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nanamin-3 · 2 years

Text

Serendipity. 5

as two childhood friends are reunited, they are presented with a proposition that will tie them together for good. Will they be able to remember the feelings of their youth, or will time have taken its toll and made irreparable changes to each of them?

pairing - sukuna/ f. reader

genre - arranged marriage, unrequited love, modernAU, 18+

warnings - profanity, explicit language, suggestive smut, handjob, blowjob, vaginal sex, creampie, angst, fluff, death, violence, ooc sukuna (?) [I like to think he's secretly soft for his love]

Part. 4

a/n : halfways (ish) there!

as always, feedback is loved here <3

You closed your eyes, your head spinning at the alcohol you had consumed and at Hakari’s confession. His look wavered at your silence, but ever the determined individual, he began pulling you closer. He brought his hand up to your face and caressed your cheek with his thumb tenderly, “Y/N you don’t have to say anything right now but know that I love you and no matter what happens, I will always be there for you.”

As he muttered these words, he began inching closer, and as he was about to kiss you, you heard a curse behind you. “Kinji, what the fuck do you think you’re doing.” Feeling a shock through your spine, you straightened and pulled your hands from Hakari’s. As if on cue, you felt his hand grab the back of your dress and pull you back.

Looking up, you saw Sukuna’s back, and him shaking in anger. You tried to tell him to back off but could not find your voice. You were a little drunk and hated yourself at not having shut down Hakari much sooner, but while you cared for him as a friend, did not believe you could have feelings for someone else until you figured out this thing with Sukuna once and for all.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing with my wife?” Sukuna’s fists clenched and unclenched dangerously, and you knew you had to deescalate the situation quick. With a sardonic laugh, Hakari walked closer to him, coming face to face with Sukuna. “You don’t deserve her, man. Anyone can see how much she suffers because of you, you’re fine with that? She’s too good of a person to tell you anything but there are other people that care about her.”

The aura around Sukuna turned somehow even deadlier, and he brought his hands up to grab Hakari’s jacket and shook him harshly. “Know your place, fool,” Sukuna sneered, “you know nothing about her and mine’s relationship. Shut your mouth before I kick your ass.”

With a light chuckle, Hakari grabbed Sukuna’s hands and pulled them off him. “In that case she must know what a piece of shit you are, and how you bring disaster anywhere you go.” You frowned. Even though Sukuna and you were currently not living together, it bothered you that Hakari was saying these things to him, especially at seeing Sukuna stiffen at the last accusation.

“Hakari, stop. I’m sorry if I gave any indication that I felt any differently than our friendship…b-but I’m married and you’re my friend,” you felt tears rolling down your face already. Turning to look at you, Hakari smiled warmly at you, “I mean everything I said. I love you and I am there when you need me.”

At this, a loud thud sounded throughout the gardens and as if in slow motion, you saw Sukuna’s fist connect with Hakari’s jaw, sending him crashing to the ground. You gasped, and as you were leaning over to check on him, Sukuna turned on his heel and grabbed your hand, pulling you with him. Turning to look at Hakari, you saw him standing, and he shook his head, assuring you he was fine with a quick nod. You turned to look at Sukuna, trying to keep up with him with his long strides and fast pace. It was all so much harder in your heels and I he roared state.

“S-slow down. I can’t run with these shoes right now. And w-where are we going? I’m heading home.” Sukuna stopped, and for the first time it seemed that he really was seeing you. Turning to look at you, he fixed his grip on your wrist and said as if it was the most obvious thing ever, “we’re going home. You’re coming with me.”

Upset, you looked around the garden to see if there was anyone around. You began pulling your hand from His grip, trying to head back into the hotel. “N-no. I want to go to my place; I don’t want to be with you right now.” You kept pulling your hand from his, but it made no difference. Sukuna was much stronger than you, so the only one putting any real effort was you. “Stop acting like this you brat. You’re coming with me. This being apart is enough, I’m taking you to our home. Your place is with me.”

At this, you felt all the rage you had tried to keep bottled up spill and spread throughout your body. You had needed these words and assurance from earlier on. Why did he feel that he could just say this, and you would come running back? What’s more, you felt furious and stupid at knowing that you were so in love with him that as soon as he said those words, you’d forgive everything and the emotional neglect and go back to him.

Knowing you were not strong enough to pull away from him or move him, you still began pulling your hand from his grip. “So, when someone shows the slightest interest in me, that’s when you decide that you want me with you?” Sukuna’s eyes widened at your state. “Y/n- “a loud sob escaped from you as you continued to pull at him. “Just leave me alone, go find Yuki. She’s so much prettier and obviously better than me! Marry her, fuck her, just be with her and leave me alone!” As you continued your tirade, Sukuna tried to grab your other hand and growled, “I told you I never fucked her when I married you. Why are- “with your tears flowing freely now, you turned to look at him and brought your free hand to beat on his chest. “I don’t care about that! You went to her and talked to her about us, your problems, everything. I wanted you to trust me, want to confide in me. If you c-couldn’t love me, a-at least I wanted us to b-be friends and have you trust me more than anything.”

While your outburst had made you feel as if weeks of tension were lifted off your shoulders, you suddenly felt exhausted, and noticed that you were leaning heavily on Sukuna. He had let go of your hand, and had his hands lightly wrapped around you. “I’m sorry,” you muttered, sniffing loudly, and closing your eyes. “No, y/n. I’m sorry.” You both stayed like that for a couple of more second before you turned to walk away. Before you could get far, you felt his hand close around your wrist, and before you could argue, he pulled you towards him as he pulled you up and carried you over his shoulder.

“W-what are you doing! Let me go, I d-don’t want to go with you!” You wriggled around and began flailing around. Even though you were trying your best to have him drop you, his iron grip around your legs never wavered. You continued kicking your legs as best you could when you noticed Sukuna was walking towards a side door. With a quick knock, it was opened, and you saw Uraume usher the two of you in. “Hi Uraume,” you muttered, as you landed a kick to Sukuna’s ribs. With glee, you noticed his sharp intake of breath. “Hi Ms. Y/N, I-I’m sorry about this.”

With a wave of your hand, you assured him it was t your fault as you thought of something. You tried raising your head, but with your upside-down position and constant swinging instantly made you almost throw up. “Uraume, can you please find Shoko and tell her I’m with him?” You saw Uraume shift nervously, when Sukuna nodded, “go ahead. If she needs anything tell her to call me.”

As Uraume bowed and quickly ran off, you began to feel more nauseous. “Sukuna, please let me down.” With a chuckle, he began heading up some stairs. “No way doll, you’ll just try to get away.” As he continued to go up the stairs, your frustration began to bubble up again. “All I’ve asked is for you to trust me. This is uncomfortable and… w-why can’t you just trust me!” With renowned energy, you began flailing around again as Sukuna opened a side door and began walking down a new hallway.

“I h-hate you. So much,” you quietly sobbed as you hear Sukuna scan something and open a door. You could see that you were in one of the suites, and as he made his way to the bedroom, you continued to quietly sob, clutching fistfuls of his jacket.

Sukuna came to a stop, placing you carefully down. You knew you should have instantly left, walked away, but you had missed him. You had missed his warmth, his smell, and his sure hands, making you feel safe. Even if he had never told you he loved you, you liked to think he felt a semblance of something similar with his actions.

You felt his hand on the small of your back, his other hand on the back of your head pulling you to him, stroking your hair tenderly. “I really want to be with you, I know everything is so fucked up right now, but please come back to me.” You whimpered at his words, feeling your heart squeeze. Your hands came up to clutch at his lapels. “Do you really hate me little one?”

You quickly shook your head, nuzzling into him. Instantly, his arms tightened around you. “I should, but I don’t. I can’t.” You shuffled around and removed your ring, grabbing his hand and handing it to him. His eyes widened in fear, making you remember when you were kids, and how scared he would be whenever his father would yell at him. “Why are you taking this off?”

As you began to take a step back, he quickly walked towards you, eyes still wide with fear. “Sukuna, we can’t keep doing this to each other. You don’t want to be with me, I can’t give you what you need. It’s better if we go our separate ways, I-it’s better if we stop putting so much pressure on us.” You tried to keep walking back, but Sukuna reached out to grab your hand. “P-please, it’s okay. It will be hard at first, but we’ll be better down the road. I will talk to your father and say I asked for this.”

“So, you lied? When you said you loved me?” Your eyes widened in surprise, why was he bringing this up? “N-no I didn’t lie, but this is not good for either of us- “as you were about to continue, you stopped talking once you saw Sukuna drop down to his knees and pull you towards him.

“Please don’t leave me,” he pleaded, wrapping his arms around your waist, and burying his face against your belly, “please stay with me, be with me y/n.” You panicked. While you had known Sukuna pretty much your whole life, you had never seen him show such explicit emotion. “G-get up, it’s okay. It’ll be f-fine Sukuna.” He hugged you tighter, and you heard his voice break, “you don’t even believe that.”

You leaned down, wrapping your arms around his shoulders, and tried getting him to stand. After coaxing him some more, he finally decided to stand up, but continued holding on to you. “You’re my best friend Y/N, and I know you don’t believe me but if you stay with me, I will make you believe it. My biggest mistake was leaving and not staying with you all those years back. I trust you wholeheartedly.”

He brought his hands up to your face, caressing your cheeks with his thumbs. Looking into your eyes one last time, he leaned in and kissed you.

You tried to remain strong in your resolve, but Your heart won out in the struggle, and how could you reject him when his lips slotted perfectly against yours? With a wanton moan, you threw your arms around his neck, pressing as close to him as possible. Sukuna’s hands explored your body hungrily, as if to remember the planes of your body after spending time apart. Walking you back towards the bed until the back of your knees pressed against it, he lowered you carefully as you two continued kissing, a clash of teeth and tongues.

He pulled back to look at you. His cock stirred, pressing uncomfortably against his slacks at your flushed face and swollen lips from kissing and crying. He hated himself at seeing your red rimmed eyes, but his insides pooled with warmth at seeing the love filled gazed you looked at him with. “W-what’s wrong?” You whispered. With a smile, Sukuna shook his head, leaning down to peck your lips. “You’re beautiful y/n.” You flushed in embarrassment, turning your head. He gingerly grabbed your jaw, turning you to look at him and kissed the tip of your nose, then kissed your lips, once, twice before capturing your lips against his and slipping his tongue into your mouth.

Sukuna began to kiss down your neck and down to your chest. Nipping at your skin through the tule on your dress. Carding your fingers through his soft, pink locks, you arched your back as he made his way down to your core. Pulling the skirt of your dress up, he began bunching the fabric around you, and seeing your lacy black panties, pressed a soft kiss on your mound. He looked up at you and you quickly nodded, leaning back on your elbows.

Peeling your panties off, he began trailing kisses on your inner thigh, caressing the other one. As you squirmed, you could feel your slick pooling at the entrance of your cunt, incredibly aroused. Embarrassed at feeling so sensitive so fast, you involuntarily canted your hips up, causing Sukuna to chuckle. “S-sorry,” you whimpered. You felt his hands come up to your cunt, his thumbs spreading your lips open and pressing a kiss to your clit. “Don’t apologize doll. I would be buried in you all day if I could. Pressing another kiss to your clit, he licked a stripe up your cunt and latched on to your bud, sucking and flicking his tongue.

“Ahh. S-Sukuna, pl… ngh!” You whimpered loudly, feeling your eyes roll to the back of your head as Sukuna inserted two fingers into you, scissoring and prepping you for him. His ministrations did not stop, he continued to suck at your clit like a starved man, while his fingers where now rubbing at that sponge y spot inside of you. You could feel warmth pulling in the pit of your stomach, your toes clenching as you felt your orgasm crashing over you, an over whelming amount of pleasure coasting all throughout your spine. As you tried to calm you breathing down, Sukuna got up from his place between your legs and looked down at you. With your hair in disarray and smudged makeup he had never found you more beautiful.

He smiled at you, and quickly got up to remove his jacket and shirt. As he moved to remove his belt, you quickly got up and placed your hands over his. “M-may I?” You quietly asked. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it, but with sure hands you quickly unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants. Before you could lose your edge, you dropped his pants and began palming his hard cock over his boxers. Sukuna hissed, and with a sharp intake of breath, he shut his eyes tight. “Fuck doll- that feels good.” Without looking at him, you hooked your fingers on the elastic and began pulling them down. As you were about to free his cock, he gently held one wrist with his large hand and with the other placed a finger under your jaw, turning your head up to look at him.

“While I would love to fuck your mouth, you don’t have to do this doll.” You quickly shook your head, speaking with more confidence than what you felt, “I want to. I’ve never d-done this though, so I’m sorry if I’m bad.” A smirk spread over Sukuna’s face as he leaned in to peck your forehead, “we have a lifetime to practice.”

With that last reassurance, you grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bed. Pushing him to sit down, you quickly brought your hands to the back of your dress to unzip it. Pooling at your feet, you quickly stepped to the side, and realizing you had not worn a bra, you were now naked with just your heels on. Looking back at Sukuna, you saw him shift impatiently, but giving you your time. The look he was giving you, though, made you clench instantly, and you could feel your slick pooling at your entrance again.

Stepping out of your heels, you quickly walked towards him and kneeled in front of him. Hooking your fingers in the elastic once more, you began to pull his boxers down. Sukuna raised his hips, and once you had freed his cock, it smacked against his hard stomach with a soft thwap.

His size always surprised you, even if you both had already slept together. You see a bead of pre on his tip, with shaky hands you run your thumb over his slit, smearing it across his cock. You pump him a few more times and after seeing him shudder in pleasure, you run your tongue across his slit slowly. With a low groan, Sukuna shuts his eyes and throws his head back. Your confidence building, you take him in your mouth, as far as you can. When you feel close to your limit, you leave him in your mouth a few second before coming up for air.

You see Sukuna breathing heavy, and with newfound confidence, you run your tongue along the thick vein underneath his shaft and around the bulbous head. You take him in once more, and bob your head up and down, your hand squeezing lightly at where you cannot reach him, your other hand fondling his balls lightly. You took him once more as far as you could go, feeling him in the back of your throat. Humming, you turned to look at Sukuna, whose eyes were squeezed shut. You began bobbing your head up and down once more, feeling him twitch inside of you.

Running your tongue along his shaft, you felt Sukuna’s hand card through your hair, and before you knew it, he had pulled you off him. Confused, you were about to ask him if you had done anything wrong, when you saw him pump his cock a few times and warm spurts of cum began coating your tits. Before you could say anything else, Sukuna leaned down, kissing you passionately, and pulling you into his arms. You flung your arms around his neck, trying to get as close to him as possible. Your pebbled nipples rubbed against his chest, causing you to moan into his mouth, and as you grind lightly against him, you felt his still hard cock rub against your lower stomach.

As you continued kissing, Sukuna flipped the two of you, laying you down gently and pressing you down with his body. You brought one hand down to stroke his dick lightly, as he began nipping at your jaw. Moving lower, he began kissing your breasts lovingly, leaving purple and red marks on his path. Sukuna left one last mark, then took in a pebbled nipple in his mouth. Swirling his tongue around the bud, his other hand came up to twist and pull at your other breast, not satisfied until it was a pointed peak.

As you arched your back to press your breasts against him, you increased the pressure on his cock, and feeling your release close you whimpered. “I-I’m close, darling.”

At the loving pet name, Sukuna released you instantly, and leaned up to look at you. You were about to complain, when you felt him press the tip of his leaking cock against your clit. “I want to feel you cream around my dick baby. And I’m sorry I surprised you there, but if I’m going to cum again, I’m going to cum inside of you,” and before you could say anything, he sheathed himself in you in one thrust.

Giving you a few moments to adjust, he nuzzled into your neck, pressing open mouthed kisses along your pulse point. Once you felt your fluttering hole adjust a bit more to him, you expected him to begin moving erratically, but where surprised when Sukuna began grinding his hips against you slowly, sensually. He cupped your jaw with his large hand and turned you so he could look into your eyes as he fucked into you slowly.

As he kept grinding into you, he pressed his forehead against yours and looked at you lovingly. With his other hand, he brought it down between the two of you and began rubbing tight circles on your sensitive, puffy clit. You whimpered at the overstimulation, loud moans bubbling out of you. You felt your release nearing again, and Sukuna felt it too, at the way your body began to tense once more.

“Are you close doll?” You could only nod, tears beginning to gather at your lash line. While you had already had sex with Sukuna, this time felt different. This felt like he truly cared about you and was trying to convey everything he couldn’t tell you this way. All you had wanted was to feel this closeness and being needed from him, and feeling as if he truly loved you, your orgasm washed over you, overwhelmingly stronger than you had felt before.

Sukuna continued rubbing circles on your clit, still rolling his hips into your abused hole. But as you brought your hands up to hug him closer to you, his breathing became raged and with a few more pumps, you felt the too familiar warm ropes of fun painting your insides. As the two of you continued breathing heavy, you brought one hand up to run your nails up and down his scalp. He pressed a fast kiss on your lips and leaned into your neck to muzzle into you.

You didn’t know how long you remained in that position, but it felt right. As Sukuna’s Cock became flaccid, you could feel his cum seeping it of your hole. Pulling out of you slowly, he quickly got up and walked over to the bathroom. You sat up, and before you could get up, he came back with a damp cloth and began cleaning you up. As he ran the towel over your breasts, he cleared his throat. “We can go home, or if you’re too tired we can just stay here.”

You felt the wave of exhaustion wash over you, the adrenaline of the whole situation long gone. “We can stay here if it’s okay with you.” His head snapping to look at you, you smiled and leaned into him, pressing your cheek against his shoulder. “O-okay.” He quickly tossed the towel onto a nearby chair, and pulling you to him, covered the two of you with a blanket.

A thought did pop into your head, preventing you from falling asleep. “How did you have this room ready.” You felt Sukuna shift uncomfortably behind you. Your heart began to stop, thinking that he might have gotten this room for him and someone else. “I already had this plan to drag you here so we could talk. We would be leaving together no matter what in my head,” he said as he pulled pins out of your hair. “I didn’t count on Hakari confessing his love for you,” he added petulantly. You could hear the pout in his voice. Giggling softly, you turned in his arms to look up at him, “for now let’s sleep. We can talk tomorrow, yeah?”

Smiling, Sukuna nodded, and pressing a quick kiss to your lips, shut the light off.

The next morning, you began stirring, feeling too hot. As you opened your eyes, you noticed you were on Sukuna’s chest. Blinking rapidly, you tried to not move a lot in case he was still asleep. As you settled on his chest once more, you noticed your ring was back in your left hand. As you brought your hand closer, you heard a soft hum reverberating under you. “I hope you don’t mind, I put it on last night.”

You turned to look at him, resting your cheek against him. “It’s okay, I was planning to ask you for it.” Smiling, he ran his finger along your jaw. “Uraume came by this morning, you only had your dress, so he dropped some clothes off for the two of us. We can have breakfast here or back home; I know I promised you a conversation.”

Nodding, you began to get up, Sukuna following behind you. The two of you were still naked, which made you flush instantly. As you walked over to the bathroom, you felt Sukuna following closely behind you. As you turned on the water, he stood behind you, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

As you were about to get in, he cleared his throat, “Mind if I jump in with you?” You smiled, trying not to look at his body, but failing miserably, “s-sure, come on in.” With a smile, he followed in behind you. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything. I’m sure you want to get home already, and if we start, we’ll just stay here another night.”

Your thighs clenched instantly at his words, something not missed by him. With a chuckle, he began to wash his hair as you started to wash your body. While he was right, in that you wanted to go home already, you enjoyed having sex with Him, and being in closed quarters with him, made you throb with need. Besides, you couldn’t help but wonder how it would be to have shower sex with him.

Before you could jump him, you finished showering and hoped out, Sukuna following close behind. Both of you changed, exchanging a few words. Once ready, you gathered your things and headed down to the lobby, where Sukuna asked the valet for his car. Soon, both of you were on the way to your home. As Sukuna parked in the garage, you both got off and headed towards the elevator. As you waited for the right floor, Sukuna shifted nervously from foot to foot. He never acted like this, so you figured he was nervous for whatever reason. As the doors opened to your floor and Sukuna opened the door for you, you quickly dropped your bag in the table near the entrance, removing your shoes and walking towards the living room.

Deciding it was best if you were not close to him while you talked, you sat in the armchair near the window. Sukuna had followed you in and sat across from you in the couch. Looking at him expectantly, you brought your clenched hands to rest on your lap. “I know that when I asked you to marry me, you were confused. There are various reasons why I wanted to marry you, but I can assure you it was never to take advantage of you Y/N.” He ran his hands through his hair, seemingly nervous to open up to you.

“When I said that I would never cheat on you, I meant it. Yuki was an ex…well, she can’t even be called that. We never officially dated, just…slept together but all of that stopped long before I planned to ask you to marry me.”

“I understand why you’re hurt; you feel like I don’t trust you or don’t want to confide in you,” Sukuna paused, taking a deep breath, “but it’s nothing like that. I would trust you with my life. I just am trying to not drag you into my shit.” Leaning forward, Sukuna rested his elbows on his knees, covering his face with his hands. You almost went to him, but stopped yourself, you were somewhat getting the answers you had been looking for.

“I know how you felt before about me…feel, still,” he continued. “And I want you to know that you were always the most important person for me growing up. Every single second I spent with you was the best. If you’re worried you don’t have my…affection, don’t be. My heart has always been yours. I know that you’re probably more confused than before, but I’m trying to protect you from my bullshit. Please, just trust me.”

You were conflicted. Knowing Sukuna all your life, you knew when he was being sincere and when he was lying. You knew he was being sincere as he was never big in showing his real emotions throughout his life. He seemed scared of you leaving and knowing that he was open to telling you the reason for his change made you feel somewhat relieved. Standing, you walked over to him, and kneeling in front of him, you cradled his face with your hands, pressing your forehead against his.

“Your problems became mine the moment we got married. I’ll be waiting for you to be ready to tell me what is going on, but for now, all I ask is for you to tell me anytime you need me.” Eyes glassing over, he placed his hands over your own, nodding and kissing you deeply. As you pulled away, you ran your nose along his, and standing up, quickly brushed a stray tear from your eye. “Now, what do you want for breakfast?” With a smile, he stood and followed behind you as you walked over to the kitchen, “at this point anything. It got ugly while you were not here.” Smiling, you began to prepare breakfast as Sukuna sat at the bar and proceeded to tell you everything you had missed while you had been away.

