WELCOME TO MY DREAMLAND

my name is lizard ♣︎ they/it ♣︎ >18 ♣︎ currently writing BSD + one piece + dr stone ♣︎ i don’t take requests rn, sorry!

[tokagedreams]

WELCOME TO MY DREAMLAND

♣︎ MASTERLIST ♣︎

meet the writer:

hi, my name is lizard! my pronouns are they/it. i don’t really feel like any particular gender, i just know i vibe with the aesthetic of tokage from sumikko gurashi. i’m asexual. i’m over 18. i’m autistic + adhd. i write in all lowercase sometimes, and sometimes i write with proper capitalization for bigger fics. i write x reader fics. my special interest is bungou stray dogs, but i also write some one piece stuff and dr stone stuff now. my favorite bsd characters are ranpo and poe. my favorite one piece characters are law and sabo. my favorite dr stone characters are xeno and stanley.

general rules:

♣︎ i only write sfw, this is a strictly sfw blog. slightly spicy stuff is fine, i just won’t write smut because i’m sex repulsed. you can still interact with the blog is you’re a nsfw account, just as long as you keep it sfw in my asks and comments :)

♣︎ this blog is meant to be an inclusive safe space for everybody! i always write gender neutral reader and avoid describing any features for reader, that way a wide variety of people can enjoy

♣︎ please be aware that i am a generally slow writer! i have executive dysfunction and motivation tends to come to me very sporadically. i will write whenever i feel like it, so don’t expect a schedule or consistency, this is a casual writing blog

♣︎ i ultimately decided not to take requests now, because my inspiration for writing is just too random. feel free to discuss ideas in my inbox though!

♣︎ this list might be updated as i run the blog and realize i need to add stuff <3

[tokagedreams]

KEEP YOU SAFE

Pairing: Sabo x Socially Anxious!Reader

Word Count: 5.8k

Warnings: depiction of Social Anxiety Disorder, Marineford spoilers, angst but it’s hurt/comfort

(a/n: Inevitable disclaimer that mental illnesses manifest differently for different people! This fic is based on my own personal experience with Social Anxiety Disorder, but I hope it’ll be relatable to others in some way. You don’t need to have social anxiety to read or anything, just know that you’ll be put in the shoes of a reader insert who does!

This came out a lot shorter than my other fics, let me know if anyone would be interested in more of this particular story and version of reader!)

Your eyes drifted half closed, lulled by the calm waters that blessed this particular boat’s journey. You had all your ducks in a row, your head was crammed full of fresh intel after another successful round of snooping. Pirates all over the Grand Line would surely pay fortunes for the information swimming in your brain at any given time, but that wasn’t a game you cared to play.

Your services came free to a good cause- namely the Revolutionary Army- though you certainly wouldn’t turn down a good meal when they offered to feed you. You just needed the basics to get by, and thankfully Dragon was always pleased enough by what you had to offer to send you on your way with more than enough supplies for your next trip out on the open ocean. Not that you ever really interacted with him directly- he may be a good man, but damn did he make you break out into a nervous sweat anytime you were in his proximity.

For a consistent ally to the Revolutionary Army, you truly didn’t interact with many of its soldiers, way too big of a group for your tastes. There was a reason you always worked alone, the same reason that you were currently tucked away in a storage closet among the mops and buckets instead of up on deck right now. It was easier to be by yourself, always had been and always would be. You didn’t necessarily like being alone all the time, it was just the only time your brain was quiet.

That’s not to say that you didn’t have friends, either, you had a few. You could count them on your hands, you weren’t a particularly easy person to get close to given your skittish nature, but the ones who’d managed to integrate into your life were good to you. When it came to your dealings with the Revolutionary Army, that would be Koala and Sabo, they were the only two who even had the ability to reach your den den mushi. Calls were particularly nerve wracking for you, so you had to be quite selective about who you allowed to contact you.

You’d known Koala for years now, you just kept running into her when she was out on missions- this was how you learned that there was an entire army of people who investigated the same World Government atrocities that you did. She managed to coax you out of your shell with the promise of a loyal ally who shared your morals, which you had exactly zero of at the time. You’d ventured out of your comfort zone to get to know her, and thankfully she’d never once made you regret it. She made herself easy to talk to, even for someone like you. She took the initiative in a conversation, but she always made sure to give you ample space to join in when you were ready. You found her assertiveness calming, having someone to guide you in social settings was immensely helpful.

Sabo, on the other hand, had a pretty rough start with you in comparison. The two of you could look back and laugh about it now, but he’d actually fought you the very first time you’d met. You’d been clad in an oversized black cloak, lurking in alleyways with your ear pressed against the wall, trying to overhear the dealings of a human trafficking group. Admittedly you had looked rather suspicious, and Sabo mistook you for an enemy.

To be perfectly fair, he had given you a chance to explain yourself, but with you being you, you’d naturally blown that chance. You could only stare at him with wide eyes, frantically glancing around for an escape route. You’d been aware of who he was at that point, but he was still a stranger and he was pointing a metal pipe at you- you were scared shitless and utterly unable to form even a single word, which only made you seem ten times sketchier to the revolutionary.

And so the two of you got into a fight on the basis of an absurd misunderstanding. You wouldn’t call yourself much of a fighter, but all that anxious energy gave you the vicious defensiveness of a cornered animal, and you somehow managed to fend off Sabo with your daggers until you could throw down a smoke bomb and flee through the sewer system below. Thankfully his observation haki wasn’t nearly as strong back then, so your stealth had been enough to let you escape with only a bruised rib.

From what you’d been told, Sabo immediately met up with Koala after that and gave her your description, which prompted her to chew him out and give you a call to check on you and apologize for his impulsiveness.

You got to properly meet Sabo the next morning, which you honestly expected to be completely mortifying after a blunder like that, but he was actually really sweet to you after learning of your social anxiety. You mended the tears your daggers had torn in his jacket while Koala helped you to keep a conversation going, and over time you grew accustomed to his presence. He was a little loud and rambunctious at times, which prompted you to curl in on yourself, but he’d always been willing to learn your limits and done his best to accommodate you.

At first, you just distributed your intel to either Koala or Sabo, catching up with them for a bit each time you picked up a call or handed over encoded documents in person. As the months passed, though, you started seeing more and more of Sabo. He completely took over any dealings with you, but he also started to call you for conversations unrelated to business. You tried to warn him many times that you were terribly awkward over the den den mushi, but he didn’t seem to mind your stammers or rambling in the slightest.

Then you started to run into him in person, his smaller missions began to conveniently align with wherever you happened to be. He didn’t just want to grab your information and be on his way, either, he insisted on turning it into some sort of outing. When you explained to him that all the people and the abundance of noise in a restaurant were too much for you to handle, he’d just ask you what you wanted and bring food back to you somewhere quiet. When you mentioned that small talk was difficult and tiring for you, he started to begin conversations by immediately launching into telling you all about his adventures. Time and time again, he somehow found a way to spend time with you that you didn’t find stressful.

The fifth time you coincidentally stumbled upon Sabo while out seeking information, you honestly started to feel like you were going a little crazy. It just seemed so statistically improbable that you began to wonder if this was some kind of scheme, so you tentatively confided in Koala about your strange encounters. That was the day you learned that he’d been doing it on purpose, that he liked you and just wanted to see you. The thought had never even crossed your mind until Koala spelled it out for you, and even to this day you weren’t entirely sure how or why Sabo was so fascinated by you. Apparently he had a thing for recluses with a penchant for spying, or so it seemed.

From there, time passed by in a blur- for once, becoming closer to someone wasn’t something that you found too draining. You grew closer to Sabo than you’d ever been to anyone before, an entirely different kind of closeness than what you had with Koala. Close enough that you weren’t entirely sure whether or not the two of you could still be defined as just friends, but he never really brought up the topic so you weren’t about to either. It didn’t really matter to you anyways, you didn’t need a particular label to know that Sabo was special to you.

He was the first person you’d ever been able to spend days at a time with without becoming overwhelmed and exhausted. Hell, you even worked up the courage to make your way to the Revolutionary Army base from time to time just to go see him, your fondness for him motivated you to overcome your limits and experience new things. To most people it might seem like a minuscule achievement, but to you it was monumental.

Which was exactly why you were immediately alert the moment Koala called you about Sabo, straightening your spine and sitting upright against the door of that storage closet, den den mushi clutched protectively in your palm. The call itself was quick and concise, but the details pounded in your head like a second heartbeat long after you hung up.

Koala was a bit frantic as she relayed the details to you, the concern in her voice was palpable, but from what you could gather: something happened that triggered Sabo to regain his memories of his life before the Revolutionary Army. You were aware of his amnesia, of course, but after how long he’d apparently lived with it, you never imagined it would all suddenly come back to him.

You were grateful that you’d been informed of such a grand development, but a bit confused as to why Koala was so stressed and why the call hadn’t come from Sabo himself. Koala was less clear about this portion, but it would seem that Sabo’s recollections weren’t exactly pleasant, and according to her he was more distraught than she’d ever seen him before. Your first instinct upon hearing this was to immediately press for more information, but she made it clear that this was something she needed you to be there in person for.

So with a promise to make it there as soon as possible, by any means possible, you hung up with a heavy heart. The familiar coil of dread tightened in your stomach, but you gritted your teeth and turned your back on the anxious spiral your mind threatened to go down. You couldn’t afford to let it consume you right now, not when your friends were relying on you.

With a deep breath in and an exhale that came out far shakier than you would’ve liked, you braced yourself on the wall and rose to your feet. You took a few seconds to soak in the silence of your cramped sanctuary before ripping off the bandaid and pushing open the door to head up on deck, towards the crew you were currently catching a ride with. You had plans to make, places to be, and people to come through for.

-

You made it to the shores of Baltigo in just over a week. How you managed to pull it off so quickly while hopping from ship to ship was truly a testament to how desperate you were to make it there, you’d used just about every resource at your disposal and every trick in the book.

Words couldn’t describe how relieved you were when you finally caught a Revolutionary Army ship docking to stock up before heading back to base. You were fairly sure your attempts to piece together an explanation to the unfamiliar soldiers aboard must’ve been completely incoherent, but thankfully using the words ‘friend’ and ‘Sabo’ in the same sentence seemed to do the trick.

With your nerves still buzzing, you’d hunkered down below deck behind a stack of crates, curling up in the corner and finally getting some much needed rest after the hectic journey it took to get this far. The others thankfully left you be until it was time to throw down the anchor, they seemed to sense the timid energy that radiated off of you in waves.

You trailed behind them like a shadow as they carried supplies into the base, as though getting closer than a couple feet would burn you. You didn’t recognize anyone when you slipped inside, and you hung as close to the walls as you could, but you could feel so many eyes on you. It made your skin crawl and your mouth go uncomfortably dry.

It made sense, you knew you were a strange sight around here and very few revolutionaries even knew of your existence (by your own request), but that didn’t prevent you from feeling like a bug exposed to sunlight after a human picks up a rock. You certainly felt as small as a bug, eyes glued to the ground as you speed-walked through the familiar route back to Sabo’s quarters. There might’ve been a tentative greeting or two called out to you, but it all blurred together among the chatter that swept around you like a turbulent ocean. You just had to keep your head above water long enough to make it to his room, it would be quiet there, safe.

The door to Sabo’s room was no different than any other door along the hallway, but somehow the sight of it was uniquely comforting. You took a moment to catch your breath, you hadn’t even realized you’d been breathing irregularly earlier. Experiencing fear responses around other people, especially crowds, was so normal to you that it tended to feel like second nature. Oftentimes you didn’t even realize just how tightly wound you’d been until you finally got some reprieve.

Knocking was something you sometimes spent several minutes hyping yourself up to do, but when you knew it was Sabo on the other side of the door, your hand seemed to move on its own. Strangely, though, there was no answer this time. The door didn’t open, there was no shuffling behind it, not even a peep from the man you knew had to be inside.

You frowned slightly, doubt beginning to eat away at the recesses of your mind, but you reached for the knob before you had time to second guess yourself. It was unlocked. The door creaked open and you peeked around the edge of it.

