#you get to stick your hand into a bowl of red stuff and fish for slippery objects and squeeze them

[placeofwonder]

friendship ended with tins of chopped tomatoes, now tins of whole tomatoes are my best friend

#mine #personal #cooking #so #so! #i'm reading this recipe that says to use a tin of 'whole peeled tomatoes that you've crushed with your hands' #i go 'feels like that could just be a tin of chopped tomatoes but sure' #but. but! every tin of chopped tomatoes i've ever bought had the tomatoes in tomato juice that made the whole thing so watery #these whole tomatoes were in tomato puree instead! this tomato sauce i made with them was so rich and nice #and now i'm very excited to use these in bolognese and chilli and so on #(tomato puree as in like tomato sauce. not the concentrated stuff that comes in a tube) #but honestly the best part was crushing the tomatoes #you get to stick your hand into a bowl of red stuff and fish for slippery objects and squeeze them #which i think satisfies some sort of deep-seated feral urge

[makibeni]

Ch. 16 -Swimming With Sharks

Kobeni stared at the cup of water in front of her, watching as the droplets of condensation rolled down it's side and forming a small puddle. The sound of the otherwise lively establishment around her was drowned out by a persistent static, white noise accompanying her straying thoughts. She had been dragged to another unfamiliar hole in the wall by Himeno who saw her anxiously trembling in front of Makima's door earlier and insisted on lending her support. Although so far the extent of that support had been ordering a series of incongruent specialties and bottom shelf beers. For her part, Kobeni was still deep in her own thoughts.

"You know you really should try some of this stuff, it's actually pretty edible"

Kobeni gave a passing glance at the plate in front of her, skewers of presumably meat jutting out of a bowl of thick brown liquid. She had partially zoned out when Himeno was placing the order so she wasn't actually sure what this was but the presentation acted like a strong enough deterrent on it's own.

"N-no thanks, I'm not that hungry"

"More for me!"

Himeno plucked a skewer from the bowl and brought it to her mouth, deftly removing the sauce drenched meat from the stick in one fell swoop. The range of expressions she conveyed after a each bite was startling, and a little frightening. Kobeni could not conceptualize what kind of flavor or texture could elicit such a reaction but curiosity alone wasn't going to make her risk trying it. Their meal was interrupted by the arrival of a third, as a red horned devil angrily stomped over to their table in a huff.

"YOU LOCKED ME OUT AGAIN!! I demand you apologize!!"

The spiky toothed figured crossed her arms and began tapping her foot, seemingly counting each passing second so she could demand a grander gesture in pursuit of her forgiveness for the time spent idling

"I did no such thing, you just left your keys on the counter like you always do, Powy~"

Himeno moved her hand back down to the bowl and pulled out another skewer before offering it to Power in an attempt at wordless appeasement.

"YOU'RE LYING! AND STOP CALLING ME THAT, MY NAME IS POWER! you must have hid them from me! I demand you escort me back to my home, THIS INSTANT!!"

Power slammed both hands onto the table in a fit of frustration before sliding them forward and grabbing the entire bowl, pulling it close to her chest and pawing at the skewer Himeno was still holding, refuting the peace offer and taking what she felt she was owed.

"I can't do that, I've got to help Kobeni here get ready for her little outing with miss Makima this weekend"

"That's not my problem!!"

Power puffed out her chest and pouted, puffing an angry breath from her nostrils, posturing at the table. Himeno smirked, planting her elbows on the table and locking her hands together before leaning her head on them. Kobeni sat there, nervously observing their display. It was like watching someone try to tame a wild animal with a staring contest, and what's more, it looked like Himeno was winning. Power could only hold her tantrum for so long before her impatience got the best of her and she relented.

"FINE! You there, cry baby, tell me what your problems are and I'll use my superior intellect to solve them for you"

She drilled a finger into Kobeni's shoulder. Her face was like that of a moody toddler, showing complete disinterest in Kobeni's concerns, fixated only on how furthering this train of thought would serve her own goal of getting back into Himeno's apartment. The thought of the two of them living together was eager to occupy Kobeni's already overburdened mind, but she sensed making Power wait longer before giving her an answer wasn't going to end well for her.

"W... well t-the thing is"

She turned her head to Himeno, fishing for an approving nod, like asking a pet owner if this course of action is likely to get them bitten or not. Himeno returned a reassuring smile, which in tandem with Power's impatient prodding spurned her on.

"W-we're going to the aquarium... a-and..."

She mumbled sheepishly, tucking her hands into a clump between her legs and ducking her head down to avoid eye contact. Her insecurities were starting to rear their heads again as she began to doubt herself with each passing word. She decided on the aquarium after seeing a leaflet, it looked promising at the time but was this really somewhere Makima would want to go? She couldn't really picture it that well, what do you even do with someone at the aquarium? Talk about starfish? The more she thought about it the more sure she was that she messed up, that Makima was going to hate it and grow tired of her after realizing what a loser she was. As she continued to spiral, Power grew tired of her muttering.

"Huh? Speak up, I can't hear you"

"W-we... um..."

"They're going to the aquarium"

Himeno interjected, not wanting to leave Kobeni at the mercy of Power's impending verbal abuse.

"The aquarium? That's lame! Who would want to go to the aquarium!"

Kobeni let out a short and dejected murmur. Her self-doubt, now reinforced by someone else's words, grew staggeringly. This was the first time she took the initiative and it was deemed a spectacular failure before she even got to try. The persistent jabbing she felt from her anxiety was replaced by an overbearing tide of anguish, resonant in it's victory. Himeno cut in, too late to stop the injury, she would have to do her best to treat it.

"They have sharks at the aquarium"

"...sharks?"

Power raised a curious eyebrow, she didn't know what a 'shark' was per se, but she surmised it was something of interest to her, since Himeno brought it up.

"They can smell a drop of blood from a quarter mile away"

"Hmm"

Power paused to ponder.

"Alright human, you've convinced me, you'll be taking me to the aquarium this weekend! I demand to see the sharks!"

"I... bu-"

Kobeni stuttered. Power backing down from her aquarium apathy did fill her with some small modicum of reassurance that she could try to build herself back up from, but this new proposition wasn't exactly a welcome addition.

"I don't think miss Makima would appreciate you taking Kobeni away from her, Powy~. I think she'd by quite upset at you if you did that"

Power froze, in what was for her an uncharacteristic manner, not even snapping back at Himeno's nickname for her. A wave of fear coursed over her. Kobeni was a hardened veteran of this wing of the emotional spectrum, the way she reacted was less like someone who'd been told they'd committed a social faux pas and more like an animal remembering the feeling of having their paw put over an open flame. Did she have some sort of history with Makima? Before Kobeni had a chance to ponder the matter further, Power regained her composure and returned to her proclamations.

"After further consideration, I don't want to go to the aquarium with you anymore, Himeno will take me, so she can grovel for my forgiveness for locking me out of my house again"

"Alright, but if you wanna go to the aquarium you're gonna have to wait outside while we finish up here"

"Fine, BUT I'M TAKING THIS"

She reached across the table, grabbing a handful of Himeno's unfinished food before confidently marching back outside. Seemingly asserting her self-perceived victory.

"D~do you think miss Makima is gonna like the aquarium?"

Himeno didn't have some special insight on Makima's love of marine life, but that wasn't really what Kobeni wanted to hear. Right now she needed a friend to hearten her resolve and help set her on her way, and that was something she could do.

"Well, I think she likes you, so I think she's gonna have a good time no matter where you take her"

Kobeni blushed, not entirely sure sure what to do with this thought. It wasn't really something she could buy into yet, but hearing Himeno say it made her heart race a little. She'd finally overcome her urge to repress her own desires, and while she still had a long way to go before she could accept them, she had a guiding star to lead her there.

#makima x kobeni #kobeni #makima #chainsaw man

[potatoes-are-magic]

My Kimchi recipe

The kitchen is all unpacked, so I figured I'd make myself a fresh batch of kimchi to celebrate! Based off this recipe here. I don't really use measurements for anything other than the sauce ingredients. This recipe is pretty flexible, and every batch tastes a little bit different.

Ingredients

2-2.5 lbs napa cabbage (about 1 head)

Salt

Daikon radish, as much as you'd like (I matchstick it)

Carrots, enough until it looks right (also matchsticked, but honestly, any shape works)

Green onions, a bunch, cut into 1 inch batons (as in the bunch/bundle they're sold in at the grocery store)

For the Sauce:

1 small potato (no really)

Fresh ginger, about an inch

1/4 onion

1/4 asian pear (yes, really)

6-8 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup gochugaru (korean red pepper flakes, I use a very rounded scoop)

1/4 cup salted shrimp* (don't skip this ingredient! It's what finally made my kimchi taste like the H-mart stuff!)

1/4-1/2 tsp sugar

1/4-1/2 tsp salt

Steps

Take your napa cabbage, clean it, core it, and cut it into chunks. A more traditional recipe would leave the cabbage whole, but chunking it makes it easier to work with.

Cover it in salt, enough that it feels like you dropped your cabbage in the sand, and mix. Work it in! Crush it! It should start to get wilty and sweat.

Add enough water to cover, and put a plate, bowl, something on top to keep the cabbage below the water. Brine it for about 2-3 hours

Now to make the sauce! Remember that small potato? Take it and peel it and grate it! Don't shred it. You know that evil looking side of the box grater that seems to do nothing but make the thing painful to hold? Use that side.

Take your grated potato and add it and some water to a small saucepan. Cook it for a few minutes into you have some gluey potato gloop. (this actually replaces the rice flour paste used in more traditional recipes). Let it cool

Take the rest of the sauce ingredients, and throw them in a blender/immersion blender/food processor. Something that'll turn this stuff into paste.

Add the potato gloop we made earlier. This will help the sauce to spread farther and stick better.

Once the cabbage is finished brineing, drain it, give it a rinse and drain again. If you skip this step, it'll be too salty to eat once it's done (learned the hard way).

Throw in the other vegetables and dump in the sauce, enough to cover it, and mix! If you use your hands, wear gloves (also learned the hard way).

Taste test. This is very important! This is the last step before we ferment it, and the last chance you have to make any adjustments.

Now that your kimchi tastes the way you want it, it's time to ferment. Pack your kimchi into a crock or mason jar. Do so in layers as you go and make sure it's packed tightly.

Put your weights in, and put on the lid! The kimchi is dry packed and will produce liquid as it ferments. These weights will keep the vegetables under the liquid. If you're using a mason jar, keep the lid loose or remember to burp it to release the gases. A water sealed crock will do this automatically.

Ferment on the counter or 2-4 days depending on how warm your kitchen is. Keep it out even longer if you prefer a more sour kimchi.

Once it's done fermenting, either put it in a mason jar or tighten the lid and put it in the fridge to slow the fermenting process. Your done!

And that's it! This recipe usually makes about a half gallon of kimchi and will last in the fridge for months.

Any leftover kimchi sauce you have can be used on other batches or added to other vegetables to make other kimchis. Cubed daikon kimchi or a quick cucumber kimchi are yummy options.

Hope you enjoy!

#my recipes #kimchi #recipes

[jaybird-redhood]

propinquity

wc: 2.2k

pairing: jason todd // gn reader

The first thing you think when you see him for the first time is that he has the cutest smile.

That’s a lie, the first thing you think it that he is so incredibly in shape, and it looks great on him, but the smile thing sounds better in your head.

He's moving into the apartment across from yours a month after you moved into yours. Weird, because the two people in your building closest to your age are 2 and 63, respectively.

You suppose that some wicked twist of fate must’ve brought this upon you for missing your cousin’s birthday party last week, because the guy standing across from you is crazy hot. And looking right at you. And you are in the huge neon Wonder Woman t-shirt that your best friend got for your birthday last year.

Yeah. Karma.

“Nice shirt,” the guy offers, holding in a grin. “You’re really making it work.”

“I-”

“See you around, neighbor.”

And with a shut of a door and an awfully charismatic smirk he’s gone.

The next time you see him is a week later, and this time- luckily, you think- you’re dressed somewhat put together. You run into him while unlocking your door.

"What's got you in a twist?" he asks.

"Um," you start, "I just. Ugh I have so much to do. Like 3 hours of homework, a lecture tomorrow that I cannot skip, and I'm completely out of bread and eggs and can't even you to the store until, like, Thursday at best."

Once you start rambling you can't seem to stop. You slouch against your door. You're not entirely sure why you're telling a stranger all this, but he seems to be listening, so you suppose that’s a good sign

"I get the feeling," he offers, and you look up at him. "I'm majoring in English Lit and my classes are kind of kicking my ass."

You give him a small smile, "Glad to know someone in this building is struggling as much as I am."

"Jason," he says, and he reaches his hand out to you. "My name."

You shake it and tell him yours.

As you both turn back into your respective apartments you think that he maybe isn't as intimidating as you thought.

~

The next day goes by with a really boring lecture and another 3 hours of work you need to do.

The ride home from uni isn't that long, but it's long enough for you to contemplate all the ways that your life went wrong after moving to Gotham. And, maybe as payback for thinking mean things about the city, rain that you think should belong to a category 3 hurricane starts to whip around your car 10 minutes into your drive.

Your clothes are dripping water in literal puddles by the time you get back to your apartment.

Groaning, you start fishing for your keys in your purse while walking up the last flight of stairs.

When you get to your door you stop. Right in front of it there’s a grocery bag. Picking it up and looking inside you see a loaf of bread and a small carton of milk.

You pick it up smiling.

“Jason?” you ask, knocking on his door.

No response.

You shrug and turn around. Remember to thank him the next time you run into each other; you think.

~

That next time doesn’t happen to be that long and thank goodness for you.

“You know, we really need to stop meeting like this,” he says to you.

You’re sitting on the floor outside of your door looking rather pathetic, and he’s giving you the most awful smirk you’ve ever seen. (Not that it looks bad on him though. You seem to think that nothing could really look that bad on him)

“I swear I’m usually more put together than this,” you sigh to him. “You moving here jinxed me!”

“Yeah yeah. You’re locked out, aren’t you?”

You give him your best withering I’m going to kill you stare, but it must not be working because he just laughs even harder at you.

“This is completely not my fault it’s just I lost my second set of keys like right when I moved in and then today when I got home, I accidentally left them in my car, but my second set of car keys is in my apartment so now I can’t get them out, stop laughing at me!”

“God you’re a mess,” Jason says- finally finished laughing at you and maybe taking a bit of pity on how disheveled you look. “You couldn’t call anyone to get you in?”

You shake your head.

“My friend is the only other person with a set, but they’re out of town, and our landlord is being a dick and telling me it’s my fault in the first place, so I need to deal with it. I’ve been sitting out here for like an hour.”

“All I’m hearing is that it is your fault and now you’re just moping about it feeling bad about yourself.”

You tilt your head against the door so hard that it makes you wince a bit.

“Ok fine,” he says crossing his arms.

“What?”

“Wait right here.”

He goes into his apartment and comes back out with a skinny metal thing you don’t recognize.

You look at him in confusion and he just motions for you to scoot out of the way as he sticks it in your locks and starts to pick it.

You sigh in relief.

“Thank you thank you thank you. For everything. I swear I will get my life together, so you don’t feel like you have to keep cleaning up my messes.

“I don’t mind,” he says with a small smile, “Take your time.”

And with that he opens the door to your apartment and turns back to his.

“By the way, you should really get better locks. That was way too easy.”

You make a note in your head to get that done sometime. As you’re lying on your couch that night, you’re AirDropped a photo on your phone. Saving it up you see it’s a piece of paper with neat handwriting on it: a phone number and a smiley face, Jason’s name at the bottom.

You smile too and add the number to your contacts.

~

Over the next few weeks, you and Jason start talking more, both over text and through the various times when you run into each other outside your doors.

Each interaction is better than the next, and you soon start to realize that Jason isn’t just some hot guy with no brains. He’s sweet and charismatic, has a whole wall full of bookshelves, could probably quote any classical novel by heart, has incredibly good taste in music, and best (or worst) of all, would make incredible friend material.

It’s just that as you become closer friends, you start to realize that that might not be all you want.

It’s a stupidly cold Friday morning when he texts you, and you’re covered in blankets and wrapped in sweatshirts in your bed. Movie at my place tonight?

You text back your approval and a quick be there at 6 before getting ready for classes.

The day goes by slower than you hoped.

It might be the anticipation of seeing Jason again, or more likely the hours of lectures you have to sit through, but you’re elated when your final class for the day gets let out.

The hours in between are a blur.

A blur which leads to the two of you sitting on his couch watching Romeo and Juliet together, a blanket thrown over your bodies.

You have the obligatory bowl of popcorn resting on your legs, and every few minutes Jason reaches across your lap to take a handful.

The way you’re laying half on top on him is completely deliberate, as to take as much of his body heat as possible. Your landlord had turned off heating 3 weeks prior to ‘save money’ or some other bullshit.

Jason’s not complaining though.

Once your popcorn bowl is finished and your head is in his lap, he runs his fingers through your hair absentmindedly. It might be the nicest feeling you’ve ever felt.

Throughout the movie you exchange snide comments about the plot back and forth. You start trying to say funny things whenever you can just to hear how sweet his laugh sounds to your ears.

By the end of the movie, you’re only slightly in tears, or so you tell yourself.

“Are you crying right now?” Jason asks incredulously, wearing a teasing smile.

“It’s not my fault,” you half say half moan, “Leonardo DiCaprio just has that effect on me.”

He just laughs and pulls you upright until you’re sitting on his lap.

His eyes are a shade of blue green that you’ve never seen before, although you could swear their getting greener by the second.

You watch his gaze drop down to your lips before staring you right in the eyes again.

“Can I kiss you?”

“God yes,” you tell him, and kiss him right back.

~

The next week is somewhat uneventful, even though you and Jason had been meeting each other almost every night, rotating apartments based on whose house was warmer each particular night.

Tonight is your night, and you’ve been waiting the whole day to show him the film you had rented to watch together.

The walk up to your door is easier than usual, and you have a bounce in your step that’s making you feel even more elated than normal taking out your keys to unlock your apartment.

You open your door and your bag drops. The keys clatter when they hit the hardwood, and the silence that follows is deafening.

“You’re bleeding on my carpet,” is the first thing that comes out of your mouth.

There Jason is, bleeding quite profusely, and using your kitchen counter to keep himself vertical. He’s wearing what looks to be a torn half of a domino mask and an extremely hot leather jacket.

(Not that this was the time for noticing his fashion choices, but you filed that thought away for later.)

What really catches your eye though is the huge red bat symbol on his chest, and the red helmet next to it sitting on your counter.

He shifts a little to the side before stumbling through saying, “Um, so, I know this isn’t ideal and I’m really sorry to put you in this situation, but I seriously do not feel like bleeding out tonight and-”

“Oh my god this is great,” you cut him off with. “I thought you were a hit-man!”

“Wait what.”

“Shit no that’s not what I meant- kind of, hang on we should probably stop you from dying before having this conversation.”

You walk over to him to get a better look at his wounds.

“God Jace, you look like death warmed over.”

He just stares at you.

“You have a bunch of stuff in your bathroom, right?”

At least this elicits a reaction. He grimaces in pain but gives you a nod of his head in conformation.

