iz (she/her). lover of photography, fangirling, and pretty nerds. self-shipper enthusiast and x reader author. ♡
welcome to the shop of authoress iz, weaver of words and writer of worlds! Please take a look around! There are plenty of stories up for offer and if none of them catch your eye, why not place an order in my asks?*
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everyone must think of the high likelihood of losing you and how that would rip zoro's soul apart.
part two to "missing piece". close interaction with death and heated healing kisses. angst with comfort.
Soulmates are real. It's one of those facts Roronoa Zoro knows is absolute certain, something built into the fabric of the universe, like how Devil Fruit users are damned in the ocean, or how the One Piece surely exists, or how you were so strikingly gorgeous it made it hard to breathe. Soulmates are real—and you and Zoro just happen to be each others.
It hadn't taken long for the rest of the Straw Hats to realize something had happened between the two of you. Ever since rescuing Nami and setting off for the Grand Line, you'd spent an awful lot of time together: sparring on the deck, napping in crowded cots, late nights drinking in the kitchen. No one ever asked directly, but everyone knew enough to accept it and to tease you.
Whenever him and Zoro would argue, Sanji would tell you to "get your mosshead". You'd always flush at the mention of Zoro being yours, and Zoro would do nothing but roll his eyes and pull you closer. Nami would ask if finding your soulmate ever felt any different and you never knew how to answer without saying something that wouldn't drench your sleeves with your heart. You'd gotten used to Usopp's dramatic stories slowly involving soulmates and his words often punctuated by careful glances in your direction to confirm or deny the details. Even Luffy, who'd been painfully dense since childhood, sought you out to ask where Zoro was and asked Zoro if you were alright first.
It became so glaringly obvious in fact, that even strangers and enemies caught on.
In Loguetown, Tashigi knew there must have been something going on between you two. She watched the way your hand gripped around his bicep, twisting into the sleeves of his sleeve, as you grinned at Zoro's declaration of having a perfect sense of direction with a look in your eyes that meant you knew he was lying. She heard you berate him for being reckless as you left the swordshop. And even though he'd been stotic and calm since she met him moments ago, Tashigi could swear she heard Zoro murmur "I'm sorry, princess."
Buggy barely even saw the two of you interact in Loguetown and even he knew. He'd thrown a half-hearted comment your way to "keep your dog on his leash" and you would have lunged straight toward him if Zoro hadn't held you back. Buggy noticed how the way you fought slightly shifted from the last time you'd seen him. You fought to constantly guard each other's backs, just barely a step apart, fighting with a recklessness that could mean nothing else but love. You fought like if one got hurt, the other would feel the wound.
After Reverse Mountain, Miss. Wednesday and Mr. Nine noticed, cataloging the protectiveness that passed between the two of you. It was a ferocity you clearly both displayed for the rest of your crew: Zoro would strike first with his swords and you'd follow directly after with a swift punch. But when it came to both of you, it was a deeper care, less rough around the edges, more softhearted.
Whiskey Peak may have fallen into shambles later, if a disguised Baroque Works member hadn't thought it'd be nice to put their hands on you. At first, you'd laughed off their flirtations and sank a little closer into Zoro's side, but soon enough, you had your hand curled around your dagger, ready to strike. Zoro attacked before you could, blade sliced through the offender's neck. The hidden agents arose then, snapping into action to avenge their fallen comrade. They never stood a chance though. Not when Zoro was defending you.
Then came Little Garden. It shouldn't have been a struggle. You'd ran into Miss. All Sunday moments ago and docked soon after. You promised to watch Sanji and Zoro and reassured Vivi that Nami and Luffy would keep her safe. You were just supposed to stay long enough for the Log Pose to reset, then be off to Alabasta.
Baroque Works, as it seemed, had other plans. Sometime near the beginning of Sanji and Zoro's argument, the shadows sweep you away, the looming dinosaur body far too much of a distraction for either to notice your disappearance.
A deep sense of fear overwhelm your bones and you run. You don't understand why or where you were headed, you just know your legs are taking you somewhere and your mind is no longer in control.
The shore stretches out before you, waves lapping against your ankles. You flinch away from the water, even though the ocean never bothered you before.
You faintly feel a cold brush swipe across your cheek and the feeling of fear is replaced by the haze of hopelessness. Heavy chains wrap around your wrists.
A command beckons you forward, willing you to wander into the waters. Dread sinks over you, just as the waves slowly creep higher and higher as you step. By the time the paint wipes off your face, you are too far from the shore to return, heavy chains keeping you stuck to the ocean floor.
You pull and you tug and you do all you can to keep yourself from swallowing up your last breath and water alike, but all your efforts are to no avail and the senselessness of drowning consumes you.
Zoro snaps to his sense far too late, coming to the realization that you are no longer by his side and he is frozen in wax. Truthfully, the latter does not matter to him nearly as much as the prior.
His heart isn't in the fight once it ensues; instead, his heart is with you. His body aches but that pain is nothing compared to the gape in his heart at the thought of you lying somewhere, half-way dead, and he is unable to find you.
The fights end and the crew reunites with all but you. Panic seeps into the Straw Hat crew as they search the island for you. Nobody wants to think that's it's been too long, that you are already gone.
Zoro is the one who finds you. If he were not your soulmate, perhaps he wouldn't have, because he has never been directionally skilled, but his heart draws itself to yours. He notices the marks of chains along the sand leading to the ocean and he doesn't think any further.
