This came up on my playlist while I was working on a new fic and it made me cry. The lyrics, the vibes, "I would die a thousand times, just to see you in another life".
Finally changed their nicknames!! It only took me like 50 days of playing to figure out how to do it
For those of you who don’t know how (I didn’t and literally just found out accidentally) in your messages with them tap on their profile picture and there will be a little pencil next to their name where you can change it.
A series of self-indulgent ficlets in which the love interests find out MC is Deaf/Hard of Hearing. Or in the case of Zayne and Caleb, find out MC's hearing is worse than what they previously knew.
Sylus doesn’t understand what it is he’s done to piss you off, but the silent treatment and pretending he doesn’t exist is starting to grate on his nerves. 1142 words.
Rafayel’s lips curl into a pout, and he sets sketchbook and pencil aside, moment gone as you ignore him. 1329 words.
Caleb had been around long enough to know that anything that happened to your hearing aids while they were in your ears was usually uncomfortable, if not painful. 1346 words.
Tags: Caleb x Reader, Caleb x MC, Deaf/HoH MC, gn MC/Reader, use of pips and pipsqueak
Caleb had always known your hearing was bad, had gone to every single one of your appointments with you when you were younger. Made you schedule your appointments on days he could take off and would pull sick time when he couldn’t just to go with you as you got older. He’d been there when you got your first pair of hearing aids, had watched the way your eyes had widened a little as you properly heard the doctor’s voice for the first time. Gently pulled you from the crosswalk as you realised cars and crosswalk signs made noise. Stood behind you in a little alley near your house for nearly an hour as you learned cats did too, so enthralled by the sound you completely forgot you’d been going out for ice cream.
Caleb’s in the kitchen preparing dinner, finally feeling settled again after everything that had happened, thankful he doesn’t have any priority missions from the fleet so he could take a few days off to come visit you. He looks up when he hears the door open and then slam closed behind you, turning towards the entry of the kitchen. You head straight down the hall to your room, slamming that door too, and Caleb frowns a little as he finishes up. Pulling the pan off the heat and going to check on you after he’s gotten everything plated. With how upset you seemed, going after you right away would only have made things worse.
“Pipsqueak?” Caleb calls, knocking on the door and waiting a moment. “Pips?”
You don’t reply, and Caleb pauses for a moment before opening the door a crack, reaching his arm through to flicker the lights in case you hadn’t heard his knocking. He waits three seconds before pushing the door open the rest of the way, looking around at the trail of mess you’ve left on your way into the en suite. Your hunter uniform is discarded across his floor, marking a path from the door to the dresser into the bathroom.
“Are you okay?” Caleb checks, picking up your dirty clothes and dumping them into the laundry hamper. They’re slightly damp to the touch, a tear just above the knee of your pants.
When you still don’t reply Caleb moves towards the ensuite door, pushing it open just enough for you to notice. He doesn’t reach for the light this time, knows that one horror movie you watched together as kids still gets to you, that you tense up whenever the lights in a bathroom flicker even when you can see that it’s Caleb doing it. He waves his hand instead, waiting for you to catch sight of it.
“Give me a minute.” You call, and Caleb frowns a little at the terse tone you’re using but pulls the door closed again regardless.
“Everything okay?” He asks as you step out of the bathroom, looking over you for any sign of injury.
“I’m fine.” You promise, doing a short little spin so Caleb can see you truly aren’t wounded before stepping past him. “Did you make dinner?”
“On the table.” Caleb says, following you out to the dining area.
He smiles as you drop down into your usual seat, already lifting up your chopsticks to eat. Caleb grabs two apple sodas from the fridge and sets them on the table before he takes his seat across from you. Proud as you hum in delight after taking a bite.
“Do you have my extras?” You ask, and Caleb tilts his head as he processes the question.
“They’re in my bag. I’ll grab them for you later.” He promises, piling some more food into your bowl. “Did anything interesting happen today?”
