Pairing: Emet-Selch (Final Fantasy XIV) x f!reader
Synopsis: After spending your entire life sheltered from all evils in your mother’s palace, you find yourself in a very unfortunate situation where the only option is to make a deal with one of the dangerously powerful Unseen.
Notes: This has been kind of a coping fic for me bc I have not been doing great since, like, April. That might make it less appealing to some people, I’m not necessarily breaking new ground. It was originally the sequel to Vae Victis but then I decided I wanted to write my ultimate faerie contracted kidnap story and be Emet-Selch’s pet princess. The only song I’ve listened to in the past month is 嘘塗 so that’s the tone.
Marriage was often used as a tool of convenience - be it to upgrade one's own social status, get some much needed silver and gold, or to just get one leg up over your enemies, it really did not matter in the end.
Like it or not, you were tied to that person till death did you part.
That was a chant that has been sung to you ever since you came out of your weeping mother's womb. As the daughter of the household, it was natural for you to wed one day. However, the family was one of average standing, it had no special titles tacked onto it nor did it have any grotesque reputation which could sully it to the darkness and back. In its own way, it was oddly blissful, being invisible like that. No one expected you to act like a stuck up lady who would be locked away deep in a tower and you were also safe from becoming a measley wench who would be forced to spend the rest of her miserable days stuck rolling around in the mud, selling her body to all sorts of horrific strangers just in order to eat for a day.
You had the privilege of being born into a happy life. Perhaps a slightly dull one sometimes but regardless, a good one at that. You were content with everything which was given to you, perhaps even happy.
However, all things come to an end, and your end came in the form of a man riding on horseback.
He was strong, capable, handsome... But you kept that thought to yourself as you helped the wounded stranger get back on his feet, his midnight black steed happily trotting away somewhere as it accidentally shook the rider off its back once it locked eyes on you, a stranger in the woods.
"And who might you be?" asked the dark haired man, his curly hair framing his pale face so wonderfully that it took the breath from your lungs away.
You held onto him tightly and pressed him close to your body, the odor of blood and sweat covering him from top to bottom but you couldn't be bothered to care. He wore simple clothing which made you think that he was in a similar position like yourself in terms of finance, which gave you a slight glimmer of hope.
It was embarrassing how much you were swooning over the stranger.
Taking him back to your hut took longer than expected but all was well in the end. The handsome stranger had a name, Robb he said it was, and you couldn't hide the adoration in your voice whenever he would speak to you. The night flew by like a summer breeze - too fast and too sweet. Come first daylight he had to leave, which you understood.
That didn't stop you from feeling a little blue.
He mounted his horse like a knight in shining armor, its mane tussling proudly in the bitter north wind as Robb looked down at you, his warm blue eyes desperate to tell you many stories and secrets, but time was cruel and scarce.
He would come back to you, he promised.
And you gave him a smile sweeter than any juicy fruit, telling him that you would gladly wait for him.
He rode away all the while looking back at you, sending you a heart stopping smile which could make anyone weak in the knees. The horse left large hoofprints in the snow and you focused your attention on that, rather than the bitter stabs of pain in your heart.
There would never be a day when you'd see Robb ever again.
You were due to leave for the South in a few weeks time, in order to finally be wed off. The fantasy of Robb was saccharine and enchanting, many hours of sleep were lost due to him. Even if you barely knew him, the matters of the heart were reckless and stupid.
The heart wants what it wants and your heart ached for Robb.
All the while, you hadn't a clue of him and his plans. The men in Winterfell grew tired of his constant ramblings of this lovely woman he met, this sweet little thing which made his heart sing like no one else. He would walk in the corridors with a pep in his step as he thought of all the ways he could take you back to his home and give you the life you deserved.
His candied tirade quickly came to an abrupt halt once his mother had informed him of the grave news, that you had been promised to another man.
Robb was furious.
Who was this man?! Who did he think he is?! Ever the meticulous man, he got to work immediately. In less than a few days he had managed to gather all the information he could on this mystery fiance of yours, all the papers sprawled across his massive table. The candles in his chambers glimmered gently, the shimmering light a stark contrast to the raging flames in his heart.
If he could have his way, he'd be out for blood. Robb was too much of a jealous man for his own good but he needed to think, he needed to prepare if he wanted to do this right.
In less than a day, he had everything set up. If the man wasn't willing to take the gold he was offering him, he was not above using any scare tactics. His anger ended up getting the better of him though, so a bizarre combination of both was used.
The way in which your fiance left you made your heart sink. How were you going to break the news to your parents? Whatever could you have done so wrong to earn the ire of this lord whom you haven't even met yet...
You weep in your room, staining the mattress with your salty tears, completely oblivious to the small cavalry with House Stark banners raging on your front door.
Robb Stark had come for his bride. And she had no idea what sort of future awaited her...
✦ +18 ONLY, MDNI🚫
✦ pairing: al haitham x afab!reader
✦ cw: not proofread (literally did this in my notes), office sex, unprotected, reader doesn't have an explicit 0rgasm, al haitham calls reader "good girl," lmk if i missed any!
al haitham is... a pretty stoic man. you thought maybe his face muscles were just a bit stiff, but it turns out that he actually just doesn't care. and he's just so strange, you thought. he's not ambitious whatsoever and yet he's strangely highly motivated at the same time. you couldn't get a read on him at all.
even now, as you're writhing on top of his desk as he mercilessly pounds into you, you're still confused by him. what part of him is exactly "feeble?" you wondered with his rough thrusts and seemingly endless stamina, the thought was abruptly interrupted as a hand snakes up your neck, using it to press your back flush against his chest. his hand travels up to your jaw, facing it towards him as his other hand reaches towards your plush clit, roughly drawing circles on it. your insides tighten in response, causing him to groan, the sound so erotic that you can feel yourself getting impossibly wetter.
"what are you thinking about?" his tone a bit irritated.
"...nothing much-" you start, but he gives a sudden thrust, cutting you off. he keeps a sturdy grip on your neck, not enough to choke you, but just right to keep you in place.
"well, i can't really do too much when we're like this." you joke, but apparently al haitham liked your answer because he was now smirking, looking somehow satisfied.
"good girl," he whispers into your ear, the action making your insides throb against him as he resumes thrusting into you. he lets go of your neck and pushes your chest against the desk, rutting faster and faster into you as he gets closer to his release. he has both of his hands on your hips, suddenly twisting you around so that you're facing him and he pulls out and begins pumping himself over your messy pussy. everything from yourself to the entire office feels hot and your head feels fuzzy, and yet you're meticulously studying the face of the man above you as he releases himself on your stomach and cunt. his cheeks are tinted, his eyebrows furrowed, his lips pink and plump from kissing you, and sweat laces his entire face, further highlighting his features.
maybe al haitham isn't as stoic as you thought after all.
✦ +18 ONLY, MDNI🚫
✦ pairing: kaeya x afab!reader
✦ wc: ~600
✦ cw: nsfw, not proofread, unprotected, oral (f receiving), dacryphilia if you squint, hints at breeding, lmk if i’ve missed any
you try to find purchase on the desk, your hands fumbling against some pens and papers instead. the feeling of its ledge digging into your ass is lost on the taste of kaeya’s tongue. he angles his head, deepening the kiss as it gets harder to breathe. you gently push him away to catch your breath, but he sees no room for rest as he pushes you up so you’re sitting on the desk and spreads your leg enough for his body to fit between them. he grips your jaw and continues to kiss you, his other hand fiddling with the hem of your skirt as he eventually begins caressing your thigh. his hand goes higher and inwards, his fingers brushing against your clothed clit making you jolt away, breaking the kiss yet again.
kaeya’s impatient for once, pressing needy kisses against your jaw and neck as he makes quick work of unbuttoning your top so he can continue kissing his way downwards. his hand finds its way to your ankle, gently tugging off your high heels. his begins kissing the top of your ankle, making eye contact with you the entire time as he licks up your shin, his hand chasing its way to grip your thigh. the kisses get hotter and closer to your core, yet slower as you look down and realize that he’s staring right at you.
he wants you to watch. he wants you to watch him as he greedily slurps up your folds, dipping his tongue inside for a taste, and retracting it to suck on your clit. he flattens his tongue, trying to catch everything as much as possible and everything feels impossibly heavenly. but he also wants to watch you. he wants to watch you lose yourself from his mouth, he wants to watch you desperately try to silence your moans with your tiny hand, he wants to watch you twitch from his actions so he knows where and what makes you squirm even more. you can feel the coil in your stomach threatening to snap and kaeya notices it too. he starts licking at your clit faster, adding two fingers to your hole to make you cum faster. your hand leaves your mouth to tug at his hair as the coil snaps. your back arches and you openly moan as you ride out the rest of your orgasm, kaeya happily lapping up your release.
he rises, licking the remaining slick off his lips as he unzips his pants. he lays you down against the desk, lifting your legs to his shoulders as he rests his cock on your abdomen. the sheer size of it reaches a bit shy of your belly button as you blink languidly, oblivious of what’s to come next. he bites your calf, silently asking for your permission as you nod absentmindedly. in one swift thrust, he bottoms out causing you to gasp, his pace already fast and rough. he grabs the back of one of your thighs, pushing it up against your chest as you cover your moans with your hands again, sobbing with pleasure into them. tears roll down your eyes and you swear you could feel him twitch inside you from seeing you cry. you can feel that he’s close, his pace getting more erratic as he pushes up your other leg against your chest, better angling himself for his cock to consistently kiss your cervix. he thrusts into you one last time as he stills, cumming deep into you. you expected him to pull out, but he’s still hard.
i love you porn i love you smut i love you intricacies of human sexuality i love erotica i love you freak nasty walls of texts i love you analyzing the subconscious through the lens of sexuality i love you bdsm i love you weird fetishes . u move me
you know that trope where it’s princess + knight, but they’ve both been captured by the bad guys and the princess is now gripped by the jaw by the villain, receiving a thin cut to her cheek while remaining completely still with a defiant look in her eyes even as a droplet of blood begins to trickle out of the wound, all while 3 people AT THE VERY LEAST need to have their hands locked on the knight because he’s thrashing around like a wild animal, trying so so so desperately, violently, to get to her?
➥ Gwayne Hightower-He handles jealousy by trying to outshine his competition for your attention immediately.
➥ If a suitor is bragging about a hunting trip to impress you, Gwayne will suddenly appear, leaning casually against a wall, and tell a war story that makes the other man’s hunt look like a child’s game.
➥ He gets soo petty,He will critique the other man's armor, his fashion, or his skills with a charming smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.
➥ He inserts himself physically between you and his rival, usually offering you his arm or a drink, effectively turning his back on the person bothering him.
➥ Later he acts like he wasn't jealous at all, and he’ll demand your praise “That fellow was a bore wasn't he? you’re lucky i saved you my lady”.
➥ Aemond Targaryen- he does not show emotions and becomes quiet ,too quiet.
➥ When he sees someone else holding your attention, for example a lord lingering too long on your hand or a knight making you laugh ,the temperature in a room seems to drop.
➥ He will simply stare,he fixes his gaze on the person flirting with you, not blinking, until the intense weight of his gaze makes the other person stumble over their words and make them uncomfortable.
➥ He doesn't interrupt or rush over immediately ,instead he waits for the right moment to slide his arm around your waist possessively.
➥ He will switch to High Valyrian, murmuring things into your ear that make you blush, specifically to exclude the other person from the conversation and make them feel awkward.
➥ Alicent Hightower- Alicent doesn't fight for you, Her insecurity convinces her that you probably prefer the other person,someone freer, happier, or less burdened by duty than she is. So she will simply back off.
➥ You’ll notice she starts picking at her cuticles or twisting her rings. Her posture stiffens and her responses to you become short and formal “Yes, my lady”instead of your name.
➥ She will use propriety as her shield, she’ll interrupt the interaction by claiming you are needed elsewhere for a duty.
➥ It takes a lot of reassurance to get her to admit she was hurt. She needs you to come to her, to choose her explicitly, to melt the ice wall she puts up.
➥ Rhaenyra Targaryen -she has the blood of the dragon, so obviously she does not share what is rightfully hers.
➥ Her jealousy isn't insecure, it’s more like she gets offended , like she cannot believe anyone would dare try to get your attention while she is standing right there.
➥ She will interrupt a conversation without apology, demanding your presence for a council matter or simply because she desires it.
➥ If she’s jealous, she will touch your face, hold your hand, or kiss your cheek in front of her rival, marking her territory,It really is a power move.
➥ If the person doesn't get the hint, she will glare daggers at them until they back off. She wants you to know that you are the Realm's Delight's delight, and no one else’s.
➥ Aerion Targaryen -Jealousy with him is not cute, it is a real hazard.
➥ He sees you as an part of his own vanity and glory. He’s very possessive ,so If someone looks at you with desire, Aerion takes it as a personal insult to his "property."
➥ He will smile, with his terrifying, wide smile that implies violence. He might "accidentally" spill wine on his rival, or challenge them to a duel that goes too far. He’s violent,what can u do.
➥ He becomes overwhelming with you immediately after ,drowning you in gifts, jewelry, affection or dragging you away from the feast to demand you tell him he is the only dragon you see.
➥ Dunk - Oh my little baby is just "thick as a castle wall” but his self-esteem is lower than Flea Bottom.
➥ When he gets jealous (it’s usually when a highborn knight or lord is flirting with you), he assumes he has already lost.
➥ So he will physically step back, making himself small despite his massive size.
➥ He won't ever interrupt ,he’ll just stand in the shadows, looking like a kicked puppy.
➥ He won't say anything until you are alone, he’ll become very quiet, staring at his hands, convinced that you would be better off with a proper lord who can give you a castle and wealth, not with some hedge knight who sleeps under the stars.
➥ You have to be the one to reassure him ,you have to reach up, hold his hands, and tell him he’s the only one you want. And when you do, the relief that washes over his face is heartbreakingly sweet.
A rather long piece about a certain dodgeball player not being quite that honest about his past.
warnings: female! reader, graphic mention of death, murder, mention of blood, yandere and alcohol and drug use
“C’mon! Is that all you got?” You take another sip of your relatively weak drink, a little bit of rum mixed with a whole lot of cola. It wasn’t your intention to get all that drunk, but you couldn’t abstain while trying to get someone else drunk. The pirates were wasted every night Razor would give them off, but the problem with those day’s was that Razor would join the fray sometimes, and the absence of your husband way key to this plan working. “Since when are you such a lightweight?”
“Lightweight?! I’ll have you know I held the record for most tequila shots downed in an hour at a bar back at home.” True to his word, despite the seven shots he’d already thrown back, he wasn’t anything more than tipsy. “If you drank more than twenty in an hour, you didn’t have to pay.”
“Sounds like an easy way to get drunk.”
“You don’t wanna know how big those shot glasses were.” He wiped his nose on his sleeve, your nose crinkling when you saw the amount of dried up goop on there. You would’ve rather spent your night with nearly anyone else, but he was the only one that took the bait when you’d suggested drinking at the bar. Most didn’t want to get near you with a six foot pole. “Their technique was to get you shitwasted by the seventh glass or so and make you pay for all of it.”
Geldro was a plain old alcoholic with a rather serious criminal record, having been a notorious serial killer, targeting wannabe hunters that had high hopes and little ability, easy targets that no-one looked for since most would just assume they’d died during the exam. He freaked you out, his hair and beard disheveled, and eyes that always seemed to be pointed down at your chest, despite you dressing as modestly as possible when he was around.
