing those tiny little shirts with your lace bra peeking out. Bending over in front of me knowing that you had no panties on. Grinding on my lap and making me so fucking hard that I almost sprained my wrist wanking off in the restroom like a madman.” 
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” You rasped, groaning as Mattheo picked up the pace. “Not if this is what I get in return. I like when you’re rough, Matty. It makes me wet.” 
Your head lolled back as he added another finger, curving them inside of you and reaching that spongy spot that had you seeing stars. 
“Good,” Mattheo whispered as he nibbled at your earlobe. “Because I’m about to fuck you until you can’t walk.” 
The filthy words sent you over the edge. Mattheo flicked his thumb over your swollen clit and you clenched around his fingers. “I can feel you squeezing me, pretty girl. So fucking greedy, hm?” 
You let out a choked moan. Mattheo grabbed your wrist and slid your hand down his front. “Do you feel that, princesa? I’ve been hard as fuck for you all week. Are you gonna be a good girl and help me out?” 
“Yes,” you breathed out. “Let me take care of you, papi.” 
Mattheo twitched in your hand as you gripped him, tugging as he watched you with lust blown eyes. The intensity of his stare made butterflies erupt in your stomach. 
“I thought about this while getting myself off this week. Your hands. Your eyes. Your voice.” 
“I thought about you, too,” you confessed. “But it doesn’t compare to the real thing. God, you’re fucking sexy.” You rubbed your thumb over his tip, rubbing his precum over his head. Mattheo whimpered against your neck. “I missed you whimpering for me.” 
“I don’t whimper,” Mattheo countered. 
You raised a brow and picked up the pace, working him until his eyes rolled back. Despite his denial, Mattheo whimpered even louder this time. 
“You’re playing dirty, baby.” 
“I thought you liked it dirty, Matty.” 
“I do,” he said with a smirk before curving his long fingers inside of you. You shuddered as he hit that sweet spot. “Now come on, pretty girl. Come with me.” 
You nodded, picking up the pace and groaning as Mattheo pulled you in for a sloppy kiss. He licked the roof of your mouth, shuddering as he bucked into your hand. You tugged at him, coaxing him to cum as he panted against your neck. 
“Fuck. Don’t stop, baby. I’m so fucking close.” 
“Me too, Matty,” you whimpered, grinding against his fingers to take more. 
The orgasm crackled over you like a lightning strike, singing your veins with heat as your boyfriend continued to fuck you with his fingers. Mattheo wasn’t satisfied with one orgasm. He coaxed another out of you, laughing as you greedily bucked against his hand, biting into his shoulder while the second wave hit. 
By the time your third orgasm rolled around, you genuinely felt as though you’d left your own body. Mattheo only relented when your eyes rolled back and your legs trembled, cries of his name falling sweetly from your lips. 
“Tú eres dulce como el azúcar.”
You opened your eyes slowly and found Mattheo lapping up your cum, swirling and sucking his fingers clean with a smirk. You’re sweet like sugar. Though the words were seemingly innocent, Mattheo was anything but. Your boyfriend knew exactly how much it turned you on when he spoke Spanish and he was definitely using it to his advantage.
“That was just the appetizer, baby. Got you all warmed up for my cock. Think you can take it, Y/N?” 
“I’ve been waiting all week,” you responded hoarsely. 
“It’s worth the wait,” Mattheo declared cockily as he flipped you over. He stripped you of your clothes, carelessly tossing them behind his shoulder while he positioned your hands on the tiled wall. You groaned as he bent you at an angle, smacking your ass before he lined up behind you. “I promise to fucking ruin you, mi pinche puta.” 
Anticipation coiled in your stomach as Mattheo sank in slowly. Both of you groaned as he slid all the way in, twitching as he stuffed you full. It was familiar yet new at the same time. It had always been a tight fit, but given your involuntary break, you could feel yourself struggling to adjust to his size once again. 
Mattheo gripped your hips, leaving bruises in his wake as he slid all the way out. You whined at the loss, but it wasn’t long before he thrusted all the way back in, knocking the air out of your lungs as he set a punishing pace. You braced yourself against the tile as he spread your legs further apart, allowing him to hit an even deeper angle. 
“Oh fuck, how do you always feel so good?” Mattheo grunted as his hips snapped against your ass, brutally burying himself inside of your pussy over and over again. “You were made for me, princesa. We’re perfect together.”
”Matty, baby, please…”
You keened as Mattheo tugged you by the hair, kissing you sloppily as he continued to ruin you. He cupped your tits, flicking his thumb over your nipples as he squeezed your flesh between his rough, calloused hands. Mattheo kneaded your breasts and used the momentum to drive deeper. His palm trailed down your torso, pressing against your stomach to feel himself moving with each thrust. 
Tears streaked your cheeks as your eyes rolled back. “Oh gods. Fuck me. Right there, baby. You fill me up so good. I love being full of you.” 
“Yeah?” Mattheo drawled as his hand crawled up your throat. “You like when I fuck you rough? Deep down, you just want to be treated like a slut. Don’t you, princess?” 
“I do,” you breathed, groaning as Mattheo squeezed your neck. “But I’m only a slut for you, Mattheo.” 
“Damn fucking right, baby.” He said proudly. “This pussy is mine. All fucking mine.” 
You clenched, squeezing him so tightly that Mattheo felt like he might cum then and there. “So greedy. Milking me fucking dry. God, you’re perfect. Mi princesa, mi vida, mi amor.” Your boyfriend shuddered as you grinded against him, picking up the momentum as the two of you neared euphoria. “That’s it, baby. Just like that. Fuck, I’m gonna cum—“
”Cum inside me, Matty. I want to feel you. I want all of it.” 
Mattheo cursed, his body seizing as he came with a loud cry. The sensation of him filling you to the brim, his hot cum dripping out of you and coating the inside of your thighs was enough to send you over the edge. You trembled as the orgasm hit you all at once and nearly passed out from the sheer force of it. 
Fortunately, strong arms wrapped around you before your legs could give out from underneath you. Mattheo pulled you against him, holding your trembling body as you came down from the high. You leaned into him, resting your head on his shoulder as he cleaned you up. Your boyfriend took his time washing your body, taking great care when it came to your sensitive core. 
You smiled up at him as he lathered shampoo into your hair, letting you return the favor and sighing in satisfaction as you scratched his scalp. Mattheo grinned, flashing you a lovesick smile as you rinsed the product out of his hair. 
“I love you so fucking much,” he whispered softly. 
“I love you more,” you countered.
”Impossible.” 
After the two of you dried off, you leaned against the wall and allowed Mattheo to clothe you in his hoodie and sweats. He tied your shoes before giving you a sweet peck. 
“Ready, princesa?” 
You nodded and took his hand. Without the support of the solid wall, your legs wobbled as you struggled to walk. Mattheo caught you around the waist, a smirk tugging at his handsome face. 
“I warned you, Y/N.” He looked entirely too smug and satisfied for your liking. “Told you I’d fuck you until you couldn’t walk.” 
Your boyfriend chuckled as you rolled your eyes. “Poor baby. Don’t worry, mi amor. Let your Matty take care of you, hm?” 
“I take it back. I kind of hate you right now, Mattheo.” 
You squealed as he picked you up bridal style. He didn’t even break a sweat as he carried you across the field. “No, you don’t. But you can fuck me like you do.” 
“Deal.”
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roseykat · 4 months
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TITLE: Play Fight
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PAIRINGS: Hyunjin x Jisung x f!reader
SUMMARY: Hyunjin and Jisung remain stumped at what unfolded during a game of dirty truth or dare with you. There's no going back from it. No ignoring the obvious layout of what naturally happens next between the three of you under one roof where Jisung's needs get the better of him and Hyunjin's dream becomes a reality. A continuation of Play Bite.
WARNING: minors DNI with this post or my blog. I create NSWF SKZ related content and I know I won’t be able to regulate/monitor every single potential interaction with those posts so please do not engage with my work or page whatsoever.
TAGS: smut, hints of voyeurism/exhibitionism, swearing, oral sex (f!receiving and giving), unprotected sex, messy sex, dirty talk, porn w/plot, making out, nipple play, hints of oral fixations, begging, orgasms, deepthroating, very vague hint of cum eating, creampie, reader says 'stop' but doesn't mean it in a way where she wants to stop having sex or isn't enjoying it (she says it out of the overwhelming sensation from needing to orgasm).
🏷️LIST - @leftkittenface @twinklix @meilix @weareapackofstrays @elizalabs3 @goblin-waifu @imnotjjini0325 @livzsposts @dawn-iscozy @princejisung @itsthatbri @20minsat180degrees @groovygroovyhyunjin @stayconnecteed @chillichillicrabcrab23 @valibals @oiikaro @galamxy (I also added people who were interested in part 2 just in case)
MASTERLIST - Play Bite (First Part)
A/N: this is just pure, filthy smut. I’m hoping I tagged everyone! Thank you all for waiting patiently! 🩷 This has been checked over a couple of times but I’ll check over it once more in the morning for any mistakes etc! x
The blood running through Jisung's body had frozen over. Stiff with shock, his eyes are still glued to the screen of your phone - at the message his best friend just sent through to you. As a result, a million and one questions fire around Jisung's brain in such a short amount of time. 
The first and most important thing was deciphering whether you and Chan were together. In his mind, there was no way. No way. Chan had recently come out of a long-term relationship and even said so himself the other week that he wasn't looking for another one any time soon. That he has zero plans to dive back into the dating scene for a long time.
Not to mention, you wouldn’t do anything as terrible as cheating. Jisung trusts that and his friends wholeheartedly. 
That seemed to be his only saving grace from wanting to justify his next actions, or at least Hyunjin's, because as soon as Jisung managed to peel his eyes from the screen, he catches full sight of his two friends, lip locked. 
You were still in between Hyunjin's legs, slightly twisted around in order to reach his mouth whereas he leans down just a bit to help. His hands were dangerously close to the waistband of your underwear - your underwear which had been soaked through after getting yourself off in front of them minutes ago.
Jisung still couldn't believe he witnessed that, nor what he's witnessing right now.
It was clear that the game of truth or dare had been derailed and preoccupied by a more pressing matter. As Jisung listens to the wet sounds of your mouths moving, he feels the familiar, aching throb in his pants. A reminder that he's still hard and has been for a while.
It only gets worse for him when he watches Hyunjin eventually slide down the front of your damp underwear, feeling how warm and slick you are. It doesn't take long for his fingers to lather up nicely and ease over your sensitive clit.
This is his dream unfolding.
The way you silently plead for Hyunjin to fuck you with his long fingers by opening your legs is hampered when Jisung inches closer to the pair of you. This time in between your bent legs. Hyunjin regrettably peers up and away from you for a second, the pads of his fingers still rubbing delicate barely-there circles over your clit.
"I wanna taste you," he says, leaning forward and closer, his doe eyes gazing pleadingly.
Hyunjin removes his hand from your pussy and holds his slender, glossy fingers up to his friend's mouth. Your cum is glazed over his digits, sticky thin strings that connect his middle and ring fingers, gleaming desirably for Jisung who shuffles forward eagerly to take them in his mouth, suckling and licking everything he’s being offered. 
But it's not enough for him.
"So good," Jisung murmurs as if he's under the influence after Hyunjin retracts his fingers. "But I need more than that. Let me taste that pretty pussy of yours.”
You cower half of your face into Hyunjin's chest with embarrassment, trying to hide the flush of red his comment brings out in your cheeks. He uses his other hand to gently tuck some of your hair behind your ear.
“Alright,” you give an affirming nod to Jisung who inflates with joy on the inside. 
He leans forward once more, this time to kiss you; slowly yet heated and needy for each other. There's an equal division of lust between you and him the moment his lips connect with yours.
As he breaks away from you, his eyes lock with Hyunjin for a few lingering moments before the pair of them share yet another kiss. Neither of them cared too much about it or what it was going to mean afterwards. All they knew is that they liked it and would have no trouble doing it again.
“You’ll get your turn,” Jisung teases, licking once over Hyunjin’s plush lips. “Maybe.” 
Hyunjin scowls at him, but with that in hand, Jisung finds the band of your underwear, slowly pulling them down your thighs, all the way down to your ankles, and off. The wet mess you left for them has Jisung salivating like some rabid dog. He lowers himself onto his elbows where his hot breath washes over your inner thighs. He hasn’t started and already has you pressing back further into Hyunjin, further into his crotch where he needs you the most.
That first point of contact makes your skin tingle. He presses chaste kisses into your skin. To truly bury his mouth into your pussy, Jisung snakes his hands around your thighs, gripping lovingly into your flesh. It helps anchor him and you more importantly. You squirm and quiver, legs trembling as he begins to kitten lick over your clit, using it to wet you up even more. 
Your eyelids flutter closed, focusing on the sensation, “y-yes…feels…”
“How does it feel?” Hyunjin begs the question for you.  
It feels like nothing else you’ve ever felt before. There have been a couple of times where a man will give you good head, but not like this. Jisung knows what he’s doing. He’s taking advantage of your over sensitive pussy, switching up his tongue game by sucking and flicking to keep you just above the edge. His skills have you gripping onto Hyunjin’s thighs that still cage around your body. 
“Good, feels good,” you swallow, feeling and listening to the way Jisung has come to lap everything up in between your legs. 
Hyunjin reckons he can make you feel better too and decides to use his hands to slide underneath your shirt. He gently supports your back with one hand while Jisung continues to eat you out. The other hand unclasps your bra, giving Hyunjin free access to grope your tits under your shirt once it’s removed. By then, you’re able to lean back into his body and continue to melt from the sensations.
Strained mewls and moans tear up your throat when Hyunjin uses his index fingers and thumbs to pinch roll your nipples. He savours the pathetic whimpers you make when he starts rolling them too. You struggle helplessly against him, pressing your chest up only for him to pinch them just a little bit harder. It’s like you wanted him to stop, but you also needed him to keep going.  
“Hyun…jin, s’too much, can’t-“
He finds himself nuzzling against your face, kissing your cheek here and there as an attempt to touch you as much as he can. He lingers on the fact that you’re barely able to speak in full sentences which does something to his brain. Like he and Jisung have reduced your mind and body to a point where it only knows and seeks pleasure. There’s no room for you to be able to speak when words can’t even describe what you’re feeling. 
“Can’t what baby?” He asks. “I’m sure you can take it.”
Jisung’s mouth throws your mind off of answering Hyunjin, right when he starts flicking his tongue right over the heavily stimulated bud of nerves. Your thighs firmly clamp around Jisung’s head, trembling from its effect that Hyunjin can even feel you quiver from behind. 
Turns out his best friend is good with his mouth. Hyunjin couldn’t help but wonder what other use it has. 
“Cumming, please I need to cum,” you beg desperately.
One of your hands makes it through Jisung’s dark hair, something to hold onto to brace yourself for that intense round of pleasure. The assault from his tongue leaves you no choice but to tug and pull on his hair until Jisung himself starts moaning into your pussy from the pain - good, inviting pain. 
“Nobody’s stopping you baby. “Gonna cum for us? Again?” Hyunjin urges gently.
“Yes!” You whine pleadingly. “Mm, r-right there!”
The closer you are to the edge of your orgasm, your hips start to make subtle upward movements. Almost like you’re trying to ride his face, which Jisung welcomes, would invite actually. It’s what he wants anyway - for you to use his face until you cum all over it. 
“Don’t stop…please don’t stop, fuck!” You plead hysterically.
The pressure has you feeling like you’re about to explode into bits. Your thighs continue to squeeze unapologetically around Jisung’s head, fearing for a second that you might crush him. Meanwhile, Hyunjin’s fingers and thumbs roll and tug on your nipples. The sensations easily sweep over you, compelling deep moans and small yet shaky screams from your throat as you cum loudly. 
“Good girl,” Hyunjin exalts you with praise. “Sound so pretty…”
Jisung could’ve kept going had your body not wanted to completely give way. But he does slow down his pace for you to finally linger in what was one of the best orgasms you’ve had from getting head. It makes you melt into Hyunjin’s front, your muscles twitching yet relaxed at its best. 
“Christ…” you swallow, breathing heavily in big pockets of air. “Jisung.”
The man finally pops his head back up, a sight for you to absorb with the way his mouth is covered in your juices. The humiliation settles under your skin when you see the mess you’ve made on his face. As if he could care any less, not with the content grin he’s wearing. 
When you start descending from your high, it dawns upon you that you’ve had a total of two orgasms so far and not once have you returned the favour to Hyunjin and Jisung. Particularly Hyunjin, who hasn’t had much of your body in comparison to Jisung. He’s been sitting behind you patiently, taking all of the brunt force you made while his friend was going down on you. 
Amid the orgasmic haze in your brain, you push past it as best you can to speak, “condoms.”
Jisung nods mindlessly, trying to get the image of you looking so fucked out, out of his head. However, he snaps out of his daze and springs to his feet. He flounders around, thinking that if he doesn’t hurry up and find them, you’re both going to leave.
As Jisung is preoccupied, it gives you an opportunity to sit and turn around and face Hyunjin for the first time in half an hour.
“Lay back,” you mumble to him. 
“Hm?”
He tilts his head innocently that it makes you wonder if he’s just pretending or genuinely too dumbfounded with what you’re about to do. You shuffle forward, in between his legs still and kiss him gently. His parted mouth is so plump and supple that it makes you bite down on his lower lip and tug, forcing a tiny whimper out of him. 
“Condoms. Okay. Hyunjin, where are your condoms?” Jisung circles back to ask, checking the coffee table, the fruit bowl, even dipping into Hyunjin’s room and tearing open the drawers to his bedside table to check.
After coming up short, he returns to the lounge to see your mouth around Hyunjin’s cock, drawing long, deep, and slow strokes. He swallows hard, watching for a few moments too long until he pulls himself out his daze.
“Hyunjin,” Jisung calls out again. 
Hyunjin’s eyes roll back when you sink your entire mouth down onto his length as he grips the rug beneath him, “d-don’t have any here.”
“Shit,” he groans and strides over to the bench where he left his wallet when he first walked in.
Amongst his cards and loose change where he would also keep a few condoms for occasions like this, were unfortunately not there. Out of all the instances where he’s had spontaneous sex, this is the only time he wishes he really had them on hand. 
“I haven’t got any either-” he frowns but all he gets is a strained, echoed whimper when you deepthroat Hyunjin’s length. “Fuck…” 
Visibly spaced out for a moment, Jisung starts acting a bit like Bambi when he wants to start walking; struggling to put one foot in front of the other as he makes his way back over to you both. From this angle, he’s able to see Hyunjin in a different light. His wavy brown hair covering most parts of his face, knuckles now another shade of morbid white as he nearly shreds the carpet beneath him with his nails.
Jisung thought he looked good - fuckable. But he excuses that thought for the time being. 
“Y/N, please…fuck, not…not gonna last if y’keep doing that,” Hyunjin barely manages to get his words out, having to fight them every single time you swirl your tongue around his leaking tip. “I-I’ll cum, fuck.”
For a moment, you pull back from his cock, replacing it with your hand instead to keep up the pleasure you initiated. His body contorts and writhes, the back of his head pressing painfully into the ground. He must be an easily over-stimulated type. 
“Fuck me then,” you say to him. 
He blinks hazily, like he’s just waking up from a nap, “h-huh? But you - the-“
You were not going to listen to what he’ll start babbling about so this time, you fully abandon his dick and turn around to face Jisung who had been silently watching you both from behind. The obvious, rock hard tent in his pants was alluring. If you didn’t have other motives of getting him off first, you would be in his lap, grinding your wet pussy over his bulge. 
From the way he’s been acting, you know he’d let you too. 
Jisung gazes into your eyes like a snake that’s being charmed. He’s wondering what your next move is when your lips inch closer to his even though it’s easy to predict a kiss.
That being said, you arch your back, giving Hyunjin a not so discrete choice to fuck you. Presenting your wet hole to him as an invitation. It was a devious move but nothing in comparison to the grand scene of things. That being you and two of your best friends touching each other in ways that friends don’t normally touch. 
It isn’t ‘friend behaviour’ if you reach down into Jisung’s lap and palm his hard, neglected cock through the strains of his pants. It’s not ‘friend behaviour’ if Hyunjin moves himself closer to you so that he can delicately graze the pads of his fingers over your dripping slit. Friends don’t do this, yet, as friends, none of you could care less. 
All that mattered was sex and to be touched. To be relieved of the delicious pressure that you want to keep just so that the feeling of ‘cumming’ lasts forever. But, you all know that you can’t have too much of a good thing. You can’t get greedy when Hyunjin rises to his knees, stroking his cock a couple of times in hand. Or when he starts slicking up his length in between your wet folds and slowly pushing in. 
“S-Shit,” you gasp, causing your hand to stall over Jisung’s dick right as you were about to free him from his pants. 
His cock starts filling you up little by little. Hyunjin presses in a few centimetres then pulls back out. He does that until your pussy swallows up his entire dick nice and snug, reaching the base of it. With the amount of prep you’ve had so far, it made the process all the more easier to take the amount of inches Hyunjin packs. 
From what you can feel inside you and what you’re palming beneath your hand, it was simple to conclude that Jisung and Hyunjin were relatively similar in size. When you pull the waistbands of Jisung’s pants and underwear down, you were right in your assumption. Beads of pre cum had been leaking pitifully from his angry red tip and down his shaft, most of which were soaked up by the fabric of his clothes. 
“Fuck baby,” Jisung whines, sucking in long draws of breaths when your hand wraps around him and slowly tugs. “So good…so hot.” 
A small, tired smile spreads on your face, but his compliment does not distract you from the fact that Hyunjin has begun to thrust slowly, along with applying a soft grip on your hips. With that, you lower your mouth down onto the tip of Jisung’s cock. He hisses and grits his teeth, the sensitivity he feels is already overwhelming.
Even more so when you start taking him as much as you can. Thankfully Hyunjin’s thrusts help you take more of him too, bucking forward from the force he starts putting in. 
“Bet that…pussy feels just as good as your mouth,” Jisung says breathlessly, carding some of your hair out of the way. He bundles as much of it as he can for you, holding it in a subtle grip on top of your head. 
"It does, like warm velvet”, Hyunjin says to himself in his head as a response to his friend's comment. 
A hot, wet, and lush pocket that he has the privilege of fucking and not once did he ever fathom a possibility that is so real right now. He has to quickly snap out of his own head for a minute, distracted by that creamy ring around his cock being pushed back to the base of his cock when he slides his entire length in and out of you so fluidly. Taking him all the way. 
It’s like you were made for him…
For a second, Hyunjin was convinced you could hear his thoughts as you decided to deepen the arch in your back. His cock now repeatedly hitting a delicious angle that makes your thighs involuntarily shake each time his tip connects with it. The shockwaves of pleasure start to surge and pool inside you, waiting to be released. 
“Fuck…yes, baby,” Hyunjin mutters to himself, making the mistake of looking down at where his cock is vanishing in and out of. “Taking us so fucking well.” 