The next morning you woke earlier than usual. You noticed a Sukuna’s heavy arm draped over your waist. Giggling softly, you carefully removed yourself from his embrace and got up to get ready for the day. After a quick shower and putting your clothes on for the day, you noticed Sukuna was still asleep, and being early you headed to the kitchen to make some breakfast and a bento for Sukuna. After packing everything up, you heard the bedroom door opening and Sukuna’s footsteps heading your way. “Morning doll,” he muttered, voice still heavy with sleep. He walked over to you, pressing a quick kiss to your lips. “Sounds like you had a restful night,” you said, smiling.

“Best night in weeks, honestly,” Sukuna said as he bit into his toast. Smiling, you quickly went for your bag and quickly came back to eat breakfast with your husband. Later, as you were both heading out the door, you turned to Sukuna sheepishly. “Sorry to assume, but will you be driving me to work?” With a grin, he grabbed into your hand and led you to his car, opening the door for you and ushering you in. After a quick drive, he pulled to the front of your office and leaned over the console to grab your neck and pull you towards him, “I hope you don’t mind I can’t walk you in today doll, but there’s a meeting I have to head to. Mm… I can be a little late if you want though.”

You instantly felt heat pooling at the pit of your stomach. Shaking your head slightly, you smiled, “No, I understand. I’ll see you after work,” and leaned in to press a quick kiss to his lips. As you were about to pull away, Sukuna’s grip on your neck tightened slightly and he pulled you back in. He began kissing you feverishly, you with the same enthusiasm. As your kissing began escalating, he bit your lower lip lightly, making you whimper, and he slipped his tongue into your mouth.

As you continued kissing and tongues sloppily caressing each other, you pulled away before things escalated more. Rubbing your nose against his, you shakily said, “you better go now, or you’ll be late. I don’t want you to get in trouble on my accord.” With a smirk, he let go of you and ran his thumb across your lip. “We’ll continue this later at home, we do gotta make up for lost time.” Instantly blushing, you quickly gathered your things and got off the car. Before you could close the door though, you head Sukuna calling out your name. Turning, you looked at him. “I’m glad your back home doll, back with me Y/N.” With wide eye, you nodded and closed the door. As Sukuna drove away, you waved, and once you were no longer able to see his car, you walked into your office.

As you made your way into your building, you quickly shut the door to your office, hoping to get some work done quietly, when the door slammed open. “What the hell happened last night! Are you okay?” Shoko whispered loudly, making her way around your desk to stand in front of you. After making sure the door was closed, you pulled her over to the couch.

“Everything is fine, I moved back in with him and we had a good conversation,” you said. The frown in Shoko’s face let you know she did not believe you. “O-okay. I know that makes you happy, so I’m happy, but why did I see Hakari with a busted lip this morning? And also, I saw that whore Yuki yesterday. So trashy," Shoko muttered, "Do I need to kick her ass still?” Eyes widening, you cursed inwardly. After all the events of last night and this morning, you had completely forgotten about Sukuna decking Hakari.

“Geez, I dont want to think about her right now, she's not important. But, fuck, do you know if Hakari is in yet?” Shoko looked at you worriedly, “he said he had some on site meetings today, so he won’t be in until later or maybe until tomorrow depending on how they go. What happened Y/N?” Shutting your eyes and rubbing your temples slightly, you groaned, “last night Hakari said he was in love with me and wanted to know if I would consider him. Basically, Sukuna heard and after some back and forth, punched him.”

Since this had been the longest you had ever heard Shoko being quiet, you quickly turned to look at her. With wide eyes, she looked at you and whistled lowly, “Geez, so much happened yesterday. What are you going to do?” You knew you owed him to have a conversation with him. Even though he was such an amazing employee, you had to realize it was possible he would be uncomfortable working for you and would ask to leave. While that was a possibility that would be a huge blow to your company, you saw him as a good friend first and would take that chance stead you took Advantage of him.

“I need to tell him it is not going to happen, even if I was not with Sukuna,” you said quietly. Nodding, Shoko quickly brought her hand over yours and squeezed reassuringly. Clearing her throat, she quickly got up and brushed her pants, “well, all we can do now is work, we have a meeting in 5 minutes to discuss the upcoming quarter, so let’s go.”

With a smile, you quickly stood up and followed her out into the hall and into the conference room. As you took your seat at the head of the table, others quickly began filing in. After a few pleasantries, one of the executives, Nanami, began his presentation. You had always enjoyed Nanami’s presentations, you never found them boring, always concise and to the point. For some reason today, you were not able to focus. You suddenly began to feel dizzy, and your vision began to blur. Closing your eyes, you tried to breathe in deeply to calm yourself. “Do you need to step out Y/n?” Nanami’s voice jolted your eyes open. “No, sorry. Please, continue,” you smiled tightly. Looking at you worriedly, Nanami’s lips set in a thin line as he continued. Stealing a glance at you, Shoko worriedly whispered over to you, “step out, I will take over.”

You quickly shook your head, flashing a smile at her. Shoko frowned, but new not to press you right now. As the presentation continued, you began to feel dizzier, and your ears began to ring. Once Nanami finished and the usual post presentation questions were done, you got up to deliver a few remarks when your vision suddenly began spotting. All you could remember was Shoko’s yelp of worry as everything went dark around you.

Sukuna walked into the cafe, and after a nod to the owner, headed towards the back. Sure enough, Hakari was sitting there, scrolling through his phone. “I didn’t think you’d come Hakari,” said Sukuna, pulling out a chair. “Well, how could I say no to an old classmate?”

With a hum, Sukuna began clenching his hands. “You know what I want to talk to you about,” Sukuna said drily. Taking a sip of his coffee, Hakari turned to look at him drily, “you know how I feel. I know how she feels. I don’t give a fuck how you feel. What else is there to talk about?” Sighing, Sukuna rubbed his eyes, “By the way, I’m sorry about that.” Nodding towards Hakari’s busted lip, Hakari smiled. “I know you well enough to know when you’re lying.” With a chuckle, Sukuna shook his head. “I’m sorry, only because I know it bothered Y/N, but in my opinion, you deserved it. Maybe I should apologize to her about it. Also, I came to talk to you as a man. To ask you to leave her alone.”

Scoffing, Hakari leaned back on his chair. “Please Sukuna, I hear how she suffers because of you. I see how it brings her down that you don’t give her the love she needs. Even if you have known each other since you were children, do you think that old friendship is the only thing that can keep the two of you together? Don’t you think she needs love and affection from you, the person she loves the most? I know that she does not love me, but I want to give her that option when you inevitably break her heart, and she realizes you don’t love her.”

Sukuna stared at Hakari, mulling over his words. He understood where he was coming from, but he didn’t know your history together. Sighing, Sukuna leaned forward, trying to choose his words carefully. “I love Y/N. I love her more than I can fathom Kinji. I am an idiot for not having told her this before, I was just hoping I made it obvious enough. I will love her for the rest of my days, making sure I am worthy of her, but if I have to fight you again for her, I will do that.”

Hakari looked at Sukuna with wide eyes, never imagining he’d sat those words. Noticing he was staring at his phone strangely, he decided to end this meeting as soon as possible. He still had one last concern though. “I can respect that. But with this new start, will you tell Y/N you’re the reason her parents passed away?”

Hearing those words made the usually sure Sukuna blanched, all color draining from his face. As he was reminded of the reason why he had tried to keep Y/N at arm’s length, his phone kept buzzing. Trembling, he picked up the call. “Ieiri, right now is not a go- “Hakari frowned. Something must have happened for Shoko to call Sukuna directly. He knew it was not work related, so it had to be about Y/N for her to be calling him with how much she disliked him.

Sukuna felt lightheaded. He never imagined his world would come crumbling so easily down. At Shoko’s next words, Sukuna felt despair he had not felt in very long. “Shut up and listen to me. Y/N is in the hospital.”

taglist

@doulcha @utena-akashiya @lilithlunas @missalienqueen @okkotsufav @theuselesscharacter @downbadfor2dmen @thequeenreaders @warrior-of-justice @sukunasfirstlove

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kicktwine · 1 year

Note

HEY. HEY PLEASE ELABORATE ON BLAINE IN SPRAWL. HEY

so imagine something for me

Imagine a REALLY big robot, like many many skyscrapers tall, on a desert planet, very very old and grown over, but alive, and it has water and electricity for you for free so long as you keep it alive and happy. You build your society around it and keeping it alive because it is not that hard to do, it just needs someone to pilot it, so someone goes and pilots it (and that door stays shut for two hundred and forty seven years, and we all pretend we’re not worried about that because the electricity still runs), and you get water and crops going (in the desert!) and power and a livable house.

Two hundred and forty seven years later, the power shuts down.

The pilot is dead (you bury her and someone grave-robs years later and she hasn’t rotted at all). The big robot needs another, it can't run without someone in the driver's seat. But it doesn’t want some random guy. It wants its pilot back. It nearly kills the person you send to take that position temporarily because it understands how to work with Its pilot, Its friend, not him. It doesn't understand. You need its pilot.

You cannot perform necromancy, but you can cheat to survive. Thousands of years later society still runs on this infinite renewable energy robo-god, but we have figured out that in order for it to run, the pilot must be willing to give up the rest of their life. The pilot must be capable of handling the neural load of a million-ton synthetic system. And! Most importantly! The pilot must act exactly according to script.

That’s not great PR. Let’s only publicize the noble parts, okay? You could make a religion out of this. You do. It becomes tangled when they realize you can use it to justify some things.

You are now Brain. You’re in the program that trains pilots with your friends, you’ve been a disciple for at least ten of your eighteen years, and you are very good at what you all do! You’re proud of yourself. Even if you don’t become Candidate, the pilot, even if you don’t make it there since there’s only one of those every few hundred years, you’re on track to becoming a Foreteller, one of the actual leaders of society (Candidacy is an important, but ultimately figurehead, position. Pilots don’t legislate, really). You all go through the graduation process to the next class up and receive chips that will allow you to converse directly with the big robot — the Divine, let’s call it by Its title.

And then everyone else in your class seems to hear something you don’t.

Let’s get this clear; you can hear when It says “stop”. You can hear when your trainer says stop. But you don’t have to stop, when you hear it. Your friends will stop when commanded. Something went wrong, with you.

This whole agency and self-determination thing sends you into a spiral and you are determined to keep the fact that you’re 100% your own person to your darn self as long as possible.

(Your friends are fine. They’re not mindless, that’s cruel. Remember: a pilot is a person, but a person acting according to a script. Foretellers, which you will be if you’re lucky, are people acting according to their wills. You are playing dangerous games).

You have to leave. You have to leave a place there is no leaving because everyone chose to be here, everyone knows what’s happening, everyone is fine with it. You have to leave a place where the only way to leave at this point in your journey is to die. You should have left last week. You didn’t know last week.

You, however, are very, very smart. You are a clever, lucky, stubborn brat.

You leave.

It’s a long story. It involves convincing your friends to come with you without getting the deity or your trainers involved. It involves a loooooot of secrecy and quite a bit of learning code, surprisingly. You need to make your friends hear what you hear, which means making their chips work like yours. But you leave, in a mech you had one of your friends hijack for you (he’s useful, even if he’s a little spacey these days, he’s a class above you and having deity in your head 24/7 is a little disorienting, you imagine, and suddenly hanging up the phone a bit more so).

And then you crash.

There’s other cities, aside from yours, that don’t appreciate a military vehicle flying straight into them. You were going to leave the planet, but escaping the sights of a very large robot is very hard, even if you left while it was asleep. It’s not anyone’s fault, it almost worked. So you crash, angry at yourself, and your friends are gone, and you will die, but.

But.

The one who finds you wants what you have. What he wants, he says, is to let everyone hear what you do. What he wants is to carry out what is basically revenge on your behalf. (What he wants is to show the world you had been following a false god. That you don’t need to do any of this, really, he knows the truth, he can show you, you can show everyone. You are dying though. You don’t stick around for the details). All you have to do is give up the thing in your head.

You have yourself a deal. You die. You haunt.

#Brain's theme song in this au is Sirens by Bear Ghost!#ask #anon #sprawl au

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late-to-the-magnus-archives · 1 year

Text

In today's fic news, everybody needs therapy.

It's surprisingly rough to be in Arthur's head, sometimes. Go figure; an Englishman from the 30s isn't great at processing emotional things.

Whodathunk.

(I started this BEFORE Malevolent #30 came out, so you're just going to have to accept divergence from canon therafter.)

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

Arthur Lester, private eye, home to a renegade piece of the King in Yellow, and maker of truly unwise deals, steps off the train into Grand Central Station and almost immediately falls down.

He’s more banged up than he was getting on the train than getting off it. But he survived.

He always survives.

“Excuse me, so sorry,” he says to people he can’t see, smiling in the bland way they expect a soft-spoken Brit to sound, smiling to distract from the fact that he looks half-starved, that part of one ear is gone, that his throat was raggedly cut and isn’t fully healed.

Appearances are most of the battle.

Careful, says John in his head. The platform is crowded.

And his voice is the King’s, but his tone is not.

Arthur could never confuse them. He’s pretty sure, anyway. “Yes, I can tell,” he murmurs. “We should, at least, blend in better because of it.”

Lots of people here talking to themselves? says John with more than a little amusement.

“You’d be surprised,” Arthur says, pushing forward.

Keep to your left. The people in line to get on are on the right.

Arthur runs into someone again. “Oh, goodness, I am terribly sorry.”

Your other left, Arthur.

It feels like throngs of people, all woolly heat and sweat and cologne. Thick winter clothes scratch at his hand, and broad-brimmed hats hit his face too near his blinded eyes.

Arthur doesn’t like how this triggers his fight-instinct (“flight” having broken its neck like an unfortunate rabbit some time ago). He knows these people are just living their lives. He knows they’re not after him.

It still takes effort not to punch his way through.

It’s so crowded, Arthur.

“It’ll get better once we’ve left the station. The only way out is through, my friend,” says Arthur.

If you turn left - other left - there’s a door out. Finally.

“Yes, finally,” murmurs Arthur, and steps out of the station and into the cold.

The city is noisy. Car horns, so many voices, buskers playing not too far away.

Arthur sighs with relief. “At last.”

Oh, Arthur! says John the moment he gets a glimpse of Manhattan.

Arthur knows. Remembers what he used to see.

Will never see again.

The pull of bitterness is strong today, probably because he’s tired; but the fact is that when John had been taken, and Arthur had crawled, broken and bleeding, through the snow, he had not gotten his sight back.

His sight was gone. Whatever happened when John took up residence, it was never coming back.

Arthur doesn’t know how he’s going to resume life after this, if there was an after. Blind private investigators weren’t in much demand.

And like hell was he ever going back to music.

“Like it?” he says.

Arthur, it’s like no city I’ve ever seen!

“Tell me.” The city is bizarre without his sight. There is a lot more garbage than he remembered.

It’s… amazing. The buildings tower over us, Arthur. We’re all like ants, scurrying around beneath giants who barely see us underfoot. Everything is dirty, and everything is alive; the snow lies in soot-stained piles against the curb, and people move quickly, like they have the most important place in the world to be. Their faces, Arthur… they’re all vibrant, focused. Not all happy, but so… determined.

“That’s how I remember it,” Arthur says, keeping his voice low, though he suspects he doesn’t really need to. “Is anyone looking at us at all?”

Not even a little.

Arthur laughs. “We should have come here sooner. A city full of madmen, and we fit right in.”

He’s walking, perhaps, a pinch faster than is wise, but he trusts John to tell him of any danger.

Even though.

I truly am bitter today, he thinks, and corrects his earlier thought: John hadn’t been taken. He’d left.

Arthur has no tools to deal with that betrayal. He understands, he does, that John did it to save him, because the King was breaking Arthur’s bones, was hurting him so badly that all he could do was scream - but Arthur had promised to protect him, to keep him safe.

Arthur had gone through that and far worse to keep John safe.

And when John chose to leave, no matter the reason, it invalidated everything. The pain, the torture. The murder, the cannibalism. Everything.

What had been the point if John was going to roll over the moment it got bad?

That wasn’t fair of Arthur, and he knew that, too, but he didn’t know what to do about any of it.

He was a modern man of 1934. His only hope was that these things could and would be stuffed away forever, never surfacing, never felt. That’s what being a man meant: you did what you had to do.

Especially for the one you love. Especially for your family.

I can’t believe how beautiful it all is, John continues.

Arthur ignores the little burnt part of his heart that still wants to murder Larson, that still wants to go back to that town and stab any presumed cultists in the head, that still wants to just hurt and hurt until there’s no one left to come after them.

It’s not good. He knows that. So he tries to push it away. “It’s quite marvelous, I know. I almost considered staying here, you know."

Why didn’t you? I’m sure there was plenty of work for someone with your skills.

“There was. But when I lived here, I was studying music, composing. And… I spent a lot of time with Bella here. So. No, I don’t want to live here again.”

Oh.

And just like that, the conversation stops because there are no safe stepping stones left in the water.

Because Bella meant Faroe. And music meant Faroe. Composing, especially, meant Faroe.

There would be no talking about Faroe.

“Besides, it’s nicer in Arkham,” says Arthur, moving on. “It’s smaller, but there’s plenty of intrigue, and you don’t have to constantly watch for pickpockets.”

Pickpockets? John repeats, sounding absolutely offended.

“It’s why I put our money in such a safe place, John. Don’t worry.”

Disgusting.

“Desperate, honestly,” says Arthur. “Most of them would rather be doing anything else, but the Depression left them little opportunity. I’m lucky that neither of my career choices depended on things so easily ruined by a world at war.”

John is silent for a long moment. Stop.

Arthur stops. Hears cars passing by. Waits, because John will tell him when it’s safe to go.

It seems like those were hard years for humans in general.

Arthur’s laugh is bitter. “They were. Bad. I got to see the best of us; the kindest, the most generous, the most clever and creative. I also got to see the worst. The most hate-filled, the greediest, the cruelest imaginable.”

A long moment passes. Arthur hears no cars, but he trusts John.

You can go now. Step down for the curb.

Arthur walks, and John is silent until it’s time to step up for the next curb. So that’s where you were when my book came to you.

“Where I was?”

I’d wondered how you got to be where you were. After everything. After Parker helped you.

“I’m not sure I understand.”

Mailbox. Go right.

Arthur adjusts accordingly.

I mean… it’s one of the things I think is so important about you. Your hope. The way you don’t give up on people.

Arthur can’t help but feel that’s pointed. “Except in the last few days, you mean.”

No, that’s not the same. That was… personal. I get it, Arthur. You think I don’t know killing Larson represents killing the part of yourself you blame?

Arthur stumbles.

Puts his hand out, finds a wall. Leans.

A long moment passes. Arthur?

“Let’s change the subject.” Arthur tilts his head back against the crisp winter sun, enjoying the feel of daylight on his face, enjoying the cold breeze.

Trying to climb out of the place John just tripped him into.

Your throat scar shows that way, Arthur.

“Well, then they’ll just know I’m someone not to be fucked with,” says Arthur.

Also, I can’t see the sidewalk.

“Fine, fine. Sorry.” Arthur turns his face forward again.

And just like that, it’s over. Arthur certainly won’t be bringing it up again, and John is smart enough to let it go.

This is a popular area. I see signs for hotels, says John, wisely.

“Right. Try to find a nice one. We’re not taking some mold-infested closet. We earned a break.”

Do we have enough money left for that?

“I’ll have to supplement it soon, but… my hope is I can… get some help from Bella’s family.”

So we are going to find your father-in-law?

“Not my father-in-law, technically.”

You know what I mean. Watch out - there’s a pile of garbage bags on the sidewalk in front of you. It’s narrowed the walkway to one person at a time.

Arthur navigates left, then - when the smell is past - right again, out of the way. “I do. And yes. But… first, I want to see what we can find in the city for information.”

About what?

“Anything we can learn about the Order of the Falling Star. About the King in Yellow. About whatever it was Larson is serving - because I’m certain it’s going to come up again.”

Stop and wait for the traffic to pass. How do you plan to do that?

Arthur waits at the curb, hands in his pockets, breathing deeply. “In a city this large, there has to be a wealth of occult knowledge somewhere. The challenge will be finding it without knocking down too many wasp’s nests.”

Cross now. Watch the step down. I doubt we can look up Occult Organizations in the Yellow Pages.

Arthur walks right into the road because he trusts John. “We’ll figure it out. We’re in the Big Apple, John. Anything is possible.”

Anything.

“Would you look at this place? Can’t you feel it? It’s like there’s energy in the sidewalk beneath our feet.”

We are on the run. Possibly for murder.

“You can’t sink my good mood anymore today, I'll have you know. We survived. We survived everything, from the Dreamlands to the Butcher. I refuse to be sunk.”

Heh. Well. I suppose it’s nice to hear that tone from you. You’ve been so dark since the mine and Larson’s estate.

Arthur has no desire to talk about the mine and Larson's estate. “Let’s find a hotel.”

John directs him toward a heavy door, and he is awash in the scent of a clean place, of food, of out-of-season flowers.

Getting a room isn’t hard. Ordering room service takes some coordination of menu and phone, but then he has a hot bath, and then he has a hot meal, and the prospect of a soft bed make it hard to think about anything else.

It’s one poorly-timed moan over a buttered roll that changes his plan.

You sound like you’re enjoying yourself, says John.

“It’s good, John. It’s so good.” Arthur wipes at his eyes a little.

After a moment, John says, There’s a theater right down the block from us.

Oh, not this again. “Is there?”

You promised, Arthur.

“I didn't say now. We just got here. I want to go to bed.”

I just thought… Larson or something worse will catch up to us sooner or later, not to mention whatever we shake loose by investigating here. If we’re going to see a film, this is the best possible time.

Arthur sighs.

You promised.

He had. “You know, you aren’t wrong. This likely will be our best moment, before the Butcher or whatever else finds us.”

There’s an evening showing of something called “Forsaking All Others.”

Arthur laughs. “You got all that from a glimpse?”

Arthur!

“All right, but let this be the end of it. Only for you, my friend.” Arthur puts his suit back on.

It turns out this is one of the theaters selling popcorn - a newish addition, and something Arthur has never had - and munching it keeps him quite happy through John’s running commentary.

It’s a romantic comedy, filled with miscommunication, sexual entendre, and a happy ending that makes Arthur smile, in spite of not being able to see anything.

The way John reacts, it’s like he’s living through it all.

By the end, John has some opinions on human ideas of love and romance, and how stupid all these characters were for not just forming one big love commune.

“You can’t just do that,” says Arthur, but when John asks why, he has no good answer.

John also, for some reason, thinks Clark Gable looks punchable.

That alone, Arthur thinks, was worth the price of admission, and he lets John rant about everybody’s choices the whole way back to the hotel.It wasn’t so bad, sitting there in the theater with him. Maybe, if they survived, they’d do this again.