Your eyes instinctively went to the desk Sabo was often perched at when you arrived, but it was left abandoned. For a brief second, you almost began to wonder if he wasn’t in the room, but then your gaze landed on the bed where a cocoon of blankets swaddled a familiar figure. It was the middle of the day, Sabo was never still in bed by this point. Unless, of course, he’d never left it.

You could see what Koala meant now, when she said you’d need to be there to understand. You were looking at the symptoms of a depressive episode, you could tell that much easily by the disheveled state of his blonde curls and the abandoned plates of half-eaten food on the nightstand. It wasn’t an inherently shocking sight, you yourself had been there before, but it was difficult to reconcile the miserable lump on the bed with the vibrant image of Sabo you had in your head. As far as you knew, he had no history of mental illness- not like you did- but there were of course circumstances that could bring just about anyone to a state like this.

Your heart squeezed uncomfortably in your chest. Something bad happened when Sabo regained his memories, but you couldn’t even begin to guess what it was. He’d previously had not even the smallest trace of a memory when it came to his childhood, so there weren’t any clues for you to work with.

With a rising storm of concern within you, you approached his bedside slowly. He shifted at the sound of your footsteps, but only slightly, looking over his shoulder almost lethargically, as though it didn’t matter who was there. When Sabo’s gaze met yours, however, his eyes widened, the first indication you’d received that he was feeling anything at all at the moment.

He turned towards you onto his other side then, though he made no move to sit up. The two of you blinked at each other for a moment, seemingly both a little taken aback by the sight of one another. You because you’d never seen him so miserable, and Sabo because he’d had no idea you were here.

“You came..?” He rasped, voice evidently hoarse from disuse. It sounded almost shocked, like he couldn’t believe you’d actually shown up. You knew you didn’t get to see him all that frequently given your respective schedules and your own challenges, but it made you ache to know that he’d doubted your ability to show up when he needed you.

“Of course I came…I may have a lot going on, but I’ll always rush to you when you need me.” You assured him, leaning down to brush your fingers over the tangles of his hair. You watched him hesitate for a moment before he reached an arm out from under the covers, fingers curling around the fabric of your shirt and tugging you closer.

Sabo shifted over on the bed sluggishly, making room for you as he continued to pull you in. You complied immediately, kicking off your boots and sliding onto the bed beside him, prepared to do just about anything he wanted if it might bring him even a fraction of comfort right now.

You waited for him to say something, anything, that might explain how he’d ended up like this. All he uttered was a small “I missed you.” Your face immediately softened tenfold as he buried himself against your side like he was trying to hide away from the world with you as his cover.

“I missed you too.” You told him back without missing a beat. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here sooner, I came as fast as I could. Sabo..what happened?” You didn’t want to pry, and you’d drop the subject in a heartbeat if he told you to, but you needed to know what was wrong if you wanted to have even a chance of helping.

Sabo made a small, pitiful grumble and closed his eyes, but he still replied. “Open the bedside drawer.” Your brow furrowed at the cryptic answer that only left you with more questions, but you complied and leaned over, pulling open the drawer.

Inside was nothing but a single newspaper clipping. It was about the recent execution of Portgas D. Ace, who’d been revealed to the world as the son of Gol D. Rodger. You felt awful for the guy, you’d always heard nothing but pleasant things about him and the other Whitebeard pirates, but you didn’t understand how this was any different than every other terrible thing the Marines had done as of late. Sabo heard about the World Government’s atrocities constantly, and though it rightfully filled him with rage and determination to make a change, none of it had ever broken him like this.

You tore your eyes away from the image of the late pirate, turning your gaze back to Sabo where he was nestled up against you. The unspoken question sat heavy in the air for a long moment until he eventually sighed and curled his arms around your waist, latching onto you tighter than usual.

“Ace was my brother. I only remembered after seeing that article.” His voice wavered like he was choking back a sob, and you watched his good eye start to well up with tears. The scarred eye didn’t seem to produce tears anymore, nor did it really seem to see much judging by the way it failed to track your movements. You’d never asked about it, though you momentarily wondered if he now remembered how he’d gotten those scars before forcing your brain to focus on the matter at hand.

Those two sentences carried an immense weight on their own, you didn’t need him to say any more. You frequently wished you were better with words, but right now you would’ve killed to know the right thing to say. Unfortunately, you heavily suspected that there was no right thing to say, not to someone who was grieving a brother that they remembered too late to have a chance to say goodbye.

So instead you just wrapped him in your embrace, letting him cling to you as he started to cry. You’d never seen Sabo cry before, it felt so terribly wrong. Not that it was wrong for him to cry, but more so that it was wrong for this cruel world to make him cry.

He looked at you with an expression that was almost helpless as his body was wracked with another sob, an emotion that was so uncharacteristic of the fearless revolutionary. Sabo was a man who could face against the entire World Government without flinching, a man who at times seemed practically invincible in battle, but it would appear that the one thing he couldn’t bear was losing someone he loved. Seeing him like this shattered the unwavering image of him you conjured in your mind, but witnessing his weakness only made you all the more fond of him. You were in deep, but you had no desire to pull back now that he’d shown his damaged heart to you.

A broken sort of whine left his throat, raw and full of pain. Without so much as a second thought, you leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead. It wasn’t the first time you’d kissed him, but it wasn’t something you did very often given the way your nerves often got the better of you. When someone in front of you needed comfort, though, your brain seemed to have the common courtesy to shut up for once.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, sweetheart…” You murmured, the pet name instinctively slipping out in your effort to make yourself as soothing as possible. Sabo sniffled and shifted to lay his head on your shoulder, nuzzling his cheek against the fabric of your shirt.

“I was too late..I just wish I could’ve seen him one more time, to at least tell him where I’ve been all this time.” He lamented, and you brought a hand up to pet his hair, mindful of the knots that had appeared after a week of neglecting himself. You made a mental note to brush it for him later, among other things.

You were quiet for a moment, straining to remember anything you’d heard about the Marineford incident while out gathering information. Unfortunately you hadn’t paid too much attention to the subject since you didn’t think it would be so pertinent, but there was one tidbit you managed to scrounge from the outskirts of your memory.

You remembered hearing that the marines didn’t keep the bodies, they’d been taken by pirates for burial. Something about an emperor interfering, maybe Shanks if you had to guess based on personality? You’d overheard it outside a bar, and although the civilians had been ranting about it as though it were a shame, it struck you that this was actually remarkably good news for your cause. You thanked your lucky stars that you had a decent memory and a keen listening ear, being an informant really paid off at times.

“I umm..I actually heard that the bodies from the pirates’ side were taken by the remnants of their crew to be buried properly somewhere.” You told Sabo, practically holding your breath as you waited to see if the information might serve as any sort of solace for him.

It took him a second to reply, all the while you could feel his hot tears steadily dripping onto your shirt. “Really?” He asked weakly, as though he didn’t dare to be too hopeful after being driven to despair, just waiting for another heartbreak. Still, you were relieved to have caught his attention.

“Mhm. I don’t recall seeing anything in the paper about the bodies either, and the marines surely would’ve taken the chance to gloat about having them if they did…” Your nose wrinkled in disgust, just imagining them making a spectacle of Sabo’s dead brother sickened you beyond belief. But they hadn’t, which made you all the more confident about your information. “What if I was able to find out the location of Ace’s grave and bring you there? It wouldn’t be easy, but I have plenty of pirate connections who could help.”

You felt Sabo suck in a breath and pull away from you slightly, and for a moment you almost worried that you’d said something wrong, but then you saw his expression. He gave you a look that you ventured to believe might even contain a shred of hope, his eyes round and pleading. “You’d do that..? You really think you could help me visit his grave?” He asked softly, and you offered him your best attempt at a reassuring smile.

“I’ll do everything in my power to get you there, I promise. I just wish I could do more. You deserve the world, you know that?” Your fingers moved to grasp the side of his face. When he leaned his cheek into your palm, you gently traced your thumb over the outline of his scar. He really was devilishly handsome in your opinion, you just struggled to find the right words to express the depth of your appreciation for him.

“Even though I wasn’t there to help him?” Sabo whispered in a low voice, like even voicing the thought aloud frightened him. You knew it was only a glimpse into the whirlwind of thoughts that must be flying through his head, that there were some thoughts he wouldn’t mention even to you, and your stomach churned just imagining how much he must be blaming himself. Still, you hoped that he’d share it all with you eventually, the darkest and ugliest parts too. Until then, you could only work with the pieces of himself that he offered you.

“There’s nothing that could be done, you couldn’t have known.“ Your tone was firmer this time, leaving no room for doubts. You couldn’t explain why Sabo had suddenly gotten his memories back now of all times, but you knew he’d tried damn hard to trigger his memories before this and had no luck, so you firmly believed that there was nothing he could’ve done differently.

You took a deep breath, trying not to show how deeply upsetting the unfairness of the entire situation was to you. “I never knew Ace, but I’m sure he loved you very much- and if I had to guess, I would say he’d probably just be happy to know that you’re ok. As someone who also loves you, that’s how I would feel.” You truly didn’t think twice about the words you were using, you were just speaking your heart, and it was only when Sabo’s eyes widened that you realized you’d used the word love to describe your feelings. You’d never done that outside of your head before.

Your heart rate picked up for every second he just stared at you, the anticipation was starting to make you feel sick until he finally put you out of your misery. “You love me?” He sounded surprised but not necessarily in a bad way, if you were reading him right.

You knew it was ridiculous to be worried that Sabo would somehow react poorly to being told that he was loved, but it was something you’d never really told anyone before due to the little bubble of isolation you’d always kept yourself in. So even if you knew that the worst case scenario was being gently let down, the possibility of anything changing about the relationship you cherished most in your life still scared you. Friendship was still something you were learning how to navigate more and more every day, and anything more was entirely uncharted territory- and well, anxious people don’t exactly tend to like not knowing what might come ahead.

“Yeah.” Was all you could get out before your throat felt like it was being constricted. It hardly even qualified as a sentence, it was truly the bare minimum of a response to being asked a question, but it was all you could muster under pressure. Not that Sabo himself was really putting much pressure on you, your brain did that all on its own.

“I love you too.” He admitted back with an ease that you’d be damn envious of if you weren’t just so relieved that whatever these feelings had become was mutual. You didn’t expect a smile from him, not with the current circumstances, but you could’ve sworn that his lips almost twitched up at the corners for a brief moment. Then it was gone just as soon as it had arrived, and his expression became something pained once more.

“But if you love me, why do you always leave?” He asked in a voice that was so small and sad that you almost couldn’t bear it. You’d managed to get his mind off of his grief for one moment, but what good did that do when he was still upset regardless?

Nothing could’ve prepared you for that gut punch of a question, mostly because it was something you’d never even imagined. You weren’t used to your presence being wanted, it was still so difficult for you to fathom that someone could be saddened by your absence. On account of that, you’d admittedly never really thought twice about disappearing for a couple months at a time. You’d always traveled on your own, you didn’t usually have to think about what you were leaving behind because there’d always been no one. You weren’t entirely sure when it had changed, but it was now abundantly clear that things weren’t the same as they’d always been. You weren’t a lonely teenager drifting from place to place anymore, you were an adult with actual people that cared about you, and that fact hit you hard.

Still, even having realized that Sabo felt abandoned each time you left to go snoop around island by island, what was the alternative? You felt terrible, truly, and you wanted to fix it more than anything, but how else would you live your life? People needed your intel, especially the Revolutionary Army. “I’m sorry...I don’t mean to leave you, but I can’t just stop doing my job. I have to travel to gather information, what else could I do?”

Sabo didn’t miss a beat. “Join the Revolutionary Army. You can still travel, but do it with me. We can do so much good in the world together.” You opened your mouth, a protest on the tip of your tongue, but he cut you off and continued. “One of these days, the things you look into could get you killed, and you’d have no backup to help you. Do you have any idea how much I worry when you’re out on your own, wondering if each time will be the last time I get to see you?”

The pit in your stomach grew. Of course you knew that the World Government loved to snuff out snoops like you, you’d even had a couple close calls in dangerous areas, but there was a reason you still chose to work alone anyways. Because somehow risking your life seemed less scary than being part of a group, than being surrounded by people all the time.