You moan around Jisung’s length at the praise, prying more strained whines and cries from him that fills Hyunjin’s ears. It has so much effect on him that he has to look up and see for himself. Jisung looks and is fucked out, like he’s already on the verge of cumming which is a given considering that you’re taking all of him like a champ. The wet sounds your mouth makes as it glides up and down Jisung’s cock sounds just as good as it feels. 
Every now and then you suck on his tip when you need to come up for some air, still making sure he has some contact before you mercilessly sink back down again. Once Jisung started rutting slightly into your mouth, tightening the grip he has on your hair, and his loud, quick paced breathing from above, you knew. You knew he wanted to cum. 
“Close, fuck I’m so close,” he swallows, biting down on his bottom lip as you bob your head up and down. “Gonna cum Y/N…gonna make me cum.” 
Hyunjin observes attentively from behind. Watching in the moments leading up to Jisung’s orgasm, the way he keels forwards, crying out in a series of loud moans as you continue to bring him to the edge, “yes, yes, yes, fuck yes!”
You feel his cock twitch in your mouth, his cum spurting out rhythmically and orgasming so hard that his body shivers over. Not once do you let up, even after his orgasm and even the fact that you have a hypothetical eye on your own which Hyunjin has been curating for you. The pressure has been built so high that it’s hard not to feel like you’re about to explode. Similar to the way you could tell Jisung was about to cum, Hyunjin could easily tell when you were. 
You had gotten noisier, even with a dick in your mouth that barred you from using any words, it was obvious the way you were feeling. Your plush walls were starting to tighten themselves cosily around Hyunjin, gripping onto him so that he wouldn’t leave. 
As you finally peel back from Jisung’s cock, a long line of spit connects you and his length, mixed with his warm cum. But in a matter of seconds, you’re already there too. You pull back entirely, now a panting, gorgeously ruined mess who’s getting railed the way people can only dream of.
Something possesses Jisung to lean forward and kiss you sloppily, quickly evolving into some messy, wet makeout. He can taste himself in your mouth, exchanging the salty residue that invites him to linger on your lips a little longer, unbothered about the fact that you’re about to be swept over by an intense orgasm. 
Only when you start breathing heavily and quickly, Jisung decides to pull away and witness the event unfold. He watches Hyunjin fuck you to your orgasm while his mind is tormented by the way that you look. How his cum mixed with your spit starts drooling out of your mouth when you start crying out from such concentrated pleasure. It feels like Hyunjin just pulled a pin to a bomb inside the pit of your stomach. 
“Oh my god,” Hyunjin groans, pulling your body back and forth onto his cock by your hips. “So fucking close.”
“S-Stop - I…cumming, fuck, I’m cumming-” your words are cut short as pleasure shoots throughout your body, fingernails digging into the carpet.  
Everything inside of you feels heightened and rocked with a euphoria so immeasurable that your entire body cannot do anything but still and take what Hyunjin gives you. His steady pace doesn’t waiver. Despite the fact that he’s seconds away from busting a warm load inside you, he’s capable of not switching things up drastically so that you get a steady flow of pleasure. 
As your walls quiver and spasm around his cock, Hyunjin coats them in a hot thick white. His bruising grasp on your hips is the other outlet he has to mitigate such an intense orgasm. As for you, all you can do is absorb yours. To take his entire cock so greedily when you cum hard that your vision has gone all blotchy. You’re seeing cosmics of tiny glistening stars on Jisung who does nothing but watch out of desire to see you lose your mind so easily. To see you writhe and tear up from how strong the ecstasy is. 
“Yes! Fuck, Hyunjin!” You scream out, moaning loudly around his apartment that both of them are sure his neighbours will hear. 
But it’s not like he cares if he ever receives a future noise complaint. It’d be an honour to know that he fucked you so good that everyone in his complex could hear you. What a dream that would be; to make you feel good all the time. A very distant dream at that. 
“That’s it,” Hyunjin sighs out when your body gives one final shudder, giving you some shallow thrusts to help ease you down. “Good girl.” 
Hyunjin pulls out slowly with a hiss as a giddy feeling in his gut that makes his mind twist when he sees his cum mixed with your juices, leak from your hole. So captivated by it that he only starts to realise that you need to lie down. Your body does what it feels like and collapses steadily onto the carpet beside Jisung who lies back with you. It’s not long before Hyunjin follows suit and rests by your other side too. 
The three of you then laze on the floor, sticky bodies meshed together for the time being as Hyunjin comes up to spoon you from behind and Jisung from the front. Minutes tick by as you all relax peacefully. You could’ve almost fallen asleep like this until Jisung, who was ‘just closing his eyes’, flashed them open and looked dead into your soul. 
“Why’d you need a condom if you let him fuck you raw?” he asks out of nowhere, suddenly expecting a long and complicated reason from you. Despite the filthy things you guys just did, his question seemed so amusingly crass. 
“Because I wanted you both to fuck me…at the same time,” you murmur tiredly yet so honestly. “Needed at least one for that.”
“Oh, r-right,” he stutters, then plays it cool. “Usually I carry them with me but-“
“You ran out?” You guess, cutting him off. “Whore.”
Jisung went to open his mouth to object your claim until Hyunjin reached over and covered it with his big hand, “shut up please.”
Hyunjin’s closes his eyes again but his brain now whirs with the thought of what could’ve been. Not that it mattered now. He enjoyed himself and he’s sure that you and Jisung did too who could not think of any words that come close to describing how he feels. His head was clear of thoughts - all except one. Chan. Or at least, what’s going on between you and Chan. Not that it was any of his business.
Nonetheless, he was interested but decided to keep it to himself for now. So while your eyes closed once more, Jisung turns around and reaches for your phone to unlock it before heading to the message he sent to Chan, and the one he received from him too. He checks it over one final time to be sure that what he read earlier was correct.  
From Chan to You: Again? Still horny from this morning? Alright then, I can come over and give you what you need x 
He still struggled to believe it. But, with that in mind, Jisung deletes the message and forgets that it ever happened knowing that the next time he sees the others, he’ll ask if they too know anything about what’s going on between you and Chan. 
For the time being, he relishes in the afterglow of one of the best nights he’s had. To rest peacefully in the warmth and comfort of his two friends.
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A/N: 060124 - Play Right
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popquizhot-shot · 9 months
Text
EVERYTHING IS FINE- Miguel O’Hara x fem!reader
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this is it. angsty asf. bittersweet ending it’s sad people. tw: infidelity. based on my most recent post. please comment i’m literally begging you and tell me how you like it<3
In the depths of your heart, you already know. Your Miguel is not yours anymore.
You remember the stolen glances between him and Dana where you pretended not to notice the palpable tension between the three of you amidst the throng of about ten other people in the house.
It was a nice dinner that you’d planned, after spending almost a week away because of your actual job as well as your little side gig that was being a part of spider society.
But fifteen minutes into the little shin-dig and you get a call from none other than your boss. Not the nice one who showed you the ropes when you first joined and provided you with hours of mentorship. The bitch that was a variant of your husband was currently floating above your watch as you glared at him in the bathroom.
“We need you.”
“Not today.”
“It’s an emergency.”
“It’s always an emergency.” you roll your eyes.
“Look this was unplanned, you think my life’s aim is to torment you?”
“Kind of.” you nod and he groans, “Give me twenty minutes.”
——
At the end of twenty minutes, you storm out of your house as quietly as you can, yes it’s an oxymoron but you’re pissed off.
At Miguel, at your husband, at yourself.
Your mother always said that you were one to pity yourself, even when every bad thing that happened was the result of your own actions. All your life you’ve disagreed, but now you think that maybe your mother was probably right.
None of this would have happened if you’d just said no. No to Dana making her way into your marriage to her guy best friend and co-worker.No to the variant of him with fangs and red eyes and No to your own urge of fucking things up because you wanted to see what happened. If maybe what your heart felt was wrong. That there was nothing wrong with you and Miguel, that he still loved you.
You let out a shaky breath and open a portal from an alleyway behind your apartment building. The purple hue reflects onto your face. No, you weren’t a spider. Just a traveller that stumped your boss and changed his perception of everything he knew about the multiverse.
The man himself nodded at you as you stepped onto the platform he was standing on, looking back to the holo of what looked like a rogue Doc Ock, Goblin and another Spiderman.
“What, now we have evil spidermen? Isn’t that breaking the canon?” you raise an eyebrow.
“That’s the thing. There’s no canon event broken. He was meant to be a villain. Yet, I’ve never heard of him, or of this universe.”
You look at him like he’s just told you that he used to be a stripper in college and all his money came from his side-gig, “I’m sorry, what? The all powerful Miguel O’Hara with the pixel suit doesn’t know of the existence of a universe?”
“You’re being real helpful right now.” he grumbles.
“Thank you, I knew you’d appreciate the help.”
——
The house is quiet when you walk in, evidently everyone has left. The kitchen has been cleaned and the lights are off.
He’d always been your biggest supporter. Always so humble even though he had a high position and a fat paycheck, always telling you to let him help you. Doing some of your work for you when you were busy.
The bedroom door creaked a little as you enter, the sound of your loves breathing makes you crack a small smile. His hulking figure curled up and moving up and down. His face slack.
God he was so beautiful.
You shed your clothes and go through your night routine as fast as you can. Brushing your teeth and scrubbing your face. Cursing the pimples that always make their way onto your forehead at the wrong time.
The mattress squeaks as you get on, slowly wrapping your hands around his body. He stirs and looks up at you, his eyes softening. He’d been drinking, you can tell. He hasn’t looked at you like this for a while.
“Hi.” his hands cup your face and you smile softly as you kiss his rough palm. Your own covering his.
“Sorry I disturbed you. Thank you for cleaning up.” your hands mirror his actions, thumbs caressing his cheekbones.
He answers you with a soft kiss. And then another. And his hands are travelling down to pull you to him. Engulfing you as he hides his face in the crook of your neck. Your hands move to play with his hair as he drifted back to sleep.
You close your eyes and pretend that everything is fine. That the lipstick stain on his shirt in the laundry basket wasn’t the same as Dana’s.
———
“Are you fucking dumb?” O’Hara seethes, as he disinfects the gash at the bottom of your neck.
“It’s just a graze, i’m fine.” you grumble, “it’s not like anyone’s gonna care if i die.”
“No, just shut your mouth. Stop talking like you’re some martyr. There are plenty of people here who would miss you.”
“Miguel, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” you chuckle, “i get it-
“No, you don’t. actually, you don’t get it. the woman i loved died, and she’s gone and i’d do anything to have her back, and you’re so convinced that if you died your own fucking husband wouldn’t want to die too? Stop acting like you’re expendable.” his eyes glow and yours widen, “This may come as a surprise to you, but people care.”
You gulp, “Sorry.”
He grumbles under his breath as he sprays the wound with bacta so it heals faster. Apologising when you wince.
You look at his concentrated face that is focused on wrapping the bandage around your shoulder and the bottom of your neck. His face is mere inches from yours. He is the splitting image of your husband, save from the red eyes and fangs. But this close you can see the differences, his eyebrows are a tad thicker and his ears are smaller.
He is harder and his words are sharp. Your love is soft and quiet. Mean when he has to be, but kinder. More open.
More loving. Yes. He’s more loving and he loves you.
You look away and focus on the ceiling. You don’t see his eyes watching your face. Eyes filled with sadness and want.
——
“Dana, here. Have some tea.” you pour a cup for the woman sitting next to Miguel at the table. At your spot.
Is it toxic to think that maybe you want her to choke on her tea?
She’d started to carpool with Miguel a few months ago , seeing as they worked together and were on the same team, it was more efficient and made more sense.
You didn’t want to seem like a toxic wife so you nodded and agreed, because you were secure in your relationship with your husband.
“Thank you.” she says your name with a wide smile as she sips the tea, “Amazing, as always.”
“I know right, she makes amazing tea.” he smiles at her and raises an eyebrow. Dana snorts.
You look between the pair trying to hide their smiles, “Did I miss something?” an awkward smile makes its way onto your face.
“Inside joke, you wouldn’t get it. It’s a scientist thing. I don’t think your writer brain could handle it.” Dana waves you away as if you’re a fucking waiter and you bristle.
But what drives it home is that Miguel laughs out loud when she says that. His hair flops onto his forehead and Dana fixes it for him, her hands running through this hair.
You fight the urge to break a plate on her head but you know it’ll be fruitless. Because your husband will take her side.
Maybe you’re just being dramatic. Maybe the tears you’re trying to hide as you make breakfast are unwarranted and you can’t take a joke.
Everything is fine.
You call out to them from the kitchen, telling them you’re going to be late and his voice is brighter when he says, “Okay, honey.”
—————
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, boss.”
“You look dead.”
“Your eyes bags suggest the same.”
“You’re hilarious.” O’Hara smirks
“Thank you.” you take a sip of the beer he’d passed.
It was late, far past dinner time. And the both of you had taken time to go over the record of what anomalies were most common and key weaknesses in most villains.
“But seriously, are you okay?”
You gulp, “Tell me about your wife. Please.”
He blanches, and then looks at the tears welling up in your eyes.
“Well, where to begin?” he turns to face you, “She…was a writer, she had her own business. She loved sunflowers because they faced each other when the sun wasn’t in the sky.” he smiles sadly, “she was terrified of frogs and dead fish. And she hated onions. The pickiest fucking eater.” he shakes his head and chuckles.
“She sounds sweet.” you know she was variant of you, Miguel had shown you the web of life and in every universe there was version of you that made their way into his life. It was beautiful, honestly.
“She had short hair, and her smile. God, it could make anyone’s day better.” he rested his head on his hand and looked at the hologram shining in front of the both of you.
“She sounds like a dream.” you reply.
“She was.” he nods.
“Hey would you mind bringing up a live of my house?” you ask.
“Why?”
“Humour me, will you?”
He grumbles and a hologram showing your universe pops up, on the screen is your living room. And Miguel freezes when he sees the scene before him.
He sees himself kiss Dana. The version of him who is married, is kissing his co-worker. He’s taking her in his arms and nuzzling her nose. He’s pecking her cheeks and tickling her like she’s his wife.
Like he’s in love with her.
“I love you.” his voice echoes throughout the room. And Dana says it back.
His head whips to look at you. You don’t look surprised, rather, you look defeated. You breathe out like it’s a finality. Your beautiful beautiful eyes transfixed on offending scene in front of you.
Before anything else happens, he shuts it off. Immediately turning to look at your frozen form, “Hey, you with me?”
You shake your head and smile. Eyes still fixed onto where the hologram was, “I’m fine.” Tears fall down your cheeks as your mouth quivers, “I’m okay. Everyday he comes back around this time. And they carpool. I told him I’d be late today. Just after I made them tea and they laughed at an inside joke amongst themselves.”
His eyes widens, “Oh honey.” his moves to hug you and you let out an ugly sob, “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“I knew it.” you say into his chest, “I’m so fucking stupid.”
His hand pats your back, “You’re not stupid.”
“I mean, I know i was busy, i know i wasnt always home. But I tried, i fucking tried. WHAT IS SO WRONG WITB ME?” the dam breaks and you let out a wrecked shout of agony that breaks his heart into two, “Why wasn’t I good enough?!” your body shakes violently.
“No.” he says firmly, taking your face in his hands, almost squeezing your cheeks and forcing you to looking at him, your hands fly to cover his, “ You are good enough. You are enough. Listen to me. That fucking idiot doesn’t know who he just lost.”
“But-But if i wasnt so busy-
“If he had a problem, he should’ve told you. He’s a fucking pussy.”
Your words are silenced when he shakes you once, hands still holding your cheeks, “You are the most perfect person. And the both of them will pay. I promise that, cariño.”
His arms wrap around you to engulf you as you hide your face in the crook of his neck, rapid breaths slowing. His pulse beats and you can feel the vibrations on your own skin.
You close your eyes and pretend everything is fine. Because you’re in his arms.
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ronwestbreeze · 11 months
Text
too fast
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pairing: miguel o'hara x spider!fem!reader warnings: more angst summary: he should've stopped you... word count: 2.4k author's note: this will be the last installment! since we don't know what happens after atsv we're gonna leave it here for now! thanks for giving too slow so much and i hope you enjoy part 2!
part 1
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If Miguel O’Hara had to guess, it all started going downhill when you accidentally discovered that your sister was going to die. It wasn’t supposed to happen, you finding out. Like everything else in a Spider person’s life, it was a canon event that was bound to happen, a significant event that would truly make you who you were now. The White Spider. An event that would happen naturally, like all tragic ones do.
Because the truth was, they happen. And there was nothing you could do to stop it.
That’s what Miguel tried to tell you. That if you tried to interfere, then your dimension would unravel just as his did. He didn’t want that for you. Couldn’t want that for you. There were worse fates and that was one of them.
But of course, you were determined.
“Don’t tell me to stand by and let it happen, Miguel, all because of some stupid canon shit. Don’t tell me that.” You gritted out as you stalked down the hall, him right behind you.
“I am, Domino.” Miguel argued desperately. “I am telling you not to endanger your dimension over something that is supposed to happen. I am doing this to protect you—“
You whirled around on him, causing Miguel to stop short in front of you, “This is your way of protecting me? By telling me to stand by and let my sister die all because of some computer program?! Be fucking for real, Miguel!”
“Yes, because I know the dangers of what’s going to happen if you—”
“No, Miguel, no you don’t.” It hurt, your words. You knew what he had gone through, what he had lost. But you were too stubborn. He knew this. “I’m gonna try. Because that’s what we do. We try even if the odds are against us. That’s what all this shit that happened to me has led up to, right? Why stop now?”
It wasn’t like Miles Morales. No, this was before he learned that there were more forceful ways to stop something like this from happening.
He should’ve stopped you.
But things just fell apart too fast for him to keep up in the end.
Miguel practically dove through the portal to your dimension with Jessica and a few other Spider-men at his side. The crisis was a disaster. The Brooklyn Bridge was halfway in the water, cars either destroyed or hanging by black webs made by you. Immediately, Miguel and the others played damage control. There was yet another villain that had escaped their world and fell into another. This time it was a Green Goblin. One large enough to do this much damage.
It didn’t take long for Miguel to spot your white suit swinging about frantically, your head turning quickly every second. Which meant he had arrived just in time to stop you from making the biggest mistake you could’ve ever made for yourself and your universe. Miguel kept his eyes glued to you while leading people to safety. Until he spotted your sister’s car being thrown up in the air, quickly being caught by your black webs.
You were at the top of the bridge, trying to convince your sister to calm down, revealing your identity to her. Miguel landed on top of the bridge, you sent him a scowl and raised your hand, “Don’t!”
“You know what will happen, Domino.” He tried warning you. “One life or an entire universe? Over other families? Other brothers and sisters? What then?!”
You ignored him and shot a web down to your sister to grab onto. “If I don’t do this, then I will never forgive myself. I’m not like you, Miguel.” You looked at him pleadingly, desperately. “I can’t—”
The green hulking figure hurtled right into you, taking both you and Miguel off guard.
Your grip on your sister slipped but she was able to grab onto another web and hold on while you were preoccupied with the Green Goblin. A wave of rage—fear?—hit Miguel as he dashed toward the ugly beast, using his whole weight to throw it off of you and tackled it down to the ground.
“You don’t get to touch her!” He growled, pounding the goblin’s face until it was finally unconscious.
The bridge began to fall. Jessica began ordering every spider person around to quickly gather all the civilians left on the bridge. The top of the bridge where your sister was hanging began to crumble and Miguel watched as you swung back toward her.
He should’ve stopped this long before. He shouldn’t have let it get this far.
You were already dashing across the top of the bridge, Miguel had ended up behind you in seconds. You glanced over your shoulder at him, “Miguel, don’t!”
But he ignored you and shot his scarlet webs toward your figure. But of course, you were quicker than him, You always were.
His webs had missed. The web holding your sister up snapped. She was falling.
And you had dived after her.
Miguel leaped off the bridge, shot a thick web toward you and above him. In seconds the fall had stopped. You were now hanging and attached to Miguel’s web while the other half of his web kept him attached to what was left of part of the bridge.
But your webs had already been released.
You had already caught her.
No. No. No. No. No.
You had been too fast for him.
When the adrenalin cooled down a bit, you shot your head up at him, the angered glare evident on your face, “Were you really about to fucking stop me?!”
Instead of acknowledging your anger, Miguel shot back, “Do you realize what you’ve done?!”
“I saved my sister!”
“You’ve given your universe a death sentence!” Miguel shouted. “Why do you have to be so fucking selfish?!”
“Selfish?!” You snapped. Now you were quite pissed. Truly, he had never seen you this angry before now. He supposed that it made sense that it would be him to cause this. There had been many close calls. Now, it was different. You couldn’t keep your resolve. “I didn’t invade another universe and replace a girl’s father! Did you ever think that your situation was different?! Did you ever think that what you did was a lot worse than me saving my sister?! You can’t project your problems onto me, Miguel. It’s not the same and you know it—”
“Did it ever occur to you that I did this because I love you?” Miguel hissed. “Did it ever occur to you that I couldn’t bear to watch you lose everything over the same mistake I made?! Did it, Domino? Did you ever stop and think—”
“Wait.” He realized then that you weren’t looking at him anymore. Instead you were looking down. At the end of your web. “If I screwed everything up, then how come my dimension isn’t unraveling?”
The way you asked this, the way you posed the question made him go silent for a moment. Because he just then realized things weren’t changing. Other than the chaos that was happening around them already, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. No holes in the dimension. Nothing disappearing.
“I….” Miguel looked back to you, “I….M-Miguel I saved her, didn’t I?”
He still couldn’t respond.
You reached your web up and tied it to Miguel’s wrist before snapping his web attached to you apart.
“Domino—”
But he watched you fall toward the bottom.
It didn’t take him long to get there too. It didn’t take him long to see the limp body attached to the end of your web. It didn’t take him long to realize that your universe wouldn’t unravel any time soon.
Your sister was dead. Just like it was supposed to….
This was supposed to be better. This was supposed to be what kept you and your universe safe.
Miguel O’Hara always made the tough calls. The decisions that no one else could.
So why did it feel like the dimension was tearing itself apart in front of his eyes? Why did it feel like you were going to disappear at any second? Why did it feel like he had already lost you even though you were right there.
He did. He lost you.
You slipped from his fingers so fast…
“Is this what you wanted?” A weak whisper left your lips, your back still turned to him.
There were no words he could say that could fix any of it.
Miguel removed his mask, so that you could see his face. So that you could see how sincere he was. Only for you to see. Only you mattered in that moment.
“Sometimes you can’t stop what’s meant to happen.” When you glanced over your shoulder at him, when you looked at him through glassy eyes—your mask now gone—it made the words a lot harder to force out, “I never wanted any of this. Not like this…”
Jessica and the others arrived but didn’t say anything. Jessica had been one of the people on Miguel’s side about the whole ordeal, but even she was smart enough not to say anything. You were already hurting too much.