#wip #malevolentpod #malevolent podcast #malevolent fic #crossover fic #tma crossover

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lewisiana · 6 months

Text

Stockings Over Boots

July 1927 -

Well, the other night I was just settling down to translate a chapter of the Edda, when suddenly Minto called me out of the dining room and said ‘Mrs Wilbraham is here. She says Mrs Studer has twice tried to commit suicide today. She’s got a taxi here and wants me to go and see the doctor at the Warneford. We shall have to get a nurse for Mrs Studer.’

I said I’d come along, because Minto has been rather poorly and I didn’t know what she might be let in for. So Mrs W., Minto and I drove off to the Warneford. I remained in the taxi while the two ladies went in to see the Doctor. It was about half past nine, dusk and raining... The others emerged at last with a Nurse Jones and we started off for the Studer’s.

But now the question was what to do? Madame would certainly refuse to have a strange young woman thrust upon her for the night for no apparent reason: as her husband was dead and her relatives abroad, no one had any authority over her...

Mrs Wilbraham said it was all perfectly simple. She would stay hidden in Mme Studer’s garden all night. Nurse would be put up in the bungalow of a stranger opposite Madame’s house. She must herself stay in the garden.

It was no good arguing. It was her duty. If only her nephew was here! If only she could have a man with her, she confessed, she would feel less nervous about it. I began to wish I’d stayed at home: but in the end of course I had to offer....

I now suggested as a last line of defence that nothing wd be more likely to upset Mme Studer than to find dim figures walking about her garden all night: to which Mrs W. replied brightly that we must keep out of sight and go very quietly. ‘We could put our stockings on outside our boots you know.’

At that moment (we were all whispering just outside a house further down in the same street as Madame’s, and it was now about eleven o’clock) a window opened overhead and someone asked me rather curtly whether we wanted anything, and if not, would we kindly go away.

This restored me to some of the sanity I was rapidly losing, and I determined that whatever else happened, four o’clock should not find me ‘with my stockings over my boots’ explaining to the police that I was (v. naturally) spending the night in some one else’s garden for fear the owner might commit suicide.

I therefore ruled that we must keep our watch in the road, where, if we sat down, we wd be hidden from the window by the paling (and, I added mentally, wd be open to arrest for vagabondage, not for burglary)....

I came home with Minto, drank a cup of tea, put on my great coat, took some biscuits, smokes, a couple [of] apples, a rug, a waterproof sheet and two cushions, and returned to the fatal road. It was now twelve o’clock...

My next step was to provide for my calls of nature (no unimportant matter in an all night tête-à-tête with a fool of an elderly woman who has had nothing to do with men since her husband had the good fortune to die several years ago) by observing that the striking of a match in that stillness wd easily be heard in the Studer’s house and that I wd tiptoe to the other end of the road to light my pipe.

Having thus established my right to disappear into the darkness as often as I chose–she conceded it with some reluctance–I settled down. There had been some attempt at moonlight earlier, but it had clouded over and a fine rain began to fall. Mrs Wilbraham’s feminine and civilian vision of night watches had apparently not included this. She was really surprised at it.

She was also surprised at its getting really cold: and most surprised of all to find that she became sleepy, for she (after the first ten minutes) had answered to my warning on that score with a scornful ‘I don’t think there’s much danger of that!’

However all these hardships gave her the opportunity of being ‘bright’ and ‘plucky’ as far as one can be in sibilant whispers. If I could have been quit of her society I wd have found my watch just tolerable–despite the misfortune of finding my greatcoat pockets stuffed with camphor balls (Minto is very careful about moths) which I flung out angrily on the road, and then some hours later forgetting this and trying to eat one of the apples that had lain in those pockets. The taste of camphor is exactly like the smell.

During the course of the night my companion showed signs of becoming rather windy and I insisted on playing with her the old guessing game called ‘Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral’. (Incidentally I thought I would find it more interesting than her conversation.) After assuring me that she was thinking of an animal, a live animal, an animal we had seen that night, she had the impudence to announce in the end that ‘it’ was the ‘voice of an owl we had heard’.

-C.S. Lewis

#c.s. lewis #lewis letters #1927

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jinxthejubilee · 2 years

Text

Random Thoughts 💔❤️‍🩹

This is probably one of the most depressing ideas I've had in a while, but I love its potential. Today's Topic: Mammon's Little Girl as an Exchange Student?

Warning: Spoilers for the "The Guardian Demon" side story in Obey Me, Angst, Angst with fluff, Mention of death.

Now, as most of us are aware, in the side story of the game, titled "The Guardian Demon," it is revealed that Mammon is one of the four caretakers of a little girl who lived on the street after she lost her parents.

I say one of the four, because the other three are witches that Mammon pays to watch over the little girl until she becomes an age where she can take care of herself.

I really like the idea of Mammon acting in a fatherly role of some kind, and having the little girl be introduced as a new exchange student would be an interesting concept to explore further.

Though, of course, I had to take a darker turn with this idea. So, I present to you all the 2 ways the little girl could become an exchange student.

1) The Lighthearted Version

Mammon goes to the Human World once again to visit the little girl (she doesn't have a name in the game, so I'm calling her Opal for now).

The game states that Opal adores Mammon, and hates seeing him leave. Even asking him when he'll come see her again.

Obviously, Mammon can't be there all the time, but he makes due with what he's given to spend quality time with her.

Opal, having adopted Mammon's determination, wants to see him again, permanently this time.

Now according to the game, the little girl is unaware of Mammon being a demon, but I like to think that she figures it out somehow. Either by watching him teleport when the witches summon him, seeing the witches brew or create something that suspiciously looks magical, stuff like that.

She escapes the witches by using their magic, either by a ritual spellbook or something of the sort, and teleports herself into The Devildom.

By some miracle, after traveling for a while and avoiding the more dangerous demons, Opal finds Diavolo's castle and makes her way there.

Despite how the somewhat irresponsible Diavolo may be open to having all humans of different ages live in The Devildom, he has enough common sense to know that a child walking around unsupervised is just asking for a demon to make her an afternoon snack.

When he asks her what she's doing here, and Opal replies saying that she wants to see Mammon, Diavolo gets a great idea!

He hides her out in the castle for a few days, until he calls for a student council meeting.

There, the demon bros and MC get the surprise of their lives when they see a little girl behind the demon prince.

Opal is so happy to see Mammon that she cuts Diavolo off as he's introducing her, and opts to run up and hug her adoptive dad.

This is gonna be a fun year ~

2) The Depressing Version

From the side story, we get an insight of how these witches treat Mammon

They exploit the little girl and use her as an excuse to get more money off of him, they humiliate him time and time again, they are often pushy and demanding for Mammon to pay them off.

Overall, they are not the best people, and especially not the greatest people to leave a child with.

So what if something happened to Opal?

This event would take place between different seasons.

It starts out in class, a relatively normal day at RAD.

Mammon steps out after class ends to answer a phone call from the witches.

He acts annoyed and slightly scared, as he usually is when talking to them, but he waves MC and/or any of his brothers goodbye before he leaves.

Mammon doesn't come back.

No one has seen him since he left to take that call, so everyone else assumes that he was summoned by the witches or he just skipped class.

That is, until someone notices that they haven't seen much of Lucifer that day either.

It isn't until they all go home, that they realize what had happened.

The younger brothers and MC can't find the two eldest brothers anywhere, until they hear crying coming from a certain room.

They all (or only MC) find Mammon sobbing and clutching to Lucifer so tightly, you would think he was ensuring that Lucifer wouldn't disappear if he let go.

They leave to give them privacy with several questions running through their minds.

Later on, MC gets called over by Lucifer to who proceeds to explain the situation.

The eldest explains that Mammon had asked him to be excused from school so that the two of them could talk privately.

Obviously, Lucifer was suspicious, but he went along with it anyway.

When Lucifer got home, Mammon told him through tears that the little girl he had cared for had passed away.

I know this concept sounds depressing, but it would make for a good amount of growth for everybody.

If you think about it, Mammon has always kept his emotions in check. From what little we know about what Mammon had went through after he and his brothers fell from Heaven, it is heavily implied that Mammon was the one who kept everyone together while they were grieving and struggling to cope with what they lost.

This would be a perfect way for the brothers to give back to him.

As said in the side story, everyone, especially Levi, thought that Mammon was lying about Opal for the sake of gaining money out of pity, but that's not the case at all.

Mammon, even though he is shy to admit it, loves that little girl. She has a piece of his heart, just like his friends and family do.

An event like this would crush him, but we all know that he would struggle more than Lilith's death because he has no distraction this time.

No brothers in need of his love and support, no learning to control his new demonic form and powers, no learning to gamble and tame his greed, nothing.

It's just him and his grief, and he doesn't know what to do with it.

Honestly, this would be a fascinating narrative to explore in the game's story, and would help solidify the fact that, yes, despite all the trouble he causes, Mammon is very much loved by everyone around him.

So, you might be asking, how does this idea tie into today's topic? Glad you asked!

Picture this, another school year has started. New exchange students come in, and everyone is both anxious and excited to see the new recruits.

However, Diavolo, Lucifer, Simeon, and Luke (and Raphael maybe), have a special surprise for Mammon.

The angels step to the side to reveal Opal, now with a cute pair of wings and a brightly glowing halo.

The two embrace, both practically sprinting to one another despite being only a few feet apart.

A beautiful moment, and a new family member to the house!

Author's Note: If I were to be honest, the first option is most likely the version that Solmare would chose, or at least something similar to it.

Both have the potential to make the series both interesting and incredibly heartwarming ❤.

Though if we're being for real, I just really want to see Mammon be a dad! I don't want the little girl (Opal, or whatever you want to call her) to be a one time thing.

Let me know what you guys think! Sorry if this was a long one, I had this train of thought for a while, and I really wanted to illustrate it the best way I could. Also! If you haven't yet, please check out my "A Guardian Demon's Protection" mini story. It served as the blueprint for my ideas, though the mini story itself is a bit more extreme. But I would appreciate it if you checked it out anyway!

With all that being said, I hope you all have a marvelous day, and I'll see you later! Byeee! 💗

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demcnsinmymind · 9 months

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@walriding continued from here to make it a beta post

Sure enough, just a second ago, he's told this guy to leave, but he hadn't meant it the way it might've come across. He'd been aiming for the protective route, god damn it. Telling him to leave so he could buy him some more time, keep them occupied while Upshur runs away. But of course. 'they' have never been there in the first place.

Just it, blowing things right out of proportion as always, just on the off chance that he might put himself in danger for someone it couldn't care less about. It does its usual, using his body, his fucking mouth to talk to the other, telling him to get out. And just for a moment, for what might be the very first time, here Lance actually is, thinking that maybe it should be the one to get out instead.

Because this guy is pretty much the only person who might know what it's actually like. Having gone through whatever fucked up horrors they both have gone through. Having something else inside your head besides your own thoughts and actions. And he sure as hell doesn't want to lose that kind of connection to a fucking prank.

When Miles bumps his shoulder into his on his way out, the mild shock wave that ripples right through his body is enough to momentarily distract Aza/thoth. It's entirely focused on the other man now, eager to react to the 'attack', do something about it, say something. So it is not at all prepared for when Lance wrestles control right back from it, manages to reach out, hold on to Miles' wrist to stop him from leaving.

It takes a moment to actually keep control of his body, and the way the other's skin sends a buzzing sensation through his whole figure doesn't exactly make things easier. But he's determined, stubborn as hell in fact, so soon enough, he's right back. Speaking through gritted teeth, but he's there.

"Wait" he demands, closing his eyes just for a second and taking a deep breath to really keep things steady now. When he opens them back up again they're back to their usual color - hazel, expressive, with not a hint of weird and impossible color shifts in sight.

"Stay here. Don't get me wrong. I know you'd rather get the hell away from this thing right now. But think about it. If this is what it's doing to get rid of you, imagine what it'll do to your friends if they actually show up here. Maybe we can use it."

To be fair, a part of him still wants Upshur to leave. To stay save and the hell away from this Murkoff deal. Then again though. He feels bad about what just happened. Doesn't want to lose an ally. And maybe, a part of him also wants to know what it would do if it came to it, what it's capable of.

#walriding #the other vessel : miles #demons on the run : outlast

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midnightactual · 2 years

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so @uraharashouten wrote this here and I figured it was worth its own comment:

I do wonder if some of Yoruichi’s concern over not wanting to make trouble for Kūkaku is rooted in not wanting to become for Kūkaku what Kisuke has become to her.

I think this is part of it, honestly? we obviously see Kūkaku far less than we do more centralized characters so coming to determinations about her personality is rather more open to interpretation (and I’ve seen several takes which are divergent in various ways) but I feel I’ve built the lower levels of Yoruichi’s personality pyramid enough to discuss the matter from her end at least

Yoruichi and Kūkaku are essentially anomalies within Bleach’s universe because they’re both extremely powerful high-born women in positions of political leadership by virtue of being Great Noble Clan members. there are other very powerful women (like say Retsu) and there are other politically important women (like say Nayura) but that Venn diagram only really overlaps among Shinigami (as far as we know) with Yoruichi and Kūkaku. the only other woman (of whom we know) who is even remotely close is Rukia and it isn’t the same for her because she wasn’t born into the Kuchiki nor has she ever been the Clan Head of the Kuchiki

in other words Kūkaku is the only person who has a robust and comparable idea of what Yoruichi has been through because she went through it too in her own way. Kūkaku is the only person who can understand Yoruichi not through empathy or analogies but through having actually lived through the same things. Kūkaku understands naturally

I’ve written things like The Duality of Yoruichi, Yoruichi and Loneliness, What Yoruichi Wants, and Yoruichi’s Will to kind of sketch out Yoruichi’s character in more detail and those can be summarized as saying Yoruichi is emotionally hardened, lonely, wants a world in which she can relax, and wants to spend time with Kūkaku. as I just sketched out in Yoruichi and Kisuke, Yoruichi is also cold and logical

in other words I do believe that Yoruichi is kind of desperate for the connection and thaw Kūkaku could provide her (and I feel this very strongly from her when interacting with @crashingheavens and have felt it when interacting with other Kūkaku muses before) and that is extremely dangerous for her for three reasons

the first is that it leaves her vulnerable. Yoruichi has basically spent her life in autumn and winter and is desperate for the coming of spring and summer. what if Kūkaku isn’t into her in the same way and doesn’t return her feelings? well then spring never comes. that’s a devastating prospect to face down: never getting to thaw. of course throwing the dice given that is a fraught and perilous decision

the second is precisely that yes she has seen up-close and personal what it’s like when a relationship that initially seems to be charming and liberating sours. she’s super aware that such can happen if the relationship is taken for granted and respect isn’t maintained and that scares her

in other words there are two bottlenecks with one being a gate and the other being a continual and daily test. that’s a lot to take in. then add in Aizen’s machinations and then Wandenreich and then Tokinada on top of those personal worries and it makes a lot more sense to just... not... until she can really focus on it and give it her all

the third reason is that once she admits to herself that she needs Kūkaku (and admits it to Kūkaku) then the genie is out of the bottle and there is no going back (especially if that feeling is reciprocated). there is no “refreezing” after thawing out at that point. it’s a one-way trip and she would refuse to go back to how things were before. in a certain way it’s smashing the controls and locking in the course (and Yoruichi has big issues with completely surrendering control to anyone but Kūkaku and even that would be a learning experience)

all this is essentially what has by fits and starts been portrayed here in various ways

I do also believe that this happened in canon as well rather than just being a pie-in-the-sky headcanon of mine because of the reasons I lay out in Yoruichi’s New Outfit. for some characters clothes are just clothes but for Yoruichi they are basically a flag—like a flag state on a ship that declares its nationality. Yoruichi suddenly putting on red after some two centuries wearing orange is to me significant not only for the change itself but what the change was to as red is the Shiba color. to me that says only “I’m with Kūkaku, ride or die,” and that’s a weird thing to so brazenly and literally hoist the colors for with someone who is only your friend. it’s like going from being the HMS Yoruichi to the USS Yoruichi—that means something big happened

anyway I do feel that Yoruichi’s biggest fear going forward from such a point is becoming a burden or bother to Kūkaku (to whom she is canonically constantly either apologetic, appreciative, or deferential) and I do think she has that fear at least in part because of experiences with Kisuke

#Out Of Character #Meta #Headcanons #Yoruichi Shihouin

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talabib · 1 year

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Beat The Stock Market And Get Rich.

For most of us, the stock market is basically a no-fly zone: it��s too complicated, and too dangerous. Let the experts handle it, we say.

But that’s a shame, because there is a way that anyone can make money in stocks. It comes from a Warren Buffet: Find a wonderful business, determine its value, buy its stock for half that value, and repeat until rich.

This post teaches you the key indicators for that right, wonderful business that could change your life.

Contrary to popular myths, you don’t have to be an expert to be a great investor, and it is possible to beat the market.

It’s common knowledge that you'd be remiss to invest without consulting a financial expert, right? Well, the notion that managing money demands both time and expertise isn’t exactly accurate.

You don't actually need to have depth of knowledge and all the tricks of a professional financial adviser. You just need a few good tactics.

Fortunately, today the internet has the tools and knowledge you need, at minimal costs. Information and tools such as stocks’ histories and statistic calculators can make a lot of the work easier for you. For instance, websites such as MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance and CNN Money have data on thousands of stocks and the site www.ruleoneinvesting.com has several investment calculators.

Thanks to technology, these tools are actually far more accurate than anything experts had ten years ago.

Aside from these tools, you also need to know that you really can beat the market. To do so, you must sell stocks for far more or buy for far less than their real market value.

Yet, according to the prominent Efficient Market Theory (EMT) you can’t do this, as everything that can be known about a company is already figured into the price. Thus, stock prices can’t be too high or low.

But this is wrong. Many of us recall the bubble in the nineties, where, contrary to EMT assumptions, prices were far above their real market worth for some years, only to plummet dramatically afterwards. Additionally, Warren Buffett showed that at least 20 investors were able to beat the market for over 20 years.

So cast aside the myths of expert help and an unbeatable market because, thanks to the internet and the strategies in this post, you can make great investments yourself.

The popular strategy "diversify and hold" is not nearly as safe as it's cracked up to be.

You've heard the formula, “diversify and hold” a million times; it's supposedly the safest way to invest in the stock market. But it’s also problematic.

First, it would’ve failed for approximately more than half of the last century.

Let's examine how a long-term, diversified portfolio would have performed between 1905 and 2005: it would’ve had a zero rate of return between 1905 and 1942, 1965 and 1983 and from 2000 to 2005. That's 60 out of 100 years!

What you should do instead of ‘diversify and hold’ is improve your security by keeping track of all your stocks — which you might not do if your portfolio is diversified, as it would take a lot of time and effort to monitor how all your stocks are doing. Also, it's unlikely that you would thoroughly comprehend the dynamics of all the businesses you're investing in. This would result in you not being able to react as quickly to save your portfolio from losses, as you would if you only invested in fields you understood.

Say you’re a pharmacist, and you receive a Red-Hand letter warning you about a drug’s serious, unexpected side-effects. You’ll know this letter will result in considerable losses for a pharmaceutical company and therefore sell your shares immediately. Whereas if you were clueless about pharmaceutical companies, you wouldn’t know about the pending losses until it’s too late.

The truth is, if you diversify, whatever happens to the market will happen to you.

You should know that whenever a large amount of money is withdrawn from the market, mutual funds decline in value, investors withdraw even more money and values drop even faster. This could happen when all the baby boomers take out the money they invested for their retirement.

Only invest in a business you understand and you’d like to own.

If you were to buy a business, rather than stocks, would your criteria for doing so be any different? Shrewd investors only invest in a company they’d like to own in the long term, so thinking about buying stocks as if you were to buy the company will guide you towards investing carefully.

When you consider buying stocks, you probably think it’s easy to get out quickly if the company is doing poorly. You could therefore be tempted to opt for a risky business, pay too much attention to one promising growth-rate in an average business, or even lose money in a market bubble.

If you were to buy the whole company, however, you’d be far more cautious. You’d carefully weigh its performance, history and management against other companies and, in doing so, make far better decisions.

To make even better decisions on investments, it’s also wise to invest in a sector within your field of interest, as you’ll already be knowledgeable about it.

If you work in IT, for example, you’re in a far better position to invest there than someone who doesn’t. You’ll know about the different providers, their strategies, the quality of their products and so forth.

Also remember that investing in a business means you’re essentially voting for it to continue with its work.

Say you’re researching some highly profitable stocks to fund your child’s education. Would you purchase those stocks if the company is making a chunk of its profits by exploiting children in Bangladesh? probably not.

Know that your investment will have an impact, and you’re making a statement of where you choose to invest.

There are good criteria for a company's ability to stand its ground.

Like moats around a castle, certain assets protect a company against competition and inflation. When investing, it’s a good bet to choose companies with one or more of these “moats.”

So what exactly do moats do? A moat enables a company to dominate a market, increase its prices to keep up with inflation and produce enough profit to expand.

There are many different kinds of moats.

Some moats may be intangible competitive advantages, like a patent or a trade secret that makes direct competition really tough, or even illegal. For instance, Pfizer had a patent for its hugely successful Viagra, therefore other companies weren’t permitted to copy the product. As a result, Pfizer faced no real competition for sexual enhancers.

Another kind of moat could be a strong brand that customers identify with or are extremely loyal to. Coca Cola, for example is an incredibly stable and powerful brand and its customers will often choose its soft drinks over others.

A moat can also mean having products that are cheaper or easier to buy. For instance, Walmart is so immense that it’s in a powerful position to bargain with its suppliers. In doing so, it can sell goods at very competitive prices.

Another moat could be when the product itself isn’t really affordable, but switching to another is a real hassle. Take Windows, for example. Many people use it even though they hate Microsoft. But it’s easier to stick with it because so much software is exclusive to Windows and if they changed to another operating system, they’d have to change all their software, too.

Lastly, some companies’ moats entail exclusive governance over a market due to a legal privilege. For example, the utility PG&E has a legal monopoly to provide power in its area.

Steady businesses have competitive advantages.

We’ve now seen what moats are and how they can help businesses become extremely successful. But how can you know if a company has one? Well, you can be sure that a company has a moat if they score well on five specific indicators for a minimum of ten years.

The best indicator of a wide moat is return on investment capital (ROIC) over at least a ten year period. ROIC is the rate of return a company makes from the money it invests in itself in a year. For example, say you invested $20 in stamps and then later sold them for $30. Your profit would be $10. The ROIC is the profit divided by the total you invested, which in this case would be 50 percent.

Be aware that a company that generates high returns could draw so many competitors that a good position in the same market becomes difficult to secure and therefore none are able to make decent returns. Unless, however, the company has a wide moat.