He dives after you, headfirst into the waves, bubbles and salt blistering his eyes. And there you are—his princess, his soulmate—drowning and dying without him realizing. He can't break the chains underwater but he manages to pull you to the surface.
Your body lies sprawled out across the sand, hair fanned out from your paling face, wrists red and numb from the chains, head lolling to the side. You barely moves in slight breaths and all Zoro can do is wait as Nami performs compressions to your chest.
You cough out a heave of salt water, choking and struggling to breath fresh air. Your vision shifts from fuzzy to clear. You must whisper Nami's name because you feel it pass through your lips but it sounds entirely unlike you. "I'm okay," you say, "thank you for saving me."
Zoro wraps you into a hug before you say a word to him and he doesn't let you go until you've managed to regain some of your senses to some level of clarity. Your fingers curl loosely around his bicep and you notice the lack of crew members around you that were there only moments ago.
"I thought I lost you," Zoro mutters, head buried into your sore shoulder. "I thought I lost you after just finding you."
When he leans back, there's a realness in his expression, a softness tinged with worry, head dipping down. "I can't lose you. Please. Stay by my side."
Carefully, you tilt his jaw up and force him to meet your eyes. "My love," you whisper, "all you had to do was ask."
His eyes fall to your lips, just briefly, before the heistant realness in his features shifts into reckless rawness. He kisses you with a fervored passion and holds you with an ache in lungs like his is a dying man trying to consume his last breath.
His hands wander down to your hips, slipping just below the hem of your damp shirt. Your fingers tangle into the wet strands of his hands, pulling a groan from Zoro's mouth. You fall backwards, sand splaying beneath your bodies as Zoro's presses kisses along the curve of your neck and traces circles into the flesh of your hips.
Nami calls your names from nearby, hollering for you to hurry so the crew can leave.
Zoro pulls away after leaving a final kiss against your lips and lifts you to your feet.
"Stay by my side," he repeats.
"Always," you respond.
Soulmates are real. To most they must be a strange phenomenon, something they will never personally experience, but to Roronoa Zoro, soulmates are as real as the sun rising and setting every day. Soulmates are real, and they manifest the binding of souls, of a connection so deeply intertwined into their existence that even the nearest of deaths cannot separate. Soulmates are real, and Roronoa Zoro plans to remind you of that everyday you remajn by his side, from now until forever.
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
- where's your ego gone? (gen narumi x fem!reader) despite his ego, narumi would do anything for you. especially when it comes to video games. vaguely suggestive. video game violence and an infatuated narumi
- ready player one? (gen narumi x fem!reader) you really weren't a gamer and you've never planned to be one, but gen narumi might change that. strangers to potential future relationship. vaguely out of character narumi.
- steal the stars, search for home (kaz brekker x reader) zemini!reader. kaz brekker is not one for romantic confessions but swearing to steal the stars for you is close enough. indirect confessions because of emotional constipation. set pre-canon.
- missing piece (roronoa zoro x fem!reader) in which zoro thinks about the possibilities of soulmates and the possibility of you being his. loosely inspired by "missing piece" by john mitchell howell. pining zoro and brief mentions of death.
- binded souls (roronoa zoro x fem!reader) everyone must think of the high likelihood of losing you and how that would rip zoro's soul apart. part two to "missing piece". close interaction with death and heated healing kisses. angst with comfort.
- a lyre and a player (luke castellan x fem!reader) daughter of apollo reader. sometimes even the flirty golden boy of camp gets injured. his consolidation is you being the one to patch him up. flirting and healing. warning for described injuries and suturing process. title inspired by hadestown.
- homesick (luke castellan x fem!reader) band au. luke feels devastatingly homesick so he turns to you for a cure. loosely inspired by "homesick" by mico. homesick anxiety and comfort confessions.
- someday i know (you'll come to your senses) (keith kogane x reader) band au. keith doesn't know how you love him despite everything so he does the only thing he can think of: write a song. vaguely inspired by mico's song senses. pre-established relationship. overthinking with a happy ending.
- werewolf! (platonic!paladins x reader) modern au. the paladins play a game of one night werewolf and it goes just about as smoothly as expected. pure chaos and the normal amount of game night bickering. mostly dialogue. short and sweet(ish).
- secrets upon secrets (lotor x fem!reader) altean!reader. requested headcannons of you and lotor and all the secrets stacked around you. lowkey angsty. secret relationship.
- love is never logical (senku ishigami x reader) the ways senku shows his love, even if it isn't logical at all. silently shown affection with a hint of danger and injuries.
- scientifically speaking (senku ishigami x reader) senku explains love through his eyes, meaning science and his love for you. fluff and potentially inaccurate science. pre-established relationship. vaguely out of character.
- sparklers and sparks (senku ishigami x reader) modern au. you spend new year's eve with your best friends and your silly little tradition causes senku to be irrational for just a moment. fluff and fireworks. pre-established relationship. vaguely out of character.
- accidental invitation (senku ishigami x fem!reader) modern au. chemist!reader. senku accidentally invites you to the dance instead of the science competition. he doesn't seem to mind too much. inspired by the liv and maddie scene. bakuya appearance.
- barbecued grilled affection (kenma kozume x reader) you show your love through food and kenma does too, but only because it's you. fluff and good food. pre-established relationship.
- poetry of a "best friend" (keiji akaashi x fem!reader) you and akaashi write poems about each other for an assignment. anonymous pining and fluffy confessions. mentions dying but in a joking way.