You glared at him through the water falling from your eyes, you glared at Jessica, you glared at all of them.
“Well, congratulations.”
“Y/N…” Jessica tried, only she went silent when she noticed your sister’s body limp behind you. There was nothing to be said.
You tore off your bracelet and threw it at Miguel’s feet. “You saved the canon, O’Hara. You should be proud.”
After that, you stopped coming to HQ. Except for that one time when you announced you were quitting the society for good. After that he stopped seeing the White Spider swinging around your dimension and stopping bad guys. The only time he saw you don your suit was to fight a new villain called the Electro. After that, he hadn’t seen you in the newspapers nor social media ever again.
This wasn’t something he really didn’t see coming. Frankly, he wasn’t even sure if the canon knew this was what exactly would happen after your sister’s death. That you would just stop being the White Spider. That you would give it all up.
Fuck. Of course this would be the last straw. He knew you. He met your sister multiple times.
You weren’t like Miguel. You would not bounce back easily. That was never you.
He should’ve stopped it. He shouldn’t have let it get that far…
The fight on the train didn’t last for long. Like you had said beforehand, you hadn’t planned on fighting him. Only keeping him at bay so that Miles was given time to go back to his dimension. So you had gotten your licks in, getting to kick your man’s ass was something so refreshing and should’ve happened sooner if you were being honest.
You landed a few kicks at Miguel—his waist, face, and legs—before he grabbed you and threw you off the train. But you fell gracefully, knowing that you had done your part. So you entered your data into your bracelet, a portal appearing behind you.
“He’s just a kid, Miguel.” You called.
The last thing you saw was Miguel, an unreadable expression on his face as you disappeared through the portal.
Gwen had recruited you to help Miles a couple hours after you had gotten back to your dimension. Apparently, he had been sent to the wrong Earth so now it was your job to track him down and help him complete his goal. Helping him succeed at something that you couldn’t.
So before you started this long fight, the long journey ahead, you went to your sister’s grave. You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you were here. After the funeral, you weren’t sure you even came here alone yourself. Just to see her.
It hurt too much before. It only just kept reminding you how much you failed. Why you stopped being the White Spider. Why your relationship with Miguel could never quite be the same.
Your spine shuddered and you turned your head slightly away from your sister’s grave. “It’s kind of insensitive to do a sneak attack when I’m visiting my sister, O’Hara.”
Behind you, Miguel stood a little further away. His mask was off. You didn’t move from your sister’s grave and he didn’t move from where he stood. The two of you took to staring at each other for a long moment.
Since it didn’t seem like he was going to say anything first, you sighed, “Don’t act so surprised. I thought you knew me better than that—”
“I thought I did too.” Miguel scowled, though the harshness was mixed with something looser. Something that would’ve made you crumble on the spot.
You cleared away some of the dead rose petals from the last bouquet of flowers that were left here, “Is that what you came here for? To berate me  into changing my mind? I’m convinced already—”
“I’m not here to convince you. How can I do that when you won’t listen to reason?” Miguel hissed. “If you are willing to die over this, destroy another universe, then…” You looked at him fully then. Perhaps you were too far away to see, perhaps your mind was playing tricks on you, but you could’ve sworn his eyes were red. Not from his unique abilities.
The emotion in his eyes, god you wanted to look away. You didn’t want your resolve to fail again. Not this time.
This time was too important.
“Then what?” You asked him quietly.
Miguel never responded to your question. He ducked his head down for a moment. The words that left his mouth almost barely audible. “How many times will I have to lose you, Domino? How many times will you leave me?”
You stood and slowly inched toward the man. Cautiously, you gently grabbed his face once you were close enough and leaned your forehead against his. Your thumb caressed his cheek. His larger hands wrapped around you until his face is buried into your neck, practically inhaling your scent.
God, it was always like this. One moment you were in each other’s arms and in the next throwing each other off of trains or running until neither of you could run anymore. Moments like this, the gentle, the quiet. It never lasted.
In the next moment Miguel wasn’t in your arms anymore. You weren’t on your Earth anymore. Now you were flying about in search for Miles, hoping to find him before Miguel and his gang did. You were never sure when the two of you would ever find that semblance of peace again. Those moments were gone in seconds and you were back to the real world. That’s how your cycle went.
That was your canon.
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steveseddie · 3 days
Text
go for it
steddie | rating: t | cw: none | wc: 4,6k | tags: eddie and steve have a crush, they finally do something about it, the hellfire club is there whoops, first kiss, getting together
for my stficbingo: “This is a dictatorship and I’m in charge!”
click here to read on ao3
***
“You drag yourselves out of the tunnels and find what seems to be a friendly tavern in the woods,” Eddie narrates in a low voice, his eyes sweeping over everyone sitting at the Harrington dining table. They’re all at the edge of their seats, collectively holding their breath, looking suitably daunted yet excited as they brace themselves for some other twist in the story. “The innkeeper welcomes you with warm food and offers you a place to stay. She assures you that you’re safe.” 
He pauses for dramatic effect. Watches as Henderson bites his knuckles, Wheeler squeezes his eyes shut, Jeff covers his face with his hands-
“Tonight you get to rest,” he finishes with a flourish of his hand and the party sighs in relief. 
“Thank God!” Gareth says, slumping back on his chair and wiping his brow where beads of sweat started gathering during the final moments of the campaign. “I thought we wouldn’t make it.” 
“Holy shit, me too,” Sinclair agrees, shaking his head in disbelief. He’d been one bad die roll away from dying by the time they finally defeated the goblins that attacked them out of nowhere. “That was brutal!” 
“It was fucking awesome!” Henderson says with a squeaky laugh and everyone around the table heartily agrees.  
Eddie grins widely, resting his chin on one hand and doing a flourish with the other one in lieu of a bow. “Glad it pleased you, Master Nog.” 
The kid flashes him a toothy smile and then he and the rest of the party start discussing tonight’s campaign- the best moments, the ones where they thought they would all die, their predictions for what will happen next week. 
They’re so caught up in their conversation that they don’t notice when Eddie slips away from the table.
The Harrington house is easy to get lost in, bigger than any house Eddie has ever been to. Even after weeks of being friends with Steve and coming over for movie nights and pool parties, Eddie isn’t sure he’s seen all of it. He knows there’s a third garage somewhere and he’s only been to one of the three guest bedrooms and that was back on the first night he slept over. 
(Since then, he and Steve realized that they sleep better when they have company and Eddie never saw the inside of that or any of the other guest rooms again, sharing Steve’s bed with him whenever he spends the night instead.)
Eddie has been to Harrington kitchen plenty of times though, so he makes his way there easily. 
As he gets further away from his friends and their noise, Eddie’s ears pick up on the music coming from the Harrington kitchen, which further guides him in the right direction. He belatedly recognizes the song as part of the mixtape he made for Steve a couple of days ago in an attempt to improve his music taste. When he gave it to him, Steve eyed it warily (“It’s real music, Stevie, not a rabid animal, it won’t bite you!”) before shoving it into his car’s glove compartment. He didn’t bring it up since then and Eddie assumed he forgot about it. Knowing that Steve didn’t forget and he’s actually listening to it now fills Eddie’s stomach with butterflies. 
Those butterflies flutter pathetically when he finally reaches the kitchen and finds Steve doing the dishes. 
He’s standing in front of the sink, his hips moving with the music (not heavy metal but some soft rock that Eddie thought might be more Steve’s style while still being cool) and there’s a flowery apron tied around his waist which matches the rubber gloves he’s wearing. Both were a gag gift from the kids, Steve told Eddie the first time he saw him wearing them, one that actually turned out to be quite useful and now he wears them often. 
For a moment, Eddie lingers at the kitchen doorway, giving himself a few seconds to stare at Steve, filing away how he looks for later when he’s daydreaming embarrassingly domestic fantasies of a life with Steve. Then he raps his knuckles twice on the door frame to get his attention. 
(Eddie knows better than to sneak up on him now. The one time he did Steve had him pinned against a wall before Eddie could even realize what was happening. He thought it was hot more than anything, but Steve had been mortified. He spent the rest of the night apologizing and acting like a kicked puppy around him. He didn’t relax until Eddie reminded him that the first time they met, Eddie did the same thing, only he also held a broken bottle to Steve’s throat. So now they were more than even.)
Steve’s head whips around at the sound and his face lights up when he sees Eddie leaning against the door frame. 
“Hey!” Steve says, grinning like he’s delighted to see Eddie. Like he missed him, like he didn’t see him less than forty minutes ago when they all took a break to have dinner. “You finished early tonight.” 
Glancing at the clock on top of the fridge, Eddie realizes that Steve is right. “I figured they had enough for one night,” Eddie says, stepping into the kitchen and joining Steve by the sink. “Usually the brats would throw a fit, but I think they were actually glad this time.”  
“That bad?” Steve asks with a snort.
“Wheeler rolled four nat ones in a row, Steve, four!” Eddie says, dancing in and out of Steve’s space until Steve hip-checks him out of the way with a chuckle. 
“Four, huh?” 
“Mhm, the odds weren’t in their favor tonight.” 
“Well, it was nice of you to let them off the hook for once, Mr. Dungeon Master,” Steve says, crinkly eyes meeting Eddie’s momentarily before looking down at the sink and picking up another plate. 
“I’m always nice, Stevie,” Eddie says, leaning back against the counter, arms crossed over his chest.
Steve gives him a bitchy face. “Dude, I’m pretty sure I heard you threaten to chop off Dougie’s hand.” 
“That was the goblin, not me!” Eddie protests, wagging his finger in front of Steve’s face. “Who Jeff killed shortly after, so who’s the one that isn’t nice here?” 
“Right,” Steve deadpans. He takes off the rubber gloves after rinsing the last plate and picks up a dish towel to start drying. “You can always get your revenge next week I guess.” 
“Oh I will, Stevie. I will,” he says, grinning manically. Oh the things he has planned. Eddie hops on top of the counter, right next to where Steve stands as he dries plates and glasses and everything else he used to make the most delicious lasagna for the party. His feet dangle from the counter and he lightly nudges Steve with one. “Hey, thanks for letting us play here. And for dinner.”
“You know you don’t have to thank me every time, right Eds?” Steve says with an exaggerated sigh, but his annoyance is downplayed by his playful smile. The lopsided one that makes Eddie want to kiss him stupid. 
After Spring Break, Principal Higgins was quick to shut down Hellfire once and for all, leaving the party with no place to hold their campaigns. Eddie wasn’t surprised but like everyone else, he was pretty fucking bummed about it. No one in their party had enough space at their house to host their campaigns, and the only two that did, Wheeler and Sinclair, failed to convince their parents to let them use their basement for their alleged satanic cult gatherings. 
But just when they thought their club was done for, Steve swooped in like the knight in shining armor that he is and offered up his house, which is why for the last couple of weeks they’ve been gathering at the Harrington residence where Steve not only hosts their campaigns and puts up with the noise and the mess they leave behind, but he also cooks or buys them dinner every week and makes sure to stock up his fridge with each of their favorite drinks, even indulging in Gareth’s weird obsession with Bubble Up soda because he is unreal and the nicest fucking guy Eddie knows. 
So Eddie can’t not thank him every time. Contrary to what people might believe, he has manners. He also likes the pretty pink flush that covers Steve’s cheeks whenever he does it.
“Hm, I think I do,” he says, nudging Steve’s leg again. “Hellfire would be over if it wasn’t for you, sweetheart.” 
“And what a tragedy that would be,” Steve jokes but aha! There it is- that pretty pink blush. 
“Hey! I know for a fact that you don’t hate it as much as you pretend to,” Eddie says, shaking his finger in a reproachful manner. “You sat through the whole session last time and didn’t even yawn once!” 
Last week, Dustin begged and pleaded so that Steve would sit and watch their campaign instead of retreating to the kitchen or his bedroom. Steve held his ground admirably until Eddie joined in on Dustin’s pleas, batting his eyelashes and pouting exaggeratedly until he caved, sighing in defeat and sitting down next to Eddie. He didn’t expect Steve to make it through the whole thing, but he did and while he did look a little confused at times and complained that there was way too much math involved, he also seemed to actually enjoy himself. 
Steve shifts from one foot to the other and bites his lip. “Yeah, I guess, but that’s because I was watching you the whole time,” he shyly says.
Eddie blinks. “Me?” He remembers Steve’s eyes on him while he led the campaign, but he didn’t think much of it then. But now Steve’s shy admission that he enjoyed himself because he was watching Eddie makes his heart stutter in his chest. 
Flushing deeper, Steve keeps his eyes on the glass that he’s drying, not meeting Eddie’s gaze as he says, “Yeah, you, uh. You’re very good at doing those voices and you know, drawing people into your stories. It’s, um, fascinating.” 
Fascinating. No one’s ever used that word to describe Eddie before. He can’t help the way his breath catches when Steve Harrington of all people calls him that. 
“Oh. Well, thanks,” he stammers out, feeling his own cheeks match Steve’s flush. “And here I thought you were going to say I’m just pretty to look at,” he adds with a slightly shaky laugh.
And that’s what he expects Steve to do- laugh it off. Instead, he finally meets Eddie’s eyes and says, “Well, that too.” 
Eddie’s jaw drops. Holy shit. 
Steve does laugh then but not because it was a joke. He laughs at Eddie’s reaction which consists of him gaping like a fish because Steve Harrington just called him fascinating and pretty. 
And it’s not that Steve hasn’t given him compliments before or hasn’t flirted with him before. He plays along most of the time- sometimes with a playful smirk and sometimes with that baffled puppy look that Eddie saw for the first time after calling him “big boy”.
The thing is he’s never flirted like this- shyly, without a hint of a joke. And it’s- 
Well, it’s a lot. 
But if Eddie learned anything after Spring Break is to roll with whatever the universe throws at him, which in this case isn’t an army of hell bats or an apocalypse, but Steve Harrington finally, maybe, possibly making a move. Something that Eddie has been waiting for after weeks of the two of them dancing around each other. 
He couldn’t see it at first, or rather he refused to, afraid to get his hopes up only for his heart to break when he turned out to be wrong. But there are things that not even his cynical eyes can ignore. The way Steve gravitates towards Eddie in any group setting or the way Eddie catches him staring when he thinks he isn’t looking like last week when they went swimming at the quarry and Eddie took off his shirt or like two weeks ago when Eddie tied his hair up to keep it off his face while he played his guitar. Or the way Steve’s eyes seem to dart to Eddie’s lips constantly when he talks and the way he can’t go more than a day without seeing him before he’s knocking on Eddie’s door to spend time with him.
It would be slightly easier to ignore all of this if it wasn’t for the fact that Eddie acts the same way when it comes to Steve. And Eddie is halfway in love with the guy, so. It makes him wonder. 
But despite all of this, Eddie still hasn’t made a move. Steve either. Until now maybe. 
Eddie clears his throat, finally finding his words. “Well, as entertaining as it must’ve been to watch me.” He grins. “You’ll have more fun if you actually play with us. Maybe next time I can finally convince you to join.”
Hazel eyes narrow at him. “If I play, will you threaten to cut off my hand too?”  
“Nah, I promise to go easy on you since it’s your first time.” He winks and Steve’s eyes widen, the blush from before making a wonderful return. 
“I- I haven’t said yes-”
“Yet.” 
Steve huffs. “What makes you so sure that you can convince me?” He asks with an arched eyebrow. “The kids have tried and failed and you know how relentless they are.”
“Yeah, but I can be very persuasive.” He gestures at himself with a hand flourish. “You know, as a cult leader and all.”
Steve hums. “Of course.” He leans his hip against the counter, only an inch away from Eddie’s thigh.
“There’s gotta be something I can do to convince you,” Eddie says, moving his thigh until it touches Steve’s hip. “Something I can give you in exchange. To make it worth your while.”
Steve’s eyes immediately dart down to Eddie’s lips. Eddie’s stomach swoops. There it is.
“You’re right,” Steve says, and in one quick movement, he pushes himself away from the counter and moves to stand between Eddie’s legs. Holy fuck. “There’s one thing.”
Anticipation bubbles up in Eddie’s stomach. “Yeah? What- what is it?” He asks with a suddenly dry throat. 
Steve ducks his head, glancing at Eddie through his eyelashes. “A kiss from the Dungeon Master?” He asks in a shy whisper. 
Eddie stares at him for a second, lips parted in surprise because goddamn shitting fuck. Then-
“Not the goblin?” He asks in his stupid goblin voice. Like a fucking loser.
As soon as he blurts it out he slaps a hand against his face. “Fucking Christ, I can’t believe I just did that. That was so lame. I’m just fucking nervous, sorry.” 
Steve wraps his fingers around Eddie’s wrist, lowering his hand. His eyes are sparkling with fondness. “Don’t be, it’s cute,” he says with a soft chuckle. 
A nearly hysterical giggle bubbles up in Eddie’s throat but it abruptly cuts off when Steve places his hands on Eddie’s thigh and leans in. 
“Eddie.”
“Yeah?” 
“Are you gonna give me that kiss or what?” Steve asks oh so sweetly.
And Eddie doesn’t waste a moment after that, he finally goes for it. He cups Steve’s cheeks and tugs his face closer, pressing their mouths together, feeling his chest explode with warmth as he thinks finally and pinch me and holy fucking shit. 
The kiss is sweet and slow. It starts a little tentative, just lips slotting together, Steve’s bottom lip fitting perfectly between Eddie’s. But then something shifts- Steve’s hands settle on Eddie’s waist, his thumbs digging into his hip bones while Eddie’s fingers find their way to Steve’s hair, scratching at his scalp, tangling with the soft strands, tugging on them. The last one makes Steve’s mouth fall open in a gasp, just enough for Eddie to press in, catching Steve’s lower lip between his teeth and biting down hard enough to earn himself a small whine. Then he lets it go, easing his tongue across Steve’s lip and licking into his mouth. 
He loses track of anything else that happens when Steve’s own tongue licks into his mouth in return. 
After a while the kiss softens again, turning into something slow and tender until it comes to a natural stop, once they can’t ignore the need to breathe anymore. 
Steve pulls back but Eddie doesn’t let him go far, keeping a firm hold on the lapels of his dorky polo shirt. “Definitely worth my while but-” 
Eddie cocks an eyebrow. “But?” 
“But,” Steve says, his red, wet, well-kissed lips stretching into a wicked grin. “I think I’m gonna need more convincing.”
Eddie grins back. “Oh, I think that can be arranged.”
He tugs Steve closer again and he comes willingly, sighing happily when their lips slot together once more. God, Eddie is so fucked. They’ve kissed once and he’s already addicted to kissing Steve. He’s convinced that he could stay like this forever, lazily making out with him on his kitchen counter, tongues exploring, hands wandering.
And he probably would’ve- if a shrill voice didn’t make them jump apart. 
“What the hell is going on here!” Dustin yells.
Steve whirls around so fast he almost faceplants on his kitchen floor and Eddie jumps back and hits his head against one of the upper cupboards.
He lets out a string of creative curses as he rubs the back of his head, seeing black spots when he opens his eyes. Despite those, he can still see the whole party standing in the kitchen doorway, staring at them with expressions ranging from utter shock (Sinclair and Henderson) to disgust (Wheeler) to smugness (Jeff, Gareth, Dougie, and weirdly enough, Erica). 
“Uh,” Steve says dumbly as he tries to find his words, but there’s no lying their way out of this one and they both know it. They were just caught with their tongues down each other’s throats and Eddie’s hands on Steve’s ass. 
“Well?” Dustin prompts in a bitchy tone.
“I was, uh, convincing Steve to join D&D next week,” Eddie says, which is, technically, the truth. 
Gareth snorts, raising an eyebrow. “With your tongue?” 
Eddie gives a gleeful laugh. “As a matter of fact, yes.” 
“Eddie,” Steve hisses, flushing to the tips of his ears. 
“That’s gross!” Wheeler cries, his face scrunching up which is rich coming from him, Eddie thinks, considering he saw him sucking face with El more times than he would’ve liked in the short time she was in Hawkins after everything. So he knows Wheeler has nothing against kissing and it makes him wonder if he might have something against Eddie kissing a boy, or boys kissing boys in general and Eddie loves the kid, he loves all of them but he will sit him down for some tough love if he happens to not be okay with-
There’s a slapping sound as Erica smacks him upside the head.
“Ouch!”
“Not cool, butthead,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Wheeler. “Boys can kiss boys too.”
The corner of Eddie’s mouth tugs up in a smile. Just like that, she’s currently his favorite. 
“What?” Wheeler asks, rubbing the back of his head. “I know that. I don’t care that Eddie wants to kiss guys, I care that he wants to kiss Steve!”
“Hey!” Steve protests with an affronted frown.  
“Eddie is cool and Steve is so lame! And he’s my sister’s ex!” He says with extra snark. 
Eddie can’t help it, he bursts out laughing. Steve’s head snaps in his direction, his offended expression now directed at him. “Sorry, sorry,” he says between giggles. He clears his throat and gives Wheeler a stern face. It’s a much different scolding than the one he thought he would be giving him just a few moments ago and he’s grateful for that. “Steve isn’t lame. Yes, his music taste is shit and he owns more polo shirts than an 80-year-old-” 
“Dude, are you defending me or helping Mike insult me?” Steve mumbles with a pout. 
“But!” Eddie says, ignoring him. “He’s also badass and he’s saved your sorry asses multiple times and he’s nice enough to let you pipsqueaks eat his food and trash his house every week and he’s hot as fuck, so. Show some respect, Wheeler.”
Mike’s face scrunches up. “What does Steve being hot have to do with anything? Ew!”
But before Eddie can reply to that, Dustin takes a step forward, looking between the two. “So this is a thing now? Are you guys a thing?” He asks, narrowing his eyes at them.
Steve and Eddie exchange a look, both of them trying to communicate the same thing- do you want to be a thing? Steve gives him a sheepish smile and a nod, and in response, Eddie wraps his arms and legs around him, essentially hanging off of Steve’s back like a koala and trapping him against the counter. “Yes, Henderson. We are, as you so eloquently put it, a thing.”
Eddie expects more outrage, but Dustin nods solemnly. “Okay, cool. Just- no flirting at the D&D table. And no kissing!” There are nods and noises of agreement from the rest of the party. 
Eddie lets out an indignant squeak. “Excuse me, this is a dictatorship and I’m in charge! And the Dungeon Master decides that there will be kissing, butthead,” he announces, and then to prove a point, he smacks a sloppy kiss against Steve’s cheek. 
There’s a lot of groaning and whining and fake-gagging. 
“Dude, it’s like watching my parents kiss,” Sinclair says and Henderson nods, rubbing at his eyes like it physically hurt him to see Eddie kiss Steve. 
Eddie rolls his eyes- and they call him dramatic.
“Fine, fine, no kissing,” he says and sees Steve pout out of the corner of his eye. “But I won’t be deprived of the joy of flirting with one Sir Stephen.” 