Therefore, if a company can hold onto a ROIC of at least 10 percent for ten years, it’s likely beaten out its competitors, which now means it has an advantage.

Another good way to gauge a wide moat is by the growth of a company’s equity. Equity is the amount of money that would remain if a company sold all of its assets and cleared all of its debts.

If a company’s equity increases by 10 or more percent for at least ten years, it’s an indicator that it has enough money to invest into its expansion, which also puts the company in a solid, competitive position.

Some competitive advantages are easy to spot.

Let’s turn to three other ways to tell if a company has a moat, all of which are straightforward calculations.

The first calculation is figuring out if they’ve had at least a 10 percent increase in earnings per share (EPS) for approximately ten years.

Say three friends start a restaurant. Their EPS would be the restaurant’s net income divided by three. So if the store makes $60,000 net income, the EPS would be $20,000.

Then let’s say in 10 years, the EPS rises from $20,000 to $160,000.

To calculate the restaurant’s EPS growth rate, first calculate how many times 20 needs to double in order to reach 160. So, 20 doubles to 40, then to 80 then to 160. So it doubles three times over the ten years, averaging around three years to double each time.

Now apply the Rule of 72. Divide 72 by the average number of years over which the figure doubles once. The restaurant’s ten-year-EPS growth rate would be 72 divided by three, which equals 24. Twenty-four percent would be the restaurant’s moat, and thus its competitive advantage.

You can also calculate when a sales growth rate consistently increases over ten percent.

For example, Garmin’s sales rose from $100 million to approximately $800 million from 1995 to 2004, meaning it doubled three times over nine years, or once every three years. If we apply the rule of 72, we see that 72 divided by three equals a 24 percent sales growth rate. Clearly, Garmin had a wide moat.

The last calculation is the free cash flow growth rate. If this is consistently over 10 percent, this means profits turn into cash.

Free cash flow is operations cash minus capital expenditure, or the money that can be invested into expanding the company.

Garmin’s free cash flow grew from $40 million to $130 million in seven years, meaning it doubled just less than twice in seven years, or once every three and a half to four years. If you divide 72 by four, which equals an 18 percent sales rate, we see that Garmin was highly profitable.

A company is only promising if the CEO is driven and owner-oriented.

When you’re considering which company to invest in, you can always refer to those Big Five criteria in the charts. But there’s something else that’s worth noting; how effective is the CEO you want to entrust your money to?

You need to opt for an owner-oriented CEO. They’ll make smart long-term decisions and inform the shareholders on what they need to know.

As a shareholder, you’ll need to know if there are any problems or you won’t be able to respond appropriately.

A good owner-orientated CEO will announce if it’s been a very bad year, and try to give a reasonable explanation. Likewise, an owner-oriented CEO will refrain from actions that temporarily increase the stock price but do harm to the company in the long term.

Picture an executive who owns a lot of shares trying to make the stock price rise so he can cash out. That executive doesn’t care about the business down the line, or about your shares.

You should also look for a CEO who is driven, as he’ll put in a lot of effort to ensure the company remains profitable. CEOs like this aim for big goals and they’ll remind their employees of those goals. A company with such a manager is well set to generate more and more company value, which is ideal for your investment.

For instance, when Darwin Smith bought out Kimberly-Clark, it was a mediocre company. But he pictured it as the best paper-products business in the world. He worked for 20 years toward this lofty goal, transforming and expanding the company. Twenty-five years after Smith took over, Kimberly-Clark was the world's number-one paper-based consumer-products company and had brands like Kleenex under its wing.

Knowing if a CEO is driven and honest equips you to make a sound estimate of a company's value.

Demand a big margin of safety.

Remember when we said that the Effective Market Theory is wrong?

Here’s why: contrary to the theory, price and value aren’t the same thing, and the key is to buy when the difference gives you an advantage. A stock’s price is what you pay, whereas its value is based on the money a business generates over time.

Stock value can be a little tricky to gauge, as it’s based on a business’s future EPS and price/earnings ratio. However, there are tools and places to assess value online, such as Sticker Price Calculators.

Markets are inaccurate in the short term. For instance, at the close of the nineties, prices for gold, silver and copper dropped dramatically. Yet, the real value of metals wasn’t diminished; we’d need them eventually, so some savvy investors bought shares cheaply. Then, in the early 2000s, demand rose again, which increased share prices and those smart investors made a fortune.

What you should do is demand a large margin of safety. A margin of safety (MOS) is the value, minus the price.

A good margin of safety should be half the value of an investment. For example, in 2000, Dell’s value was estimated at $40/share, and so was its market price. That’s a fair price with no margin of safety. its price would need to be no higher than 50 percent of its real value, or $20, before you decide to buy.

Only a year later, Dell’s price fell to $20/share, while the stock’s value increased, so its MOS reached 50 percent. That would have been the right time to buy.

The MOS rule will provide you with great returns, and if there’s a bubble, it will prevent you from losing all your money.

A good MOS is not to be overlooked; in 2000, every NASDAQ stock that crashed had a stock price which was higher than its value.

Thanks to the internet, you don’t need to be an expert to invest your money smartly; all the necessary tools and stock data are online. By using these tools, some specific calculations and knowing how to spot a successful, profitable company, you will be in a prime position to make the right investment choices and steadily build your wealth.

Action Plan: Be smart about checking the stock market.

Don’t work up a nervous sweat checking the market numerous times a day. The best time to check the market is when it’s closed, and, even better, at the same time each night. Doing so will give you the most consistent data.

#invest wisely

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wil-is-done · 1 year

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When You’re A Mystery Kid - Chapter 46: The Consequence

Summary: For every action, there is a reaction. Every decision, a consequence.

Word Count: 7.026

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a repost.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here.

Mabel never considered school to be torture. But, after what happened, it was really making a case for it.

Surrounded by her classmates, who joked and laughed and argued like it was just any other day, so blissfully oblivious of what had happened, of the danger that threatened their lives at this very moment, Mabel felt miserable. She practically spent the whole day curled into herself in her seat. Definitely not a very Mabel thing to do, and some of her classmates took notice. When they asked, Mabel gave them a weak excuse of feeling a little under the weather. Which wasn’t all that far from the truth. She still felt sick to her stomach whenever thoughts about what happened bubbled to the surface. And they bubbled pretty often. Making things worse was the fact that Dipper wasn’t at school with her.

When the Mystery Kids returned to their headquarters Saturday night, before leaving for their respective homes, Dipper told her he’s planning on staying there for Sunday. Said that he had some projects he needed to work on to let off steam, but promised that he’d be home by Monday, eating breakfast with her. Come Monday morning, and big surprise, Mabel had to eat an awkward breakfast alone with her parents, who she could tell was just brimming with questions about where exactly their son was. Worse, Dipper’s not answering any texts or calls on both his phone and communicator. So, Mabel had to endure the bus to school, homeroom, classes, lunch, more classes, and the bus ride back, all on her own.

At least the others were online the whole day. They weren’t having a great time either. They haven’t heard from Dipper either, not even Norman, which wasn’t a good sign. Still, pretty early on as they chatted, they agreed that the second school ends, they’re all heading back to Gravity Falls to figure this out. Screw the Psychonauts’ orders, was Coraline’s exact words.

She wasted no time at all. Stepping through the front door of her house, she tossed her bag into her room, doubling back to fish her grappling hook out of her bag, left a quick note to her parents, boarded the jet, set the destination to Gravity Falls, and let the autopilot take its course.

Her jet arrived only seconds ahead of Coraline and Wybie’s. Norman, Neil, Raz, and Lili were already waiting for them at the hangar. They all looked so tired, but Mabel could still see the determination behind each of their weary eyes. She let her features shift to match them more. Only then that she realized what a welcome reprieve it was from the lie that she had to keep up all day.

Still no Dipper in sight, though.

Mabel tried to hide her disappointment as the group gave each other obligatory greetings. Judging from how the others were looking at her, she didn’t hide it very well.

“He seriously didn’t respond to any of your calls and your texts?” Norman asked, incredulous. Mabel offered him a weak shrug in response.

Coraline blew air out of her mouth. “We can’t afford to waste time looking for him.”

“I actually have a pretty good idea of where he is.” She’d called Soos on the flight over. According to him, he didn’t even know that Dipper stayed the night at headquarters. That left the Shack above out of the question. There could only one place left where Dipper could be. “I’m gonna go check on him.”

“You do that.” Raz nodded. “We’ll be waiting in the command center.”

Mabel nodded back and gave them a small wave as she went off on her own.

The trip down to Dipper’s study-slash-lab wasn’t very long. A small part of her kinda wished it was, though. She’s got a lot of words in her head for Dipper, and she wasn’t quite sure how to get them out in the right order. No time for that now, as far too fast, she’s suddenly standing in the doorstep of Dipper’s study. She briefly considered knocking first, before deciding, no, if he didn’t even bother calling and texting back, then she’s not gonna bother knocking.

She wore a frown as the door slid open. That frown quickly fell.

Dipper’s study was a pretty swanky place, but Mabel always figured Dipper would eventually find a way to turn it into a shipwreck. The sight she’s seeing right now was worse than anything that she could have ever imagined.

Dozens of books were opened and seemingly tossed around every which way. Hundreds of hastily made scribbles scattered around the room, half of them discarded on the carpeted floor, the other half hanging from the wooden wall. Mabel counted at least six empty mugs haphazardly left on the short table in the small guest area, the lingering smell of black coffee still wafting strongly from them. Empty bags of chips and energy bar wrappers were shoved into a corner and seemingly forgotten. Mabel was almost afraid to step inside.

Gingerly, she did so anyway. The door slid closed behind her, and only then she realized the room smelled exactly like how it looked. Dipper’s lucky she’d smelled worse things only two nights ago.

Mabel heard movement from behind Dipper’s alchemy cabinet. Before long, Dipper walked out from behind it, and Mabel immediately cringed.

Dipper looked just as bad as his room would suggest. His complexion carried an unhealthy, pale sheen to it. His shirt was askew and covered with dark stains that Mabel was too scared to question. He decidedly reeks of coffee, sweat, and high fat corn chips. His eyes were ringed with heavy, dark bags, open wide, too wide, staring straight at Mabel with too much intensity. Instinctively, Mabel took a step back. She had met Dipper in this state a few times before, and none of those experiences were pleasant.

If Dipper noticed Mabel’s sudden unease at his appearance, then he didn’t show it.

Oh, who was she kidding? Of course he didn’t notice.

“Great. You’re here,” he said, his lips curled into a smile that’s just too wide, before slipping back behind the cabinet again.

Mabel was practically left speechless, looking around at the state of the room in disbelief. “Dipper, what did you do to-?”

She was cut off when Dipper suddenly stepped out from behind the cabinet, carrying some kind of sleeveless, sea green vest in his hands. Without warning, he held it up against a confused Mabel. It took a second for her to realize that Dipper was measuring the vest compared to her sweater. Mabel looked down on it and noticed the back of it had been decorated with a sequence of vibrant pink runes.

“Okay, good, it fits.” He withdrew the vest, seemingly satisfied with whatever the heck that was about. “I was worried I got your size wrong.”

As suddenly as he appeared, Dipper disappeared behind his alchemy cabinet again. “Mobility is very important in the field, and this will help you with that,” he matter-of-factly stated, out of Mabel’s sight. “You got the grappling hook, I know, but this is the next step forward.”

Mabel huffed, a stern frown back on her features. She rounded the corner to see Dipper with his back to her, fervently scribbling something down hunched over his study table, which was clearly ground zero for the mess that was this room. A scolding nearly left Mabel’s lips when her foot touched something metallic. She looked down, just in time to see an empty can of energy drink roll away from her foot and under the cabinet, only for it knock into something and roll back out. Curious, Mabel knelt beside it and peered at the cabinet’s underside, and immediately gasped.

“Oh my god, where’d you get all these energy drinks?! There’s, like, twenty down here!”

“Bought ‘em.”

Mabel rose up to her full height, glaring at Dipper. Not that he could see it. “Bought them where?”

“Supermarket.”

“You slipped out and you didn’t even say hi to Soos?!” Mabel was baffled. The base’s entrance was in the Shack’s living room. Sneaking in a quick hi to Soos would be literally the easiest thing to do.

“Busy making stuff.” Not bothering to turn around, Dipper raised the sea green vest into view. “Like this.”

“That’s not an excuse!”

“Maybe. Oh!” Dipper reached into a compartment in his desk and rummaged around in it. He spun around with his hands covered in a pair of black gloves, adorned with a sequence of red runes. “Made new gloves, see?” He twisted his hands around, giving Mabel a full view of the gloves. “These won’t catch on fire.”

After showing off his gloves, Dipper turned back around, just like that. This time, Mabel didn’t let him, holding him by the wrist. “Dipper, I couldn’t care less about those things!”

Yelling in Dipper’s ear probably wasn’t a great thing to do, but Mabel couldn’t help it anymore. Dipper had been nothing but frustrating ever since she arrived. At least now, with Dipper looking down at her hand around his wrist then up at her frowning face, she had Dipper’s full attention.

“You promised me you’d be back by Sunday morning.” Mabel sighed, her grip on Dipper’s wrist going slack.

“Yeah, I remember,” he said after a moment to rub his wrist. “What day is today?”

It took all of Mabel’s restraint to not bellow a wordless scream in his face. “It’s Monday evening!”

A realization, a clarity, slowly dawned on his features. However, just as suddenly it appeared, it went away. “Oh,” he said, dull and flat, before, unbelievably, he moved to turn around again.

“Don’t you ‘oh’ me and turn back around!” Mabel grabbed his shoulder, rougher this time, and forced him to face her, eye to eye. “God, look at you! You clearly didn’t shower. Apparently, you downed twenty cans of those gross energy drinks. And it looks like you’ve been eating nothing but corn chips?!” Mabel made the connection between the coffee, the energy drinks, and the hideous dark bags under Dipper’s eyes. “You didn’t even sleep at all, did you?”

Dipper refused to meet her gaze. “I’m perfectly fine. I just need to-” Mabel cut him off, bringing up his left hand and tossing away the glove covering it, revealing the bandage wrapped around the cut on his palm. Only two days had passed, and it already looked terrible.

“You didn’t even take care of the cut on your hand! Look at it! It’s getting all yellow and gross!”

Dipper snatched his hand away. He shot her an outraged glare that gave her pause, that hurt her heart, before spinning around and returning to his desk, the sound of pen furiously scratching against paper quickly filling the air. Mabel blew out a sigh, shoulders sagging. Maybe it really was a mistake yelling in Dipper’s face. Maybe a gentler approach would work better.

“Dipper, you need to sleep,” she quietly pleaded.

“Coffee is fine,” he coldly replied. The scratching of pen on paper didn’t stop.

“No, no, it’s not.” Mabel shook her head, not that Dipper saw. He’s not making a gentler approach easy. “Dipper, what if you get sick?”

“There’s probably a spell for that.”

Mabel buried her face in her hands. It’s taking everything within her to not scream her lungs out, even if it’ll be muffled. The scratching sounds of pen on paper continued, and it’s seriously starting to piss her off.

She uncovered her face. Her brows furrowed in determination. She drew in a deep breath.

“Dipper.”

Her tone was calm and even. Dipper kept on furiously scribbling whatever the heck. There was nothing to indicate that he heard her at all. Mabel gritted her teeth.

“Dipper!”

Still no response. In fact, it sounded like the scratching of pen on paper got louder. Mabel glared a hole in the back of Dipper’s head. To hell with a gentler approach.

“Mason Pines!”

Silence. Not a peep more of that awful pen on paper scratching. Dipper was as still as a statue, still facing his desk, but she knew she’s got his attention. Mabel blew out a breath, calming herself down. She never liked whenever she had to pull that card, even if she knew it’d work everytime. At least, now, they could have a peaceful, reasonable talk with each other.

“I want to catch the Conclave too, believe me, but this is not the way to do it. You’re just gonna end up hurting yourself, or even worse. And then where would we be without our smartest investigator around?” Mabel cracked a smile without even realizing it. She took a step closer to her brother, close enough that he was within arm’s length. “Why don’t you just… stop doing all of this for a sec, eat some real food, take a quick shower, and just lie down and have a nap, okay?”

Mabel kept up her smile, even though she knew Dipper couldn’t see it. Maybe he’s able to feel the smile, and all the good vibes she’s sending his way. The tense muscles of Dipper’s shoulders loosened ever so slightly, and Mabel let her smile grow wider. Dipper’s stubborn, but in the end, he’ll always listen to reason.

“Two hundred and sixty one.”

Mabel blinked. For a second, she didn’t realize it was Dipper who spoke. His voice sounded so different. So cold.

“What?” Mabel honestly had no idea what he meant by that number.

“Two hundred and sixty one, Mabel.”

Dipper’s response was to repeat the same number, in the same voice, in the same tone. A question nearly left Mabel’s lips, but was halted when Dipper looked over his shoulder. His eyes, unlike his voice, burned.

“That’s how many people that lived in Muchenik.”

Those words froze Mabel on the spot. What’s left of her smile faltered completely.

“Do you know how many survived?”

Dipper slowly pivoted in place. His words, his voice, once cold, had melted to reveal the fiery, seething fury beneath. Mabel could barely bear to look into his glare. Those eyes did not belong on him, on her brother.

“Zero.”

Mabel flinched. She knew the answer, but she still flinched. Dipper took a step forward, closer towards her. It took Mabel a second to realize she took a step back.

“Alexey Novikov, fifty-three years old. Worked in the mines for three decades. Retired a year ago. Spent most of his free time shoveling snow from the roads without expecting a penny. Dead.”

Dipper took another step forward. Mabel took another step back. He’s still talking.

“Misha Vorobyov, twenty-five years old. Worked a dead-end job as a cashier where she met her fiancée. Planned to get married early next year. Dead.”

Another step forward for him, another step back for her. She never wanted him to stop talking more in her life. Please, stop talking.

“Yaroslaf Vygotsky, thirty years old. Stay-at-home dad for his two daughters and one son after his wife passed away at childbirth. Dead.”

Another step closer. She bumped her back against a bookshelf. She clenched her eyes shut, just to look at anything that wasn’t him. Why was he still talking?!

“Tatiana Suvota, seven years old. Lives with her grandmother after her father ran off and her mother drunk herself to death. Helps out in her grandma’s store wherever she can. Loves math at school, and was damn good at it. Bright, friendly, curious.”

Mabel’s eyes snapped open. Dipper’s furious, dangerous glare greeted her.

“Dead.”

Mabel wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. She shouldn’t. This was her brother. Her Dipper. Her Mason Pines.

And she’s never been more scared of him in her life.

“Because of me.”

Dipper pulled away. The fire behind his eyes still burned, but at least it was no longer pointed at her. It terrified her that she almost sighed in relief.

“I’ll rest when the Conclave is dead.”

Dipper’s statement was final. Nothing could change his mind. Nobody could talk him out of this.

Maybe Mabel wouldn’t.

Dipper returned to his desk, hunched over it with his back to Mabel once again. Whatever he was about to do, he paused. He blew out a long, suffering sigh. His tense back and shoulders loosened all at once. “Sorry,” he dared to say.

Mabel chose to not answer.

Silence again. It stretched for a while. Maybe Dipper was waiting for a response. Mabel won’t give him one. At least the pen on paper scratching never returned.

“Are the others here?” Dipper eventually asked.

“Yeah.”

“Fucking finally.” Dipper hastily gathered a mass of papers and documents into his hands, spun on his heels, and walked past her. “Let’s get started.”

The elevator ride down to the command center was silent. Tense. It wasn’t comfortable, but comfort wasn’t exactly a priority right now. At least, it sure wasn’t Coraline’s. There’s too much things buzzing in her head to worry about something as trivial as that. She would guess her friends shared the sentiment. Though, if anyone wanted to break the ice or something, then by all means. She didn’t have a single happy thought the whole weekend. Something to smile about would be nice.

“Are we sure about going against orders like this?” Neil suddenly asked, brows furrowed into a worried frown.

Coraline tightened her jaw. That really sealed just how utterly fucked the situation was. Neil, of all people, asked a question like that.

“Of course we are!” Raz very quickly, very heatedly responded. “What, you’re saying we sit this one out?!”

Neil stammered for a moment, and for good reason. A pissed-off Raz was rare. “No, it’s-! I’m just worried that with the Psychonauts- if we make the wrong move and-”

“Neil, that shouldn’t even be a question,” Coraline cut off, maybe a bit harsher than she intended.

Neil looked down at his fidgeting shoes, red-faced and probably feeling more than a little guilty. Now that she’s opened her mouth, Coraline felt the eyes of her friends looking at her, at their leader. They’re expecting more from her, she could tell, though she had no idea what to say. She took a deep breath and tried anyway.

“They told us to move on. Some people would. But not us.” The elevator came to a halt. The doors slid open. Coraline steeled her resolve. “Not us.”

The shift from bland chrome to polished black as the group entered the command center proper was a change that Coraline always welcomed. She still felt a bit uneasy with the layout of the room, with how similar it was to the meeting room in the Mother Lobe, but she had mostly gotten over it. Especially at a time like this. The massive screen on the wall lit up. Coraline synced up her communicator with it, opened a map of the world, and focused the display over Russia.

“First things first, we need to figure out where the Conclave are.” Coraline glanced over her shoulder at Wybie, who had just taken a seat on the table. “Wybie, can you run calculations or something to pinpoint where they are?”

Wybie paused in the middle of opening a laptop. “Um, Dipper’s really the numbers guy, but sure, yeah, I can figure out a thing until he shows up.”

“Keep me posted.” Coraline nodded.

Coraline’s eyes flitted over to the entrance. Any minute now, Mabel’s going to step through that door with her boneheaded brother in tow. And boy, that was something she’s been fantasizing all weekend. Now that her brain’s not mush after every single fucking thing that happened two nights ago, she’s ready to give him exactly what he deserved. The second that know-it-all twerp shows his pale mug through that door, she’s chewing the everloving fuck out of him.

In the meantime, she’s got other things in mind.

Coraline’s gaze moved from the door to land upon Lili. She’d seated herself next to Raz, and had just pulled out a screen from the table, reading something on it intently. Coraline came up to her from behind.

“Lili.”

Lili barely reacted. Deliberately so. Coraline narrowed her eyes. Better get straight to the point.

“You lied to the Psychonauts. Why’d you do that?”

Lili visibly stopped reading her screen. She leaned back on her chair, shoulders drooping, a resigned sigh escaping her lips. She must’ve known this was coming. Beside her, Raz shot her a concerned frown as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“If I didn’t, we’re screwed,” Lili replied. Coraline blinked. She was, frankly, not expecting that.