Of course Sabo had suggested you join before, but you’d never properly considered it. You took one look at how many people were clustered here on Baltigo sharing the same base and turned pale. It wasn’t like you turned him down because you didn’t want to be with him, the environment he thrived in was just never meant for people like you.

Any hint of defiance your response might’ve had withered and died, replaced by an earnest fear in your eyes. “It’s just..there’s so many people in the Revolutionary Army…you know I’m terrible with people, that’s exactly why I’ve always done things by myself. I’d be so anxious all the time, sharing a base with such a large group.” You confessed, the anxiety in your voice rising.

Sabo’s face softened at the rawness of your vulnerability, and he pulled you against his chest, tilting his face down to kiss the top of your head. “Darling, you think I’d just throw you to the wolves to fend for yourself?” He huffed, and it struck you that it was as close to his normal teasing self that he’d likely been since entering his depressive episode.

“I know this isn’t your kind of place, I’ve always known. I’ve watched you sneak past everyone just to get to me- believe me, I know how uncomfortable you are with big groups.” The acknowledgment he gave was reassuring, just knowing that you didn’t have to fight to explain yourself brought you a lot of relief.

“But we can fix that, I can fix that. I’m the Chief of Staff, I can get you your own quarters to retreat to, far away from anyone else. I’ll make sure no one ever bothers you, you don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to. I’ll assign missions with just the two of us, or maybe with Koala if you feel up to it. You can hide in my office whenever you want to, I’ll make sure you always have your own space. If you stay, I’ll do anything to accommodate you.” It was clear that Sabo had thought about this very extensively, and hearing even a modicum of his usual self assurance return to him helped to ease your doubts slightly.

You still felt deeply uncertain if you could ever learn to feel comfortable as part of a group, but if Sabo really would do all of those things, then it would certainly help give you a fighting chance of adjusting. “Ok…I guess I could try for a few months.” You finally conceded after months and months of rejecting his offer. You couldn’t promise that it would work out, but you were willing to at least try for him.

That seemed to be enough for Sabo, for now at least. For the first time since Ace’s execution, his mouth actually curved into a smile. “Thank you, I promise I’ll find a way to make it work.” He held you tighter, squeezing you against him for a moment before pulling back just enough to pepper your face with kisses. Even if things went terribly wrong in the end, his reaction alone would make this worth it.

You smiled too, unable to hide how happy you were that you were able to make Sabo feel even a little bit better. You had no doubt that he was in for a long grieving journey ahead of him still, but for now it was good to see him perk up a little.

A thought suddenly occurred to you, and your smile faded slightly. “But Sabo…I’m gonna have to leave to go meet with pirates and figure out where Ace is buried.” You fretted, torn between fulfilling this promise to him and staying by his side while he grieved.

“Not without me you’re not! We’re both going, darling. We’ll have each other’s backs every step of the way.”

[tokagedreams]

just posted another chapter to my one piece/pokemon crossover reader insert fic on ao3 after a super long hiatus! would you guys be interested in me posting the chapters here as well? it’s a long-form law x reader taking place in the pokemon universe. i started it nearly a year ago and so far we’re at 4 chapters and about 10k words. (slow, i know, it’s my first big fic) the outline i have planned will be about 25 chapters total in the end, and i work on different parts sporadically.

lmk if you’d like me to bring it here to tumblr! in the meantime, here’s the link if you want to read it on ao3 (✿◠‿◠)

[tokagedreams]

currently working on the second and final part of my stanxeno x reader fic, i think it’s gonna be a long one because there’s so much plot to cover (*>﹏<*)

i have two other oneshots in the works on the side-

1.) another dr stone fic, it’s a kitsune!gen x reader

2.) finally back to one piece, it’s the incubus!sanji x ace!reader fic i shared my idea for

i’ve had a couple other one piece au ideas too, keeping on theme with my monster lover agenda lol. if i ever get around to them, i’m thinking mothman!law x witch!reader and werewolf!ace x monster hunter!reader. but who knows? i’m sure y’all are getting used to how randomly my motivation strikes- i mean, bsd is literally my spin but for some reason i never get inspo for fanfics OOPS (´～`)

[tokagedreams]

i may or may not have a new hyperfixation (dr stone) and i may or may not have started a fic from it…

it’s a stanxeno x reader fic and part one is up on my ao3 teehee (≧◡≦) part one is all pre-petrification from childhood friends to lovers, and part two is where the angsty reunion happens ( つ•̀ω•́)つ

i swear every time i’m like “ok these are the fandoms i’ll post on this blog” i suddenly get inspo to write for another that i have absolutely zero audience for

i plan to upload it here as one single part once i finish part two, but here’s the ao3 link for anybody who wants to read part one before then:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/76289171

[tokagedreams]

new fic idea floating around in my head…

imagine incubus!sanji with an ace!reader, am i cooking? he feeds off of people like any incubus but he’s still a hopeless romantic, secretly longing for a fluffy long term relationship…then he meets an asexual reader by trying and failing to seduce them, but they have a heart to heart moment and end up just cuddling for a while, which is the first non-sexual intimacy sanji has ever experienced. insert lots of fluff and imagine they form a relationship that’s kinda open sexually but closed romantically- so he goes off to do normal incubus stuff but always comes back to reader at the end of the night because they’re the only one he loves. and it’s kinda a hurt/comfort moment because he’s never really gotten to just be held and kissed by someone who wants him for something other than just temporary pleasure.

would anybody even read this?? are there asexual sanji fans out there looking for this kinda thing??? idk lol he’s not all that high on my list of favs so i don’t usually get ideas for him, but i’d love to write for an ace reader if it’s not too niche

[tokagedreams]

Omg the Sabo fic is so good (*/ω＼*)(*/ω＼*)(*/ω＼*) I love the AU too, I would love if you wrote more of it (no pressure though) ❤️❤️❤️

AAAAaaa thank you, i’m glad you liked it!! (=´ω`=)

i’m definitely considering writing another part eventually, since i set up a lot of background stuff that could still be explored! i’m gonna have to do some research on forging swords and stuff since i made that the reader’s new thing lol

i know dragon!ace is more popular, so i might write something for him someday, but sabo is the one i have all the ideas for since he’s my fav ( つ•̀ω•́)つ

[tokagedreams]

BURN BRIGHT

Pairing: Dragon!Sabo x Dragon Slayer!Reader

Word Count: 15.6k

(a/n: this ended up wayyy longer than i intended, i just ended up getting way too invested in this AU lol. lmk if anybody would be interested in more of this fantasy AU. can you tell i really love sabo? hopefully you guys like long fics! if you want a better idea of what sabo’s dragon form looks like, it was inspired by the soriak dragon from dragonvale)

Heavy was the cost of being seen as a prodigy, it wasn’t quite the compliment that many seemed to think it was. All they saw was the admiration you were showered in, they never seemed to notice how shallow it ran. Conditional love, that’s what your village offered you, and it would only last for as long as you continued to succeed in your line of work. Passed down from generation to generation, this burden was placed on you from the time you were old enough to wield a sword, and you carried it all your life without complaint.

You were a dragon slayer by trade, among the most infamous in the entire region. Your surname was practically synonymous with slaying, it had been the family business for as long as anyone could remember, and your path was no different from those that came before you. Aside from the remarkable prowess you’d shown since you were little more than a child, that is.

For whatever reason, the stars had seemingly aligned for you, and you soared to heights far greater than anyone had ever anticipated. By the age of 15, you’d already killed your first dragon in cold blood, and your career was only just beginning. It was set in stone from then on, being a slayer was your calling, and the people of your village depended on you for protection. That was your one true purpose, your reason for existing, it was the only life you’d ever known.

Welcome to the Dragon Slayer’s Guild— the place where everyone treats you like a grand gift to mankind, but they’ll never really see you for who you are. A new dawn brings your next job assignment posted to the quest board, you’ll be afforded only your own sword as an ally. Danger awaits, and duty calls.

-

You clutched the parchment tightly in your hands, looking over the details of your mission for the hundredth time. The dragon illustrated was larger than any you’d slain in the past, with a regal appearance that commanded respect.

Royal blue scales gave way to a white underbelly, extending into a spiny tail with a sharp, pointed tip. A narrow snout with menacing fangs that peaked out from beneath his upper lip, mouth drawn into a mean snarl. Majestic golden horns extended from the back of his head, matching the soft gold shade of his inner wings. His eyes bore the typical slitted reptilian pupil, but one was a soft blue while the other was milky white— he was noted to lack vision in that eye, if your intel was correct.

Most notable of all, though, was the prominent scarring across the left side of his body, distinct from the usual slashed battle scars that were more common to see on dragons. The fire breathing reptiles’ scales were more or less immune to fire itself, but they weren’t impervious to explosions. If you had to guess, a previous slayer must’ve attempted to kill him with explosives, causing the blooming scar tissue that started around his blind eye and trailed down his neck and chest.

According to legends dating back a couple centuries, the dragon’s name was apparently Sabo, and he’d supposedly killed off every slayer who’d ever tried to take his head. You didn’t doubt it, based on the urgency with which your help was requested and the generous bounty placed on him by the Dragon Slayer’s Guild. They’d made it abundantly clear that you were their only hope of defeating this formidable beast, so failure wasn’t an option. It was either him or you, one of you would need to die.

Sabo’s lair was nestled within a cavern on the side of a mountain, and you spent most of the daylight trekking up the steep incline to the gaping mouth of the cavern. He didn’t live particularly close to any human settlements, but he was still on the Guild’s radar because he was known to wreak havoc on castles in nearby kingdoms. It seemed like an oddly specific hobby for a dragon to have, but you would trust your superiors when they said that he was a serious problem.

With your trusty sword in hand, you cautiously made your way through the entrance of the cave, halting when you caught a glint of blue scales in your peripheral vision. Although the dragon was nearby, it wasn’t quite clear whether or not he’d noticed you yet. He hadn’t turned his attention onto you yet, so he either somehow didn’t know you were there, or he was so unconcerned with your presence that he didn’t even bother with you.

Upon further inspection, he was settled on the ground with his legs tucked under him, as though he was merely relaxing. However, when your gaze traveled all the way up to his head, you realized that you were approaching on his blind side. His instincts and hearing should still be sharp enough to notice you, but even the mere chance that he might be caught unaware due to his bad eye didn’t sit right with you. There was no honor for you in defeating an opponent through underhanded tactics, it was your personal code to win with only your own prowess.

It was sort of a point of contention between you and other slayers, most thought you incredibly foolish to not take advantage of every tool at your disposal. That was the difference between you and the average dragon slayer, though. Others tended to see hunting dragons as no different than hunting deer or wild boars, they were just bigger and stronger animals in the eyes of your peers. With your lifetime of experience, though, that outlook had never quite sat right with you.

You’d been doing this since your early teens, and one thing that was abundantly clear to you was that dragons were incredibly intelligent beings. Honestly, most of the dragons you’d traded words with in the heat of battle seemed much smarter and wiser than any of the humans you knew. A lot of them had lived for centuries, it would be arrogant to assume that humans have them beat in terms of knowledge.

You really didn’t understand why your point of view was so unpopular among slayers, but it shaped your personal methods and made you stand out from the crowd. In your opinion, it was also the reason that you were so damn good at what you do. You never underestimated your opponents because you respected them, you were never caught unaware because you took the time to get to know each dragon you brought down. They were your equals, and that was why you challenged them the same way you would challenge a fellow human to a duel. It was unconventional, but it had never failed you before, and your victories were so much sweeter when they were earned fair and square.

With a deep breath, you held your sword out in front of you and assumed a fighting stance, but you didn’t yet make a move to strike. “You must be the dragon known as Sabo, yes? I’ve come to challenge you.” You declared boldly, which made the dragon finally turn to acknowledge you and rise to his full height. He lowered his head to inspect you, as though you had piqued his curiosity.

“Well that’s a surprise, little slayer…Yes, I’m Sabo. I noticed your presence long before you entered my lair, but it’s quite interesting that you didn’t try to catch me off guard when I didn’t react, that’s a first.” He told you, which didn’t exactly surprise you. You knew most of your peers would’ve jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of a perceived weakness.