Steve leans back against Eddie’s chest, twisting his neck to arch an eyebrow at him. “Sir Stephen?”  
“I’ve been working on your character sheet for weeks,” Eddie says with a grin. And it’s true, he had the feeling that he would be able to convince Steve to play and he wanted to be ready. If he’d known a kiss was all it took to do it, he would’ve done it much sooner. 
“That’s presumptuous of you,” Steve mumbles, but there’s a smile teasing at his lips. Eddie shrugs, nuzzling his face against Steve’s shoulder. 
“Fine!” Dustin groans, reminding Eddie that he and Steve aren’t alone. “As long as you stay in character.” 
Eddie grins wickedly, already looking forward to flirting with Steve through all his characters, even the goblin. 
“Anyway,” Jeff says, clapping his hands on Dustin’s shoulders. “We were on our way out. We would offer to take the kiddos home, but Dougie’s piece of shit car won’t fit them all.” Dougie protests with a “Hey!” that they all ignore. 
Usually, Eddie doesn’t mind driving the kids around, but right now, a part of him does wish that he could stay a little longer with Steve. The other part can’t wait to get home so he can scream into a pillow. 
“Nah, I got it. Gentleman, lady, grab your things, we’ll head out in a second,” he says, making shooing motions with his hands. 
Sinclair rolls his eyes. “He just wants more time to make out with Steve,” he mutters as they all start to pile out of the kitchen. 
“Correct, Sinclair!”
He and Wheeler make gagging noises, earning a shove from Erica as she follows them. Yeah, she’s definitely his favorite. 
Henderson lingers on the doorway. 
“Any other rules you wish to impose on us, Master Nog?” Eddie asks, raising an eyebrow. 
Dustin shakes his head, curls bouncing. “No, I’m just- I’m happy for you. Both of you.”
Eddie blinks. “Oh,” he exhales softly, touched by the kid’s words. 
“Thanks, Henderson,” Steve says, and he sounds touched too. 
“Yeah, thanks, kid.” 
“And I love you both, but if you get divorced, I will pick sides.” And with one final narrow-eyed look, he turns on his heels and leaves.
“Which side?” Eddie asks, but the little shit pretends he doesn’t hear him. “Henderson! Which side?” His shoulders slump. “Brat.”
“Too bad we’re never gonna find out,” Steve says, turning around to face Eddie without dislodging his arms or legs that are still wrapped around him.
Eddie’s heart stutters in his chest. “Never? That’s presumptuous of you,” he says, echoing his words from before. 
Steve shrugs. “I just know I don’t plan to break up with you- or divorce you like the kid said.” 
Oh yeah, Eddie definitely needs a pillow to scream into right about now. “Um, yeah, me neither, so I guess we’re stuck together.”
Steve nods with a dopey smile. “And we’ll never know who Dustin would’ve picked.” 
There’s a short silence. 
Then, “He would’ve picked me,” they both say at the same time. 
Steve squawks. “Me!”
“No, me!” 
“I’ve known him longer!”
“He thinks I’m cooler!” 
And so on until Eddie gets tired of arguing and shuts Steve up with a kiss. Before they can deepen it though, they’re once again interrupted by the kids. 
“Eddie!” Dustin yells. 
“Stop sucking face and let’s go!” Wheeler adds and Eddie can’t see him, but he knows his nose is scrunched up in disgust. 
“We’re gonna be late!” Sinclair adds, urgently, and Erica mhm’s in agreement. 
Eddie throws his head back with a groan. “Jesus H. Christ! They’re so annoying.” 
“They are,” Steve chuckles, brushing their noses together. “Hey, you wanna come over tomorrow? We can work on that character thing together. Just you and me.” 
Eddie’s eyes widen, lips parted in awe. Steve and D&D? There must be hearts in his eyes right now or bursting out of him like he’s a cartoon. “You’re offering to do nerdy shit with me? God, you’re a dream, Jesus Christ!” He says, hands coming up to cup either side of Steve’s face and peppering kisses all over it- his cheeks, his nose, his forehead, and finally, his lips. 
Steve giggles. “So, that’s a yes?” 
“I’ll be here,” Eddie says with a grin. 
Steve wraps his arms around his neck. “And since the kids won’t be there I expect there to be kissing and flirting.”
Eddie inches closer, smirking. “Hm, you can count on it, sweetheart.” 
This time they don’t even get to kiss before the kids are yelling again, this time in unison. “Eddie!”
Eddie lets go of Steve’s waist and slaps his hands against his face. “Motherfucker!” He groans. Then louder, “I’m coming!” 
Steve shakes his head with a laugh as Eddie hops down from the counter.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Eddie tells him. 
Steve gives him another dopey smile- or rather the same one since it hasn’t left his face at all. “Can’t wait.”
Eddie sweeps in for a quick kiss, one that the kids can’t interrupt, marveling for a second at the fact that he can simply do that now. Then with a final tug to Steve’s flowery apron, he skips out of the kitchen, turning around at the doorway to look at Steve one last time. He’s leaning against the counter, smile firmly plastered on his face and looking at Eddie like- 
Well, exactly like Eddie is looking at him. Lovestruck, he thinks comes close to describing it. And ain’t that something. 
He gives Eddie one of those little finger waves, and in return, Eddie blows him a kiss. Steve’s cheeks turning pink is the last thing he sees before he leaves the kitchen and joins the kids in the living room. 
“Okay, shitheads!” He says, clapping his hands together to get their attention. “Which one of you am I sending home walking?”
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serpenlupus · 2 months
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About Wyll and his horns
Let's say I was writing a part of my Tav's story with Wyll directly connected to the dialogue he has during the tiefling party, and while struggling with this bit, I've realized there's quite a few misconceptions floating around. I felt compelled to add information to the table that might clear them, so here we go.
First, what exactly happens to Wyll when he disobeys Mizora in act one? Well, he doesn't get turned into a devil, he certainly doesn't get turned into a tiefling, he's not a half fiend, not a demon, none of that. Wyll stays human, but he has horns and red eyes (and other features we can't see on his model as of now).
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(Everyone has their race listed, Wyll's remains "Human")
This is because when a warlock fails to uphold some part of their contract they can suffer a certain number of consequences, Wylls is “The character grows horns, a tail, or some other devilish features that can't be removed by any means short of divine intervention. As long as these marks persist the character detects as a fiend when subjected to Detect Evil and Good spells or similar magic.” ( from Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, page 214)
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And I’ve come across some people that think it wasn’t so bad of a punishment, that he was being racist towards the tieflings, or just not being justified in being upset after having his body forcibly changed against his will. I think they are missunderstanding just how insidious Mizora’s actions were, and here I just want to give some context to maybe bring a better understanding to the situation. Your conclusions are up to you.
Gonna start by using a not exact analogy, but I think it’s going to make the explanation easier. Stick with me for a minute.
Remember Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean? He had a branded “P” on his arm that marked him as a pirate. A murderer, robber, criminal, etc. in the eyes of the society he was a part of. What did Jack do to earn the branding? (if you don’t know this I suggest you look up the “people aren’t cargo mate” scene) He refused to transport slaves and later freed them, and Beckett had him marked as punishment.
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Then, in the first movie, he saves Elizabeth, a woman he didn’t know, from drowning. Right after however, when Norrington sees he has a branded “P”, he’s like “alright, off to jail with you, and then hanging”, no other option crosses his mind. Again, Jack doesn’t know Elizabeth, isn’t indicated to think he is going to be rewarded for helping her, he just sees a drowning person, sees that no one else is going to help, and chooses to save them. That is a pretty selfless/good aligned thing to do, for no other reason that he was the one able to do it, yet the branding in his arm overrides any good action he could ever do, marking him as a criminal for execution and no further thought.
In a way, that’s what Mizora did to Wyll; she forever visibly branded him as someone that has made deals with devils, and that in the world of DnD is a VERY BAD THING. Personally I really like the mod that gives him more devilish features, but at the same time I think there was something clever about choosing to leave him looking more human. He can’t be confused with a tiefling, he doesn’t have the ears, the claws, the tail, all those features that characterize them. He looks kind of uncanny, and that would be like a red flag for anyone in that world. (Beyond the already existing hate for tieflings that I’m not gonna tackle on here because it’s a complicated thing that deserves its own post). And Wyll wants to do good, he wants to help people, to be a positive force in the world so, so badly. This dude got abducted by a nautiloid, got tadpole’d, and the first thing he did right after that was come across the Tiefling refugees and be like “Oh you need help? No worries let me teach you self defense. Oh you being attacked by goblins? Let me blast them real quick”. His way of saying fuck you to all the awful things that have happened to him is being aggressively good and kind. Mizora knows this very well, wants to see him suffer for her amusement, wants to remind him he can't escape her claws, so her choice of punishment was to forever taint his future interactions with mistrust and suspicion. Some people can go real fast from “oh thank God they saved me” to “oh no, are they gonna rob me, are they trying to trick me, are they in cahoots with the ones that attacked me first?” just because of outward appearances. Especially in DnD world. And that deserves its own conversation, but we're focusing on Wyll here.
(Mizora, when I catch you Mizora)
“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have made a deal in the first plac- - “ He was seventeen, alone, preyed upon by Mizora and put in an impossible situation. Please PAY ATTENTION to the story you’re witnesing.
Anyway.
About the tieflings. I know it’s easy to think his words can be derisive towards them, but it’s less about the horns and more about his body being changed against his will. Imagine instead that he got half his face burned, or something that disfigured him. I think his feelings at the moment were closer to that, and yeah they are pretty insensitive words to say to someone with a similar condition (horns or disfiguration), but when feelings are fresh and raw like that it’s easy to say insensitive things. Not saying it was ok for him to say those things, but ther was no malice in his words. I’ve also seen some people share that they think Mizora wanted to change him more to make him unrecognizable to his original self, the Wyll Ravenguard kid, and I think there is some truth to that too. She wants to make sure that Wyll remembers that he belongs to her, there's no question to that.
(MIZORA, WHEN I CATCH YOU MIZORA)
Whether the Tieflings refugees would feel unsettled by Wyll or not? Yes. In a way, they would. From reasons aside from the ones I explained above, remember that these specific tieflings come from Elturel. If you didn’t pass the History check or don’t remember, Elturel is a city that was literally ripped from the land and dragged to Avernus, First layer of hell (it left a hole on the ground and everything) because their mayor made a deal with the Archdevil Zariel some decades back in the timeline. He sold the souls of all its citizens and the city itself.
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This was probably one of the worst times of their lives. Some even got captured and forced to participate in the blood War, like Dammon as a mechanic. And after Elturel got returned to the surface, the tieflings lost their homes because they reminded the other citizens of the literal Hell they’d just gone through, and they kicked them out. And remember, they met and saw Wyll as a human, and then saw him with horns. It’s not unreasonable to think that by looking at him they would be reminded of all the events that led them to the awful situation they’re in. Because of someone that was making deals with devils, just like Wyll. Even if his situation is completely different. And Wyll knows that, that’s why he tells you the tieflings are unsettled by him and chooses to stay away during the party.
It was never just about the horns.
And I know Wyll calls himself a devil but I think it’s because it’s the closest thing he looks as; devils are a whole different race with their own intricacies, although humans can be turned into devils ONCE their souls go to Avernus and they start climbing the power hierarchy there (Mizora and Raphael are cambions/ half-devils btw, which is a different thing,  there are plenty of videos exploring those details more in depth).
Do I think Larian should have made some of this information clearer/easier to access? Maybe? but to be fair, it's a game focused and dedicated to a crowd that was already somewhat familiar with the source material, that blew up waay out of what they originally expected to reach. Hopefully they’ll add some clarifications like they did to other quests. 
Anyway these are my two cents to the conversation, have a nice day, and don't hesitate to add your two cents if you feel like it!
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moralesmilesanhour · 4 months
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seeing double
summary: Milo keeps getting mistaken for Miles and he's like really over it wc: ~500' a/n: I feel like I've just been writing heavy-ish stuff non-stop so I thought I'd just do something for the sillies. Here is my masterlist for more Stuff
“Yo, Miles, we got a problem–oh.”
Milo gave Ganke Lee an icy glare from where he sat on the stoop in front of his house. The husky Korean boy had met his twin brother in ninth grade, and the two became fast friends. They were not close enough, apparently, for Ganke to avoid occasionally mistaking the two boys and spilling bits and pieces of secret plans that Milo was decidedly not a part of. Like being fucking Spider-Man. The braids seemed to help, though not by a large margin.
Milo pulled back his purple hoodie to reveal them, for emphasis.
“Yeah, wrong guy,” he said flatly. “Need me to text him?”
Ganke tensed. 
“Um, nah, I think I’ll be able to find him.”
Milo scoffed. “Scared you’re gonna spill his lil’ ‘secret identity’?”
The other boy’s eyes widened.
“You…You know?”
“I know how to put two and two together, Lee. Now do you need me to text him or not?”
Ganke pursed his lips for a second, then shrugged. “Tell him the Goblin’s loose again. See ya.”
He gave a quick salute, then began to jog back in the direction he came from.
The rest of Miles’ week went about the same way:
“Miles, how’s the art project coming along?”
“I’m not Miles.”
“We miss you, Miles!”
“Not Miles, but I’ll pass the message along.”
“Miles, it's not funny. Let's go.”
“I'm. Not. Miles!”
You struggled to tug your boyfriend along behind you before the showing time for the movie you two had picked out rolled around. The tight new cornrows sitting on top of his head seemed to be cutting off the flow to his brain, because he seemed to have no idea what you were talking about. 
“We're gonna be late!”
“Late to what?”
Fully on the brink of giving up, you dropped his hand and spun around to face him.
“Look, do you wanna go or not? You can't keep flaking on me like this, this is the third time–”
“And it won't happen again!”
There, jogging up to you in a white sweatshirt, hair very clearly un-braided, was Miles. 
You blinked hard a few times, then looked back at Not Miles, who had his arms crossed in irritation. 
“Yo, your girl tried to kidnap me just now,” he snapped. “Can you not be late to everything?”
The real Miles glanced between you and his twin for a moment before bursting into a wheezing fit of laughter.
“It's not funny!” You both said in unison as he held his stomach. 
After wiping a tear from his eye and regaining his composure, he gestured towards Not Miles. 
“You wanna introduce yourself first?”
Not Miles sighed.
“Milo Morales. My real name's Manuel, but I don't want nobody calling me ‘Manny’, so I go by Milo. Don't forget it.”
You narrowed your eyes at Miles.
“Why didn't you tell me you had a brother with the same face as you?”
He shrugged. 
“Wasn’t important information at the time.”
“ ‘Wasn't important’– I almost took your brother out on a date by accident!”
“You're not my type.”
“Alright, look,”
Miles took your hand. His palm was softer than Milo's, you noted.
“I'll explain at the movies, I promise.”
Your expression softened, and you squeezed his hand back.
“You'd better.”
“See you at home?” Miles turned to Milo, who was already stalking off in the other direction with his hands in his pockets. 
“Whatever, man!”
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hotluncheddie · 1 year
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stop being a goblin and let me kiss you
part 2
˚✧₊⁎ ⁎⁺˳✧༚ ⁎⁺˳✧༚
steve is at the diner with robin and eddie, after another mind numbing shift at the ol’ FV. thankfully, eddie came in a little while before close so the time went a lot quicker. steve might honestly tell him to come in even more because the clock just seems to become his best friend when eddies around; jumping nonsense off of robin, telling steve random shit about himself and laughing at all of steve jokes. (which his jokes deserve, of course, obviously. no matter what robin likes to say, knock knock is a classic set up.)
steve sat across from eddie and ordered his favourite milkshake, making eddie bat his eyelashes and make fun of steve. ‘milkshakes at a diner stevie? all you’re missing is the cheerleader and letterman.’ and steve rolled his eyes, about to let eddie know he still has his letterman and eddie can borrow it anytime. but robin had been sparked into talking about the most recent band drama that happened after the game the other night.
steve cared about the gossip, really he did. but eddie ordered fries and now yeah, sure, normal diner behaviour. however, eddie likes adding salt to his fries, like a lot of it. which means he’s constantly licking his fingers clean, like, thumb in his mouth, sucking. and that image is making a lot of very fun and interesting scenarios pop up in steves head. very fun, very cool scenarios.
so steve is distracted, playing with his whipped cream and cherry, half listening to eddie talk about hash browns but mostly just thinking about fingers, and mouths.
eddie, for some reason steve cannot fucking fathom, likes to pretend he’s not into steve, like they don’t flirt and like he doesn’t know steve is very much into eddie. steve knows what someone looks like when they’re into him and eddie is into steve. eddie just seems to have a mental block because no matter how much steve touches his arm or hair or tells him he has nice eyes, or like, flirts back at eddies initial flirting, eddie just gets bright red and changes the subject. it’s very cute. but dumb, because they could still do all that while also making some of those fun, pretty, fingers near mouths images a reality.
so, offence is the best defence as they say, defence being eddies self built cock block castle. but lucky for eddie steve is feeling pretty chivalrous so he’ll attempt to scale the castle walls again and hope some day soon eddie will just open the fucking door.
steve sticks his cherry in his mouth, pulls out the moves, ties the stem easy as pie and now, cherry on top, the wink.
gotcha. eddie saw the whole thing, beet red, soda up his nose. the moves never fail. steve did not plan for eddie to leave for the bathroom right after (hates to see him go, loves to watch him walk away) and has to deal with robin and her overprotectiveness when it come to eddie. but come on! he obviously liked it!
she knows steve likes eddie and wouldn’t be surprised if eddie talks to robin about steve. he would, if he was eddie. but she still more often than not gives steve a very pointed look if she feels he’s stepped over some invisible line she’s made up, like there some rule to how bisexual he’s allowed to be at certain moments of the day, particularly around eddie munson.
‘stop messing with him!’ she’s hissing but there’s a little smile on her face too.
‘i’m not! i’m just, presenting him with some facts, some info.’ steve rests his chin in his palm and mumbles quietly ‘not my fault he kept sucking on his damn fingers.’ aware that they are very much in public.
‘god, i am so sick of you both. you gotta talk to him steve, or stop, or something because i’m actually about to go back to doing puzzles with my nana on weekends if i have to deal with you two dancing around each other any longer.’
steve pouts ‘i love puzzles, and your nana, you cant go do that without me bob’s, that’s mean.’ robin groans and clunks her head on the table. ‘ughhh you are so weird! it astounds me every day that you used to be popular. people are so dumb.’
steve pats her head smiling. ‘yeah well good aim goes a long way.’ robin groans louder. ‘i’ll talk to him though, sir steven will break through those castle walls one way or another.’
robin lifts her head to squint at him, face of utter distain. ‘love you.’
‘love u too boobie.’
˚✧₊⁎ ⁎⁺˳✧༚ ⁎⁺˳✧༚
part 1 (eddie) part 3 (eddie) part 4 (steve) part 5 (eddie) part 6 (steve) part 7 (eddie)
@mackdaddyofheimlichcountyy @gregre369
u asked for it :)
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Parenthood-Maki, Mai, Nobara, and Miwa X Male Himbo Reader Pt.2
@exolocke : Hey I saw ur Jujutsu Kaisen women with Himbo reader, and I was curious if that could get a part two for when the relationship is more developed and more life long topics are brought up in it, stuff like the topic of kids, or other things that come up in a long term relationship, I didn’t see ur stance on NSFW topics so I totally understand if that’s not something included if it’s out of ur comfort zone.
Anyway thanks for taking time to read this and have a nice day 😊
(thank you for the request! I’m perfectly fine with NSFW though I will admit I’m not all that good at it. Originally this was going to be mostly NSFW but then the writing goblin in my head kind of just… took the request idea and ran with it in a different direction.)
But enough of that, YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND!
Warnings: Light Angst, Suggestive Content, Mentions Of Violence
Words: 1,693
Maki
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You and Maki have been together for years.
There were of course highs and lows as with any relationship.
But the both of you moved past them with a bit of hard headed determination and a lot of the two of you being the two of you.
And this of course led to the inevitable that everyone could see from a mile away except you two.
Marriage, the merging of the last of the Zenin clan and your own family.
It was something that neither of you ever expected to happen while everyone else had money on how long it would take before one of you popped the question.
Of course Gojo won that bet, even from beyond the grave, but he’s not important right now.
So now the two of you are married.
And the both of you were being very, very, very stiff around one another.
It was worse than when the both of you started dating.
All because the both of you had a question they wanted to ask the other.
A question that sat between the both of you like a loaded gun.
A question that you were the first to ask.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Maki…” You began to say before trailing off while the both of you lazed about on a slaw day while the rain was beating against the building.
“Yeah?” Maki tentatively asked, already knowing the question about to be asked and still not knowing how she would answer it.
“What’s your thoughts on having kids?”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Maki’s world screeched to a halt as she turned the question over and over in her head.
“What did she think about having kids?”
It was never something she thought about.
Never something she ever considered to be possible.
And yet now that she had been asked the question she had to decide if she wanted to have one.
It was something she could answer easily.
Yes, she’d love to have kids with you, and raise them with you.
But there was more to it than that.
There was…
No, they weren’t here anymore, she was free of that place.
And if there was one thing she’s learned from you it's this.
Don’t just think, feel too.
So Maki did exactly that and answered your question in the only way she knew how.
With her whole being.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Inumaki was concerned about Maki.
Sure she could probably slap a curse and kill it but still… She was a friend.
A friend who hasn’t come to training in quite a while.
Which for anyone else would be perfectly fine.
But Maki wasn’t other people, she was Maki.
Training was what she did for fun.
And Inumaki wanted to know why she wasn’t coming to training and why she was always sleeping or eating weird foods.
Well, weirder foods than usual that is.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Inumaki slipped behind the corner as you and Maki talked.
“-you okay?” You asked the muscular woman.
“Yeah, just tired, and nauseous, why the fuck does growing a kid make you feel like you’ve just gotten off a damn roller coaster?” Maki asked with a groan while leaning on the wall.
Meanwhile, Inumaki was having his world flipped on its head at the sudden information he had been given.
Maki Zenin, the strongest woman he knows bar none, is pregnant with your kid.
And he just figured this out because he stuck his nose where it shouldn’t have been.
He needs to run, and fast.
Really, really, REALLY fucking fast.
So that's exactly what he did as soon as the two of you weren’t paying attention. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Inumaki’s current train of thought could be most accurately described as “Oh god, Oh fuck, Oh god, Oh fuck.”
And it was for good reason considering what he just learned.
He prayed to god Maki wouldn’t kill him if he accidentally let it slip.
Oh who was he kidding, she absolutely would.
Inumaki burst into the faculty room where his friends minus Maki sat.
“Whoa! What's wrong with you, Toge!?” the large ball of fluff known as Panda asked.
And without thinking, the white haired man exclaimed “SALMON ROE!”
He then slapped both his prosthetic and his real hand over his mouth as dread overtook him.
Meanwhile everyone in the room looked like Inumaki had just pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it.