The only reason he’d followed you up on your offer to get drunk was because you had access to the liquor cabinet-key, and so he could ogle you during. He wouldn’t touch you, though, you were sure of that.
Part one! I have most written out for the next part so don't come at me pointing at unfinished stuff lol I promise I'll finish this one. I always thought it'd be fun to imagine an original hunters exam, so here you guys go! Things in this fic are... happy now but will get bad really quickly
Warnings: snakes, mention of blood, reader is an idiot, female reader, reader is not a libra lmao, violence, murder, no yandere yet but you know me it's coming, 7k words
It is a good habit to try and see things from someone else's perspective at times, to see the intention beyond an immediate opinion and perspective. Sometimes, things aren't ideal for you, specifically, but the idea behind it can still be good. Having an open mindset really creates a lot of opportunities to reflect and improve.
That said, who in their right mind would put a train ticket into a snake pit?
This question repeated itself close to thirty times as you slowly descended into said snake pit, the hissing and wriggling creeping you out severely as you got closer, your fingers finding spots in the rock wall to lower yourself further. With a frustrated sigh, you decided this wasn't a pool, and you didn't need to ease yourself in, and just jumped, your boots crushing the few unlucky snakes you'd landed on.
Immediately, the fifty or so other snakes, all brightly yellow and green, jumped in your direction, and while cussing like a sailor, you punched away as many as you could, reaching out for the small laminated ticket you saw through your visor.
None of the snakes managed to reach your skin, thanks to the armor you wore, but it was annoying being covered head to toe in wiggling animals, your movement restricted. In the end, you managed to pluck the ticket out from the pool of snakes and managed to get yourself back to the edge of the pit, using various indents in the wall to climb back up, a few antagonistic reptiles still wrapped around various parts of your armor.
"You okay?" The man supervising the test seemed rather bemused as you continued to cuss your way up, the icky feeling of being surrounded by so many animals all aiming for your throat remaining, even if they couldn't actually bite you. "Must be heavy, wearing all that armor."
"I'm used to it." You replied gruffly as you climbed over the edge, tossing a single stowaway back into the pit. You showed the man the ticket. It was really just a laminated train ticket, though there was some scribbling on the back about a tourist destination called Lake Bertip. "So, do I pass?"
He laughed.
"With flying colours. I've seen many solutions, but arriving in a full set of armor is a new one." The man pointed toward the town across the hill, about an hours walk. "The train station is in that town. When you arrive, tell the conductor you've missed your train to Helmsville."
"Got it." Without wasting anymore time on chitchat, you bowed your head slightly. "Thank you."
He waved and you, trying to look cool while doing so, turned and walked away, greatly pleased with how you'd handled that. A stupid experience? Yes, but a stupid experience you'd passed! This was already going so much better.
"No problem. Good luck."
The trainstation was filled with all sorts of characters, but there seemed to be less obvious applicants roaming around, which was a good thing, you presumed. If this was a fake route, like you'd been tricked into last year, there would be many more wannabe hunters, all complaining to roaming personell to explain what was happening.
You still couldn't believe how you'd messed up, the disappointment in your masters face as you told her you'd been sent all the way to Gelmere before realizing you'd been tricked with false street signs. She'd increased your training difficulty exponentially after that, continually calling you stupid, up until the moment you left to try again.
So far so good. The snake pit thing had been idiotic, and the few small test before that even more so. At least with the snake pit, you could recognize it required some skill and bravery to jump in, but the astrology test back in Soning? What had that been about? Would you have been denied if you were a libra or something?
It'd all gone pretty smoothly, so you doubted you were pressed for time. Assuming this, you went to buy a sandwich and a small coffee, stuffing the food into your bag for later. When the exam would really kick off, it'd probably take a while before you could eat again, and endurance based tests without a little snack were agony. You'd rather re-do torture training, since with waterboarding you could at least sip the water.
When you were ready to proceed, your small coffee down the hatch and your motivation unearthed, you looked around to see where that conductor was supposed to be.
It took a while to find the conductor, seeing as he was hidden beneath a food stand, but when you spoke the key phrase, he smiled knowingly as if he didn't look ridiculous crouched underneath a bunch of bananas, and you were escorted to a train that seemed to still be under construction, the entire subsection of the station closed off for civilians. Large walls and yellow tape seperated it from the normal coming and going of transport. Probably safer that way.
Your feeling of being on the right track (get it? track?) was confirmed as the seat you'd been assigned turned out to be in the last car, the sight of the rest of the train blocked with more yellow tape, every seat filled with a bunch of weird looking people, some with very intense aura's.
A man holding a very large sword scoffed as you walked in, and you noticed some others give you very pointed looks as you walked by. A short rotund man even tried to hold out his foot to make you trip, but when you halted and looked him dead in the eye, he blanched and acted like he'd just been stretching.
The vibe was harsh, but you felt happy to have made it this far. Last years debacle would be purged from your mind once you made it through. Surely this time you'd be able to prove yourself!
The path between seats was a little tight, making your armor bump into several armrests, the sound embarassing you as you searched for the seat. You found it, ignoring several people meanspirited laugh at you as you somewhat clumsily tried to turn sideways in the cramped space, sighing in relief as the one you were seated next to seemed like a normal person.
He was clearly your age, maybe a bit younger, and looked nice, which was good. You'd dreaded from the second you'd entered this train that you'd need to sit next to one of those muscled up old guys, the pungent smell finding your nose even through your helmet. This guy even wore a soft pink sweater and was loudly listening to what seemed to be heavy metal, a mix of facts that made you consider him favourably.
No. You needed to be distrusting. Calculating.
Master had been very clear on the 'no making friends' policy.
You pointed towards his bag, which seemed to match his sweater both in colour as in texture.
"Hello. Would you mind removing your bag?"
Pulling out some earbuds, the screaming music loud enough to make you worry for his hearing, the blonde young man smiled your way, removing his bag immediately. "Sure!"
It took a while to sit down without having the armor touch him, but he seemed in a good enough mood while you maneauvered into your seat. Despite that, you turned toward him and smiled underneath your helmet, for no one's comfort but your own. "If anything scrapes against you, please tell me, I can't feel if it's touching anything."
"Don't worry, you're fine." The man said amusedly. "Didn't expect a girls voice to come from underneath all that metal."
"Most people don't."
He placed his elbow against the window, leaning casually against his fist as he continued to appraise you.
"So what's with the get-up? You expecting a jousting match sometime soon?"
You giggled, preferring his immediate humor to demands to see your face. Those got old quick. At least with jokes you could just play along. "Didn't you hear? First test is to save a princess from a dragon."
He blinked, and for a second you wondered if he didn't understand your joke, or if you'd perhaps said it too bluntly for it to be read as humerous, but before you could apologize for saying something dumb, he chuckled and pointed at his own get-up.
"Ah. I'm in the wrong attire then."
Wait. You were bantering. This wasn't the assignment. You could quite nearly see the disappointed face of your master, but immediately decided that she wasn't here. And even if she was here, you were just making conversation, didn't mean that you'd be best friends with this guy. Maybe you were even using him! Manipulation wasn't making friends.
Having deluded yourself enough for your own satisfaction, you turned to him and made another joke. "You could pass for the princess."
Another win, you reckoned, as he burst out in laughter. "Pffft- if you say so! Be sure to save me then."
"Of course, you're in good hands."
"But really, why armor? Seems a bit impractical." His earbuds had still been playing music, but while speaking to you he'd turned them off and placed them back in their case, his full attention on you. Your attention wasn't fully on his question, your ears trying to pick up if anyone else was having a conversation currently, or if everyone was just listening along to this one. You couldn't hear anything outside of grumbles and threats spewed at new arrivals, so that could very well be the case.
No sharing anything too important, then.
Like you'd meant to do from the beginning, of course. It went against logic to share personal information with someone you were manipulating. You'd lie and cheat your way through this entire conversation, make him believe you were an entirely different person! He'd never see it coming-
"My teacher said that if I can't pass this exam in full armor, I might as well give up being a hunter entirely."
Fuck.
You'd told him the truth.
"Hmm, interesting methods." He replied nonchalantly, interrupting you whilst you were mentally beating yourself up over your loose lips. "Couldn't you just use weights instead?"
You scoffed, inwardly screaming as the thought had never occured to you even once. Weights would've been a vast improvement. Getting dressed in the morning like this was hell. "Nah. It had to be armor. Nothing else would do."
If he caught you being untruthful, he didn't say anything about it, instead humming under his breath. "They seem pretty protective over you, then."
Protective?
You had trouble seeing the beatings you took from her any time you failed a task as protective. If anything, she seemed to rejoice in sending you into dangerous situations. Take this very exam as an example, nothing about this was safe.
"She's insane." You said whilst fiddling with your arm rest, wanting it to go up so you could have a bit more room. "But we'll see."
A sharp horn interrupted any further conversation, the crackle of an intercom causing everyone to fall silent and wait for further instructions.
"Hellooooo~ Welcome everyone! First and foremost let me congratulate you all for reaching the site for this annual hunters exam! Yay! Aren't you all exited?" An incredibly high-pitched women's voice rang through the train, some people covering their ears at the incessant noise piercing through your eardrums. "We have so much planned and I hope you will all enjoy this year's exam greatly!"
Nobody said a word, all eagerly listening to the examiner's words, despite how many tried to look as if they weren't paying attention. The attempt at intimidation failed monumentally, at least in your eyes.
"The train will depart in a few moments. Let's all make something fun of it, okay? Okay! Good luck!"
"So the exam has already started..." A man a few seats behind you mumbled.
As more people seemed to recognize that fact, the vibe- which had already been atrocious- worsened, and several people grabbed their weapons, looking around for any kind of suspicious happening. You looked around as people got more and more nervous, only a few keeping their wits about them.
You sighed.
So what if the exam had already started?
Nothing had become clear during the short message, and it would do no good to assume things based on so little information. Your master had told you the first test tended to usually be endurance based, so you assumed mind games would only come later. That was for the best, you didn't usually fare well in those types of situations.
Eh, that was a worry for later. You'd do your best!
Even if this time the exam didn't work out, you were already farther than last year, so that was a win! Sure, best case scenario, you would get the license, but you didn't really want it all that bad. Travelling didn't really hold your interest, and the money would be nice but overall unecessary. You were mainly back here to stop your teacher from continuing to laugh her ass of at your expense.
The loud, mechanical noise of the train getting ready to head off started, and as you looked outside, you noticed the station slowly roll out of sight, the train moving forward to whatever destination the examinors had in mind.
Despite your conviction not to take it all so seriously, you quickly realised as the train rode out of the town, that you would be really disappointed if you didn't get a lot farther this time. You'd trained so, so, so much. It would be a killer for your self-esteem if you didn't at least make it to the finals.
So much for deluding yourself into pretending nothing here mattered.
Your conversation partner had put his earbuds back in and was looking outside, taking in the view, so you'd just need to amuse yourself for now and figure out the exam.
Or, you needed to, but as the first half hour passed, you were starting to get really bored. You hadn't really brought anything outside of a change of clothes, the sandwich you'd bought and some essentials, so you couldn't play a game or read a book. You also weren't comfortable enough to zone out completely.
Several people shared this sentiment, many people getting antsy and some even voicing opinions of getting a patrol through the train to survey any suspicious behavior. Nobody volunteered to do the job, already sensing its futility and foolishness, but the person who'd insisted upon it the loudest eventually stood up to, as he called it, get a feel for the first phase.
An hour passed.
He hadn't come back, having disappeared into the first carriage after finding out the one toward the back had a locked door. Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, you didn't know, and thinking too hard about it wouldn't do you any good, you hoped.
Another hour passed.
This was sooooo boring.
You were on the edge of just bothering the person next to you again, maybe he wanted to talk? Play 'I spy' or something? Well, to be fair, the answer would no doubt be either green or blue, since the train had been going up a mountain for quite some time now. It made for a nice view, at least, but not one you could spend another few hours looking at. Something needed to happen, and fast, before you'd go completely stir crazy.
And then the train started accelarating, and you got your wish.
You weren't the only one that noticed, the man next to you even putting away his earbuds again, hands clasped on his lap and a small smile on his face as he waited. The train going faster had garnered both your attention, so surely that meant the exam would begin soon, right? Things would get interesting!
"Isn't it going faster?" One person noticed, a bit late to the party.
"What's happening?" The guy with the large sword that had scoffed at you yelled out, but as you looked in his direction, you realized it had nothing to do with the train, his fist clutching an empty juice box and his expression incredibly pained. The rotund man behind him snickered.
You turned to face the window, getting annoyed by the amount of panic despite nothing really interesting happening yet.
"How much do you want to bet that it's going to crash or something?" You asked your neighbor. "Or jump!"
"Six million jenny on not crashing." The man replied smiling.
The high number made you recoil, having only been half-serious about your proposal. "Are you made of gold? No way."
It was getting hard to hear anything over the loud bolster of the engine, or the wheels squeaking through the metal encasings, but as you tried to focus, you slowly realized people in the carriages in front of you were panicking, the unmistakeable sound of screams just noticeable enough over the rest of the noise.
You tried to look through the corridor to see what was going on, only hearing screams and various noises of desorientation. Only then did you realize that the path through which you'd walked in on was completely blocked by a blue wall, one that seemed really similar to the material and colour on the ceiling-
FWOOSH
The entire coupe suddenly shifted in direction, your body propelled off the seat into the overhead stashing as the entire carriage flipped vertical, everyone on the seats closer to the exit falling down before falling up due to the amount of pressure as the train was going straight down.
Oh... the train was falling.
You managed to grab onto one of the seats, holding tightly as everything flew past you. You quickly looked toward the man sitting next to you, only to find that he'd just quickly turned around and shifted his weight, now casually sitting on top of the side of the chair that'd been in front of him.
Dodging several bags that flew by you, as well as one contestant that hadn't been able to hold onto anything, you held on tight, something that was not very difficult, but the suddenness of it all caused the entire ordeal to feel enormously chaotic.
And then the train abruptly stopped moving, and everyone that had been holding onto something was either jolted down or utterly propelled through the carriage, the previous pressure releasing the weightless effect that had kept most people afloat. Bags and cases fell down to the bottom of the train, and a few unlucky ones saw their luggage fly right down through the next carriage, the doors having opened in the midst of it all.
Shouts demanding explanations along with more antsy people looking around waiting for an enemy to appear filled both carriages, and probably the ones below them, the noises now identical.
Quite a lot of people sported injuries, a red-headed man clutching a broken leg the worst of the bunch, but you tried to keep your focus on yourself. Luckily, you'd managed to get through without a hitch, and quickly climbed up on top of the seat, next to the crouching blonde man.
The intercom crackled again.
"Heyyy! Hopefully you're all doing good! It's Katherine back to give some information! Can I get a cheer from you all?" It was dead silent, save for some groans of pain. "I can't hear you but I'm gonna assume you all went crazyyy. So, here's the deal. We're on the side of Helteru Mountain, how cool is that! If you look outside you can see-" Another voice interupted her, telling her to hurry up. "Ugh, okay, okay. I get it, you all want to get to it. Well, so, here it is. In order to pass this phase of the exam, just exit the train at the north end! That's doable, right? Just to be clear, the north side is up, so you guys better get to climbing, okay? Byeee~ Katherine out."