“I did think it would be rather odd if you somehow hadn’t noticed me. I may have been on your blind side, but you still have other senses…Still, I always initiate a dual when I’m going to fight a dragon.” You replied, taking the brief conversation as an opportunity to size your opponent up. He seemed even more massive in person, but you wouldn’t have made it this far in your career if you were intimidated that easily.

“You’re quite an impressive beast, but I must slay you now. You should know that I’ve never lost a fight, and I don’t plan to lose today either…” With that, you lunged, aiming your blade for his throat while it was still within your reach.

Sabo narrowly avoided the slash, extending his neck up and out of your reach at the last second. His spined tail swung towards you, aiming for your legs to knock them out from under you, but you jumped and tucked your legs up high enough to avoid it. You could feel your heart pounding in your chest as you fell back to the ground and adjusted your stance, the fight was on.

-

While weaving between blows, Sabo couldn’t help but admire the technique of the sword wielder in front of him. A warrior who actually had a code of honor, a novelty that seemed so rare to come by these days. You were clearly very skilled at your craft, he had no doubt that many dragons had fallen by your hand, just as many slayers had fallen by his.

Sabo always tested slayers who came to his lair, but you were the first one who’d ever actually managed to pass. He did the same thing every time, pretending not to notice them sneaking up from his blind spot, and every time a human made the boring choice and went for it, he killed them without a second thought.

This little slayer, however, challenged him to a duel, and oh boy was he interested. How long had he waited for someone to give him a good, honest fight? It had been decades, maybe even a century, since someone had intrigued him this much, and he felt alive for the first time in ages.

Sabo hardly felt the sting when his opponent managed to land a hit, he was just utterly thrilled to have found someone who was capable of hitting him at all. He’d grown so strong over the centuries that his life had become terribly dull and boring, he’d waited ages for someone powerful to show up and remind him how exhilarating it was to fight and actually be challenged.

He loved every second of it, and he didn’t hold back one bit. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to go all out, and now that he’d remembered, he never wanted this fight to end. It was everything he’d been longing for and more, which he never expected to find in a human of all creatures, but what you were didn’t change his opinion of you in the slightest. You were the perfect battle partner, and he was positively enraptured.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and his new favorite human eventually started to slow down, evidently running low on stamina. He’d roughed you up pretty good, and he could tell from the amount of blood you’d lost that your duel had come to an end, whether you’d realized it or not.

Sabo was victorious, and he cherished this win that took actual effort, but even more so, he cherished the discovery of a rare gem to be coveted. Even as he watched you collapse from hitting your limit, covered in blood and sweat and looking like a mess, he still thought you were a beautiful treasure that he certainly wouldn’t mind keeping for himself.

-

Your chest heaved with every breath taken through gritted teeth, your entire body aching and on the verge of collapse. You squeezed one eye shut to block out the drips of blood that steadily trickled down from a gash above your eyebrow, and you were sure that you had countless more littered across your body. It was hard to get a solid assessment with the adrenaline still coursing through your veins, the only thing you knew with certainty was that you were in no condition to fight any longer. For the first time, you’d suffered a complete and utter defeat. You fought tooth and nail, but it wasn’t enough in the end, not this time.

With your other eye, you still glared defiantly at the enormous dragon that loomed over your battered form. He could break your body, but he couldn’t break your spirit. If you were going to go down here, you wanted it to be known that you went down with fire in your heart, a warrior until the end. With one trembling hand, you wiped the blood from your mouth, the metallic taste still clinging to your tongue.

“Go on then, get it over with. You defeated me fair and square, now finish me off and let me perish with honor.” You growled out, having already come to terms with your inevitable death by the fearsome claws of Sabo. You knew your job was dangerous, and you’d always known that it would someday be the cause of your demise, you accepted the possibility of that outcome a long time ago.

A low, rumbling laugh echoed off the cavern walls, and you furrowed your brows. Was he mocking you? You failed to see what was amusing about your impending doom, but perhaps dragons had a rather morbid sense of humor. Or maybe he knew something that you didn’t?

“I think not, little slayer…it would be a terrible waste to kill you.” Sabo told you, to which you scoffed with frustration. It felt insulting, why would he leave you alive after killing every previous dragon slayer that made an attempt on his life? Did he think of you as less of a threat than them? It didn’t make sense to you.

“Since when do dragons place value on the lives of humans?” You questioned pointedly, your knuckles turning white from how tightly you clenched the handle of your sword. The dragon’s lips curled upwards in what you could only assume to be an amused smile, and there was a glint of something you couldn’t quite recognize in his good eye.

“I couldn’t care less about what your species is, a good fighter is a good fighter. It’s been a long time since anyone- other than my brothers- has given me a real challenge! I shall let you leave here with your life, so that you may come and challenge me again when you’ve healed.” Sabo told you, his tone almost delighted in a way that only served to rub salt in your wounds. Of course he thought it was fun, he’s not the one who got his ass kicked. He even turned his back to you and ambled off deeper into his lair, clearly not even remotely concerned that you might try to strike him again, it was utterly humiliating.

Still, you had to be grateful for the chance to live another day, a chance that you knew was not given to the dragon slayers before you. Although it stung your ego, you had no choice but to accept Sabo’s mercy and stumble out of the cavern, leaving a trail of blood behind as evidence of your defeat. You would be back, and you were going to find a way to kill that dragon, you had to find a way. Too many people depended on you, giving up on your mission wasn’t an option, it never was and never will be.

-

The second time you challenged Sabo, he was there ready to greet you the moment you stepped into his lair. He seemed to regard you with more acknowledgment this time, engaging with you more than he did the last time. He let you take the first strike again this time, and from then on there was a flurry of blows where your blade met his claws with equal fervor.

If Sabo’s demeanor had been curious the first time, it was almost playful this time. There was an exhilarated gleam in his good eye, and his mouth was curled upwards to reveal a grin full of fangs. His stance was almost doglike at times, leaning forward on his front legs with his haunches in the air, tail swaying back and forth as he taunted you.

“Is that all you’ve got, little slayer?” “Ooh, you almost got me that time!” “Still think you can win, human?” Again and again he toyed with you, though he wasn’t exactly running circles around you. You may not have been winning, but you certainly got some hits on him that you hoped would at least leave a mark. Unfortunately, you took far more damage than you dished out, and the ending of this match started to seem like an inevitability.

No matter how grim the odds looked or how cocky the dragon got, you didn’t back down, fighting with every last ounce of your strength and stamina. Sabo didn’t ease up, though, he had seemingly endless energy, and it was only a matter of time until you were on the ground heaving for air, your blood trickling slowly into a puddle beneath your feet. Once again, you were rendered unable to fight any longer, and the dragon, although battered, looked just as lively as ever.

You muttered curses under your breath, shame and frustration washing over you as Sabo continued to patronize you, like it was all just a game. “You fought well, little slayer, but I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that if you want to kill me!” He lifted a hand, tracing one sharp talon along the curve of your cheek, and then he disappeared further into his lair. You’d get him next time, you’d make sure of it. You wouldn’t allow this to be a blemish on your otherwise perfect reputation.

-

The third time you challenged Sabo, you found him waiting for you, his talons leisurely tapping a rhythm on the cold, stone floor. You did not return his casual attitude, your livelihood rested on your ability to take this dragon down. Already, there were whispers among the Guild about how long this mission was taking you, you could physically feel the doubts that were beginning to fester with your previous two failed attempts. This had never happened before, and everyone had their eyes on you, waiting impatiently for you to pull off the impossible, just like you always did.

“Welcome back to my humble abode, little slayer, it’s always a pleasure.” Sabo teased you, his voice syrupy smooth in a way that drove you a little crazy. You didn’t understand how he could be so nonchalant about you literally wanting him dead, he acted like that part didn’t bother him in the slightest, like you were just a guest coming to visit him. It would almost be comical if you weren’t so damn exasperated with him and this entire situation.

This time, the dragon was apparently in a strangely supportive mood, he truly was an enigma to you. How he could think anything positive about you while you were trying to slit his throat was a mystery to you, but it felt damn near insulting given the context. Here you were fighting harder than you ever had in your entire life, and he had the gall to complement you as though you were friends. It had to be meant in a condescending way, right? Who in their right mind would genuinely praise someone who wanted them dead?

“You really are damn good with a sword, you know that? Better than any other slayer I’ve fought, at least.” “You’re an agile little thing, I’m impressed you managed to dodge that!” “Shit, that was a good hit! You’re quite strong for a human, aren’t you?” Again and again he praised you like you were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and you were just as confused as you were exhausted from trying to defeat a seemingly unbeatable foe.

You gave it your all, maybe even more than your all, but it still wasn’t enough. You could barely stand straight, your head was pounding, and you had to resist the urge to sob in sheer frustration. The claw marks scored over your skin stung, but they were nothing compared to the knowledge that you’d have to go back and report another failure. You felt the dread build up deep in your stomach, you could already picture the faith disappearing from the eyes of everyone who believed in you. Having to come home empty handed a third time was like watching your ambitions curl up and die right in front of you, you felt like your world was decaying around you.

“Better luck next time, little slayer, you were wonderful today. I look forward to seeing you again!” Sabo chirped in a cheerful tone that made it so damn hard to hate him. You wanted to despise him for ruining your life, but then he turned around and treated you like someone worth having around, and it only made it all hurt worse. The dragon dipped his head down and touched his snout to the top of your head, a gesture that struck you as almost affectionate. You shoved him away, but he only laughed and left you to drag yourself back home, where scrutiny and growing impatience awaited you.

-

The fourth time you showed up, Sabo’s tail swished back and forth excitably, pleased that his favorite slayer had returned to challenge him once again. It was quickly becoming a highlight of his life, and he grew more passionate each time he clashed with you, but it seemed to be the opposite for you. Each time you faced him, he noticed the spark in your eyes that he loved so much fade just a little more, and he loathed it.

The dragon kept hoping to reignite that flame that had burned between you at the start, but nothing he tried seemed to lift your dampened spirits. Sabo tried taunting you to see if he could bait your competitive side. He tried teasing you to see if he could lighten the mood. He tried complimenting you to see if he could rebuild the confidence you seemed to be losing more and more. He tried fighting more aggressively to see if he could trigger your slayer’s instincts, and he tried fighting more casually to see if he could get you to treat it more like a friendly spar. Nothing helped, and he was beginning to worry.

Sabo didn’t want to lose his little rival, he’d die of boredom if you became too burnt out to fight him anymore, but he didn’t know what to do. He was at his wit’s end, and today was the final straw.

He’d been thrilled to see your face again, but you hardly gave him any acknowledgment. You hardly seemed to acknowledge any of your surroundings, hellbent only on defeating him by any means necessary. You no longer fought him like a proud warrior, you fought like a desperate animal lashing out. The swings of your sword, once so methodical and precise, were now hasty and laced with frustration. The passion for your craft had dwindled out, everything Sabo had come to admire about you was nowhere to be seen in this frantic onslaught, and he couldn’t stand it any longer.

Although you might consider him your enemy, Sabo had grown rather fond of you over your battles. He cared, and he wouldn’t stand by and watch you deteriorate into a mindless beast who only cared about getting the kill. He had to put a stop to whatever this horrible downward spiral was, he wouldn’t let you fall any further.

When you charged forward again with reckless abandon, Sabo was quicker. He sidestepped you, causing you to stumble from the momentum of your own swing. With careful precision, he reached out with one large hand and pinned you to the ground with his talons, being sure not to harm you, aside from knocking the wind out of you. You squirmed under his hold, but he wasn’t playing around this time, and he didn’t intend to let go of you until he got answers.

Sabo lowered his head to look you in the eyes, searching for any hint of your former demeanor beneath your obvious unrest. “You are not yourself, little slayer…what’s troubling you?” His tone was far gentler than you’d likely ever expected from a dragon, he was doing his best to handle you with care, but it only seemed to make you more agitated.