“Ok I’ll be right back, don’t move.”

He gives you a look that says seriously, where would I go.

3 minutes later you’re back with a needle and thread, and some sterilizing spray.

“This should be fine,” you tell him, “I took a first aid class last year with my friends and passed with flying colors according to the nurse.”

“Just try to keep them tight and neat. I trust you,” he says, and your heart pounds just a little harder.

You respond with a nervous laugh but take a deep breath and start working.

~

An hour and a half later you’re done.

The combination of pain meds, bandages, and a whole lot of stitches eventually led to you and Jason laying in your bed together, both completely exhausted.

He turns his head to face you.

“Could we maybe go back to the hit-man thing?”

“Oh uh. Well I saw a bunch of shirts covered in blood in your laundry in the bathroom, not to mention all the weirdly specific first-aid you had,” you tell him.

“And also the assorted guns and knives you have hidden all over. I guess I just assumed? But the whole Red Hood thing is so much better,” you reassure him.

“You found all my knives?”

You smile up at him.

“I love that that’s thing you chose to focus on.”

“And you’re really not mad that I didn’t tell you about the whole vigilante thing before?” he asks.

“Jay, I had already resigned myself to life forever with some shady hit-man that also happened to be incredibly good looking. Red Hood is ten times better than that. I’m not going to run away from you just because you’re incredibly intimidating and probably could kill me. I see that as an added bonus,” you say, with as much charm as you can muster without yawning.

“Just. Be careful, ok? I’d hate to make this a routine.”

He responds by pulling you closer to his body.

“I promise,” he whispers into your head. “You really to remember to get better locks by the way, breaking in was still way too easy.”

You let out a small laugh and finally you let yourself give into sleep.

#luce writes #jason todd x reader #red hood x reader #jason todd x gender neutral reader #red hood x gender neutral reader #jason todd x y/n #red hood x y/n #jason todd x you #red hood x you #jason todd imagine #red hood imagine #dc imagine #jason todd fanfiction #red hood fanfiction #jason todd #red hood #dc

[beck-a-leck]

Doug Dylas fluff might be nice I don’t know if they are capable of fluff

Thank you for the prompt!

Those two are almost incapable of fluff, but I managed to squeeze some out of them. Naturally food is involved, and some minor bullying, and bread.

Enjoy!

Ask for some self-indulgent writing prompts!

An unusual aroma greeted Dylas as he stepped into the general store. The strangeness of it nearly stopped him in his tracks. It wasn’t an unfamiliar scent, just not one he’d ever experienced here.

Blossom caught his eye and flashed Dylas a warm smile from behind the counter. “he’s waiting for you upstairs, dear.”

Dylas thanked her, scooted past the customers in line, and let himself through the closed door. As he climbed the stairs, the aroma grew stronger – warm and yeasty. Blossom must have been baking earlier, and the scent was still lingering. Dylas didn’t mind, fresh baked bread was, in his opinion, one of the best smells in the world.

He handled plenty of bread at Porcoline’s but couldn’t recall a time when he’d caught it here. Doug abhorred bread, and Blossom was content to get what she needed for her uses from the loaves that came into the store, supplied by a local bakery.

Dylas turned automatically at the top of the stairs to look into Doug’s room, but paused when he saw the dwarf was not in his usual spot. He found him in the most unusual place, in the kitchen.

Doug was preoccupied with washing up dishes in the sink, he didn’t even notice Dylas was standing there.

Smirking, Dylas crossed his arms. “What are you doing in there?”

Doug yelped, dropping the bowl he had been scrubbing into the sink. He whipped around, shouting an accusation. “You’re early!”

“Well, ‘hello’ to you too.” Dylas stepped into the kitchen. He saw no fresh loaves of bread, and the oven was warm. Doug, however, was wearing a frilly, flour dusted apron. Curious. “That’s a cute look.”

Doug flushed almost as deeply red as his hair as he yanked off the apron. “Just borrowed it from Granny.”

Dylas reached up and brushed a bit of flour from Doug’s hot cheek. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were baking, and breadof all things.”

“S-so what if I am?”

“Well… by your own words, you hate bread. You never eat it.”

“Well, maybe I didn’t make it for myself.”

“Oh, for Blossom then?”

Doug looked away, his silver eyes skirted all around the kitchen when he muttered, “Yeah, sure.” He checked the ticking timer sitting on the countertop. “It’s still got a few minutes left to bake.”

Dylas took the unspoken hint and pulled out a kitchen chair. “So, what possessed you to bake bread of all things?”

Doug rubbed at the back of his head, his cheeks were still a little pink. “Well, I asked Granny to teach me how to cook, ya’know it’s useful to know and I thought it would be nice to be able to cook her dinner once in a while and well… it turns out bread is pretty easy to do, if you stick to the basics and don’t get too fancy.”

“Hm, true.” Bread was one of the first things Porcoline had taught Dylas to bake back when he started helping out around the restaurant. “But rice is also really easy. You didn’t start with that.”

“Well… I tried making risotto and,” Doug grimaced, but laughed. “We kinda had to throw the whole pot out. Granny enlisted me in breadmaking instead. She used to bake her own all the time, but she doesn’t have the strength anymore to knead the dough. Heh, it’s actually kind of fun, even if I don’t eat the stuff.”

Dylas had to agree with a knowing smile. Kneading dough wasa good way to work out some minor frustrations.

The timer rang and Doug jumped to his feet like a fire had been lit underneath him. “These’ll need to cool for a while, you can go ahead and head to my room.”

“Not a chance, I’m going to inspect your handiwork. Can’t have you poising old Blossom on accident.” Dylas shadowed Doug back into the kitchen, keeping his distance, but putting his height to good use to peer over Doug’s shoulders. The dwarf tried to block the baking sheet with his body, but there was no hiding once he set the hot pan on the stove top.

Dylas was… genuinely surprised. Cooking was not Doug’s forte and would never be. He half expected to see lumpy, misshapen loaves, unevenly cooked, probably burnt on the bottom, or very undercooked, at best, just a basic round loaf of bread. Instead, there were half a dozen little loaves, only about the size of his hand, they were perfectly golden-brown, and fish-shaped.

“I think you’ve outdone yourself, Doug.” Dylas leaned closer to inspect them. “You used an egg wash, I see, and sprinkled sesame seeds on top, and…” he took a deep breath. Beneath the wonderful bready scent of the loaves, he caught a hint of herbs and… “Do I smell fish?”

“Yeah, they have a spicy salmon filling.”

“Wow, color me impressed.” Dylas’ ears perked when he realized something. “You… didn’t make these for Blossom, did you?”

Doug’s cheeks went bright red once now. “Uh, no. She’s not much for spicy things. I um… I m-made these for you.”

“Me?” It was Dylas’ turn to blush.

“Yeah, well… you know, I thought you might like them…”

“Well, let’s try one! Get me a plate and knife.”

Doug produced them, holding the plate while Dylas reached for one of the loaved. “Wait, that’s still hot!”

Dylas didn’t even flinch as he picked up the oven-fresh roll and dropped it on the plate. “Kitchen hands.” He said with a laugh, patting Doug on the cheek.

He turned back to the table and sat down once more. He cut the fish roll cleanly in two, releasing an aromatic pocket of steam that smelled of the spices and salmon. While he waited for it to cool, he gave it another examination. “It looks good, smells great.” He cast Doug a suspicious look over the steaming roll. “You sure you’re not just taking credit for Blossom’s work?”

“Of course not! I did everything myself!” Doug sputtered indignantly. “The only thing that came from Blossom is the recipe!”

“All right, all right, I believe you, calm down,” Dylas laughed. He picked up half of the now cooled roll, thought it was still pleasantly warm. “How does it taste?” Dylas asked, eyeing the roll.

“I-I wouldn’t know. I don’t eat the bread.”

“You mean you haven’t even tried your own cooking?” Dylas shook his head and tore the piece of roll in two. He offered one to Doug. “You have to try it. You’ll never become a better cook if you don’t try the food you make.”

“But – ugh – but it’s bread.”

Dylas was insistent. Grumbling, Doug took the piece of roll. “The things I do for you…” Despite his tone, he still smiled.

“You cook it, you eat it.” Dylas shot back. He raised the bread to Doug and added with a smile. “Cheers.”

#becky writes things #writing prompts #rune factory #rune factory 4 #rf4 #doug x dylas

[songbirdsingingthings]

Traditions - Shouto Todoroki x Reader

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS, THEY BELONG TO KOHEI HORIKOSHI

DAY THREE OF 25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS - 25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS MASTERLIST - MAIN MASTERLIST

What were you supposed to get the boy who could have anything he wanted? That was the question that had been plaguing your mind for the entirety of November and now December. Shouto Todoroki, your loving and caring boyfriend, was the hardest person you had ever shopped for in your life. Even Momo was easier to shop for - she actually really liked homemade baked goods since when she’s training she has to eat a ton of processed stuff. You were currently at the mall, picking up things for the rest of your friends with Shouto, while also trying to scope out what interests him in certain stores.

“So who’s next?” He asks as you scroll through the list on your phone.

“Hmm… I think Midoriya.” You respond, looking around to see all of the stores surrounding you. A certain one grasps your attention with the bright yellow, blue, and red colors. Shouto follows your gaze and he gives you a small smile as it lands on the huge All Might themed store.

“Well you're definitely gonna find something in there.” He chuckles, gently tugging your hand as the two of you walk towards the door.

You had finally left the mall with several bags being carried by the both of you, but you still had no clue what to get for your boyfriend. After Shouto dropped off the bags in your door and gave you a quick kiss goodbye - he apparently had some important business to attend to - you decided enough was enough. You scroll through the contacts on your phone to find Fuyumi, Shouto’s older sister, and press the call button. You’re only able to hold it to your ear for a few seconds before she answers.

“Y/N! How are you?” Fuyumi’s sweet voice filtered through your phone.

“I’m good, how are you?” You ask politely, making your way to sit down on your bed. 

“Fine, just doing some stuff around the house. I’m glad you called though, I haven’t been able to talk with you for a while.” You heard some clinks and clatters in the background and quickly assumed she was doing the dishes.

“Oh, no problem! I actually have a question if you’re not too busy.” You say, letting your shoulder press your phone to your ear so you could start taking all of your purchases out of their bags.

“I’ve got time, shoot away!” She says cheerily, causing a smile to grace your face.

“It’s about Shouto-”

“What about Shouto?” A deep but happy voice piped up through your phone.

“Hi Natsuo!” You greet, smoothing the blouse you got for Ochaco out.

“Hey kiddo! What’s up?” You could almost feel his wide grin radiating through your screen.

“Was asking Fuyumi a question, but you can answer it as well. I wanted to know what kind of stuff you and Shouto did when you were younger around the holidays to get an idea of what he likes to do. I was trying to find something to get him for Christmas, but I feel like if he wanted anything he would have already gotten it, so I want to do something with him.”

“Uhmm…” You hear both of them exchange awkward words, so you pipe up instead.

“I mean my brother and I would have gingerbread house competitions, go ice skating, and have movie marathons, but I don’t really know if that’s something Shouto would be into .” You say, opening the last of your bags which contained a snow globe with a polar bear cub in it for Koda.

“Y/N, uh… Shouto’s never really done any of that before.” Natsuo says. You frown a bit, but shake your head.

“Oh - is there anything your family does especially for the holidays? I mean I know your dynamic is a bit… different than others, but I’m sure you found a way to celebrate...right?” You asked warily.

“That’s a really sweet thought but umm… Dad didn’t really let us mingle, so he’s never experienced any usual holiday activities. I mean he celebrated with us, don’t get me wrong, but we never really got to do fun things as siblings.” Your jaw drops. You remember playing with your brother in the snow being one of the happiest memories during the holidays and you can’t believe Endeavor didn’t grant Shouto that. All of a sudden, a lightbulb seemed to come to life above your head and a grin replaced your frown.

“Thank you! Thank you so much for telling me, I know what to do!” You exclaim, clasping your hands together. You bid adieu to your boyfriend’s siblings and immediately start planning.

“Y/N, I don’t understand what’s going on. Why did you call me out here?” All bundled up in a puffy jacket that made him look even cuter than ever, snow pants, and a pompom beanie. Shouto looks at you with a raised eyebrow. 

“We are going to have the best day ever.” You state, grabbing his gloved hands in yours. “We’re going to make a snowman, then we’re gonna bake some cookies, maybe make some hot cocoa, and watch some Christmas movies.”

“W-what?” He manages, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Merry Christmas! I was trying to think of something to get you, but I kept coming up with blanks. So, I figured we should celebrate our first Christmas together by implementing some solid traditions.” You saw his shocked expression turn into one of somewhat embarrassment as he looked to the side.

“Y/N, your idea sounds great, but I’ve never done those activities before. What happens if I mess them up?” Concern flickers across his eyes, but you give him a reassuring smile and cup his cheek with your mittened hand.

“It’s perfectly fine if you ‘mess them up’, even though I’m sure you won’t. These activities are specifically designed to be fun, stress free things to do, okay?” Shouto nods and gives you a small smile. You give him a quick kiss and your day of fun begins.

Building a snowman was certainly a feat. You had to teach Shouto how to roll the snow to create bigger bases than the average snowball, which completely enthralled him. It was cute to see him so excited about how the snow managed to get that big, and he even put a little spin on the snowman, creating a “frozen pond” right next to him and an ice fishing rod so that he could go fishing.

Next was the cookies. Even though he really hadn’t cooked that much in his life, like many things, your boyfriend picked it up quite quickly. The two of you would perform a quiet dance in the kitchen, dropping two sticks of butter in one bowl and pouring a cup of sugar in another. What Shouto didn’t know, however, was flour’s tendency to create a mini explosion. His face when it poofed up in his face was priceless. You laughed so hard your stomach hurt which only made Shouto take some more flour and throw it on you so you were matching.

Finally, you made it to the end of the day. Both of you were cuddled up on your bed in your dorm watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Your back was pressed up against his chest and his arms were around yours, his left hand drawing soft lines on your skin, heat following his finger tips. You were so happy. Shouto really looked just ecstatic for the entire day, enjoying every activity you came up and even adding his own personal spin to them. You were so engrossed in those happy memories from earlier in the day that you didn’t hear Shouto say your name.

“Y/N,” he says in a velvety voice, shaking you a little to gain your attention.

“Hmm?” You hum in response, telling him that you were listening.

“I have something for you.” You turn around to look at him and you gasp with delight. In his hands dangled the daintiest little locket you had ever seen. It was a pretty silver oval with the tiniest little hinge on its side.

“May I?” You ask, motioning to open it. He gives you a soft smile and nods. You open it very carefully and you melt at what you see inside. It was your initials next to his with a heart outline.

“I know you don’t like obvious jewelry so I didn’t go for the heart locket, but I still wanted to get the meaning across. Do you like-” You cut him off with a searing kiss. You cup both of his cheeks in your hands and press him close to you.

“I love it, Sho. Thank you so, so much.” He grins at you and opens the clasp.

“Do you want me to put it on for you?” He asks. You nod quickly and turn your head back around. His hand sweeps your hair to one side and swings the necklace around your neck so that the clasp was in the back. His fingers danced lightly across the back of your neck, sending a tingle down your spine. He closes the little clasp and smooths it out. You reach up to touch the little locket and smile, turning back around to look at him.

“To new traditions,” you toast, arms wrapping around his neck.

“To new traditions.”

#Shouto #Shoto #shoto todoroki #todoroki shouto #bnha shoto #todoroki x reader #shoto todoroki x reader #shouto todoroki x reader #bnha todoroki #mha todoroki #todoroki shoto x reader #shoto x reader #shouto x reader #shouto todoroki x you #mha #mha fluff #mha shouto x reader #mha shouto todoroki #mha shoto #todoroki fluff #todoroki imagine #shouto fluff #shoto fluff #bnha x reader #bnha shoto todoroki #bnha fanfiction #bnha imagines

[anonniemousefics]

The Nine Terrifying Moons | Masterlist

Based on the response to this post. :) Oh, yes, we’re doing the thing.

Cross-posted to AO3.

Fandom: The Folk of the Air | Jude + Cardan

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten

Chapter One: The First

I am trying to keep my hands from shaking while I’m holding the test strip. There’s one pink line, and I’m waiting to see if there will be two. I think I already know the answer, but I’m holding my breath like it’ll make time go faster anyway.

If I ever imagined this moment, which I don’t remember ever doing, but if I did, I would have imagined it like the commercials that would run in the background when my mom would watch tv while she cooked dinner. If those were to be believed, I was supposed to be in an all-white, pristine, upper-middle-class bathroom, gasping with tears of joy while I hid my pearly white smile behind trembling fingers. My partner would be hugging me from behind, elated and definitely not about to make any crude jokes about the virulence of his sperm.

None of this is happening.

I am in a Target bathroom stall, surrounded by Target-red walls. Cardan, my husband and the High King of Elfhame, is on the other side of the red walls, trying to distract himself with the automatic paper towel dispensers. He’s waving his hand in front of it every couple of seconds; I can hear it each time the motor dispenses paper. I wonder how long of a trail he’s created at this point, but it’s the least of my worries.

“Cardan, you’re wasting paper,” I tell him anyway. He does it again once more; I can practically feel his petulant glare through the wall.

“How long is this meant to take?” he asks.

“It’s only been thirty seconds,” I tell him. “It takes two minutes.”

“I will die of old age by then,” Cardan mutters to himself, which I know he finds funny, because he’s immortal, and he waves his hand by the paper towel dispenser again.

I think I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.

Cardan had not been keen on this particular trip to Target, which is saying a lot, because he’s usually so fond of it. He had wanted to cut our trip to the mortal world short, head back to Elfhame and its royal healers and midwives and have me submit to their inquiries and tests, as all queens and lovers of the High Kings of Elfhame have before me.

But I just needed a minute to think. I needed to process this, with Cardan alone, and face the impossibly difficult questions we’ve been avoiding since this became a question. And if this is true, if I really am with child, with Cardan’s child, I don’t want the first people to know to be a bunch of faerie midwives. I want to tell Vivi and Heather. I want Taryn to know first. And I am filled with loathing when I think about how protected and insulated I’m about to become when the healers and midwives know. How the people will cease to see me as their High Queen and rather as the incubator for their Prince.

I want to eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s. This is all happening so fast.

I glance back at the test strip. Stand and flush the toilet. Step out of the red walls.

Cardan’s raised his dark eyebrows, his hand arrested halfway to the paper towel dispenser again.

“Well?” He looks guarded, unsure of how he’s supposed to be reacting. I hand him the test and step up to the sink, turning on the water to wash my hands. I can see him in the mirror behind me, in his tight pants and boots, The Ramones T-shirt he’s borrowed from Vivi. He’s turning the test over and over in his hands, like he can’t tell which way is up. Same, honestly. My head feels like it’s detached from my body.

“It’s yes,” is the only dumb thing I manage to mutter as I soap up my fingers. Just like the commercials.

“How can you tell?” Cardan’s only looking more confused.

“The two lines.” I turn off the water and tear off part of Cardan’s paper towel train. “The two pink lines mean yes.”

Cardan looks up at me. His chest is hitching in shallow breaths.