It was silent for a good three seconds before all hell broke loose, contestants from your car jumping up from seat to seat to the next door, while the people from the car below you started to seep in here, throwing people down and rushing towards the next exit. The doors were closed, but when one contestant got close, it opened without a hitch.
You waited a bit, thinking of the way people got out of airplanes. Getting up and rushing forward didn't make exiting any quicker, you were just stuck in a mass of people for longer.
Waiting was the right call, you decided, as when the next contestant reached the door, it opened and the contestant that had entered first rushed out again, screaming, now covered in some disgusting looking green goo. The people he touched on the way back down all yelled out in disgust as the stuff hit them, sticking to their skin in a way you could only describe as glue.
You looked around for another way to go, reaaalllly not feeling the mystery goo chamber that seemed to be next.
The man next to you touched your shoulder and you looked at him.
"Wanna try going out the windows?" The man said, pointing at a crack in one of the many windows. You looked outside, trying to spot anything dangerous, but couldn't find anything to warrant immediate concern. Wanting to be casual, you just shrugged, a creak of your armor lessening the aspect of it that was in a any way casual. "They'll probably dissuade us, but I don't wanna deal with the next room. It seems disgusting"
Another cry of revulsion coming from above, and you were forced to agree. That sounded nasty.
With a pulled back fist, the man punched one of the windows, glass shattering everywhere as he poked his head out into the open air. Heavy gusts of wind flew by him as he looked back at you, still sporting a smile that was worry-free over anything else. "Seems doable. I'll go first."
You'd made promises to teacher not to engage in any friendly contact, but this seemed business first. He just wanted to get up there sooner, leave you behind, surely. It was just good reasoning to follow him, since the next room seemed more dangerous than any kind of betrayal a guy in a soft pink sweater could enact.
Silently, you followed him as he jumped up toward the next window, his fingers effortlessly finding spots to hold onto. Still, even for him, the gusts of wind seemed to want to throw his body into the abyss below, clouds visible beneath you, and you noticed the second you stuck your head out that air was thinner outside.
Following him, you slowly began to regret making this decision, the gusts of wind harsh enough to fly you off the train with a single careless move. You could hear other people making the same mistake, several people below attempting to copy you screaming as they fell off the side of the train and through the empty space below.
"C'mon!" The man screamed over the heavy noise, already several meters above you. "We'll get back in at the next carriage."
Fair. Fair. Fair.
You could do that.
Or at least, that's what you told yourself as you continued climbing up the side of the train, a mixture of immediate muscle exhaustion and a creeping new-found fear of heights keeping your mind crystal clear with panic. Step for step. Hold for hold. The screams of other contestants weren't helping.
As such, it took quite a bit longer than the time he'd taken to cross the distance of a single cart, but your body was filled with relief once you saw the window he'd broken to get back in.
Your fingers were on the edge of the broken window, when your grip suddenly failed, a badly timed gust and shifting glass beneath your fingers causing you to fall.
Your heart stopped, the realisation that you were falling making you cry out the most indignified noise you'd ever made.
And then your body stopped falling, suspended in the air, dangling miles high above any sort of ground.
You looked up and met eyes with a boyishly smiling familiar face. The blonde man had caught your hand, and while you were dangling out of the window, he had the audacity to wink at you.
At that moment you realized you wanted to know his name.
"Weren't you supposed to save me?" He pulled you up, arms that had been hiding beneath a soft pink sweater suddenly a lot more muscular than you remembered noticing. Oh... and he had dimples when he smiled. "Last I heard, I was the princess."
"This is a very modern re-telling." You said without thinking, absorbed into your sudden appreciation for his facial features even as you'd been fearing for your life seconds ago. "Don't get stuck in old narratives."
His lips wobbled and before long he was laughing again, picking tears from his eyes as you struggled to regain foothold. Most of the train had been blown to pieces in here, only the outside casing intact, the small space the two of you were standing on having the most structural integrity out of anything in the carriage.
It seemed like a bomb had gone off in here.
"Thanks, though." You suddenly remembered to say, feeling incredibly embarassed as you realized you'd had to rely on someone else as early as the first real stage. "I owe you one."
"Don't mention it." He pulled out a phone and looked at it for a few seconds before putting it back in his pocket. "Want to team up for a bit?"
Your heart skipped a beat. "Sure."
"It's just so boring going through this alone and you- oh you agreed. Nevermind." Grabbing a loose pipe, he propelled himself up and quickly reached the next door, holding out a hand once you'd made the same jump. Without even realizing that he could drop you, or that you shouldn't rely on him, you'd already grabbed his hand again, effortlessly moving through the third carriage. "I had a whole speech planned."
This time you laughed. "I'd love to hear it, but maybe save it for after we get out of this."
"I'll hold you to that." The next carriage seemed equally straightforward, a few contestants that had reached it already mindlessly climbing up, their clothes stuck in goop from the second carriage. They looked annoyed as you and the man went past quickly, not wasting time on anything else but progress. "What's your name?"
You told him, before holding open the door for the next carriage. "And yours?"
He went through, smiling broadly. "It's Shalnark. Nice to meet you."
"How long is this train?" You bemoaned, jumping across an extra few seats, your fingers already searching for the next handhold to lift yourself up. It'd been hours, and you and Shalnark barely seemed to be halfway. Looking out the various broken windows gave the only real indication, a long line of carts still standing between you and the finish line. "Seems like an engineers nightmare."
So far it had been mostly climbing, with a few 'special' carriages in between, all with their own gimmick. The second carriage had been filled with slime, making the rest of the ascent more difficult, but luckily you and Shalnark had passed that in exchange for a horrifying climb outside. After that there was a carriage that seemed to be covered in heated metal, with only very small parts that were safe, and there'd been one filled with water fountains, but everyone that seemed to have drank from them had fallen asleep.
Nothing so far had been really lethal, except for the outside expedition, but that had also not been the intended route.
"Do you want to take a break?" Shalnark mused from a few meters below you. "Ughhhh~ I'm hungry."
"Sure. We could be timed though, so let's not take too long." You grabbed your bag, which had been flung over your shoulder thus far, to grab the sandwich you'd brought along.
"We passed like fifty people already. I'm sure we're fine" Shalnark looked at you as you sat down and took a bite from your meal. "Wow. Hey. Were did you get that?"
"I brought it? Got it at the train station." Looking between him and the sandwich, you broke it in half, not wanting to look like a dick eating your own snack while he was starving. "You want half?"
"I was just complaining. Didn't think you'd actually have anything to eat." He eagerly grabbed the sandwich and pat you on your head, the ding comically loud as he sat next to you. "Thank you~"
"Pfft. No problem."
Another hour passed before the two of you encountered anything special again, but the climbing had gotten a bit easier, the train no longer fully vertical, but leaning on what seemed to be solid ground. Shalnark had implied the two of you could go back outside and finish that way, but you really didn't feel like it, since at least the inside had heating.
It seemed you were close.
Other people also realized.
A camo-wearing dude the size of jupiter, forgive the exaggeration, guarded the exit of the car, three similar clothed people standing right behind him, blocking the way for anyone wanting to pass.
"Humf! If you two have made it this far, you might at least have a bit of endurance, too bad this year the only one's graduating will be me and my crew." Holding out his sword, he swished it once through the air, cutting cleanly through a seat. "So turn back, or get ready to meet your maker."
You blinked and wondered how seriously to take this entire thing.
One of the goons blocking the doors answered your question for you. "Nice boss! They seem terrified!"
"How do I seem terrified?" You wondered, stepping forward, Shalnark watching you curiously as you took the lead. "You can't even see my face."
"Tch. A girl? I don't like beating up women, but if you take one more step, I'll be forced to."
This was, once again, so fuckin stupiddddd. Barring others so just he and his crew would pass? His crew was nearly passed out from the climb, all completely red and still gasping for oxygen. They wouldn't last the rest of the four- maybe five- tests! And also, this was just really immature. You continued looking at the man in front of you, the green camo-gilly suit he was wearing rather out of tone with how loud he was being.
An idea sprung into your mind, and you couldn't help yourself.
"Huh? Where'd he go?" You stopped approaching him and looked around haphazardly, trying to contain the trembling laugh bubbling up in your chest. "Wait. Did anyone see him leave? Where is he?"
"What do you mean?" Shalnark asked, tilting his head. "Who?"
"The guy guarding the door! I swear, he was just here." You pointed to the spot where the guy was still very much standing, now confused as you denied being able to see him.
"Are you mocking me, woman?" He took a step forward. "I am Gildred of the thousand fists! I will not be disrespected!"
"I think I hear his voice?" You said, trying to sound panicked, but failing terribly at it. "Show yourself!"
Gildred stopped and looked back towards his teammate, now slightly suspicious something was going on."Is this part of the exam? What is she doing?"
One of his team caught on. "Oh. I think she's messing with you."
"What?"
"Because you're wearing camoufla-"
Having reached the punchline, you leaped forward and punched Gildred right in his nose, a nice and poignant crack beneath your metal fists assuring you he'd end up blacked out immediately, if not concussed. As expected, he fell down, his goons jumping up in shock and jumping to the side the second their leader failed at stopping you.
Shalnark choked out a laugh.
You raised a fist to the air.
"Booyah! Fuck off and get lost!" Hyped up by your ultimate win, you stepped past the three chickenshits cowering in the corners to go through the door before realizing you'd teamed up with someone. "You coming, Shalnark?"
"Yeah, sure." He still seemed quite amused by your behaviour, wich you couldn't decide was good or bad. "What was it you said? Booyah?"
You froze, just before opening the next door.
Oh no, he was making fun of you.
"Shut up." Embarassed, you turned your back to him. "It was a booyah-moment. Nothing wrong with that."
"Certainly." He sounded seconds away from bursting out in laughter. "It made you sound very mature. The entire fight did, actually. Way to keep the high ground."
"Shut up!" You said, shame seeping through your neck as you regretted every decision you'd ever made. You kinda liked him, and what did you do? Stupid jokes and booyah? What the fuck? What was wrong with you? You should've let the Gildred guy punch you. "I'm not an idiot."
"Let's go back and ask his friends what they think about that." Oh no, he seemed to enjoy this way too much. "Perhaps they want you to be their new leader."
With your face reaching high temperatures, you opened the door and stepped through, walking forward as quickly as you could. "Do you think the next carriage will be the last one?"
"Hahaha, you're trying to change the subject."
The second you reached the end of the car, you covered your helmet with your hands, blocking your eyesight. "Shut uuuuuuup."
"....Are you blushing under your helmet? C'mon- I wanna see."
It turned out you were right, as the second you'd opened the door, you were out in the open air, the sun greeting you as you jumped onto solid ground, looking back to see the entire train still somewhat dangling from this very spot. The view was amazing, clouds surrounding the entire peak, with other similar high spots poking out through the thick white. Helteru mountain, it was, right?
A blue-haired woman greeted you, seated on a small chair on the very pinacle of the mountain, snow surrounding her, congratulating you on being the first to pass. A man sat next to her, crosslegged, with his back turned to the train.
"Wow, really? That's-"
Enjoying the victory was cut short as Shalnark appeared behind you on the top and hitched his fingers under your helmet, proclaiming he wanted to see the genius hiding beneath. You cried out and ran away, him following you around the rocky surroundings to try and get your helmet. You grabbed snow from the ground and threw it his way.
The woman, who you assumed to be Katherine, did not seem to know what to do. Neither did you.
Moral of the first exam was to not let Shalnark see you do stupid shit. Lesson learned.
It took close to six hours before the final door of the train stopped opening, bangs on the metal indicating several contestants were trapped behind and none too happy that they'd taken too long. By now, you and Shalnark had identified every possible object you could imagine seeing in the clouds, and it was getting kind of boring, but your body was happy to get the small break.
You'd been keeping an eye on the contestants that had entered after you, taking note of a few you'd seen in passing. Your placement had been fortunate, you later realized, as there'd been a lot of carts below you who'd had to fight to get through more passenger cars, while you had been able to immediately get into the actual climbing aspect of the test. Eh. Lucky.
There were a few characters that seemed especially noteworthy. There was a woman with long braids and a sword strapped to her back that exuded a very malicious aura, and even though this hadn't been a fighting exam, her clothes were already covered in specks of blood.
Another was the man that had tried to trip you, not because he seemed scary, but because you wondered how the fuck he'd made it this far. The one you kept following with your eyes the most was a man with a monkey, but to be fair, that was mostly because you liked the monkey.
It'd noticed once that you were staring at it and had scratched his head.... so cute.
You'd told Shalnark, but he'd just looked at you as if you were crazy and asked you what good he'd be as a hunter if the man needed help from a monkey. What a buzzkill.
It seemed a lot of people had failed, you reckoned, looking around. There were still quite a lot of people, enough to make the top of the mountain feel a bit crowded, but not nearly as much as you'd thought would make it.
Katherine seemed to agree, pouting as she looked around. "Ahhh, I'll get in trouble, surely." Her sadness didn't last long. "Well, nothing to be done about it, perhaps it is just a small batch this year!"
She turned to adress all contestants, most of them still recuperating from the journey up. "Well! It's good to see you all made it. Hope it was fun. This is sadly where I will leave your amazing company and let my colleague take over. Everyone say hello tooooooo- Mikhail!"
Mikhail, the man that had been sitting next to Katherine when you'd arrived at the top, slowly stood uo.
He was a man covered in tattoos and only slowly drew the attention toward himself, throwing away a lit cigarette before talking. Katherine frowned at that and mumbled something about littering. "I will be your examiner for the second phase."
He turned to his left and pointed. "We will go that direction toward the Bertip lake. In order to pass this test you need to reach the lake within fifteen hours without being tagged."
Many looked over the edge, you included, and you heard a few lament having to endure even more physical exercise, though this time it was at least the trip down. The real suckers were the ones who'd just arrived. Out of the frying pan and into the... well, the snow.
A few people said some things, complaining and Mikhail responded very bluntly, clearly not the type to speak for long periods of time. Katherine made up for it, trying to answer in his stead, but it seemed she didn't know everything either as when people started asking her for information, she just held up her hands and said 'i'm not the examiner, how would I know?'
You hoped Shalnark was paying attention because you were in a staring contest with the monkey. The monkey was winning.
"Just answer our questions! How will we get there and what is the deal with the tagging?!" A man with a red shirt and face markings asked, stepping forward agressively towards examiner Mikhail, clearly done with the lack of information.
Mikhail smiled, and it wasn't a very nice smile, his teeth too sharp to make the expression of joy seem anything other than severely creepy. "On the back of your train tickets you can find a map to the next site without problem. Shouldn't be too hard. As for the tagging-"
The examiner grabbed the man's shoulder and squeezed slightly, still grinning ear to ear. The man got sickly white, huffed out in pain and immediately crumpled to the ground, eyes rolled to the back of his skull. Mikhail turned to the rest, holding up his hand. "I'm it."
you insisted on going to the horror movie night with your new boyfriend, sukuna, after overhearing his idiot frat brothers whispering about you.
“she’s really soft.”
“i've never seen ryo with a girl like her.”