He watched you seethe silently, the frustration rolling off of you in waves, but he waited patiently until you were ready to speak. Your jaw was clenched, your brows furrowed, and he thought to himself that he wished to see you smile, even just once.

“What’s troubling me?” You echoed with exasperation, and it struck Sabo that it seemed like the concept of anyone asking about your wellbeing was foreign to you. “Everything I’ve worked for is falling apart, of course I’m bound to act differently!” Your voice sounded afraid- not of him, but of something that went far beyond the walls of his cavernous lair.

Sabo’s snout wrinkled, face pinched in confusion as he tried to make sense of your distress. “What do you mean by that, dear human? Has something happened in your village? Is there a problem..?” He tipped his head to the side, inquiring but trying not to be too pushy.

“You’re the problem!” You blurted, sounding more distraught than truly angry. “I’ve failed to slay you too many times…The Dragon Slayer’s Guild is losing their patience with me, and the people are losing their faith in me. If I don’t kill you soon, I’ll lose all their respect, and I’ll be nothing to them!” Sabo’s breath hitched as he noticed your eyes starting to water, he didn’t like this one bit.

The dragon’s mind reeled, he’d had no idea that you were facing this kind of scrutiny each time he won against you. It was completely unfathomable to him, you were obviously an extremely formidable dragon slayer, it should be impressive that you even managed to hold your own against him at all. Sabo was undefeated even by other dragons, and none of the previous humans to come after him had lasted even a minute, so it was ridiculously unfair to expect you to be able to take him down on your own.

Those humans had no way of knowing that he liked you too much to kill you, they thought they were possibly sending you out to your death, and they couldn’t just be glad that you came home safe? How were they so quick to forget about all of your extensive successes, in the face of one itty bitty failure? It made Sabo’s blood boil, just thinking about how fragile their opinion of you was, about how little it would apparently take for them to discard you as though you were a disposable tool. A growl rumbled in his throat, raw and angry at the people who failed to see your worth.

“Don’t you see that they’re only using you, little slayer? They don’t truly care for you, they only like you when you’re useful to them!” He bit back a snarl, not wanting to come across as too intimidating. He stared down at you hopefully for a long moment, silently pleading with you to recognize that you were being drastically undervalued by your own people.

His hope faded, however, when you merely rolled your eyes, and his heart sank at your response. “Of course I’m being used! You think I don’t know that? That’s my purpose, I’m a weapon that’s only good for killing dragons.” Your tone was so matter-of-fact that Sabo was taken aback, it became all too clear that this was normal to you, it must’ve been all you’d known. The dragons’s tail lashed, and he itched to eviscerate everyone who had ever made you believe that your worth was no more than that of the average sword.

Protectiveness flared up within Sabo, his instincts screaming at him not to allow you to return to such ungrateful rats. Someday they would drive you to an early grave if you kept going like this, but he wouldn’t let that happen. He was a dragon, it was natural for him to want to guard treasure, and you were the greatest treasure of them all.

His good eye hardened with resolve, he knew what he must do to protect his favorite human. Sabo bent his head down and, as delicately as possible, gripped the back of your shirt in his maw, effectively scruffing you like a kitten. You hurled protests and obscenities at him, but he carried you further into his lair kicking and screaming.

He effortlessly hauled you down a dark tunnel, all the while you continued to frantically flail around to no avail. “Sabo, please- I don’t know what I did, but I don’t want to die!” You finally resorted to begging, and the dragon’s heart clenched at the growing fear in your voice. He didn’t want you to fear him, but he might have to give you a little scare for your own good. He just hoped you’d come to understand why he was doing this.

“You’re not going to die, I’m making sure of that.” Sabo muttered, voice muffled by the fabric of your clothing held in his mouth. That was a promise, he was going to ensure that you lived through the full duration of your human lifespan, possibly even longer if he could find a way to extend it.

On the other side of the tunnel was another room of the cave, just big enough to fit the massive dragon with room for him to shift around and get comfortable. The floor was lined with animal pelts, ornate quilts and soft pillows, all stolen from various corrupt human nobles he’d robbed in his younger years— back when he was a growing hatchling with something to prove. This was Sabo’s nest, a dragon’s most secretive and vulnerable space, and he’d elected to share it with you.

Humans knew very little of nests, given how few had ever seen one and escaped with their life, and dragons generally preferred to keep such things private. Sabo was grateful that you’d be ignorant of his species’ nesting habits, it meant you wouldn’t yet recognize the significance of him bringing you here. A fellow dragon would’ve immediately clocked that the only one allowed in a nest is the dragon’s desired mate, a fact that he definitely wasn’t ready for you to know. He’d tell you someday, though, once he’d sorted out his feelings and managed to win you over.

He gently set you down in the middle of a pile of pillows, settling himself so that his body blocked the only exit. He half expected you to attempt to climb over him, but it seemed that you were smart enough to recognize how futile that would be. Either that, or you were too intimidated to try. Instead, you scrambled backwards until your back hit the wall of rock behind you, putting as much distance between the two of you as you could, which wasn’t a lot given the limited space.

It stung to see you retreat from him like that, but he elected to let you have your space until you calmed down enough to realize that you weren’t in any danger. He laid his head down, trying to make himself seem less threatening, but you didn’t seem to get the message.

Sabo watched you draw your sword and prepared to defend himself, but to his surprise, you didn’t point it at him. Instead, you merely clutched it close to your chest while you took deep breaths, seemingly trying to calm yourself. It was like you took some kind of comfort in holding your beloved sword, and the dragon found himself even more endeared to you than he already was.

You stared at him for a long moment, and he wished so badly that he could tell what was going on in that pretty little head of yours. Then again, he was sure that you probably wished to read his thoughts too, even if only to understand his intentions.

When you finally spoke, the usual confidence had been drained from your tone, you sounded like you were lost and didn’t know what to do. “I won’t make any more attempts on your life today, so can you let me go? I know I’m a mess right now, I’ll be better next time, I swear it. I just..I just need to get back to the Guild as soon as possible, they’re expecting a report from me.” Sabo sighed, if only you would feel such dedication to him, rather than a group that only saw you as a tool to be used. He would never treat you like a mere weapon, and he wouldn’t let you view yourself that way either.

“I’m sorry, little slayer, but I can’t let you go back there. They do not care for you the way I do.” He told you, his voice quiet but firm. He watched confusion flash across your face, before it was quickly followed by a wash of anger and frustration. He didn’t like seeing you upset with him, but he had no intention of backing down.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” You demanded, though you didn’t really give him a chance to answer, even as an explanation was on the tip of his tongue. “The Guild considers me a hero, they saw my potential and trained me to be the protector that our people needed!” For as harsh as your tone was, Sabo couldn’t help but look at you with sympathy, you really didn’t understand just how much they’d taken advantage of you.

“They saw a child interested in swords and took it as an opportunity to create a new pawn. I’ve looked into your reputation, ‘prodigy’, I know the story. You were good at it, but was it what you really wanted?” He had a feeling you’d probably never even gotten to think about what you wanted to do with your life, it must’ve all been decided for you.

“Well, of course I wanted to continue the family business, I was next in line-“ Sabo didn’t even let you finish that time, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut when you gave that dreadful excuse. All this bullshit about carrying on legacies and having your life decided by the family you’re born into, it was everything about the world that he loathed. “I’m not asking what you felt obligated to do, I’m asking what you would’ve wanted to do! If your family’s reputation wasn’t there to influence you, would you still have chosen to become a slayer?”

He watched your eyes widen, watched your hands fidget with the grip of the sword. For a moment, you were speechless, which only confirmed to him that you weren’t used to being asked about your own desires. Finally, you lowered your head and conceded. “No…It’s not what I would’ve naturally gravitated towards. When I was a kid I wanted..I wanted to be a bladesmith, because I loved swords so much.” You admitted, your voice low like you hardly dared to voice your own ambitions. “But it’s not like the Guild forced me into anything! It was still my choice to push that dream aside in favor of following this path.”

You were stubborn, but Sabo could tell that his words were reaching somewhere, perhaps resurfacing all the doubts you’d probably buried in your lifetime. “And did the Dragon Slayer’s Guild appreciate that sacrifice? Did they ever sacrifice anything for you in return? They didn’t, did they? They take and they take, but they never give a thing back to you, you still have to earn everything.” The silence that followed was deafening, and the dragon knew he was getting through to you.

You curled in on yourself, dropping your sword to the side in favor of holding your knees to your chest. Sabo knew that the truth was difficult for you to hear, but he needed you to wake up to the reality of your situation. The dragon extended one wing, draping it over you like a blanket.

When you spoke again, all the anger had drained from your voice, replaced by a more somber tone. “I know that I’m disposable to them, I’ve always known that the love I receive from the village is conditional. But it’s better than nothing, isn’t it?” The way you’d so thoroughly resigned yourself to this kind of treatment killed Sabo, you didn’t even realize that you could be loved and appreciated with no strings attached.

“You cannot live like this forever. Someday, you will fall short of their expectations. And what then? You cannot kill me, little slayer. I think you’ve realized that deep down, haven’t you?” Though the gesture was somewhat reluctant, you nodded. It made sense, you were falling apart at the seams because you’d realized that this was a fight you couldn’t win, and that wasn’t acceptable in the world you lived in. From your perspective, your entire life must’ve seemed like it was over.

“That’s why I won’t let you go back, there’s nothing worthwhile for you there. I don’t want you to throw your life away in a futile attempt to earn back love that was never real. You should stay here, at least until you’ve figured out what you really want to do with your life.” Sabo explained, his tone gentle as he used his wing to gently pull you against his side, as though he could shelter you from the outside world. He knew he probably couldn’t, but he could certainly try.

“Why do you even care? All I’ve done is try to kill you, why would it bother you if I wasted my life on people who don’t care about me?” Oh, you had no idea. You had no idea how special you were to Sabo, his precious little slayer who wielded a sword like it was a form of art. The courageous human who’d captured his attention, who he couldn’t get out of his head, no matter how hard he tried.

“Because I like you.” His feelings ran a whole lot deeper than that, but the word ‘like’ would have to do for now, he knew you weren’t ready for anything more. “I told you the first time I spared you, I appreciate a good fight, and you are a strong opponent. If humans won’t value you properly, then I will.” There was so much more he wanted to say, but the sappy details could wait.

“So…you’re going to keep me here because you, a dragon, think you can value me more than my own community?” Sabo huffed at your skeptical tone, not appreciating the insinuation that his species played any role in his ability to care for you. He also had to refrain from scoffing at the fact that you still called that group of rats ‘your community’.

“Precisely.” He nodded, not shying away in the slightest. “I’ll show you what it’s like to be truly appreciated. Although your swordsmanship drew me in to begin with, I will not place any expectations on you. I will not demand anything of you the way that they do, you can do as you please here.” It would be somewhat disheartening to lose such an enjoyable opponent, but if you were to spar again, he wanted to make sure that you were doing it solely because you wanted to. If you chose to put down your blade, he’d have to respect that too, though he couldn’t really imagine you doing so.

“I can ‘do as I please’ but I’m not allowed to leave? Just what would you expect me to do in a damn cave?” You challenged, but Sabo had already thought about it, he was way ahead of you on this. He turned his neck to look at you, the edges of his maw curling up into a slight smile. He was starting to see that familiar fire within your eyes again, and it thrilled him.

“Well, if you decide to change paths to pursue your dream of crafting blades, I will gladly light your forge with my fire.” Sabo swore he could see your eyes shine at the thought, but you quickly extinguished it and shook your head. “That’s..surprisingly supportive of you, but I don’t think I could just throw all my training away and start anew like that.” A part of him wanted to protest that you absolutely could do that, but he bit his tongue for now, he suspected you might come around to the idea again on your own, if given enough time. Sabo was a patient dragon, he didn’t mind nurturing your flame until it burned bright enough to stand on its own.

“Then just focus on learning to live for yourself. I will you keep you here until you gain some self respect and realize that your so-called ‘Guild’ doesn’t deserve you.” He only hoped that by then, you would want to stay with him of your own volition. You didn’t seem to know how to react, which was honestly fair enough. Sabo knew that this was probably all very confusing from your perspective, he didn’t expect you to understand his motivations.