“We should be celebrating,” he says, but it comes out like he’s trying to convince himself. So he tries again, squaring up his shoulders with a bit more enthusiasm. “We should be celebrating.”

“Mhmm,” I try to agree with a tight nod. I think I’m going to be sick. Again. Cardan searches my face, his gold-rimmed eyes flitting over the lip I’m worrying away at.

“You do not appear to be particularly celebratory,” he points out, but, then, neither does he. His cheekbones are tingeing red.

“It happened so fast, don’t you think?” My voice sounds almost breathless. It feels like a relief to point out, and that relief is contagious. Cardan’s shoulders sag a little bit as he lets out a breath.

“Lightning fast,” he agrees. He’s white-knuckling the pregnancy test.

“Careful -- I peed on that,” I point out, and, as if I’ve instead told him it’s on fire, Cardan hurls it into the trash with a disgusted huff.

I think for a moment about fishing it back out again, the only bit of evidence that I have that what’s going on inside of me is real. That the legacy we wished first wished for together in the dark, in each other’s arms, not even a month ago, is happening now and fast and there’s no going back. The time for second-guessing was over.

But a disconcerting combination of nausea and hunger hit me in the gut all at once, and I’m reminded that I have plenty of evidence and I’m only going to get more. If I really want to, I’ll just pee on another stick later.

“I need Starbucks,” I spout at the same moment Cardan sighs, “I need a drink.” And we share a quick smile.

At there’s still this. This has not changed.

And I should be enjoying that as we leave the bathroom and Cardan lifts the glamour he’d left at the door to give us some privacy. The “Out of Order” sign vanishes. But instead, I’m thinking of everything that is going to change. Of everything that ought to change, immediately, if at all possible.

I find myself unconsciously reaching for Cardan’s hand, and when I grab his palm and entwine our fingers, he’s squeezing mine back, hard. He knows. The worries and arguments past are resurfacing in his mind, too, and, for a moment, he wordlessly anchors himself to me.

We’re walking past customer service, following the alluring scent trail of coffee and baked goods, as I began to look at the other moms shopping. Their cute messy buns and their athleisure, pushing expensive strollers while their kids gnaw on the season’s latest teethers. And I’m struck, once again, by how much I don’t know.

Really, what are we doing here? Of all the people in all the realms, I think we are the last two people who ought to be becoming parents.

For one, I am an unrepentant murderer. Raised by an unrepentant murderer. Who murdered my own mother in front of me. This is not a person who ought to be cradling newborns.

And Cardan? The twice-cursed High King of Elfhame? Raised by house cats, beaten nightly by his own brother. Simultaneously spoiled and neglected. Is such a person even capable of cradling newborns?

And we’re about to be parents. I need to be reading more, I think. I need to have a plan. We never made a plan. We hadn’t had time to make a plan.

I pause a moment near the checkout lines, pulling Cardan to a stop beside me.

“I’m going to buy a few things first,” I decide in that moment. “Vitamins. Maybe some parenting books.”

“I don’t see the point,” Cardan retorts, straight-faced. “We have plenty of house cats.”

I narrow my eyes up at him as he smirks.

“That joke will be hilarious in a few weeks,” he tells me. “Just you wait.”

“I really doubt it,” I frown, and he’s still smirking when he drops my hand, stepping in front of me.

“My darling Jude,” he cups my face in his hands, and for a moment, his face is all I’m seeing. His expression is soft and tender across his beautiful features, and if our child is even half as good as looking, I am going to struggle to not let it have its way in all things. Or I’m going to want to strangle it. Some days, it’s a coin toss.

“You are the most fearsome and glorious creature I have ever had the privilege to behold,” Cardan is telling me. I’m struck once again by the marvel that he can’t lie and what he is saying must be true. In our five years of marriage, it is still sometimes hard to believe.

“And you will be the most fearsome and glorious mother,” he goes on. “I could not conjure up a more perfect mother for my offspring if I tried.”

“I think that says more about your lack of imagination than anything else,” I quip, but my cheeks are smiling in his hands regardless. He smirks back and quickly kisses me on the lips, once, twice.

“I am happy at this news,” he reassures me, as if he has sensed this whole time how overcome I am.

“I am, too,” I say, and I mean it. Truly. I’m a mixing bowl of emotions. My gaze drifts toward the store. “But we do need parenting books…”

Cardan kisses me quick one last time before releasing my face.

“I will procure your coffee,” he says, taking a step back, and it’s impossible not to look him over, his long, lean body in tight, black pants and worn t-shirt, his messy, black curls around the points of his ears. I have modern science to thank for keeping my womb empty these last five years. Chastity certainly had nothing to do with it.

“And Cardan?” I call after him. He turns. “A cake pop, too?” I ask, already in the clutches of a craving.

He looks intrigued.

“Is that what it sounds like?” he asks.

“Ball of cake on a stick,” I explain, kind of gesturing with my hands as if it will help. Cardan nods, determined.

“Then we will be needing several,” he declares before heading off toward the smell of coffee.

I shoulder the bag I borrowed from Heather and then stuff my hands into the pockets of the yellow sundress I’m wearing, one of a few mortal things of my own I keep at Vivi and Heather’s for visits. I’m on my way to the books section when I start to slow down near a display of newborn onesies.

It isn’t as though I never wanted to be a mother. I supposed there would come a day when I would have acquired all the knowledge one needed to be a mother, and then I would, I don’t know, award myself a medal or a pin and be declared Ready.

Taryn hadn’t been Ready. She would be the first to admit that. Not that I don’t love my niece with my entire heart. But Taryn’s daughter was a handful. Little Eva had been colicky and prone to getting her days and nights confused. For that entire first year, every time we saw Taryn, it seemed she faded a little more: the bags under her eyes greying, her auburn hair growing longer and frayed, everything but her breasts shrinking in size. Of course, it wasn’t permanent. Eva learned to sleep eventually, and to walk and eat and use a toilet, and, now that she was a robust and energetic five-year-old, Taryn was more like herself than she’d been in years.

Still. That first year, though.

Time and time again, Cardan and I would exchange glances while Eva squealed and squalled. It was always a silent No, thank you, please passing between us. We’re just fine without, thank you. Between the battle for the crown and undoing a curse, we’d had quite enough excitement, and so I eagerly welcomed Vivi regularly smuggling me little moon-shaped packets of pink pills from the mortal world. I took them each morning, like clockwork, with relish – it meant I could enjoy my freedom, our freedom as long as I wanted.

I’m not sure what happened in me. One day, I was calling it freedom. The next, it felt like an empty vessel.

We’d gone to visit Taryn and Eva at their estate for a summer solstice brunch. Vivi and Heather had come, and The Ghost was there, too, swapping stories and laughing with Vivi. I’d stepped out onto the terrace to call in Eva for food when I’d spotted Cardan. He was helping Eva climb up a tree, holding her hand while she balanced on a branch. Her wild fox hair was blowing in the late morning breeze that carried her giggle up to the house. Then she leapt at him with a delighted squeal, and he caught her and spun her around so that she squealed some more. And that look of sheer joy on his face when she did. His unguarded laugh echoed up through the grassy hills. I felt my heart crack open.

No, thank you, please suddenly felt very unadvised.

“What have I done to deserve such a face?” Cardan asked me, leaving a lingering kiss close to my ear. I guess I was looking a little amorous when he and Eva came inside. Little Eva was trotting off to the kitchens as I wound my fingers against the buttons of Cardan’s doublet, keeping him close for a moment longer.

“You looked happy,” I said as his hands slid around my waist. I looked up into his dark eyes, warm only for me, and saw he was smiling. “You looked like you liked doing fatherly things.”

He pulled me a little closer, a little tighter.

“I think I did,” he admitted, perhaps hardly believing it himself.

And then it happened. The unspoken shift, the change in the air. It seemed to crackle in the space between our gaze, and it took a fair bit of restraint to not pull him into the nearest coat closet and tear off his clothes. Taryn was calling us anyway. The servants had set the table, and no one would be seated until we had taken our chairs, even in this little family arrangement. Taryn was set on Eva learning courtly manners by example.

Courtly manners. By example. Taryn had the best intentions for Eva, but the phrases make me snort even now while I peruse baby clothes in Target. What example did we set in Faerie? One of murder and deceit and betrayal and lewd behavior.

The same day that I’d watched Cardan play with Eva, he abruptly ended dinner in the palace’s great hall to hoist me into his arms and carry me out, away from every one’s gaze, away from even the guards.

“What has gotten into you?” I kicked my feet and pounded at his shoulders – not particularly hard. Look, I’m not going to pretend this isn’t a game now. I could cause damage if I wanted to. I don’t.

Cardan set me on my feet, only to seize my waist in one arm. We stumbled into an alcove in the wall as his head dipped to my neck, his other hand catching us against the wall. Delighted shivers danced down my arms as his lips brushed the spot below my ear, and I couldn’t hold back a gasp.

“You couldn’t lie to me now even if you wanted to, wife,” Cardan murmured, kissing my ear. He wasn’t wrong. I ran my hands up his deep blue velvet doublet to his shoulders, and bent into his embrace. His hands began to roam my waist, my hips, pulling at my skirts.

“I’ll tell you whatever you like if you’ll keep doing this,” I whispered back, flushing. When he pulled back from my throat, there was a wicked, sneaking smile on his reddening lips.

“You don’t despise the thought of bearing my children,” he said, like it’s a revelation. I blinked. Had he been thinking about our previous exchange all day?

“I despise the thought of bearing any children,” I clarified. “It’s not some honor unique to you.”

Cardan gasped as if he was wounded.

“You could not have cut me deeper,” he teased, as I wound my fingers into the soft hair at the nape of his neck. “I thought I was special.”

“You are,” I said, tugging at his hair. “Because if I’m to bear any children at all, I would like them to be yours.”  

The smile that spread over his face then was far from wicked. Cardan was flushed and delighted in a way few got to see, and his arms squeezed around me, lifting me to him as he crushed his lips to mine.

“Cardan,” I laughed against his fevered kisses, my cheeks hurting. “I didn’t mean right this second.”

His lips were swollen when he pulled back, the pupils of his gold-rimmed eyes blown wide.

“Then practice with me,” he said, his breathing ragged. “Like swordplay. You’re always saying I’m rubbish at practicing.”

“You really are,” I gasped against his mouth.

In the last five years, I’ve grown no better at resisting the pull of his desire. If anything, I’m only worse. I couldn’t think straight there in his arms. I wanted to drown in his contagious idealism. I wanted to be set aflame by his soft lips and his body against mine.

With my arms thrown over his shoulders, his lips slid against mine, over and over, our hearts pounding in time together. And then he lifted me off my toes so that he could push us both through our bedchamber door.

A shoe slipped from my foot, and he stumbled over it, kicked it to the side, without releasing my waist. Only when the back of my legs pressed against the bedframe did he pull back from my mouth, breathless. And then he pushed me back onto the bed.

I stretched out on the lush duvet, my whole body thrumming as my heart battered my ribcage. But when I looked up at his face there at the foot of the bed, his expression had darkened in the candlelight.

“What is it?” I pushed myself up to my elbows. “Why are you stopping?”

Cardan suddenly looked as if he was at war with himself. Even though his chest still heaved, he inched to the bed and stepped back again, his dark brows furrowing together.

“Cardan…?” I sat up, alarmed at his hesitation.

“Do you think I would be any good at it?” he blurted out. “At being a father,” he clarified, and winced as if he already knew and hated the answer.

I slid to the edge of the bed and reached for his belt. Pulled him closer.

“You are as equipped for the task as I am,” I said, looking up at him with what I hoped was a provocative smile. He slid his long fingers into my hair, and I needed him closer. “If you’re terrible at it, then I will probably be worse.”

I meant it in jest. He’d always liked this side of me before, my dark, warped cruelty. But this time, his fingers tightened suddenly in my hair.

“Shit.” The word slid out of him like it was being dragged. His hands dropped from my hair, and he stepped back to look at me. He drew in a sharp breath.

“You think I would be a terrible father,” he said, which was hardly fair. That wasn’t what I said at all. I sighed hard, ruing the direction this was going – further from the bed.

“I think neither one of us knows what a good father looks like,” I said. Cardan only gave a painful chuckle.

“We are both quite familiar with terrible fathers,” he said. “I think you, of anyone, would be able to recognize a terrible father when you saw one.”

“And that is the last time you will compare yourself to Madoc,” I said, in horror. “If that is the standard for terrible fathers, then you’re angelic.”

But Cardan gave me a look of slit-eyed skepticism, so I stood from the bed and stepped to him.

“And, really, what does it matter right now?” I asked, lowly, holding a hand to his face. He leaned against it. I was almost ready to start begging. “I am not falling pregnant tonight. We have time to learn these things, if we want to learn them at all.” I lifted onto my tip toes, brushing my lips to the hollow of his cheek.

“Just come to bed,” I whispered there, and I saw his eyes fall shut, his dark lashes against his sharp cheekbones, as he turned to meet the slant of my lips.

“I want to be good at it,” he murmured against my mouth, as I dragged him toward the bed.

“Then you will be,” I insisted just before he cradled the back of my neck, sinking into our kiss as we tipped toward the mattress.

We have time. It’s an easy lie to tell when you’re in Faerie. Time stretches on, limitless and unending. There shouldbe time, endless amounts of time, to learn all you need to know – about anything. There should be time to become the person you’d always wanted to be.

I had had two months since that first conversation. Even less time since the others. In Faerie, that’s hardly a lunch hour.

I am reeling. I’m in Target with a red basket full of prenatal vitamins and snacks and pregnancy books, and I am absolutely reeling.

After I check out, I find Cardan sitting on the curb with a Starbucks bag that’s the size of a large gift bag and two venti Frappuccinos. The one he’s nursing is strawberry-pink and looks full of cream.

“They didn’t have wine,” he tells me, handing me mine. It’s drizzled in caramel, and I’m not sure it’s what I would have ordinarily chosen, but right now, it smells perfect.

“Probably for the best,” I say, and hazard a glance at his expression. It’s dark and troubled again as he squints against the sunlight. His legs are drawn up, and he’s resting his elbows on his knees, like he’s hunched under a weight. Reality’s given him a hard jolt since he kissed me in front of the newborn onesies.

I take a long sip of the Frappuccino through the green straw.

“Cardan, if you don’t want to do this--” I start, and his head jerks up.

“I have always wanted this,” he snaps, looking defensive, and then he’s looking at his boots again.

“Okay.” I sit back, extending my legs.

How do I do this? I have no blueprint for this. Floundering, there’s only one rope I know to pull, the one that’s always saved us: honesty.

So, I go on.

“I’m terrified, too,” I say. I spread the yellow fabric of my sundress over my knees. “If that’s any consolation. I think I’ll be happy eventually, but right now, I’m completely freaking out. I can hardly form a coherent thought. How many cake pops did you get?” I cock my head at the large Starbucks bag.

Cardan shifts it in my direction.

“All of them,” he says, glumly.

I raise my eyebrows as I peer in the bag. Oak will be excited, at least.

“I hate myself for being so terrified of a thing I desperately want.” I look up at Cardan’s confession to see his face twisted in loathing, and my heart twists right along with it. I know this pain, the agony of fearing what you love.

I could lie to him; I probably should. I should tell him right now that I know without a shadow of a doubt he will be a perfect father, that he’s beyond everything that had been done to him, that none of it had ever touched me either. But I don’t lie to him anymore.

Instead, I hand him a cake pop.

“That strikes me as a waste of energy,” I say, and nudge him with a coy smile. “There are so many other things you could hate yourself for.”

He gives me a wicked smirk and, instead of taking the cake pop I’ve offered, he seizes my other wrist and takes a large bite out of the one I’d claimed for myself. Feigning exasperation, I stab at him with the leftover stick.

“Does this not strike you as problematic?” he asks a moment later, his cheek still full of cake.

“Yes.” I reply with a stoic nod. “The fact that you just ate a pregnant lady’s cake pop is both striking andproblematic.”

“I mean this repartee you and I enjoy.” He wipes at a bit of icing at the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “A child ought to know his father loves his mother and vice versa, should he not? I would think that sort of thing helps.”

I feel the heartbreak behind his words as if it were my own. In his mind, he’s now on an endless search for every moment in his childhood that went wrong, every little action he ought to do the opposite of. I know. My mind’s been doing it, too.

I scoot a little closer, nearing his warmth, so that I can lean against him. He rests his head on top of mine.

“But you’re my nemesis,” I say, softly.

“Jude,” he says it like he’s scolding. “Not in front of the children.”

“Do not say ‘children’.” I jab him again as he presses his lips to the top of my head. “Your wishes are too powerful, and there is room in here for only one.”

Cardan’s slipped an arm around me, and I tilt my head back to look at him. The corner of his mouth is tugging upwards, slyly.

“Tell me I’m too powerful again,” he murmurs as he kisses my cheek.

“Later,” I promise, and I reach for another cake pop.

There will be time for all that later.

It’s a lie I get used to telling.

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

Tags. Let me know if you’d like to be added to the tag list.: @yellowavocadopit

#jurdan #jude x cardan #the folk of the air #the cruel prince #the wicked king #queen of nothing #post-qon #fanfic #fanfiction #jurdan fanfic #tfota #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #jude x cardan fanfic

[bootlegfood]

Nigella's Bhorta, Amended

hello, sweet void. i've missed you.

the past two years (i keep reminding myself as i face my next birthday, two years) have taken its toll on us all, demanding payment after so long of getting through it, keeping it together, being brave. cooking hasn't been a feasibility for me lately, with exhaustion finally taking over, folding my body in half and demanding time, time. on the nights i have been able to drag myself off the couch and stand at the stove, i have been making what i like to call Kids Menu Dinners, where I cook a bunch of frozen stuff in the oven, heat up some peas in the microwave and enjoy the soft comforts of beige kinda-food.

lately, i've been trying to listen to the exhaustion, instead of trying and failing to shuck it off, and trust that this isn't forever. part of that is being okay with eating off the Kids Menu most weeknights. another part of it is learning how to make Kids Menu food secretly grown up, nutritious and fancy.

i've been making Nigella's Fish Finger Bhorta, Amended, for the past year and I want to share my heartier version. it's a cheap and versatile make, leaving behind minimal dishes. My favourite part is that it takes no longer than my last-resort oven dinner, and it gives me something chill and noodly to do while i'm waiting.

The result is a warm salad of sorts. it is unfailingly comforting, with flavour in every bite and packed with so much colour- dark green, gold, orange, bright pink. it honestly makes me happy.

I have listed some ingredients below- please know that this is an approximation, my interpretation of nigella's original. for instance, i call for red onions because i never buy brown onions because i like the colour of red onions. i am a nonsense person. please feel free to use this as a base for a dish suited to your life, your nonsense.

Ingredients (serves 2)

4 frozen breaded fish fillets

two big sweet potatoes, roughly chopped/diced

two red onions, sliced so so thin

a big pinch of chilli flakes

a load of squeezy ginger

a load of squeezy garlic

a little yellow mustard/some mustard seeds

salt and pepper

a big big handful of leafy greens (spinach is my go-to)

Optional: Pickled Pink Onions That Taste Like Meanies

one more red onion, also sliced very thinly

vinegar (any, in my experience, will do).