“Foulwings lightning attacks happen at just the right frequency to fry hearing aids.” You report, and Caleb frowns a little as he looks up at you from his plate.
“You got hit?” He worries, moving from his chair to come around the table to you before he’s even finished asking.
He’s sure you’d been wearing your hearing aids when they were fried, and Caleb had been around long enough to know that anything that happened to your hearing aids while they were in your ears was usually uncomfortable, if not painful. Had been there the first time they gave feedback and watched you rip the devices out of your ears, practically throwing them across the room as you pressed your hands over your ears. He’d been the one to pull you out of the pool after you forgot you were wearing your hearing aids and dove in, the devices short circuiting in the water, tears streaming down your cheeks and blood in your ears.
“I’m fine.” You promise, but Caleb grabs your hands anyway, pushing your sleeves out of the way to check each of your arms and then taking your face into his hands and turning it this way and that. “Caleb.”
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Caleb checks, careful as he runs his fingertips over the shell of your ear. It’s nothing more than jumbled sounds to you.
“Caleb.” You try again, as he turns your face the other way to look at your other ear.
“Did you get checked out?” He pushes. You can’t hear the question at all, now that he’s on your left.
“Caleb.” You say a third time, pushing harshly at his hands when he doesn’t respond. “I can’t hear you when you like that.” You snap, glaring as he finally meets your eyes.
“You, what?” Caleb stutters, eyes flicking over your face. “I wasn’t covering your ears? And there’s no background noise.”
You frown at him, staring blankly as Caleb grabs your hands, both a move to guide you from the chair and to hide the shake in his own. “Come on, we need to go get you checked out. When did you notice?”
“Caleb.” You sigh, pulling back against him before he can tug you up from your chair. Your anger slipping away as quickly as it came. “Sit down for a second.”
“Pips I know you hate going to the audiologist but if your hearing is worse after that wanderer attack-” Caleb rushes without looking at you, eyes darting around the room to each of the things he’ll need to grab before you leave.
“It’s not worse after the wanderer attack. The audiologist already knows about the deterioration.” You state, gentle as you guide him to look at you with hands on his cheeks. “Sit down, yeah?”
“What do you mean they already know?” Caleb pushes, but he sits, ignoring his chair across the table and kneeling beside you instead. “Did you go after work?”
You start slowly, holding his face in your hands and absentmindedly brushing your thumbs under his eyes, knowing what you’re about to say is going to break him. “My hearing got worse after the explosion. Without my hearing aids I can’t hear anything with my left ear, and what I can hear with my right is extremely limited.”
Caleb blinks, tilts a little as he shifts his weight and drops back to sit properly on the floor. You watch him carefully, pushing your chair back and moving to kneel in front of him now, waiting as he processes what you’ve just said. The words are a bomb of their own, loud and shattering in the silence of the apartment.
“Caleb?” You check, guiding his hands from his lap so you can push closer to him. “Look at me?”
“Your hearing…” He trails off, hands closing around your waist as soon as you’re within reach.
“I’m okay.” You promise. “We’re okay.”
Caleb doesn't say anything else, just tugs you closer to him and moves your limbs around until you’re comfortably sitting in his lap. He tucks his head in the crook of your neck, arms wrapped around you protectively, like he can keep every bad thing in the world away from you. You lean your weight against him, one of your arms trapped between the two of you as the other brushes through his hair.
Tags: Rafayel x Reader, Rafayel x MC, Deaf/HoH MC, Fluff, use of Y/N once, gn MC/Reader
Rafayel thinks you're ignoring him and can't figure out why. A self-indulgent hard of hearing MC fic.
Rafayel hadn’t looked up as you walked into his studio, had called out a soft greeting but otherwise remained focused on the painting in front of him. Only truly aware you’d come in because you’d walked up to him, gently set a hand on his shoulder, pressed a kiss to his cheek. You hadn’t replied to his greeting, or maybe you had and he hadn’t processed it. But that was normal for you, to kiss his cheek and then go take a long bath after a hard day of work. To disappear into the bathroom sometimes for an hour at a time, and then come back after having some time to yourself.