“watch her piss herself at the first jumpscare.”
laughter all around.
and maybe it was stupid, but you wanted to prove them wrong. prove you could handle the same things as the girls he usually kept around. cool girls. confident girls. mature girls who didn’t cling to their boyfriend’s sleeve every five minutes.
so you sat beside sukuna and in that freezing theater, chin lifted stubbornly, pretending your stomach wasn’t already twisting from the opening music alone.
for the first thirty minutes, you held it together.
barely.
you got by closing your eyes at the scarier parts and subtly whispering to sukuna to tell you when it was over.
then the movie hit you with the most horrific, satan-spawned jumpscare imaginable.
you shrieked so loud the entire row flinched.
your hand jerked violently.
and your ice cream launched directly into satoru gojo's face.
silence.
then satoru yelling, “WHAT THE HELLY?”
suguru and toji snickered.
and suddenly you were crying.
partly because you’d just assaulted sukuna's friend with matcha soft serve after you'd spent a whole minute outside the theatre convincing all of them you weren't scared in the slightest before you'd gone in.
partly because that was some really good ice cream you'd just wasted.
partly because everyone was staring.
but mostly because that movie was fucking terrifying.
sukuna immediately grabbed your wrist and stood up. “aight, we’re leaving.”
you hid your face in his arm while his friends snickered behind you. humiliation burned hot in your chest as he guided you out of the theater, your legs still shaky.
outside, the cold night air hit your cheeks.
“sorry…” you mumbled miserably.
sukuna snorted. “it's fine, baby. gojo deserved it, he was being an asshole."
you whined, covering your face. "i wasn't talking about that!"
he laughed under his breath, but there wasn’t an ounce of cruelty in it. just amusement. then he leaned down and pressed a kiss to your temple, “i’ll take you home, yeah?”
you sniffled and nodded. “that was scary.”
“i know, babe. i'm sorry,” he opened the passenger door for you, buckling your seatbelt himself with surprising gentleness. “should’ve known that shit would freak you out.”
“it was my idea…” you hiccuped.
“i still shoulda said no.” he shut the door and rounded the hood of the car.
the few seconds you sat alone were awful. your eyes immediately darted to the rearview mirror. the backseat looked way too dark. you stared at it, fully convinced some horrifying demon woman was about to crawl over the seats and kill you.
the driver door opened and sukuna slid in and caught you staring.
“…you looking at your little friend back there?”
you gasped, “kuna, don’t SAY that!”
he barked out a laugh while starting the engine. “you want another ice cream?”
your watery eyes widened hopefully. “…yeah.”
“thought so.”
by the time you reached your apartment complex, you were clutching a drive-thru soft serve with both hands while sukuna walked beside you toward your door.
you were finally calm again.
until he kissed your forehead, patted your ass lightly, and turned away. “see you tomorrow, babe.”
terror immediately flooded your face. you grabbed his arm so fast he almost stumbled back.
he looked down at you with a blink. then sighed. “…should’ve expected that.”
your eyes welled up again. “y-you’re leaving?”
“nah.” he unlocked your apartment and walked in beside you. “just wanted to see your face.” sukuna lied smoothly.
you blinked. “…oh.”
“cute reaction though.”
you huffed at him before setting your ice cream on the counter. “um… i need to pee.”
“okay?” he said, lifting a questioning brow, not quite sure what this has to do with him.
you awkwardly twisted your fingers together before looking up at him nervously.
a beat passed.
then sukuna sighed the sigh of a man accepting his fate.
a minute later, he was inside your bathroom aggressively yanking the shower curtain open .checking the cabinets. looking behind the door.
“there.” he deadpanned. “no demons.”
you stood in the doorway anxiously. “is it safe?”
“yes.”
“…promise?”
“baby, if something attacks you while you piss, i’ll personally beat its ass.”
you considered that seriously.
“…okay.”
you stepped inside cautiously.
“stand by the door.”
“stand by the—” he repeated in disbelief, before he stopped himself with a long exhale. “fine.”
“and turn around.”
“baby, i’ve literally seen you naked—”
“TURN AROUND.”
“bossy as hell,” he muttered, turning around anyway.
“and cover your ears.”
he stared at you over his shoulder in disbelief. “why?”
"i don't want you hearing me pee!"
sukuna sighed slowly. then lifted two resigned hands to his ears.
“not all the way though,” you continued nervously, “or you won’t hear me scream.”
sukuna closed his eyes and covered his ears, “that all, princess?”
“mhm!” you chirped brightly, kissing his cheek. “thanks honey. you’re sooo brave.”
he looked up at the ceiling like he was asking the universe for strength.
You’ve worn your boyfriend Sukuna to the bone, so your other boyfriend Toji takes over.
warnings. fem!reader/tojikuna, threesome, multiple orgasms, piv, kissing, creampie, overstim, ovulation, switch!toji if you squint, dom!sukuna. nsfw 18+ mdni.
──── ୨୧ ────
The first thing Toji noticed when he stepped through the front door was the heat. A subtle humidity lacing the air like the sweet lingering remnants of perfume. There was your lotion, sweet and familiar, and the smell of fresh sweat, layered with something primal and musky - the smell of sex.
The second thing he noticed was Sukuna, splayed over the couch like he’d just run a marathon. Tank top soaked through and sweatpants riddled with little damp patches, dotted across the fabric like stray petals. Toji’s gaze dipped without bothering to hide the way he was blatantly staring at Sukuna’s chest, at the heaving pecs peeking out from his neckline, eyes tracking the little bead of sweat beginning to trail a hot path down the center.
“What’s your problem?” Came Toji’s eventual greeting as he paused by the door, tearing his eyes away just to sling his gym bag over the hook there before continuing into the room, water bottle clasped in his hand.
Sukuna glared in reply, and if Toji were anyone else he might have actually felt intimidated by the sight. But with the way the other man was panting, pink tufts of hair stuck every which way and slicked with sweat, he didn’t paint a particularly scary image. In fact the only sensation the sight triggered within Toji was a mild amusement, alongside a tiny spark of heat low and betraying in his belly.
“I’ve already had her four times,” Sukuna grunted, “the brats insatiable.”
Toji snorted mid sip of water, eyes leaving the couch to instead peer through the half opened doorway to the bedroom, where he managed to catch only a glimpse of your bare leg through the crack. From the looks of it you were naked - splayed over the sheets, hair probably still a little damp from the shower, skin lacquered with lotion, half washed away with sweat by now.
“What, she ovulating or something?” Toji wondered aloud, lowering the bottle to once again catch Sukuna’s gaze over the metal rim.
The other man crossed his arms unceremoniously across his chest, and Toji watched the tendons jump in the winding muscle of his forearms as he shrugged.
“That or she’s in heat, damn near milked me dry.” He grumbled, brows knitted, working a mean line between them. If you were here you’d reprimand him for such an expression, crawl over the couch and run your thumb between his salmon brows until the lines wore smooth, or until Sukuna grew bored and wrapped a hand around your wrist to flip you onto the cushions instead.
Toji laughed then, the sound rough and graveled like tattered velvet.
“Seriously?” He scoffed, lips spread into a sly grin as he licked stray droplets from them, “had to tap out did ya’ Ryomen?”
Sukuna’s scowl only deepened, soured now with genuine irritation.
“Just be grateful I wore her out for you,” he spat, “and watch your tone, or it’ll be you spread eagle and whining for more cock next, Fushiguro.”
Toji chuckled again as he screwed the lid of his bottle on tight, the motion accented with a metallic ‘squeak!’ before he tossed it toward Sukuna, hard enough that he heard the fleshy impact when the other man’s hand shot out to catch it.
“Yeah yeah,” he mused, moving past the couch to instead push through the bedroom door, which creaked beneath the effort, “drink some fuckin’ water and get outta my way.”
If he were being honest, when he’d left for the gym that morning he’d been hoping for this exact scenario. Toji knew you - or at least your cycle - well enough to know that you’d wake up needy and leaking, and he knew Sukuna well enough to know he wouldn’t be able to resist the sight of you humping his thigh like a dog in heat for very long. So he’d left without a word just as the sun kissed the horizon, and he’d been half hard in his sweats since his second rep just thinking about it.
If the living room was warm, the air within the bedroom was stifling. But it wasn’t the heat or the sticky sweet scent that knocked the air from Toji’s lungs on entry, no. It was the sight of you - limbs splayed over the mattress, hair messed and wild where your head was tucked between the pillows. Your jaw lifted back far enough to expose the long column of your throat, giving Toji a stellar view of the dark sucking marks peppered there, indents of teeth that he was sure would melt into bruises by the evening.
Toji took in the sight indulgently - paused in the doorway, a lone hand already trailing its way down the curve of his stomach, teasing until his fingers curled over the bulge forming there. He squeezed once and shivered, reveling in the immediate relief that sizzled over his body like a splash of ice water.
He could feel the weight of Sukuna’s gaze piercing into the back of his skull like the promise of a snipers sight. He didn’t indulge the urge to peer over his shoulder and meet that heated gaze, instead he let his hand drop to his side and pressed a knee into the mattress.
You didn’t move, didn’t speak or even open your eyes when he crawled over the sheets, crowding your space like a panther sliding atop its snagged prey.
His hand met the curve of your waist, skin soft and warm beneath his palm, layer of sweat sticking you lightly to him. He trailed one hand downward over the curve of your belly, the other grazed feather-soft over the slopes of your breasts, pausing to pinch gently at either nipple, perked and willing in his hands.
“You’re soaked sweetheart,” he mused when his fingers finally dipped between your thighs, which gave way to him easily, spreading to make room for his forearm to slot between. He moved slowly, palming soft and teasing over your mound and listening to you mumble mindlessly below him.
You whined something unintelligible in reply, voice nothing but a high pitched whimper, crackled like shattered glass.
With a chuckle, he leaned down and craned his head until his ear rested level with your mouth.
“What’s that sweetheart?” He questioned, head tilted to listen.
You swallowed, hard and dry, and licked your lips before you spoke again. Another croaked string of words hit his ear, a touch clearer this time. He realized then that you weren’t mumbling gibberish at all, you were begging.
“More, more, need more, please ‘kuna, please jus’ one more…”
Toji chuckled and lifted his head back to study you again - he found your eyes still closed, brows now knitted into an expression that was decidedly desperate.
“Old Ryo’ couldn’t keep up, huh?” He mused, hands lifted from your body to instead press into the mattress either side of your head, leveraging the weight of him as he slotted himself properly between your thighs.
You offered a gentle huff in reply, eyelids feeling much too heavy to bother opening. Your limbs felt numb, tingling with residual little sizzles of pleasure.
“Don’t worry doll, ‘m here now.”
Toji didn’t waste time working you open or teasing you with the brush of his lips or gentle caresses, no. He simply slipped his shirt over his head and tossed it sideways. His thumb hooked over his waistband, tugged down to let his length spring free and slap hard and raw against you.
The sensation was enough to have his lips parting around a shuddered breath. You felt like heaven - like slick molten silk kissing each bumped ridge as he rutted through your swollen folds. You jolted when he shifted, hard inches rubbing over your clit, still singing with over stimulation.
He grinned and lowered a thumb to pet at your entrance, leaking slick and dribbles of what he was sure was Sukuna’s spend. He traced your rim beneath the head of his cock slowly, smearing the milky little pearls gathered there and wondering just how many loads Sukuna had managed to stuff inside you before he’d finally tapped out. The thought made his breath catch, and sent another sizzle of heat straight to his throbbing cock.
“C’mon, look at me now,” Toji cooed, watching the way any semblance of coherency on your face melted away when he finally pressed down, sinking inside with a single dizzying press of his hips - testament to just how soaked and used you really were.
It was enough to make your eyes roll behind your lids, fluttering with the delicious sting of being stretched open again. Toji treated you with shallow little thrusts. The hair at his base tickling your clit, thick veins pulsing against your rubbed raw walls where Sukuna had pounded you until you cried, until you bruised. And yet despite the pain, the ache - that needling little bud of desire still burned just as hotly as when you’d first awoken that day, stoking the fire in your belly and dribbling lava hot between your aching thighs.
“Oh, oh…” you moaned dumbly, lashes twitching as you finally lifted them and tried to blink away the layer of hazy film that had settled there. Your mind felt fuzzy, vacant. Drunk on the sensation of being stuffed utterly full once again.
“There she is,” Toji soothed.
“‘Ji, it’s you…” came your delayed greeting, nothing more than a breathy whine, “need’t cum, need to cum again, please…”
“Again?” Toji echoed in faux surprise, hips lowing to a torturous roll, “that’s a little greedy of you, don’t you think?”
“Incredibly greedy,” a distant voice interrupted, flat and deep and utterly serious.
Toji tilted his head back just enough to catch sight of Sukuna’s broad form filling the doorway, looking more like the hired security than someone who actually lived there. Toji peered through strands of ink black hair at the big hand that was beginning to dip beneath the waistband of Sukuna’s sweats, palming lazily at the considerable bulge there. Sukuna’s gaze was equally heavy and heated, lowered past the curve of Toji’s spine to track the way your hole was stretching around his thickness.
Toji swallowed, took a final glance at the sight of Sukuna beginning to work his length free from his boxers. His eyes stuck on the exposed slip of tan skin where Sukuna had tugged his shirt upward, the spatter of hair dusted there, before he turned his attention back to you.
“Haven’t even asked how my day was yet, and here you are begging me to make this needy pussy cum,” Toji teased, “and after Ryo’ took such good care of you too.”
“Please,” you cried, shaking your head furiously against the damp pillows crumpled either side of you, “please don’t tease me.”
“Aw I’m sorry sweetheart,” Toji cooed, voice dripping thick with mock concern, “you just need it real bad, huh?”
The delicate shallow thrusts he had been nursing you with suddenly shifted, turned to long pulls smacked back inside hard enough that you felt the tip of him kiss somewhere deep and delicate. Each buck had your legs quivering, and a sharp little shock of pain and pleasure in equal measure sizzling over your skin.
You were lucid enough only to know that he was moving, slow methodical thrusts that felt achingly tender. Each twitch of his worked muscle was purposeful, each motion entirely controlled and aimed to break you apart.
“Shh, just feel it. You feel me, right baby? Nice ‘n deep.” The words were sin incarnate, purred right into your ear.
You were nodding before you could think, slurring a string of unintelligible words alongside breathy cries of his name, strung together like a prayer.
“Deep… deeper…”
The scent of him was intoxicating, dizzying. The sharp sting of fresh sweat and his own familiar woody musk was enough to have you lifting your trembling legs just to hook a heel over his hip and tug him closer.
“Finally knocked all the brains outta you, huh?” Toji teased, “That’s alright, don’t need to think. Just keep squeezin’ this pretty little pussy around me, yeah?”
One of your hands fled the sheets to instead grasp at one of Toji’s bare shoulders, fingers digging into the muscle there.
“Kiss me,” you panted, blinking up at him with wide wet eyes, blown black and glossy with need, “oh, hng-… please Toji…”
Toji didn’t bother with a reply, instead he simply dipped his head and captured your lips in a kiss so sudden you barely had the wherewithal to suck in a lungful of air before he was swiping any lingering thoughts away with the hot slide of his tongue.
You melted into the touch, letting the roll of his jaw guide your movements - moaning in surprise when his teeth nipped at your cracked lower lip, your grip on his shoulder tightening when his tongue met yours.
When you finally split apart you were sufficiently softened by the blend of his sweet kisses and the steady rock of his hips, brain humming quietly like the static of a tv set to a dead channel.
“Good?” Toji questioned, head tilting.