The Recipe

1. pre-heat your oven to the heat specified for your fish

2. prepare your potatoes. i dice my sweet peets, spread them out on a baking sheet with a bit of oil, salt and pepper and it goes into the centre of the oven for about ten minutes before the fish.

3. You can use these ten minutes to prep your onions! slice your onion lengthways, right down the middle. with each half, you'll see the rings now form lil semicircles. gently slice tiny crescents, taking your time- the thinner these slices, the easier they'll caramelise, which is what we'll be looking for. take one of the sliced onions, and pop it in a jar/bowl with vinegar (i use white wine vinegar, because it's what i have.) set this aside.

4. When both onions are sliced, put your fish in the oven and set your timer for them according to the package. During this time, we will be engaging in some low-level alchemy.

5. Get yourself a wide pan or a wok, and pop it on a medium heat. get your spices ready while the oil heats up, and when it just barely starts to shimmer, dump in the onions, chilli flakes, garlic and ginger. Turn your heat all the way down low.

6. Stir, and stir. listen to the sizzling, enjoy the acrid scent of the onions as it gives way to a soft, fragrant sweetness. Open a can of beer, or a fizzy situation, and enjoy this time. be mindful of sticking- the aim here is to cook these babies on low so that they become incredibly soft and sweet. check on your sweet peets every now and again, occasionally shaking the tray a bit.

7. Keep on mooching until your timer is nearing its end. Then, get your spinach and add it to the pan, stirring and allowing it to wilt into all the flavours of the onions. Keep your pan on low, this is not a high-pressured cook. Once your spinch is wilted, taste and season to your liking. I sometimes pop in some more garlic here, because i am a straight-up fiend.

8. Once your sweet-peets are cooked, add them to your pan, stirring them through the spinach and the onions.

9. Once you are happy with your fish and the coating is lovely and golden, use a spatula/butter knife to chop them up a lil bit, being mindful of the baking tray. then dump them into the pan and stir again.

10. Look at your beautiful mess!! lump it into two big bowls. Serve with your pink pickled onions, lemon juice and mayonnaise. Enjoy this amazing thing you have made!

#oats #writers #writblr #recipes #cooking #baking #food #food writing #breakfast #dinner #nigella lawson #bhorta #pescatarian

[bunnyywritings]

dino to the rescue

Tsukishima Kei x gn!reader

[a/n: I am obsessed with dinosaurs and with salty boi Tsukki so....yeah😖 I made this on zero sleep at like 5am. Enjoy! Also, there is no doubt in my mind that Tsukki calls his s/o stupid nicknames like pumpkin and sweetheart when they’re alone together -yours truly, bunnyy-`ღ´- ps this gif is super pretty, not to simp on the main or anything but I busted the phattest uwu ]

It had been a rough week. Not that he’d like to admit it but, it really, really sucked. First he had actually gotten a pretty bad score on an exam that he studied so hard for, he had not been able to see you at all either. Going to separate schools had really taken its toll on the both of you. And his blocks during practice were certainly not at the level he had liked them to be. Akiteru and Yamaguchi had been the ones that had sent you a text on Friday night to ask you if you knew what was going on.

After learning that you also had no idea what was going on, Akiteru had sent you a brief overview of what had happened. Kei had gotten home and shut himself in his room, not even coming out to have dinner until all the dishes were cleaned and the leftovers were wrapped up.

So, you had taken it upon yourself to cheer up your boyfriend. It was the least you could do after he had done the same for you countless times. You woke up bright and early on Saturday morning. Donning your most comfortable clothing and sneakers, you head off to the store to pick up a few things before heading to the Tsukishima household.

You knocked a couple of times, before it opened and there stood Akiteru in his practice clothing.

“Oh! Hey (y/n)! Come in.” He let you in and pulled you into a hug, one that you happily returned before slipping off your shoes. “Mom is out running errands so she shouldn’t be back for a while and I’ve got morning practice.” He groaned, obviously disliking that he had to be active at 8am.

“Is Kei awake?” You asked as you peered down the hall and at his door.

“No.” He sighed. “He usually is but, I guess he’s been sulking or something.” He fished his phone from his pocket and looked at, eyes widening as he rushed to put on his shoes. “Now I’ve gotta go. No funny business okay? Keep it PG.” he flicked your forehead playfully.

“What about PG-13?”

“Don’t push it.” He chuckled before ultimately making his way out.

You made your way into the kitchen, placing the half-strawberry shortcake you had bought earlier. You wanted to make him some breakfast. Something simple. There was some left over rice in the rice cooker so you started to re-heat it. Making your way to the stove, you started to cook. Grilling some fish and vegetables and placing them over the steaming bowl of rice. You also made some hot green tea with a bit of ginger. You went ahead and served yourself a serving too since you had yet to eat that morning.

“(Y/n)?” A deep voiced Kei spoke up from some ways behind you. You turned to greet him but once seeing the state he was in, the ends of your mouth twitched downward. He was still barely waking up but the skin around his eyes was red with irritation and puffy. You knew that wasn’t from sleep. His hair was sticking up a bit and he was still in his sweat pants and a karasuno pullover. You could tell that he had been crying, his glasses obstructing your view made it hard to tell whether it was from last night or this morning.

“Surprise?” You were unsure on how to approach the situation, the statement just left your lips in a panic.

“What are you doing here?” He asked while making his way towards you, his hand scratching his belly.

“Well...honestly? Teru and Tadashi both messaged me and said that you were acting strange. Upset, really. So I wanted to do something.” You approached him, wrapping your arms loosely around his torso. “I know we haven’t seen each other at all this week, and I really missed you.” He gulped, knowing that the second he looked down into your puppy eyes, he’d confess everything. “I just wanted to come cheer you up! Since you always do it for me.” His resilience broke and he looked into your wide puppy dog eyes. His eyes glazed over and he tugged off his glassed and tossed them onto the table before wrapping his arms around you and stuffing his face into the side of your neck. Your hold got tighter when you realized his shoulders were shaking and his tears wet the collar of your t-shirt. Biting your bottom lip harshly, you willed yourself to keep your own tears at bay. Seeing him this vulnerable wasn’t new but it was the fact that he was hurting is what made you hurt too.

“What happened, Kei?” The way you spoke his name so tenderly didn’t help his tears subside.

“First, I failed my damn Chem test.”

“The one you almost killed yourself studying for?” He hummed against you as a confirmation, he didn’t seem like he was going to let up anytime soon.

“And my blocks were terrible every single day this week, while Hinata had absolutely no problem with anything.” You were aware of his inferiority complex with the orange-haired ball of energy that you met once. “I also lost my freaking headphones at school and I cracked my phone screen during practice...and-and I couldn’t even see you because you had your own club activities and-” he took a deep breath, still hugging you close to him. “Tch. Can you believe this? I probably sound like such a whiner.” He let go of you and turned away, wiping his tears furiously before taking another deep breath and turning to you.

“Kei, it’s okay to be upset when you’ve had a rough week. That’s normal.” He slipped his glasses on. “It’s just me and you here, you don’t need to act like Mr. cool guy. I already know you’re a big nerd. You can’t fool me anymore.” You grinned as that roused a chuckle from him.

“Thank you pumpkin, I really appreciate you coming over. I really missed you.” He leaned down and gave you a proper kiss before you both sat and enjoyed the breakfast that you made.

An hour or two later, you were both cuddling in his bed while devouring that half of a shortcake that you got. He picked a strawberry from the top of the cake, scooping up some cream and holding it up to your mouth. Blushing a fierce pink, you opened your mouth and closed your eyes but once you bit down there was the ‘click’ of your teeth and his chuckles but no strawberry.

“Tsukki!” You pouted, he snorted a laugh. “If you’re mean to me, I won’t give you the other thing I got you.” He’d would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. So he held the strawberry to your mouth, small smile growing on his lips as you took a bite, humming in delight at the sweetness.

“Good choice. I’ll be right back!” You had ran out of the room before zooming back in, hands held behind her back before you presented it to him. It was a small  bag. With a raised eyebrow, he took it and looked inside. He reached in and brought out the gift. “A watch?” He asked, brows pinched together.

“Kind of.” He watched as you reached into your pocket and showed him one that was identical to the one in the box. “I know it’s super cheesy but when you tap your watch, mine will vibrate and vice versa.” As you explained he slipped on the already charged watched and tapped it. You gasped in surprise when the watch gave a little ‘hum.’

Tsukishima read the back of the box. one tap= i’m thinking about you, two taps= thank you, and lastly, three taps= i love you. His heart swelled with happiness, not that his face showed it much.

“I know it’s not your thing but-” He cut you off, tapping the watch twice and gauging your reaction. As long as it made you happy, he’d keep it

Whispered sweet nothings, soft cuddles, and tender kisses were shared before you went back home. Quickly grabbing your laptop and searching for the exact same headphones that Kei had lost plus a little something else. You ended up using all your allowance money to get that and the next day shipping but it was worth it. You triple checked to make sure you put down his address before confirming the order.

The next day, you got an email saying that the package was delivered. So you waited. What you hadn’t expected was for your watch to buzz twice before your phone rang. Answering the facetime call, you grinned. Seeing him with the headphones over his head but an un-amused expression on his face made it hard to hold in laughter.

“(Y/n) what is this?” He held up a little teal triceratops plushie.

“His name is dino, he’s going to be there to save you when you have a bad day and I can’t hug you.” His eyes widened and a blush spread on his cheeks.

“Oh...right.” You almost fell off of your bed in sheer happiness as he casually hugged it to his chest.

“Thank you, (y/n). Really. You made my crap week better.” There was a pause when your wrist buzzed three times.

“I love you too, kei.”

“What’s the point of the watch then? If you’re still saying stuff like that out loud.” But he definitely didn’t mind.

He loved you with the entirety of his string bean head-ass. And you loved him too.

#tsukishima x you #tsukishima kei #tsukishima kei x reader #karasuno scenario #haikyuu x reader

[gloriainalbis]

Strangers

Part 1 - Losers (S1E1)

Nathan Young x Reader  Words: 4.4k Warnings: Swearing, mentions of sex, drugs  Songs:  Strangers - The Kinks  Bad Reputation - Joan Jett 

“So you've been where I've just come From the land that brings losers on”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Masterlist | Ao3

--

    As bad days go, you’re having a pretty horrible one when you arrive at the Wertham Community Center. It’s the first of many to come, part of the court-mandated service that goes along with your ASBO. Your dad keeps telling you that you’re lucky the judge had been so lenient and should be grateful that he’s allowing you to stay with him and your stepmum again– even though you have no one to stay with and nowhere else to go. And he’s your dad. “In the future,” you tell him while getting out of the car, “I think I’ll walk.” 