Not because spending time with Rafayel was taxing, in fact you’d admitted to him before that time with him was usually more relaxing, that you felt more energized by his side. It was a ritual, you’d told him. To strip off your hunter's uniform once you got home, to bathe or at the very least wash your face. Wiping away everything bad or painful or stress inducing that you had witnessed as a hunter and just allowing yourself to relax in the comfort of your home.
Frankly, Rafayel was honored that you extended the word home to include his spaces too. That you’d extended your routine to him, explained it softly as you laid curled up on the couch one night, Rafayel’s fingers tracing patterns against your skin as you spoke. Sometimes you’d even invite Rafayel to go with you, lean back against him as you sat in the bath and washed away everything that had happened that day. Smile at him, warm like sunshine, as he washed your hair and pressed gentle, innocent kisses to your skin.
He hadn’t noticed when you came back into the room, dressed in one of the pajama sets he’d bought you to keep at the studio, top and shorts mismatched. You wore one of his cardigans over it, hands slightly covered by the sleeves as you scrolled on your phone. Rafayel smiled, grabbed his sketchbook to catch the image quickly. He’d paint it later, fully do the scene justice, the sketch was just something for now, to capture the moment before it faded.
“Cutie?” Rafayel calls, sketch nearly done, waiting for you to turn towards him to catch the look on your face.
You don’t. Eyes still focused on whatever game you’re playing, cheering softly to yourself as you clear a level. Rafayel frowns, tilts his head a little, grip on the pencil in his hand loosening ever so slightly.
“Cutie.” He repeats, a little louder now.
You still don’t look, don’t even react to the sound of his voice. Rafayael’s lips curl into a pout, and he sets sketchbook and pencil aside, moment gone as you ignore him. He’d told you before he most liked capturing you in the candid, that rather than posing or purposefully trying to hold still when you noticed him drawing you he preferred when you continued as you were. That he loved you as you were, that you didn’t need to pose or act in front of him like you’re doing now.
“Miss bodyguard?” He attempts, hoping you’ll glance at him, see he’s no longer sketching, drop whatever posing you’re doing and respond.
When you still don’t reply he frowns, realising now that perhaps your silence isn’t from posing but from anger. Trying to think what he might have done wrong, what caused you to ignore him like this. Trying to think if you really had said something when you came in and he’d missed it.
“Y/N?” He says slowly, your name feels foreign in this situation, heavy and awkward on his tongue as he stares at you. “Are you mad at me?”
You don’t say anything, don’t move, don’t look towards him. Rafayel takes it as a yes.
“What did I do?” He tries, knows sometimes it’s the wrong thing, that not knowing what he’s done might only push you further. He truly doesn’t know though, is only resorting to this because he genuinely can’t think of what it is.
“Are you hungry?” He pushes when you keep your silence, standing from his stool quickly and moving to grab his jacket. “If I go now I should be able to get to that food stall you like before you close. I’ll be back.”
You look up as he walks by you, eyes widening with confusion and hand moving out quickly to grab his wrist. Rafayel stops as soon as you’ve touched him, standing completely still, like any movement might startle you into letting go. Retreating back into your silence and leaving him alone again.
“Where are you going?” You ask him, curious, unsure. “Did something happen?”
“Would you rather have those desserts from the patisserie? I can get you some.” Rafayel offers, still looking towards the door, your eyes narrowing a little as you push up to kneel on the couch, trying to figure out what he’s just said.
“What?” You sound, frowning when he still doesn’t turn to face you, leaning over the side of the couch to try and see his face.
Rafayel’s hands find your waist quickly as you start to tilt, steadying you before you can fall. His eyes are wide with worry, and he looks you over quickly for any injuries. “Cutie?”
“Where are you going?” You ask again, and Rafayel frowns now, staring at you.
“The patisserie.” He repeats, looking towards you like you’re the one who’s lost your mind.