“What do you mean?” Coraline urged.

Lili spun her chair around so that she and Coraline were face to face. Coraline never realized until now, but Lili’s eyes carried more dark bags under it than usual. She met Coraline’s eyes with a resignation that her posture hinted at.

“Let me give you a crash course on Psychonautical politics,” Lili began, the corners of her lips curled into a joyless smile. “It’s all about funding. Money. Exec bonuses. Every year, every division gets all riled up, shouting and bragging to the Council over who deserves to get the biggest portion of the budget. It is… tighter than you’d expect from an organization like this.”

Raz nodded along, a humorless smile on his lips that was almost like Lili’s. A sign that he’d seen it firsthand. Everyone else present had begun listening along, too, abandoning what they were doing at the sound of Lili’s weary voice.

“Now, look around you. All these things you see?” She gestured at the room with a lazy wave of her hand. “They’re worth millions. Millions worth of resources given to, as far as they’re concerned, Sasha Nein’s pet project. ”

Coraline gritted her teeth. “That’s not who we are.”

“You think they give a damn?” Lili scoffed. “They’re not happy with us, with how we’re being treated. They think we’re just a bunch of dumb kids out of our depth, given too much money and too much power.” Her look turned sour. Toxic, even. “And apparently, they have a point, because two nights ago, we just screwed up in the worst possible way!”

Coraline flinched at Lili’s outburst. A part of her accepted that she deserved the blame. A different part of her bitterly thought of Dipper, and how he should be the one at the other end of this thrashing. Lili sighed, calming down, but she wasn’t finished yet.

“Those people have been keeping a close eye on us, waiting for us to make a wrong move, a mistake, anything they could use to tear us down. What we did was everything they could ever want, and then some. If they find out, that’s it. We’re done. Raz and I are going to get discharged, and the rest of you will be excommunicated. No more Mystery Kids. No chance for us to fix this mess.”

The thought of the Mystery Kids separated against their will scared Coraline more than she’d expect. She saw that sentiment visibly rippling across the room.

“That’s why I lied.” Lili closed her eyes. For a moment, she looked so small. “Because nobody can know that we are the ones responsible for releasing the Conclave.”

Her confession concluded, Lili opted to stay silent. Raz placed a hand on her shoulders, rubbing gentle circles on her back. The others, Coraline included, opted to follow her lead, unsure of how to react. At least, for a while.

“W-wait, the evidence is against your story, right?” Wybie blurted. “Like, the fourth guy, he… he died outside of the final chamber, didn’t he?”

“That’s not what the official report said.” Lili’s joyless smile showed itself once more. She nodded at the open laptop in front of him. “Go ahead. Read it.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Wybie returned his attention to the laptop, fingers dancing away at the keyboard. Coraline walked up to him, looking at the screen from over his shoulder, and before long Norman and Neil joined them as well. Wybie had the official debriefing of the incident opened, and skimmed through most of the file until they reached a section detailing a follow-up excursion into the tomb. The report stated that three bodies of StrexCorp personnel had been found, their state fitting the description given by one Agent Zanotto. The body of one last personnel was nowhere to be found, but was surmised to be crushed among the rubble of the final chamber, in accordance to Agent Zanotto’s account.

Coraline peeled her eyes away from the screen to look at Lili. “You can do that?” she asked, almost in a whisper, feeling something that was one part awe, and one part fear.

Lili’s smile became joyless and bitter. “The Zanotto name can do a lot of things. Especially when one of them is the current Grand Head of the Psychonauts.”

“So, you’re abusing your privilege,” Norman clarified, bluntly. Very bluntly.

Lili flashed them all a smile that’s too wide and too forced. “Nepotism’s a bitch. And that bitch is me.”

“This… doesn’t feel right,” Neil said, fidgeting uncomfortably where he stood.

“Don’t feel too bad about it. The one taking the blame here is StrexCorp. They’re the closest thing this world has to pure evil,” Lili explained, but it sounded less about convincing the others and more about trying to convince herself. “Just see it this way; we get to avoid getting axed, and the Psychonauts gets more ammo to use against StrexCorp. Everyone wins.”

Norman had his eyes narrowed at Lili, carrying a skeptical glint in them. “You don’t sound like you believe that.”

“No, you think?!” Lili snapped. “I had to bribe a dozen people and blackmail a dozen more! To fake evidence! This is treason!”

In that moment, Lili’s fragile mask of fake smiles and forced shrugs was shattered, revealing trembling hands and eyes welling up with tears. Coraline nearly stepped back, caught off guard by Lili’s outburst. Raz swiftly moved to envelop and steady Lili’s hand with his own. Lili turned to look at their interconnected hands, then up meet Raz’s eyes. A mental conversation occurred between them as they stared deep into each other’s eyes in silence. Whatever was said between them, Coraline could only guess, but it seemed to be enough to bring Lili down from her sudden panic. As Lili’s breathing slowed to a steady pace, Coraline slowly, apprehensively, approached.

“Thank you. For doing this,” she muttered. It was the least she could do.

Lili shook her head. “Please don’t.”

An uncomfortable silence approached, but never settled, as it was broken by the familiar whizz of air of the base’s door sliding open. Heads turned, including Coraline’s, to witness Dipper walking through the threshold. He carried with him a large stack of books and papers in his hands, as well as heavy, dark bags underneath his eyes, and his was even more pronounced than Lili’s. His hair’s a disgusting mess, his clothes were an even more disgusting mess, and he looked even paler than usual. Almost unhealthily pale. Coraline suddenly wasn’t so sure about chewing the everloving fuck out of him. He looked like he’d already chewed himself out enough.

Mabel entered behind him, with a small but very noticeable, very deliberate distance between her and her brother. While Dipper practically marched up towards the table, Mabel hung back. She quietly hugged herself, not quite sulking in the corner but not quite joining the group either. Even shot Dipper a nasty side eye. Coraline’s lips twisted as she looked back and forth between the twins, feeling uneasy. As if Dipper’s current state wasn’t disturbing enough. What the hell happened between them?

Out of the corner of her eye, Coraline spotted Lili’s expression darken the moment Dipper walked in.

Dipper unceremoniously dumped the mess of books and papers on the table, more than a few scattering across its smooth surface. “This is everything I could find about vampires, the history of Muchenik, and the surrounding region,” he said, with barely a pause in his step. He circled the table, snatched Wybie’s laptop from him - completely ignoring the surprised, indignant squawk that Wybie made - and rapidly typed something in with one hand, his eyes focused on the giant monitor on the wall, still not breaking his stride. The monitor shifted to display a world map, before zooming in to focus on Russia.

“Almost 48 hours have passed since the Conclave first emerged. Now, the average speed of a horse is about 27 miles per hour. Assuming they kept close to that speed most of the time, and assuming they stopped to take shelter during the height of daylight hours, then they have traveled southward for 810 miles, putting them somewhere close to the border of Kazakhstan. I propose we start our search there with a fifty mile radius.”

The display changed along to follow Dipper’s explanation, with charts, graphs, and other bits of calculations appearing on the sides. For this one time, Coraline honestly would’ve paid attention, if Lili hadn’t risen from her seat with murder in her eyes.

“We’re still letting this moron get involved?” she spoke, the fiery anger barely held back in her words sending a chill down Coraline’s spine. Dipper stopped in his tracks, but he didn’t turn to face her.

“Lili!” Raz rose from his seat too, his face a mix of shock and outrage.

“Don’t ‘Lili’ me!” Lili shot a glare back at Raz, before jabbing a finger at Dipper. “He’s the reason why we’re in this mess!”

Coraline knew she should step in. It was her responsibility as the leader. However, a part of her that agreed with Lili, that wanted Dipper to get what he deserved was making a pretty good case for hanging back and seeing what happens.

“That stone was safe exactly where it was, but you just had to pull it out, didn’t you?! You’re just so desperate to have your little Indiana Jones moment, so obsessed with play-acting as the fearless, manly-man explorer. Did you forget to think or care about everyone around you? You’re supposed to be a genius, but all I’m seeing is a fucking idiot!” Lili’s lips curled into a cruel sneer, not that Dipper could see it while he’s still faced away from her. “And now, look at you. Too much of a coward to look me in the eye. Where’s that fearless, manly-man explorer now, huh?!”

Dipper barely showed a reaction. Hell, Dipper barely moved at all, one hand holding a laptop up and another still on the keyboard. Lili’s sneer melted away, replaced with a dark scowl.

“Hey! Look at me!” Lili roared. Her palms tightened into fists. “Turn around and face me, dammit!”

When pulsing magenta energy began building up in Lili’s fists, that’s when Coraline knew she had to step in. She grabbed Lili by the arm as gently as she could. “Lili, that’s enough, we gotta focus,” she said. Silently, she hoped she didn’t just make herself a target.

“No!” Lili yanked her arm free. At least, in the process, she noticed the pulsing energy on her hands. She closed her eyes, the energy dying out, but when her eyes opened, she still had a seething glare fixed towards Dipper. The fire’s no longer roaring, but it was by no means any less hot. “He’s hearing this. All of it.”

Lili took a few steps closer towards Dipper. Coraline, still wary, hovered over Lili closely. Raz joined her, seemingly having the same idea. Dipper remained disturbingly motionless.

“I don’t know what the hell you’ve been doing, but you missed how your fuck-up could’ve been used by some shitty people in the Psychonauts to ruin us.” Every word that left Lili’s lips dripped with venom. It was terrifying to hear, but it worked. Dipper actually reacted, his head perking ever so slightly. “The only reason they didn’t was because I covered it up, by deceiving, bribing, and blackmailing anyone I had to. And I hated every second of it.”

To Coraline’s surprise, Dipper turned his head to look over his shoulder. “I never asked you to do any of that,” he spoke; his tone completely flat, and Coraline couldn’t imagine a worse thing to say.

Lili was fast, but Coraline was faster. She managed to point Lili’s hand away from Dipper at the nick of time, the psi-blast leaving Lili’s hand harmlessly striking the ceiling. Those stupid words were enough to start the roaring fire again, and that left her and Raz holding back a Lili screaming bloody murder. Dipper at least had the common sense to flinch, and to gawk at where the psi-blast struck.

Norman placed himself between Dipper and Lili, his face etched into a harsh frown. “Lili, stop!”

“You’re right, maybe I shouldn’t have!” Lili roared, struggling to break free from Coraline and Raz’s grasp with each word, Norman’s words falling on deaf ears. “Maybe I should’ve told the truth and let everything fall part! Maybe I should’ve let Raz and I get demoted all the way down, be placed under the thumbs of those same shitty people that want us gone! At least I’m used to putting up with them!”

Lili ended her rant panting, her effort to break free slowing down. Coraline loosened her grip on Lili, and not just because her struggles were weakening. She did it because, for a brief moment, she felt Lili trembling again, and she caught how her voice started breaking near the end. Lili composed herself, taking deep breaths, glaring ahead so that everyone knew she’s not finished.

“They think I don’t deserve to be where I am, and they made sure to let me know. Because I’m a kid. Because I’m a girl. Because, if you ask them, the only reason I got to where I am was my last name and my dad.” Lili let her eyes fall to the floor, her features twisted into a bitter, pained scowl. “My last name gave me a lot of privilege that I must’ve abused to hell and back. My dad must’ve paid off dozens of people so I could rise through the ranks as quickly as I did.”

Coraline was at a loss for words. Her grip on Lili had gone slack. In all the time she’d known Lili, she had no idea, hadn’t even considered the idea that Lili had to live through such a thing. Meanwhile, Lili shook her head, staring dead ahead once more.

“You know what the worst part of all this is for me?” she gritted her teeth, the fire behind her eyes stoked and threatening to burn Dipper with its intensity. “I had to prove them right! To cover your mistake.”

The room had changed, seeing Lili now with pity instead of with alarm. Raz still kept his hand on Lili, but now it was to comfort instead of to restrict. Norman’s frown had all but melted away. Even Dipper was left wide-eyed.

“Lili, I- we had no idea,” Norman said, gently, with genuine sympathy in his eyes. “I’m… sorry. That you went through that.”

Lili didn’t look terribly happy with the change. She shrunk away from the looks of pity everyone gave her, but still maintained a hostile stare fixed on Dipper. Norman looked between her, and Dipper, and blew a sigh.

“Look, I… I won’t deny that what Dipper did was extremely stupid and reckless, but…” Norman closed his eyes and sighed again, before muttering, “but he’s not the only one to blame here.”

Coraline blinked, surprised. A quick glance around the room confirmed she wasn’t the only one.

“Raz was the one who accepted this mission in the first place.” Norman gestured towards Raz, but couldn’t quite meet his eyes.

Raz looked positively offended, and nearly voiced it, but it was as if something caught up to him at the last second, stopping him.

“And Coraline was the one that gave Dipper the go to pull out that stone.”

Coraline bit back whatever half-assed retort that nearly slipped out of her lips. A part of her agreed, and a part of her did not. For now, she chose to stay silent.

“And I-!” Norman choked up, a tremble passing through his body. “I shouldn’t have waited so long to use my powers. If I had, maybe things’ll be different. Maybe I… I could’ve stopped them.”

He steadied himself the best he could, and returned Lili’s glare with firm, unflinching eyes. “If you’re going to blame Dipper for this, then you need to blame the rest of us too.”

The two stared the other down, the silence between them so tense, so thick you could choke on it. Coraline would’ve intervened if she wasn’t sort-of intimated by the both of them at this moment. Eventually, Lili was the first to back down, which came as a surprise for Coraline. The stare-down done, Norman threw his gaze away, his lips twisting into a pout. He clearly didn’t enjoy it either. He’s clearly not happy with any of what’s happening.

“Let’s just call this a collective fuck-up, and move on.”

“No.”

The room froze. A low, grim voice had spoken, and it was Dipper’s.

“She’s right,” he continued. It was jarring how determined he sounded in admitting his mistake. “This is all my fault.”

Everyone said nothing in response. They couldn’t. Coraline couldn’t. How could they, after that sudden, blunt confession?

“Releasing the Conclave was my fault. What happened to Muchenik was my fault. What Lili had to do to cover this up was my fault.”

Norman was the first to break out of his stupor. He walked up to Dipper and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Dipper, this isn’t-”

“If this starts the apocalypse, I take full responsibility.” Those words sent Coraline back, when they were in the tomb. Those words were his own. “I meant every word of that.”

Norman stared, stunned. A moment passed before he let go of Dipper’s shoulder and took two steps back.

“I’ll do this alone if I have to.” Dipper turned his hardened gaze towards the rest of the room. “But I know you all well enough to know that none of you will let me.”

Coraline nearly cracked a smile. Damn right they wouldn’t.

Lili, with her face all but screaming that she didn’t want to, opened her mouth to speak. “I-”

Suddenly, a deafening siren blasted away in the command center, so loud and abrupt it damn near gave Coraline a heart attack. The room was bathed in flashing yellow lights, coming from the massive screen. The display had shifted to show the Psychonauts logo in bright yellow.

“That’s the Medulla alert to all Psychonauts operatives!” Raz shouted, barely heard over the sirens.

As Raz rushed to the monitor to respond, Coraline reminded herself that particular alert system. The Psychonauts had dedicated satellites constantly monitoring locations of extreme interest around the globe. Should anything deemed threatening enough by the scanners One of them must’ve picked up something.

“Is it the Conclave?” Neil asked.

“We’re beyond screwed if it’s anyone else.” Coraline sincerely hoped it wasn’t anything else. The Conclave was bad enough.

Raz was at the screen’s controls, and with a few button presses, the display changed back to the world map. The focus zoomed out of Russia and panned across the globe. “Scans detected four suspect individuals, and they’re approaching…” The focus crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reach America, and the display zoomed further and further in until it focused upon… “Amity Park?!”

“Bullshit!” Dipper “No way they got to Amity Park from Russia in two days! They’re on horses!”

“Demon horses,” Coraline reminded.

“W-what do we do now?” Wybie stammered, his panicking eyes looking at Coraline.

Coraline was struck with a split second of indecisiveness, where her stomach churned and her fingers go numb, and only a split second. After all, a leader needed to keep a level head.

“Raz, call Danny and his gang. Tell ‘em a storm’s coming.”

Raz nodded, already pulling his phone out his pocket.

“Everyone else, gear up.” Coraline spared a glance to her friends even as moved for the door. “We’re jetting off to Amity Park, now.”

“W-wait, Coraline, wait!” Wybie pulled at Coraline’s arm, enough to make her stop. “I know being heroes is, like, what we do, but they obliterated our asses just two days ago! What makes you think we can take ‘em on this time?!”

“One, we’re ready for them this time. Two,” Coraline nodded at the screen, an overhead view of Amity Park on display, “we’ve got a ghost superhero and his merry band of friends on our side.”

By this point, the shock from the abrupt turn of events had mostly faded. Everyone began to scramble to prepare as best they could in the extremely limited amount of time they had. Some of them even beat Coraline to the door, which brought a grin to her face.

“We go all out! No holding back!” Coraline called out.

Fear, thrill, apprehension, anticipation; all melded together into one big mess in her chest. That could only mean one thing.

“The hunt is on!”

God, I’m so happy I can finally use that line.

So, I think this is the shortest ‘long chapter’ that I’ve ever done. Just under 7k words. Which I guess is a good thing, since I had midterms while writing this, so I needed the free time. I think the chapter still did everything it needed to. It showed a little glimpse of how everyone’s dealing with the fallout of the Conclave, Dipper’s mess of a mental state, and especially, it gave us a deeper look into Lili and the machinations inside Psychonauts, which I’ve always wanted to get into.

All of that are still firmly on the sad train, though. But don’t y’all worry, that’s going to change very soon. Now, before I go, I leave you with one question.

Who wants to see a half-ghost fight a vampire?

#mystery kids #gravity falls #coraline #psychonauts #paranorman #mabel pines #dipper pines #coraline jones #wybie lovat #lili zanotto #razputin aquato #norman babcock #neil downe #When You're A Mystery Kid

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luminnara · 3 years

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alpha!erasermic x pregnant!reader | ABO fluff

Request: Hiya! i’m wondering if you can do an alpha! erasermic x pregnant! omega! reader? maybe when both alphas leave their lunch at home and she goes to bring it to them. the reader and both alphas collectively have custody of hitoshi and eri, and the reader is heavily pregnant. preferably a female reader please, and none of class 1-a have met her. this is my first time requesting stuff so i hope i did okay! 😅

You did wonderfully! I love writing cute fluffy stuff like this, and it’s my first time writing any kind of erasermic thing even though I love them so much, so hopefully I did okay! Idk where exactly this sits timeline-wise, don’t worry about it, it’s omegaverse and I can do what I want lol. I took this prompt and sort of RAN with it, too

*also Mirio has his quirk back in this because it’s fun, and the reader has kind of a dodgy past because i wanted to add a little SPICE*

Warnings: a/b/o, pregnancy, the implications of Aizawa’s scarf and all of its uses

You sighed, resting a hand on your swollen belly. “Those two...”

You had only just gotten Eri out of bed, and, upon heading into the kitchen to fix her some breakfast, you saw two lovingly-prepared bento boxes sitting on the counter. Shota and Hizashi must have forgotten them in their hurry to get to UA earlier that morning, and while you knew they could very easily grab something to eat in the cafeteria, you hated the thought of these meals going to waste.

Besides, your inner omega was a bit miffed that they hadn’t taken your home cooked food to work with them. Was Lunch Rush’s food so much better than yours that your alphas would rather eat at school? You refused to believe that, even if his quirk was cooking. There was no way that he could make your alphas a meal that could compare to the kind you always cooked for them, and maybe it was the pregnancy hormones making you extra bristly about it, but you were determined to march right on over to UA and bring them their proper lunches.

Even if you were heavily, heavily pregnant. They’d probably have something to say about you leaving the house and waddling around Musutafu with only Eri as company, but you were tough enough to fend for yourself. And besides, it was only a quick train ride to the station outside the school, and if you did get yourself into any kind of trouble, the city was chock full of pro heroes and their sidekicks, many of whom you were on a first name basis with.

“Eri!” you called, grabbing a bag to carry the boxes in. “Are you dressed yet? We’re going to visit UA!”

You could heard a thump, followed by the sound of little feet thudding as she ran to meet you. When she appeared in the doorway, her eyes were wide with excitement, her long hair falling around her shoulders messily. “Yes!”

“Go brush your hair and then we’ll go,” you laughed, ushering her towards the bathroom.

“Why are we going?” the little girl called.

“Hizashi and Shota left their lunches,” you explained. “We’re bringing them so that the food doesn’t go to waste.”

“Can we visit Deku and Togata?”

You paused to think. You hadn’t actually met any of Shota and Hizashi’s students before, your alphas always preferring that you stay home and away from the sometimes dangerous school they taught at. Well, you knew Hitoshi, of course, and since he had yet to move into the dorms on campus, he still lived at home with the rest of the family. At least he had remembered to grab his lunch. Would your adopted son be embarrassed to see you appearing at his school? Hitoshi always carried himself in a very collected manner, and the thought of being able to show up and pinch his cheeks and coo at him made you laugh.

And you knew that everyone in Class 1-A would be over the moon to see Eri. The little girl that had been rescued from Overhaul was popular amongst the young heroes-in-training, from what you’d heard, and if you were going to go all the way to UA, you’d be damned if you didn’t let her see her friends there.

“Of course we can,” you said with a smile as she came running back in, her hair significantly less tangled. “Ready?”

“Ready!” she beamed up at you.

“Do me a favor and carry this?” you offered her the tote you’d tucked the bento boxes into and she took it from you eagerly, bouncing towards the door.

You grabbed your purse, made sure your keys were inside, and followed her out, taking her free hand. Together, the two of you made your way to the nearest train station, a few neighbors waving hello as you passed. There were no villains to be seen or head of, and the pros you saw out on patrol all looked happy and relaxed. They all knew who you were, some of the betas and omegas approaching to chat about your pregnancy and ask how things were going. The alphas hung back, calling greetings or offering waves, none of them wanting to get too close to a pregnant, mated omega and risk the wrath of your alphas if their scents happened to cling to you.

The journey went smoothly, Eri sticking close to your side the entire way. You were both excited to be going to visit UA--Eri, because she would get to see Deku and Mirio, and you because you hadn’t been to the school in years--and as you stepped off the train and the gates finally came into view, you let out a happy laugh.

“Ready?” you asked Eri, leading her towards the entrance.

“Mhm!” she nodded eagerly, pulling you forward. “Let’s go! Let’s go let’s go let’s go--”

“Hang on, hang on,” you waddled after her as quickly as you could, fishing around in your purse. When you finally found what you were looking for, you pulled out an ID card, holding it up towards the sensor atop the UA Barrier gate. “You have your card?”