     Striding through the frosted glass of the front doors, you continue on to the locker rooms to change into the orange jumpsuits you find waiting for you. You choose a locker on the far wall and dump your stuff there. You decide to leave your t-shirt on underneath, zipping the suit up most, but not all, of the way. Finished, you lean back to take a look at your designated companions for the 200 hours to be dispersed across the next few months. One girl has chosen her locker to be in front of the mirror. Her hair is short, curly, and pinned back on the side to form some cute bangs-like fringe. You notice an ankle monitor adorning her lower leg as she strips down to a pink lace pushup bra and panties and steps into her jumpsuit, rolling up the sleeves and bottom cuffs and adding a gold belt around her waist to complete the ensemble. The color of her earrings and bangle bracelets– both large, round, pink, and plastic– match her underwear. She steps back to take a look at herself and smiles. Another girl brushes her hair back into a high and tight ponytail. She looks curvier than the first girl, but just as confident, pairing smoky black eye makeup with shiny, pale pink lip gloss and gold hoop earrings. The guy who’d taken a locker near yours fishes a cigarette out of his pocket and sticks it between his lips. He looks equal parts cute and odd, tall and lanky with a mop unruly, curly hair framing his face. He wears a red and black checkered shirt and an air of swaggering cockiness radiates from him with a pungency usually reserved for uncommonly offensive odors. He smirks at you slyly. The guy with the locker across from the two girls looks vaguely familiar to you. He has two gold chains, one with a cross, and a grey tank top. His jumpsuit is only zipped up halfway, with the arms tied around his waist. He looks remarkably fit, and, not having much of an affinity for sports, you wonder where you recognize him from. The last person you see in the locker room is shadowy and reserved. His hair is short and neatly combed and his jumpsuit is buttoned up all the way to the very last button. He holds a small, black camera phone in his hand and shifts his gaze between people nervously. As you start to file out, one last person stomps in front of you, looking you up and down as he nearly bowls you over. You grimace as he winks. The first thing you notice about him is the immaculate green flat-brimmed baseball cap. You suspect that this hat and others like it are a large part of his personality. Once you’re all together, a man introducing himself as your probation worker, Tony, leads you outside and has you line up against some railing as he gives what you believe is supposed to be a rousing speech. From left to right is Curtis, Gary, Nathan, you, Kelly, Alisha, and Simon. You would learn their names later, but for the purposes of clarity, we’ll start using them now. Tony paces before you, attempting to assume the macho, fear-inducing demeanor of a boot camp officer. “This is it,” he barks. “This is your chance to do something positive. Give something back. You can help people, you can really make a difference to people’s lives. That’s what community service is all about. There are people out there who think you’re scum. You have an opportunity to show them they’re wrong.” He has the tone of someone who has given this speech before and is just barely holding onto their faith in its underlying message. The girl to your left, Kelly, looks mildly offended at the word “scum,” as if Tony had been speaking directly to her. “Yeah, but what if they’re right?” Nathan interrupts on your right. He looks around at the rest of you, “No offense, but I’m thinking some people are just born criminals.” You smile to yourself and try to hold back a chuckle as a look of anger flashes over suspected-douchebag-Gary’s eyes and he bursts out with “Are you looking to get stabbed?” “You see my point there?” Nathan asks, turning back to Tony. A phone rings and Alisha answers with a casual “Hey,” while twirling a curl between her manicured fingers. Tony tries to continue, but he’s becoming increasingly exasperated. “Doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past-” “Doin’ my community service,” Alisha speaks to her phone. “Hey!” He tries and fails to catch her attention. “Boring as fuck,” she continues. It was getting harder not to laugh and you glance at Nathan out of the corner of your eye, amused at the part he had to play in the deterioration of Tony’s speech. “Excuse me!” He tries again. “Hello, I’m still talking here.” “What, I thought you’d finished?” She didn’t care, evidently. “You see my lips still moving, that means I’m still talking.” He tries to assert something akin to authority but clearly doesn’t realize how poorly that approach tends to work on rag-tag groups of rebellious young offenders. “Yeah, but you could have been yawning, or chewing,” Nathan points out facetiously in a drawling tone. Tony ignores him, but you are full-on laughing at this point. “End the call! Hang up!” He shouts at Alisha to no avail. “My probation worker,” she explains to the person on the other line. “You all right there, weird kid?” Nathan leans past you to point at Simon, who stood alone at the far end of your lineup. Tony fumed. “Don’t be disgusting. I’ll call you later.” She finally hangs up, looking over at Nathan, who was approaching Gary and making kissing noises at him. “I’ll rip out your throat and shit down your neck,” Gary snaps back. He looks amusingly short in comparison, you now realize. Curtis grimaces and leans away from the touchy ball of anger standing next to him. “I shouldn’t be here, man.” Kelly gapes at his arrogance as Gary starts to scuffle with Nathan, grabbing at his jumpsuit. “We need to work as a team here. Hey, that’s enough!” Tony takes a few steps forward. “Can I move to a different group? This isn’t going to work for me,” Curtis continues, even though Tony is clearly otherwise engaged. You lean back, nearly bumping into Kelly as she steps to Cutis’ indirect insults. “Um… What makes you think that you’re better than us?” “What is that accent?” Nathan comments, drawn out of his conflict by the way her “us” sounded a lot more like “oss” “Is that for real?” Curtis scoffs, rolling his eyes. “What, are you tryna’ say something or yeah?” She speaks, the latter half her sentence mostly lost due to her lack of enunciation. “Its- you- that’s just a noise! Are we supposed to be able to understand her?” Nathan exclaims. You shake your head and raise your eyebrows at their audacity and Kelly’s incoherence. She sticks her hand out and flips him off, “Do you understand that?” Things escalate again when Nathan puts an arm around a violently unwilling Gary who responds by grabbing him and preparing to punch. “Hey, pack it in!” Tony lunges forward to separate them “It’s love, man!” Nathan yells. You double over, stepping back to get out of the way. Kelly meets your gaze and smirks at the growing scene before you. Alisha laughs, a high-pitched giggle. Tony stood between them now, pulling Gary further and further away from Nathan, who assumed a boxer’s stance and put up his fists comically. “Do it man! Do it! You’re a prick, man, look at you!” Gary calls, trying to push past Tony. “What the fuck are they doin’?” You say to everyone behind you as Kelly looks between you and Alisha. Simon looks like he’d rather be elsewhere, as does Curtis, but for different reasons. Nathan had taken to punch the air, which only served to further aggravate Gary. “You’re a fuckin’ pussy, bruv! He’s takin’ the piss, come here!” Cue the intro music. --     Tony eventually diffuses the conflict between Nathan and Gary and finally leads everyone to some benches by the lake, which you are told to paint white. Paint drips everywhere, from your shoes to the concrete sidewalk, but you hardly care. How different is this from the reason you were here in the first place? You were reprimanded for painting on someone else’s property and were told to instead paint on someone else’s property to pay for it, how is that supposed to work? The only difference is that the first time had been art, and this was largely pointless. They wanted to cover up the graffiti on these benches, but the new paint job would only make future acts of vandalism easier to see. You did it anyway, though, happy to peel off with Nathan and Kelly as Curtis and Alisha and Simon and Gary pair off to the benches on either side of you. You watch as Gary leans down to pick up more paint on his brush, his hat brushing dangerously close to the fresh paint before it finally touches, leaving a stark white smear on the brim. You poke Nathan’s shoulder and point as Gary notices, ripping off his hat in horror and stomping off in a huff, kicking a bucket of paint into the lake and leaving behind a violent burst of white. “Oh, man! There’s paint on my cap, this is bullshit!” “Ooh!” Alisha whistles as he walks past. Everyone turns and stares as he struggles with a shopping cart that’s in his way, kicking it at first before trying and failing to shove it into the lake as well when it simply falls in front of him, still blocking the path. “I know you,” you hear Alisha say to Curtis, perking up due to your own curiosity. “No, you don’t,” he brushes her off. “Yes, I do,” She continues, unphased. “You’re that runner guy. You screwed up big time.” That’s it. You’d seen him years ago at your secondary school’s track meets and races, and later in the news for his accomplishments and subsequent arrest. “You noticed, yeah? Thanks for reminding me.” He grew increasingly annoyed, and it was abundantly clear. Overhearing, Nathan glances up at Kelly and tries to strike up a conversation, “So I’m guessing shoplifting?” She ignores him. “No?” He was about to speak again when she cuts him off, “Don’t act like you know me, ‘cuz you don’t.” “I’m just makin’ conversation!” He motions to you and Kelly, “This is a chance to network with other young offenders. We should be swapping tips. Brainstorming!” He looks at you to continue, but you stay silent, also curious about Kelly’s infraction. You shrug and he looks back at her. “Come on, what did you do?” “This girl called me a slag so I just got into a fight,” she admits, slapping her paintbrush to the bench in annoyance. “Was this on the Jeremy Kyle show?” He jokes. “No, it was at Argos.” “Argos?” you ask, finding the store an odd place to get into fights. “You know what you should’ve done? You should have got one of them little pens and jabbed it in her eye.” He was referring to the pens for filling out the catalog cards at Argos and you smirk at the image, but Kelly just stares at him incredulously. It’s an odd thing to say to someone you barely knew. He turns to look at you, “And you? I need to know what we’re workin’ with here.” “Ah…” You glance between Nathan and Kelly before continuing, “Graffiti, mostly, and throwing a party that bugged my neighbors, breaking the peace.” You had broken the law, technically, but it was nothing compared to punching someone and getting into a fight in the middle of Argos. He raises his eyebrows curiously, “Is there a story behind it or was it just mindless vandalism?” “It was on the wall of my apartment, my landlord saw it when he went to break up a party that my friends were throwing and he said he’d report me.” “Oh, what a wanker!” Nathan exclaims. “The worst part is I lost the apartment and now I’ve gotta live with my dad and stepmum again and it’s a living nightmare.” You don’t want to exaggerate or sound like too much of a cliche, but your stepmother is one of the meanest people you have ever encountered. You could understand it to some extent, as she has two young children and you aren’t the greatest of influences. You call these siblings stepfuck and stepcunt respectively, case in point. “Well, I can sympathize with that. But at least yours is a stepmum, they’re, like, inherently kinda hot, amirite?” You glare at him and begin to understand some of Kelly’s annoyance. He redirects, turning his attention to Simon, who is now painting his bench all alone after Gary’s outburst. “What about you, weird kid? Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but you look like a panty-sniffer.” He holds his hands up beside his face, mocking a disgusting sniff of some invisible panties. “I’m not a panty-sniffer,” he responds. “I’m not a pervert.” He tries to return to painting the bench, but Nathan begins walking towards him, pretending to jack off with his paintbrush still in his hand, grunting disgustingly. You sigh and roll your eyes, glancing at Kelly. He could be funny, sure, but you were quickly learning about his tendency to take things too far. Kelly shrugs at you. “I tried to burn someone’s house down,” Simon blurts out to get Nathan to stop. Everyone who’d heard snapped to attention, as arson seems considerably more serious than vandalism or a few punches. “Fire?” Nathan laughs and walks back. Kelly looks up at him, “What did you do?” You were still curious about the fire and arson, but you let the conversation move on regardless. “Me? I was done for eatin’ some pick ‘n’ mix.” “Yeah, right,” you scoff. “Bollocks,” Kelly agrees. “What is goin’ on with this weather,” Nathan muses, distracted, as thunder rolls down from overhead and you quickly noticed the growing dark storm clouds in the sky just across the lake. Huh, odd. That hadn’t been there just a few minutes ago. “How did that happen?” you hear behind you, looking around to see Tony returning, an angry look instantly plastered to his face. He points to the overturned paint can, part of Gary’s carnage, and holds his arms up in exasperation. “I mean, you’ve been here five minutes. It’s painting benches. How’d you screw that up? You tell me, because I’ve got no idea.” From out of nowhere, a giant white ball of something smashes down on the car behind Tony, completely caving in the roof and sending the car alarm blaring. Shocked, you jump back and duck amid the various screams and cries of “What the hell was that?” and “Oh, Jesus!” Nathan’s smug grin immediately falls and transforms into fear and wonderment. Alisha shrieks, crying out in a warbling tone, “What’s goin’ on?” Tony turns around slowly in disbelief and gasps, “That’s my car!” “Oh, fuck,” you mutter under your breath. But Nathan isn’t taking it as seriously. “Classic,” he chuckles, thinking it to be some sort of prank. But then another thing falls from the sky into the lake behind you, whizzing past your heads and spraying you, Nathan, and Kelly in an onslaught of lake-water. “Okay, so I’m a little bit freaked out!” he admits. “No fucking shit!” you agree. “What is that?” Alisha asks, turning your attention to the storm Nathan had pointed out just moments ago. It had grown, somehow, turning dark and dangerous as it travels at an unnervingly fast pace towards your group. Simon holds his phone up to film the storm and its effects just as another ball crashes into the dumpster beside him, knocking over the heavy, metal container and spewing ice at him as he ducks and runs from it. More and more ice falls from the sky, huge blocks larger than your head, and you don’t want to think of what could happen if one of them hit you. “Right, let’s get everyone inside,” Tony instructs as more and more of them fall all around you. “Move! Move! Run!” You sprint back to the community center at top speed, holding your head as ice shards rain down on you, pelting and stinging your face and arms. Your heart practically beats out of your chest. One ball of ice pummels into the sidewalk in front of you, breaking a concrete tile. Another falls into a phonebooth, and the glass shatters to the ground around your feet. The storm seems to get thicker as you near the center, and your hair is plastered to your face from the mixture of sweat and water that you were drenched in. You could barely hear Tony yell “Keep going!” over the crashes and booms that fill your ears as you run for your life. Curtis reaches the door first, pulling on the handles and banging on the glass before stepping back and yelling over the din to Tony, “It’s locked! Open it!” Tony groans, “Come on…” and fumbles with the keys. You throw yourself against the wall, as far away as possible from the mega hail storm, and scream, “Just fuckin’ unlock it!” “What is happening?” Kelly shrieks as another massive ball of ice falls onto the pavement beside her. “Open the door, come on!” Nathan yells as Tony grows increasingly frustrated. “I’m finding the right key!” he bellows back “Open the door!” Curtis yells again, and Alisha agreed. “Open the fucking door!” Tony whips around in a burst of anger, “Don’t speak to me like that!” You were about to berate him for his poor priorities when a bright white burst of cold lightning cracks in front of you and sends you flying backward in a chorus of screams. Time slows as you fly through the air and the electricity transforms from a chilling shock to a burning flare, searing and snaking through you as you soar and tumble backward onto the hard pavement. You hit the ground with a sickening thud, from which groans and cries of pain follow. A few remaining snowballs hit the ground around you, but the storm appears to have passed. “I feel really weird,” you hear Kelly say. Your vision is still black, which has you worried until you realize it’s only because your eyes are still closed. You open them and sit up, rubbing the back of your head, which is still screaming in pain. “That’ll be the lightning,” Curtis says to try and explain what just happened. “We should be dead,” Simon points out. “Well, that’s comforting,” you snap back. “A little reassurance might be nice, you know,” Nathan agrees, instead directing his comment to Tony, who is sprawled before the door of the center and has just started to sit up. “‘You’re fine!’ ‘Looking good!’” he elaborates. “Wanker…” Tony groans, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “Did he just call me a wanker?” Nathan asks, indignantly glancing at you and everyone else. He snaps his fingers at Tony, “Hey? Hello?” You see a quick look of anger flash across Tony’s face before he grumbles, “Is everyone alright?” “We could have died, you dick,” Alisha adds. “Are you alright?” Kelly asks tentatively as Tony shakes his head and coughs out a growl. “You’re actin’ like a freak.” He ignores her, “Maybe we should call it a day.” --     Tony finally manages to unlock the door, and you return to the locker rooms to gather your things. You feel like you should be annoyed, leaving early only means you’ll have to spend another day here, but you are too exhausted to feel anything. That was probably the closest you’d ever been to death. You can still feel your heart beating, a deep, steady drumbeat, and your lungs ache from the running and adrenaline. Beside you, Nathan closes his locker and leans against it before turning to you, “Do you think we’ll stick together now, bonded by our shared experiences?” “Dunno. I’d rather spend as little time here as possible,” you explain, closing your locker and stepping away to put on your hoodie. “Oh, you’re one of those types, are you?” Nathan smiles. “What type?” You glare at him. “The I’m-too-cool-for-this type.” “No, that’s Curtis,” you quip, knowing that he’d already left the room. “I just happen to not like community service.” Or any of these morons, all the other girls are total slags. “Hey!” Kelly snaps, swinging around to glare at you suddenly. “Oookay?” You turn away awkwardly and leave, you can’t imagine anything you’d said having offended her. Maybe she just really loves community service or something, but that is decidedly not the impression you’ve gotten from her so far. You walk out to the waiting area by the vending machines, where you find Curtis and Simon standing around in heavy silence. Nathan follows after you moments later. “Do we just go, then?” Curtis asks, clearly annoyed. “Where’s the probation worker?” “I think there’s something wrong with him,” Simon speaks up. “It’s like he was having a spasm.” “He was probably just faking it, trying to get some compensation. Cheap bastard,” Nathan scoffs. “I don’t think he was faking it,” Simon insists, looking back down at his phone. “And you know all about being… mental.” Nathan takes a few steps forward as he talks, leering at Simon and lowering his voice. Then he pretends to convulse and yells “Wanker!” You punch him in the shoulder. “Ow, what the hell was that for?” He sticks his head out at you almost comically. You stick your head out back at him. “Stop being such a prick, he might have a point.” Alisha walks in, already looking bored. “Are we waiting for something?” “Probation worker,” Curtis explains. She scrunches up her face in disgust. “I’m not hanging around for that dickhead.” She turns on her heel and leaves, which everyone else seems to take as their cue to leave as well. You can’t be bothered to be the only one waiting around, so you follow suit. Once outside, everyone pretty much goes their separate ways. Nathan, however, trots after you. “What’re you doin’?” You ask. “Thought you looked a little lonely, and, well, I’d like to recommend my own company as recompense.” He motions to himself like he’s all that, which honestly has you snorting to hold back your laughter. “You can’t be serious.” You raise your eyebrows. “Fine, I happen to live along this way, alright? I’m Nathan, by the way.” “Y/n.” You smile at him. “And I’ll have you know that to date, I haven’t had a single complaint.” He says it like you should be impressed or something. “Can’t have complaints if you haven’t been with anybody,” you joke, smirking. His jaw drops in mock surprise, “Oy! I have, too!” He keeps trying to impress upon you the depth of his sexual prowess, offering many stories as proof, all of which have you in stitches. He peels off when you were about halfway home. You say your goodbyes and wave as he walks away, grateful for the company. A few houses down from your own, though, you stop walking, contemplating what to do next. Home doesn’t seem like a particularly fun place to be right now, but it’s not like you have anywhere else to go. It’s still the early afternoon, so it would probably be only your stepmum at home, with your dad at work and your step siblings at school. It’s practically a worst-case scenario, as you doubt she would believe that they let you go early. You wish this day had gone differently. As you’re musing and trying to work up the courage to walk the thirty or so meters left to your front door, the skies begin to darken. You look up to see if a cloud had rolled in overhead, not exactly trusting the weather as of late, but as soon as you do so, it disappears and the sky goes back to normal. You think nothing of it, which is probably a poor choice on your part, but you are too burned out to care. You finally reach the front door, closing it gingerly behind you, but to no avail. “Y/n? Is that you?” You hear from the other room. “Yup.” You stand in the doorway to the kitchen, knowing you need to address this, but desperately wanting to leave. “They let us go early today.” She eyes you quizzically, “Really?” Now here’s the thing, the truth isn’t even remotely believable– There was a freak hail storm and everyone in our group got hit by lightning or something but now we’re all okay and our probation officer did too, he let us go early and then disappeared– so you have to lie. “Yeah, ‘cuz it’s the first day. They mostly showed us the ropes, got us started on something, and then let us go.” You wait, holding your breath. “Oh.” She looks disappointed. “I thought you’d be out today.” “Yeah, well I did, too,” you mumble as you walk away, not really caring whether or not she heard. “What’d you say?!” she calls after you. “Nothing!” you yell back as you walk as quickly as possible to your room. Once inside, you sigh and collapse onto your bed. You feel like a teenager again and it’s horrible, being forced to be somewhere where you’re treated like immature crap every day, living at home again, constantly having a row with your stepmum. You hope, but doubt, that the next day will be better.

#misfits #misfits tv #nathan #nathan misfits #nathan young #nathan young x reader #nathan young misfits #nathan young imagine

[iwaisa]

► now playing...

- pairing. atsumu x female reader

- genre. childhood friends to lovers / college au

- warnings. mentions of alcohol and drugs, suggestive content

- word count. 2.2k+

- key. n/n - nickname

- a/n. it’s a day late, but happy birthday atsumu !

everyone claimed that you and your best friend of almost thirteen years, atsumu miya, were polar opposites. he was the more rambunctious one of the pair, and you were the one getting him out of trouble with your soothing words and personality. in fact, everyone claimed that you and osamu were the twins, cutting atsumu out of the picture.

of course, being best friends with the crazier twin had its perks; he would bring you out of your comfort zone and help you experience things you never expected to enjoy as much as you did. one of those experiences happened to be a house party. 

atsumu never made you uncomfortable, and if you communicated with him that you absolutely did not want to do something he was offering, he would listen. but, you agreed to this party simply because you wanted to let loose, or rather, show atsumu what he was missing.

yes, it’s the classic falling in love with your childhood best friend, but in this story, the person confessing gets interrupted. multiple times. this eventually led to you giving up, and focusing on your academics instead.

the first instance happened in the sixth grade on valentines day. osamu helped you confess to his brother by making him honmei chocolates in heart shapes. you were extremely nervous, and practically shaking in your shoes when you saw atsumu come out of the classroom where you were standing. 

“hey, n/n! what’re ya doin’?” he ditched his friend and ran up to you, his deep golden eyes instantly landing on the pink and red box you were clutching. 

“oooh~ n/n-chan’s got a crush~!” he teased, pulling your cheeks out, rolling the flesh between his fingers. you scoffed and pushed him away, with him whining in return.

“who is it? tell me~! tell me, tell me, tell me-” you cut him off by putting a finger up to his lips, “‘tsumu, if you don’t shut up right now i’ll make sure osamu never cooks for you again,” you crossed your arms, content at the way your friend pouted.

“but n/n~ i’m yer best friend! i can help! i have good advice, right?” he continued to sulk as the two of you made your way home. “i’m not telling,” you huffed, fumbling with the bow sitting atop the box. atsumu opened his mouth to retort, only to be cut off by a girl screaming his name. 

you watched as she ran up to your friend with a hint of hesitance in her actions. atsumu towered over her playfully, making her face turn red. you held your breath knowing what she was about to do, and you realized you wouldn’t be able to do what you have been preparing all week for.

“miya-san, i like you!” she exclaimed, bowing as she held out her own honmei chocolates. atsumu let out a playful gasp before glancing over to you to wink. you tried to wipe the dejected look off your face, but you couldn’t find it in you to. you thought atsumu and the girl looked good together, as much as you hated to admit.

“ah, i’m sorry!” atsumu started, scratching his neck. “i like someone else! but don’t ya worry! ‘samu has the same face as me, why don’t ya ask him?”

you couldn’t help but chuckle at the current predicament, but you instantly shut up once the girl snapped her head to glare at you. 

you watched as tears began welling up in the girl’s eyes, and she apologized before bolting the opposite direction. he shrugged, and continued walking with a slight pep in his step.

“you didn’t have to be so rude, ‘tsumu,” you muttered.

“eh? but i don’t like her! i’m just speakin’ the truth, ya know?” he sighed.

you never got the chance to give atsumu those chocolates you spent so much time on, so you and osamu decided to eat them together. the calm twin apologized on behalf of his idiot brother, and helped you build your confidence back up.

the second time was in your second year of high school when you and the twins were hanging out at his house watching a volleyball tournament on the television. instead of watching the screen, atsumu continued talking about the girl who had confessed to him that day.

“-and then she tripped while running up to me! it was kinda funny,” the faux-blond chuckled. “‘tsumu that’s not something ya should be laughing about. it looked really painful,” osamu chided. atsumu retorted by sticking his tongue out at the silver-haired boy. you stayed quiet, counting the many girls who have had the guts to tell atsumu their feelings. that was excluding you.

both you and osamu were equally annoyed at how ignorant atsumu was, and you felt as though you should just give up.

“say, n/n. do ya have a crush on someone right now? you haven’t dated anyone yet, loser.” you stuck your tongue out at atsumu, and he snickered in response.

“‘tsumu, ya haven’t dated anyone either,” osamu sighed, reaching over the two of you to grab more popcorn from the bowl resting in your lap.

“shut yer trap, ‘samu! like ya’ve dated anyone!” atsumu flipped osamu off, making him sigh.

“actually, i have. last year,” osamu smirked, knowing he’s got his brother topped in the relationship category. 

“yeah, for like, two weeks,” you muttered under your breath.

“f/n, i thought we were buddies,” osamu frowned, making you laugh. “it’s not my fault she didn’t like cooking as much as i do,” he defended.

“why don’t ya just date food then?” atsumu mocked.

“what about ya, ‘tsumu? why don’t ya just date volleyball?”

“if i could i would! i don’t have time for relationships if i wanna be a pro anyways. besides, relationships are stupid.”

you felt your heart drop. so much for you and osamu planning a way for you to finally tell him your feelings.

osamu watched your face change in disappointment, and he hit his twin on the head. the twins began arguing as you kept your eyes glued to the screen, trying to push your feelings for someone who didn’t even want to date out of your head.

by the time the three of you went off to college, you had almost forgotten about those times, along with your feelings for the boy. yet here you were, standing in an outfit you deemed ‘too revealing’ while waiting for the blond twin to pick you up.

you searched for your phone and laid down on your couch. you were in the middle of scrolling mindlessly through your social media before you heard a knock and a familiar voice at the door. “oh princess~? ya ready to go?” you rolled your eyes, grabbing your purse. you stopped before opening the door, attempting to calm your beating heart. 

you exhaled, pushing open the door. you watched as atsumu began stumbling over his words as his jaw dropped open, with his eyes scanning over your body. his eyes dropped from the exposed skin above your breasts, to your plush thighs beneath the short skirt.

“you done drooling?” you teased. in that moment, you felt pretty damn good. it was natural for you each morning before classes to just jump into some pants and an oversized sweatshirt, not worrying it looked as if you just rolled out of bed. 

atsumu on the other hand wasn’t doing so well. as the two of you grew up, he never once saw you wearing an outfit this enticing. he was sure he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back if he saw another guy gawk at you. he felt the sudden urge to place his jacket over your very sexy shoulders, but after seeing your excited face he knew better than to ruin this for you.

the party wasn’t interesting at all to you. a couple people making out here, a group playing a drinking game there, and most unfortunately for you, atsumu was nowhere to be seen. for the first twenty minutes of being there, you were already bored and in need of a nice shower. instead of sitting at a table in a near-empty room, you decided to take initiative and search for your idiot of a friend instead of just texting him.

as you searched through the rooms, you couldn’t help but grow more anxious. you found an empty room, and decided to wait there for atsumu to call you.

it felt like hours since you entered the room, and you were now laying on a couch tapping your foot along with the faint music bumping outside. you snapped your head up upon hearing the door slide open, and you watched as atsumu waved at you.

“where’ve ya been?” he picked up your feet and sat on the couch, carefully placing your legs on his lap. “trying to find you, idiot.” he hummed, pursing his lips. “sorry for ditching ya. i was talking to suna and some other people on the team.” you nodded in understanding.

the two of you basked in the silence, with the music outside being the only noise. “ya got any dudes’ numbers tonight?” atsumu teased. you punched his arm, shaking your head as he chuckled. “you get any girls’ numbers?” you instantly regretting asking him, growing nervous that he would say yes.