You just nodded, struggling to keep you gaze affixed on the inky strands of hair slipping over Toji’s forehead, that was until a sudden blur of colour crept into the edge of your vision.
“Oi, what are you?-…”
You watched, motion a little delayed, as Sukuna’s hand slid across the back of Toji’s neck. Toji’s eyes widened an inch, looking genuinely shocked for just a moment before Sukuna’s grip tightened, firm hand forcing his head upward until they finally met in a rough crashing of lips.
Peering up you simply watched, entranced, at the slide of pink tongue between sticky sweet flutters of your lashes. Eyes caught on the way Toji’s brows lifted and his hips stuttered just a little when Sukuna’s hand tightened into a fist at his nape, strands of silky black hair sticking wayward through his thick fingers.
Toji grunted into the kiss, rougher now - a tumble of teeth and tongue in stark contrast to the slow rhythm of the embrace you had shared. One of Toji’s hands curled over your hip, thumb mindlessly tracing the bone there. The other found Sukuna’s chest, grasping a handful of fabric before he was shoving the other man backwards.
You watched a glittering thread of spit link them for a moment before it split, and you must have clenched at the obscene sight because Toji made a choked sound above you, falling into the sensation a little like he were suddenly made of jelly.
“Fuck sweetheart,” he panted, lips glossed as he dug a fist into the mattress beside your head, “that’s it, just like that.”
His thrusts didn’t slow or soften, but they felt sloppier somehow, and when you blinked upward you realized why. Sukuna had stepped in behind Toji, plump chest pressed to his back, massive hand still curled around his nape, thumb rubbing soothing little shapes there. His head turned inward, lips pressed to the delicate little strip behind Toji’s ear, breathing so close you could see the speckle of goosebumps begin to prickle over Toji’s skin.
“C’mon Fushiguro,” Sukuna purred, quiet enough that you could barely hear the sweet syrupy words, “don’t get soft on me now.”
Dazed, you watched Sukuna raise a spare hand to his lips, thumb pressed against tongue beneath the glint of pearly canines before he reached past Toji’s hips and tucked it between your thighs. You jerked at the sudden contact, the searing heat of his slick thumb, calloused and rough and perfect against your abused clit.
“Bastard…” Toji gritted, breaths coming ragged now, panting between barely masked grunts of pleasure as his head dipped beneath the weight of the palm at his nape. His gaze was glassy, glued to where you were clamping around him, where your slick was painting the dark curls at his belly white.
Sukuna only grinned in reply, and you could hear the lazy glee lacing his tone with his next words, thumb still rolling over your twitching nub as you writhed beneath his touch.
“Go on now,” he rumbled, low and filthy over the shell of Toji’s ear, and you swore you felt Toji twitch in response. “make the pretty girl cum.”
You could feel it, the looming buzz of your orgasm, curling like the crest of a wave, hot and tight in your belly like the slow cinching of a knot.
“Close ‘ji…’m close,” you slurred, “gonna… hn!- ‘m gonna…”
“I’m right here sweetheart,” Toji was groaning now, shivering a little as the hand at his nape tightened once more. His thrusts were wild - wide sloppy pumps driven haphazardly into the slick mess between your thighs. Sukuna’s thumb continued its assault, drawing steady heart shapes over your clit, right above where Toji was busy splitting you open.
“C’mon princess,” Toji pleaded, words accented with a kicking throb that you felt all the way in your gut, “give it to me.”
You let your eyelids fall shut, squeezed tightly against the way your vision was beginning to blur at the edges. Senses dulled, sounds and scents becoming more and more distant with each second of rising pleasure until suddenly the knot snapped, and you were unraveling along with it.
Toji cursed somewhere beyond the numbed blackness of your senses, and alongside it you felt a flood of heat and the familiar twitching pulse of him as he filled you. Firm hands gripped your waist like an anchor, holding you in place as you squirmed against his final stuttered humps, wracked with unending wave after wave of white hot pleasure.
“Shh, that’s it, that’s a good girl…” Toji was cooing into your ear, forehead pressed to the pillow, only hair tickling your cheek.
The words were a salve, a balm smoothed over your mind until all that was left was the honeyed buzz of pleasure.
You sucked in a shaky breath and realized along with it that you were crying, cheeks soaked and salted with fresh tears. You let your limbs fall, limp and exhausted against the sheets. A subtle ache was beginning to settle in your muscles, in your bones, and yet beneath it all you still felt it - that itch deep inside, like an unending, desirous pit.
“More…” you croaked, voice utterly broken despite your pleading.
Toji scoffed somewhere above you - sounding equal parts shocked and proud at your incessant appetite. You heard the distant thump of approaching footfalls, followed by the telltale creak of a knee digging into the mattress before the bed was dipping beneath a considerable weight, and you felt Toji slip out with a slick sucking sound.
“Move Fushiguro, think I just got my second wind.”
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a/n: kinda ahhh drabble while I work on longer fics bc I’m stuck thinking about tojikuna, hope you enjoy anyway <3
for fun this year @hypnoswrites and I both wrote Illumi fics for Valentines Day. no connection between the fics, just more dead fish eyes for love day this year :D
here's her fic~
Red Thread of Fate Soulmate AU with Illumi x reader
💕Happy Valentines Day💕
Warnings: assassination, mentions of death, mentions of torture, kidnapping
Word Count: 13.4k
Most days were rather dull for Illumi, he had to admit.
They largely consisted of the same limited activities: travel somewhere, accept a job, locate and kill a target and then be paid for doing so. Sometimes he met with the client if such a meeting was necessary for any reason, but most clients were satisfied with the transaction taking place through the butlers, so these days Illumi rarely needed to take part in a face to face meeting.
Sometimes days were different. Sometimes Chrollo required his services, which Illumi took, much to the annoyance of his father. Sometimes Hisoka decided to bother him, and Illumi would hold back on taking out his annoyance on the magician since it felt like getting rid of him at that moment would be a waste. Sometimes it was Illumi himself causing the detour in his routines, halting his work for something that he determined would be of use to him in the long run, such as the time he had spent taking the Hunter exam. But such things didn't happen often.
Aside from those instances and his frequent trips home before he went back out on a job, the routine largely stayed the same.
Travel. Kill. Payment. Again and again.
And while Illumi was in no way dissatisfied with his life was it was currently, it felt as though there was something missing.
Namely, his soulmate.
Like most who were capable of using nen, Illumi learned of the connection after he mastered gyo and subsequently found that invincible red thread around his finger. The explanation of what that thread meant was followed by strict instruction: that once the thread grew taut, it meant that his soulmate was nearby, and when that happened, he needed to find whoever it was on the other end of the thread and secure them. As with everything his parents told him, Illumi listened carefully and remembered their words, and not a day had gone by since then that he would check on the thread whenever he was away from home, wondering when the time would come that his soulmate was meant to meet him.
The meeting was something Illumi thought of often. For years following the day he learned of soulmates, he found himself gazing at that thread on his finger in the quiet moments during long hours of travel. The more time wore on, the more he wondered who was at the other end and why he hadn't yet met them. At first, when he was still in his training, he had expected that he would meet his soulmate once he had fully mastered nen. But that had been quite some time ago and no such thing had happened, thus his assumption had been false. So Illumi was left to wonder why it hadn't yet happened. Wondering why, after all of the time he spent traveling for jobs, the thread continued to lay slack and dead and refusing to lead him to that other person.
But patience was one of the qualities of a good assassin, and thus, Illumi waited. And until the day came where he would find the person that fate had decided belonged to him, he would continue with that same routine.
Travel. Kill. Payment.
Again and again, always working hard to do his best to uphold the Zoldyck family name, and always trusting that he would find his soulmate whenever fate would determine that the time was right.
It ended up being on an a day that was overcast, when the clouds were dark and looming overhead above him. When Illumi stepped out of his hotel to take care of the current job he had been hired for, he did what he had always done and glanced down at his left pinky finger, anticipating that it would be the same as always. But that was the day that the routine was broken as he realized that the thread around his finger was tight for the first time in his life.
When he saw that the thread was finally, finally taut, a surge of anticipation swelled within him.
For whatever reason, the time was now. While it was a mild inconvenience that he couldn't immediately go to his soulmate due to the fact that he was in the middle of a job, it made Illumi quicken his pace as he was eager to get it over quickly. With the large briefcase that the client had instructed that he take with him in hand, Illumi kept his eyes on the thread as made his way to the site where his first target was, watching as the thread grew tighter with each passing step, indicating that he was getting closer to where he would find the one at the other end of the thread.
Illumi expected that he would see them while he was on his way to his job. Perhaps passing by on the street or in a nearby shop. Based on how the thread seemed to be staying still on his soulmate's end, it appeared as though they were staying put. Again, he was spurred forward, a small smile appearing on the assassin's face as he thought of being able to take what was his, to have that connection he had heard spoken of so often from others.
He continued, getting closer and closer to the cafe where his first target was waiting and he still had yet to come across his soulmate. When it got to the point that the cafe was within viewing distance, Illumi began to wonder if they were in that same space as the target. An odd coincidence that his soulmate would be there, but perhaps that was fate playing its hand again. Even if his soulmate saw him with the target, it wouldn't matter. As long as nothing alarming happened between himself and the target in his soulmate's vicinity, it would be of little consequence.
But when he was finally across the street from the cafe and he caught sight of that person he had been waiting for, he froze.
Despite the clouds that had gathered over the heart of the city and their efforts to hide the sky above them, bits of blue and the bright light of the sun managed to break through every now and then. Such was the case when an opening in the clouds appeared just then, allowing forth a thin ray of sunlight that came down and settled on an area with a particular person sitting in the middle of it.
You.
You sat at one of the outdoor tables at the cafe, your index finger trailing across the plastic cup that held your sweet looking drink while the toe of your shoe tapped incessantly on the pavement beneath your seat. The slightly chill air that blew by caused you to shudder slightly, and you glanced behind yourself to look inside the cafe building, as though you were considering moving inside so you could be out of the cold. When you saw that no seats were available, you frowned to yourself and ultimately stayed where you were.
Still in that sunlight and with everything in the surrounding environment pointing to you. And as you sat beneath the spotlight that nature had created for you, Illumi watched intently from the other side of the crosswalk, taking in everything about you and only tearing his gaze away for a few scant seconds to stare down at his own left hand to make sure that what he thought he saw was correct: that the red thread which was attached to his pinky truly connected him to you.
No matter how many times he checked, there was no mistaking it. His eyes that followed the thread always brought him back to you and no one else.
His soulmate.
It should have been a good moment, as it was a moment he had been anticipating for a long time now. When Illumi saw you at last, saw your face for first time after imagining it for so long, it should have been a moment where he felt at peace upon witnessing his other half.
Instead those feelings of anticipation died immediately upon seeing you, and all Illumi felt in that moment was a mild confusion accompanied by immediate concern.
It didn't appear that he was the only one who was concerned.
Despite your attempts to appear casual, it was evident from your expression that you were nervous, and your gaze kept going to a long, thin parcel that sat upright in the seat next to you. From the way you glanced about, it was clear that you were waiting for someone. As if to further prove that point to him, you took another sip of your drink as you glanced at your phone, checking the time before you scanned the area that surrounded you.
It all matched up.
Concern turned into irritation – with whom exactly, Illumi wasn't sure yet. But someone was to blame for this, someone was responsible for this situation that felt like a horrid joke. This wasn't something that should've happened, not to him. Even though he found himself hoping that he was mistaken and the real target was within the cafe building behind you, taking up one of those seats you had wished to occupy, all of it simply matched up too well.
The time was 11:15.
The location was The Nest Cafe.
You were clearly waiting for someone to arrive.
And Illumi was certain that you were waiting for him.
It felt like too much of a coincidence that you would be there for any other reason. Not at this time and with that parcel in the seat next to you, not with the way you looked at the other people in the vicinity, subtly glancing up at those who walked by close to your table in anticipation of any one of them approaching you. And if that wasn't enough, your appearance matched with who he was told would be there waiting for him to perform the exchange.
Everything pointed to you being the one he needed to meet for his job. If that truly was the case, then that meant you were his target.
One of the those he had been hired to kill.
The assassin stared at you as his mind began to race. The disbelief of how such a thing could happen, how this much of a coincidence could occur consumed him. How you had landed yourself on the radar of Edgar Farley and how you had angered him to such a degree that he decided to spend extra for Illumi to torture you and your accomplices extensively before your existence was snuffed out.
Of all the things that could have happened, how in the world had he ended up taking on a job that required him to kill his own soulmate?
Illumi didn't notice that his grip had tightened too much on the handle of the briefcase until he heard it crack, and that sound was enough to snap him out of his all consuming thoughts. He needed to continue, he reminded himself. As a Zoldyck, he needed to complete the job for the name of his family, regardless of the unforeseen circumstances which involved you.
Of course, he wasn't going to kill you, which would mean he would need to come up with some sort of solution for the sixth body Farley was demanding.
Illumi let out a small, barely audible sigh as he gathered himself up internally.
He would figure it out. There was surely a solution that would allow him to have you and complete the job without any fuss. He had no doubts on that.
But for now, his focus needed to be on getting you somewhere out of sight.
With that, Illumi waited for the light at the crosswalk, and once it turned green, he began to make his way towards you, once more keeping his eyes on you and the thread as it grew shorter and shorter.
You noticed him quickly after he had crossed the street, and when you realized that he was staring straight at you, you turned your full attention to him, straightening yourself up in your seat when you saw that he was approaching you. When he stopped in front of you, it took you a moment before you spoke as you glanced down at the briefcase he held. Illumi saw the way your pulse quickened as the gears began to turn in your head, as you came to the assumption that he was the one you were waiting for.
Illumi spoke first, calling out your name in a questioning tone.
You nodded cautiously.
“Are you, uh-”
You faltered in the middle of your sentence, seemingly taken aback by the way he was looking at you.
Was the way he was staring at you that strange?
Regaining your voice, you tried again with “you're here for the…. Uh, the thing, right?”
…… That was how you were describing this?
“Yes,” he answered.
“Ah. Okay then.”
You got up from your seat, but then stopped as you looked down at your cup.
“Did… Did you want a drink, too?” you asked.
Illumi shook his head.
“I'd rather we head off.”
“Okay. That also works.”
You took one long, last sip before tossing the cup into the appropriate receptacle before hurrying back to the table to grab the parcel, tucking it beneath your arm as you looked back at him.
“The hotel is down that way. It isn't too long of a walk. A little bit less than seven minutes,” you told him.
Illumi nodded silently, then followed once you began to make your way down the sidewalk. Keeping his eyes on you, he found that while you were once again trying to hide it, you were clearly nervous. There was a jitteriness to your step, and your fingers kept playing with one of the edges of the parcel, slowly picking at it more and more with every moment that passed as you made the walk to the hotel.
You then stiffened as though a sudden thought had struck you, and you turned your head while you walked as you asked “sorry, I should've said something beforehand about us walking. It's not an issue, right? If it is, I can get us a taxi.”
“It's not an issue,” Illumi calmly replied.
“Oh, okay then. That's good.”
Your free hand then went up to nervously scratch at the back of your neck and you let out a shaky exhale that you must have thought he wouldn't be able to catch.
Why were you doing this if it made you so nervous?