“Whatever…it’s not like I have a choice, if I’m trapped here.” You finally sighed, slumping against the dragon in defeat. He sighed right back, he didn’t want you to think of yourself as trapped, but he knew that it wasn’t exactly unreasonable of you. He was preventing you from leaving his lair, and he intended to keep doing so until you no longer wanted to return to the people who used you, but he was doing it to protect you. He just hoped you would understand that someday, that you wouldn’t hold this against him forever.

For now, though, he just appreciated the feeling of your warmth against his scales, pleased that you let him keep you close. It seemed to be more out of a sense of exhaustion than anything else, but he would take it if it meant that you’d lay against him like this. Sabo curled his much larger frame around you, laying the end of his tail over your lap. He felt your hands shift to rest on top of it, and he relished in the physical contact, no matter how minor. He dared to be hopeful that things would turn out alright for the two of you, he just had to wait.

-

The next few days were rough, to say the least, but you supposed it could’ve been a whole lot worse. You would wake up nestled against the side of a massive dragon, you always ended up that way by morning, no matter how you feel asleep. It felt horribly domestic in a way that should be wrong, given your profession, but a part of you sort of liked not having to sleep alone. You tried to fight that part of you, you really did, but there was ultimately no point. Sabo would keep you tucked under his wing regardless, so did it really say anything about you if you didn’t hate it?

Being a dragon slayer had never meant despising dragons in your book, it just meant that sometimes you were tasked with killing them. It was no different than a mercenary for humans, when you think about it, and mercenaries can still enjoy the company of others. So you tried to tell yourself that sometimes appreciating the company of a dragon didn’t mean you were turning your back on your career, it just meant that you were terribly lonely. Right?

Sabo was surprisingly friendly for a dragon you’d attempted to kill, so conversations with him weren’t entirely unpleasant. He was quite knowledgeable about a wide range of topics, though that part didn’t exactly surprise you. Perhaps in an attempt to placate you or even just humor you, he told you all about various cool swords and daggers he’d encountered over the years, and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t working at least a little bit.

He told you stories about himself, too, which admittedly make it difficult to stay emotionally detached. Getting to know your target on a personal level always made it so much harder to go through with what had to be done when the time came, and he most certainly knew that. You wanted to believe that you were too experienced to be swayed by his anecdotes, but the evidence was undeniable— you had yet to raise your sword against him in the time he’d kept you here.

You told yourself that it was just because you were biding your time, waiting to see what would come of this, but the truth was that you were starting to worry. Although Sabo had always been eager to fight you before, he was now unnervingly gentle with you, both physically and emotionally. This was quite a sizable problem for you, because your moral code demanded that you should only fight a willing opponent. It had never caused you a problem before, because every dragon you’d ever invaded the lair of had immediately been ready to fight you, they saw you as an intruder and wanted you dead just as much as you wanted them dead.

This target had been no different initially, but now he was starting to regard you as though you were a guest in his home, albeit an unwilling one. It went against every principle you held to kill someone who only wanted to peacefully coexist with you, how could you feel like a hero if you went around killing people who treated you with such warmth?

The sweeter Sabo was to you, the more it tore you up inside, the more wrong it felt. You couldn’t like being here, you needed to be doing everything you could to get back to where you were supposed to be. Your duty was more important than any pleasantries a dragon could offer you, wasn’t it?

You tried sneaking past him many times while he was asleep, but the damn beast had an uncanny sixth sense for your little escape attempts. You tried to make him see reason, you even stooped to pleading with him to let you return to your village, but to no avail. It seemed that he was even more stubborn than you were, your iron wills clashing against each other.

Each day that passed you grew more anxious, knowing that the Guild would be harsher the longer you went without reporting back to them. You started to imagine how they’d react if they thought you betrayed them to live with a dragon, and you felt sick to your damn stomach. They were already disappointed in you for failing, you already had so much to make up for, and now this! Would they even want you back at this point? The thought of being tossed away scared you more than anything, and you started trying to escape when the dragon went out to get food for the two of you.

-

It nearly worked once, you almost had it, but you ran into him on your way out of the cavern, and he dragged you back inside with him. You tried to dig your nails into the ground beneath you, but your attempts were almost laughable compared to Sabo’s strength, and it was utterly crushing. There was nothing you could do, was there?

Time was ticking, your chance of repairing your reputation was slipping away, and you just wanted to scream. But instead, you seethed quietly, unable to fight the hot, frustrated tears that welled up in your eyes, unable to stop the trembling of your body as cold dread consumed you.

You hated that you were letting him see you like this. That you’d let your mask of composure slip and shatter into pieces this way, but you couldn’t act like you were fine when every opportunity you had to fix things was slipping through the cracks while you were stuck here. Beneath the sound of your own muffled sobs, you listened, anticipating the sounds of laughter and mocking jeers, but they never came.

Instead, you were met with warmth— not in the literal sense, Sabo was cold blooded as a giant reptile, but he offered you comfort. Not just the awkward wing holds you’d become accustomed to, though, this time the dragon changed, shifting forms before your very eyes.

His figure warped and began to shrink in a ray of light, trading scales for flesh as he took on a strikingly humanoid appearance. He was still taller than you by a good margin, but he no longer loomed over you, his size was much more comparable to a human’s.

His golden horns now curled out from a head of blonde hair, and he’d somehow managed to balance a top hat perfectly between them. His eyes remained the same, as did his scarring, though most of it was now hidden underneath his surprisingly formal and well tailored attire. From the angle he was turned at, you could see a small pair of wings sprouting from his back, and he also sported a sized down version of his tail. He looked far less monstrous than he typically did, but there was still a powerful aura that radiated from him, reminding you that he was still a dangerous dragon.

Before you could even process what the hell you’d just witnessed (because none of the books you’d read had ever mentioned dragons being able to do this), Sabo was already kneeling at your side. With gentle, clawed hands, he reached out and wiped at the tear streaks running down your cheeks. You flinched, but you couldn’t bring yourself to pull away, no one had ever treated you so tenderly while you were vulnerable. For someone like you, crying was a sign of weakness, but this dragon didn’t seem to agree.

He didn’t look at you with judgement or condescension, he didn’t seem to think any less of you at all. You risked a glance up at his expression, but all you saw there was genuine empathy, something you thought had practically gone extinct in this cruel world. He wasn’t human like you were, but somehow he held more humanity than most of the humans you knew.

How did he still manage to feel compassion over your distress, after all you and your kind had done to him? His scars were proof of all the attempted killers that came before you, and yet he remained gentle once you sheathed your sword around him. You knew, in that moment, that you’d never be able to turn your blade on him again in good conscience. That meant you’d never be accepted back by the Guild, and the finality of it sinking in only made you cry harder.

Cautiously and slowly, as though you were a frightened animal, Sabo reached out for you. When you didn’t retreat from his approach, he carefully pulled you into his arms. Although he wasn’t that much bigger than you in this form, he still moved with the carefulness of a giant beast who had to make a conscious effort not to crush you beneath his might. You realized he must’ve been putting in a constant effort not to accidentally hurt you before, and it only made his tenderness all the more remarkable.

You knew firsthand just how capable he was of tearing you apart, and yet he made the active decision not to cause you any harm now. It occurred to you then how much precision and thoughtfulness it must’ve taken in the past, to render you unable to fight any longer without killing you. He had pushed you to the brink every time you’d fought, exhausting you past your limits, but he’d always pulled back just in time to make sure he wouldn’t leave you with anything more than some scars to remember him by. He spilled your blood plenty, but he never gave you a wound that couldn’t be healed with time and rest. He really did care in his own way, didn’t he?

You slumped against Sabo’s chest, giving in and just allowing him to hold you as you slowly came to terms with your new reality. His wings moved to envelop you in a comforting cocoon, and for once, it didn’t feel suffocating. The dragon slowly rocked you back and forth until your tears finally subsided, and you were left with only a quiet sense of emptiness.

“I’ll never be able to go back to the Dragon Slayer’s Guild now.” You admitted, both to yourself and to Sabo. The reality had finally settled in, but that didn’t mean it would be easy for you to accept. You felt like you’d just lost a part of yourself, one that you could never get back.

“No, you won’t…” Sabo agreed as gently as possible. “But you don’t need them anymore, someday you’ll see that. You have me now, I’ll take care of you better than they ever did. You’ll be just fine without them, I promise you.” You didn’t quite believe it. Not yet, at least, but you were starting to wish that you could find reassurance in his promises to you.

-

From then on, your escape attempts ceased entirely, there was nowhere else for you to even go at this point. Learning to live with that was crushing sometimes, and there were many days where you just sat in silence, overcome by a sense of loss.

Sabo never stopped talking to you, though, he talked enough for the both of you. He started opening up to you more, and you did listen, even if it sometimes seemed like you didn’t. You didn’t always have it in you to react or respond, but on the roughest days, you appreciated the sense of normalcy that the dragon’s conversational nature provided.

You liked the stories he would tell you about his brothers, you even remembered their names— Ace and Luffy. Once or twice, you even huffed a subdued laugh at the tales of their antics, and Sabo had seemed delighted by this, eagerly telling you more, as though he was hoping to hear you laugh again. You weren’t sure why he tried so hard, but his efforts didn’t go unnoticed by you.

For a dragon who’d formerly seemed so intimidating, it was almost astonishing just how friendly he’d become. Sometimes he reminded you more of a golden retriever than a giant reptile, especially when he tried to make you smile. You’d think he was the world’s first emotional support dragon, with the way he was always by your side, attempting to lift your spirits in any way he could think of. It struck you as odd, but you could admit to yourself that it might be just a little bit endearing.

-

Unbeknownst to you, Sabo wasn’t just friendly. If humans knew anything about dragons beyond how to kill them, you might’ve realized that his affectionate behaviors were far from platonic. At this point, it was safe to say that he was smitten, and he didn’t exactly do a very good job of hiding it. It was only by pure luck that you were too oblivious to notice. Or perhaps that was unlucky, when he really got to thinking about it.

He honestly wasn’t too sure how to go about courting you, since this wasn’t exactly a traditional relationship. Although you’d started to accept his presence and let your guard down around him, there was no telling how you’d react to finding out that he had romantic interest in you, so he had to be strategic about when he’d play that card. For now, he’d just continue to toe the line with your obliviousness, flirting while maintaining plausible deniability. It was sort of a fun little game for him, seeing how far he could push it without you realizing how he felt.

He knew you wouldn’t recognize it, but him telling you about his family— his real family, that is, was a strong sign of trust coming from him. Sabo was showing you a piece of his heart, sharing something with you that he held dear. You definitely didn’t understand the deeper meaning behind his stories, but they seemed to cut through the tension and keep you entertained, and that was enough for him.

He wanted you to be content with him, and he was working on that one step at a time. He learned which foods you preferred over others, and he always returned with your favorites when he could find them. He inquired about your fashion sense, sneaking off and stealing the finest noble clothes he could get his hands on that suited your tastes. Anything you even remotely mentioned wishing you had access to, he was rushing off to get it for you, never leaving you wanting.

His most successful venture yet, though, was getting you to ramble about your interests to him. He learned that all he had to do was ask you a couple unassuming questions about swords or daggers, and all the information would just come spilling out of you. He didn’t even have to fill the awkward silence by himself anymore, he’d finally figured out how to get you to talk when you were feeling low.

As a dragon, Sabo was naturally equipped with fangs, claws and fire, and thus he’d never had any need for weapons. He’d never really stopped to think twice about them before, but he loved hearing you talk about them for hours. From your favorite steel alloys to the intricate carvings of decorative handles, he never tired of hearing your voice, especially when it was filled with so much passion. He could only hope that, one day, you’d direct that passion of yours towards him.

In addition to the exchange of words, Sabo was constantly leaving lingering touches on your skin, he just couldn’t help himself. Even when he brushed against you on accident, he took far longer to pull away than he really needed to, he was drawn to your warmth like a lizard drawn to a sun-soaked rock. He always sat just a little too close to you, savoring the feeling of your limbs brushing up against his. Then there was nighttime— his clingy habits always came out in full force when he was asleep, and he thanked his lucky stars that you hadn’t told him off whenever you woke up with him pressed as close to you as physically possible.