“nah. i’m too busy for any of that stuff. volleyball, remember?” you nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. “although, i am kinda disappointed i haven’t been able to tell this one girl that i like her.” you bit your lip, trying not to show that those words had just stabbed through your heart. after asking who it was, he responded with a simple “can’t tell ya.” you rolled your eyes. “i’ll give you two-thousand yen if you text her right now.” what were you doing? why were you encouraging him to do something you’ve always been scared of? if you were so nervous about him finally getting a girlfriend, why did you just push him to confess to someone? “oh yeah? two-thousand yen then, please.” he chuckled as he held out his hand. “nuh uh. you gotta text her first, and then i’ll pay you.” he clicked his tongue and dropped his hand. 

you watched as he fished his phone out of his pocket, and you felt your stomach knotting up with each growing second. your heart was pounding uncontrollably, and all you wanted to do was run away. you pictured atsumu holding hands with another girl, kissing another girl, doing other things with another girl. that girl would never be you. 

you swung your legs off his lap, standing up to smooth out your skirt. you began making your way towards the door, and you watched as atsumu looked up to you in confusion. “where’re ya goin’?” he tilted his head, his brows furrowing. “i think i’m gonna head home. i’m a little tired.”

“well aren’t ya gonna check yer phone first?”

your mouth dropped open, and you felt your heartbeat begin to pick up again. you began trembling as you reached for the pocket of your purse, slowly pulling your phone out. you kept eye contact with the boy even as you pressed the button on your phone. he smirked as you glanced down to see your contact name for atsumu on the screen, letting out a quiet gasp.

“atsumu miya, this better not be a fucking joke,” you muttered, glaring at him. “if it was a joke i would be laughing, f/n.”

you swiped open your phone, bringing up the chat between you and the faux-blond boy. 

you looked up from your phone, glaring at him. “ha ha. funny. you almost got me.”

“i’m serious, f/n.” your breath hitched in your throat as atsumu got up from the couch and began walking towards you. “i really like ya.” you felt your heart swell before speaking up, “i like you too, ‘tsumu. since sixth grade, actually.” you watched as he grinned, laughing at how much of a dork he looked like. 

the two of you stared at each other for a while, and you shifted your weight to the other foot. you flinched in sudden pain from your heels, seething. “i hate to cut this short, but can we please leave? my heels are killing me,” you chuckled softly. atsumu nodded, bending down in front of you. furrowing your eyebrows, you asked him what he was doing. “hop on my back, idiot. i’m not letting ya walk home in those heels.”

you smiled as you shook your head, slowly climbing onto atsumu’s back. the two of you laughed as he spun around, your arms comfortably fit around his neck. you leaned over, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, startling him. he turned his head to look at you, allowing you to capture his lips with yours. he hummed, reaching his hand up to stroke your cheek. 

breaking the kiss, you watched as the corners of his lips quirked into a goofy smile. “alright, time to go home,” he sighed in contentment, patting your legs. “wanna stay over tonight?” he nodded his head eagerly, “i would love to sleep over at my new girlfriend’s apartment.” you groaned in embarrassment at his statement as he laughed boisterously. 

you leaned down, resting your cheek on his shoulder. you closed your eyes as he made his made his way to the front door, finally happy to heading back to spend some genuine alone time with your idiot of a boyfriend.

#haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu!! x fem!reader #atsumu miya #atsumu x reader #atsumu x fem!reader

[tanoraqui]

okay so someone made an Abhorsen AU of MDZS but it’s, like...bad, weak, basically changed the magic system but none of the worldbuilding, keeps rewriting canon scenes with no real change. Boring. So I was obliged to think of my own, and basically I concluded that there are two options:

a properly thorough thing, characters and plotlines interwoven, in which Lans are Clayr (it’s about the aloofness and presumption of being right), the Wens are probably (overreaching) royalty, the Jins are a notable family of Charter mages (cousins of the throne?) who’ve made a lot of money on business with Ancestierre, and Nie Huaisang is the worst Abhorsen anyone’s heard of (but possibly a decent Remembrancer). The Jiangs are another notable Charter-blessed, royalty-adjacent family, but Wei Wuxian takes up necromancy when he abruptly needs to; Wen Qing is a Wallmaker; and in the end, Lan Wangji wields Astarael (of course he does) and slices Orannis’s sphere in twain, and the chatty soapstone dog Wei Wuxian gave him when they were fifteen bites his hand off.

we hopscotch 80% of both plots in what I like to think of as an au titled Yrael Get Stuck in a Hole for Several Hundred Year, But Ultimately Has a Nice Day (And Maybe Everyone Else Does, Too):

the Abhorsen has been dead for hundreds of years, as has the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, as has anyone next in line, and those in line for the crown as well. The details aren’t relevant, just know that the Great Charter Stones beneath the palace were broken with blood, the border to Death made so thin that even the weakest spirit can step through, and they were only stopped by the desperate work of all the great Charter mages left in the land. Belisaere was abandoned wholesale, its rivers, aqueducts, and grand harbor transformed from guards to keep the dead out to walls to keep them in. It was renamed the Burial Mounds, and those able kept watch on the other side of the water, to beat back anything terrible that attempted to come through.

over time, factions and sects of Charter mages arose, often around those who could claim some thread of blood relation to the lost monarchs and Abhorsens. They splintered. They fought. They kept the Dead down as best they could, including continuing to guard the Burial Mounds. (Sometimes people ventured in, in search of adventure or valuables - the Abhorsen’s bells and sword, after all, were lost, and all sorts of other unknown magical weapons. But no one living ever tried to come out.)

the involvement of the Clays waxed and waned over the centuries. Overall, they tried to help. Sometimes they built and sent military forces, trained mages of their own. Sometimes, they scaled back and sent forth naught but the occasional vague prophecy. The Dead could never breach their icy stronghold, after all, so was the rest of the failed kingdom really their problem?

the Clayr certainly send military forces out to “help” the rest of the kingdom under the leadership of Wen Ruohan. And, whatever exactly precedes it, with regard to his and his brother’s Charter marks, shove Wei Wuxian out of a paperwing to fall down, down, down into the Burial Mounds. 

he walks out again three months later, probably alive? with a set of necromancer’s bells (not the Abhorsen’s; those are still lost) and a white cat with a red collar draped over his shoulders

Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng find him a couple weeks later in a Clayr outpost on the Northern Road, Kibeth and Belgaer both silent but ready in his hands, as vengeful spirits plague Wen Zhuliu and Dead Hands tear Wen Chao to further pieces. A cat watches from his feet, tail flicking, exactly like a cat watching something terrible and bloody. Both reek of Free Magic.

“What a stick in the mud.” Mogget yawns once Lan Wangji has been shooed off, showing off sharp teeth. He eyes Jiang Cheng as critically as only a cat can. “And this is the brother, huh? Alright.”

Jiang Cheng scowls at him, then decides to stop scowling at a cat and scowls at Wei Wuxian instead. “Seriously, what is this thing? Is it safe?”

“Oh, that’s just Mogget,” said Wei Wuxian. “Don’t mind him - just don’t undo his collar, and he’s fine. Hey, where’s shijie? I promised him a bowl of her pork and lotus soup.”

“And fish,” says Mogget. “Don’t forget the fish.”

some time during the war, they find a site in the east at which a complement of Wen Ruohan’s people are digging something out of a hill.

“Stop them,” Mogget hisses, digging his claws into Wei Wuxian’s arm. “Wei Wuxian, stop them now, or loose my collar so I can do it - and then remake those daisy and salt and everything else wards - ”

“For the last time,” says Wei Wuxian, “we have a deal. Not until - ”

“I’ll still help you destroy your Wens,” the cat snaps. “But I haven’t decided about everything else yet, and if- that gets loose, there’s no way your pitiful remainders of scrambled bloodlines will be able to rebind it. The containment is hanging by a thread as it is, can’t you feel it?”

(The tang of Free Magic is bitter and sharp in the air, almost to the point of being sickening - and that’s to Wei Wuxian, who’s been breathing the stuff for half a year, now.) “Fine,” he says. “But I’ll do it. You wait here.”

At the final battle of the Sunshot Campaign, at the heart of the Clayr Glacier itself, the Yiling Patriarch unleashes a monster of Free Magic like a column of moving fire, like a lightning bolt given life and vengeance, like no one has seen before. Wen Ruohan’s death still comes at the hands of Jin Clan’s expatriate son, but Wei Wuxian’s monster obliterates (most of) Wen Ruohan’s forces...and disappears

what happens next for the Yiling Patriarch may be up to him, and to his friends, family, and enemies. On the plus side, he might have an additional, particularly odd friend, who may or may not choose to appear if loudly offered milk and fish

the Abhorsen has been dead for hundreds of years, as has the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, as has anyone next in line, and those in line for the crown as well. That is: the first and second are shattered, and the third broken with their blood. The fifth remains staunch as ever, the fourth clings by a few last living souls, and the two of the weft still make and mend as they can...and the eighth who would not choose, who ran and hid and was caught and bound, and eventually freed again...continues to not make a choice. They could, after all, any time they want. Who’s to stop them from so much as sunning themselves by a river, much less freeing the ninth? Kibeth sleeps in soapstone more often than not and Astarael weeps in her forgotten well, and the little Charter mages running around with their drops here and there of royalty or Death-keeping...no. No, they really couldn’t do a thing

so...if Yrael can release Orannis any time they want, then tomorrow will do just as fine as today. And today, there’s warm sun, the song of birds, the radiating affection of a Charter mage and a necromancer fucking against a tree, and a stream of leaping salmon

no need to rush

#mdzs #the untamed #the old kingdom #abhorsen trilogy #my fic #ficlet

[chloelucia13]

Hi I love your content. I was just wondering if it’s possible to have a Joyce and Eleven request? Motherly daughter relationship. Can’t wait for season four.

Can you do something like Eleven is sick and it’s her first time being sick (since she has been sheltered almost her entire life.) She doesn’t understand why she is sick and thinks she is dying. Or why she can’t go into Jonathan’s or Will’s room to play/touch their stuff.

Being sick also makes it hard to control her powers. Like if she sneezes or coughs something goes flying? Joyce and johnathan if u want because I know how much u like to write Johnathan stuff. Ilysm and if u don’t wanna do it don’t worry.❤️

Absolutely! I changed the prompt just a little bit, so it’s more of a whole family dynamic rather than just a mother and daughter dynamic. I hope you like it, and thank you so much for requesting it!

Word Count: 915 (longer than a Drabble but a lil shorter than a one shot)

The first time Eleven had sneezed, Joyce had figured that it was just allergies.

It was a new house in a completely new climate. Instead of the woody plains of Hawkins, Indiana, they were now surrounded by desert expanse that stretched for miles and miles. Truthfully, the sheer amount of sand had made everyone a little sneezy, absolutely not used to the dry winds that kicked up particles of dust and dirt.

However, that theory was quickly disproven when a harsh cough began to sound throughout the house, the source coming from Eleven’s room that was tucked into the very back of the upstairs hallway.

Though she was one of the most powerful creatures on the earth (despite the fact that her powers were still very weak), she was still human and functioned as such. But just because she was human didn’t mean she understood or had experienced much of what normal humans go through.

This new experience panicked her, making her wonder what exactly was going on with her. Was this a side effect of losing her powers, or was it something much worse?

Eleven’s health had quickly dwindled after that first sneeze and all the stress that had come with it, and Joyce had rushed into her motherly role immediately. After informing El that a cold was nothing to worry about, she had advised the young girl to stay in her room. But that instruction didn’t really stick as almost 20 minutes later she had wandered into Will’s room, standing at the door with droopy eyes and a red nose.

“El, what are you doing up? I thought you weren’t feeling well,” Will voiced, peeking up over the top of his x-men comic to look at her.

She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest and holding back a shiver. “I thought we could hang out?” she mumbled.

His brows furrowed worriedly, taking a moment to think of a response that wouldn’t hurt her feelings. Before he could respond, though, Joyce had walked into the hallway and saw El standing in Will’s doorway.

“El, sweetheart, what are you doing up? You need to go to bed and rest up!” Joyce sighed, resting a hand on El’s shoulder.

“But I feel fine!” Her small outburst brought along a sneeze, which made Will’s lamp light flicker for a moment. She let out a sigh and pursed her lips, glancing back at Joyce before turning to Will. “Can… Can I borrow a comic book?”

Will smiled and nodded, digging into the box beside his bed and fishing out a Captain America comic then handing it over to her, trying his hardest to keep his distance.

Joyce then led El back to her room and tucked her into the covers before sitting down on the edge of El’s bed and placing the back of her hand against her forehead to gauge her temperature. “I’ll get started on dinner. How does some chicken noodle soup sound?”

El nodded, a small smile cracking over her lips. “Good,” she hummed.

Joyce mirrored her smile, rising to her feet. “Perfect. See you in a bit, sweetie.” She flicked El’s overhead light off before exiting the room and pulling the door closed behind her.

El watched as joyce left, a warm feeling settling in her chest as she turned on the lamp next to her bed and began to read the comic in her hands.

***

Eleven had woke to a knock on her door, mumbling a small “come in” while she rubbed at her eyes. On her stomach was the comic Will had lended her, which was quickly abandoned as sleep had overtaken her body.

Jonathan peeked his head in, a bowl of soup in his hand. “Hey, how are you feeling?” he hummed, stepping inside and placing the bowl on her bedside table. “Mom made some soup for you.”

“Thank you.” She sat up, propping her back up against her headboard and wiping the bottom of her nose with her sleeve. “I’m okay. Just tired and… Stuffy? Is that the word?”

He chuckled, grabbing her a tissue from the box that sat just beside the bowl of soup and handing it to her. She gave him a shy smile and wiped her nose with the tissue. “Well, hopefully some soup will make you feel at least a little better.”

She nodded and reached for the soup, only for another sneeze to bubble up in her nose. She sneezed once, twice, and then one more time, shaking her head after. Jonathan looked at her with slight surprise, and she furrowed her brows in confusion. “What?”

He gestured to the posters and picture frames that she’d hung up, showing how one of the posters and two of the frames had fallen from their hooks, the posters drooping sadly and the two frames laying on the ground (luckily neither had shattered).

She mirrored Jonathan’s look of surprise. “Do you think… My powers?”

He shrugged, but a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “It sure seems like it.” She beamed, grinning from ear to ear as she moved to get out of bed. He placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her movements. “I wouldn’t push it, though. Wait until you’re feeling better, and then we’ll try some stuff out.”

Her smile wavered slightly. “Promise?”

“Promise. Now eat and try and get some rest. You gotta get better quick, don’t you?”

She nodded, grabbing the bowl of soup with both hands and gingerly sipping the broth. Over the rim of the bowl, she watched Jonathan quietly pick up the frames and put them back on their hooks, as well as repining the poster that fell. After a quick glance back at El, he quietly left her room and closed the door.

Maybe a cold wasn’t so bad after all.

#stranger things #eleven #Joyce byers #will byers #Jonathan Byers #Byers family x eleven #headcanon #imagine #drabble #one shot #fan fiction

[lilixloveswriting]

Party Crasher

Summary: Being popular isn't all that it's cracked up to be; in which Akio attends his first high school party.

TW: Underage drinking (they're "third years" but I might change the timeline so do with that what you will), non-con touching (Akio is drunk and therefore cannot give his consent), vague depression angst stuff at the end, akio has self worth issues ah ha ha so relatable

Akio’s eyes dropped down to the address given to him on his phone. Yup, this was it. He could hear the bass of the music thumping from outside and every once in a while a red or green light pierced its way through the window to dance on the lawn. He took a deep breath as he readied himself to go inside.

Of course, he’d been invited to house parties before, but this is the first time someone had ever invited him personally. That meant that Hata Taichi had gone out of his way to find him after school and asked him to go to his party.

Now he was sitting outside of Hata's house, ditching his daily training to go to a high school party. He took a deep breath and walked up to the porch. The door was already ajar, allowing music, lights, and the cheering of teenagers to leak through. His heart fluttered with a mix of excitement and nerves as he fully opened the door, stepping into the house. The atmosphere on the inside was completely different than it was a few steps before. For one, it was warmer. Much warmer. The mixture of dancing bodies and the smoke from the fog machine heated the room by at least ten degrees. Akio’s quirk allowed him to deal well with heat, but it didn’t aid in the heavy weight that the air seemed to have and he felt as though he had to work harder to breathe.

“Akio-senpai is here!” Akio turned his head to see a girl on the steps shout, raising her cup in the air. Others did the same thing, raising their cups and happily cheering his name. Akio glowed a bit at the amount of admiration in the room. He couldn’t say that he knew the name of the girl or the names of the others who joined in her celebration, but he smiled as his eyes fell on a boy with short black hair making his way through the crowd.

“Senpai, you made it!” He grinned, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I was starting to get a little worried.”

Akio smiled apologetically. “Hey, Hata-san. Yeah, sorry. There were some things I had to take care of.”

“Well, people showed up anyway, so…!”

His eyebrows furrowed and his face fell slightly. “Uh, why wouldn’t people come?”

Hata shrugged a little. “Oh, you know. No one knows me, but you’re the life of the party. It was a good thing I told everyone you’d be coming to the party, otherwise, there’d be no one here!” He smiled and patted Akio on the shoulder. “So thanks, man! There are drinks over there, and some food too...but honestly you can go home if you have more important stuff to do. The party was a success so…” Hata flashed his teeth again, then made his way back into the crowd of people.

Akio closed his mouth into a frown as he felt his heart sink. He should have known he wasn’t actually wanted at this party. People always seemed to enjoy his presence, but nobody seemed to ever actually need or want him. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out.

It’s Littt 👴🏼💪🏼🔥

You are over ten minutes late. Are you still coming?

A sigh escaped his lips and Akio tucked his phone back into his jeans. Since he wasn’t needed at the party anymore, he figured he could just go back to training, but not before grabbing a drink for the road. He wandered in the direction that Hata had pointed him in earlier and eventually found a table with some chips and a big bowl of punch. He looked around for a bottle of water or Gatorade, but ultimately didn’t find anything, so he picked up a cup and spooned some punch into it, bringing the drink to his lips. He recoiled and coughed at the sharp taste the liquid had but he was thirsty, so he continued to drink it. The juice burned his throat, and he figured it must be alcohol.

"Todoroki-kun!" Someone squealed and Akio looked down to see a girl who he recognized from his class hanging off of his arm. "Come on! Play a game with us!" She tugged him unsuccessfully, as she was much smaller than he was.

Akio chugged the rest of his drink and tossed it in the trash can as he let the girl lead him to wherever that game was. He could have left, but he was already late to practice. The drink wasn't enough to get him drunk, but he didn't feel like walking home and he knew Hisao would be pissed if he had to come pick him up, so why not stay a bit longer?

---

The group cheered as Akio slammed his cup down, wiping at the corner of his mouth while girls clung to him at all sides. He took the coin revealed from under the cup and flipped it with his thumb, catching it in the air and tucking it into his pocket.

"Wowww Todo-kun! You're sooo bad at this!" One gushed, nuzzling her face into his sleeve.