It appeared that just being involved in this situation that was causing your distress. Perhaps you actually recognized how awful this plan was; the group you were part of appeared to be a foolish lot, with none of you seeming to truly know what you were doing. Illumi hoped you weren't the ringleader, as this get rich quick scheme was already pathetic, and he found himself disappointed that you were participating in it. He'd be even more disappointed if he knew you were the one to come up with it.
At least once he was done here, he wouldn't need to worry about you being able to do anything too foolish. The leash he would keep on you would be too tight for that.
You glanced over at him again, and he grew concerned when he saw your eyes furrow in worry upon meeting his gaze again.
Were you perceptive enough to realize that something was wrong?
That turned out to be unlikely, as when an elderly man who stood a few steps in front of you sneezed unexpectedly, you jumped, and the parcel nearly dropped from your hands. No, it didn't seem likely that you were aware of anything amiss; you were simply nervous about the situation as a whole.
Illumi frowned slightly as he watched you. Your nervousness was only an additional negative in this situation. Your lack of nen meant it would be harder for you to understand the connection, and if you weren't relaxed, you were guaranteed to not feel it in a timely manner.
As much as he hated to admit it, Illumi doubted that he would be able to ease your nerves and get you to trust him, and especially not in such a short time.
There was no choice but to take you by force. While that would cause issues that would be detrimental to the connection opening for you, it was better to go through with that. The time it would take for you to accept him would be longer, but that was the safest option he had.
The silence stretched over the two of you, though it didn't seem to do much to assuage your nervousness. As Illumi continued to follow you, his gaze once again went to the parcel being carried beneath your arm. That was the item that had been the source of this entire conflict, that the client desperately wanted back. Why Farley was willing to have him kill over a piece of art, Illumi couldn't fathom, though his own opinion hardly mattered in this instance.
But as he looked at the parcel, he found that something about it felt…. Off. From what he was told about the art he was to retrieve, the dimensions of what you carried didn't seem to match up with what had been described to him. He turned his gaze back to you, boring into the back of your skull as he grew suspicious over what exactly you were carrying. Things definitely didn't need to be complicated by you not having the painting in question.
He'd find out what was going on soon enough, he supposed.
The first bit of relief within you was seen when your shoulders loosened slightly as you looked beyond the path in front of you and caught sight of a hotel. While it was better than the average cesspit hotel with clientele that consisted of drug users and married spouses in the middle of an affair, the hotel was also considerably cheaper than the place Illumi had checked out of this morning. As he followed you in through the front doors, the assassin glanced about at the lobby. There were a fair amount of people milling around, all of whom seemed to be there from out of town for some kind of sporting event. No one bothered to even glance in your direction or his when you made a turn to the left and began to lead him down a hallway on the first floor.
Again, he wordlessly followed you as you made your way to a nearby stairway, and when you looked back at him again, you asked “are you cool if we take the stairs? With all those people around, I figure it's best that we avoid them if we can.”
“I have no issue with that,” he answered. As he followed you into the stairway, he spoke again, his voice echoing slightly against the barren walls as he asked “but why are you worried about people seeing us?”
“Ah, just…. You know. If we're stuck in a small space like an elevator, then people are more likely to take note of us. See us up close, and possibly say something to the police about us if something happens,” you said.
Illumi's eyes narrowed as he asked “are you expecting something to go wrong with the exchange?”
“N-no.”
“Then why the worry?”
“Just….. Just to be safe. Just in case,” you answered, “better to err on the side of caution, right? Neither of us want to be seen with something stolen, right?”
“I suppose.”
It was more than likely for the best that you were going out of your way to avoid the other guests at the hotel. Despite how you had seemed to calm down some once you arrived here, it appeared as though his questioning had made your nerves shoot up again, and he didn't need you drawing attention to the both of you in such a way.
The way you became nervous so easily was likely going to be a tough issue for him to tackle, however. After all, you would become an assassin like him once the two of you were married, and the fact that he could easily see you freezing up in the middle of a job didn't bode well.
That would need to be trained out of you.
But he was getting ahead of himself. After all, he needed to solve this current set of issues with you before he could consider your training. And at the moment, he felt as though a big issue was quickly being taken care of. With every step he took as he followed you up the several flights of stairs, he was getting closer to having you alone in a controlled space. That in and of itself was enough to give him a slight sense of relief.
It seemed as though you were of the same opinion, as once you made it to the hotel room in question and entered after Illumi had, you were quick to shut the door and flip the lock, breathing in deep before letting all out in a shaky sigh.
That time he chose to make a comment.
“You don't seem well,” he said.
You startled slightly, your eyes growing wide before you tried explain it away.
“I don't?” you asked, “I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so maybe that's why. Sorry about that.”
“Why are you apologizing?” Illumi asked.
Once again, you seemed surprised at the question.
“Force of habit, I guess,” you eventually got out.
Stepping by him, you moved towards the center of the room, where a small couch and coffee table were sitting in front of the single bed. An item sitting atop the table caught his attention: one of those portable money counting machines. The transaction would be taking place there, then.
After placing the parcel on the far end of the couch, you turned to him after and you clapped your hands together in a clear attempt to change the topic, forcing yourself to smile at him as you did so as if to convince him that everything was fine. Perhaps it was a way to convince yourself as well.
“So, um,” you began, “I guess I'll start with counting the money.”
Hearing that surprised him a little.
“I don't get to see the painting first?” Illumi asked.
“Um….”
You seemed caught off-guard by that question, and you stammered for a few moments, glancing back at the parcel briefly as you tried to come up with a response. In the middle of that, you oddly took the time to look at the door of the closet that stood behind him, your gaze flitting over to it briefly before you looked at him and cleared your throat.
“Uh, I think I should count the money first,” you told him, “just to, you know, be safe.”
“You think I'm going to scam you?”
“N-no. But it's a lot of money, and we're – I'm taking a lot of risks here.”
Your gaze grew a bit more grim as you added “plus, I heard that the previous owner was something of a psychopath, so I really want to be careful, you know?”
Then why steal from him if you're worried about him retaliating?
As reasonable as it would have been to ask that, Illumi held his tongue.
“Plus, like, even if the painting was fake and I did try to grab the money and run, I don't think I'd get far, you know?” you continued.
“What makes you think that?”
“You look like you could catch me easily. So I think running would be really dumb on my part.”
After a brief pause, you then admitted “the way you've been staring at me has also been intense and you're kind of scary, so I really don't want to make you mad at me.”
Illumi blinked.
“I'm scary?” he repeated.
You blanched, as if you hadn't realized what exactly you had said until he had repeated it. Your panic began to grow again as you started to apologize.
“I'm sorry, that was really rude of me! I didn't mean to say that,” you insisted, “I just meant to say….. Meant to say that I'm not going to try anything shady. That I wouldn't do that to anyone, and definitely not you. I'm really sorry. I wasn't trying to offend you.”
Letting out a shaky breath, you continued “I was told that I needed to count the jenny first, so I'm just trying to do what I was told, you know?”
“….. I see.”
From the way you reacted to his response, it seemed as though you determined that you had said something wrong, as you were quick to then tell him “sorry, I'm not trying to make things difficult. I get why you need to be cautious, because you don't know me and eight billion is a lot to be handing off to a stranger. But I promise, as soon as I'm done I'll let you confirm that it's the real thing.”
There was a hint of desperation in your gaze as you then asked “does…. Does that sound good?”
Ending the charade now would have been prudent. If he did that, he would save himself some time, get the job over with quicker so he could focus fully on you. Knocking you out and calling up the butler that was waiting on standby for him to take you away while he figured out a replacement for you would be the best way to move forward.
But he still wasn't sure what was going on with the painting and he didn't want to sour your opinion of him by torturing you on your first meeting.
So instead, Illumi nodded.
“I understand,” he told you, “I'll wait, then.”
Though it was tinged with nervousness, the smile you gave him was one of genuine relief.
“Thank you,” you said.
Illumi said nothing, but he felt an odd sensation in his heart upon seeing you smile.
Keeping his face as that same blank mask he almost always wore, he settled down onto the chair that sat opposite of the couch. You sat as well, taking the briefcase that he had offered you and setting it on the coffee table in front of you. Your eyes widened slightly when you opened it, as you likely had never seen that much jenny before in your life.
As you began to count, Illumi thought of what you had said moments ago, the things you had said about him. And as if somehow sensing what he was thinking, you looked up at him again, your eyebrows pinching in worry as you spoke up.
“I really am sorry for what I said, if it offended you,” you reiterated.
“It's fine. It doesn't matter,” he answered.
That was a lie. It mattered a lot. Especially upon realizing that his soulmate was unsettled by him to the point that they viewed him to be scary, of all things. But as he recalled the lovely expression that had been on your face when you had thanked him moments earlier, he decided that he could forgive you.
So again he held his tongue and merely observed you after the two of you had taken your seats, and he watched as you pulled out a notebook and a pen before gathering a stack of jenny and placing it into the money counter after. Shortly after, the silence in the room was broken by the sound of the rustling paper as the jenny was put through the machine and the small screen at the front displayed the total that quickly shot up as more of the money went through. Soon enough that particular stack was done, and you jotted down the number on the screen before setting the stack aside and grabbing another from the briefcase, repeating the process again.
The two of you would be here for a while.
As much as Illumi wished to have used this time to speak with you, it was clear that you wouldn't be receptive to it. You saw this as a business transaction. Any personal questions coming from him would likely only earn him more worried looks and apologies as you desperately tried not to offend him. So he sat in silence while he watched, keeping his eyes on you as you continued the monotonous task.
At the beginning you would glance up at him periodically, only to quickly avert your gaze when you saw him looking at you. Eventually you stopped doing that, and it seemed as though you were making a point to keep your focus only on your notebook, the money counter and the contents of the briefcase.
What exactly makes me so scary?
That question would need to wait until later, as much as that fact irked him.
With little else to do, Illumi glanced again at the parcel. Again, the dimensions didn't seem right to him. And as he remembered the way you had glanced over at the closet, a possible explanation began to form in his mind, but it was one he would likely need to wait for until you had finished what you were doing.
Now that his mind was again on the task at hand, he asked “how exactly did you come upon this piece?”
Tensing at the sound of his voice, you glanced up at him and then immediately averted your gaze.
“Um, I don't think I'm supposed to say anything about that. All that matters is that it's real, right?” you asked in reply.
“We're talking about a stolen art piece. We're both 'taking risks' for this, as you put it. I think I'm entitled to know how you got ahold of this,” he answered.
Your shoulders sank slightly as you appeared to concede.
“We, uh, we heard it was just sitting in storage, that no one had checked in on it in a while. So my roommate figured we could take it and no one would notice,” you quietly explained.
“It seems like he was right because it hasn't been reported missing yet,” you added.
“Your roommate?” Illumi repeated.
You froze. And then you seemed disappointed with yourself as you were forced to admit “my roommate knows a guy who works at that museum where it was stored.”
“Why aren't they here?”
“He's the one who thought of this and got everything set up. The other guys were the ones who took the painting. So this is the part I need to do.”
You quickly looked back to the money counter, once again scribbling down the number listed on the screen.
The more he learned, the more Illumi was convinced that whomever had been the mastermind of this plan – your roommate, evidently – they hadn't thought through it very well. As was usually the case for the theft of fine art. If the thief didn't have a buyer lined up beforehand, they typically had a hard time selling it off for any sort of profit. While exceptions for that rule existed, such as the Phantom Troupe whose notoriety had fans of theirs wanting to buy items that had been in their possession, a small group of first time criminals were never going to achieve such success. This entire interaction had been set up so you and others who thought about stealing from his client would learn a lesson. It was always going to end badly for your group.
The one thing Illumi could be thankful for was the fact that he had been selected to carry out the hit. It allowed him the control he needed to navigate the situation and guide it to an ending where the client was satisfied and you were still alive.
When the process of counting the eight billion finally ended and you confirmed that what was given to you was the correct amount, you shut the notebook, placed the jenny back within the briefcase and then looked to him, saying “everything looks good. I'll show you the painting now.”
Instead of handing him the parcel, you stood up and walked over to the closet that stood in front of the door, sliding it open before you reached inside. When you pulled your hand back out, you were holding another parcel.
He caught on immediately as he asked “is that the real painting?”
You looked back to him, and then nodded.
“Yeah. The one on the couch is a decoy,” you explained, “just in case.”
“Just in case?” he repeated.
“In case you thought it'd be better to take it from me when we were outside,” you said, “I figured since I'm not really intimidating at all, a potential buyer might think of stealing it and leave us with nothing, so I put the real one in here beforehand.”
When he didn't respond to that, your fingers tensed on the edge of the new parcel, looking away as you mumbled “I thought it was a good idea.”
“It certainly shows that you exercised more caution than I gave you credit for,” Illumi said.
“Thank – thank you?” you replied, uncertain if you should take his words to be insulting or not. Regardless of that, you stepped forward as you approached the coffee table once again, holding the parcel out to him to take.
You sat back down on the couch after, watching him as he undid the piece of twine that held the brown paper wrapped around the painting. You were eager to get this over with, as your hand was seated next to the handle of the briefcase, twitching every now and then as if you wanted to grab it and leave. In your mind, this ordeal was almost over, and you would soon be able to return home to your cohorts with your ill-gotten gains.
His attention was brought to the painting as he unwrapped it fully and pulled it up to inspect that it was the genuine article.
The painting was moderately sized and featured a scene that could likely be found on the cover of an average historical romance novel. At the center of the piece was a maiden upon a balcony, having just swung her legs over the railing as she sat atop it with her ankles peeking out beneath the skirt of her dress. A short distance beneath her was a knight upon his horse, reaching out to her as if beckoning her to take the leap, an assurance her that he would catch her. And in the background that featured a room that led to that balcony, a door had been forced open, with several men charging in, no doubt with the intent of grabbing the maiden before she could flee with her knight lover.
While the art of the painting was detailed and could be considered beautiful, and the piece certainly told a story, Illumi couldn't fathom how and why such a silly painting managed to cause so much trouble, much less why the owner was so incensed at it's theft that he was willing to pay so much for it's return. And if it had been that precious to him, why had Farley left it in that museum in the first place?
You leaned forward in your seat, scanning for any hint of change in his expression as he looked it over.
“Do you like it?” you asked.
“It's acceptable.”
Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“You're spending eight billion and you just find it 'acceptable'?” you asked.
“All I care is that it's the genuine article,” he told you.
“Oh. Okay then.”
With a note of finality in your voice, you straightened up in your seat, your hand once more grasping the handle of the case as you said “so if you're satisfied, then we're done here, right? Transaction closed?”
Illumi nodded slowly.
“Yes, I suppose that's correct.”
“Okay then. Do you want to leave first, or should I? I'm fine if you want to go first, but I'm not sure how much time I should wait before leaving myself.”
“You aren't leaving,” he told you.
“…..”
The silence stretched out through the entirety of the room as you stared at him, your nerves slowly but steadily growing once again as you looked at him in confusion.
“But I need to take this back….?” you questioned.
“That isn't happening.”
“W-why?”
“Because I'm an assassin and I've been hired to kill you,” Illumi said, “therefore, I cannot allow you to leave this room with that case.”
You stared at him silently, your eyes widening in shock as his words sunk in. Your gaze went down to the floor as you began breathing heavily and you began to tremble. You accepted it. No questions about what he was talking about or if he was trying to joke around – you could tell he was serious.