The more time he spent around you, the more certain he became that you were his perfect match, you just didn’t know it yet. He adored every little thing about you, and he was in way too deep to turn back now. He just had to get you to feel the same, and he remained hopeful that it would be possible given enough time.

You didn’t seem entirely uninterested in him, and he swore he’d caught you staring a little longer than usual at his human form, which always made his heart beat just a little faster. Although you didn’t really initiate any physical contact, you always relaxed into his touch after adjusting to the closeness, and he wanted to believe that you enjoyed it too. You didn’t exactly seem off-put by the fact that he was a dragon, either, so it seemed like you didn’t entirely dislike his species. He just had to keep going slow and being gentle with you, and he felt like things really could work out between the two of you, regardless of your differences.

-

Now that you were beginning to come around, Sabo spent most of his time in human form to bond with you. He no longer felt like he needed the beastly size of his full dragon form to keep you with him, so he instead appreciated the opportunity for closeness that a form more similar to your own provided. Though you weren’t exactly afraid of him before, he could tell that you were more comfortable being near him when he wasn’t like fifty times your size, which was honestly fair enough.

It was way easier for him to touch you without having to worry about accidentally hurting you, too, which was perfect for a dragon who hoped to court you. Progress wasn’t as quick as he might’ve hoped in his fantasies, but things were going well enough that he felt ready to take a big step forward.

Sabo wanted you to meet his brothers. Getting along with them was crucial for any prospective mate of his, and he believed that it was finally time to see if you could be a fit for his family. Of course, you didn’t know that this was his reasoning, he’d only told you that it would be an opportunity for you to get used to coexisting with dragons other than Sabo himself. It was a partial truth, he did want to broaden your horizons and get you to see dragons as a whole in a different light, he just happened to have another motivation that you didn’t need to know about yet.

Sabo went out without you first, flying off while you were still sound asleep. He trusted you not to leave if he left the lair for short periods of time at this point, but he still couldn’t help fretting about leaving you alone, he didn’t ever want to overestimate your attachment to him and wind up hurt and alone. He just felt more comfortable when he had at least some level of control, it eased his mind when he was able to plan things out. He was a lot more methodical than most dragons, but it’s what worked for him and his mind.

His brothers, on the other hand, were wild cards who went with the flow and hardly seemed to use their brains sometimes. They could be a bit of a handful for anyone who didn’t know them well, which was precisely why Sabo wanted to give them a preparatory talk before he let them meet you. He wanted this to go well so badly, and he was going to pull all the strings he could to make sure it worked out alright.

After being practically tackled by Luffy in greeting, Sabo got right to business and laid out some ground rules, eager to get back to you. For starters, he was adamant that all three of them should stay in human form for the duration of the meeting. Taking a form similar to yours had done wonders to make interactions with you easier and smoother for him, so he figured it would help you get used to the other two as well.

The second rule was that they weren’t allowed to tease him about his feelings while you were around. He tolerated plenty of playful ribbing about his not-so-little crush when it was just the three of them, but he wasn’t ready for you to know just how deeply his interest in you ran. He couldn’t afford to scare you off by bringing up the subject of mates too soon, and he needed his brothers to cooperate with him on that.

Third, you had to be allowed to carry your sword on you. Sabo knew it sounded like a colossal misplay to let a slayer come armed to a meeting with dragons, and any normal dragon would’ve protested, but Ace and Luffy agreed without a second thought. He didn’t even have to go through the trouble of explaining that he’d noticed your profound attachment to your weapon, and recognized it as something that brought you comfort in unfamiliar situations. They probably would’ve just teased him about being whipped for you anyways, knowing them.

Finally, all Sabo asked was for them to handle you with care. Your whole life had basically been turned upside down, and they had to remember that your instincts were honed to hunt their kind, which was something you still had to consciously push aside. As much as he was certain the other two would love to spar with you, he didn’t think you were far removed enough from your work to engage in a friendly battle yet. He couldn’t help it, he’d been worried about you ever since you broke down under the pressure you were under, so you’d have to forgive him if he was a little overprotective.

-

Sabo led you up deeper into the mountains, across steep ledges and rocky outcrops. You sort of regretted rejecting his offer to fly you to the meeting place when you accidentally looked over the edge, head spinning at the realization of how far you’d fall if you slipped. You weren’t going to turn back on it, though, the idea of being suspended in the air within the hold of a dragon sounded even worse.

You were beginning to trust Sabo, you really were, but there were still some things about dragons that you hadn’t quite come around to yet. For example, you weren’t sure if you’d ever be entirely comfortable with the whole ‘fire-breathing’ thing. You didn’t really like fire to begin with, and you certainly didn’t like it when a giant reptile was spewing it at you. Maybe someday you’d be able to see the beauty in the flickering of flames, but that day was not today.

You glanced ahead at Sabo, who was traversing the cliff-side with an enviable ease. He’d elected to stay in human form for this, but it honestly didn’t make him any easier to keep up with. It made the disparities in your capabilities all the more obvious, and you felt foolish for ever being convinced that you had what it would take to bring him down. Insecurity lingered in the back of your mind some days, but mostly you tried to just remind yourself that someone as strong as Sabo acknowledged you as a worthy opponent, that had to be worth something.

At long last, you finally reached a peak that flattened into a plateau at the top, hosting a lush meadow that extended across the mountain range. You could see forests dotting the distance, and there was a large pond not far from where you stood. The trek might not have been the most enjoyable, you weren’t really a hiker, but you could see why Sabo’s brothers apparently liked to meet here.

Movement out of the corner of your eye caught your attention, and you finally noticed two large dragons grappling in the air. They were just as big as Sabo, which meant they’d lived a long time and accumulated a lot of strength, and you knew now that you’d never be a match for creatures like them. One of the dragons was a striking primary red with a yellow underbelly, and the other was a burnt orange with silver accents, and they twirled around each other in the sky almost playfully.

Beside you, Sabo cleared his throat loudly, causing both dragons to cease their tussle and snap their heads towards you. They seemed to race to see who could land on the ground the fastest, but it was so close that it was impossible to tell who won. With that, they both shifted into their human forms, which was honestly a relief, since it meant you wouldn’t have to crane your neck to look up at them.

The red dragon turned into a younger looking man with shaggy black hair and a straw hat on his head, which his horns stuck through awkwardly. The orange one looked closer to Sabo’s age after transforming. He also had black hair, though it had subtle waves to it, and an orange cowboy hat that matched the color of his scales. As always with these transformations, their tails, wings and horns remained as a reminder of their true nature, as well as the telltale reptile eyes.

You’d kind of just assumed that Sabo wearing a top hat in this form was an odd quirk that was unique to him, but apparently his brothers had their own iconic hats too. You weren’t sure if that was a general dragon thing, or if it was just a thing for this particular trio, but it definitely made their appearances more memorable.

Once both men had made their way over, Sabo turned to you and pointed at both of them. “The orange one’s Ace, and the red one’s Luffy. Now, both of you say hi…” He gave them an expectant look, and Luffy was the first to step forward and great you.

“Oh hey, you must be Sabo’s-“ He was abruptly cut off as Ace clamped his hand over the younger brother’s mouth, and you didn’t miss the pointed look Sabo was giving him. What could he have been about to say that would’ve been so bad?

“Attempted murderer..?” You finished with a questioning tone, offering your best guess as to what Luffy would know you as in relation to Sabo. Ace pulled away from Luffy and appeared to be stifling a laugh, only further adding to your confusion. “Sure, let’s go with that…Anyways, it’s nice to meet you!” He responded between snickers, to which you raised an eyebrow. Were they really so unconcerned with the fact that you’d tried to kill their brother multiple times?

Meanwhile, Luffy came closer and bent down, his eyes inspecting the trusty sword sheathed at your waist. You stiffened, fearing that he would be suspicious of you due to your weapon. Sabo had told you that it would be fine for you to bring your sword, but a part of you was still concerned that his brothers might think of it as a threat.

When the youngest dragon finally spoke, it was not at all what you expected him to say. “So, you like swords, huh? That’s a pretty cool one you’ve got there! My buddy carries 3 of them, you should meet him sometime. He’s a human like you, you guys could be sword bros!” You weren’t sure which part you were more hung up on, the fact that he was totally chill about you carrying a weapon that had previously killed many dragons, or the fact that his friend apparently walked around with three of them. You’d met a couple slayers who dual wielded before, but how the hell did he hold the third one?

“Oh. Uh, yeah, I’ve had this sword since I was a kid, so it’s pretty important to me. It’s my preferred weapon, but I guess you could say I fancy sharp things in general.” You shrugged, it was all too easy to talk about your blade with just about anybody. Although it was a little strange as a conversation starter, it was honestly one of the best things he could’ve asked about to break the ice with you in particular.

You turned to Ace, trying to think of what to say to bring him into your talk with Luffy. “So…you got any interesting friends, or does your little brother have you beat with the triple swords guy?” You tilted your head to the side, watching Ace’s expression slip into a lazy grin and noticing for the first time that he had freckles in this form.

“Well, one of my best friends is a phoenix, so I’d say that’s pretty interesting.” He replied, and your eyes widened with awe. You knew phoenixes existed, but nobody you knew had ever had the privilege of seeing one before. “Ok, that one definitely wins.” You admitted, not even going to pretend that you weren’t impressed.

“Yeah, well my bounty’s still higher than both Ace and Sabo.” Luffy piped up with a challenging grin, clearly the competitive type. Your mouth opened to respond, but you ended up just staring at him somewhat incredulously. Was he..bragging about the price the Dragon Slayer’s Guild had placed on his head? You knew they were strong, but were they really so completely unconcerned about slayers coming after them? And wait a minute, his was higher than Sabo’s? You’d never seen posters for Luffy or Ace before, they must be better known in other regions, but Sabo had the highest bounty you’d ever seen in your career.

You turned to look at Sabo, thinking about every time he’d bested you and just how impressive of a creature he was. When did you even start thinking of him so positively? “Your little brother’s got a higher bounty than you?” You asked in disbelief.

Sabo’s face flushed, evidently embarrassed about being put on the spot by you, and he floundered to form a response. “Well- Luffy pulls all kinds of crazy stunts, so naturally he draws more attention to himself. I just do things more on the down low…” You raised an eyebrow, amused by the dragon’s defensiveness.

“On the down low, huh? If I recall what the Guild told me correctly, didn’t you torch an entire castle recently?” You questioned skeptically, remembering the general panic that had caused your help to be enlisted in the first place. Something about a castle in a nearby kingdom being burnt to the ground and a king going missing in the fire, it had really caused quite the ruckus.

Sabo only scoffed, his tail flicking behind him in annoyance. “And I bet they conveniently forgot to mention that the king was a dictator who hoarded wealth while his people were starving…” Your eyes widened, the Guild had most certainly neglected to mention that part to you. Probably because they thought you’d be more motivated to kill him if you thought he’d targeted an innocent man. How often had they done that? Only told you whatever bits and pieces would get you riled up to do the job? You really were nothing but a puppet to them, weren’t you?

“Oh. Fair enough then, I guess.” You mumbled, realizing that practically everything you knew about Sabo was information filtered by someone who wanted to paint him in a certain light. You’d have a lot to talk about when you both got back to his lair, apparently. He seemed to appreciate you revoking your hasty judgement, though, and you shared a small smile of understanding with him.

At the mention of the Guild, Ace pointed out something you weren’t quite prepared for. “But you’re done working for those guys now, aren’t you? So you don’t have to worry about stuff like bounties anymore.” Although the sentiment should’ve been freeing, to know that you would no longer be pressured by numbers printed on posters, it almost gave you too much freedom.

The choice had sort of already been made for you, going back would be out of the question at this point, they wouldn’t welcome you anymore. You’d failed your mission and then disappeared in disgrace, that life was over now, whether you were ready for that or not. It shouldn’t bother you, since you honestly didn’t want to work for the Guild anymore after all the reflection you’d done, but it didn’t change the fact that it was daunting to suddenly lose the authority you’d worked under your whole life. That was the only way of life you’d ever known, even if it was a shitty one. The truth was that you were lost without someone telling you what to do, you didn’t know how to decide your own path.