Mai
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Mai Zenin sat on the couch, devouring her fifth bag of chips from a bowl that was placed on her swollen belly.
“You're a hungry little shit ain’t ya?” Mai affectionately asked the small human growing inside of her.
Mai was not expecting a response when she asked this but she got one in the form of the baby kicking.
For the very first time.
“…Oh.” Was all Mai was able to say as a flood of emotions overwhelmed her.
Mai was someone who never let out what she was feeling.
It was something she learned from when she was young.
A tool for survival.
But now she had no need to use it.
Her life was filled with friends, with family, true family.
She had a life filled with love, with everything she could want plus more.
She even had you, one of the most powerful living sorcerers as the one who loved her.
And now, even more was about to be added to this dreamlike life of hers.
A child, one she wouldn’t let go of even if she was dead.
A human that would receive as much love as Mai could offer.
A human that would receive as much love as you could offer as well.
A human that wouldn’t have to fear what she did, not only because the Zenin were gone, but because Mai would simply never allow that to happen.
That is the promise she made to the child growing inside of her in that exact moment.
That is the promise she made to her child, the one that she would raise and support, no matter what.
Nobara
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Nobara held her daughter in her arms, looking into her sleeping face with her one good eye.
It was a surreal experience.
“Ya know you were a lotta trouble to bring out here right? How the heck are you so dang peaceful now?” Nobara whispered the question before turning her face to look at you a few feet away from her, sleeping in a chair, your arms crossed, but more than ready to turn any cursed spirit that tried to show its ugly mug into ground beef.
“Prolly cause of your dad, he always had a good poker face, though it was probably a good thing Yuji got to that Mahito guy before he did, If what I’ve heard bout’ that warpath he was on after I got taken out of commission and his domain expansion is to be believed he would’ve turned the entire area into one of those crazy things that M.C. Esher guy made.” Nobara muttered to herself before looking back at her child.
Her Child.
Nobara turned the phrase over and over in her head.
Didn’t quite make sense to her yet.
This small, tiny little thing in her arms came from you and her.
This little girl was the very manifestation of the love you and Nobara shared.
A physical manifestation of everything you and Nobara went through to reach this point.
It was something she needed to wrap her head around, though her heart was more than already there.
She could already tell that this little girl was going to be the greatest part of her life with you.
And she couldn’t wait to get that life truly started.
Miwa
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You, Miwa, and a small, little boy dressed for school walked side by side on the street.
“I’m gonna make so many friends!” the small boy exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air, copying his fathers excitable nature.
“Oh I know you will, ain’t that right Kasumi?” You asked your wife and the love of your life.
Miwa turned her eyes down to her son and then raised her eyes to yours.
Eyes that were filled with sadness.
“Of course, our little boy will be the most popular boy in school.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
You and Miwa waved goodbye as the two of you walked away from the school.
“Heh, pretty sure that teacher thought we were Yakuza.” You said with a chuckle.
“If you started to wear your clothes right she might not get that impression.” Miwa said with a slightly teasing tone that held a sadness within.
“Sigh What’s up with you Kasumi? You’ve been acting weird since this morning.” You asked your wife in concern.
“It’s no-” Miwa began before being cut off by you saying “Don’t say “It’s nothing of concern” Kasumi, I can tell when something is wrong with you.”
Miwa was silent for a moment before trying to say something, but stumbling all over her words “It’s… I… schools and… and curses…”
“Don’t worry Kasumi, curses aren’t going to go after him, not with the both of us around.” You told your wife in an attempt to soothe her.
“B-but what if-” Miwa began before you wrapped your arm around her, pulling her close to you and saying.
“We can’t worry about what if’s, we won’t be able to protect him from everything, it's impossible to do that, but we can do everything we can while we are here for him to lean on. As long as we love him and as long as we do our utmost to protect him from everything we can while steering him right, that’s the best we can do. I know you want to keep him away from the things that took our friends but we can’t, all we can do is what we can do. I’m just as afraid as you are but being afraid won’t do anything, doing what we can will.”
“I-i know, you're right as usual, but can we just go over that place, one more time tonight?” Miwa asked, wanting to do everything she can to protect the little boy you and her made together.
“Of course, I was just about to suggest the same.”
184 notes · View notes
written-in-flowers · 9 days
Text
The Drifter: The Sea King's Curse (1.02a)
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Pairing: siren!hyunjin x fem!reader
Word Count: 59k
Genre: fantasy, smut, fluff, adventure
Summary: When the corpses of mutilated mermaids wash up on shore, the lawmen of Levanter Bay seek YN's help to find the cause. They end up discovering this goes much farther than expected.
Tags: Graphic violence (just fist fighting and monster slaying), kidnapping, animal death (hunting out of necessity), graphic descriptions of corpses, death, autopsies, thalassophobia, fear of deep water, megalophobia (fear of large objects), sea monsters, mind control, mind manipulation, mental illness, dark magic, mentions of war, slight ptsd. vaginal fingering, p in v sex, monster fucking, bigdick!hyunjin. underwater sex, public sex, outdoor sex, monster dick
Part 1 < | > Part 3
Drifter Masterlist
***
The whale stopped right outside where you’d met Hyunjin that morning, and you lamented leaving him. You knew you’d see him again, but leaving him this moment left you empty inside. People told you sirens give that effect, so you tried not thinking too much as you swam away from him. You forced yourself to focus on whether Minho and Han had any luck with their part of the investigation. 
“More than enough luck!”
Han called as you and Chan arrived back at the station. He sat at his desk, leaning back with his feet on the top and a satisfied grin on his face. You gaped at his broken lip, and the black and yellow bruise on his temple. On his left hand, you saw a bandage wrapped around his palm, bloody in the middle. 
“Jisung!” Chan gasped, moving over to check his bruises. “What the hell happened?”
“Got into a bar fight,” he shrugged, playing it cool. “It’s no big deal.”
Chan gingerly lifted his bandaged hand, “What happened to your hand?” 
“Park Jinyoung, that’s what,” he grimaced when Chan turned his hand palm upwards. “He put a knife to me, and I had to get him off somehow.”
“With your hand?”
“It worked! I put a bullet in his leg, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. He still got away.” 
That was when you saw them. A young man and woman sat in one of the holding cells, the enchanted purple bars keeping the woman from teleporting out. The young man had the wide, long ears and black eyes of a goblin, while the woman appeared human. The goblin noticed you first, his reaction not much different from other criminals who see you. He backed up into the wall attached to the bench, pushing back as if he might melt into the stone. His sudden jolt startled his companion, and she turned to see you as well. She didn’t back away, but her eyes did widen. 
“Jennie and Eric, right?” you asked, walking past Han and Chan to the cell. Eric crouched into the corner, but Jennie kept her gaze on yours. “The mage and the accomplice.”
“So the squirrel wasn’t lying when he said they knew a demon bounty hunter,” Jennie drawled, seeing your exposed markings. “Plan on roasting us, demon?”
“Not right away,” you leaned against the side of the door, arms crossed. “I’m going to take a stab and guess the deputies already questioned you?”
“They tried,” she sniffed. 
“We don’t know anything about Alcina!” Eric squeaked, eyes squeezed shut. “I swear, we don’t know anything about her! Not at all!”
“Eric!” Jennie hissed, kicking at him. 
“Alcina, huh?” you let the name rest out in the air, “Where did you meet her?”
“I’m not talking, demon,” Jennie spat, arms crossed. “Save your breath. You’re going to need it when Jinyoung comes for me.”
“What makes you think he’s coming?”
“We’re his crewmates,” she shot at you. “He needs us. We need him.”
“Does he?” you raised an eyebrow, “He can pick up any pair of misfits off Cortuga and sail off without a second thought about either of you.”
“He’d never do that!” she said angrily, frustration bubbling inside her. “He…He isn’t that kind of captain…” she looked away from you, biting her trembling lower lip. 
“Alright, sure. I honestly can’t wait for him to get here,” you then bent and whispered to her, “Then I can cook him alive myself.”
“Demon filth…” she grumbled through her teeth. “You’ll see soon enough. You’ll all see!”
“And I’m terrified,” you seethed. 
You turned to see Minho back at his desk. He did not leave the fight unscathed. You caught the busted blood vessel in his right eye. It was most likely caused by whatever object left a cut underneath the eyelid and purple and black around his eye. Another cut on his left cheek told you his attacker got in close before he blasted them away. He placed a large book on his desk, and opened it. 
“Alcina?” you walked over to him, grabbing a chair to sit on the other side. “Does that name ring a bell for you?”
“No, but I’m assuming it’s the person they’re working for,” Minho said, “Unless you two find something to contradict her?”
You told Minho everything you learned while Chan rewrapped Han’s injured hand. He froze up when you detailed Tytos’s condition, and mentioned The Creator. 
“That’s not Brain Fog,” Minho said when you finished. “Brain Fog might make you forgetful and dazed, but it doesn’t debilitate you at the same time. You say he looked thin and frail. In what way?”
You thought about it, “In a deathly way. It was as if the curse was slowly killing him at the same time. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in days, his hair was brittle and thinning and his dry lips were cracked. Yet, when I mentioned his eldest son died, he seemed to break out of his delusion for a second before Mizu put him back under somehow.”
“How? Did you see what he did?”
“He touched the middle of his forehead,” you showed him the thumb motion Mizu had done, “And left behind some kind of black powder. Does that sound like any spell or curse you know? None of the ones I remember require that sort of touch.”
“There are a few,” he rolled his chair to the bookshelf a few feet from his desk and scanned the shelves, “Brain Fog doesn’t require any sort of physical touch. You said you’d seen this in the war?”
“Yes,” you watched him pick out one of the black leather books and came to the desk, “The mage who removed it used a stone. Yejin thinks it might’ve been a black tourmaline.”
“Yes!” he cheered reading the cover of the book, “Demonic Curses of the Dark Age! I knew I had it somewhere. I bought it at a sale in Newport. The warlock selling it says it was written by a real demon who was put to death for writing down their secrets!” He brought the book back to the desk, and opened it. “There’s a chapter in here somewhere,” he scanned the first page, “About manipulation curses. It has everything from elemental manipulation to molecular manipulation to zoological manipulation! I devoured this book in days! There’s so much!”
“Okay, Minho, that’s great,” you said, amused by his eagerness, “But does it have anything about mind manipulation?”
“It might…” he then asked, “You said the mage used a stone?”
“He did,” you nodded, “He said some sort of incantation while he did it, and the curse was gone.”
“Hmm…” he flipped another page, “Black tourmaline is a good stone for battling negative energy and psychic attacks. It’s regularly used for sapping out a curse.”
“What do you do after you have it in there?” asked Han, who winced when Chan closed the bandage. 
“You usually melt or break the crystal,” Minho said. “A lot of fairies study alchemy so they can dispose of dark matter easier.”
“And I’m going to guess you’re one of those fairies?” he grinned humorously. 
“I am,” he nodded. “We only need to find the right incantation.”
You shut your eyes as the day slowly broke down on you. “As fun as reading books late at night can be,” you yawned, slumping against the chair, “I think my brain is ready to shut off.”
“Not surprised,” he said, “Swimming around Hydrus will do that to you. You two get some rest. We won’t be finding our answer tonight.” 
“You sure you want to walk to The Pearl like that?” asked Han when he saw you stand from your chair. 
“Yes, why?” You then realized why Minho tried so hard not to look at you and why Han could not stop looking at you. 
You’d gone into Hydrus in just your bra and pants. 
“Oh, so Chan can walk around shirtless and nobody cares, but if I walk around with a bra on, it’s suddenly a problem?”
“Nobody said Chan can walk around shirtless,” Minho said, still focused on his book, “He just does it and we accept it.”
“You’ll get no complaints from me,” Han said breathlessly. 
“Jisung,” Minho snapped, something similar to jealousy in his voice. 
“Oh Minnie, you know I only have eyes for you,” he batted his lashes and blew a kiss. 
“Ugh,” you groaned and made for the door, “It’s not a big deal. Wearing my shirt and jacket would have weighed me down. It’s not much different from swimming suits.”
Han stifled a laugh, “Which can be just as deadly on a woman like you.” 
“Oh hush.” 
“Men are the worst,” Jennie said from her cell. 
“They are!”
You left the station without another word, walking out into town. Yes, you did get a lot of stares as you walked up to the White Pearl. Though, something told you it was your markings and not the lack of a shirt that caught stares. Honestly, you felt too tired to really care. Muscles aching from the constant swimming around in the ocean, you thought only about peeling off your damp clothes and crashing onto your bed. Moving through the crowded inn, you saw Felix singing up on stage. The pretty blond winked at you when you met his eyes, and you’ll admit you found him charming. 
Not as charming as the bed waiting upstairs. 
****
“I believe they are unto us, Creator. The mainlander lover and the old fool were alone with him.”
“Have they undone our work?”
“Of course not, but…one of my guards said his shark sensed somebody else in the room with us. I believe it was her half-breed son hiding in plain sight.”
“Then you must get rid of him. Our spell is almost complete. In a few days, King Tytos will die and the Seven Seas will be ours.”
“Of course, Creator. I will have my best men on it. We will kill that mainlander and whoever else stands in our way.”
The Creator remained silent in her orb, and Mizu sensed she was searching in “the beyond”. He noticed her gasp, and hesitated. “No…this cannot be. It must not be true.”
“Creator?”
“I see eternal fire within the waves,” she said. “I see…Oh, I can feel her powers now.”
“Whose powers, Creator?”
“The Vanquisher…The demon who slayed The Dark Lord…She is here…” her voice suddenly sharpened, “You must stop her! She cannot succeed!”
“The Vanquisher?”
“The Vanquisher!” she hissed. “The fire demon named Multak, who slew our master in Incheon and sent him into The Abyss! Our mortal enemy! She will foil our plans if we do not stop her!”
“What would you have me do?”
“Distract her. Keep her busy with your pirate friends while I work my magic. It appears we will have to speed up the process.”
“As you command, Creator.” 
****
“How was your adventure under the sea?” 
Changbin passed your breakfast plate to you on the bartop, and refilled your milk cup. You licked your lips at the steaming eggs, bacon, grits and biscuit on your plate. 
“Great,” you answered, digging into the eggs right away. You hadn’t noticed your hunger until you’d woken up this morning with your stomach growling. The fluffy eggs melted in your mouth and you thought you’d melt with them, “Met a pretty siren, saw some fish, and got to ride a whale. Very eventful.”
“A siren, huh?” he asked with an impressed grin. “Did you get lucky?”
“Unfortunately not,” you frowned, thinking of handsome Hyunjin’s pretty mouth. “I was there on business, so there wasn’t much room for pleasure.”
“Shame,” he said. “When you came in here without a shirt, I was hoping to hear a wilder story than that.”
“Well, I did get to sneak into a palace, so it wasn’t totally uneventful.” 
Changbin chortled, and you started telling him about your journey when a high cry broke through the morning crowd outside. You chased your food with the milk as you peered into the windows. People rushed down the dirt road, fear in their eyes and adrenaline pushing them forward. They ran into nearby buildings, calling to those inside, and shutting doors and windows tightly. Dread filled your bones, and you suddenly didn’t feel hungry. Changbin, however, knew exactly what was happening. 
“Wooyoung!” he called into the kitchen, “Pirates!” He then reached under from the bar and retrieved a double sided axe. From the notches on the wooden handle, it’d been used plenty of times. “YN, either get your steel or go upstairs.”
“Pirates?” 
You slowly stood from your stool, and went to the window. A group of children ran into the inn, going right behind the bar. You heard Changbin direct them into the kitchen, while he whistled for Honey. Their calls came from far away, but their taunts and laughter stuck in your ears. He sent them. Whether to scare you or kill you, Mizu sent these pirates to you. While a twinge of fear did hit you, Zunar’s words whispered in your ear. 
“That’s the only time we can be brave, little flame.”
You went to grab your sword. 
When you returned, Changbin and Wooyoung already ran outside. While most of the citizens of Levanter Bay hid, a select few met the invaders: Fred Pebbles with a large club and his men shooting from behind wagons and crates; Han and Minho standing atop a nearby building, taking shots with bullets and magic arrows; Changbin with his ax and bear companion: Wooyoung with twin daggers and swift kicks, and even Mayor Wallace with a heavy hammer. The smell of blood and battle hit your senses, fueling you for the fight as you went up to the porch railing. 
One of Pebbles’s farmhands stood fighting a particularly nasty looking pirate goblin, so you jumped behind the goblin with a swift kick. Once on the ground, the farmhand slammed her hammer into their skull. Your eyes scanned the invading pirates, daring one of them to come at you. One of them finally did. A bearded man with gunpowder smeared over his eyes came at you with a hatchet raised in the air, and you moved to block it easily. Your hand burning bright, you shot a fireball right into his abdomen. He cried in pain, and you kicked him away to fend off another pirate who ran up to your side. A slash up their middle had them crashing to the floor, while you shot another fireball at the bearded pirate. 
Effectively being burned alive sent the bearded back stumbling and running into a group of pirates, who moved out of his way. A woman’s cry caught you through the commotion, and you saw two men break into a boutique and start ransacking the place. You narrowed your eyes and rushed at them from behind. Levitating one into the ceiling and then slamming him to the floor, you swing your sword at his companion right as he reached for a small girl. He turned around, pain shooting up his back, to swipe a knife at you, which you returned with another fireball to his face. Your demon fire seared his skin, making him scream with pain. 
“Get somewhere safe,” you told the women inside, “And barricade the door.” When they froze with fear, you said more firmly, “Go! Now!” 
You stuck the screaming pirate with your blade, then kicked him off. When you stepped out the door, you waved your hand over the doorway where black clouds of smoke started embedding into the wood. The protection spell would keep any other pirates from breaking in. You’d stopped a pirate from attacking an elderly woman inside her stall when you saw him. 
Chan’s merfolk genes appeared to make him faster and tougher than a normal human. You watched him throw punches, dodge kicks and hands with precision and speed. You saw the weapon in his hand: a long dagger with a bone handle. Fearless, daring, and strong, you couldn’t help admiring him as you easily cut down a reptilian pirate. It’d been when he cut through another pirate that a voice rang out through the fray. 
“Where’s the demon called Multak?!”
A tall, tanned man with a small face and a square jaw came through the crowd. People around you gasped when they realized he held Mayor Wallace at gunpoint. You could tell the mayor put on a brave face even with a gun barrel in his stomach. A woman with copper skin and braided coarse hair ran out of a nearby shop, tears in her dark eyes. 
“Gerald!” Mrs. Wallace, the school teacher, cried out. She tried going to him, but Fred kept her at a distance. 
“I’m alright, Barbara,” he called out, not daring to look at her. 
“Let him go, Park,” Chan said, the fight having stopped with the captain walking onto the scene. “He’s not a part of this.”
“He is,” the captain cackled, “He is until you hand me back my first mate and bring me the demon.”
“I can’t do that, Park,” Chan replied, “She’s headed for the capital. It’d be awkward if they came for her and she wasn’t here, you know?” 
“Stop playing games, and give me Jennie, you half-breed.” 
“Call me that again, pirate,” Chan let the last word hiss like a curse, “And you’ll get your first mate alright.” 
You knew exactly how this would go if you didn’t step up. “You want me, pirate?” you stepped out from the crowd, putting yourself between Chan and Jinyoung. Removing your jacket, your markings began faintly glowing their red-orange colors. “Here I am.” 
“You’re the demon?” he huffed. “I thought you’d be taller and more…manly.”
“I thought you’d be manlier too,” you shot back. “Mizu sent you for me, and here I am. Let the mayor go.”
“Bring me Jennie,” he demanded, “Then I’ll think about giving your wimpy mayor back.”
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be, Park,” you said. “I’m already going to have a big day ahead of me, and I’d like to go back inside this inn and finish my breakfast at least. Wooyoung puts cream in the eggs? It makes them melt in your mouth.”
“Then you’ll have no problem handing over my Jennie.”
His Jennie? “I’m sorry, that’s not possible. You see, your first mate and her little goblin friend have information we need and, well, she just hasn’t given us what we want. We can give her back to you in between 365 to 730 business days.”
“I’m done fucking around, demon!” he shouted angrily. “Give me my Jennie!”
“Your Jennie, huh? Alright, I’ll go get her right now.” 
You turned around, eyes following you as you marched into the station behind you. He wanted to play this game? Then you’d play it too. Walking over to the enchanted holding cell, Jennie stood confidently and smiling smugly. 
“I told you he’d come for me, didn’t I?” she taunted, not scared by the anger flaring in your eyes. “He’s come for me and he’s going to burn your-Hey! Let go of me!”
Grabbing a fistful of her hair, you dragged the mage out of the cell, across the station, and outside. “You want her, huh?” you asked Jinyoung, keeping a firm grip on Jennie. “Here she is! Come and get her.”
“No, bring her here!”
You sneered, “Alright.”
“YN, what are you doing?” Chan whispered at you, but you ignored him. 
Jennie’s feet stumbled as you guided her over to her lover. You spotted the satisfaction in Jinyoung’s eyes, and it enraged you further. You threw Jennie onto the ground beside him, then spoke. 
“There she is,” you said, a growl in the back of your throat. “Let the mayor go.”
Jinyoung gave you a wicked grin. You had mere seconds. Reaching out to the gun on Mayor Wallace’s side, the heat from your hand immediately shocked Jinyoung’s body. A handprint similar to a branding covered his gun hand, which opened and dropped the gun to the floor. The mayor rushed to his wife nearby, but you kept your eyes on the pirate.
“Damnit!” he seethed, holding his shaking hand. The mark you left started steaming, burning the skin there further. “Damnit, damnit, dammit! You damn dirty demon!”
“Stop your howling,” you said. You grabbed him by a tuft of hair and growled, “I could’ve sent you to demons who’d do way worse than that.” You then asked, “Who is Alcina?”
“Who-o?”
“Alcina, the witch who cursed the king. Who is she?”
“Who?”
“‘Who, who, who’, are you a fucking owl?” You placed your hand on his shoulder, burning him once more. “Who is she? Tell me who she is or I’ll roast you alive!”
“I won’t tell you shit, demon!”
You touched him one more time, and you saw tears in his eyes. Jennie, who’d boasted about his love for her, did not move to protect or save her “lover”. 
‘They know nothing of loyalty. They turn on each other the moment the world starts crumbling.’ 
Nor’goth may have a point there. 
A gentle hand touched your arm, and Chan’s voice drowned out Nor’goth’s. “YN, don’t do this here. Everyone is watching.”
You suddenly became aware of everyone still in the square. He was right. Not here where children and soft-hearted folks could see. A flush of embarrassment and worry came over you when your fires faded. 
“Let’s take them into the station, and question them there,” he said, slowly soothing the fires blazing inside your chest. “Not torture them. Question them.” 
His soft hand touched the one holding Jinyoung up, and you released him. Han and Minho quickly collected both Jennie and Jinyoung. You turned to see the townspeople looking at you, fearful and shocked. They saw your glowing marks, your fiery hands, and saw the demon. A monster. At the end of the day, you are the monster they fear. 