Illumi was ready for you to do something in response. A normal reaction would likely be to run from him, either to escape out the door or the window. Both had their own pros and cons, though if it was Illumi in this situation, he would likely choose the window. Whether or not you would do the same remained to be seen. Though it was possible that you might choose to fight back, not that you would be able to do much against him. He had trained for as long as he had remembered, so no matter how strong you may potentially be, there was little chance that a civilian like yourself would be able to overpower him. The best you would be able to do would be to throw items in the room at him, and that would still be next to nothing.
He was overthinking things, because as he looked at you, he didn't see any ounce of fight in you. You were still gazing down at the floor, and while your breathing had slowed slightly, you were still in distress. If he were to guess, this must have been a worst case scenario for you, one that either the members of your group or you yourself had said couldn't possibly happen, that your luck wouldn't ever be so bad.
You even said that the client was a psychopath, so why you thought this wouldn't happen was still a mystery to him. At least he would make sure you wouldn't be making such terrible decisions in the future.
Illumi waited for you to act, already mapping out in his head what he would do in response to whatever you chose.
He waited.
And waited.
And Illumi felt confusion growing within him once more as you didn't act.
You weren't running.
Time was ticking by, and you stayed on that spot on the couch, only moving to slump backwards against the seat. Instead of attempting to save yourself from a man who just told you that he was an assassin, you stayed still, refusing to move at all. The exact opposite of running.
Illumi's brows furrowed as he asked “why aren't you running?”
You glanced up at him, surprised by his question.
“Why?” you repeated, “I guess…. I mean, what's the point? I'm in a room with you that has only one exit, and I'm pretty sure you'll catch me if I run. Actually, we had a conversation about that just a few minutes ago, didn't we? And you seemed to agree with me. So why should I bother making things worse for myself by running?”
He frowned, not liking the way you had given up so easily and accepted your fate.
“You won't even try to fight back?” he asked.
“Again, what's the point? I can tell just by looking that you're stronger than me. I don't wanna get into a fight that I know I'll lose,” you said.
Illumi blinked when you said that, hearing one of his own lessons that he had ingrained into his younger siblings coming from your lips catching him off guard momentarily. Despite not even knowing of him before this day, you already knew one of the lessons he had intended to teach you.
Within an instant, Illumi felt a bit more hopeful for you. While you seeming to accept your death was far from ideal, he was certain that he could make you unlearn that response.
You were his soulmate, after all. Teaching you would be easy.
“You do have a good point – I am stronger than you. As you are right now, you could never defeat me,” he told you.
You didn't react to his statement, instead continuing to stare down at the floor dejectedly.
“But it isn't good that you're giving up so easily. In the future, if you find yourself in this position again, you should find an escape route and remove yourself from the situation.”
At that, your eyebrows furrowed as you looked at him strangely.
“In the future?” you repeated, “what future? You said you were going to kill me.”
“I said that I was hired to kill you,” Illumi stated, “but that doesn't mean I'm going through with it.”
And with that, there was a bit of hope in your eyes, a bit of life breathed back into you as you straightened up, now watching and waiting intently for his every word as you now believed that there was a way out of this. Of course, there was, but it wouldn't be in the way you expected.
You gulped before you asked “you…. You're going to let me go?”
“No.”
Your shoulders sank again as Illumi continued with “I'm not killing you, but I also can't let you go. If I did that my client would find out and that would cause issues for myself and my family.”
“So then…. Then what? What happens to me? Why are you sparing me?” you asked.
“I need you alive,” he said.
“Why?”
“I'll explain that later.”
“Why?” you asked again, your voice growing a bit more fearful.
“Because I have no time to discuss it now,” he said plainly.
With that, he stood up and closed the distance between the two of you. You still didn't move when he approached, not even to scoot away to the other side of the couch. You simply sat there, cowering and fearful as you stared up at him.
“You said it was your roommate who put you up to this, correct?” he asked.
At that your eyes widened slightly before you frowned, only now realizing your slip up in having mentioned that fact.
“…. I shouldn't have said that, should I?” you asked.
Illumi nodded at you.
“In any other situation, that would have been a poor choice on your part,” he told you, “but it doesn't really matter all that much now. Your name as well as the others was already given to me. I was just made to go along with this so I could recover the painting.”
The assassin grabbed at your bag, opening it and rummaging through until he found your wallet. Shortly after he had your ID in hand, and he read the address that had been printed on the card.
“Is your roommate home right now?” he asked, not looking away from the card as he did so.
“….. I think so.”
“Will the others from your group be there?”
“I'm not sure.”
“I see.”
Illumi pocketed the card before looking back to you.
“… If I told you to trust me, I'd be demanding too much from you, wouldn't I?” he asked.
“…. A little bit, yeah,” you admitted.
Nodding at your answer, Illumi said to you “I appreciate you being honest with me.”
Then the assassin stood back up -
And with a quick strike of his hand at the back of your neck, you fell over on the couch as you were knocked unconscious.
Without missing a beat, Illumi pulled his cellphone from his pocket and went about dialing the number for the butler who was meant to pick him up once this part of the job was finished with. As expected, the call was picked up before the first ring had finished.
“I need you to come to the back of the Arcadia Hotel,” Illumi told the butler, not bothering with any sort of greeting or an explanation.
“Understood, Master Illumi. I'll be there within ten minutes,” they answered.
The call ended just as quickly as it had started, and Illumi looked back to you. Even in unconsciousness, you still appeared to be in distress as your brows were furrowed and you were frowning. Not even sleep could relieve you of your worries, and as he stared at you, Illumi felt an odd bit of anger rising in his chest. You were unprepared for such tasks like this one, yet those people – your roommate and whoever else was involved – had pushed you to do this regardless. They had been so irresponsible and careless that you had ended up on a hit list, and had it not been for Farley going to him specifically, someone else would have killed you.
You would have died easily had it not been for the strange coincidence of him being the one to take the job.
The thought of you dying made his anger worse, and for a brief moment, that rage seeped out, quickly filling the small space of the room and making the lights flicker from the force of it.
You didn't remain unaffected by it, either, as when you were hit with with the force of his anger, you shuddered in your sleep.
Within an instant, that anger petered out.
And without thinking, Illumi moved, hoisting you up into his arms and then settling back down onto the couch with you in his embrace. Your cheek rested against his chest while your pliant body molded against his in a comfortable fashion. An idle thought came to mind – with where your head was resting, were you able to hear his heartbeat that was next to your ear? Would you be able to tell such a thing as you were now?
That seemed to have broken Illumi out of his stupor as he blinked once again. Now truly taking in the sight of you on his lap, he realized he had acted on impulse, not really thinking about his actions when he had pulled you into his grasp. It felt strange. Physical acts like this one – to hold someone to himself – were not actions he was used to. Everyone within his family were inclined to keep physical contact to a minimum, and outside of his family, there was no one that he would allow to touch him, not without them paying for it after.
But with you, it had come naturally and with no hesitation on his part. One look at your face had driven him to hold you, as if to ease your distress while you slept. Such things that he was feeling for someone he hadn't even known an hour, and all because of a thread that you couldn't even see.
Illumi's hand went up to stroke your hair, his fingers trailing gingerly through the strands as he quietly murmured to himself “the soulmate bond is a strange thing indeed.”
Strange, that it would drive him to do something he had never once been inclined to do.
But at the same time, it felt good.
He stayed like that with you, holding you and caressing you gently. While the time passed by peacefully, the gloomy clouds that could still be seen outside the hotel room window parted, allowing the sun to filter in with a warm glow.
When Illumi's cellphone rang, it caught him off-guard. Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he found himself surprised when he saw that the aforementioned ten minutes had passed, and the butler was no doubt calling him to inform him that he had arrived.
Had the time truly passed so quickly?
His mouth set in a small frown as he lifted you back into his arms, adjusting you before he stood up and carried you out of the room.
Under normal circumstances, the butler wouldn't have needed to call for him for any reason. Any other time, Illumi would have been waiting at the aforementioned spot long before his ride would have arrived. That he had gotten so distracted simply from holding you was somewhat worrying, and he hoped this sudden distracted attitude was a one-time thing due to him finding you.
The butler he had called for was standing at the ready when Illumi walked out through the employee only door of the hotel, and they bowed respectfully when they saw him. Their gaze narrowed ever so slightly when they saw you unconscious in his arms, but they said nothing, waiting for their master to speak first.
Illumi did just that once he had reached them, stopping before them to ask “what is my schedule for the next few days?”
“During the time you spent with the target, another request came in for your services, Master Illumi,” the butler said, “two days from now, in the Kakin Empire.”
“Give it to Milluki; I'm sure whatever it is, he can handle it,” Illumi told them.
“And if Master Milluki is not available…?”
“He's always available. He never leaves home unless someone makes him.”
The butler nodded and listened intently as the assassin continued “don't bring me any assignments for the next few days. I need my schedule completely clear.”
“For this person, Master Illumi?” the butler asked as they once more looked at your unconscious form.
Illumi stared back to them intently as he said “this is my soulmate. You'll show them respect.”
At that, the butler immediately understood, bowing their head as they answered “of course, Master Illumi. My apologies.”
“You'll look after them while I complete my current job,” Illumi said, “should they wake up before I return, you will tend to their needs while keeping them safe.”
“Of course, Master Illumi.”
The butler then moved to take you from Illumi's arms, but stopped when he gave them a long, hard stare.
“Open the door,” the assassin ordered.
Moving quickly, the butler did just that, opening the back door and holding it wide for him. Illumi then carried you into the car's interior and set you down onto one of the long seats, handling you gently as he did so. As he pulled back and began to step out of the vehicle, he found that he was remiss to leave you. But as he still had a job to complete, there was nothing to be done about it.
After exiting the car, he waited for the butler to close the door before turning to them one last time.
“Don't speak of the discovery of my soulmate to anyone,” he ordered, “I will let my family know in my own time.”
One last time, the butler nodded in understanding, and they waited until Illumi began to leave the area before they took their place back in the driver's seat and drove off. Illumi couldn't help but take one glance behind himself as you were driven away. Despite knowing that with the way you were laid out on the backseat and that he wouldn't be able to see you, something still caused his head to turn as he watched the car move further away, as he watched the thread from within the vehicle become more slack with every bit of distance put between the two of you.
When he returned to the hotel room to grab the painting was when he realized another mistake, an oversight on his part. Illumi froze after he entered, catching sight of something on the couch where the both of you had been sitting not so long ago:
The briefcase.
With the eight billion jenny.
The jenny that had been Farley's payment for the job, that he had intended to give to that butler so he didn't need to drag it with him when he killed the other targets. Yet it remained on the couch.
Illumi had been so concerned with getting you to safety, he had managed to forget it completely.
Pursing his lips, a small scowl made its way onto his face as he stepped forward, determining that he had no choice and that he would need to take both the briefcase and the painting when he went to the apartment where your roommate was. It was obnoxious, but he wasn't going to call back the butler.
Admitting that he had forgotten something would be far too embarrassing.
The car was driving along a lonely stretch of the two lane highway while the sun slowly descended to the earth, casting the sky in golden colors as it sank lower and lower. It had been a while now since they had left the boundaries of the city, and there was still some time before they would reach the intended destination. But with a freshly filled gas tank and a driver who was more than capable of withstanding the hours of driving that were left on the journey, Illumi doubted that there would be any delays from this point. They would arrive at one of the Zoldyck's many homes in due time, and then Illumi could get to know you.
He was currently staring at you, just as he had been at the start of the journey. After the hit job that took longer than expected to complete due to his targets being spread out and the added stress of finding someone to act as a replacement for you – all taken care of with a single needle and the disfigurement to the heads – Illumi had been eager to see you again. Though there had been a slight disappointment on his end when he entered the car and saw that you were still unconscious, he quickly overcame that when he took advantage of your current state in order to place you so that your head rested on his lap.
Just like in the hotel room earlier, it wasn't an action that he was accustomed to – he had never considered doing something like that for someone before this – but with you, it felt right. Natural.
And as he lightly brushed his knuckles against your cheek while you slept soundly under his watch, he found that he felt content. After years of waiting, of fruitlessly searching, he finally found you. Not under the best circumstances, that was for certain, but seeing how things had ultimately turned out, it was all worth the wait.
Though there did remain the matter of your reaction once you had awoken and how you would receive him once he told you the truth.
A small frown once more graced his lips. Teaching you nen and showing you that way would be the best way to prove it to you, though it would take some time. While he had no issue spending that time, he felt another pang of disappointment hit him. He liked you as you were now; pliant and accepting of his touch, as more than once when he had stroked you, you had leaned into him, subconsciously seeking him out. It felt nice, an acknowledgment of the connection that some deeper part of you surely recognized. That you would likely be resistant to him once you were awake was a shame, but one that was unlikely to be avoided.
Learning about you wouldn't come about quickly, he feared. It would take time to tear down the walls you would no doubt build around yourself. So getting to know what you were really like, the areas in which the two of you were similar and the ways in which you differed, and the way that he hoped that you would be loving with him, as was so often spoken of, all of that would only come in time.
With that in mind, Illumi was making an effort to cherish this moment on the journey, when he could caress you all he wanted without you making a fuss.
But not long after, it seemed as though that moment was coming to an end.
He noted when you began to stir awake, your eyebrows furrowing and your mouth turning into a frown as your consciousness slowly but surely returned to you. With your head still resting on his lap, Illumi watched you intently, keeping his hand on your hair. The reaction you would have when you woke up was bound to be a bad one. You would likely remember most of what had happened before he had knocked you out and you would respond with that same fear as before once you saw that you were laying in the confines of such a small space with a man who had told you he'd been hired to kill you.
Illumi anticipated how you might lash out at him, perhaps attack him if you thought you might be able to catch him off guard. Although, based on the way you had reacted back at the hotel room, it wasn't hard to imagine that you might beg him to let you go, perhaps even cry while doing so.
The mental image of you with tears in your eyes had a bad taste form at the back of Illumi's mouth as he found that the thought displeased him.
…. Hm. Just from the thought alone?
His eyes went back to the thread that connected him to you, and once more he felt a small amount of amazement at how powerful the connection was already. But with you not knowing nen, how long would it take for you to sense it?
The fluttering of your eyelids had Illumi's gaze snapping back to your face, and once more he watched intently as you were now waking up.
The look he could see in your eyes when they first opened was best described as being dazed. For a few moments, you were looking around the interior of the car, but sleep still had some hold on your mind as there was no reaction from you as you did so. Not until your gaze drifted upwards and you caught sight of Illumi looming over you. And even then it took a few moments of you gazing at him before your mind truly became awake.
Illumi watched as the dazed look in your eyes dissipated, the sleepiness being replaced with wide eyed shock and horror as you remembered him, your once slack jaw tightening and the breath now coming out of you harsh and fast through your nose, betraying your utter panic. You had your full attention on the assassin, staring up at him and not daring to move, even when you realized just where he had chosen to place your head during the time you were unconscious.
He didn't like the way you looked at him, but Illumi supposed that he shouldn't blame you too much for that reaction. He also supposed that he would need to be the one to start a dialogue between the two of you, as you seemed too terrified to speak.
Yet you managed to do something unexpected.
With your voice croaking out of your throat and your lips barely moving, you managed to get out a single “hi.”
Illumi blinked in surprise, but then chose to copy you as he responded with a similar “hello.”