- guitarist with green eyes (tetsuro kuroo x fem!reader) band au. you're a little jealous of the lead singer flirting with fans. jealousy jealousy. intended for readers without green eyes.
- candids (keiji akaashi x reader) college au. three times akaashi keiji takes a candid of you and one time he doesn't. fluff and soft admiration through photography.
- baker's dozen masterlist (haikyuu x fem!reader; separately) mini-series. baker!reader. you're made of sugar and spice and everything nice, and the haikyuu boys are a little obsessed with that fact. fluff, baked treats, and sugar-dusted kisses.
- promises in the spotlight (keiji akaashi x fem!reader) theatre kid!eurydice!reader. akaashi never wanted the spotlight, but he'd share it with you if he could. brief panic attack descriptions. hadestown references. pining akaashi and overthinking reader.
in which zoro thinks about the possibilities of soulmates and the possibility of you being his.
loosely inspired by "missing piece" by john mitchell howell. pining zoro and brief mentions of death. part two here.
Roronoa Zoro doesn't believe in soulmates. He may know the stories of the strings tethering two together, of the inevitable, unwreckable bond between souls, but he doesn't believe they truly exist. And even if soulmates do exist, Zoro doesn't believe one exists for him. Who, across all of the seas, could fate possibly bind to him?
Despite his disbelief, he hasn't stopped searching. He'd think about soulmates in the quiet moments, in the dead of night accompanied only by his dream and the sinking, startling, loneliness. He'd see couples so embarrassingly enamored with each other and wonder if he would ever experience such a thing.
Truthfully, Zoro had given up on all hope of finding his supposed soulmate by the time he met you. He met you the same time he met Luffy: first in the bar, just a glance across the room, then next while tied to a post, a laugh wracking through your bones as he spoke to Luffy.
Zoro would be lying if he said you didn't catch his eye. You were stunning, your eyes holding a glint of curiosity, lips curled with always loaded sarcasm, tongue littered with an effortless flirt or tease. It hadn't taken long for you to become close, especially when your martial arts skill paired well with his swordsmanship and you could hold your own against him in spars. Despite Zoro's insistence of not being in Luffy's crew, he'd already begun to feel at home by your side.
As days bled into weeks, Zoro would swear there was something more than just partnership between him and you.
There'd been that instance at the Baratie, where Sanji flirted with you and Zoro mentally begged you wouldn't flirt back. You'd caught Zoro's eye, gaze lingering so briefly that he might have imagined it.
You only tilted the corners of your lips up in a faint smile, ignoring Sanji's flirtations to ask for a bottle of sake.
Then, just moments after your food was delievered, you twisted your fingers into the hem of Zoro's shirt, drawing circles into the skin just below. A familiar motion—Zoro watched you rub circles on Luffy's back or on Nami's arm—welcome, even. Everyone was distracted by the sprawling food on the table, but Zoro... He was distracted by you.
You leaned in to rest your chin on his shoulder. "Hey," you whispered, "you okay?"
"Fine." Zoro was certainly not fine. "Just don't like seeing the waiter flirting with you like that."
You smirked. "Why? You jealous, love?"
"Of him? Never, princess."
You rolled you eyes, tilting your head back to sip your sake before passing the bottle to Zoro in the silent shared motion that had become familiar.
Then there was right before he'd gone to face Mihawke. Luffy encouraged him to go and fight, to face his dream head on, Nami begged him to stay and surrender, to survive a battle he couldn't win. You remained quiet, drinking from a bottle, eyes darting back and forth from their interactions.
You looked still, uncaring, as if this situation didn't matter to you at all. Zoro could read you better than that though. He saw the downpull in your lips, the hesitation in your eyes, the slight inch forward you'd moved since Nami started yelling.
Half-heartedly, Zoro wanted to you say something. Anything. He wanted to you to tell him to stay. But you'd said nothing until everyone had left and just the two of you remained in the room.
You moved to sit beside him and handed him your bottle, waiting for him to take a swig before you said something.
"You really want to do this?" You asked.
"It's my dream to be the strongest." He answered.
"Okay." You didn't beg him to stay or encourage him to fight. You just left it up to him.
Zoro hooked his arm around your waist, barely pulling you closer. You leaned into his side and Zoro brushed your hair away from your face. You'd fallen asleep like that, clock ticking down the hours until he'd face Mihawke.
And then there was now. The aftermath of his fight. Darkness surrounds Zoro, aching in his lungs and pain searing across his torso. He was dying, wasn't he? This was how he'd always imagined death, anyway. He felt himself slipping away.
And then he hears you. Your voice echoes in the back of his mind, tethering him to the waking world. He'd heard stories of this. Supposedly, soulmates could keep each other sane when insane, strong when weak, and alive when dying. Zoro desperately hoped that was true because that would mean his soulmate was you.
Roronoa Zoro may not believe in soulmates, but he's almost certain he would cut his heart out and sell his soul to any sea demon that would listen to ensure you were his soulmate.
Zoro awakes to your hands clasped around one of his, your head beside his as you sleep curled up by the bed. Almost if by instinct, he reaches out with his free hand to stroke your hair.
You stir to life, blinking before realization struck. "Zoro... You're awake." You wrap him in a hug, face buried into his chest as a barely noticeable sob breaks your calm facade. "I didn't think we're going to survive. I thought—"
"I'm alive," he whispers, "thanks to you. I heard your voice. You kept me alive." He pushes himself to sit, arms resting at your waist as you leaned back to look at him properly. Without thinking, Zoro brushes away the tears that linger in your eyes.