"Yeah!" Another girl giggled. "You've lost like three timezz in a row!"

"Oi!" Akio called out, a smile gracing his lips. "I's not my fault! My eyes 'on't move as fas' as his quirk." He slurred as he motioned to the kid across the table placing another coin under a cup and using all four arms to mix them up at an incredible speed.

"Uggghh," One guy groaned, "I don't wanna play this anymore."

"I know!" Someone else shouted, and Akio wasn't sure who it was anymore. "Let's play the King Game!"

A few people cheered in agreement and they all moved to the couch. Someone laid out a bunch of chopsticks and the game began. Akio reached into the pile, pulling the stick and looking at the number.

Five. Or was that a three? Damn, reading was ten times harder when he was drunk.

Akio felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled his phone out, fumbling with the keypad before opening the message. He squinted at the text, trying to make the two blurry images form into one.

"Hey!" A whiny voice rang in his ear and he looked up to see…he couldn't remember her name, in his face. "Pay attention Aki-senpai~! I'm the King! You should be focused on me." She pouted and Akio looked back down at his phone, muttering some sort of apology. She huffed and snatched his phone from his hand, giving him a devious smile.

"I said your number, Aki-senpai." She dropped her voice so that it was low and sultry, tracing a finger along Akio's jawline and flicking up at his chin. "That means you hafta do whatever I say." She stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him off the couch and leading him away from the group.

The jolt was more than enough to throw him into vertigo, and he didn't remember anything between when his butt left the couch and when his back hit the bed. He felt the girl's soft lips on his, and he felt hands. Hands everywhere, all over. Too many. Too many hands, whose hands were these?

This was wrong. He knew it, and he felt it, but he couldn't see and he couldn't feel, not really. The random contact left his skin feeling numb and Akio struggled, at least he thought he did. He couldn't really tell how much he was moving underneath them. His limbs felt heavy and the ceiling was spinning. And he was really hot, oh god, it was so hot. Was his quirk on? Fuck, he didn't know. He prayed he wasn't hurting them, but seeing as he could still feel their hands, so many, all over, they must have been okay.

Geez, how long was this going to last? He should probably be getting home soon…damn. He really didn't want to walk. He wasn't even sure if he could walk. Maybe one of these girls could take him home? No…they were drunk too, and he didn't even remember their names. He didn't want to be rude. Gosh, they sure were heavy though. Akio felt like a stress ball. All the squeezing and poking and smushing and mushing and -- oh? It stopped.

Akio blinked and did his best to get a hold of his senses. Someone was yelling and- oh! Hisao. When did he get here? Ah, shit, he seemed really mad.

Akio muttered an apology as he did his best to sit up, ultimately getting pulled by the wrist as Hisao yanked him to his feet. He hoped they could go home now.

---

*An hour and a half earlier*

Hisao sat at the table with Kayda, tweaking one of his newest bots while she highlighted one of her textbooks. The bot squealed as its gears turned, then made a wretched screeching sound before falling silent and motionless on the table, prompting an exhausted sigh from Hisao.

"Don't kill it," Kayda warned halfheartedly, flipping the next page in her textbook.

Hisao huffed and picked the screwdriver back up. "Not the thing I want to kill at the moment."

"Mm." She hummed condescendingly. "Better switch from support to comedy."

"Haha." He strained as he twisted the tool, the gears slowly tightening up. "I'll make sure to turn my request form…in…ah!" He jabbed the robot and the machine whirred, beeping as its little eyes lit back up. "There, I gotcha." He spoke softly to the machine as though it was a child and Kayda scrunched up her face.

"You know it isn't actually alive, right? And why don't you just use your quirk?"

"I don't know, why aren't you studying?" He asked, reaching over and tapping her little pencil topper, causing the plastic bear to hop off of the eraser and dance across the table.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, swatting at it, but Hisao was quicker. "Give him back! Seriously, Hisao! It's Mitsuko's!"

Hisao thought for a second, just to make her squirm then let his hand go limp, allowing the bear to fall lifelessly. "Fine."

She exhaled sharply, snatching the toy back up and placing it back on her pencil. "You're such a pain."

Hisao held back a snicker, picking his tool back up. Before he could do anything with them, the table began vibrating and the pair's eyes fell on the ringing phone.

"Dad!" Kayda shouted, "Your phone is ringing!"

"Who is it?" Shoto yelled back, and Hisao checked the caller id.

"It's Grandpa!" He said.

"Don't answer!" Was what they got in response.

They looked at each other and Kayda shrugged, allowing the phone to ring.

Hisao frowned. "What if it's Akio?"

Again, Kayda shrugged. "Then he'll call Mom."

"Hm." Hisao tilted his head. He supposed that was true. "'Kay then. I'm gonna go shower."

Kayda barely acknowledged him, not giving more than a quiet hum. He collected his items and took to his room, plugging his dead phone in on the charger before heading to the bathroom.

He emerged about twenty minutes later, hair still dripping water down his back as he searched his drawers for a shirt. He found one and plopped down on his phone, tapping his phone on as he pulled the shirt over his head. He squinted at the notification, picking the phone up questioningly.

4 Texts and 3 Missed Calls from Grandpa E

Grandpa E

-Tell your father to pick up the phone.

-Is your brother home? He has not answered my text messages.

-Shoto changed my phone settings. It will not allow me to call your mother. Help??

-Why do none of you answer my calls?

He frowned and pushed the call icon, holding the phone up to his ear.

"Finally. I don't like being ignored."

"I wasn't ignoring you, Grandpa. Sorry, my phone died and I was in the shower. What's up?"

"Your father has done something to my phone. I cannot contact your mother and the wallpaper is a very unflattering photo of me. I need you to fix it."

Hisao let out a short laugh. "Sure, I'll fix it the next time I see you."

"Good. Also, tell your brother to tell me if he is going to cancel so I'm not waiting for thirty minutes for him to show up."

"He didn't come?" Hisao asked, flopping back onto his bed.

"No, and he didn't answer my messages. Is he not home?"

"No…" He said, rolling onto his stomach and putting the phone on speaker while pulling up his thread with Akio. He shot him a quick message asking for his whereabouts. "Okay, Grandpa. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Tell your father to stop ignoring my calls."

Hisao nodded before realizing that his grandfather couldn't see him. "Okay. Bye." He hung up the phone and sat up on his bed. He frowned down at his phone, hoping for a text back that Akio was on his way home. Their mom had probably already gone to bed by now, and his dad was most likely getting ready for his night patrol. This left Hisao to go get his brother, and all he really wanted to do was get under the covers and go to sleep, not hop in the car and go on a wild goose chase. Alas, Hisao rarely got what he wanted.

About twenty minutes went by and Akio hadn't answered any calls or texts Hisao had sent him. He pulled up the family tracker app he had on his phone, patented by his mother, just in case any of them ended up getting kidnapped. Akio's indicator pulsated in white, and Hisao took the keys to the car and began in the direction of Akio's phone.

It wasn't too long until he stopped. The app told him that he was right on top of it as he pulled up to a house. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Parties were never his scene, and he wasn't sure when they had become Akio's either. They were hot and stuffy and there were always way too many people he didn't care about. The only parties they ever attended were dinner parties held by their parents. Why would Akio go to a high school party?

Hisao got out of the car and jogged up to the front door, mentally cursing his brother for the hell he was about to put him through. Hisao pushed the door open and was immediately hit with the smell of booze. He grimaced, knowing he would probably need another shower after this.

The house wasn’t that big, but the sheer number of people there was going to make the search difficult. Navigating the bottom floor was like swimming through sludge; sludge that pushed you and spun you around while you did your best to keep yourself upright. He finally reached somewhat of a clearing, arriving at a table with crumbs all over it and an almost empty punch bowl. To his left was a girl sitting on a chair, eating chips while scrolling through her phone. Hisao tapped her lightly, grabbing her attention.

“Hey, can I borrow your chair for a second?”

She shrugged and stood to the side, allowing Hisao to climb up. He peered over all of the heads at the party, looking for the familiar white tuft of hair.

“Lose someone?” The girl asked and Hisao scoffed.

“Yeah...Do you know if Akio Todoroki is here? Third-year...big three.”

“Ohhh, big three Todoroki fan, huh?” She mocked and Hisao rolled his eyes. “There were rumors he was coming, but I haven’t seen him. There was a big commotion in the living room a few minutes ago, though. You could check there.”

“Thanks.” He said, climbing down from the chair.

“Mhm, no problem. Try to keep your pants on, fanboy.”

Hisao clicked his tongue, turning back and mumbling, “Shouldn’t be a problem. He’s my brother,” before taking off to look for the living room. After a few minutes of shoving his way through drunk teenagers, Hisao finally found the room but was disappointed to see everyone but who he was looking for. “Hey, have you guys seen Todoroki?”

One guy snorted. “Yeah. He just stole all the girls even though he wasn’t even the king. If you find him, tell him to bring back the chopsticks.”

Hisao held back a frustrated sigh. “Do you know where they went?”

“Kurata-chan took him upstairs.” Another person said, and Hisao turned around, making a beeline for the staircase.

There were significantly fewer people upstairs, and Hisao finally felt like he could breathe a little easier. There were also fewer rooms, all located in one hallway. Akio had better be here or Hisao would kill him himself.

He pulled one door open and closed it back quickly; just the linen closet. The next door he opened led to a bathroom. He entered, freezing in place as he was startled by two other people. They didn’t seem to notice his presence, as they were too busy making out to even be aware of their surroundings. Hisao inched his way around them, peeking inside of the shower and the tub for his brother. Hisao squinted as he spotted Akio’s phone at the bottom of the tub. Wonderful, he might not even be at the house.

He picked it up, only to drop it in disgust as he felt something wet on his fingers. Hisao groaned and took some toilet paper, wiping off the phone and putting it in his pocket, preferring not to find out what the mystery liquid was.

He promptly left and continued his search, next opening a door to a bedroom. A hazy fog hung in the air and multiple people were passed out on the floor while others were huddled up in a group. Akio wasn’t there, so he closed the door back. There was only one left, and Hisao prayed that this would be the one. He opened it up and his eyes fell to the bed with a cluster of girls on top of it. He couldn’t see what was going on, but he did see one leg intertwined with all the others that had a long, familiar scar on it.

“HEY!” He shouted and the girls flinched. He stomped over and grabbed one by the arm, pulling her off of his brother. “Get off.” He said sternly to the others, who did in their frightened states.

“Hey, man!” Hisao turned toward the door to see a very angry-looking guy yelling at him. “Get your hands off my girlfriend!” He ripped Hisao’s hand away from her wrist and Hisao didn’t even realize he was still holding her.

“Well, your girlfriend just had her hands all over my brother, so I’m really not the one you want to be yelling at.” He said and walked over to the bed, taking Akio’s hand and pulling him up. His eyes were glossy and out of focus and he swayed as Hisao pulled him to his feet.

“What the hell did you just say?” The man stepped in front of them, blocking their path to the door. He crossed his arms in an attempt to intimidate, but if he knew how annoyed Hisao was getting, he would be the one to cower.

“Listen, man. I don’t want any trouble. Just let us thro-” Hisao was cut off by large hands on his chest and he was pushed back into a table. The thing collapsed and Hisao grimaced at the sore feeling left on his back.

He balled his hands into fists, his fingernails digging into his palms as he let go of trying to control his anger. Oh, he was going to sleep well after this. He touched all four legs that had broken off of the table and in one swift motion, sent them flying towards the unsuspecting guy. The pieces of wood caught onto his clothes and dragged him backward, pinning him to the wall as Hisao pushed himself to his feet. He grabbed onto Akio’s wrist again and dragged him out of the room.

“Let’s go.” He said and the girls cleared a path for him. It was a straight shot from the room to the car, although it was difficult to get Akio inside and buckled up. The white-haired boy burped, followed by a hiccup and Hisao took a deep breath.

“If you throw up in here I will make you clean it.” He warned, shifted gears and pulled away from the house. “What were you thinking? If you were going to skip training, you could have at least told us where you were.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” Akio responded, closing his eyes and snuggling into his seat.

“Oh, really?”

“I was gonna leave, but then...I dunno. I was jus’...I played a game.” He slurred and Hisao frowned.

They slowed to a stop at a red light and Hisao turned to his brother. “Look at me.” Akio listened and opened his eyes, which Hisao inspected thoroughly. “What did you drink? Did you take anything from anyone? Akio, listen. Did you set your drink down?”

Akio shrugged and closed his eyes again, head lolling to the side. Hisao’s hands shook in anger and he squeezed the steering wheel. The image of all of those girls on top of his brother was ingrained into his brain. He hated the idea of Akio being in such a vulnerable state, it made him want to burn the whole place to the ground.

“Sorry…” Akio mumbled quietly. “I was just…” He shook his head and Hisao loosened his grip slightly. “I didn’t call ‘cause I knew you’d be mad. I know you din’ wanna come get me.” He slurred.

Hisao sighed. “No, I didn’t. But you should have called anyway if you were in trouble.”

A beat of silence, then, “I’m really tired, Hisao.”

Hisao’s normal response would be to go to sleep, but the break in Akio’s voice withheld that. A quiet sob filled the car and Hisao turned the radio off. “Tired of what, Aki?”

A shaky breath. “Trying.”

Hisao frowned, he wasn’t sure what Akio was talking about, but he knew he was a hard worker. He was always pushing himself to do his best, and Hisao knew the constant work and training must be tiring. “Then stop trying so hard. It’s okay to take breaks, you know.” Hisao glanced over when Akio didn’t respond, letting out a small sigh to see his brother fast asleep. The two obviously had more to talk about, but Hisao decided that it could wait. Akio said he was tired after all, and Hisao was just happy that he had shown up when he did. Even if that meant his night’s sleep would get cut short by a couple of hours.

Notes:

wow it is very obvious that I wrote this over a year ago, but we're to going look at it as a positive because that means I've improved!!! yayyyyy but I do want to rewrite it, I actually already started a little while ago and BITCH IT'S LOWKEY SO GOOD she says like it's something special but no actually I can see the improvement, so maybe I'll post the rewritten version if I ever finish it. But anyways just know that this was written in January of 2020 and I've been writing through a whole quarantine since then and I actually have decent description now! So the newer stuff will be better :)

#my ocs #bnha next gen au #my writing #full orbit #bnha ocs #my hero academia ocs #akio todoroki #hisao todoroki #todomomo #kayda todoroki #lilixloveswriting

[thetradeway]

Session 51 Sep 18 2021: “No! Get out of my orifices!”

Right - where were we? Oh yes, we fought some piranha and found some chests and some Duergar statues. We fill Mina in on what she missed; she offers to craft Gideon a new finger.

“No… No, I don’t want your goblin crafts on my body!”

Then there’s some waffle about covid deniers. (Ed believes covid is real; Gideon does not.)

Who wants control of the urine-drenched sorcerer? Sophie, OOC: “You make it sound so appealing.”

She agrees to take Ahleqs, if Matthew will help her out.

Now, when I put a message on the group chat earlier to ask if we were starting at the usual time tonight, our illustrious DM messaged back to say ‘Yep yep yep thumbs up emoji smiley face emoji’ which was far too enthusiastic. We are all now very wary. Ardvack slams a potion before we get started.

Right, where were we going? There is still a strange magical island with a wall around it to explore. There is a boat that leads to it; Gideon advances to Investigate. It looks old but in good shape and water-tight. There are oars. He thinks three will fit in it; he volunteers as do Tarragon and Melaina. Gideon, sternly: “No pilfering, rogue.”

Tarragon rows us across. Do the others want her to go back and pick them up? Apparently not.

Gideon investigates the magical barrier, which is blocking the door, but rolls a nat 1. We make Perception checks - the giant statue of the dwarves god of crafts has an offering bowl at his feet, with something written in Dwarvish. Gideon would read it, but Ed’s buggered off.

“You cannot enter this room.”

Tarragon decides to take this as a challenge. She takes out a gold piece and puts it in the offering bowl; nothing happens so she takes it back out. Gideon covers the ‘not’ part of the carving so it reads 'you can enter this room', but that doesn’t seem to help either.

Tarragon looks at the magical wall. It’s blue, and looks a similar colour to the brazier in the other room. Could we light a torch from the brazier and try waving that at the wall? Maybe. In the meantime Gideon puts some food in the bowl; nothing doing.

Ardvack, shouting across the water: “Have you tried blood?”

Gideon squeezes some blood from his severed finger stump - still nothing. Tarragon rows the boat back to get Kessler, who has hopefully been lighting one of her torches. She has not been able to light her torch from the brazier, however; it won't catch.

Is the bowl loose? Could we pick it up? No, it’s attached to the floor. Could Kessler pick up the brazier? It won’t move either. Time for stupid ideas.

“Hey Carl,” shouts Kessler pointing at the brazier, “put your hand in that.” Carl does not. Kessler gets just such a doggy look from Ardvack; she laughingly tells him she can’t tell because he has no face. Instead he leans down and says snottily, “Carl is precious.” He investigates the brazier. Can he feel warmth coming off it? Nat 20.

There is no heat coming off it. It does create light, but there is no noise. It is not consuming anything physical. He doesn’t think it’s evil or necessarily good; it’s just a spiritual fire. Ahleqs does an Arcana check. It’s some kind of divine magic; he is fairly certain it could be extinguished with a high enough levelled Dispel Magic spell.

Ardvack puts his hand in the brazier; it doesn’t burn him. He puts his whole head in. He’s a bit light-blinded afterward for a minute or so, but is otherwise unharmed.

Tarragon has Dispel Magic, but doesn’t have it prepared. What about Ahleqs? He doesn’t have the spell at all.

Gideon wants to rest his battle-axe on the offering bowl; he does that, but nothing happens. He rescinds the axe. Perhaps crafts, considering the nature of the god? Perhaps something he’s made?

Ahleqs has Ardvack’s leather face mask at the moment; since that was made by Kessler, perhaps we could try that.

Melaina is Investigating the door behind the wall of force. She can see beyond it to a ruined dock. If she puts her hands out to the wall of force, she can feel it though it doesn’t harm her. Would putting the brazier out remove the wall? She rolls a low Insight check and doesn’t know. Gideon rolls a low Religion check as well; he doesn’t know either.

“Alright Goblin, you’re up. Do your thing,” says Gideon. She puts Ardvack's mask in the bowl, but still nothing happens.

DM offers a clue if we roll good on Insight; Ardvack, Melaina and Gideon all do. They think the inscription refers to the desired offering. Gideon wants to put something in the bowl that would not fit in the door.

What about a fish? They breathe air, and so could not pass anywhere above the water. Tarragon steps into the bowl and Wild Shapes into a fish; still nothing happens. She changes back. Is this one of those children’s riddles that we should have definitely got by now? Joe says we will absolutely kick ourselves when we get it.

Ardvack picks a handful of mushrooms - and that bloody well works. You cannot enter this ‘room. Goddammit. Joe removes the wall. If Ardvack had a face, he’d be looking smug.

We go through. Goblin shield goes first. She sees something horrible - it is currently standing motionless. It looks like a huge dwarf in heavy armour, but made of stone, and there is a faint red glow emanating from its chest. There is an open chest next to it full of shiny shinies; Kessler points them out to Melaina, possibly in hopes that she will go first. Melaina, sadly for Kessler, does not fall for this trick.