“Come on,” Chan said gently. 
You swiped your jacket from the dirt and threw it over your shoulders. They’ll want you to leave after this. Nobody wants a demon in their town. It’s why you never stay. A lump formed in your throat, and you kept your head down as you followed Han and Minho into the station. You didn’t stop Han and Minho from putting Jinyoung and Jennie in another enchanted cell. Minho went to grab ointments from his desk while Han locked them up. You didn’t bother with the other two. They won’t tell you anything, but the goblin will. 
“Nam!” 
“Woah, woah, woah! Wait, wait-” Eric Nam ducked into the corner of the cell. 
You lifted him by his shirt collar. His fear dripped out of every pore becoming a fuel for the fire in you. “Who is Alcina and where is she?”
“YN!” Chan called behind you. You ignored him. 
“Who is she?!”
“She’s a witch we met in Cortuga!” he cried out, eyes shut tightly. “She said she’d make us rich if we helped her! She said all we had to do was kill a few mermaids and Jennie had to rile up some of the sea predators, and we’d be rich! I swear, that’s all I know! That’s all I know, please don’t burn me alive! Please!”
“I ain’t making promises,” you growled “Where is she?”
“I don’t know!” his voice cracked when you pushed him into a wall, “I swear, I don’t know! I don’t! We only met her once! That merman is who we communicated with!”
“Eric, you absolute coward!” Jennie called, brave now that she’s safe in another cell. 
“Merman? You mean Mizu?” Chan asked from the cell door. 
“Yes! Him!”
“Did he ever say where he meets Alcina?” he came up beside you. “Let him go, YN,” he said, hand on your wrist. 
You hated how easily you let go of Eric. On the ground, Eric took a few shaky breaths before he spoke, “He never told us, but I followed him one time. He gave us the ability to breathe underwater, and after one of our meetings, Jinyoung asked me to tail him. Jinyoung never works with anyone without knowing things about them. We thought he might be going to meet someone to do a double cross, but then I…I saw her.”
“Alcina?”
“In a cave outside of Hydrus,” he said, “In a leviathan’s lair. I can conceal myself, so none of them noticed me.”
“What did you hear?”
“Them talking about cursing the king.”
“With what?”
“They said something about mind consumption? I don’t know what that means.”
You turned to Minho, who sat nearby listening as he treated a hand-cuffed Jinyoung. He nodded, “Yes, I’ve heard of it. It’s a mental curse that slowly consumes the mind until the afflicted body deteriorates. It explains why Tytos’s body is slowly shutting down. The brain is having trouble sending signals to the rest of him.”
“Would a stone treat that?”
“It would,” he said, wrapping the pirate’s burnt hand. “I know someone who could help us.”
“Who?” 
“Our resident doctor and garden fairy, Yang Jeongin,” he said with a satisfied grin. “If anyone knows about healing crystals, it will be him.”
“You and YN can go talk to him,” Chan directed, “Han and I will watch over these three while we wait on the marshal.”
You hesitated to join Minho. Outside the windows, you saw the remaining pirates turning tail and running out of town by the docks. People coming out of the buildings convened together in the middle of the square, where they embraced loved ones. You then saw them start whispering. It might be about the pirates or about the demon who tortured one in front of them. Regardless, Minho guided you to the door. 
“You won't get the reaction you're expecting,” he assured you.
You realized that once you stepped back outside. At first, people looked apprehensive until you heard a steady clap from nearby. This clap then started a wave, and you saw bright, proud faces. 
“Thank you,” the boutique shopkeeper smiled, “Thank you for saving us! Those pirates were going to kidnap my little girl, but you showed them.”
“That goblin would've had my head if you didn't have my back!” Fred's farm hand clapped your shoulder, a toothy grin on her face, “Thank you!”
“Can you really set people on fire?!” Eunwoo, the moon elf boy from the inn, asked excitedly.
“Those pirates will think twice before messing with us again!” His friend said, swishing his stick like a sword.
“Boys, that's enough.” Barbara Wallace came up next, clutching her pearl necklace. She hesitated a moment, then said, “Thank you, YN, for saving my husband. Knowing him, he would've gotten himself killed if you didn’t step in.”
“How is he?”
“Just got a nasty bump from the fight. He's had worse injuries,” she sighed. “But, Eunwoo is right. Word will spread with time that Levanter Bay isn't as defenseless as it seems. It truly was a blessed day when you came into our town.”
“The sheriff, Han and myself were there too,” Minho pointed out, hands on hips. 
“And you handled it gallantly as always,” she patted his shoulder as she walked past him to the children nearby.
Their collective reaction silenced you. “They aren't…scared?” you looked at Minho as you continued through the square. 
“Did you want them to be?” asked Minho, amused. 
“No, but that's usually the reaction I get whenever people see, you know, me.”
“The people around here aren't like that,”  Minho said. “It’s not as if you tortured an innocent person. He was a scumbag pirate who tried to tear down the town. You did us a favor by arresting him.”
“Most people tend to think that I take it too far…the intimidation part, I mean.”
“The people who think that are idiots,” Minho scoffed. “You’re a demon, YN. Demons swear oaths to protect innocent souls and punish wicked ones, don’t they?”
“We do.”
“And that’s what you were doing: protecting innocent people and punishing the wicked ones.” He then said, “Look, if it makes you feel better, I would’ve made him think he was covered in snakes or spiders or something awful to get him to talk.”
“Psh, mind games,” you snorted, “They’re worse than physical ones, if you ask me.”
“Chan isn’t a fan of them, but it gets the job done and that’s what matters to me.” He said, “The people here aren’t like the people in the cities. They’re wholesome and quaint. They’re…accepting and open. It has to be for so many different people to coexist in the same town.” 
He wasn’t wrong. Levanter Bay, despite not having any real sun, definitely carried one of its own in the townspeople. More people thanked you and Minho as you walked down to the doctor’s office right beside the postman’s station. Above the door, someone wrote in black cursive letters: ‘Dr. Yang Jeongin, M.D.’ with a pair of fairy wings with a staff in between underneath. However, you didn’t stop at his office. Jeongin happened to already be outside, tending to a young man with a ghastly cut up his arm. 
You briefly remembered Jeongin from your last case, the handsome garden fairy who wore a gray and white hanbok, the traditional attire of his people. His long, bright green wings looked so thin they could be glass. As you drew closer, you saw the white blossoms woven into his black hair like a crown. He’d been in the process of finishing a stitch when you and Minho approached. 
“Hello, Minho,” Jeongin said without looking at him. “I’ll be with you in just a moment.”
Minho drew closer, crouching to survey the stitches on the man’s bloody arm. “Your stitching has gotten better.”
“My stitches were always fine. It was yours,” he cut the thread and tied it down, “That were crooked and too tight. Pass the gauze, please.” Minho handed him a roll of white gauze, and Jeongin began wrapping it. “What is this about, Deputy? I have a lot of people who need me.”
“We have someone who may need you more.”
“Who?” 
“King Tytos.”
Jeongin stopped wrapping when he heard the name. He looked over his shoulder at Minho, “The Sea King? What’s happened to him?”
“He has mind consumption, Jeongin,” Minho said seriously. “It’s slowly killing him . The mermaid corpses on the beach, the predator attacks along the coast, and the pirates today? They all have to do with Tytos being ill. My friend and I discovered that a way we can combat it is by-”
“-Sapping it out of him,” Jeongin finished, taping off the gauze swiftly. “Mr. Song,” he went into his medical kit beside him, “Take two of these tonight, and swing by in the morning.” 
He gave the injured man a packet, then stood up with his bag. “You need black tourmaline,” Jeongin said, turning back to his office, “Which is not easy to find in these parts.”
“Please tell us you happen to have one?” you asked hopefully. 
“It just so happens I do. Come with me.” 
He led you and Minho into his office across the road. Two young garden fairies stood inside, gathering supplies from shelves and putting them into baskets. “Kira, Koya,” Jeongin called to them, “See to the wounded outside. I have some business with Deputy Lee.” 
“Yes, sir,” the twin fairies said together, bowing before leaving the room by their wings. 
Jeongin put down his kit and walked to a workbench behind a curtain. “I’m sure you know by now that black tourmaline is used to defend against negative energy, correct?”
“Yes, we do.”
“And Minho should know that certain crystals,” you heard bottles clinking behind the curtain, “Can be used in rituals to remove said negative energies.”
“Obviously,” Minho said defensively. “I only need the incantation used to remove the consumption.”
You heard Jeongin rifle through his stores before coming back from behind the curtain. He held out a black pouch to Minho, “I really should go with you to assess his condition. We don't know how deep and how long the consumption has festered.”
“I estimate about a few weeks now?” You threw out there, “The corpses showed up two days ago, but a friend of ours says his illness has carried on long before that. He shows signs of severe dehydration, malnutrition, delusion, and memory loss.”
Jeongin listened intently, nodding and thinking to himself. “What color was his skin? His eyes?”
“Pale and paler.”
“Hair?”
“He had lots of patches and sores forming where his head rests. He doesn’t have much of it left either.”
“He shows all signs of severe consumption,” Minho told him. “I need the incantation, Jeongin.”
Jeongin walked over to a bookshelf, scanning the spines until he pulled one out. It appeared much older than some on the shelf, with flesh colored leather wrapped around it. Minho gasped upon seeing the strange book.
“What is a garden fairy doing with a dark remedy book?” Minho asked, touching the stitches keeping the cover together. 
“It was a gift, if you must know,” he said airily. “I am a doctor, Minho, and doctors need to learn all kinds of arts if they're to treat anyone. Dark magic, as much as it pains me to say, has plenty of full proof remedies.” He smirked at Minho, “What? You don't have one?”
Minho glared, “I do happen to have one. All shadow fae have one. I'm only surprised a bubbly, goody-two-shoes like you would have one as well.”
“I'm not always good. You know that.”
He turned a few pages in the book until he came across a section for curses of the mind. 
“Ah, here it is,” he said, putting glasses on the bridge of his nose. “‘Combined with a crystal of light energy or protection, hold it up to the area of first contact and repeat the mantra: ‘Replenish thy mind and embrace the light’ .”
“That's it?” Minho asked, unimpressed. “Just that?”
“Sometimes the treatment is simpler than you think.” He closed the book, “Find the infection site and hold it to him while you say the words. If the king is not as far gone as you believe, then he should be fine.”
“What if he is far gone?” You asked. 
Jeongin thought for a moment, then said, “Help him remember things. Anything he may have an emotional attachment to, like a happy moment or a particular event in his life.”
You thought about the king’s reaction to you when you’d spoken as his daughter. Speaking about his dead son, hearing another acknowledge his death, broke the spell for a few seconds. 
“Thank you, Jeongin,” Minho said, peeking into the pouch to see the black stones inside, “I'll bring these back so they can be disposed of properly. We don't want anyone using them.”
“I hope it works,” Jeongin said, replacing medical supplies in his bag, “Tytos is a good man, and his people will need him. I pray the Light is kind to him.”
You waited until you left the office to tell Minho, “We need to go now. If we keep putting it off, Tytos will slip too far for us to heal him.”
“Agreed. I'll tell Chan we're going ahead of him,” he dug into the dust pocket on his belt. “You've had a siren’s kiss, right?”
“I have,” you said, remembering Hyunjin’s soft lips. 
“Good to know.” He tossed some dust into the air, and spoke into the floating particles. “Chan, we have the cure. We're going to Hydrus right away.” He blew into the dust, and it zoomed away through the crowds. “There's no time to waste. Come on.”
***
A/N: sorry this part is so long! Haha, this episode is pretty long compared to the first one. I still hope you liked it, and thanks for reading <3 please reblog and like <3
Part 3 >
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thebigbiwolf · 8 months
Text
Starvin', Darlin' - Chapter 1
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Pairing: Not quite friends to lovers Astarion x OC/F!Tav
Chapter Summary: Astarion knows his power is waning, and seducing their leader Evelyn has gone poorly at best. If he is to keep himself in the tiefling's good graces, he's left with no other options. He must drink from a thinking creature.
Everything goes according to plan... until it doesn't.
Fic Tags: Minor spoilers for Act 1, The Bite Scene, Emotional slow burn, Angst, Teasing, Frottage (god I'm sorry), Pining, This is my first ever fic so idk how to tag things appropriately but you get the gist.
Fic Warnings: Eventual Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI), Language, Canon-Typical Violence, Dubcon (I cannot stress this enough), Bloodlust/Loss of control, Mentions of blood, lmk if you need anything else tagged.
Word Count: 6.1k
Read on Ao3: Here
A/N: I started this as a way to get this fruity fuck out of my head but I think I just made the situation worse. If you know me, no you don't. If you've followed me for a long time, sorry in advance. I may make this a mini-series depending on time and reception, but we'll see! OC is a rogue who seduces men to gain their favor but we'll get to that in later chapters.
Astarion's trance did not come easily that night; his hunger manifesting as a throbbing headache that refused to subside. It had been hours of tossing and turning in his tent, willing his body to settle, forcing himself to ruminate on the past few weeks.
Before he joined this disgustingly merry little group of adventurers, hunting rabbits and the occasional boar had been enough to sustain him. In fact, dining on larger animals had been a significant upgrade from the meager flies and rats he’d become so accustomed to under his master’s rule, but that was before all of this incessant hard labor. 
He could feel his strength waning over the last several days. His senses were dulling, his reflexes numbed. Just this morning, he had failed to gain the upper hand with a particularly nasty kobold. He paid for it dearly when the damned thing all but pummeled him into the ground. 
Luckily, Lae’zel had been there, hammer at the ready to divorce its jaw from its head. Beautifully done, by the way, but his blunder did not go unnoticed. All this sneaking around for barely a nibble during his watch was beginning to take its toll.
Astarion knew he was on thin ice, considering his relationship with their fearless, incomparable leader began with him pulling a knife on her and grappling her to the ground -  in front of the damn wizard, no less. Some friction was to be expected.
But things hadn’t progressed much between the two of them since then. The pair rarely saw eye to eye on anything, and she seemed to have an innate passion for berating him over his unwillingness to stop for every single injured bird or helpless child as they traveled - as if playing the part of a hero was a favorable distraction from the literal time bomb in both their party and their heads. 
“The world is full of potential allies, Astarion,” she had told him, sprinkled with a hint of her usual irritation. “I’m simply expanding our network.” As if a group of starving refugees and mud-slinging tree huggers were going to find them a decent healer any sooner. At this point, he’d heavily considered taking his chances with the goblins. At least they knew how to have fun.
What made matters even more frustrating was that Evelyn was seemingly unaffected by his charms.
Just how exactly was he supposed to secure his place under her protection when the woman barely spared him a second glance? Surely he wasn’t losing his touch. He was a master of seduction. Thousands of others had thrown themselves at his feet for far less effort. He’s had centuries of practice. The mere notion would be ridiculous.
In fact, he couldn’t remember a single moment in the last two hundred years where his advances had been so callously brushed off. Every attempt to make her laugh with his (admittedly morbid) quips was met with her chastising him for being insensitive and making threats to send him back to camp. She dismissed every flirtation, even if her lovely little blush betrayed her. She seemed determined to make him play her little game. He just hasn’t quite figured out what the rules are, yet.
Astarion couldn’t afford to take any more chances. If sleeping his way into her good graces wasn't an option, he was left with little choice. He wanted to make himself indispensable, so he was going to have to take drastic measures to ensure that his strength and physical prowess would never come into question. At least, not again.
He would have to drink from a thinking creature.
The idea of it was as invigorating as it was terrifying. He had spent the last two centuries enduring unimaginable cruelty, starved in ways mortals couldn’t begin to imagine--for years--without any reprieve. 
No, starving doesn’t even scratch the surface. No words could ever describe the tortuous, gnawing, ravenous hunger that consumed his every waking moment under the heavy weight of Cazador’s boot.
Though, Cazador wasn’t here now, was he? 
Curious.
Astarion had spent some time ruminating on who to approach before settling on Evelyn, though his options were limited at best. The githyanki was entirely out of the question; gods forbid he get caught, she would make quick work of him without allowing him so much as a single word of explanation. Shadowheart was…tempting, but that mark on her hand frequently caused her pain, and who knows if that magic would have any affect on him or worse, her taste? And Gale, well, he would rather subsist on a diet of garlic sprinkled with holy water before he put his lips anywhere near that man.
So, Evelyn it was. The tiefling wasn't terrible to look at. She was a younger woman full of vitality, so surely she wouldn’t miss a bit of her blood. He would just have to mind the horns. 
He would be in and out. A quick nibble, then he'd be right as rain. One bite, he tells himself, barely enough to leave a mark. Then, he’ll pass it off and say that they had been attacked by bats during his watch and, not wanting to wake everyone, he quietly dispatched them and saved the day. Unfortunately, not before one of those wretched little beasts managed to puncture their illustrious hero. It was the perfect plan. Infallible. They'll eat it right up.
He continues passing through camp undetected, catlike in his silence, but when he reaches the canvas entrance of her tent ready to pounce, he freezes at the sight of her.
She looked…different while she slept. Softer, gentler, almost; surrounded by a nest of fur blankets, snoozing away instead of attacking his ego. Her hair was puddled beneath her head and horns like dark, red wine; rich and unrestrained by her usual loose bun. 
Another realization hits him: this is the first time Astarion has ever seen her in her sleep clothes, a simple basic black wrapping across her breasts. Practical. Of course.
Her skin is pale enough to rival his own, even with the warmth of the firelight. She’s lying on her side, her uncovered shoulder lightly dusted in freckles, much like her cheeks. Her lips are slightly parted, and in the silence of the night air, he can hear her light, even breaths.
Cute, he thinks to himself. He could almost forgive her for being so maddeningly aloof with a face like that. Almost. 
Astarion leans over to brush her hair away from her neck; the strands softer than he had anticipated. The thrum of her pulse underneath is magnetic. It pulls at his very being, beckoning him closer.
Settling on his knees beside her, his arms form a cage around her body.
He takes in the image of her form one last time and allows himself a moment to savor it. She is toned and lithe, much like himself, but smaller. Perfect. Delectable. 
He bends closer, feeling her gentle puffs of breath on his shoulder; the warmth of her body. His ears ring with anticipation; manicured nails clench the sheets by her head.
She’s going to be so-
Something brushes his leg, hidden beneath the furs.
Her tail. He forgot about her bloody tail.
Evelyn stirs, and fully awakens right as his teeth are at her throat, eyes meeting his. 
Shit.
“Shit.”
With incredible speed, she reflexively reaches for the dagger closest to her pillow, lunging at him. He just barely seizes her arm in time to save himself from being skewered.
“What in the hells are you-” he clasps his palm over her mouth to silence her.
The girl’s eyes are wild with panic, their golden hues burning a hole in his skull. He notices them flit down to where his body hovers over hers before she begins to struggle against him. “No, no, shh,” he whispers. “It’s not what it looks like, I swear.” 
Her expression shifts from panicked to confused. She ceases her squirming. Good. Well, not good, but better. He can work with this.
“When I take my hand away, you have to promise not to scream and wake the whole camp,” he continues, hushed, “unless you’d like for them to find us tangled up in your bedroll. You wouldn’t want to give them the wrong impression now, would you, darling?”
Her eyes widen. Her face flushes deep red, warming his palm against her skin.
There, he thinks, that should-
Her body turns, and suddenly he feels the hard edge of Evelyn’s knee make contact with the corner of his ribs. A direct hit. Pain shoots up his chest as he rolls off of her and onto his side, clutching himself and coughing, heaving air back into his lungs.
She hurriedly covers herself with her sheets, glaring at him as he struggles to collect his breath. He can see her fuming through the tears forming in the corner of his vision. If looks could kill, he’s sure she would have him skinned alive. Maybe use what's left of him to scare away the crows. 
She’s still holding the knife out toward him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? What do you think you’re doing in here?” 
A fair question, one he was not prepared to answer. Perfect. He’s just going to have to wing this. Possibly with two broken ribs. He can’t believe he expected this to go any smoother.
“I-I wasn’t going to hurt you.” He raises a hand and falls back on his thighs with a grunt, grimacing in pain. His other clutches his side, a bit of sweat forming at his brow. “I just…” 
Okay, this is it. He’s got this.
“I just needed, well,” 
Aaaaand,
“Blood.”
There. Excellent form, Astarion. Good show.
“I - You needed what?”
She blinks at him, whether in disbelief or shock, he cannot say.
It takes a moment before his words start to sink in. She takes that time to scan over his body, purposefully. 
He couldn’t quite tell if she was looking for something or if she was deciding whether or not to believe him, but then again, what other explanation could he give? 
He works over his options in his head, considering just how difficult it would be to pass this all off as a terrible joke, but just as he’s about to open his mouth to start on damage control, he hears Evelyn heave a deep sigh. She lowers her weapon, then tosses it to the side, massaging her eyes in frustration. 
Oh. Well, alright.
After some time, he watches her expression soften into understanding as a few notable things dawn on her. He’s never really eaten any meals with them, has he? Then there was the drained boar, which he so carelessly left out by the road.  The damned beast hadn’t even taken the edge off that night, and he was so desperate to quell the nagging ache in his stomach that it lay there forgotten until she found it the next morning. He admitted to her himself that it had been drained by a vampire, after all…
A bit of silence follows.
Astarion doesn’t say a word, doesn’t dare move a muscle. He just allows her the time to process whatever she’s feeling. What’s important is that he’s still alive, she hasn't run him out of camp, and she hasn’t screamed for help. 
He may be able to salvage this, yet.
She scratches the back of her head, carding her fingers through her hair to ease her irritation before finally meeting his gaze.
“Astarion.” The sound of his name leaving her lips pulls him from his thoughts. He can see the disappointment on her soft features just as plainly as he can feel it humming through their psionic link. 
He didn’t think himself capable of guilt, but there was an emotion akin to it brewing within his chest. Ugh. He breaks eye contact, searching for anything to pull his attention away from his discomfort. The miscellaneous bags of clothing and trinkets she had scattered about her tent were just oh so fascinating. And was that a new hairbrush? Hm. 
“Why didn’t you tell me?” 
He’s taken aback by her question. He expected a more offensive reaction. A few insults, maybe ones pertaining to his sharp teeth or bloodlust, but an olive branch?
After all the lies, the invasion of privacy, and the failed attempt at assault?
She really is just full of surprises.
“Well, we aren’t exactly close, you and I. Though, you must admit, I’ve made several attempts to…” He waves a hand between them for emphasis, “mend the gap, so to speak.”
“Well, have you ever considered maybe not being such an asshole?”
Ouch.
But in fairness, no.
“I…” He thinks carefully about what to say next. The buzzing behind his eye socket acts as a threat, reminding him of the very fragile barrier between their minds. Should she choose to dig her claws in and pry the information out of him, she may find more than he's comfortable sharing, so Astarion makes a decision that surprises even himself. 