"What did you say?" Your breath catches in your throat. You too, knew the same stories, and you too, had begun to hope that you and Zoro were soulmates.
Zoro's glance flickers to your lips as he responds. "I guess we must be soulmates."
"I guess so. Disappointed, love?"
"Never, princess."
And with that, Zoro kisses you. Your lips taste faintly like the cherry blossom sake you adore, Zoro notices, tracing circles into your hips like you do to him.
You reach up to cup his cheeks, eyelashes fluttering shut as you deepen the kiss, pulling yourself even closer to Zoro. You accidentally brush against the wound in his chest, a hiss of pain escaping into the kiss.
Leaning back to break away, you whisper "you should rest. I'll go and see if I can get some food for you and I should tell the others you're awake."
"Can't you stay a little longer?"
"I'll be back soon." A grin plays on your lips. "I'm your soulmate. You can't get rid of me that easily love."
"Wouldn't dream of it, princess."
You press a kiss to Zoro's cheek before leaving him alone with his thoughts and his changing belief of soulmates.
Roronoa Zoro didn't believe in soulmates. Not until you.
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
Out of their duo, everyone always looked at Bokuto Kōtarō, never Keiji Akaashi. Akaashi was okay with that. He never preferred the spotlight or the glory. For a while, he was okay being in Bokuto's shadow. Until, that is, you entered the scene.
Akaashi had seen you around Fukurodani fairly often, but you'd never made an impression until the day you walked into the gym with the brightest smile on your face and a clipboard in your hands.
Once the attention was drawn to you, you introduced yourself loudly, bowing low and announcing yourself as the new volleyball team manager. You'd said something along the lines of wanting something to do before rehearsals, or something like that—Akaashi had stopped listening once you started speaking, too caught up in his own mind.
From that moment on, Akaashi couldn't help but find himself wanting to impress you. He sharped his serves, made his sets more accurate, and moved with precision in every step. After every point won, Akaashi would glance at you, at the tiny smile that creeped onto your face as you adjusted the stats you held.
You never talked much to Akaashi directly, instead spending most of your time berating Bokuto, or cheering at the top of your lungs, or scrambling around to make everything perfect before you dashed out to reach the school theatre before your rehearsals started. That was just how it was meant to be, at least in Akaashi's mind. You were the star of the show and he was just an extra, or, more accurately, a stagehand.
That was the way it stayed until he accidentally pushed his way into the spotlight.
Akaashi had gotten too reckless, too eager to please. He knew that. He knew it was just practice, that he shouldn't push too hard, that he should save his energy. But you were right there on the sidelines. Waiting. Watching. He spun the volleyball in his hands twice, tossed it up into the sky and jumped, slamming his hand down in a jump serve a little too powerful. It pivoted just slightly off of Akaashi's preplanned track, veering right into your face.
Three seconds later, you were smack on the ground with a dazed look in your eyes and a panicked Akaashi hovering right above you, apologies and pleas slipping out of his mouth in rapid succession.
"No worries," you'd said, but it'd been accompanied by a groan as you sat up. "Killer serve though. Maybe save that for a real game next time?" You joked, cracking a smile.
Akaashi smiled, but noticed the red print almost blistering across your face. His smile wavered, dropping into a bow and another apology. "I'm so sorry. Please tell me how I can make up for it."
You reached over to ruffle his hair, a casual gesture for someone you'd rarely spoken to, but a welcome gesture nonetheless. "Like I said, it's fine. Don't stress about it."
Bokuto worried anyway, fumbling around in the first aid kit, tossing bandages in your face like that would help, almost went as far as dumping a whole water bottle on you until Akaashi stopped him. "Akaashi!" Bukuto yelled, shaking Akaashi back and forth by the shoulders. "Walk her to her rehearsal later!" Akaashi nods—or at least he thinks he does—it's hard to tell with all the shaking.
After practice ends and the gym is all cleaned and cleared for the next day, you and Akaashi make your way over to the theatre. Silence lingers between you two.
You make the first move to speak. Fitting, for someone who deserved every spotlight the world had to offer. "We're performing Hadestown, y'know. Do you know it?"
Akaashi shrugs. "I've heard of it." In reality, he most definitely knows the musical, with almost every lyric memorized. He'd play it on loop in his headphones and once analyzed the musical for a literature assignment. "It's based on a Greek myth," you say, as you dive into explaining the musical to a man who already loved it but loved listening to you talk more.
You reached the theatre before you'd realize, pausing at the doors. "Thanks for walking me over. Even if Bokuto told you to."
"Of course."
You begin to push the doors open, just barely, but stop and turn back to Akaashi. "You're welcome to sit in on our rehearsals anytime if you want. Everyone's pretty chill about it."
Since that day, after every practice you and Akaashi went to your rehearsals together, then walked over to the bus stop where you'd parted ways for the night. You slowly grew closer, and Akaashi slowly fell deeper, despite knowing he shouldn't.
Opening night approached far too quickly in your opinion, which led to where you are now, pacing back and forth backstage, trying to not crying before you need to go on in thirty minutes. It wasn't like this was your first time playing a leading role, and all those other times had given you a similar case of jitters, but this was the first time you'd loved the story long before performing it. You dreamed of playing Eurydice ever since you first listened to Hadestown.
You'd sent a reckless, unprompted text to Akaashi just minutes ago, asking to see him. You didn't even know if he would see it, and you didn't even know if he was going to be here tonight at all. Breathing became more difficult, tighter in your chest, as you slumped down to the ground.