“Yep!” Eri said, grabbing the card hanging from the lanyard around her neck and mimicking you.

“Special ID accepted,” a robotic voice chimed. “Welcome to UA High, (y/n) and Eri.”

The gate opened and you led Eri through it, the big school looming just past it. The special ID cards you both had were a result of Shota insisting that you be able to get to UA if you ever needed to. With the upgraded security measures, and so many of the students living in the dorms, it wasn’t easy getting onto the campus without either a student or guest card. You probably technically weren’t even supposed to have one, but no one was going to argue with Aizawa and Yamada when it came to ensuring their omega would be able to get to them in case of emergency.

This wasn’t exactly an emergency, but it was still an important mission, so you had absolutely no qualms about using your special ID privileges today. You just hoped nobody else would be mad about it.

“Hey, is that Eri I see?” a voice called.

You turned to see a blond haired, blue eyed boy jogging towards you and recognized him as Togata. He was dressed in a PE uniform, and as he stopped in front of you, you could see that he was panting.

Eri immediately set the bag down and rushed toward him, running into his open arms. “Lemillion!”

Mirio laughed as he scooped her into a hug. “What are you doing here? Aizawa didn’t mention anything about a visit!”

“Aizawa forgot his lunch today,” you said, nodding towards the bag Eri had dropped. “So we thought we’d bring it and visit.”

Mirio straightened up a bit when he realized you were there. You had to be absolutely covered in your alphas’ scents, and even if they never told any of the students about you, there was no way that Mirio hadn’t figured it out by now. Besides...your bond marks were very big and very visible, one on each side of your neck just below your scent glands. There was no way Mirio didn’t know what that all added up to.

You had never officially met him, but you’d heard plenty about all of UA’s Big Three, and after he and Deku saved Eri from the Shie Hassaikai, you’d heard even more about him. He was selfless, going so far as to sacrifice his own quirk to keep Eri safe and get her away from Overhaul, and for that, you’d always feel a little indebted to him. He’d luckily been able to get it back, but Aizawa had told you that there had been a long period in which nobody was sure it could even be returned to him.

“Oh, s-sorry!” he bowed to you. “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced! I’m Togata Mirio, I was there at the Shie Hassaikai raid--”

“I’ve heard plenty about you,” you laughed as he straightened up again. “I’m (y/n). I’m the stay at home omega that keeps Shota and Hizashi from starving all the time.”

Mirio’s laugh was probably one of the most raucously happy sounds you had ever heard. “We’re all grateful for that! As for me, personally, I’m really glad Eri has such a great mom now, too. And you’ve got more on the way!”

“Sure do,” you groaned, a hand on your lower back as you tried to lean and stretch it out some. “Due date’s in just a couple weeks. Can’t wait to get ‘em outta here.”

“Well, at least you already know how to do the parenting part!” Mirio was still all smiles as Eri grabbed for his hand and he took it, picking up the tote bag as well. “Come on, it’s my free period so I’ll take you to 1-A’s classroom.”

“Thank you, Togata,” you said, hand on your belly as you followed him into the school.

“It’s no problem!” he beamed at you over his shoulder as he led the way. “It’s almost lunch, too. Perfect timing!”

“Is it really?” you glanced up at a clock on the wall, and sure enough, it was nearly noon. “Wow. Guess we took longer than I thought. But...ugh, I didn’t bring any food for myself or Eri...”

“That’s no problem! Lunch Rush always has tons of options in the Grand Mess Hall.” at your slight glare, Mirio added, “...But I’m sure even his best cooking is no substitute for a homemade meal!”

“That’s right,” you growled, waddling along down the hall.

When the three of you reached the 1-A door, Mirio used his permeation quirk to stick his head straight through it rather than knocking, and judging by the resounding scream of surprise that nearly shattered the windows, he had scared Hizashi half to death.

Mirio pulled back and opened the door, revealing a room full of groaning students, all clutching their ears. Hizashi was the only one who seemed unbothered by the sheer volume of the scream he had let out, clutching his chest instead.

“Why can’t you knock like a normal person, dumbass?” a blond boy snarled.

“Bakugou! You shouldn’t swear in front of esteemed upperclassmen!” a black-haired boy with glasses said.

“It’s not just me you’re swearing in front of!” Mirio said, still smiling, like always. With a nod of his head, he tugged Eri into the room.

Everyone lit up, and you even caught Bakugou’s harsh expression softening some at the sight of her.

“Eri!” a freckly, green haired boy exclaimed, jumping up from his seat.

“Deku!” the little girl yelled happily, letting go of Mirio’s hand to run towards him.

You watched as he knelt down to greet her, the rest of the class all getting up, or at the very least leaning over in their seats to say hello. All except Hitoshi, who looked up, made eye contact with you, started to roll his eyes, and then sighed.

Oh, you were so going to embarrass him today.

Hizashi was still trying to catch his breath, but now, with the students all distracted by Eri, he finally had a chance to notice you. You could see his nostrils flare as he recognized your scent, his head whipping around to spot you standing there in the door.

“BABE!” he rushed toward you, pulling you into a hug.

“Hi, Hizashi,” you laughed into his shoulder, clinging to his jacket as he rubbed his scent gland over your hair.

He immediately pulled back, holding you at arm’s length as he looked you over. “What’re you doing here? Everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” you chuckled. When he glanced down at your swollen belly, you added, “we’re fine.”

He let out a relieved breath. “Okay. Okay, good. Had me worried there for a sec.”

“They came to bring you lunch!” Mirio said, holding up the bag he had carried in for you. “I ran into her and Eri outside while I was out for my daily jog.”

“Togata here was very helpful,” you said. “He even carried that bag for us.”

“Gotta help everyone who needs it, whenever I can!” the teenager gave you a thumbs up.

“Thanks, Mirio.” Hizashi said, putting an arm around your shoulders and pulling you up against his side. “Means a lot to me that my family stays safe.”

“Family?”

You turned to see all of Class 1-A staring at you.

Hizashi cleared his throat, the sound practically echoing. “Everybody, this is my mate.”

The room suddenly erupted.

“Who is she?”

“Is she a pro?”

“Can’t believe anybody would put up with him...”

“Bakugou, quiet! Don’t be rude!”

“But, wait...” Deku said, still kneeling with Eri. “I thought Eri’s been living with Mr. Aizawa..?”

The students all glanced to each other before their eyes swiveled to you and Hizashi.

“Oh, Hizashi,” you teased. “You never told them?”

“I, uh...” a slight pink tinged his cheeks as he blushed.

Luckily, before he had the chance to stumble over his words any longer, he was saved by the appearance of a very tired, very disgruntled, Eraserhead.

“What the hell is going on and why the hell are you screaming in my classroom?” he growled from the doorway.

Hizashi turned the two of you to face him, and you saw the anger immediately drain from Aizawa’s face.

“...What are you doing here?” he asked, his bloodshot eyes full of concern. “Everything okay?”

“Hi, Papa!” Eri chimed from her spot next to Deku.

“...Hello, Eri. Why are you also here?”

“You both forgot your lunches,” you said, practically scolding them. “I worked hard on those!”

“So you came all the way here just to bring us lunch? You realize we have an entire cafeteria here, right?”

“Don’t even think about it,” you growled.

“You shouldn’t be walking across Musutafu without at least Hitoshi with you. It’s too dangerous.”

At the mention of his name, everyone’s heads swiveled to look at Shinso. He sighed, slumping back in his chair and dragging a hand down his face.

“You know, if you wouldn’t forget the lunches that I so lovingly put all that hard work into, I wouldn’t even have to go all the way across Musutafu to bring them to you.” you said haughtily, nose up in the air as you stared your alpha down. “And besides...you know better than anyone that I can take care of myself, and Eri, no matter how pregnant I am.”

Aizawa sighed. He knew there was no arguing with you when you got in a mood like this, and besides...you were already there.

And you were right.

Before he could even come up with something to say, the bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch, and soon, you were walking down the hall between your two alphas, Eri riding on Deku’s shoulders as Class 1-A flooded out along with you.

You ended up sitting in the mess hall with the students, sandwiched between Hizashi and Shota. Shota didn’t seem entirely pleased with it, mentioning several times that he’d much rather be in the teachers’ lounge where it was quieter, but Eri was far too happy to be with Class 1-A for him to actually tear her away from them. She was across from you, sitting next to Deku and a brown haired girl you learned was named Ochako. Mirio had left to go find his own friends, the other two members of The Big Three, and you could see him just a few tables over, laughing loudly with a blue haired girl with a boy with pointy ears looked like he was trying to will himself out of existence next to them.

“It’s so exciting that Mr. Aizawa has a whole family!” Ochako said.

“And with Present Mic, too,” Tsu, the frog girl, said from her spot next to her.

“How long have you been together?” the pink girl, Mina, asked.

“Don’t ask so many personal questions! We should respect their privacy.” Iida said, in true class rep fashion.

When Shota only offered a grunt in reply, too focused on his lunch to actually talk with his homeroom class, and with Hizashi already stuffing his face, you took it upon yourself to chat.

“Oh, I don’t mind the questions!” you said with a good natured laugh. “I met Hizashi and Shota when we all went to school together. Then we lost touch, because I...well, I sort of...chose a different life path than they did.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Hizashi slurped up his soba.

“Here.” you looked up to see Hitoshi had brought you and Eri each a tray of food, setting them down in front of the two of you.

“You’re so good to your mother,” you cooed, reaching up to grab his cheek.

He dodged you expertly, ducking out of the way and going to sit with Bakugou and his friends on Deku’s other side. You narrowed your eyes at him, making sure he knew that he couldn’t run forever, and as Denki watched the exchange, he spoke up.

“...Wait. You didn’t become a pro hero?” he asked.

“I took the hero course here at UA.” you explained, grabbing your chopsticks. “I ended up dropping out before graduation. This is actually my first time back since then.”

“So...” Deku seemed nervous. “Were you, uh...”

“A villain?” you asked.

When he nodded quickly, you laughed and offered a nod of your own.

“Yeah, I suppose I was. My quirk used to be wild, and hard to control...I got so frustrated when I wasn’t making any progress with it that I decided to just leave school. I was mad at everyone, and I fell in with people who felt the same way. One thing leads to another, and next thing you know, I’m running from the loudest, most obnoxious pro hero in the city.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Hizashi, who was doing his best not to choke on his lunch.

“And he never caught me,” you said adoringly, leaning against his shoulder.

“I never caught you on my own,” he corrected.

“Made my ears bleed a few times, I think.”

“Yes, and I don’t regret that.” he pressed a cute, fluttery little kiss against the tip of your nose. “You were absolutely going to kill me.”

“Not absolutely!” you protested.

“I had to rescue him.” Aizawa spoke up, his voice gruff and tired, like always. “Had to cancel your quirk and keep you tied down until the others could get to us.”

You smirked at your first memory of his scarf and what it could do, and as you did so, he realized that he had just admitted to tying you up with it in front of his idiot students.

“And that’s when I fell in looooove,” you grabbed his arm, batting your lashes at him obnoxiously.

“Not another word.” he growled.

The students were all staring at you with wide eyes. All except Hitoshi, who was rolling his.

“I guess you could say I was reformed,” you said, grabbing some noodles. “Then one thing led to another, and...here we are.” You patted your belly.

“That’s so romantic,” Mina sighed, leaning her chin on her hand.

“What’s your quirk?” Ochako asked.

“I could show you!” you said eagerly, moving to stand.

“Absolutely not.” Shota held onto your arm and forced you to sit down again. “You are due in two weeks. No nonsense until after the pups are born.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes now.

“Fine,” you mumbled with a sigh. “I never get to have fun anymore.”

“But pups are so exciting!” the invisible girl, Hagakure, said.

“Yeah!” Mina agreed.

Then, the rest of the girls bombarded you with questions.

“How many are you having?”

“What day are they coming?!”

“Can we meet them?”

“Mr. Aizawa, please can you bring them in to the dorms??”

“--But Mr. Aizawa, this is the safest place in Japan. There’s no way anything bad would happen to them--”

“--And besides, (y/n) has a super strong quirk, right? She said so!”

“Come on, just let us see the brats when they’re old enough to travel.”

The sound of Bakugou’s voice had everyone staring at the blond boy.

“...What?” he bristled. “It’s not like I care, I just want the girls to shut up.”

“Uh huh. Sure, Bakugou.” Kirishima snorted.

“...maybe.” Aizawa relented, eager to shut them all up.

That was enough for the girls, and they immediately began talking chattering about the cutest baby clothes, the best toys, and then the differences between their own upbringings. You enjoyed listening to them throughout the rest of lunch, and by the time the hour had ended, you were sad to be leaving.

“Hang on, hang on,” Hizashi said as you took Eri’s hand to leave. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home,” you furrowed your brow. “Why?”

“We told you,” Shota said, standing with his hands in his pockets. “We don’t want you wandering around the city.”

“And I told you, I’m fine--”

“Just stay here for the rest of the day.”

“...What?”

“We’ll all go home together later.” Hizashi smiled. “You and Eri can hang out in the lounge. I bet Midnight would love to pester you about the bump, too.”

You smiled, walking towards your alphas. “Alright. Alright, yeah. That sounds nice.”

As Class 1-A lingered at the end of the hall, watching for as long as they could get away with, Denki elbowed Hitoshi in the side.

“Dude, your mom is--”

“Don’t you dare say hot.” Shinso growled.

“Actually, I was gonna say badass, but that too--”

The purple haired boy glared at him. “Shut up, Denki.”

“What? It’s a compliment!”

#erasermic #alpha!erasermic #alpha aizawa #alpha hizashi #aizawa fluff #erasermic x reader #abo #omegaverse #bnha imagines #bnha x reader #shoto aizawa #aizawa x hizashi #hizashi yamada #present mic #present mic x reader #hizashi yamada x reader #aizawa x reader #shota aizawa x reader

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incendiobrock · 3 years

Text

The Witches Forest

Request: heyy idk if u do requests but if u aree then can you do one where the reader is a witch and is dating colby so she goes on one of the haunted trips w them and does some reading idkk you can end it however you like <33 tyy!

A/N: Thank you to the lovely anon who requested this! I loosely based this imagine off the witches forest video on the Sam and Colby channel but instead of the witch from the video giving the reading it was y/n, and instead of Colby getting lost in the forest it was y/n. Hope you enjoy! Also this was loosely inspired by an imagine I read by @annab-nana you can read it here!

Warnings: sexual joke (I think that’s it)

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It was a typical day with the trap boys. Your boyfriend Colby had finally convinced you to go on a haunted trip with them. The only reason you had agreed was because he had promised you, and Corey, that there wouldn’t be any seances. You would all be going to just spend the night there, not summon anything.

In fact, Sam was planning on doing a cleansing ritual that he had done some research on. So, you agreed. You were always super worried about the boys and the trouble that they would find themselves in, especially with demonic entities and spirits.

One of the other reasons you had agreed to do the video with them was because you knew that the fans have been begging for you to make an appearance. Colby got tweets and comments daily about his “witchy girlfriend” joining in on a haunted overnight video. All the fans knew that you were super into crystals, and tarot cards, and different herbs, and just about anything that you believed would help protect you and connect you to the world of spirituality.

So here you were, sitting in front of the camera, Colby right by your side, his ring clad hand holding onto your thigh, as the rest of the guys surrounded the table. “Okay, who’s ready for the reading?” You questioned, looking around the table. Everyone nodded and agreed to begin. You passed the tarot deck to each of the boys, instructing them to shuffle the deck while thinking of their intention for the trip to The Witches Forest. Everyone did as told and passed the deck back to you, you were the last to shuffle.

“Alright, so I’m going to pick the top three cards and then we can go over what they each mean for us, and for the trip we are about to go on.” You stated, gently flipping over the top three cards, The Tower, The Nine of Swords, and the card of Death.

You felt the room tense as they all read the cards chosen. “It’s not bad.” You said, trying to calm everyone’s nerves. “Uh- I don’t know about you but a card that says death seems pretty bad to me.” Corey said, laughing out of fear.

“Yeah babe, what does that mean besides ‘we are going to die?’” Colby air quoted the last part. “Will you guys just give me a minute to explain it?” You laughed at your boyfriends face as his eyebrows remained scrunched on his forehead, looking desperately at you for answers. You went on to explain that death could signify the “death” of an era and the beginning of something new. The Nine of Swords means that their own thoughts can weigh them down, or cause a feeling of darkness, and The Tower means danger, chaos, but also liberation.

“See, so nothing is necessarily bad. It actually seems like this might be good for you guys, especially since we are planning on doing the fire ritual too. That way you can begin a new journey and have a nice cleansed path before the next moon cycle begins.” You stated, leaning your head on Colby’s shoulder and cuddling into his side. He placed a short kiss onto your forehead taking hold of your hand, “Alright so let’s get on the road we don’t want it to get too dark before we set up the tent, plus it’s about an hour drive.” Colby said to the group, still holding your hand as you both stood up to go get into the car.

About an hour later you had all arrived at the forest. Colby had parked the car a little off the dirt path in a small clearing between the trees. You were happy to get out of the car to stretch after having to sit between Jake and Corey in the backseat. You brought along a small backpack of stuff like a water, first aid kit, a flashlight, and most importantly some crystals that offer protection. You took out the small ziploc with the crystal and began to give one to each of the boys, telling them to keep their crystal in their pockets for protection.

Sam had asked you to explain to the camera what all you had brought so you showed him the black tourmaline, amethyst, and the obsidian, saying that they each offered protection and grounding properties. “Alright, now that we got our protection rocks let’s go pitch the tent we will be staying in all night.” Sam said, shutting off the camera. You all stood around trying to help as Colby did most of the work putting the tent together. You were impressed with his skills, never knowing that he could set up a tent with little to no instruction.

“Dang brother, those Cub Scout skills are really showing right now.” Jake joked, sticking the last spoke into the dirt. “Thanks brother, you know I’m skilled with these hands.” Colby responded, sending a wink in your direction. Your cheeks heated up as a small laugh escaped from your mouth. Leave it to Colby to make a sexual joke that makes the guys cringe.

After a little exploring all together, and almost losing the location of the tent, you had all decided it was time to start the fire ritual. You were glued closely to Colby’s side, hearing a lot of motion within the trees. “Once we get the fire going maybe we will feel better, the light and heat should scare off any animals that are near.” Sam said grabbing the fire bucket that he had brought for this ritual.

Colby lit the fire and you all sat around in camping chairs. “We should’ve brought s’mores bro.” Corey said, trying to alleviate some of his fear. You agreed with him because you knew you felt the same fear as him at the moment. Sam explained what was going to happen with the fire ritual and passed out the objects that everyone was going to be throwing into the fire, in hopes to release any possible spirits that were attached to them. As soon as you guys started to watch the stuff burn Colby flew back, falling with his camping chair.

“Did you guys see that! Right there! Right behind Jake! Sam? Did you see it, it was like a shadow and it moved super fast right behind Jake’s head.” Colby yelled, standing quickly off the ground and shining a flashlight in that direction. “I saw that too!” You said, abandoning your camping chair as well. Colby took hold of the camera and began walking away from the fire and towards the trail. “Colby! Wait for us bro you can’t go alone!” Sam yelled out, chasing after him. “I have to go, I know I saw something I need to see where it’s going before it gets away, I wanna capture it on camera!” Colby said.

“Someone has to stay by the fire we can’t all leave! Jake you stay here with Corey and we will go investigate.” Sam instructed, but Jake hesitated wanting to go too. Corey ended up agreeing on staying by the fire so you three could keep up with Colby who was still walking quickly away from the group. You thanked Corey, worried that your boyfriend would get too far ahead of everyone. You began to jog to the path, already extremely behind the others because of the sudden panic.

You turned onto the dirt path and didn’t see any of the three boys, but could barely make out their voices in the distance. You began to jog down the path, heading to the left. You had felt like you were getting closer to them but their voices still remained faint and incoherent. You knew that Sam had yelled for everyone to stay on the path in order to avoid getting lost so you kept jogging further and further into the forest, away from the fire where Corey sat.

You slowed to a walk, shining your flashlight all around, hearing tons of branches snapping and rustling. You suddenly felt very alert, almost as if something was watching you. You felt the panic really set in as it became harder and harder for you to catch your breath. “Colby!” You yelled. “Colby! Sam! Jake! Corey!” You knew you had made a mistake going this far down the path. “Hello?! Can anyone hear me!” You heard a scream off in the distance making your eyes basically bulge out of your head. You turned sharply towards the direction of the noise, shining your flashlight out in front of your face. Your hands were trembling, shaking the light violently. Not only was it freezing out, but you were terrified of what was out there.

You began running back the opposite direction of the trail, your breath almost nonexistent at this point, but you were determined to make it back to the tent. You heaved, feet stomping away at the dirt path beneath. After what felt like a century, you saw the distant glow of the fire. You ran, the victory of reuniting with the boys fueling your return. The fire was now in clear sight as well as the figures of the four boys you were so anxious to see. The noise of you approaching causing them all to turn and look at you.

You practically leapt into Colby’s arms, tears pouring down your face as you wrapped tightly around his torso. His hand found its way straight to your hair, pulling you as close as he could to his body, swaying you side to side. “Oh my god, baby. Where were you? I was so worried! I thought I had lost you.” He said quietly, running his fingers through your hair trying to soothe your crying. “I-I was running after you a-and then I got lost. I heard a s-scream, I’m so scared.” You sobbed, never wanting Colby to let go of you.

“We looked all over, we were calling your name like crazy but Jake said we should come and wait by the fire incase you came back. We didn’t want to keep moving further away from you on accident.” Sam said, standing closely near you and Colby.

“Can we please go? I don’t think I want to be here anymore.” You pleaded, looking into Colby’s eyes as his delicate fingers helped to wipe away your tears. “Yes, of course. I love you, I’m so glad you’re safe. Let’s head to the back up plan, the cabin.” Colby said, directing the last sentence to the boys. You nodded gratefully, making your way into Colby’s car while Jake, Corey, and Sam packed up the mess.

The night was getting foggier as you pulled into the driveway of Jenna’s cabin. You felt relief rush over you, knowing that you wouldn’t have to spend another second in the Witches Forest. You all got out of the car and huddled by the front door, rain beginning to pour down. Sam took off his backpack digging through it to find the spare key Jenna had lent him. “Uh, Colby did I give you the key earlier?” Sam asked. Colby let go of your hand and patted his pockets down, “No I don’t think I have it. Is it in your pockets?” He responded, recapturing your hand in his, knowing that you were still shaken up about getting lost. Sam flipped his jean pockets inside out, no key to be found. He began pulling everything out of his backpack, searching deep into the bag for the key.