He stayed quiet after, giving you the opportunity to speak on your own again.
You did just that. After your gaze went back to your surroundings, you looked him in the eyes again as you mumbled out “we're in a car.”
“We are,” Illumi agreed.
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Why else would we be in a car?”
“Ah, right. Sorry. That was a stupid question.”
You were having an easier time speaking, though the wild look of panic in your eyes had yet to go away.
“Can I…. Can I ask where we're going?” you then said, your gaze now on what little you could see through the tinted windows.
“Somewhere safe.”
“…. Safe for who?”
“Safe for us both.”
You blinked.
“What does that mean?” you asked.
Illumi raised an eyebrow as he replied “I should think you would understand what that means. I don't believe I've said anything confusing.”
“I mean, well……”
You glanced away again before saying “it just feels like you're being a little vague with what you're saying. Plus, you could be lying to me.”
Illumi cocked his head as he asked “why do you think I'm lying?”
“You weren't being very truthful earlier,” you reluctantly answered.
He frowned at that.
“You're saying that I lied to you?” he asked.
You nodded.
“When did I lie?”
“With the whole exchange,” you mumbled, “you were pretending to be a buyer.”
“I never claimed to be. You only asked if I was there for 'the thing',” he pointed out.
“But you're an assassin.”
“I never said that I wasn't.”
“You lied by omission.”
Illumi's eyebrows raised slightly.
“Not mentioning something counts as lying?”
“….. Yeah.”
That answer had come out more mumbled, as though you weren't willing to admit that he was right.
It was rather cute, but commenting on that fact was unlikely to be received well in that moment.
As you had quieted down, he took the opportunity to speak as he said “regardless of if I was lying or not earlier, I'm telling the truth when I say that I intend to keep both of us safe. I hope you believe me on that. It's the least you could do after the trouble you've caused for me today.”
You looked up at him in confusion as you repeated “trouble?”
Illumi nodded, repeating the word “trouble. With you getting on that hit list, you put me in an awkward situation.”
“I did?”
“You did.”
“Oh. Sorry, I guess.”
You hadn't relaxed much since waking up, but it seemed to be a good sign that your voice wasn't shaking quite as much anymore.
“I never imagined I'd manage to fuck up badly enough to make things difficult for an assassin,” you added.
Under normal circumstances, Illumi would have considered such a reaction – such words – to be odd, especially coming from someone who knew that he had been hired to kill them. But as he thought on it more, perhaps it wasn't so strange. You were his soulmate, and while you had spent the majority of the car ride unconscious, perhaps the physical contact made with him keeping your head on his lap had been enough to awaken the connection subconsciously.
To test that, Illumi reached a hand towards your cheek, eager to see what your reaction would be. When you did nothing other than stare at his palm before it made contact with your skin, he felt as though he was proven correct. When he began to softly stroke your cheek and he felt you stiffen slightly before relaxing in his touch, the assassin couldn't help but smile.
This was going even better than he hoped.
Finally responding to your last statement, Illumi told you “it's alright. Everything managed to work work out regardless.”
“That's good, I guess.”
You gulped before taking in another breath, and then you spoke up again.
“Not that your lap isn't….. Comfortable, but are you okay if I sit up? Continuing the conversation like this feels awkward,” you said.
Despite not wanting to grant that request after enjoying the time he'd had with you in that position, Illumi pulled his arms away and leaned back slightly as he answered “of course.”
That you sat up immediately and scooted just a few inches away was again displeasing to Illumi, but he told himself that it was good that was all you were doing. That you were being so reasonable was a very good thing for himself, as well as for you.
Looking about the car once more, this time while sitting up, your gaze lingered briefly on the butler in the front seat, as though you hadn't noticed them before. Whatever you made of their presence was unknown as you tore your gaze away to look again at Illumi.
“Can I ask more questions or do you want me to shut up?” you asked.
“You may ask as many questions as you like,” Illumi told you, “I will answer to the best of my ability.”
“Ah. Okay. Um…”
Your fingers played with the hem of your shirt while you formulated your question, something Illumi found his gaze drawn to. He remembered the way in which you had toyed with the paper of the decoy parcel, and it seemed to him that you had a habit of fidgeting whenever you were nervous.
“You said…. You said you were hired to kill me, right?” you asked.
Illumi nodded.
“And you…. Didn't?”
“You're alive right now, aren't you?”
“I mean, I think so,” you said, “this would be one weird afterlife to end up in.”
“I just – I don't want to sound ungrateful,” you added, “but I have to admit that I'm really confused about why I'm still alive. I really thought I was going to die earlier – you said you'd been hired to kill me, so I don't get why you didn't go through with that.”
“It's because I can't kill you,” Illumi answered.
You picked up on his choice of wording as you repeated “Can't? Not 'won't'?”
“Exactly. I can't.”
“Why?”
Without wasting a breath, Illumi said “because we're soulmates.”
Upon hearing that response, you didn't reply. You stared up at him blankly, blinking every now and then as though you were still processing his words. Seconds ticked by as you stayed like that, and Illumi stayed quiet in turn. As he had been telling himself before, he should anticipate a reaction of disbelief from you. Based on your current temperament, you likely wouldn't lash out, though if you were to do so, it would be from desperation and panic.
“Soulmates?” you repeated, “is that similar to love at first sight or something? You saw me and felt I was the one?”
“No. When I say we're soulmates, I mean that the two of us are literally soulmates.”
Illumi lifted up his left hand as he told you “there's a thread that spans the space between the both of us, that connects the two of us together. We're meant to be with one another.”
You looked to his hand and then to your own.
“I'm…. I'm not sure I see a thread,” you said.
“That's because you aren't able to yet, but it's there.”
“…… Oh.”
Illumi blinked at your lackluster reaction, wondering if that really was all you had to say about that.
But you next response was what truly surprised him, as after taking a moment to seemingly mull it over, you let out a small response that simply consisted of a single word.
“Okay.”
Illumi blinked again and he stared at you, uncertain if he had really heard you say what he thought you said. Even the butler who had remained quiet throughout the whole exchange glanced back with a puzzled expression on their face.
Upon seeing his reaction, your eyebrows furrowed and your anxiety began to build again.
“Was…. Should I not have said that?” you asked, “were you really joking when you said that?”
Your question snapped Illumi out of his slight stupor.
“I wasn't joking,” Illumi clarified, “I'm telling the truth. You're my soulmate.”
Upon hearing him again, you nodded slightly as you let out a soft breath. And then you said it again.
“Okay.”
…. You were accepting it that easily?
Illumi wasn't sure what to say, and that in of itself was strange for him.
He must have been looking at you strangely again because your nerves only continued to grow.
“Did I say something wrong? You don't seem very happy,” you said.
“… I'm a little surprised,” Illumi admitted, “I thought it would take more to convince you on account of you being unable to see the thread yourself, at least at this moment in time.”
“Ah, I guess that is a little weird,” you said, scratching the back of your neck as you added “but if that's what you say is the truth, then I'll believe you.”
“You'll believe me?” Illumi repeated.
“Y-yeah. I mean, if you kill people for a living and you chose not to kill me, then you must have had a good reason not to, right? And if you say that it's because we're soulmates, then I'll trust that that's the truth. You told me to believe in you, right?”
Remembering his words from earlier, he nodded in agreement as he confirmed “I did say that.”
You nodded in turn as you said “so I believe you.”
It looked as though you were going to say something further after reiterating that last point, but when you opened your mouth, you seemed to reconsider whatever you had planned on saying. So you shut your mouth and remained silent while you went back to fidgeting with the hem of your shirt, though you made an effort to relax yourself as you leaned against the back of the seat.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I'm fine,” you said, “it's a bit much to take in, but I'll manage.”
You then spoke up once more as you asked “can I ask another question?”
“Of course.”
“What happened to my roommate and the others?”
“They're dead.”
You went quiet after Illumi's blunt response, and though he could see that you were once more attempting to keep your expression level, the panic in your eyes was easy to spot.
“Their bodies will have been handed over to the client by now, as well as the painting that your friends stole,” he said.
“…. But…. Does he know about me? Or did you not tell him?” you asked.
“I told you before: he was already aware of your involvement. He knew all of you, and he could have disposed of you on his own. He went out of his way to choose me because he wanted you four to suffer,” Illumi answered, “but not to worry. I found a solution in your case. Farley has no idea that you aren't dead. Even if the unlikely happens and he comes across you, he wouldn't dare do anything to you, not if he wants to risk bringing down the wrath of the Zoldyck family upon him. Once we are married and you have my name, he'll be none the wiser.”
Unfortunately, it didn't appear that you truly heard him, as when he told you that you could have been disposed of earlier, a look of dread passed over you and sweat started to bead on your neck. When your breathing grew harsher, he grew concerned once more. And when you suddenly clamped both of your hands over your mouth, Illumi stopped speaking completely, his gaze narrowing in question.
“What is it?” he asked.
“….. Could we pull over?” you asked back, your voice muffled by your hands.
Upon hearing that, Illumi grew suspicious as he asked “why?”
“I'm gonna throw up.”
“…. Oh.”
Within seconds the car had pulled over to the side of the deserted road, and a few mere moments after that you were on your knees in the nearby grass, your arms holding yourself up as you violently emptied the contents of your stomach, gagging while tears began to fall down your cheeks.
Perhaps there had been something in that drink you had gotten at the cafe that didn't agree with you, Illumi thought to himself. Though regardless of the cause it wasn't an ideal look, especially not for someone who was going to marry into the Zoldyck family. But he found himself willing to forgive you for it. You would need to learn to toughen up but for the time being…. For the time being he would offer you some grace and refrain from commenting on it.
It also might ensure everything would go smoothly between the two of you if he treated you gently.
He then caught sight of the way the butler was looking at you. They were still at their place at the door, holding it open with a water bottle in hand that was clearly intended for you. But as they gazed at the state you were in, there was an obvious look of disgust in their eyes. As they watched you while you were on your knees and retching, it was clear that they thought little of you, clear that they felt you were unworthy of the position within the family that they served.
A rush of anger swelled within the assassin when he saw that look.
The butler noticed instantly when Illumi fixed his death glare upon them, and they were quick to bow their head in submission, wordlessly apologizing to him for their transgression.
Neither said anything, though the butler did visibly tense when Illumi approached him. Instead of disciplinary action, the assassin simply snatched the bottled water from the butler's hand before making his way to your side. Once your vomiting spell had come to an end and you were merely left gasping and coughing, he had knelt down beside you, holding the water out for you.
“Drink. Vomiting leads to dehydration,” he told you.
You took the bottle without question, using it first to wash out the taste in your mouth before gulping down half of the contents in several long gulps. When you pulled the bottle away to breathe out through your mouth in what sounded like relief, Illumi placed his hand on your back and rubbed it soothingly.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked after a moment.
It took you a moment to respond to his question, but you eventually nodded 'yes'.
“That's good.”
Illumi's hand settled on your shoulder as he then asked “do you think you can get back into the car?”
That time, the moment you took to answer was even longer than the last one, but once more you gave a nod in response.
“Sorry for making you stop,” you answered as you pulled yourself to your feet, “I figured you didn't want vomit covering your nice seats.”
“It wouldn't have mattered. Such things can either be cleaned or replaced,” Illumi answered.
He tilted his head to the side as he asked “do you need me to carry you?”
Once more you froze for a brief second, but then you shook your head and gave him a small smile as you answered “the car isn't that far away. I'll be fine walking.”
“Thank you for offering, though,” you quickly added.
“Of course.”
Though secretly, Illumi wished you had said 'yes'.
It was made up for soon after once you were both sitting in the car's interior once more. When Illumi sat down next to you, close enough that his arm was brushing against yours, you didn't make any move to get away from him, instead allowing him to remain close.
As the car started up again and began to drive off, you spoke up to ask “does anyone else know about this?”
“That you were my target?” he asked.
You nodded.
“Only you, myself and the butler. And they won't inform anyone,” Illumi told you confidently.
“But doesn't the client know me?” you asked.
“The matter for the client has been settled. I very much doubt he will remember your name or your face come tomorrow.”
“So as long as I stay with you, I'll be safe,” you said, seeming to state that fact out loud more to yourself.
Illumi replied anyway, saying “of course. Protecting one's soulmate is only natural.”
You nodded in understanding again while you fiddled with the water bottle, picking at the plastic labeling with your fingernails.
You weren't completely at ease then, Illumi determined. Despite what you had told him, there was something that was making you nervous, and he found himself thinking that perhaps it was him. You were the one who had said he was scary, after all.
It was a shame that you would lie and say the things you thought he wanted to hear, but once again he told himself that this was still better than what he had been expecting. Even if you weren't being truthful, you were being compliant, and that made things easier for him, as opening the connection for you would be less difficult if you weren't fighting him.
He wanted to talk with you more, learn more about you and get to know how you truly felt about all of this-
But as had now become a pattern, what you did next surprised him.
You leaned against him, the tension in your body slowly leaving while he felt the weight of your cheek resting on his shoulder.
Illumi blinked, looking down at you with his lips parted slightly as he felt a warmth blooming in his chest from the contact. Just as it had those times before, the feeling of you against him was strangely intoxicating. But unlike earlier, this time you were conscious for this moment, and not only that, you had been the one to initiate it.
He noted the way your eyes flitted about and how your expression grew in worry upon seeing his reaction. It seemed as though you were going to pull away.
He was fast to wrap an arm around your shoulder and pull you in closer.
You stiffened slightly, but eventually relaxed as you shifted to a more comfortable position, resting your head against him once again, though there was still a hint of that tension in you.
“What's wrong?” he asked, his voice low.
“….. It's a little scary that you could've killed me,” you told him.
“Ah, I suppose it was,” he admitted.
Illumi leaned back into the seat while continuing “it was the last thing I had ever expected. To think, that my client would hire me to kill my own soulmate. How are odds like that even possible?”
You stayed quiet after that, but when he glanced back down at you, he saw the gears in your head turning.
“…. Maybe you were supposed to get me as a target,” you then said.
“Of course I was supposed to; Farley hired me specifically,” he told you.
“No, I mean….”
You turned in your seat to face him fully, which came as an annoyance to him as you pulled away from him slightly. You then clarified “with us being soulmates, we were supposed to come together eventually, right? Maybe… Maybe my getting mixed up in that and you being hired was meant to be. Maybe if that hadn't happened, we never would have met. Like fate.”
Illumi blinked.
Then he gazed up while he grasped his chin thoughtfully as he considered your words.
“I hadn't thought of that,” he admitted.
“Really?”
“No. I was far too focused on getting out of the situation to consider that,” he admitted, “but with the unlikeliness of it all, that may very well be the only explanation.”
Illumi looked back to you, smiling as he said, “I think you're right.”
You smiled in response.
It was the second time you had done so, and once again, it was tinged, tainted somewhat, with that hint of fear. It confirmed to him that you were saying what you thought he wanted you to, making an effort to play nice with him. But even if your words had been born out of that, they rang more true than you thought.
You would come to that realization at a different time.
Illumi pulled you in again, and you didn't resist as he did so. With you comfortably resting against him once more, he found that he felt at peace. He finally had what he had been searching for – his illusive soulmate, brought to him under the most unexpected circumstances, but still sitting safely in his arms.
While you weren't as receptive to his words as you were portraying yourself to be, Illumi was certain that he could change that.
And he was certain that would take no time at all.
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