The door slammed open, and Akaashi steps in, worry already wrinkling his brows. He's beside you before you can take another shallow breath, rubbing circles into your back and quietly murmuring comforts in your ear.
You force yourself to breath until it feels normal again. "I'm scared," you whisper, "I don't think I'm prepared enough for this."
"You've practiced more than anyone." Akaashi says, stroking your hair while carefully choosing his next words. "You deserve all the applause you're going to get. Trust me. Just go and perform your heart out, songbird."
"Thanks, Keiji," you mumble, leaning into his side with a quick hug.
Akaashi stands and offers you his hand to pull you up, just as someone comes to grab you.
Your breath catches in your throat when you first step onto the stage, but once the music plays, all your fear fades. You do just as Akaashi said. You pour your heart out onto your sleeves, letting every once of your love for this musical shine through every step and song. The audience roars as you take your bows and you've never been more proud of your showcase in the spotlight.
As the crowd shuffles out of the theatre and the cast scatter around behind the closed curtains, you find yourself sitting at the edge of the stage. The spotlight glows a little duller, but it still illuminates where you sit.
Akaashi approaches you, hiding something behind his back.
"You came?" You asked.
He shrugs. "You called. And besides, I would've come anyway." He pulls out the bouquet he'd been hiding.
"Keiji..." You carefully accept the bouquet. Giving you something at all was a sweet enough gesture. But the flowers themselves were special too. Red carnations and paper-twisted blossoms. The flowers Orpheus gave to Eurydice in Hadestown. Now you were trying to not cry.
"I may have lied when I said I'd only heard of Hadestown." Akaashi smiles a little nervously. He reaches forward and you instinctively take his hands into your own. He whispers your name, softly, half-afraid speaking too loud might make him lose all sense of strength. "I have no ring for your finger. I have no banquet table to lay. I have no bed of feathers."
You recognize what he's saying. You've memorized these lyrics.
He laughs slightly at the recognition on your face, breaking into a raised whisper and a half-song. "I can't promise you fair sky above. Can't promise you kind road below. But I'll walk beside you, love. Anyway the wind blows..."
Hope flickers across his face, almost desperate for you to continue. So you do. "I don't need gold, don't need silver. Just bread when I’m hungry, fire when I’m cold. Don't need a ring for my finger..."
You hop off the stage, threading your hands together with Akaashi's. "Just need a steady hand to hold. Don’t promise me fair sky above. Don't promise me kind road below. Just walk beside me, love. Any way the wind blows..."
Akaashi says your name again. Louder this time, less afraid, more bold. "Do you let me walk with you?"
"I do," you answer, pulling him into a tight hug.
The spotlight above seems to glow brighter. And for Akaashi, this time, that feels okay. He'd never liked the spotlight, but he liked you, so he liked sharing the spotlight with you. He can't promise you much, but he can promise you this: he will be with you until your spotlights dim and even beyond then.
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
you really weren't a gamer and you've never planned to be one, but gen narumi might change that.
request linked here. strangers to potential future relationship. vaguely out of character narumi.
You walked into the game store on a complete whim. You weren't a gamer in any aspect of the word, and you wouldn't have even noticed the hole in the wall store if you hadn't tripped over the stand-up sign right in front. You hadn't planned to browse the store, but unlike most of your days, today you had time to kill. You just got off work, you'd done all your errands, and you had hours before you were supposed to meet up with your friends for dinner. So, you stepped into the game store.
Blaring music and loud chatter instantly greeted you. Barely anyone roams the store, instead sitting at one of the many game consoles and arcade style machines lining the walls.
You wander the aisles, aimlessly looking through the games. Somewhere near the back of the store, you notice a display dedicated to the Defense Force. Several games of what seemed to be a series form piles along the table. Cardboard cutouts of Kaiju and Defense Force Captains stand around the table.
Curiosity gets the best of you, so you pick up a copy of the most recent game edition, flipping it over to read the back. You take a step back as you read, in attempts to move out of the way, stepping smack into someone else.
You both go tumbling to the ground, games falling with a clutter and a curse. You quickly scramble to your feet. "I'm so sorry," you apologize with a low bow. You reach out a hand to help the other person up and that's when you finally look at them.
A string of curses rack through your head. Of all people you could have possibly ran into, you ran into First Division Captain Gen Narumi. You glance between the real captain and the cardboard one, as if that will confirm if it is or isn't him.
Narumi takes your hand, pulling himself to stand and offering you that cocky half-smile he always dons in every photo of him you'd seen.
You bow again, as low to the ground as you possibly can be without being on the ground. "I'm so sorry," you repeat.
"No worries." Narumi grins. "It's not every day a pretty girl runs into ya after all."
"I'm sure you say that to every girl that runs into you," you mumble, not meaning for him to hear but he does anyway.
"Nah. Only the ones that seem like gamers." He gestures with his head to the game in your hands. "You play?"
You look down, half-forgetting what you'd been holding. "Oh. No. No, I was just looking. I don't really play many games." Narumi looks vaguely disappointed, so you stammer to say anything to defend yourself to this stranger. "I just don't have much time."
Narumi nods in understanding, something like plotting lurking in his eyes. "Ya got time now?"
You glance at your phone to check the time. "Yeah. Plenty. Why?"
Narumi gestures for you to follow him, so you do, until you reach an arcade game in the front left corner of the shop. Every inch of the game is decked on in Defense Force stickers and designs, with the vast majority being of Gen Narumi himself. He turns the machine on and motions for you to sit.