Ardvack ventures too close and it spots him - initiative time. (Ed has disappeared again. While we wait, we discuss Matthew’s zombie campaign. We will all be level 2 when we return, which gives us an ability called Zombie Grab. Matthew and Sophie order pizza.)

Tarragon Potions and readies a Thorn Whip (which always reminds Sophie of a Walnut Whip. Not the Ann Summers sort of whip, Joe asks? No, but interesting that his mind went there.) Melaina hides and shoots - 24 hits, for 22 damage. Her bow is magical, correct? Yes. Good. Okay. Bits of rock fall off the golem. Hooray!

Does she want to move, say, to run away? (Oh shit.) She moves back so everyone else can get in.

Kessler takes aim with her crossbow. 24 hits for 7 damage, and her weapon is magical as well. She reloads and shoots again for 7 more damage while Matthew and Sophie decide what Ahleqs is going to do.

They decide that he will cast Shatter on the golem. Ba-boom! It has to make a Constitution save - at Disadvantage. “Because you’re made of stone. Like an idiot.” But it gets Advantage on saves versus magic, so that’s just a straight roll. 13. “Ha! You lose!” It takes 19 Thunder damage. Ahleqs cheers, then hides behind Tarragon.

It rushes at us - Tarragon looses her Thorn Whip but misses.

Carl uses his big stick that Tarragon gave him, but misses, almost hitting everyone else around him. He was excited. He doesn’t move, but holds the line.

Gideon is up. “Ed stop eating sausages!”

“… How did you know what I was doing.”

He Acid Splashes it. The Golem fails the save, even with Advantage, and takes 9 Acid Damage.

Like the hero he has proved himself to be, Ardvack does a cautious tactical repositioning to get away from the golem, does Shksdjlsdglsghjkhhbllhh, and then casts Eldritch Blast. It hits, and more stone crumbles off the golem.

Tarragon does Greater Shlgljksdkgjfhl;jjjhh, just to flex on Ardvack, and hits it for 11 Bludgeoning. She bares her teeth at the golem.

Melaina falls back a little, and shoots again. Matthew and Sophie suddenly seem unable to hear the rest of us, so there is a short recess while we sort that out. Their wifi has died. I decide, in my infinite wisdom, to restart my computer; of course, it decides to install something without even asking and so I am still waiting for it long after Matthew and Sophie return. I miss a bunch of stuff; some people do some damage, and the golem does a thing where it forces a Wisdom save - those that fail have their speed halved, and can do an action OR a bonus action on their turn, but not both. Joe makes an attack for me, which hits. Tarragon is pleased. And then I’m back!

The golem is looking ropey. Its light is still glowing, but bits are falling off it. It turns on Carl, even though Kessler has imposed Disadvantage on it if it attacks anyone but her. 14 still hits, as does 29, and he takes THIRTY NINE damage. Carl is now on zero, having had exactly 39 HP previously.

Matthew, sounding worried: “This changes things.”

Carl makes a real death save - and fails. "No! Carl!"

Gideon's turn - and Ed has snuck off again. Or fallen asleep. We skip him for now and move on to Ardvack. “I’ll save you Carl!” Then, to himself as he runs, “Not my precious Carl…” He casts Life Transference. (A lovely, sacred, holy Cleric spell.) He saves Carl, but instantly regrets walking closer to the golem.

Tarragon batters it for 16 damage - the light begins to flicker and sputter in its chest. Does she want to move? “Nope!” She could bonus action dive in the water with the Quippers if she wanted? “… No thank you.”

Melaina does a Scorching Ray - one of the three hits for 7 fire damage total. It’s looking ‘exceedingly ropey’ but is still up.

Kessler gets the how-de-do-dis with her Thunder Gauntlets - she runs up it and yells “Red means stop!” and punches it in the chest. It falls to the ground in a big pile of rubble. We solved Joe’s Golem puzzle!

Matthew, immediately: “Loot its corpse!”

Kessler is holding the gem from its chest; it is no longer glowing. Ardvack sets about the treasure chest. It is open, and there is gold inside. He clicks on the loot chest, and adds 100gp to the 3000cp he finds. (428 cp, and 14gp each.)

Kessler: “Anyone got a Transmute spell?” (That's a lot of coins.)

Ardvack shares out the treasure as equally as possible. Kessler finds herself overburdened. Melaina slyly: “I could carry your treasure for you.”

Kessler: “No thank you.”

Where to next? There was a rope bridge in the room with the brazier that led to an island with a dead giant spider on it; Joe zips us all there for expediency.

Melaina crosses the bridge to approach the ‘very very dead’ spider; it looks like its moving around. Not the legs, but as if there’s something moving under the skin…

A swarm of maggots burst out of the spider, taking her by surprise. They swarm up her legs and over her flesh.

Melaina, equally horrified and furious: “No! Get out of my orifices!”

(This is why Joe was so pleased earlier isn’t it.)

She now has two rot grubs burrowing under her skin. We’ve all heard of these, the subject of adventurer’s tales swapped in taverns. Melaina knows she has to burn them while they’re still just under her skin, or they will burrow to her heart and kill her.

Well shit.

We roll initiative…

Ardvack fails at Eldritch Blast, and the grubs become resistant to that type of damage (Force I think?) for 1d4 rounds. (4. Fuck.)

Ahleqs does a Burning Hands at them. They fail the save and take 6 fire damage. Several screech, and curl up and burn.

Melaina wants to cast Scorching Ray on herself - she can do that. She takes two fire damage, and the grubs die. She can spend the rest of her action to squeeze them back out of the holes they burrowed in through. Delightful.

Tarragon moves to the side and Thunderwaves the swarm - they fail the save and are pushed off the bridge into the water to be eaten by the Quippers. Yay! Everyone wins! We move forward, Melaina at the head.

DM suddenly: “Stop there, Melaina!”

Us immediately: “Oh no!”

She finds a door with a shape carved in it - the gem that Kessler took from the golem looks like it would fit in there. That is not relevant right now, however, as she has charged forward and tripped a trip wire. She fails her Dex save and a giant ballista bolt sticks her for 14 damage. Could have been a lot worse. She decides she’s not doing anything else, even when tempted with a treasure chest; she goes to sit in a corner and sulk.

The treasure chest is on a different island, reachable only via a broken bridge. Kessler suggests throwing the dead spider into the water to distract the Quippers while we jump across.

Do we want to take a short rest first? Yes. Tarragon makes up some Relaxing Bark, allowing everyone to regain a couple of Hit Dice which we roll, and take potions. Ardvack casts Life Transference on Carl again.

We are about to move on when the DM has us all roll a d20. Uh oh. Anyone who got ten or more can get five more HP back, as we burned incense in a temple. Yay!

Matthew, grumbling: “Oh as soon as we get a long rest, you can bet I’m going to be re-summoning Admiral Pancakes…”

Do we want to jump the bridge after the treasure? Is it worth it? Melaina wants to; the rest of us are dubious. How far can she jump with a run-up? Ten feet. She could jump it.

“Alright then, I’ll do it. Whoosh.” Kessler follows her.

Melaina checks for traps - an 8. She can’t see any! Sophie, OOC, resignedly: “Oh, right, okay.”

She checks the chest itself and finds a trap mechanism - some nozzles sticking out of the ground next to the chest. She makes a roll with her thieves tools, and by the skin of her teeth (13) disarms it. It would have been bad; one nozzle would have squirted her with flammable liquid and the other would have set her on fire. She finds a Brooch of Shielding! There is another item, a ring, which seems magical; Kessler takes eleven minutes and casts Identify as a ritual. It’s a ring of Swimming!

Melaina gives the brooch to Ahleqs, as he would almost certainly appreciate anything that would give him some extra protection. We decide to crack on, as it would take another hour for him to attune to it. Besides, the longer we’re down here the more this place sucks so we’re all eager to leave.

Kessler puts the gemstone into the hole in the door and it creaks open; we walk through. We enter some tunnels, which are very claustrophobic after the caverns. It’s very dark. We follow them until we come out into another large cavernous room.

We jump to another map…

There are more islands with about ten foot tall towers with glowing orbs at the top. More water, and a broken stone bridge. (Is anyone reminded of Beverly?)

The bad news is, this room has glowing orb lights, a broken bridge, and more islands. The good news is, it seems quiet enough that we could take a long rest.

Kessler does her Alarm spell, and Carl - not needing to sleep - takes all the watches. We all take turns to watch with him as “his Perception is for shit.”

Kessler takes first, Tarragon takes second, and Melaina third.

Carl and Kessler make Perception checks. A 3 and a 6; oh dear. Kessler thinks she hears water noises, but it could be just the water on the shore.

Then Tarragon and Carl. 13 for Tarragon and a 16 for Carl. We watch some bats flitting about in the light from the strange tower; nothing dangerous, however. Everyone but Tarragon now completes their long rest. She retires, and Melaina and Carl roll Perception.

Carl is on fire tonight; a 17. He makes an Intelligence check - a 9. That’s actually not bad. After about 3 hours he becomes agitated and tries to say something, but can’t. Melaina’s nostrils are assailed with a foul stench; she looks to the water to see something breaking the surface of it. Which means that whatever it is doesn’t get a surprise round…

Melaina and Carl roll initiative. Carl has used all his good rolls on Perceiving. But he’s ready for anything; he’s got his stick.

Whatever is crawling out of the water looks like a troll, but dripping with horrible ichorous black ooze and smelling like a busy harbour at low tide.

Matthew, OOC: “They smell like a bonfire of nappies. No - a burning zoo.”

Melaina hides behind some mushrooms; triggering Kessler’s Alarm spell as she leaves the area (because Kessler didn’t specify otherwise). We all wake, and can roll Initiative next round. Melaina takes aim with her longbow. 19 to hit with Sharpshooter, which does. She gets a nat 1 for her Sneak/Sharpshooter which is only a measly 25 total, plus her bow’s damage of 9 for 34. The thing lets out a howl, which would have woken us if the Alarm spell hadn’t.

It approaches us. It’s wearing a loincloth; small mercies.

Everyone but Ardvack and Melaina makes CON saves as the troll runs a filthy claw down its own forearm for a venom spray attack. Gideon and Tarragon take 18 poison damage and are poisoned. The others take half damage and are not poisoned. Now it does its multi-attack.

It has a bite at Tarragon but misses, then a claw at Kessler and misses. Then it claws at Gideon, and misses again. Ha!

Another one shambles up, but doesn’t attack yet. It’s Carl’s turn; he uses his zombie agility to run up to one of the trolls and give it a good old Slam - “Classic Slam - ” and uses his Zombie Grab to try and grapple it. They make contested STR checks - Carl wins even with a 14. The bad news is that part of the troll’s corpulence is ruptured, emitting a black foul ichor into the air - Tarragon and Kessler take more damage as it, however unintentionally, does an Acid Splash.

“… Thanks Carl.”

Melaina goes first. She goes to move but takes 15 Force damage from the towers. What??? Sophie OOC, to Matthew: “Honey, I’m being shot by the nasty tower.” She was just inside its range. She shoots one of the trolls. She hits, and causes another Acid Splash. Tarragon has just woken up from a Long Rest, and is now under half HP. Melaina does do 34 damage to the troll though.

Gideon, with advice from Matthew, casts Grease under the troll that Carl is *not* grappling. This seems a classic ‘Grease’ situation. It rolls a DEX save, and fails, falling prone.

Tarragon casts Lesser Restoration on herself, ending the Poisoned effect, Rages, and steps out of range of the Venom spray.

Ahleqs screams the incantation for Mage Armour, and steps back also. Kessler’s turn, and she will risk stepping back. One is restrained and the other prone, so no attack of Opportunity. She takes out her crossbow and shoots at the one grappled by Carl. 20 hits for 11 piercing damage. “And I will shoot that sucker again.” 17 also hits for 7 damage. She drinks one of her potions; wise.

Carl takes 18 poison from Kessler’s attacks on the troll, but he’s immune to poison. Carl has the Grappler feat, so even though the troll is a size larger than him it doesn’t get Advantage on the Strength check to free itself. They roll straight Strength checks - Carl rolls a ten, and the troll rolls a 6, even with a plus four modifier.

The prone one uses half its movement to stand up and moves forward, biting at Kessler - 26 to hit. It actually hits her! Even Shield won’t do it! She takes 6 piercing and 6 poison damage, and is poisoned until the start of the troll’s next turn.

It claws twice at Tarragon; “Bring it.”

24 hits, the ten doesn’t. Ten slashing (halved to 5) and 6 poison (not halved). She’s at 19HP now, and hasn't even attacked yet.

Ardvack wakes up to see the trolls attacking. “Ah. It must be Wednesday.” Matthew, OOC: “Im going to do… something… stupid. Or… brilliant.” Seeing the damage Tarragon and Kessler have taken, he heals Tarragon for 11HP. She blinks with surprise, and he backs up.

We call it there as it's getting late...

#dnd #campaign diary #thetradeway

[nomoregoldfish]

Imagine Pacho Sends You as a Gift to (Spy on) Amado 1/3

I don’t know how long this is gonna take but I’ve had the idea for a while. I’m Asian so it’s easier to insert myself into this weird setting. Hope it works for everyone out there thirsting for more Chema content ;) Read more Imagine Amado here.

Note: The first time Pacho makes appearance on the show, he’s treating guests a plate of sushi.

You're a chef specialized in Japanese cuisines, which are Pacho's favorite. You do catering when Pacho has important guests over at his mansion in Cali, preparing fresh delicacies like sashimi and sushi.

That's how you met the Mexican man in black. You didn't know who he was at first. People in your line of work tend to keep their mouth shut. Till the man becomes a frequent guest. You see how Pacho's fond of him as a business partner and a good friend, always treating him the best stuff when the Mexican is in town, as frequent as monthly.

But you never talked to him — Amado Carrillo Fuentes. You know enough about the name to avoid socializing with the biggest drug trafficker in Mexico in any form. 

Pacho is throwing a New Year party, of course Amado is invited. For the special occasion, you're asked to perform the whole process of cutting fresh sashimi in front of guests.

"You have to try this. The best bluefin tuna of the year, it's the fattest in the winter since the slimy bastards bulk up to deal with the cold Pacific torrent. I had it shipped from Japan via airplane, live. You should get into the business, you're the Lord of the Skies. Shit costs me thousands of dollars." Pacho is very enthusiastic about the fish.

Well, you can tell from the guarded smile that Amado is not a big fan of raw fish. You feel challenged, as if you need to prove yourselves to him.

"I'm more impressed you let people wave machetes at your dinner table," Amado snorts, "Your bodyguards are okay with it?"

"Ryoko chan is fine." Pacho winks at you, in fact he knows you better than anyone. You're not just a hired chef.

You don't say a single word, just slightly nodding to Pacho. 

The big knives are presented because you're handling a giant tuna (Pacho only wants the biggest ones!) You definitely put on a fucking show, piercing, cutting, slicing, finally arranging a delicate full plate like some fine art, with red tuna, white radish and pickled ginger.

Pacho and other guests give you a round of applause for your craftsmanship, while Amado just gives you a wavering smile.

When you bow to the guests before leaving, a reckless waiter serving sake next to you takes a step back. He inevitably bumps into you and the white headscarf you wear falls, exposing your black long hair.

It's the first time Amado really pays attention to you that night.

"Fucking hell, Pachito, I thought it's one of your boys. Look at her..." The dickhead is doing vulgar gestures, obviously making fun of your flat-chested body.

"Ryoko's the best in town. No man matches her skill set." The Colombian defends you (Pacho being nice and soooooo protective, ahhhhh!)

"Really?" Amado raised his eyebrows. He looks aggressively handsome, dark piercing eyes make you feel naked even though you're in the full white chef uniform.

You retreat to the kitchen, heart still beating fast due to the anger and humiliation. What you don't know is Pacho sees something different in Mexican's eyes and a radical plan is emerging when you're absent from the dining table.

"You want me to make amends to the fucker? Why?"  You can't believe what Pacho's talking about. "You left our guest without smiling. Your smile is beautiful, come on, Ryoko. Can you do that for me?" Yes, you will do anything for Pacho Herrera. 

And this time you have to put on a fucking kimono robe. Because Pacho picks it from his own wardrobe. "Kill me now." You sigh. Pacho is going all "It looks great on you. His jaw is gonna drop, don't you wanna see that?" 

You don't give a flying fuck what Pacho makes you wear. You're a chef, if someone's not interested in raw food such as sashimi, you need to change your game.

Later you surprise Amado with a totally different set of dishes, a small bowl of scallop miso soup with tofu and chicken yakitori. Hot food at midnight always smells extra tempting.

"You open the door without checking if I carry a machete first." You stand in front of Amado's private suite, giving the Mexican in his shirt and boxer briefs a little smirk.

"I'd be willingly stabbed by that bamboo skewer if you let me eat the grilled chicken first. I'm starving," Amado leans in, closer to the tray and your hair, "God, smell so good." The fucker knows how to flirt back for sure.

Amado obviously prefers the hot meal, "Thank God you bring a spoon. Chopsticks are for devils." He finished everything in record time, and as a chef, you have to admit it's kind of satisfying to see people (even he's a jerk) enjoy the food you make.

You don't talk much. As soon as Amado's done, you're about to collect everything and leave. He stops you, "You're not staying?" Big hand is tangled with the hem of your kimono robe. He's dangerously close, it feels like the thin fabric is gonna catch fire from the body warmth from you both.

"It's not like I have a cleavage to show you." You tease him.

Amado actually apologizes, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." He gently flicks your hair back over your shoulders, eyeing your bare chest beneath the loose robe.

You're hesitant. Pacho did ask you to please the Mexican, but you have to stick to the plan, no early moves. 

You decide to call it a night. Amado doesn't stop you this time. 

Before you exit his suite, "Pacho wants sushi tomorrow," you turn around and smile, making sure the angel reveals more of your chest, "But I'll make a separate dish for you." 

That night you pray the Mexican's hooked.

The next day when everyone is having a cold plate of sushi, Amado gets a plate of tempura you prepare just for him.

"Thank you, dear. I won't last a week without you," Pacho makes some drastic remark as he enjoys the sushi you present and continues, "You know, one time I went to Guadalajara, they don't even have a decent Japanese restaurant. The only one Navegante found serves shitty noodles which remotely look like ramen. Your stubborn Mexicans really need a break from beans, steak and quesadilla." 

"Then can I borrow Chef Ryoko for a week? A short trip to Mexico, maybe Chef will find some new opportunity there." Amado suddenly proposes. 

Following Pacho's instruction from earlier, you act surprised.

Next thing you know, you're boarding a private jet with arguably the most powerful Mexican, both on earth and in the sky.

Your mission is to spy on Amado Carrillo Fuentes for a week. "Why? He's very business-oriented, low maintenance, no bullshit. But you never know if you can trust Mexicans. I need to know everything about Amado, every detail matters." Pacho's words echo with the plane engine before the takeoff. And he kisses you goodbye.

Amado's waiting for you at the bridge, smiling through his aviator sunglasses. You have no idea what you sign up for.

#narcos mexico #imagine amado #narcos imagine #amado carrillo fuentes