He chooses to be genuine.
“At best, I was sure you’d say no. More likely, you’d ram a stake through my ribs.” He gestures towards the dagger at her side. “But believe me, I’m not some monster. I’ve never killed another person.”
Evelyn raises an eyebrow at him. 
“Well, not for food,” he quickly corrects. “I’ve been subsisting on animals. Boars—like the one you found the other day—deer, kobolds, whatever I can get my hands on.”
“And what exactly was the plan here? You were just going to kill me and expect the others not to notice?” 
He recoils at the accusation but fights to keep his expression neutral. “I had no intention of killing you. I would never do such a thing.” He leans in closer to her and lowers his voice, as if letting her in on a secret. “We need each other.” 
Evelyn shifts to lean her weight on her arm as she listens, dark hair falling to the side of her shoulder. With the new level of exposure, he can hear her pulse settling into a more comfortable rhythm. 
He swallows. Hard. His hunger is rearing its ugly head again, just at the sound of her.
Oh well, might as well lay all the cards out on the table while we’re at it.
He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, and continues, “As it stands right now, I’m too slow. Too weak. If I just had a little blood, I could think clearer. Fight better.” There is a question hidden in his words, a favor to be asked.
She seems pensive as she considers him, mulling over everything he’s said in her mind. She lifts a thumb to her mouth and starts nibbling on her nail, no longer looking at him. Nervous too, no doubt. How could she not be with what he’s asking of her, as if he had any right to ask in the first place? 
“I understand you detest me, but-”
Evelyn appears to snap to some conclusion, sitting up straighter and placing her arms to her sides before she responds.
“No, I should detest you, Astarion, but I don’t. You just don’t impress me.”
Wow.
It feels as though he’s been slapped. He barks out a laugh that’s a bit too loud for the intimate setting, trying to mitigate the damage to his ego. “Excuse me?”
She has the nerve to shrug at him. “I’ve seen every trick you’ve used to fill your little black book, probably a thousand items over. I’ve used them all myself. So, frankly, I'm uninspired.”
For the first time in his undead life, he’s totally speechless. His face contorts in indignation, disbelief. This devil.
There is something dangerous in her expression as she leans further forward, neck tilted, exposing herself to him. Her eyes are hooded, with long lashes casting shadows over her cheeks. Her shoulders relax as she lifts her chin to stare down her nose at him, sneering. 
He works his jaw, clenching the muscles unconsciously.
“Astarion, men are idiots. I’ve spent my entire adult life toying with them and robbing them blind. I’ve heard and seen it all. You really believed a few empty praises and mediocre jokes would have me jumping into bed with you? 
Wha- Mediocre?
He opens his mouth with every intention of retaliating, but Evelyn’s palm unexpectedly rests itself on his calf, and the action stuns him into silence. She begins leisurely dragging her nails up towards his thigh. 
His body responds involuntarily; eagerly, frustratingly, the delicate little motion leaving his skin prickling with excitement. 
She regards his chest, admiring the hard planes of muscle. Then, her attention slowly inches down the toned curve of his abs until, finally, they stop at where his cock hardens disobediently beneath his pants.
“Your pretty face doesn’t detract from the fact that you’re still just a man.”
It finally clicks.
She’s baiting him, attempting to get a rise out of him. 
Hm. Impressive.
Normally, at this point in her little game, he assumes most men would take her flirtations at face value. They would likely mistake this performance as an enthusiastic plea to bed her, but Astarion is not like most men. He sees her little game for what it is and recognizes it with ease because he has spent lifetimes playing it himself.
She leans back, satisfied with her little show, and smirks at him.
“So, you admit I have a pretty face?” He teases, his own smile twisting, becoming more mischievous.
She rolls her eyes, but this time she laughs. It’s a soft sound, genuine.
A pinkish hue crawls up her face and paints the tips of her pointed ears, but he can’t discern if that's supposed to be part of the act or, more likely, an unfortunate side-effect of the living experience. He’s finding it hard not to admire her dedication, regardless. 
Well, that’s quite enough of that. Back to business, then.
“It’s settled,” Astarion clasps his hands together, “I’ll just need to impress you with my more eclectic talents if I am to earn your favor. We can start by gracefully slaughtering a few goblins, depending on how the rest of tonight goes. Which is entirely up to you, of course.”
The tiefling squints at him. “Oh no, if you want something from me, darling, you’re going to have to ask politely. With manners. You have those, don’t you? Familiar with them, at least?”
Under normal circumstances, he would find this amusing; nothing like a little role reversal to spice up the evening. But this feels different, heavier, as if her feigning indifference will alleviate the weight of what he's asking of her.
Fine. He supposes relinquishing a little bit of his pride is a fair price to pay.
He takes a deep breath. "Please." 
"Please, what?" She lifts an eyebrow at him expectantly. "Come on, Astarion. Use your words. I know you’re quite fond of them."
He scoffs at her shamelessness, and for a moment, he honestly considers whether this is worth it, but he can't back out now. He'll make it through this, surely. He's been through worse. 
Through gritted teeth, he barely spits out, "Please, may I drink from you?" 
Gods. He's going to be sick.
"Good boy. That wasn't so hard, was it?" 
He’s going to fucking kill her.
There is an uncomfortable silence that follows. So many unspoken questions and a rising suspense that makes Evelyn adjust herself uncomfortably where she sits. Astarion is also musing to himself, still wondering how it's all come to this. Why did he choose her, again? Something about her not killing him right away? Death may have been preferable to this, actually, but he is pulled back to reality when she finally speaks up.
“So," she's picking lint off one of her pillows, avoiding his gaze as she asks, "how exactly should we do this?”
Well, it occurs to him that he doesn’t actually know. He understands the mechanics behind it, of course, but how exactly were they supposed to go about this?
Should he tell her that he’s never actually fed from a person before? Would it make her more or less comfortable to know that he’s just as clueless about this as she is? 
No. He decides against it. Astarion has always done best when he’s playing the role of the confident seductor. This should be no different. He’ll just treat this as if he’s bedding a virgin: guide her, take things slow, and she’ll no doubt be begging him for more soon enough. It’ll be easy. All she has to do is behave.
“Lie back and get comfortable.”
He moves himself closer to her, settling at her side as she does what she’s told. The flap of the tent remains open, letting in the faintest amount of warmth and illuminating Evelyn’s features. With such close proximity, he can see the gold flames within her irises flickering and dancing, a genetic trait attributed to some luckier members of her race, and a feature of her’s that Astarion would have never otherwise noticed. 
He can hear her pulse quickening as he closes the space between them, lifting himself a bit to settle above her, once again caging her between his arms. One of his knees parts her legs, and he can tell in the quietness of her tent that she’s struggling to hide her uneven breaths. Her stare is intense, but he can’t read the meaning behind it.
He decides to give her another out, just in case. Better safe than sorry. 
“We don't have to do this, you know,” his voice is composed, as if his body wasn't currently screaming with anticipation. “I appreciate the consideration, regardless.” 
“I’m fine.” Her response is clipped, dismissive. Her face remains stoic though her fingers fidget with the blankets at her sides. She had moved the furs to give him better access to her body. The darkness inside him preens at the concept.
Best get on with it, then.
He leans down and, unable to help himself, takes in the scent of her: woodsmoke and the faintest hint of vanilla, which he had watched her pick up from a merchant in the grove just the other day. “For Gale’s cooking,” she amended, when he gave her a questioning look.
He gives her one more moment to stop him.
She doesn’t.
A bit of pressure on the skin before it snaps and gives way, his fangs finally sinking into her. He can feel Evelyn’s body tense at the sudden intrusion. She hisses through gritted teeth, her arms involuntarily raising at her sides, reaching for him, but she stops herself before she touches him. He wants to tell her it's fine, expected, even, the need to ground herself, but all of his higher thoughts are plunged into complete chaos when he finally registers her taste. 
Every cell in his body awakens.
The iron flavor of her floods his throat and sets his nerves ablaze. Its heat fills, expands, and splits every crack in his self control into deep, cavernous fissures. 
A groan escapes Astarions throat before he has the chance to quell it. Of course it would be like this - drinking from a thinking creature. Drinking from her. He understands now why Cazador forbade this. Before, he had assumed it was a matter of keeping his spawn weak and compliant, but this was entirely different. This was far more than a method of control. The bastard had been withholding ecstasy greater than he’d ever known.
A feeling swells in him, crashing like waves through his veins. Warmth. It invades him and fills every fiber of his being. He wasn’t naive enough to believe his first time wouldn't have some sort of great, emotional impact, but this? 
This was everything. How was he ever supposed to come back from this?
"Agh - Astarion," he barely registers her pathetic little whine through the haze. She finally allows herself to grab onto him, the loose sleeve of his nightshirt tightening in her fist. For purchase, he tells himself with what little is left of his consciousness, practical. That is until he lowers himself fully onto her in an attempt to relieve the strain on his biceps.
With no space left between their bodies, he doesn’t anticipate the blazing heat of her core on his thigh, even through the several layers of clothing. She gasps at the sudden pressure,  fingers twitching, nails digging little crescent shapes into his skin. What surprises him most, though, is when the taste in his mouth melts into a flavor so much sweeter. 
Something primal within him recognizes it instantly; it twists in his gut and sits there heavily, as if the emotion were his own: arousal.
Oh.
She is burning for him.
Good.
After all of that teasing, the woman he’s spent weeks enduring endless lectures from actually does desire him, or at the very least desires his body. Which is just as favorable, in his opinion. It’s just nice to know all his hard work hasn’t gone to waste. 
If she lets him live, he's going to spend every waking moment tormenting her over this. His lips vibrate against her skin as he chuckles to himself, causing some of her blood to run down his chin in hot rivulets, blooming new stains onto her sheets. 
He knows he’s had enough. He means to let go, he truly does, lest he end up draining their groups' only hope of survival. Surely that wouldn't go over well with their companions. Pitchforks, and all that. 
But her whimpering, her heat, coupled with the ferocity of his hunger, all provoke a feeling that has been building beneath the surface which he’s unable to name; it's desperate and possessive, a predator guarding its kill from hungry scavengers. The monster in him casts a dark shadow over his mind as he feeds. His body no longer feels as though it is his own, betraying him; a slave to the demands of his appetite. 
He needs her, needs all of her, and he cannot will himself to stop, too lost in sensation and the sound of her mewling to bow to his higher thinking. 
He mindlessly rocks his weight into her and grunts—a slow, unintentional grind against her mound. The motion comes easy to him, like breathing - instinctual. The blunt edge of his clothed cock drags deliciously through her parted thighs. Evelyn’s breath hitches at the feeling, her squirming beneath him giving him the sickest form of satisfaction, but the animal within him demands her compliance.
His hand gathers her loose hair and pulls, growling, warning her to keep still. She whines at the force, back arching. The other grabs her arm, pinning it down, and tightens, thumb gently stroking against her wrist.
"Astarion,"
She’s no doubt making a mess in her smallclothes as she quivers beneath him, all flushed cheeks and furrowed brows. She may deny it later, but her taste tells him everything he needs to know.
Her body is burning against his cool skin, and her gasps are only spurring him on. He laps at the wound, dragging his tongue up the length of her throat, indulging himself in her. It's too much. 
He feels her pulse weakening, her rhythm slowing.
It isn't enough. 
He's about to latch on to her again, teeth at the ready and blinded by his eagerness, when he suddenly feels a piercing sensation behind his eye - the tadpole, he assumes, writhing in panic. Screeching at him to open himself to it. The discomfort is just enough to pull him back into his body. Then Evelyn's voice invades his mind. 
‘Astarion, enough!’
He disentangles his limbs from hers, practically jumping off of the poor woman. He’s gasping for breath as he comes to his senses, the mix of her blood and his saliva staining his lips pink. It dribbles down his chin. He wipes his face with the back of his knuckles and licks them clean.
But then, the cold realization of what he’s done is thrust upon him like a bucket of iced water, shocking him back to the present. He’s going to need to come up with one hell of an apology to get himself out of this one. Or maybe he should just run? Baldur’s Gate is really only a few weeks travel at most. 
“Shit,” he whispers, more to himself than to her. "Are you alright, dear?"
Evelyn's eyes meet his. Her pupils are blown, almost entirely overtaking the gold of her irises when she glances away from him to assess the damage.
"Gods damn it," she quietly groans and applies pressure to the wound, thankfully finding that it isn't too deep or particularly painful. She tends to it, wiping the thin sheen of sweat from her brow. She searches for a rag as she avoids his concerned stare
A deep purple bruise spreads across her pale skin. Small red droplets trickle down the length of her nape, dampening her black breast band before soaking into it and disappearing entirely. He collects himself, willing his mind to cease its incessant urge to lick the damned liquid from her neck. She is flushed and sweating, unbalanced, panting from exertion as much as her own embarrassment. Her dark hair is a tangled mess from his attention. She looks ravaged. 
It… suits her.
Astarion clears his throat, trying his best not to get caught admiring his handiwork.
She was right about one thing. He was, at least in some respects, just a man... 
“Here,” he insists, grabbing one of the smaller furs and holding it up to her. She takes it from him without acknowledgement.
“I -” He begins, but he’s at a loss for words. What does one say in this situation? ‘My sincerest apologies. I don’t know what came over me! I must have gotten swept up in the moment!’ as if that pitiful excuse would overshadow the fact that he manhandled and almost devoured her.
He wants to laugh, but the sound dies in his throat.
He begins to worry that she really may not forgive him. He fears she'll wake the whole camp, or maybe finally cast him out like the monster he is. He wouldn't blame her. She took a great leap of faith in trusting him with this, and he rutted against her like some horny bugbear. Or worse, a teenager, he sneers.
Evelyn pulls the rabbit skin away from her neck, examining it. The brown hairs are matted and crimson, but the bleeding has stopped. She runs her fingers over the puncture marks, feeling the skin dip slightly where his fangs pierced her. She sighs with resignation, surely thinking about how the others will approach her with a plethora of questions tomorrow morning, face reddening at the idea.
“You could have warned me, you know.” She rolls her eyes at him. “I didn’t realize I was agreeing to…all of that.” 
His heart sinks. 
Of course she thinks it was on purpose. I mean, look at him. He’s all but thrown himself at her since the moment they met. He’s spent this entire time playing the part of the rake. It's only natural she assumes the worst.
“Evelyn, darling,” speaking her name aloud brings her focus back onto him. 
The gravity of it is suffocating, condensing the already small space they shared. The tension pulls at something undefinable within him that he thought was long dead—a sincerity that betrays the character he’s been crafting for as long as he can remember. 
It sways him.
More truths to forgive more transgressions, then. A fair transaction.
“I’ve had this condition for over two centuries, but, truth be told,” he clears his throat again, because ugh this is awful. And why does she have to stare at him like that, with her earnest, wet eyes? “You were my first. I’ve only ever fed on beasts.” 
The implication is there: how could he have known?
His confession takes her by surprise. “You don’t…” she pauses, taking everything that transpired tonight into consideration. He must be giving her a look akin to pleading, because she takes mercy on him and disregards whatever question she was about to ask. 
“Please tell me you didn’t do that to the boar.”
Seriously, a joke?
He barks out a laugh before he can stifle it. Whether it's from the sheer ridiculousness of the question or the disbelief towards her acceptance of it all, he truly doesn’t know.
“No, my dear. Just you, and you were delectable.”
Her expression is difficult to read. She’s not looking at him; refuses to, when she replies, “So then, did it work?”
Astarion moves to stand, peering down at her form. He exhales in relief, feeling as though he is a century younger. His muscles are lax; all the stress has been drained from his body. A novel experience. “Yes, I would say so. I feel stronger. My mind is clear. I feel…happy.”
He adds the last word in an effort to appease her, but it does ring true. His main source of joy since he contracted this affliction has been causing others pain, ripping out throats and such. This feels distinctly different, less exhilarating, but pleasant all the same.
“Well, I look forward to seeing you fight.” 
He acknowledges her, then stretches his back out, extending his arms to the sky with his hands clasping behind his head. The motion pulls the rest of his nightshirt out of his trousers and tugs it upward, exposing the hard edges of his hips. He can’t confirm it, but he swears he sees her eyes flit quickly towards them before making an expeditious retreat.
“Shouldn’t take long. So many people need killing.” He lifts the flap of her tent to peek outside. No sign of anyone stirring, and the night is still young. Knowing the wildlife in this area, he may still have a chance to sate himself. With his newfound strength, he may even be able to wrangle up a bear. What a feast that would make.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, you’re invigorating, but I need something more filling.” He bows his head to her in thanks. 
He’s about to step outside, one foot exits the canvas before the rest of him, when it hits him that he feels…odd, uncomfortable leaving her like this. He can’t place his finger on why. He’s ridden atop many women and left without saying a word.
But, he supposes this is dissimilar.
Evelyn listened to him tonight, heard him out when anyone else would have carved him into pieces without second thought. She let him drink from her, forgave him for getting…carried away. 
The most shocking part of it all is that regardless of her dismissiveness, he now undeniably knows that she’s attracted to him. Yet, she didn’t capitalize on the opportunity when it arose to take advantage of his altered state; of his needs. With that, she’s shown him more kindness in the last hour than he’s experienced in his entire undead life. 
He likely owes her for this, of course, but there are worse fates he could endure.
The elf looks over his shoulder at her and catches her watching him intently, as if she wants to continue this conversation but can’t quite figure out what she wants to say. The intensity of her gaze almost forces him to turn back towards her, drawn to her by an unfamiliar ache; a thrill in his spine, the compulsion pulling at his chest like some sort of spell.
“This is a gift, you know.” The words escape him, hanging in the air between them with raw authenticity. He means to make himself sound more frivolous, but before he can edit them in his head, more truth spills from his lips, “I won’t forget it.”
His throat tightens. He considers her for a moment, wondering what he might find if he does turn to meet her eyes.
But, Astarion resists.
She must be exhausted. He shouldn’t take up any more of her time.
He leaves before she can respond. There wasn’t anything left for them to discuss, and he’s desperate to break free from the uneasy weight of her presence.
The second he steps fully outside, he feels as though he can breathe again, not that he needs to, being undead and all. 
What a strange feeling, that was. 
One he decides he’d rather forget. Best to not burden himself too much with it.
The taste of her lingers on his teeth. He finds himself savoring it for a moment too long before stalking towards the forest, confident. Ready to hunt. 
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literary-illuminati · 1 month
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2024 Book Review #14 – And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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This book I basically came across by chance. Or, well, not exactly chance, but I’d never even heard of it before until I checked what Tchaikovsky books my local library system had copies of and saw it. Which in a sense is a terrible way to come into this – it’s an incredibly dramatic swerve from any of Tchaikovsky’s other stuff that I’ve read – but coming in totally blind pretty much worked, I think. Genuinely very fun read.
The story follows Harry Bodie, a children’s TV presenter facing down middle age with a career that’s never really lived up to expectations. Somewhat desperately, he signs on to a tabloid-ish program about digging into the family tree, hoping to use the residual fame of his grandmother and her fairly famous and successful series of postwar children’s fantasy novels as a career boost. Instead he gets his face rubbed in the fact that his great-grandmother is only recorded as an indigent madwoman, and the famous author was born in a sanitarium. That the famous Underhill stories were, in fact, based in large part on delusions told as childhood fables and family histories.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the stories turn out to be less delusional than previously reported. Bodie is in quick succession accosted by a faun, approached by a suspicious PI, and kidnapped by a surprisingly moneyed fan-club-cum-occult-coven. Soon enough he’s getting his first taste of Underhill first hand – or, at least, what’s left of it after a century and change of economizing and entropy.
I’m on record as being fairly dismissive about the whole category of ‘stories about stories’, and I guess I need to eat my words a bit because I actually really enjoyed this. To an extent that’s probably just because it doesn’t get too meta – storyland is a work of deliberate artifice, the stories themselves don’t shape the world or do magic, it just generally never tries to get too cute or didactic about it – but still. This is a book where the hero at one point describes his situation as ‘Five Nights at Aslan’s’ so there’s no real principled distinction for me to cut here. One of the main characters is literally a folklorist.
Though, it’s less about stories than one specific story in particular. The unremarkable schlub plucked out of their mundane life and told that they’re special, that they’re the hero or the true heir and possess some inherent numinous essence that makes them the most important person in the world. This is a terribly appealing story, and one Harry feels the lure of very keenly – he’s self-aware enough to say quite clearly that he goes back to the frozen, decaying world full of half-dead monsters less out of morality or rationality than simply because it was a place where he mattered, for good or ill.
It’s probably not reading too deeply into the book’s themes to note that the story is a lure in a fairly literal sense, or that the true heir is destined to ‘save’ the world by being hollowed out and possessed by those who came before them.
Of course as much as this is in conversation with Narnia et al, it owes at least as much to whole genre of ‘what is nostalgic children’s property, but fucked up?’ creepypasta. Fairyland is choked with fungal growths and creepy, staticy not-snow. The scampering, troublemaking faun is miserable and worn out with bad knees. The Best Of All Dogs is a rotting, terrifying hellhound. There’s even a titanic evil scary clown. Aesthetically the book owes far more to r/nosleep than Lewis Carroll.
Harry himself is an absolute delight as a main character. By which I mean he just sucks so bad, but in very mundane and endearing ways. Who among us can not relate on some level to a failing middle-aged actor who always made a point of not trading on his family name but is secretly pretty resentful it hasn’t helped him more? He refuses the call to adventure then decides his life’s kind of shit and he’d rather get stabbed to death by goblins, so he comes crawling back and begs for a second chance. He’s left a glowing magic sword that will defeat all enemies, but it’s stuck in the body of one of his kidnappers so he just runs screaming and it spends the rest of the book in an evidence locker somewhere. I love him.
I really have no idea to what degree it was intentional, but it also does rather muse me that – okay, you know the standard bit of feminist media analysis where male characters are the actors, while female characters are generally walking set decoration and plot devices? It really deeply amuses me that Harry spends the better part of the story as a magical blood bank getting led around or terrified and awaiting rescue, whereas Seitchman (our counterfeit PI/folklorist) repeatedly forces herself into things through obsessive research skills and a complete disregard for her own safety (and at one point an enthusiastic if unpracticed willingness to sword people). Though to be clear this was mostly amusing to me because it was absolutely never highlighted or commented upon.
This is probably the first book I’ve read that’s recent enough to be set during lockdown without really being a COVID novel, if that makes sense? You could set this the year before or the year after without really losing much, and it lacks the ‘this was written in quarantine’ vibe of a lot of books I read last year. But it definitely adds a sense of specificity and timeliness to it that I rather enjoyed.
So yeah, do not open it expecting anything like Children of Time, but good book!
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candycandy00 · 6 months
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Pick Me Up - A Gojo x Reader x Geto Halloween Fanfic Part 3
Gojo and Geto are two serial killers who enjoy seducing their victims before killing them. Every year on Halloween they have a friendly competition, and this year the target they both choose is you. 