You know a little about gaming, at least enough to know how to move a joystick and how to button mash, but beyond that you're screwed. When you face your first in-game Kaiju you let out a muffled scream, mouth behind your hands as the Kaiju rips your character in half with its animated fangs.
Narumi laughs. "Here. Lemme help."
This time, he guides your hands with his own, hovering behind you with his arms wrapped around to reach the controls. He shows you how to attack, and by some miracle of beginner's luck, you manage to beat the first level.
You quietly cheer as Narumi sets up the next level. A realization suddenly strikes you. "Shouldn't you be working?"
"It's my day-off," he shrugs. "I usually hang out here when I'm not working 'cause nobody usually notices me." He glanced pointedly at you when he emphasizes the "usually" in his statement.
You hurry to stand, pushing Narumi to sit instead. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were giving me your spot." You bow, three times in rapid succession, "thank you!"
Just you turn to leave, Narumi clears his throat. "We can play multiplayer if you want. If you still aren't busy."
You aren't a gamer. But honestly, this is the most relaxed you've been in a long time and it's fun once you begin to embed her hang of it. "Yeah. Sure."
Narumi adds another controller in before passing it to you. You carefully choose a character, before fumbling around to find the ready button. "Ready player one?" You joke, shooting Narumi a smile.
"Ready," he responds, and with that you begin the game.
Hours fly by and you don't realize how late it is until your friends text to ask where you are. You bid Narumi goodbye as he slips you a paper that definitely has his phone number scrawled across.
"I'll see ya around?"
"Yeah," you say, "see you later, player one."
You make a mental note, right then and there, to one, text Narumi as soon as possible, and learn how to play more video games before you meet up again. Just because you weren't a gamer already, doesn't mean you wouldn't become for Narumi.
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
heyhey so u dont have to answer this but i wanted to contact u somehow and uh u didnt have asks on ur other acc.. but i just randomly checked tumblr and i had 50 notifications from u LMFAOOO so thanks! i always see you liking haha
Bahaha whoopsss I was lurking a little bit on my other accounttt but yes of course!! I love your writing so muchhh! <3
(ps. i turned my asks on my other account back on lol)
Can I get a narumi X fem reader, something like shes not a soldier and they meet suddenly in a game shop but she doesn't really know anything about gaming she's just there looking, and she recognizes since he's a very famous captain and etc, I will leave the rest for you ❤️❤️
I love this request!
I will link it here when done!
(I apologize for taking so long! School's been really busy lately! Hope it's worth the wait!)
Out of their duo, everyone always looked at Bokuto Kōtarō, never Keiji Akaashi. Akaashi was okay with that. He never preferred the spotlight or the glory. For a while, he was okay being in Bokuto's shadow. Until, that is, you entered the scene.
Akaashi had seen you around Fukurodani fairly often, but you'd never made an impression until the day you walked into the gym with the brightest smile on your face and a clipboard in your hands.
Once the attention was drawn to you, you introduced yourself loudly, bowing low and announcing yourself as the new volleyball team manager. You'd said something along the lines of wanting something to do before rehearsals, or something like that—Akaashi had stopped listening once you started speaking, too caught up in his own mind.
From that moment on, Akaashi couldn't help but find himself wanting to impress you. He sharped his serves, made his sets more accurate, and moved with precision in every step. After every point won, Akaashi would glance at you, at the tiny smile that creeped onto your face as you adjusted the stats you held.
You never talked much to Akaashi directly, instead spending most of your time berating Bokuto, or cheering at the top of your lungs, or scrambling around to make everything perfect before you dashed out to reach the school theatre before your rehearsals started. That was just how it was meant to be, at least in Akaashi's mind. You were the star of the show and he was just an extra, or, more accurately, a stagehand.
That was the way it stayed until he accidentally pushed his way into the spotlight.
Akaashi had gotten too reckless, too eager to please. He knew that. He knew it was just practice, that he shouldn't push too hard, that he should save his energy. But you were right there on the sidelines. Waiting. Watching. He spun the volleyball in his hands twice, tossed it up into the sky and jumped, slamming his hand down in a jump serve a little too powerful. It pivoted just slightly off of Akaashi's preplanned track, veering right into your face.
Three seconds later, you were smack on the ground with a dazed look in your eyes and a panicked Akaashi hovering right above you, apologies and pleas slipping out of his mouth in rapid succession.
"No worries," you'd said, but it'd been accompanied by a groan as you sat up. "Killer serve though. Maybe save that for a real game next time?" You joked, cracking a smile.
Akaashi smiled, but noticed the red print almost blistering across your face. His smile wavered, dropping into a bow and another apology. "I'm so sorry. Please tell me how I can make up for it."
You reached over to ruffle his hair, a casual gesture for someone you'd rarely spoken to, but a welcome gesture nonetheless. "Like I said, it's fine. Don't stress about it."
Bokuto worried anyway, fumbling around in the first aid kit, tossing bandages in your face like that would help, almost went as far as dumping a whole water bottle on you until Akaashi stopped him. "Akaashi!" Bukuto yelled, shaking Akaashi back and forth by the shoulders. "Walk her to her rehearsal later!" Akaashi nods—or at least he thinks he does—it's hard to tell with all the shaking.
After practice ends and the gym is all cleaned and cleared for the next day, you and Akaashi make your way over to the theatre. Silence lingers between you two.