“Let’s go back into the car maybe I left it in there.” Sam said, heading straight back to Colby’s car. You all got back in as the rain continued to pour, Sam searching every inch of the vehicle. “I can’t believe you lost the key Sam, first Y/n goes missing and now this?” Jake says from the backseat, obviously frustrated. “It’s not all my fault okay? You think I meant to lose the key?” Sam snapped back, the tension in the car rising.

After a lot of searching, the key was no where to be found. Much to your dismay, you had to go back to the tent in the depths of the forest. You all huddle into the blue tent, slipping into your sleeping bags. It was only a few more hours until daylight, a few more hours before the suffering would end.

“I’m not going to let anything hurt you. I lost you once tonight and it was the scariest moment of my life. It’s not going to happen again, I promise.” Colby vowed, pulling you into his chest. You smiled at his kind words, despite how scared you were he always knew how to make you feel safe. “Thank you Colby, I love you so much.” You responded, nuzzling further into his chest. “I love you, to new beginnings.” He chuckled, referencing the tarot reading from earlier. “To new beginnings.” You agreed, sealing the deal with a kiss on the lips.

#colby brock #colby brock x reader #colby brock imagines #Sam and Colby #jake webber #Corey Scherer

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angry-geese · 3 years

Note

Sukuna requests. S/o makes fun of him all the time, calls him weak, etc. What nobody knows at the beginning is that s/o is significantly stronger than sukuna

The Definition of Human - Sukuna x Reader

Warnings: some swearing but its pretty tame. mention of death, and violence. Sukuna kind of needs his own warning. sfw. gn!reader.

a/n: as much as i love the idea of sukuna being soft for his human s/o i also love the thought of them being much stronger than him and him having no clue what do to with that

Word Count: 2.1k

You were just a sorcerer when he first met you, barely an adult, cast out by your village.

Someone so powerful hadn't been born for centuries. A sorcerer like you could turn the world of Jujutsu on its head. And that was the last thing they wanted to happen. The older you grew, the more unpredictable you became. You were far too strong for the village elders to handle. While you could have been a powerful ally, you would have been an even worse foe. The very people that had raised you, who taught you how to use your powers had begun to fear you.

Though you weren't trussed up like a sacrifice, you were sat by one of his altars like one.

It was only by chance you stumbled across such a thing. The surrounding woods were vast, and winding. No matter what path you took, you always seemed to wind back up by them. Perhaps it was a work of sorcery, meant to keep you lost in the woods forever. No trail seemed to lead back home. The village elders never expected you to last long on your own against the elements, let alone the King of Curses. But growing exhausted, and hungry, you had little choice but to stop and rest. The altar had offerings in the form of food, and a place to rest. Far more than Sukuna needed. You figured he wouldn't notice if you took a few things.

At the base of an altar sat a much smaller form. A human, one from the local village. Your shoulders were slumped, your arms curled around a bag. You didn't look sad, so much as you looked furious. You were talking to yourself, listing out all the ways you’d flatten each and every structure, how you’d salt the very earth they stood on, how you’d turn the once rich, fertile soil uninhabitable.

For having Sukuna’s interest in mind, he was certainly ready to burn it to the ground. Your village did little to appease the King of Curses. The humans in it were conniving, and rather quick to betray him. The relationship between the two was strained at best. In exchange for offerings in the form of crops, alcohol, and whoever decided to get on the village elders’ bad side, he wouldn't burn your home to the ground.

In a way, you were their last sacrifice to him, and by far his favorite.

As a child your parents had warned you, telling you never to go into the woods alone. A four armed man wandered out there, and he had a habit of making travelers disappear. Now that very same forest you once feared was your only sliver of comfort.

It took you a moment to realize he was standing there. And when you finally noticed him, you didn't look at him with the fear most humans did. There was a curious glint in your eyes. You sized him up, studied him in a way he wasn't used to.

In your hands you held an apple—an old offering—paring it with a knife. You were carving around the bruises. The texture of bruised apples always bothered you.

“It's dangerous to be out here alone, little one,” he said, eyeing you up like prey, “you should know that by now.”

“You’re the least of my worries, old man,” you said, popping a chunk of apple into your mouth.

You were still human. Strong, but human. You needed sleep, and food. If exposed to the elements too long you would freeze, or succumb to heatstroke or thirst.

“Old man?!” He said, clearly offended.

“What? You don't think I’ve heard the stories?” You asked. “You don’t scare me.”

And you were right. Even as he looked you in the eyes, you didn't back down once. You, unlike every other human from your village, weren't scared of him. He found you curious, and interesting. From the very moment your eyes locked with his, he was infatuated.

“I should frighten you,” he warned.

“You don't,” you said, “in fact, I think I could kick your ass!”

Expecting it to be an easy fight, he took your offer.

What resulted was a fight that would last days. Sukuna had never met anyone who could last so long against him. Let alone a human. Your strength was only rivaled by your unwavering rage. You were determined in a way he’d never seen before. Your village, along with half of the surrounding forest would be razed in the battle.

They had to have seen this coming. The child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel it's warmth.

And it's warmth you felt.

You couldn't imagine yourself being sad. You were too filled with anger and betrayal. There was no room left in your heart for sadness.

He remembers the look of the fires, and how they glinted in your eyes. He thinks that's when you began to turn into a curse.

After the third day, he had grown not only bored, but tired. It was clear neither of you were capable of destroying the other. He figured you were too tough to eat; you wouldn't make good meat. Uraume couldn't do a whole lot with you. And you were too combative to be a concubine. You would not go with him willingly. He's not one to give up, nor is he one to admit defeat, but he knows when he's not going to win. The two of you would mutually destroy the world before you would destroy each other. There was no end in sight. Sukuna simply wanted to leave.

So he simply headed for home.

That enraged you. After days of fighting, there was no climatic end to the battle. You wanted something more.

"Hey asshole!" You said. "You can't just walk away!"

"I know when I've met my match." He said. "Do you?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means this world will burn before we destroy each other."

The two of you were quite literally a match made in hell. You would be a powerful ally and an even worse foe. There was no point in fighting you.

He did nothing to stop you when you followed him.

You were more of a nuisance than anything else. He often found himself comparing you to a cockroach. No matter how many times he tried to squash, poison, or starve out you always came back. If he couldn't kill you, then he had to have you on his side. You weren't something to be deceived, betrayed, injured, or killed. You were stronger than that. You were sharp, too, with a tongue to match. Whether harsh words he threw your way, you returned in double. It was rare he found a human with quite a tongue on them. He often remarked about having it nailed to his door. You simply pointed at his servants and dared them to try it.

They never did. Anyone who dared harm you often met a gruesome fate, either at his hands, or yours.

He didn't consider himself capable of falling in love. And he isn't. To some extent. But love is what he felt. You were the closest to an equal the King of Curses had ever met. In many ways you surpassed him, but those who admitted it often met a swift death.

He moved onto the next village. So did you. Word had not yet spread of what happened. People knew of the fires, but not of the deaths, and your connection to them. You settled down, taking up work with the local shamans. Though you were a newcomer, your help was gladly accepted when Sukuna first showed up, demanding offerings.

In the beginning you tried to warn them. That didn't help. They never listened. It always ended the same way; with a razed village and a bunch of needless deaths.

Sukuna would visit. Often in the late hours of the night as you were trying to get some sleep. He did little more than steal your food, and make himself far too comfortable. Of course that's how most of your meetings went.

He's not sure when he fell for you. But it was something that happened all at once. After years of a back and forth between you two, something gave. You took a place right by his side. He found himself no longer taking concubines, no longer indulging in the sacrifices presented to him. He found himself consumed with the thought of you. He had to have you.

“I can't believe you’re all out of sake,” he said, one night while visiting.

“I wonder who’s fault that is,” you said.

He cast you a glare from across the room. You'd have to buy more in the morning anyway. But all the good stuff has been put up as an offering, and the only sake left in the market is watered down, and worth nothing to you. You don't drink the stuff all that much anyway, you just used it for cooking.

“I question why I keep you alive,” he said.

“I think if you could even kill me,” you said, “you would have by now. Someone as weak as you doesn't stand a chance.”

He didn't like this, and hauled you into his arms, carrying you away from your cooking.

“No!” You squealed, too busy giggling to put up much of a fight. “The rice is going to overcook!”

Sukuna couldn't care less about the rice. He tossed you rather carelessly onto your shared bed, caging you in his arms. The kiss he pulled you into was fleeting, and soft, like he was almost afraid to touch you.

When the village elders first discovered these meetings, it didn't take them long to exile you. The very people that had welcomed you had ignored your warnings and betrayed you. You had gone from respected, and even loved, to feared in an instant.

At some point you stopped trying to warn them. If you really wanted to, you could stop him. Delay him at best. Give people time to run. At least someone would survive. But after a while, you began to think some of them deserved it. The sacrifices they provided were never enough when Sukuna grew tired of toying with them. It was just you and him. Two constant presences in each other's life. You grew used to his company. Enjoyed it, even. You’d never tell him that. Mostly because you didn't want to inflate his ego even more. You were as much his as he was yours.

At some point you became more curse than human.

You could breathe, your lungs would fill with air, but the action provided no relief. You no longer felt the need to eat, and often found yourself forgetting to do so. Food turned to ash in your mouth. The enjoyment of eating was long since lost to you. You're alive, but you're not. Your heart beats but the blood that courses through your veins is not quite right. Your memories of yourself when you were younger fade. But the anger. That fear, that anger, cast into the past, is the only humanity left in you.

You found yourself falling asleep next to him, and in turn waking up next to him. Sometimes in his arms, sometimes on the other side of the bed. He found himself opening his arms for you to climb into. You would do so, albeit reluctantly.

You were his partner. You were a nuisance, but you were his partner.

"Am I dead?" You asked, one morning in the fall. You think it was fall. You remember the leaves turning yellow and orange, but it wasn't cold enough to be winter.

"I haven't killed you yet, so no." He said. "Why?"

"Because I woke up and saw your face, and thought I had finally gone to hell." You said.

His mouth opened, but no words came out. An offended sounding huff left him. He rolled over onto you, pinning you to the sheets. His knees planted on either side of your body, his hands found your wrists. It’d take no effort from you to throw him off. But you didn't. You never did.

“You’re not in hell yet,” he said.

“I'd beg to differ,”

“Then beg,”

“Make me!”

He attacked your neck with wet, open mouth kisses, sending you into a giggling fit. Your skin was warm under his lips. You were always so warm. You were flushed from your chest to your forehead, blush dusting the tips of your ears and your nose. Your arms wrapped around your neck, pulling him flush to your chest. Your heartbeat was audible, racing as he pressed his ear to your chest.

“Stay in bed a little longer,” he said. He was pleading more than he was asking. And you weren't able to find it in you to refuse.

It wasn't entirely awful having someone stronger than him.

#ryomen sukuna x reader #sukuna x reader #ryomen sukuna #jjk x reader #jjk fluff #sukuna fluff #jujutsu kaisen #sukuna #this was either going to be called the definition of human or in hell i'll be in good company #possibly uncharacteristically soft sukuna #also i suck at tagging #goose answers

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moririki · 3 years

Text

⤷ A BLOODSTAINED CONFESSION

RENGOKU KYOJURO X READER -> 3.6K you patch up your fellow hashira after the hardest fight of your lives

REQUEST -> ✰ CONTAINS -> MUGEN TRAIN SPOILERS like before the cut and everything, mentions of blood + gore, so kinda angsty but definitely a fluffy ass ending, reader is a hashira but it's left ambiguous as to what element you are👍, i watched the movie two months ago so my recollection of dialogue and plot may be *slightly* off, near-death experience, idk how to write combat so i just... didn’t, reader lowkey thirsts over rengoku's back muscles and shit because why tf not, idk how injuries work aaaa MORI'S THOUGHTS -> rengoku my beloved,,, he deserves the world,, i think i should have made this less angsty im SORRY (i rlly heard "extra fluffy" and it just went 👩🏻➡️ straight through my head huh) also i bet you guys missed me and my late-ass posting <3 but here i am!! for now!! yeahhhh!! i feel like the writing in this got a little repetitive so i apologise for that

APPARENTLY, THE DESTRUCTION OF AN ENTIRE TRAIN wasn't enough to end this mission. even with one lower six demon defeated, another much stronger one had replaced it. the arrival of akaza was a significant turning point in the battle, and one that you cursed yourself for missing.

you should have known that this mission would he more dangerous than expected when both you and rengoku had been deployed to the train, alongside three rookies. you should have known better than to let rengoku convince you to stay back and help evacuate rather than let him handle it alone.

he had been so full of confidence- squeezing your hand firmly before rushing off, leaving you feeling slightly lightheaded from the brief contact of his warm palm. you should have wished him luck, told him to be careful, anything, but he was gone before you had the chance.

you made quick work of evacuating the passengers of the derailed train, making sure that they were all confirmed to be outside of the carriages before entrusting their safety to zenitsu and nezuko. it was around when you had carried out the last passenger that you felt the ground rumble beneath your feet, coming from the other side of the embankment that you were currently placed at.

before you gave yourself time to really think things through, you were shouting instructions to the pair of demon slayers and dashing off towards the source of the noise, hand readily placed on your sword. that was the direction that rengoku ran is all that went through your mind.

the scene that you found yourself facing did little to quell your fears. you reached two bodies first, recognising them as the hapless figures of inosuke and tanjiro. from a glance you could see the extent of their injuries, with the latter laying on the ground barely conscious. the boar-headed one could only stare at the fight happening several metres away, his shoulders slumped in defeat and swords hanging by his sides.

“there’s no opening,” he only whispered, barely audible. that much was true. even you had difficulty keeping up with the movements of rengoku and the demon that he was fighting. the fact that it had already been several minutes and that there was no clear advantage concerned you, and you unsheathed your sword.

“you two stay put, and learn what it means to be a hashira, alright?” you tried offering a brilliant smile, much like you had seen the flame hashira do so many times, but you hoped that yours didn't fall flat. from the slight relief shown on tanjiro’s worn face, though, you took that as a good sign.

without wasting another second, you rushed towards rengoku and the demon, assessing their movements. inosuke wasn’t joking when he said there wasn’t any opening, their movements equally matched. you took the chance and struck when rengoku managed to get the demon to stumble back. bringing your sword down in a vertical strike, you severed one of its arms, before taking a cursory glance back at rengoku to make sure that he was alright.

your wound did little to hinder the demon, as it simply chuckled before regrowing its limb.

“oh? another hashira? don’t tell me you think that this is a fair match,” the demon sneered as you held your sword in front of you, still nervously eyeing the blood that was beginning to drip at rengoku’s feet. it amazed you as to how he was still standing, let alone also ready to keep fighting, but you weren’t going to stop him with that amount of determination in his eyes.

“i wouldn’t say that you appearing after we had to fight an entire train was fair either, but here we are,” you glared at the demon, adjusting the grip on your sword.

“think you can hold on a little longer?” you asked rengoku, still facing the demon.

“always.” you could picture the steadfast smile on his face, lending you his strength whenever you needed it. you took a deep breath, starting your total concentration breathing and launching off of your foot, propelling yourself forwards.

you heard rengoku's footsteps right behind you, dependable as ever. when you swung your sword and sliced through, you knew that the flame hashira was there to follow through with a co-ordinated attack.

despite your best efforts, the upper six demon lived up to its status and provided to be more than a challenge for even both you and rengoku fighting him simultaneously. in fact, akaza had even managed to gain the upper hand a few times, leaving you with a cracked rib that was making it more difficult to focus and control your breathing.

but you and rengoku's big break arrived in the form of a rising sun that leeched itself into your surroundings. the glow was nothing but welcomed by you, though your demon opponent let fear flicker across its face for the first time this night as it turned foot and fled. the invisible adrenaline-fuelled strings that held you up snapped, and you felt the strength from your body sap, too spent to gove chase to akaza.

the bitter taste of defeat crushed you, numbing your senses as you barely heard the cries of tanjiro as he yelled at the retreating figure of akaza. you turned to your fellow yashira, eyes widening and senses returning as you took in the way he had slumped to the floor, head bowed as he kneeled.

"no, don't you dare," you mumbled, dropping to your knees too in front of him. panic gave your limbs a new purpose as your hands stretched out in front of you, seeking out the warmth rengoku still emitted even when mortally wounded.

the most pressing matter was the dark stain of blood that gave his uniform an unnatural sheen that was still spreading. you pressed a hand to the source of it, a large gash across his stomach that was much too deep for your liking. your other hand came to rest on his face, tilting his head up to look at you for any sort of good sign to cling onto.

"you better stay alive!" your voice was shrill, harsher than you wanted it to be, but those were factors you could hardly control more than the blood oozing from rengoku's stomach. you could see how unfocused his eyes were, and how heavy his head was when only being propped up by the waning strength in your hand. your own injuries had been forgotten, cast aside in favour for you to fear for the flame hashira's life.

and still, despite everything, the man still smiled. the blood covering half his face did little to mar its radiance. rengoku raised a shaking, bloody hand of his own, letting it fall heavy against your own as you felt your hold begin to slip.

"you're hurt too, you know." his words were more of a shaky exhale, though you heard it all the same. you felt a smile slip onto yours too as rengoku proved to still be so vigilant in the wellbeing of others.

"you don't need to remind me, shut up and save your energy," you whispered back. you didn't trust yourself to speak any louder in fear of your voice cracking.

"but.. i have to tell you something." the insistence in his eyes was back, burning into you so mich that you couldn't help but lean closer, trying to ease his burden of being audible.

"quit talking like you're dying." you were practically whispering into his ear, close enough to feel the rasp of his breath as he laughed, holding your hand tighter. his other hand came up to your own face, rough thumb brushing against the skin underneath your eye, wiping away a tear you never realised had tracked its way there.

"let me bandage you up." your voice may not have shook, but your hands definitely did as you disentangled them from rengoku's hold, urging him to put pressure on his wound while your fingers found purchase on the hem of your uniform and ripped off a strip of it. it was barely enough to cover his injury but you managed to wrap the severed cloth around his middle a few times, tying it tight and hoping that it was enough to stop the bleeding.

"just.. stay with me until backup comes, alright? you've got tell me something once we get out of here, remember?" rengoku nodded into your palm, smiling at your words as his eyelids fluttered shut. but you were close enough to still feel that he was warm, to feel the slight rise and fall of his chest as he managed to still breathe, and that gave you some comfort.

minutes felt like hours when you had to talk to fill the gap. whether it was to give rengoku something that tethered him to this mortal realm, or a way for you to distract yourself from your own pain, you onew that you would both have to tough it out a little longer, just until the others arrived.

"you know, i've always admired you." you were surprised at both his words and how clear rengoku's voice sounded. your grip on his hand tightened a little, and you leaned towards him so that your forehead pressed against his.

"this is hardly the time to say something like that, kyojuro." you tried not to laugh, the pain of your ribs starting to edge back in as the adrenaline left your body as the sun soaked your bodies.

"i just wanted you to know." you would have responded to the man if it weren't for the shouts that became all too clear. help was here, and everything was going to be okay now.

you didn't want to let rengoku out of your sight, but many insistent hands prised his body from your grip, and with barely the strength to speak there was little that you could do about it except succumb to the pain of your wounds and finally fall unconscious.

recovery was never an aspect of fighting that you looked forward to. when you finally came to, there were a few gripping moments of panic when you asked a nurse if rengoku was here, if he was alive. you had been assured that he was before the pain and medication kicked in again for a fitful sleep as your body healed.

but no matter how you were pressed back into bed, into the constraints of sleep, you never really felt like you were at rest. your mind was still racing to places your body couldn't as it pieced together the events just before you got hospitalised.

when you could finally get up without keeling over, you were stumboing your way through the hallways as stealthily as possible, leaning on walls for support and peering into rooms as you walked past, in search of your fellow hashira. your cards of luck had lined up when you stumbled upon his sleeping figure less than three rooms down from yours.

he looked a lot cleaner, still donning a serene smile even when unconscious and you felt the panic gripping your body loosen its hold. the throb of your most likely broken ribs was enough of an edge to keep you awake, and you made your way over to rengoku's bedside.

there was a convenient chair placed next to him, and you tried not to grunt in pain as you sat down in it. rengoku didn't even stir at your approach, and you resigned yourself to sitting there, studying his figure and resisting the urge to check whether he was actually breathing or not. if you focused enough, you saw the subtlest rise and fall of his chest, just enough to qualm your fears.

your concentration was broken as you heard the sliding door open again, and the hesitant voice of a nurse breaking your intense silence.

"ah, i'm sorry to interrupt but i need to change rengoku's bandages." to prove her point, the nurse raised her arm to emphasise the strips of fabric held by them. you stood up hastily, sending a cursory glance back at the still-sleeping form of rengoku.

like all matters regarding the flame hashira, you found your mouth and body working a little faster than your brain.

"it's alright, i can change them for you. i'm sure that you have plenty of other patients to tend to." the nurse nodded, though she still looked hesitant to hand you the bandages. you gave her a reassuring smile, stretching out your hand to take them. "i've had plenty of experience with this, don't worry."

the nurse appeared relieved, giving you a quick thanks before exiting and letting the door click shut behind her.

you turned your attention back to rengoku's sleeping figure only to watch him crack a single amber eye open and give you an almost sheepish smile. you couldn't help the flooding sensation of relief that drenched your bones, and you returned his gesture.

"i'm glad to see that you're alright." rengoku's eyes never left yours, and you felt yourself grow hot underneath his gaze.

"glad to see you too." you offered a hand, helping rengoku shuffle further up the bed with minimal effort on your side. despite the bandages covering a large expanse of his upper body, his grip on your hand was still stable and you bit back the fond smile threatening to bloom on your face.

luckily for you, rengoku seemed to get the message that he needed to get shirtless without you asking him, which saved you a whole lot of embarrassment. you weren't confident in your ability to look him in the eye and ask him to strip without blushing, though you did exactly that as your eyes raked over his bare skin.

littered with scars and covering taut muscle, it was hard not to let your eyes wander down his form. from the look on rengoku's face, he looked well aware of the effect that he had on you and fixing you with a practically imperceptible smirk. you were quick to ask him to turn around, and he obliged as quickly as someone with broken and bruised bones could manage.

his back was the same story, with broad shoulders and defined shoulderblades that had muscle twitching without you touching it. you sucked in a breath, way too audible for your liking, and tried not to let your hand stretch out to run your fingers down the expanse of his back. you were here to help treat him, not indulge in some fantasy of yours.

your mindset snapped back to professionalism as you grabbed hold of the fresh bandages, opting to put them on after you removed the old ones. while there was no sign of infection, you still grimaced at the bloody sight of rengoku's major wound. you tried not to show how much it had upset you, both now and in the moment, and your attention turned to your slightly trembling fingers.

you were careful to avoid where his skin was obviously discoloured from bruising, not wanting to cause him any unnecessary pain. he was warm to the touch, enough to invite you in with some false sense of confort before burning you alive. the way his back muscles jumped at your touch did little to help your concentration, but you shouldered on.

your mingld escaped you, insisting on recounting those painful minutes where rengoku was vpeeding out on the battlefield. there was a particular focus on his insistence to tell you something, and you bit your lip. surely, he would ask you at some point from now.