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
The first two parts will be fairly short and just serve to set up the way these two operate. The third part starts the “main part”. Any feedback or comments are greatly appreciated! Divider by @violetbudd
Smut. 18+. Fem Readers. Smut mostly just thought/talked about in this part. Gojo and Geto are both bisexual. 
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You’re standing in line at the convenience store, two giant bags of potato chips in your arms. Your friend told you to bring some to the party, so here you are, standing here in a silly white Angel costume. There’s a fake halo on a stick over your head, small white wings attached to a white top that is way too sheer for your comfort. The skirt is shorter than anything you’ve ever worn, and your white thigh-high stockings have little bows at the top. You’re not sure if you’re supposed to look innocent or slutty. Probably both. 
Your friends picked out the costume for you, saying it fit your personality. You don’t know what that says about you, but you’ve decided to take it as a compliment. 
The teenage boy working the register stares at your chest, not even trying to be subtle. You pay for your chips and for some gas you just put into your car, then you head out. 
A group of trick or treaters nearly mow you down as they run into the store, excitedly chanting the familiar phrase as the teenager rolls his eyes and begins dropping handfuls of cheap candy into their colorful buckets and bags. You smile as you watch the little goblins, remembering how much fun you always had as a child on Halloween. 
This year is going to be just as fun, you tell yourself. You’ve never been to a large Halloween party before, but you’re really excited. You hum the Ghostbusters theme to yourself as you toss the chips into the backseat and climb into the driver’s seat of your car. 
***************
Satoru and Suguru have been sitting in the white van, parked far away from the pumps at the gas station, for a couple of hours now. They’re watching the various people who stop for gas, each trying to pick out their special Halloween victim. 
Suguru has one hand buried in a bag of popcorn. “How about her?” he asks, pointing to a “nurse” strutting by. 
Satoru takes a bite of the king sized candy bar in his hand. “Nah. Too easy. I want a challenge tonight. Besides, you need to focus on picking your own target.”
“My taste is more discerning than yours,” Suguru says, holding up the small bag to pour the rest of the popcorn into his mouth. 
“Wait,” Satoru says, pointing with his free hand toward the door of the convenience store, “look at her.”
Walking out of the store after nearly bumping into some kids is the sweetest looking Angel either of them have ever seen. 
“Fuck, she can barely walk in those heels!” Suguru says breathlessly, “Can you imagine chasing her?”
Satoru’s eyes are shining above the rims of his dark sunglasses. “She’d trip so fast. That flimsy outfit would rip… she’d be crawling on the ground, crying her eyes out, begging me not to hurt her…”
Suguru laughs. “Easy, you’re gonna bust a nut.”
“Only in that sweet angel’s mouth,” Satoru says. 
“I’m picking her,” Suguru suddenly declares. 
Satoru swivels in his seat immediately to look at Suguru. “What? No, I’m picking her!”
“Too late. You didn’t get a chance to cut her fuel line.”
Satoru frowns. “I’ve got other ways of getting her into my van.”
“Really? Like what?” Suguru asks. 
Satoru gives him a meaningful look, pulling the shades down. “These baby blues. I could roll up covered in blood, carrying a machete, and she’d still wanna ride my dick after one look into my eyes.”
There’s a moment where Suguru just stares at Satoru silently, allowing himself to get lost in those eyes. Then he looks away. “You’re too full of yourself.”
Satoru laughs, taking anther bite of his candy bar. “Just admit you think my eyes are pretty.”
Suguru ignores him and stares out the windshield, watching the angel climb into her car. “How about we make the contest interesting this year? Let’s both pick her.”
Satoru raises his eyebrows, clearly intrigued by the idea. In years past, they competed to see who could fuck and then kill their individual target first on Halloween night. The rules were pretty simple. They had to act suspicious, and they had to get the target to willingly have sex with them despite throwing up glaring red flags. It was their fun way of testing their own charm and good looks. 
“Okay, let’s do it,” Satoru says, grinning. “If you’re lucky, I might just give you sloppy seconds!”
Suguru rolls his eyes. “I hope you like fucking girls with no skin, because that’s the only way you’re having her tonight.”
They both laugh, and then Suguru gets out of the van, heading to his own vehicle so that he can use the backroads to get ahead of her. 
*****************
You sit for a minute in your car, trying to send a text to your friends to let them know you’ve picked up the extra chips and are heading towards the party, but there’s no service in this area. Too wooded and remote. You sigh and cram your phone into the small white purse beside you. 
A couple miles down the road, you’re blasting Monster Mash on the radio, singing along with the lyrics, when you notice someone walking along the side of the road. You hit the brakes, your car screeching to a halt beside a man with long dark hair, dressed all in black. 
If he’s walking along the road in the dark, he probably needs help! You roll the passenger side window all the way down and lean across the seat as he steps over and bends down to look in at you. 
“Is everything okay?” you ask him, concern obvious in your voice. 
He smiles at you, and you can’t help noticing that he’s incredibly good looking. “I ran out of gas,” he says.
“Well hop in and I’ll take you to the gas station,” you tell him, patting the seat beside you. 
He blinks, hesitating for a moment before that charming smile returns to his handsome face. “Are you sure?” he asks, his voice creamy and smooth. “It’s dangerous to pick up hitchhikers, you know. I could be a serial killer.”
You look him over, from his smile to his clean and simple clothing. He sure doesn’t look dangerous. “It’s fine,” you say with a grin. “I’ve got a good feeling about you!”
His eyes widen slightly, then he breaks out into laughter, so much that he clutches his side. “I can’t argue with that logic!” he says, opening the passenger side door and climbing inside. 
“Wow, you smell nice,” you say to him, noticing the fresh fragrance of soap, or maybe laundry detergent. “Is that Gain or Tide?”
He glances at you sideways, seeming a little caught off guard by the question. “Uh, I just use whatever’s handy… I don’t pay attention to brands…”
“Well whatever it is smells great.”
He stares at you for a moment before saying, “Thanks.”
You hate the awkwardness of silence so you decide to keep talking. “Do you live around here?”
“No, just traveling through,” he tells you. 
“I’m going to a Halloween party,” you say brightly. “But I guess that’s obvious.”
He looks you up and down. His gaze feels hot, and you notice his eyes lingering on your legs. “That’s a cute costume,” he says. “So are you sweet like an angel?”
You laugh and slap his arm playfully. “Is that a pick up line?”
He gives you a strange look, unreadable, then smiles again. “I’m just kidding.”
“Well, if you really want to know the truth, I didn’t pick out this costume. My friends did. It’s a little more, uh, risqué than I’m used to.”
“It looks good on you,” he says. 
“Aw, thanks! You’re really sweet!”
Again, that strange look, but then a second later he’s laughing again. You’re not sure how your words were funny at all, but you giggle along with him, caught up in the moment. 
He laughs so much he’s nearly in tears, then he looks over at you with a smile that seems genuine for the first time. “Has anyone ever called you naive?”
You nod, smiling proudly. “Yep! All the time!”
He tilts his head, black as night hair falling over his shoulder. “And you’re not bothered by that?”
“Nope! I’d rather see the good in people and be wrong occasionally than always assume the worst of everyone.”
He chuckles. “You’re like one of those virginal heroines from a horror movie.”
You look at him sharply, then quickly look away, heat spreading across your face. 
“Haha, you’re totally red right now,” he says, then suddenly his smile disappears as his eyes seem to focus on your face. “Wait… why are you so red right now? Are you… a virgin?”
You wince. “Is it really that obvious?” 
His face seems frozen as he stares at you. Then one eyebrow twitches. There’s an excitement in his eyes that confuses you but also gives you a little thrill. 
“You really are an angel, aren’t you?” he asks.  
**********
When the angel pulls back into the gas station, Suguru doesn’t even have to ask if she’ll drive him back to his car. She volunteers, of course. He smiles and thanks her, and heads into the store to pretend to buy some gas. 
To his surprise, Satoru is standing by the magazine rack, thumbing through an issue of Fangoria. 
“Not in any hurry, I see,” Suguru says to him. 
“I know your patterns,” Satoru shoots back. “So, how is she?”
Suguru picks up a random magazine, not even looking at the cover, and pretends to flip through it. “She’s totally innocent and naive. Kind and sweet. She has absolutely no sense of danger, but I don’t think she’s an idiot. And…”
Satoru looks up at him. “And?”
Suguru meets his eyes. “Satoru, she’s a virgin.”
Ahh, there it is. That positively depraved, monstrous gleam in Satoru’s eyes. “Oh fuck,” he says, dropping the magazine back onto the rack. “I could wreck her so bad.”
Suguru understands the appeal. The thought of ruining something so pure and so good is irresistible to people like them. An image creeps into his mind, of that innocent angel choking on Satoru’s huge cock, and he doesn’t know why it turns him on so much. Because he’s also imagining her thighs trembling on either side of his face, gasping moans spilling from her lips. 
“I better get back to work,” Suguru says. 
Satoru waves him off with a smile. He must have some kind of plan in mind, Suguru thinks. 
After buying an empty red gasoline container, Suguru returns to the car, where the angel is waiting patiently for him. She opens the trunk for him to put the gas inside, and soon they’re on the road again. 
***************
The man beside you doesn’t talk much on the drive back to his car. You wish he would. He has such a nice voice. But he smiles warmly when he catches your eye, and he has a way of putting you at ease. You hate to admit it, but you might just be developing a bit of a crush on him. 
He tells you where to pull off the road, and soon enough a car comes into view, parked in a wooded area, behind some trees. You stop your car and turn to him, feeling a little sad that it’s time to part ways. 
“Here you are! Do you need any help?”
He makes no move to get out of the car, but looks at you with an expression you could only identify as “predatory”. But on him, it just looks sexy. “I’m not in any hurry tonight,” he says, turning to face you. “Are you?”
You feel your face heating up again. And if you’re honest with yourself, you’re feeling heated in another place too. “Well my friends are waiting for these chips,” you tell him. “Do you want to come to the party with me?”
“Actually, I was hoping we could spend some time together, just you and me.”
Ohhhh. He wants to hook up. Right here in the woods. You’re not sure how you feel about that. On one hand, he’s smoking hot. You’ve been getting wetter with each passing moment that he’s been in your car. But on the other… do you really want your first time to be with a stranger? You think about it for a moment, looking at his beautiful face, inhaling his pleasant scent. 
Why not live a little? 
“Tell me your name,” you say. 
He blinks at the sudden shift in the conversation. “Huh?”
You turn in your seat to face him. “I don’t want us to be strangers.”
“Ah, I see,” he says, then he smiles. “I’m Suguru.”
You smile back. “I like that name.”  You introduce yourself and then you take a deep breath. “Okay, so what did you wanna spend time doing with me?” You know the answer, but you want to hear him say it. 
He scoots closer to you, then leans his upper half toward you. “I don’t think you can handle what I want to do with you,” he says, his voice practically dripping with honey. 
You feel a shiver run through your body. Is this really happening? Are you really going to have sex with a guy this gorgeous? That you just met? There’s something scandalous about it that thrills you. “I probably can’t,” you admit, “but you’ll take care of me, right?”
There’s fire in his eyes as he closes the distance between you, pressing his lips to yours and kissing you gently. One of his hands moves to your hair, caressing it, pulling you closer, making the kiss deeper. When his tongue slips into your mouth, you offer no resistance. After a few moments, he pulls away to look at your face. You’re breathing slightly harder than usual as you say, “Wow, that was some first kiss.”
His eyes widen. “That… was your first kiss?”
You blush. “Yeah. Thanks for making it a good one.”
All at once, as if a switch has been flipped, he’s upon you, his hands rubbing over your body, his lips on yours, then on your neck. It’s a bit overwhelming, but it feels good, and there’s a thrum of energy coursing through you. There’s no doubt in your mind that by morning, you’ll no longer be a virgin.  
And then you hear it, a strange sound, like someone breaking a large stick in the woods. You put your hands on Suguru’s shoulders and lightly push him back. “Did you hear that?”
He presses forward, nuzzling your neck. “I didn’t hear anything,” he murmurs. 
You push him with a bit more force, causing him to stop and look up at you. “There’s someone out there,” you tell him. 
He sighs. “There’s no one out in these woods. Trust me.”
You turn around in the seat, looking out all the windows. There! Someone ran by some trees! “I saw someone,” you yell, pointing toward the spot where the figure disappeared. 
He looks in the direction you pointed. “I don’t see anything.”
“It might be an elderly person who needs help!” you say, starting to open your door. 
He gives you an incredulous look. “An elderly person?”
“They had white hair!”
Suguru’s eyes flatten to unamused slits. “Ah. I see. It’s probably some asshole playing a prank. It’s Halloween after all.”
You slide out of the car. “But what if it’s not? What if some grandma got lost in the woods and needs our help? I won’t be able to relax until I check.”
A look of annoyance passes over Suguru’s face, but he quickly replaces it with a warm smile. “Okay. I’ll help you check.”
“Thanks! You’re a really great guy!”
The two of you move around the car, calling out shouts of “Hello?” and “Is anyone out there?” and even “Shout back if you need help!”
When no answer comes, you run over and open the trunk of your car with the key. “I have a flashlight in here,” you say, digging around. You push the container of gas out of your way, and you notice something strange about it. The container is so light! You reach over and pick it up, and it’s immediately clear that the container is empty. Why would it be empty? Just as the terrible, obvious answer dawns on you, Suguru appears right beside you. 
You look up at him with wide eyes. The empty gas can is still in your hands. 
His eyes shift to the can, then back to your face. “Ah, I guess the jig is up then,” he says in a casual tone. “What a pity. I really, really wanted to fuck that virgin pussy before I kill you.” 
You back away as his words sink in. You watch helplessly as he pulls your keys from the trunk lid and then dangles them in the air. Before he can take a step forward, you fling the empty gas can at him and break into a run as he knocks it out of his way. You only make it a few yards away before you realize running in stiletto heels on uneven forest ground is impossible. 
Stopping for just a moment, you tear off your shoes. When you glance back, Suguru is running toward you. In a panic, you throw the shoes at him one at a time before sprinting into the woods. 
“Ow, fuck,” you hear him shout, “you almost hit my eye!”
“Sorry!” you yell back, a reflex you couldn’t subdue. 
Branches from small trees and bushes scratch you as you flee. Your skirt gets ripped up the side, the thin, cheap fabric of your top is nearly shredded, and your cute white stockings have holes in them now, one of the bows from the top missing. You ignore all of this as you make a beeline for the road. 
You haven’t heard Suguru since you threw the shoes. No yells, no footsteps, no crunching leaves. Either he’s a very quiet pursuer or he’s got some other plan for how to catch you. Both options are terrifying. 
Finally you break free of the trees and reach the road. You scan the area for Suguru, or your own car. He could easily use it to chase you down. You see headlights approaching and you decide to take the chance that it’s not him. You run up alongside the road, waving your arms. 
The vehicle that stops in front of you is a rusty white van, but it looks like a blessing to you right now. The passenger side window rolls down and a man in sunglasses leans over from the driver’s seat. 
“You okay, miss?” 
“No, some guy is after me! I think he wants to kill me!” Your voice is a bit frantic, but you’re trying to stay as calm as possible to avoid scaring him into leaving you behind. 
He looks around as if checking for attackers. Even in your distressed state, you notice how distractingly beautiful he is. He pulls his sunglasses down and looks at you with eyes so blue you almost forget you’re in danger. “Get in,” he says with a disarming smile. “You can tell me all about it and I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
Feeling lucky to be rescued by such a charming prince, you hurry to climb into his van. You look over at him as he pulls back onto the road. “Thanks so much,” you tell him. “You saved my life!”
He grins at you. “Don’t mention it, angel!
Now where can I take you?”
You exhale as you slide down a bit in the seat, trying to decide whether to go to the police or not. You feel like the night has lasted forever, having no clue that your Halloween was only getting started. 
Tag List:
@loyal-to-my-dilf @unearthlydream @noodlejitsu @itzmeme @themonst3rqu33n
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horus-unofficial · 8 months
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So the other day I opened a storage hatch at the back of my Minotaur’s cockpit, where I’d assumed spare parts were stored, only to find a hallway inside. On further investigation, it looks like my Minotaur has an entire crew deck with about 2,500 square feet of space. It’s actually pretty nice—personal cabins, common area, medical bay, armory, showers, laundry, stocked kitchen. The kind of thing you’d see on a little freighter or something, except everything is green and has little spines and there’s occasionally decals that say things like “fuck the KTB.”
Thing is, there’s a few doors I can’t get to open no matter what codes or biometrics I input, and I’m hesitant to take a plasma torch to the locks. It’s my mech, after all—feels wrong to go cutting it up, you know? Maybe it just wants a little privacy.
I’d love to tell my lancemates so we could get some use out of the space, but I know they’ll have questions. So, is this a standard feature? I know HORUS PGs ‘mutate’ every now and then, but this pretty advanced for a quirk of evolving code. Also, do y’all have any idea about the door locks? Thanks.
mutations can get that advanced if you leave a HORUS PG to its own devices for long enough- ask the hundreds of goblins that spawned OSIRIS clones overnight when their pilots werent paying attention to the codes they had running in the background
the doors are probably locked behind puzzles. if you treat it like an escape room where the clues are all personalized to you as a person specifically you might be able to make some headway on unlocking the doors, tho thats a guess based more on our character references for the minotaur and admittedly our mechs arent exactly known for their predictability
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birb-boyo · 1 month
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The Chain as Things I Learned About the Byzantine Empire
AKA: I got a 100% on the Byzantine test so I’m making it everyone’s problem
:p @vio-starzz @shadowlinktheshadow @trippygalaxy @mushr0oms-and-m0ss @treasure-goblin
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Time
Emperor Justinian saw all these random and incoherent laws and went, “Is anyone gonna make that make sense?” And not waited for and answer
Basically, the Empire had all these laws that went for different places and people were getting confused, even himself, so he decided to end the maddness
He condensed the laws into the needed and useful ones and scrapped the “wtf??” ones
This made it easier on them and himself
Sky
So there was this guy, St. Cyril, and he was Christian and he wanted places like Russia to be Christian too
Problem was, the languages were different and it was hard to teach when they couldn’t understand you
So what did buddy old pal St. Cyril do? He made his own fucking language
It’s crazy, look up the Cyrillic alphabet I’m serious-
Warriors
They made a 14 mile long wall-
No, it’s not a Great Wall of China, but still
It was all a one wall protection unit for their capital, Constantinople(modern day Istanbul)
It was a good idea, I mean, they were on a peninsula so they only really needed to protect on side on land🤷🏽‍♂️
Wild
When Justinian was Emperor, he looked at silk and was like, “is anyone gonna steal that and make their empire rich?” And not waited for an answer🤷🏽‍♂️
Justinian was honestly the best part of the unit-
Wild is just the smuggling of the silk guys-
Wind
Wind is the Schism of Christianity
Basically, the two churches, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, hated each other
Rome, basically the capital of the ROMan Catholic church was close to being invaded, so they asked for help
They were denied help and the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic church, got pissed
So the Pope wrote to the Emperor and the Patriarch, the head of the Eastern Orthodox church
In this letter(at least I think it was a letter) the Pope basically said, “Fuck you, you’re no longer allowed to be Christian” but didn’t actually say that. The Pope just excommunicated them
So the Patriarch went, “Fuck you too, and now you’re not allowed to be Christian” and excommunicated the Pope💀💀💀
This is Wind because the two sides excommunicated each other out of spite and we know that Wind has a lot of that
Legend
Bro is the Hagia Sofia
Please look it up, it looks so pretty-
As mentioned earlier, Justinian ordered the smuggling of silk so the people who liked in the modern day Europe area didn’t have to travel all the way to China to get it
Justinian used these riches to build the Hagia Sofia
The Hagia Sofia was originally a Christian church, as Christianity was the main religion rip roman mythology
Later, the Byzantines were conquured by the Ottoman Turks, who were Muslims
The Ottomans turned the Hagia Sofia into a mosque and built those pillars you see in the picture when you see the modern version
Then, probably some 10-20 years ago, it was converted into a museum
The Hagia Sofia has been through a lot in the last, at least, 1000 years. Yet, she still stands, just like our emo rabbit boy
I can’t think of one for Twilight, Hyrule, or Four right now but if I do, I’ll make a part two
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ceo-of-sloppy-men · 6 months
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I want to pick Zevlor off the street like a stray cat, wrap him in a blanket freshly warmed and let him cry in my arms. He deserved better. Both acts he was in all he got was hurt. First he had to get help with Kahga and the goblins so that his people wouldn’t be slaughtered when they were just trying to survive. Then his people actually got slaughtered so close to the finish line, and he’s left burdened with all of that guilt. You can see it on his face when you save him: he didn’t want to be saved. He didn’t want you to pull him out of the mindflayer pod, he wanted to be left there to rot for what he did. The absolute didn’t just tempt him, it broke him into a husk of a man.
Then we’re just jarred when he shows back up with his oaths at the end. It isn’t fair. We get to see so many characters have such cathartic arcs but zevlor is missing. We see Rolan finally getting his wizard tower, Alfira and Lakrissa making their way in the world, our companions healing and growing, but not Zevlor. He was an original character from EA we spent years with him, in new saves, smiling when he’d come on screen, and all we got was two acts of pain and anguish, then a jarring ending.
I realize that time constraints and resources are a big part but this isn’t some act 2 character. This is an original early access character. We see so much for Raphael, Rolan, Dammon, Alfira, Mol - fuck even Aradin appears! Yet nothing for Zevlor, and he’s just as important as the rest of them! He gets villanized in act 2, gets the perfect set up for at the very least an act 3 quest (if not companion) and nothing. Nadda. Zilch.
Where was our Loroaken moment? Where was our Shadowheart moment? Where was our freedom moment where we could help our beloved tiefling realize he is loved? Why must we be hurt in this way? I wish he had gotten this love during early acces and part of me kicks myself for not loudly shouting about him from every roof top until launch, but this still hurts. No one needed to shout for the others. No one had to ask for Dammon or Alfira or Mol. We just got them and that was amazing. You can’t even say it’s because he was in act 2 because all the other tieflings got content there to! Hells, we get TWO new companions and a gaggle of camp npcs in act 2&3 and you’re telling me we get nothing for Zevlor in act 3. Nothing? We couldn’t even set aside a tiny quest for him?
The only thing we did get is if we didn’t find him in act 2 and that is heartbreaking. It’s not even a better option because it’s just his lifeless corpse. It feels like tossing salt in the wound. A big fat mocking laugh. I know I shouldn’t be mad and I’m not saying I hate Larian for this, but my heart aches. The only other option for him is death! You only see him in act 3 if he’s DEAD! They’ve fixed so much stuff and that’s wonderful but no one is talking about how zevlor either disappears or just dies. Karlach is getting a fix, there’s dataminded evidence of Halsin getting more content, we get character customization mid game, people are calling for a Minthara fix, and that’s wonderful they’re listening. I just wish I could be loud enough to be heard as well.
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