You make the first move to speak. Fitting, for someone who deserved every spotlight the world had to offer. "We're performing Hadestown, y'know. Do you know it?"
Akaashi shrugs. "I've heard of it." In reality, he most definitely knows the musical, with almost every lyric memorized. He'd play it on loop in his headphones and once analyzed the musical for a literature assignment. "It's based on a Greek myth," you say, as you dive into explaining the musical to a man who already loved it but loved listening to you talk more.
You reached the theatre before you'd realize, pausing at the doors. "Thanks for walking me over. Even if Bokuto told you to."
"Of course."
You begin to push the doors open, just barely, but stop and turn back to Akaashi. "You're welcome to sit in on our rehearsals anytime if you want. Everyone's pretty chill about it."
Since that day, after every practice you and Akaashi went to your rehearsals together, then walked over to the bus stop where you'd parted ways for the night. You slowly grew closer, and Akaashi slowly fell deeper, despite knowing he shouldn't.
Opening night approached far too quickly in your opinion, which led to where you are now, pacing back and forth backstage, trying to not crying before you need to go on in thirty minutes. It wasn't like this was your first time playing a leading role, and all those other times had given you a similar case of jitters, but this was the first time you'd loved the story long before performing it. You dreamed of playing Eurydice ever since you first listened to Hadestown.
You'd sent a reckless, unprompted text to Akaashi just minutes ago, asking to see him. You didn't even know if he would see it, and you didn't even know if he was going to be here tonight at all. Breathing became more difficult, tighter in your chest, as you slumped down to the ground.
The door slammed open, and Akaashi steps in, worry already wrinkling his brows. He's beside you before you can take another shallow breath, rubbing circles into your back and quietly murmuring comforts in your ear.
You force yourself to breath until it feels normal again. "I'm scared," you whisper, "I don't think I'm prepared enough for this."
"You've practiced more than anyone." Akaashi says, stroking your hair while carefully choosing his next words. "You deserve all the applause you're going to get. Trust me. Just go and perform your heart out, songbird."
"Thanks, Keiji," you mumble, leaning into his side with a quick hug.
Akaashi stands and offers you his hand to pull you up, just as someone comes to grab you.
Your breath catches in your throat when you first step onto the stage, but once the music plays, all your fear fades. You do just as Akaashi said. You pour your heart out onto your sleeves, letting every once of your love for this musical shine through every step and song. The audience roars as you take your bows and you've never been more proud of your showcase in the spotlight.
As the crowd shuffles out of the theatre and the cast scatter around behind the closed curtains, you find yourself sitting at the edge of the stage. The spotlight glows a little duller, but it still illuminates where you sit.
Akaashi approaches you, hiding something behind his back.
"You came?" You asked.
He shrugs. "You called. And besides, I would've come anyway." He pulls out the bouquet he'd been hiding.
"Keiji..." You carefully accept the bouquet. Giving you something at all was a sweet enough gesture. But the flowers themselves were special too. Red carnations and paper-twisted blossoms. The flowers Orpheus gave to Eurydice in Hadestown. Now you were trying to not cry.
"I may have lied when I said I'd only heard of Hadestown." Akaashi smiles a little nervously. He reaches forward and you instinctively take his hands into your own. He whispers your name, softly, half-afraid speaking too loud might make him lose all sense of strength. "I have no ring for your finger. I have no banquet table to lay. I have no bed of feathers."
You recognize what he's saying. You've memorized these lyrics.
He laughs slightly at the recognition on your face, breaking into a raised whisper and a half-song. "I can't promise you fair sky above. Can't promise you kind road below. But I'll walk beside you, love. Anyway the wind blows..."
Hope flickers across his face, almost desperate for you to continue. So you do. "I don't need gold, don't need silver. Just bread when I’m hungry, fire when I’m cold. Don't need a ring for my finger..."
You hop off the stage, threading your hands together with Akaashi's. "Just need a steady hand to hold. Don’t promise me fair sky above. Don't promise me kind road below. Just walk beside me, love. Any way the wind blows..."
Akaashi says your name again. Louder this time, less afraid, more bold. "Do you let me walk with you?"
"I do," you answer, pulling him into a tight hug.
The spotlight above seems to glow brighter. And for Akaashi, this time, that feels okay. He'd never liked the spotlight, but he liked you, so he liked sharing the spotlight with you. He can't promise you much, but he can promise you this: he will be with you until your spotlights dim and even beyond then.
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
despite his ego, narumi would do anything for you. especially when it comes to video games.
vaguely suggestive. video game violence and an infatuated narumi.
The whole world is aware of First Division Captain Gen Narumi's massive ego. Billboards are constantly plastered with his face, viral social media videos float around of clips of him bragging, and best believe everyone he saves makes sure the public knows. And like his ego, everyone knows how video game obsessed he is.
So, evidently, when a game releases where you can play as a any distinguished member of the Defense Force to fight against Kaiju, everyone knows Captain Narumi will play as himself and be glued to his screen until he can beat the game. An unhealthy habit, really, but someone with an ego like him didn't care too much about health.
Enter you. Nobody really knew about you, despite your rank as a platoon leader in the First Division, but you didn't particularly mind too much. The only people who needed to know you were the officers you commanded and the superiors who commanded you. It was enough to make the world a safer place. You didn't need everyone to know you did.
You and Narumi were practically opposites, if you only looked surface level, no further than your quick public interactions, the quiet acknowledgments on the battlefield. But in reality, it wasn't as linear as everyone made it out to be, and it was far more complicated than anyone understood. In the moments no one saw but the two of you, it didn't matter where your egos were.