"how are your ribs?" rengoku's voice cut through the silence, its rasping edge acting as evidence of hiw soundly he had been sleeping earlier. while it wasn't the question you wanted him to ask you, you were never one to turn down conversation. especially from him.

"worry about yourself, kyojuro. i'm fine." your appliance of the fresh bandage meant that you would now have to be stood in front of him, a development that had your face flaming from the close proximity. silence set in, and all that distracted you from the rise and fall of his stomach was his breath tickling the sensitive skin of your neck. your eyes flickered towards the ceiling, relying on your hands to guide yourself instead.

you dared to glance down and saw rengoku’s eyes fixed on your face already. there was something about his softened features and the look in his eyes that had you scrambling to stare at the blank ceiling again. as much as you would like to retreat at every first sign if danger or confrontation, you knew that you woukd have to talk to him soon, whether it was you or him who brought up the conversation topic from that day.

taking a deep breath, you perched yourself on the edge of rengoku's bed, still maintaining a professional amount of distance from him. still close enough to spot how his smile brightens when you choose to stay. you glanced down at your fingers, twisting knots into themselves as they were placed in your lap. you almost cursed and placed them underneath you to stop that, but instead you fixed your gaze on the flame hashira's ever-present smile.

"do you remember when you said you had to tell me something? right after akaza?" rengoku straightened up a little, nodding. you gave a cursory glance to the bandages safely wrapped around him, and winced as you remembered how much blood had left him that day.

as if he could tell what you were thinking, rengoku reached forward and took your hand in his. you sucked in a breath at the sensation of his calloused hands, wincing as your ribs ached in protest. you couldn’t bring yourself to break his stare as your fingers intertwined, and rengoku brought you slightly closer to him. the tension was palpable, and you squeezed his hand in an attempt to alleviate some of it.

“what did you want to tell me, kyojuro?” you were still closing the distance between the two of you, voice barely above a whisper because there was no need to talk any louder for him to hear you. everything about him drew you closer, and the thought of pulling away never crossed your mind. you finally stopped, inches away, staring at him expectantly.

“well, there was a chance that i was going to die that day, so i was going to be selfish and tell you that i love you."

it amazed you how he could say that with such confidence when that statement had effectively swept you off of your feet. you were well aware that you looked more than caught off guard- your eyes had widened, and your mouth probably hung open from shock. that was nothing to stop rengoku’s words, though. if anything, it only encouraged him to keep going.

"and when i said that i admire you, i meant it. i admire your strength and how willing you are to help others. i admire you when it's sunset and you're laughing and i admire the way your hands feel, especially here." he guided your hand to his face, letting it cradle his cheek as he rested his own hand at your wrist, not willing to let go. you were sinking into the warmth of his body, letting his borrowed strength keep you upright.

“and most of all, i admire you because i find your beauty striking in everything that you do.” you were silent as rengoku’s eyes searched your own, watching as his lips split as he laughed. “you’re crying again.” you raised your other hand to your cheekbone, feeling the liquid there that began its trek down the planes of your face. you wiped them away with the back of your hand, keeping yourself anchored to rengoku as you curled your fingers around his own.

you felt so light that you could float away, and you couldn’t help but laugh and grin as you fully processed the confession of the man lying underneath you. tears still rolled down your cheeks, and you couldn’t help the bittersweet pang as you remembered exactly why he was here recovering.

“you really scared me back there, you know?”

“it wasn’t my intention.” you laughed through your sniffle, feeling his warm hand trace patterns on the back of yours. you shuffled forwards and, as best as your shared injuries allowed it, you gave rengoku a hug. while your arms were around his neck, his rested squarely on your lower back, and it was better than anything else you could imagine.

you pulled away, relinquishing the comfort of his arms in favour of looking him in the eye as you prepared what to say next. admittedly, it was a lot easier when you knew how the other person felt about you.

“you know i admire you too, rengoku, and i love you. so much.” joy rewrote itself within his eyes, and they almost glowed with how intense his emotions were after you uttered those words.

“you do?”

your yes came out as a barely audible breath before you were being snagged forwards by him again. you practically crashed against his lips, but you welcomed the sensation, pulling yourself closer to him and settling on his lap.

you sighed into the searing kiss, only truly appreciating his warmth now as you felt it spread through you. you kissed him back intensely, ignoring the dull ache of your ribs to chase the addictive feeling that you only got around him.

around the person who loved you back.

take a look at the menu - ,, ⛩ ·˚ ༘ ꒱

#moririki‧₊˚✩彡.🧺#100 followers event!‧₊˚✩彡.📦#x reader #demon slayer #kny #kimetsu no yaiba #rengoku x reader #rengoku kyojuro x reader #rengoku fluff #rengoku kyojuro fluff #demon slayer fluff #demon slayer imagines #rengoku imagines #rengoku kyojuro imagine #rengoku #rengoku kyojuro #fluff‧₊˚✩彡.🕯#event‧₊˚✩彡.📦

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beels-burger-babe · 3 years

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The Façade of the Suitor - Pt. 2

***Wow! You guys are really digging this series! Thank you so much for your support 🥰🥰🥰 I don't get to share OCs often, so it's really reassuring to see you guys take to Harlow. She's a character, that's for sure 😅😅 Thanks for all the love! - B*** Summary: MC catches the eye of Lady Harlow, a higher demoness who has had a small feud with the brothers for centuries. She's determined to steal MC from them and keep MC under her wing. The brothers, however, are determined not to let that happen. Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

After a week had passed since the ball, Lucifer had dared to hope that maybe that had been the end of things and that Harlow would just leave him and you alone. But fate had never been on his side. A letter arrived in the mail, sealed with a horrifyingly familiar purple stamp and her nauseating fragrance. It was, of course, addressed to you.

Lucifer's nose wrinkled in distaste. He'd have to dispose of this before you ever caught sight of it. He had turned to do exactly that when he bumped into Satan and dropped the letter. Satan sighed and bent down to pick it up. "I thought that you of all people would be capable of watching where you're," he stopped short as he finally looked at the letter. Satan's jaw clenched as he looked back at Lucifer. "Why in Diavolo's name are you in contact with her again?" Lucifer sighed and tried to take the letter back, Satan stepped out of his reach. He glared at the angry demon. "Not that it's any of your business-" "Not my business?!" Satan snapped before Lucifer could finish his explanation. "She turned you against all of us and nearly tore this family a part and you don't think it's my business if you're in contact with that- that- that snake again?!"

Lucifer growled at the reminder of his past failure. "If I had a choice, I would wipe her foul existence from the face of this realm, but I can't. I loath that woman as much as you do. The letter isn't addressed to me. It's to MC."

Satan's eyes widened and quickly looked down at the letter, seeing your name scrawled in her disgustingly perfect cursive font. He dropped the letter as though it had burned him. "We can't let them see this. Harlow shouldn't even know MC exists! How the fuck did this happen?"

Lucifer picked up the letter, " The exchange program ball. Near the end of the evening, MC and I were relaxing near a wall and Harlow approached us." Satan looked at his brother as though he had two heads. "And you just let her?" This quickly earned the younger demon another glare. "We were at a public event where I was representing our House and Diavolo and MC was representing the human realm. There wasn't much I could do without causing a scene." Satan rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air. "Of course! You'd let Harlow sink her claws into MC just so you can protect your reputation. I forgot who I was talking to for a moment." Beel stepped out of the kitchen and into the room at the sound of the yelling. "What's going on?" "Noth-" "Harlow's trying to get to MC." The "father and son" duo sneered at each other. Beel's eyes widened as his face paled. "Well, we aren't going to let her, right? We can stop her this time. Now we know her tricks. It won't be like last time?" he was staring directly at Lucifer. The eldest felt his stomach twist and churn guiltily at the desperation in Beel's stare. They all knew from experience just how cunning and manipulative Harlow could be. She had targeted Lucifer specifically, and because he let down his guard, his whole family soon became infected by the demoness venom. He refused to let the same happen to you. Lucifer turned on his heel and threw the letter into the fireplace. The three brothers watched as it slowly was consumed by the flames and turned to ash. "Tell the others about what happened. There's no doubt that Harlow will attempt to reach MC again. It's our duty to stop that from happening," Lucifer spoke up. Beel nodded right away before taking off to obey the command. Satan sighed and glanced at Lucifer, "You know this won't stop her. She'll figure out a way to get to MC." Lucifer continued watching the flames. The fire's glow reflecting in his obsidian eyes like a memory flickering in the darkness. "Maybe so, but at the very least it will give us time to come up with a plan on what to do when she does." In the end, Satan had been right. The brothers worked tirelessly together to intercept any letters, bouquets, or baskets that had been sent for you. Asmo kept a collection of the bouquets and gifts in his room, and simply told you that they were objects of admiration from his fans. You had walked in on Beel shuffling through the mail one day, and he had managed to fluster out an excuse before hurrying out of the room and shoving the most recent letter into his mouth. Mammon became even clingier than usual and was always by your side. Although he was physically with you, his mind and eyes were always looking around you for any signs of the demoness that he was trying to avoid. Satan had worked with Solomon to put an enchantment on the House's gates that caused anything that had recently touched Harlow's hands to be incinerated as it passed through the gate. Levi had been forcing you to watch the top ten anime betrayals and any anime with a manipulative or toxic antagonist in hopes that it would help you recognize them in Harlow if she ever got to you and that you would do the right thing and choose your real best friend him (and I suppose the others as well). Belphegor would purposefully fall asleep on you as much as possible to prevent you from leaving the House and therefore heightening the risk of Harlow coming to meet you personally. Lucifer had begun to do his own research on Harlow, once more, and was looking back on his own past experiences with the demoness to gain wisdom on how to outwit her. Despite all of their efforts, it wasn't enough. You came down to breakfast, looking complexed but intrigued as you held a piece of paper with a dreadfully purple broken seal on the top. The brothers froze as Harlow's familiar perfume reached their noses. Levi swallowed his food as he looked at you nervously. "M-MC, what...what do you have there?" You blinked up at them and held up the paper. "It's a letter from

Lady Harlow. A bat flew through my window this morning with this attached to its foot. According to the letter, she's tried more normal means of communication, but had no luck. Hmm, I wonder why?" you pondered out loud as you continued reading the letter. The brothers exchanged worried looks. Lucifer straightened his posture. "What else does it say?" You barely looked over at him as you responded. "Oh, she has invited me to a private luncheon at her manor. Apparently, she'd like to get to know me better." Your words caused everyone at the table to stiffen. "Seems suspicious to me," Belphie stated as he rested his head on your shoulder. "You shouldn't go. She's probably planning to kill you or something but is just pretending to be nice to get you to let your guard down." You smirked down at him. "Hmmm, sounds familiar," despite your joking tone, you noticed the room tense and Belphie looked away in shame. You frowned and placed a hand on his arm. "I...I was joking, Belphie. You know I've forgiven you for that. You've proved that you've changed. We're okay," you looked around at the others, finally picking up on the tension in the room. "What's going on? Why is everyone acting so weird?" Satan sighed and met your eyes. "Harlow is the Lady of Manipulation. She thrives off of playing with others' emotions and desires to get her own twisted wants." "She's dangerous," Lucifer added. You were shocked to see that he was seemingly unable to meet your eyes. Instead, he stared at his plate as though lost in a memory. "She's incredibly skilled at what she does and will worm her way into your thoughts before you're even aware of what's happening. She's cunning and sly," he finally lifted his head to look at you. You shivered at the intense urgency and regret in his gaze. "Lady Harlow is not one that you should give even a second of your time to. If you give her even a single inch, she will take a mile." You frowned and looked back at the letter. It was filled with so many kind words and eloquent phrasing. She had seemed nice enough at the ball, and she went through all this trouble just to send you an invitation. "Thank you for the warning," you spoke sincerely as you looked at the others. "I'll be sure to keep your words in mind and be careful." Mammon scoffed and crossed his arms. "You make it sound as if you're going." "I am." The room burst into a mix of angry proclamations, commands that you were not going, and pleas for you to listen to them. You smiled sympathetically at the brothers. "I know you're worried, but it would be extremely rude to reject a personal invitation like this from a noble, especially after all the effort she went through to have it delivered. I should at least go to see what she wants. I'll have my D.D.D. on me and you can guys can ask me all the questions you want as soon as I get back." Lucifer's eyes searched your expression in a mix of frustration and desperation. "MC did you not hear a single word I just said? One visit is all she'll need. I really must urge you not-" "Lucifer stop," the room fell silent as Lucifer's mouth snapped shut. His gaze hardened at your use of a command. You sighed and ran a hand over your face. "I'm sorry, but this isn't your choice. I know you seem to have...something going on with Harlow, and I will take caution from your words during my visit. But I'm sure I'll be fine. I live with and have befriended seven of the most powerful demons in the Devildom. What's a silly noblewoman going to do to me?" You gently lifted Belphie's head off of you and rose. "I should get ready for the school day. I'm sorry guys. I'll see you all later." As you left, a small piece of hope from within the brothers left with you. Lucifer snarled and downed a glass of wine. "Right," he said bitterly and looked over at Satan, "onto plan c."

*** I hope you guys enjoyed it! I promise you will find out exactly what went down between Harlow and the brothers later on. But for now, let the games begin 😈 Thanks again for all the support and love you've all been giving this series!***

Taglist: @cosmixbun @sufzku @simeonspebble @lovevictoire @obey-mes-treasure @kissed-by-a-dementor @yukihaie @justtiarra @mammoneybb @obeys-world @peachyeevee13 @otome-scribbles @azureusmoonie @poly-bi-mf

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ootahime · 3 years

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analyzing every gojohime moment in the manga 😈

this series will probably have more than one part because tumblr only lets me upload ten images per post </3

warning: there are disgustingly long paragraphs in here and delusions

chapter 32

utahime’s first introduction! akutami lets us know right off the bat that she thinks gojo is an idiot (so true).

chapter 32

i love the contrast between miwa and utahime’s reaction to gojo’s appearance.

chapter 33

NAH BC TELL ME WHY HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO NOT GET HER ONE LMAOOOO!! when he traveled overseas to meet with yuta, he picked up the tribal protection charms and thought to himself, “let’s get enough for the kyoto students as a gift since i am such a great and caring teacher, after all. mmm, i should skip utahime to make her mad~” this guy puts way too much effort into getting on her nerves. his mind = utahime brainrot

chapter 33

she’s laughing at him here because he’s getting disciplined for being a lil shit. i wonder...what would he say if he saw her laughing at him like that?

chapter 33

this interaction between them is a little strange don’t you think? i feel like over the years he’s learned how to pick up her mood based on the way she’s acting towards him. you’re probably thinking, “well any person can figure out how a person’s feeling based on the way they’re talking or acting.” yes, that’s absolutely true, but it’s kind of different with this. she’s acting normal. utahime has a rather indifferent expression on her face and what she says is spoken in a calm tone, but gojo still asks her if she’s mad at him. it’s likely that he knows her well enough to be able to notice these subtle things. even if she wasn’t actually mad at him, he was being considerate for a split second, then he went and said, “of course. i didn’t do anything wrong and all.” what a guy LOLOL. to me, this implies that maybe he made her genuinely angry in the past to the point where he realized that he went too far, and thus decided to be more careful of her feelings. she has definitely gotten annoyed at him so many times after that so whenever she seems angry, he probably asks himself if he took it too far. i’m curious to see if he can pick up if she’s upset with something that’s not involving him. would he console her? how does gojo satoru console someone?

despite him always annoying her, she’s still courteous and brings him a cup of tea during their talk. she didn’t have to go out of her way to get tea for him but she did. that’s the kind of person utahime is. a kind and caring woman who would never put her students in danger. in the anime they were sitting far away and not facing each other like they’re doing in the manga. she also has her own tea cup. i think that little panel of her placing the cup down on the table and him picking it up to take a sip is a nice little detail. it just proves that her hating him most of the time isn’t actually pure hatred but annoyance because of his shenanigans and teasing.

chapter 33

i touched upon this a little bit in my previous post, but i wish to go more in depth about this panel. first of all, he ends the sentence with her name twice. two times too many, mr. gojo. i like how they can be serious with each other too LOL. i wish we got to see them talk about the traitors because they did figure it out together after all. does it always end in bickering? can they interact with each other like adults all the way through? somehow, i feel like that’s not possible when it comes to these two. furthermore, notice how gojo confides in utahime about his suspicions. from what we know, she is the first person he brought it up to. i mean, i guess he has to start investigating the schools and would need extra assistance to save time, but he could have done it himself if he really wanted to. by deciding to ask for her help we know that he thinks she’s trustworthy, smart, and strong enough to face whatever considerable risks this task may entail.

i didn’t point this out in my other posts but see how he makes a hand sign in the last panel when she throws the cup at him? gojo is manually activating his infinity. why though? about a year after the whole star plasma vessel incident happened, gojo develops the ability to keep his infinity up at all times by using the reversed curse technique to consistently heal himself to prevent exhaustion. this means that it really makes no difference whether he leaves it on or off. there are a few times where we can witness someone actually touching gojo. for example, yuuji giving him a hug. did he turn his infinity off, or was it able to deduce that yuuji was not a threat? the erasers and pencils shoko and geto threw at him during his demonstration of his new ability aren’t dangerous normally, but is it the speed that makes them dangerous? even if it did hit him, it wouldn’t hurt. how does the infinity know when to allow an incoming object to touch gojo? i believe it is up to gojo himself to let things touch him; his infinity restricts anything and anyone. some people say it could just be the fact that water is not dangerous to him, so therefore, he has to manually put his infinity up. i thought this was a reasonable explanation as to why he put up the hand sign when the tea was thrown at him, but then i realized that it couldn’t be. remember the second opening? it’s raining and everyone is carrying an umbrella, then it pans to gojo with a bouquet in his hand and rain drops slipping off his infinity. if he DID manually put his infinity up to prevent getting soaked then that implies that he chose to turn his infinity off. you can argue and say that jujutsu high is a safe place with students so there’s no need to have his infinity there, but do you remember when he stepped on the ants in front of gakuganji and yaga? the ants were perfectly fine after which insinuates that his infinity prevented his shoes from crushing the ants. he most likely had his infinity on during the baseball game even though he was in a safe environment. how does this long tangent relate back to utahime? well, it simply indicates that gojo trusts utahime so much to the point where he can be vulnerable around her. turning off his infinity symbolizes completely letting down his guard in a way.

how about what happens next? utahime throws the tea at him, he turns on his infinity to deflect it, and he responds with, “scary! hysteric women aren’t popular, you know!” why would he even say that LMAO?? utahime doesn’t even try to deny what he said either. she just hits him with the good old, “i am your senpai!” could it be that he’s trying to poke fun of her relationship status? maybe, maybe not. doesn’t he like people a lil crazy? he did say that all jujutsu sorcerers have to be a little crazy because they’re willing to put themselves in danger constantly.

chapter 0 p.1

i wonder who he’s thinking of when he said that. could it be utahime? it seems like he’s reminiscing or thinking about someone. he wears an amused expression on his face as he laughs - almost like he’s seen his fair share of how scary women can get :>>

chapter 34

the pattern behind gojo and utahime is called yagasuri “fletching,” a traditional japanese design. this design is inspired by arrow fletching. it's a lucky charm for weddings and other celebrations since it's based on the Japanese belief that an arrow shot once never comes back. brides were given kimonos with this pattern for good luck during the edo era (1603–1868) to ensure they would not have to return to their original family home. this pattern can have numerous meanings such as steadfastness or determination to achieve a goal, or a wish for the happiness of the bride. there is a belief that a bow and arrow represent the fight against evil. honestly, this meaning fits the narrative of the story. utahime and gojo are unearthing the traitors that are feeding intel to the curse users and cursed spirits. they are in the middle while the kyoto students surround them, which could mean that it’s their job as adults to protect these children from the grasps of evil slowly making itself more prominent. do you also notice that the arrows are pointed toward utahime from gojo? from all the images i’ve seen, the arrows are usually pointed downward. what could this mean? is gojo trying to protect her (in the future (?)) or does he have a big fat crush smh...

i think it’s a good time to mention utahime’s clothing. she’s wearing miko attire. miko are shrine maidens who were once thought to be shamans (you connecting the dots?). in their service to shrines, miko used to perform spirit possession and takusen (in which the possessed person acts as a "medium" (yorimashi) to communicate the divine will or message of that kami (god) or spirit; also included in the category of takusen is "dream revelation" (mukoku), in which a kami appears in a dream to communicate its will). this was back in the old days, of course. to become a miko back then (shaman), one needed to have potential. neurosis, hallucinations, odd behavior, and hysteria (HYSTERIA HELLO???) are some of the signs that a person is being called to shamanism. when a miko is communicating with a kami (god) or spirit by acting as a medium, she is in a trance-like state, and so she must learn techniques to control herself when this happens. chanting and dancing were used to accomplish this, so the girl was taught melodies and intonations that were used in songs, prayers, and magical formulas. all of this could give us insight about utahime’s technique and explains why she’s good at singing :) maybe she can’t control herself when she uses her technique which is why she isn’t shown using it because it should be used for dire situations. i imagine being possessed by a spirit or god must consume a lot of cursed energy. it makes sense that utahime and gakuganji wear traditional clothing. they’re the staff of jujutsu high’s kyoto branch. in chapter 0, kyoto is known as the sacred land of jujutsu. it’s more traditional compared to tokyo. if you want to learn more about miko, you should check out the wikipedia page!

chapter 34

i swear he tries to annoy her every chance he gets. i bet he sets a goal for himself to see how many times utahime lectures him about respecting his seniors every time he’s within the same vicinity as her. at least he called her utahime-sensei!!!

chapter 40

this isn’t even a gojohime moment tbh...i just wanted to share a pic of them sitting next to each other HEHE. why are they sitting next to each other anyway? it’s not like they have assigned seating.

----

that was so long and i apologize for the gargantuan paragraphs you guys had to read through. i’m writing this at 4 in the morning and i’m feeling borderline delirious so i apologize if there are any errors. i’ll edit this when i have time <3

the next part should come shortly.

#gojohime #gouta #gojo x utahime

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