“They’d be closed by the time you got there.” You point out, and Rafayel blinks at you, leaning back a little to get a better look at you, hands moving to your head as he feels around for injuries.
“Did you get hurt today?” He asks, tilting your head so he can examine it. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”
You make a disgruntled noise as he does, his hands cupping the sides of your face and fingers covering your ears. He turns your head this way and that, trying to find any visible injury. You push his hands away after a moment, eyes alight with annoyance that wasn’t there before.
“Don’t do that.” You scold. “Stop covering my ears.”
Rafayel blinks. Once and then twice. “Your ears?”
“My hearing aids broke. I can’t hear you when you’re covering my ears and turning away from me.” You remind, confused by the way Rafayel stares at you.
“You can’t hear…” He repeats softly, words just mumbled enough that you can’t make them out even when you’re looking at him.
“Rafayel.”
“You can’t hear me?” He asks, louder in a way that makes you pause.
It wouldn’t help, never did, anyone who knew about your hearing loss would know that, but Rafayel doesn’t. “You didn’t know?”
“I didn’t know what?” Rafayel echoes, staring at you with the same look in his eyes he gets when a painting is missing something and he can’t figure out what.
“I’m hard of hearing. Without my hearing aids I can’t really hear anything if there is too much noise or you aren’t in front of me.” You explain carefully, watching Rafayel’s expression. In truth even with your hearing aids there were still times you struggled with identifying sounds in loud environments, but that wasn’t the point here.
“You’re hard of hearing.” Rafayel repeats, looking over your face like he’s committing it to memory. Like he hasn’t already done so. “You never told me.”
“I thought you knew.” You shrug, your hearing loss wasn’t something you advertised, and most people who spent time with you could guess from the slight accent to your voice and sound cues you’d miss.
“Tell me about it?” Rafayel asks, making sure you won’t fall from the couch as he lets go of your waist and then offers you his hand.
“Sure.” You agree, accepting his offered hand and following him out of the studio towards the beach.
Tags: Sylus x Reader, Sylus x MC, Deaf/HoH MC, Fluff, use of Y/N once, gn MC
Sylus thinks you're ignoring him, but he can't think of what he's done to make you do so. A self-indulgent hard of hearing MC fic.
INFOLD having the option not to hear MC’s voice lines during dialogue (and the ability to adjust the voice settings itself) is amazing and I love it so much. LADs has pretty advanced technology, so we’re playing pretend that hearing aids mimic real hearing and let you hear in louder environments. At least to a better degree than real hearing aids do.
Sylus doesn’t understand what it is he’s done to piss you off, but the silent treatment and pretending he doesn’t exist is starting to grate on his nerves. You’d been doing great recently, everything was going well. He can’t for the life of him figure out what happened between when you left for work this morning, kissing him on the cheek and smiling at him like he was the greatest treasure in the world, to now.
Nothing out of the usual had happened, you’d texted him silly pictures of cats on your lunch break and had come home only a half hour late because of some report you had to finish, and you’d texted him to tell him about that too. Crow emoji and all. Which is why he cannot, no matter how hard he tries, figure out what it is that's causing you to ignore him like he’s not even in the room with you.
You’d give no reaction even as he tried baiting you, which was rarely the right choice when you were actually mad at him but he’d been in the same room with you for over an hour and you hadn’t looked at him once. Sylus wasn’t normally a desperate man. He was the leader of Onychinus and the N109 zone. He was filthy rich and had enough power to get whatever he wanted. Except for your attention, apparently.
“Kitten.” Sylus tries for what must be the hundredth time, failing to keep the annoyance - read pout - out of his tone.
You still don’t react, attention focused on whatever it is you’ve been looking at on your phone for almost two hours now. Sylus’ eyes narrow, and he stands up from his desk and stalks towards you, plucking your phone from your hand and holding it up above his head.
“YN.” Sylus warns.