You knock on Narumi's door, in the quick succession of the short pattern you always knocked in, before entering. If the neon lights glaring across his room weren't so bright, the night sky would trickle in through the curtains. Animated screams echo from the television, acoompanied by the sound of video game fighting effects.
Narumi briefly looks at you from his perch on his bed, gaze flickering back to the screen to deliver a final blow. "Aren't ya gonna sit?" He asks, leaning back and taking a sip of the third half empty can lining littering his bed. He scoots over so you can sit on the cleaner side before he returns to his game.
He clicks back a few times to return to the home screen, then retrieves a controller for you and selects the co-op mode.
The console buzzes as the game enters the character selection and as Narumi chooses himself and hands the other controller to you.
You select Captain Ashiro, as you always do, because you don't exactly exist in this game, while is completely okay to you.
Narumi clear his throat, taking another sip from his can. "Scroll a little further. I heard they added some new characters recently."
Confused, you scroll, further and further down the list of playable characters, until you reach a familiar name. You click select, met face to face with a pixelated replica of you, down to the tilt of your nose and the shape of your hair and the details in your permanently adorned jewelry.
"How did you...?" You trail off, shock coating your features.
Narumi shrugs. "Called in a few favors. Nobody says no to the greatest captain in the Defense Force." He clicks next and moves on like it's no big deal, like he didn't go out of his way for you.
You notice a shift in his play style once the game starts. He's not as brash as he usually is, not running straight up to the front lines and striking every enemy down. This time he hangs a little closer to you, a little more protective, cutting down the Kaiju when they get too close, but never straying far.
"Gen, you know you don't have to stay near me right?"
"Yeah, but I wanna protect ya," he mumbles out through gritted focused teeth.
His comment comes out of his mouth too naturally, and you turn, distracted and unfocused on the game.
A Kaiju attacks from behind, and animated Narumi dives in to shield you too late, resulting in a bright flashing, game over sign taking up the screen.
You let out a quiet curse, ducking your head in an apology. "I'm sorry. I made you lose."
"It's fine. I said I was gonna protect ya. I meant it."
And with the way he's looking at you, you know he doesn't just mean in game. As if to clarify, to make your heart beat even faster into its chest, he adds "I don't know if you realized, but I care about ya."
Before you can regret it and before you can think too much, you lean in and press a kiss on his lips.
He kisses you back almost greedily, savoring the flavor of your lips like he'd always wanted to taste them. His hands find your waist to pull you closer. His lips trail down your jawline, across your collarbone and your neck, planting itself into a soft spot of your skin.
You tangle your hands into his hair, just as he tilts his head up to whisper "I'd do anything for you, y'know."
And you know he means it. Gen Narumi, the man with one of the world's biggest egos, would toss all of that aside for you.
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
- your relationship started from a place of mutual curiosity if the same topic
- you became close from studying altean history and more specifically, oriande
- both of you worked together to locate oriande
- at first, lotor just wanted to use you for his benefit but as time passed, he slowly grew to respect you
- i think you probably fell first, or at least acknowledged your feelings first
- my own personal headcannon is that alteans tend to be very in-tune with their emotions, to the point where they feel things so intensely it can drive them insane
- so i think you realized you were falling in love with lotor fairly quickly, but you chose to not let it make a difference
- after all, you were just a researcher and he was the savior of the alteans
- maybe a few months later, lotor began to realize he loved you
- for him, it wasn't a slow fall, it was a plummet where the feelings suddenly overwhelmed him
- it probably hit him in some quiet moment, when you two were researching alone, and you'd laughed and he realized
- unlike you, lotor isn't quite as in-tune with his emotions, but he decides to act quickly anyway
- he's too used to losing things he wants or never getting it at all so he takes this chance to seize the moment
- he probably said something romantic, something about your laugh, or the stars in your eyes, or how your mind was the greatest he'd ever known, but whatever he said, it stuck
- soon enough, you were in a relationship. betrothed likely, because that's what royalty does
- the decision to keep the relationship secret was mutual. lotor didn't want you to be targeted by the galra and you feared what the other alteans would think about someone like you with someone like him
how it's going...
- i think in this version, lotor still extracts quintessence from the alteans in the same way
- he feels terrible about it, but not terrible enough
- the same process of the worthy continues and romelle's brother still suffers
- lotor keeps this a secret from you, knowing you wouldn't approve, and instead feeds you the same lie about a second colony
- whenever lotor returns to the colony, he checks his quintessence experiments first, then finds you
- he gives you gifts from galaxies he traveled to and tells you stories while you walk around the most hidden areas of the colony
- he often promises that one day, he'll bring you with him, and you'll go to oriande together
- even when lotor's gone, you keep in contact somehow, just to relay newly found research or whisper fond affections in the dead of night
- you know lotor loves you, or at least you think you do, but you can't help but feel like he's hiding something
- when the keith and krolia find romelle and they learn the truth, romelle immediately heads to you
- you two weren't exactly close, but even romelle knew something was going on between you and lotor
- you were horrified and hurt, angry that lotor never told you a thing, and frustrated that you never noticed
- you demanded to go with keith, krolia, and romelle, determined to drag the truth out of lotor
- when you first met the paladins, you didn't even have time to think, because all you saw was lotor and allura, hand in hand, before you'd passed out
Comments and reblogs are always appreciated! Requests are open!