You blink at him, smile faltering and shoulders hunching a little like you’re the one who’s been so desperately trying to get his attention for hours. Like he’s in the wrong for finally making you address him after you promised when you first started dating to talk about things that upset or annoyed you so they wouldn’t build up over time.
“Sylus?” You ask slowly, staring at him like he’s the one who’s acting strange and just a little tiny part of him snaps.
“Ignoring someone isn’t very nice.” Sylus says, your eyes narrowing a little as you stare firmly at his lips.
“Ignoring you?” You repeat, slow, genuinely confused in a way that gives him pause.
“I’ve been talking to you since you walked in, kitten.” Sylus points out, and you blink up at him, lips pouting a little and head tilting just slightly, unconsciously.
“During my mission today I got knocked into a fountain.” You tell him information he already knows from your texts, complaining about how embarrassing it was to have been knocked into a fountain by civilians while you were supposed to be taking care of wanderers. “My hearing aids got all water logged and I didn’t want to go out of my way to pick my backups up.”
Sylus stares, eyes widening minusculely and the firm line of his lips relaxing just slightly. It’s the most surprised you’ve ever seen him, and you stare, confused by his reaction. He doesn’t say anything, drops your phone on the couch next to you and carefully reaches his hand out to brush his fingers along the side of your jaw until his palms are pressing over your ears ever so lightly.
“Sylus?” You probe, trying to figure out what this reaction means.
“You wear hearing aids.” Sylus says softly, and you squint a little trying to read his lips, completely lost on the few sound cues you had before now that he’s covering your ears. “Since when have you…?”
Your eyes narrow slightly and you frown, gently pushing at his wrists. “Sylus, move your hands.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Sylus asks as he withdraws his hands, watching your face carefully to see if he needs to repeat himself.
“I thought you knew.” You shrug. “I can hear well enough with my hearing aids that they let me be a hunter, and I can usually hear your voice alright even without them when I’m facing you and there’s not too much background noise. Or when you aren’t covering my ears.”
The music that had been playing from Sylus’ record player stops with your words, his hands sliding from where they’d been resting on your shoulders to your hips as Sylus lifts you off the couch just long enough to sit down in your seat, settling you back on his lap. You stare at him, a little surprised he didn’t already know about your hearing loss and touched at the way he instantly accommodated you, like it was the obvious answer, like there wasn’t another option in his mind.
“Has your hearing always been like that?” He wonders, careful like he’s not sure it’s a topic he can broach.
“It wasn’t always this bad.” You answer, settling your own arms around his shoulders to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. “When I was a kid it was only really a problem when there were too many noises happening at once or higher pitched noises like from whistles. My hearing only really started deteriorating when I was 13 or so, there’s nothing medically they can do for me but get me tested for new hearing aids every so often. It got worse after the accident, sometimes my hearing just goes out completely and all I’m left with is a ringing in my ears, and without my hearing aids I can’t hear much of anything with my left ear.”
“Kieran and Luke always approach you from the right.” Sylus realises.
“They thought you knew too.” You assure, not wanting Sylus to be upset with them.
“Is there anything else?” Sylus asks, continuing when you tilt your head slightly. “Things that make it harder or easier for you to hear.”
“It’s harder to hear sounds that come from behind me,” You start, and Sylus listens, nodding along to everything you say like he’s taking notes of it all.
He probably is, already thinking about accommodations to make to the base so you’re more comfortable. You smile as you think of it, the natural way Sylus remembers things about you and the ease with which he makes adjustments for you before you’ve even asked.
Sylus raises a brow as you smile suddenly, ducking his head down a little to catch your eyes. Your smile only widens as he does, and you settle more comfortably against him as you continue to talk, knowing even though you can’t hear your own voice that Sylus is hanging onto every word, listening to it for the both of you.
Dragons sleep on their treasures, it's a way of guarding it, keeping it safe from other's and being sure no one can get to it without waking them up. Sylus is that way too, has a little box of his favourite gems and such tucked away under his bed. His greatest treasure though, is you. He sleeps best with his head in your lap or pinning you under his weight as he lays over you. His favourite place to nap is on you, head on your stomach and arms wrapped around your back, your laptop settled on his back as you type up reports. Will stay there all day if you'd let him.
Dragons rarely share their hoards and treasures, in fact they're known to be very protective and territorial over them. When a dragon allows someone access to their hoard it can be seen as a sign of respect and acceptance, but it is most often a sign of courtship. Sylus gives you his black card and tells you to go crazy. With bank systems it's strange to have cash and change on hand, gems and jewelry aside, and so giving you his black card is his way of sharing his hoard with you.
Dragons view having territory and hoards as a sign of power. The more treasures a dragon has, the more territory that belongs to them, the stronger and more respect worthy the dragon is. Sylus is filthy rich. He's the leader of Onychinus and by extension he rules the N109 zone. On top of the Onychinus base he has safe houses all around, places that belong just to him (and now to you). When he tells you to go crazy with his black card it is not only his start to court you through offering you his hoard, it is his way of showing you that he has plenty and that he'd be a good mate for you.
Dragons present gifts and offerings to please their mates. Sylus pampers you. He offers you new weapons almost constantly. If you've ever played the claw machines with him you know if he fails to get a plushie he refuses to switch with you until he's gotten you one. When you return from showering after working out he's replaced your clothes with newly bought of the same thing. He has his chef prepare a full course meal for you, and buys you breakfast. The list goes on.
Dragons take promises very seriously, the idea of breaking a promise to them is worse than almost any crime. Words are an extension of their existence. Sylus also takes promises really seriously. You say "I'll be done in five, promise." and he stares at you like you've just sold off all of his gems and thrown his black card back in his face when it takes you six. Promises don't have to include the word, you tell him "I'll text you tonight." and he's spending the entire night waiting for his phone to ring with that silly little ringtone you picked out.
To a dragon, falling for lies is one of the worst things that can happen to them. Sylus doesn't realise you're lying to him once, as you tell him you aren't injured after a mission - you really aren't, the only evidence of your pursuit a single tiny scratch on your arm that barely even draw blood - but as he see's the cut later, fingers ghosting over the scratch and expression absolutely wrecked because you were injured and he didn't know, because you lied that you weren't and he couldn't tell you were lying to him.
Dragons have very different morals than humans. They're more focused on instinct and self interest. Their morals are very important to them, though dragons have been known to change their morals to better fit those of their mates. Sylus has no problem killing when he needs to, and he doesn't believe too much in the ideas of redemption or people changing. You however, as a hunter, have at least some belief that people can change - you also know that this doesn't apply to everyone, that multiple things have to be taken into account if someone is trying to redeem themselves. You also believe that some people are better dead, but that for some murder is too easy of a way out of things. Sylus doesn't change outright, he still firmly believes most people aren't worthy of second changes. But he starts considering which of his business partners to kill and which to give other punishments to, starts to leave people he might have killed to prevent future problems be as long as they don't intervene with his own plans.
Dragons are (violently) protective of their hoards, mates, and young. They will do anything to protect what is theirs. Sylus originally only had his gems and money (hoards), but then he took in Luke and Kieran (young), and finally he had you (mate). Any slight against what's his is absolutely unacceptable to him. Someone makes a comment about Luke and Kieran's masks? They're never seen again. A thief breaks in to try and steal his jewels? No one who enters the Onychinus base with bad intentions makes it out. A hunter from a different team made a bad comment about you during a mission? They apologize profusely the next day and aren't part of any future mission collaborations with your team.
Dragons view their scales very highly, for a dragon to give someone it's scale means they trust them wholeheartedly. It's a sign of respect, that they are acknowledging you as worthy. A dragon giving you it's scale can be a sign that they view you as an equal, or even that they view you as one of theirs and that they will protect you and answer their call. Sylus doesn't have scales now, but he's given MC both a brooch (from the main storyline) and a feather (the gift interaction).
dededos
jbbartram-illu
dailybridgerton
origamiaround
areudirty
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