“Yeah…I guess bounties are meaningless to me now, huh?” You tried to sound lighthearted, though your voice came out hollow and more uncertain than anything else. If Ace noticed, he didn’t call you out on it, which you were honestly grateful for.

Luffy, who seemingly had a penchant for always saying the things no one else dared to, cut straight to the root of your dilemma without even meaning to. “Yeah, you’re free now! So, what’re you gonna do?” His sunny smile was a sharp contrast to the brewing storm you felt inside you. Why did being free bring you so much dread?

You cleared your throat, trying to pretend like you weren’t in the middle of the most confusing time of your life. “Well…Sabo’s letting me stay with him for now, until I can find another way to support myself, I guess.” You shrugged, though you were sure you were failing miserably at acting nonchalant. Sabo was good to you, but you knew from experience that you had to provide something if you wanted to be kept around. That was just how the world worked, wasn’t it?

Luffy gave you a look of confusion, scratching his head like you’d said something utterly perplexing. “Eh? But you don’t have to do any of that, ‘cause you’re gonna be Sabo’s-“ Once again, he didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Ace was quick to cut him off. “I think what Luffy’s trying to say is that Sabo will happily support you for however long it takes to figure out what you wanna do!” That didn’t really seem like what Luffy had been about to say at all, but you honestly didn’t have a clue what his next word would’ve been if he’d been allowed to say it.

You’d have to ask Sabo when the two of you got home. Wait a damn moment…did you just think of the dragon’s lair as home? Was that even a possibility? You had so much to think about, and it was beginning to make your head spin. Something in your expression must’ve given away how overwhelmed you were growing, because Sabo seemed to notice. He always seemed to notice little things about your demeanor, didn’t he? It was a strange thing to get used to, after a lifetime of having others overlook your feelings.

From there, he had the courtesy to wrap things up quickly for your sake, and it wasn’t much longer until you were saying your goodbyes to the other two dragons. Luffy and Ace promised to come see you again soon, and although you were somewhat mentally exhausted from this visit, you found that the idea wasn’t exactly unpleasant. It really was astounding how far you’d already drifted from your dragon slayer roots, but you felt…light. Lighter than you had in years, without grim responsibilities and asinine expectations weighing you down.

-

On the way back to Sabo’s lair, he caught you staring over the steep ledges with clear apprehension written across your face, and he noticed that your steps were more hesitant than before. He doubled back to return to your side, laying an arm over your shoulders reassuringly.

“Don’t overthink it, my treasure, I would never let you fall. I can fly, remember?” He told you encouragingly, and it was only when you blinked at him in confusion for a moment that he realized he’d let the term of endearment slip out. It was true, you were his treasure, but he wasn’t sure if you were ready to hear that. He waited with bated breath for a negative reaction, but after a moment, you simply shrugged it off and nodded along at his reminder. He breathed a sigh of relief, trying to keep the giddy smile off his face now that you’d accepted his affectionate little name for you.

Encouraged by that acceptance, Sabo slid his hand off of your shoulder and down your arm, his hand seeking refuge in yours. You stared down at his hand grasping yours for a long moment, just enough that he began to worry he might’ve overstepped, but just before he could pull away and apologize, you hesitantly intertwined your fingers with his. His breath caught in his throat, and it took all of his willpower to suppress and excited squeal. You reciprocated! You wanted to hold his hand too!

You didn’t make any comment on the contact, so neither did he, but he gave your hand a little squeeze, careful not to graze you with his claws. The walk back was mostly silent after that, but as the cavern finally came into view, you spoke up. “Sabo, there’s something I need to talk to you about…” Your voice trailed off, and you almost seemed a little nervous.

“Hmm…there’s something I should probably talk to you about too, but I’ll let you go first.” He replied carefully. In reality, what he told you would drastically depend on what you had to say, and he would just feel things out based on your words. With that being said, your nervousness seemed to be contagious, as Sabo found himself anxiously awaiting your response, not knowing what to expect. There were so many things you could be about to say, ranging from terrible to amazing, and you really gave no indication of where on that spectrum it might fall.

You seemed to be struggling to piece together your words as the two of you entered his lair, which didn’t help him in the slightest. There was one notable thing, though, and it was that you didn’t let go of the dragon’s hand, even after the both of you settled yourselves comfortably on the cave floor. He could only hope that was a good sign, and he clung to that hope just like he clung to your hand. Never before had he been so bent out of shape over a simple conversation, the effect you had on him was a powerful one that you weren’t even aware of.

Sabo watched you look down and fiddle with his fingers, your thumb tracing over each of his claws with a gentleness no one would expect from a slayer. His heart swelled, the gesture was both adorable and slightly soothing to his frayed nerves. He took a deep breath, doing his best to remain patient.

“Well…When Luffy asked me what I wanted to do now, I sort of realized that I just can’t imagine myself living anywhere other than here, now that my old life is out of the picture. Is there..is there any way you’d let me stay here like, permanently? I could find a way to be useful, I promise.” You finally spoke your mind, and all of Sabo’s worries immediately melted away.

Oh. This was so much better than he thought it would be. You wanted to stay. You wanted to stay with him. Of your own accord this time. Sabo felt like he’d just been set ablaze, but it burned in the best way possible, and he never wanted this feeling to be extinguished. The dragon dropped your hand in favor of lunging at you and pulling you into a hug, cradling you against his chest. He couldn’t resist the urge to nuzzle your hair with his nose, breathing in your familiar scent as his spiky tail excitedly wagged behind him.

You made a startled noise, which he found quite adorable, but you slowly moved to return his hug, albeit much less confidently. Oh, how very long he’d waited to feel your arms around him, to feel you finally showing affection back to him. He didn’t mind that you still hesitated every time you moved closer to him, all that mattered to him was that you were willingly touching him with care, and it meant the world to him.

“Of course you can stay, my lovely treasure! Oh, you have no idea how pleased I am that you want to live here with me, I’ve been hoping that you would…” Although Sabo was more than happy about your desire to stick around, he didn’t like the fact that you still felt the need to prove your usefulness, to show that you could provide something that would make you worth keeping around. He could see exactly how your mind worked, and he understood very well where the philosophy had stemmed from for you, but he didn’t want to perpetuate it for even a second. This was one thing he refused to humor you on, it was for your own good that this should stop here.

“Oh. You..already wanted me to stay? Was there something you needed from me? I’d be more than happy to-“ Sabo cut you off, he couldn’t stand to hear you finish that sentence. He pulled back slightly to look you in the eyes, silently pleading with you to understand that you were welcome here without any repayment necessary.

“No, no, no. I do not need you to do anything, precious human. All I ask for is your company, that’s more than enough all on its own. I just want to take care of you, that’s the only thing I want.” He explained gently, though he could easily tell from your expression that you didn’t comprehend where he was coming from. You were confused and cautious, and he couldn’t exactly blame you for that. This probably went against everything you’d ever learned in your old life.

“But how would that be an equal exchange at all? I’d just be leeching off of you, I can’t do that!” You paused, the look in your eyes growing distant for a moment as you seemed to be remembering something. “Luffy tried to say something like that too, didn’t he? Except he said that I wouldn’t have to do anything because I’d be something. What was he going to say I would be before Ace cut him off?” Your tone was beginning to grow wary, and Sabo tightened his hold on you, suddenly worried that you might try to break away from him.

He silently cursed his idiot little brother for his slip-ups, he should’ve known that you’d start to put the pieces together. This could go wrong very fast if Sabo didn’t give you the right answer, and his wings twitched behind him as he tensed up. He wasn’t ready to tell you yet, he was supposed to have so much more time to ease you into it! But at the same time, lying now would only cause distrust to fester between you, and he could risk losing all of the progress he’d already made. He was backed into a corner here, and it seemed like his only choice was to rip off the bandaid and hope for the best. What other option did he have?

“You would never be a leech, you’re worth more than my entire hoard. I mean it when I say that your company is worth more than any good or service.” He started, his voice soft but with a slight undertone of anxiety. His tail subconsciously began to curl around your leg, his body was desperate to keep you with him.

“Now…I plead with you to listen when I tell you that I would never pressure you into anything, alright? What I’m about to tell you is something that I would love to happen, but not something that is mandatory for you to stay here.” Sabo took a deep breath, regaining a bit of his confidence when you stayed put and didn’t seem opposed to hearing him out. He could work this out, couldn’t he? Damn, he sure hoped he could.

“Luffy was referring to a desire I’d previously confided in my brothers about, one that’s been building since the first time we met. He was being far too presumptuous, but if he finished his sentence…he would’ve referred to you as my mate.” He could already feel his face flushing just from saying the word aloud, but he dared to take a glance down at you.

Your eyes were very wide, but you didn’t look upset or afraid, just shocked and perplexed. That was alright, he could work with that. He watched your mouth open and close for a moment, as you seemingly struggled to form coherent words. After a moment of awkward silence, you finally responded with one incredulous word. “Mate?”

Sabo sighed, realizing that you would need further explanation, which would only make this all the more embarrassing for him. “Yes. That’s what dragons call our romantic partners, except we usually stay with them for life, so it might be more like what humans would consider to be a spouse.” Never before had he felt so shy, so uncertain of his words, he only ever tripped up this way around you.

There was another painfully long silence, and Sabo squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for an outcry of rejection, but it never came. “You want me, a former dragon slayer who tried to kill you, to be your romantic partner?” You sounded so thoroughly confused, and he couldn’t blame you one bit for that. He slowly opened his eyes, but he quickly averted his gaze to the floor.

How could he even begin to explain all the reasons he was so thoroughly in love with you? How could he even begin to put all of these complex feelings into words? “I do, very much so…I’ve been fond of you since the first time we fought, and that feeling only grew as time went on. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done because I love you. You don’t have to love me back, but you deserved to know why I want you here so badly.” Sabo finally returned his eyes to yours, brimming with emotions that words couldn’t possible encapsulate. He vowed to accept your feelings, no matter what they were. But oh, how he hoped with all his heart that you might love him too.

Your face shifted, and you looked almost thoughtful for a moment. It wasn’t the immediate and enthusiastic acceptance he might’ve dreamed of, but he was just glad that it wasn’t anger or disgust. “That…actually makes your actions make so much more sense. I think I’m starting to understand it now.”

So far so good, but internally his stomach was tying itself in knots as he waited for you to give him your final verdict. “You’ve done a lot for me, more than anyone else who’s ever claimed to care about me, so I’m inclined to believe that you really do have pure intentions.” Oh please, please put him out of his misery and just tell him how you feel, he needed that answer like he needed air to breathe.

“I’ve never been in love before, not really, so I don’t exactly know what it feels like…but I know I feel something for you, and I think maybe it could be love.” Sabo held his breath, a tentative hope welling up in his chest as he waited for you to continue. “I think it might be nice to be your mate, if you really mean what you said about taking care of me. It might take me a while to get the hang of being with someone, though, could you be patient with me?”

The dragon nodded vigorously, his eyes shining like the sun as he rushed forward to nuzzle his cheek against yours affectionately. “Yes, yes, yes! Of course, I’ll be so damn patient, I swear it!” He knew he was being a little theatrical, but he couldn’t help it, his dreams were literally coming true right in front of him. He felt almost lightheaded, like he was floating in the clouds, and it only got better when he heard you giggle at his over enthusiasm. Oh, how he loved that sound, he wanted to hear it every damn day.

“Alright…I guess I can live here and be your mate, then. But-“ You didn’t even get to finish that thought before Sabo’s self restraint burned out and he leaned in to pull you into a kiss. He eagerly moved his lips against yours, and when you began to kiss back after a moment, his tail thrashed back and forth as he practically bursted at the seams with excitement. You had no idea how damn long he’d dreamed of this, practically every single night since the first time you’d met. It felt so good he could almost cry, but instead he just kissed you harder, gently nipping at your bottom lip with his fangs.

He had to hold himself back from letting out a disappointed whine when you pulled away, but he settled down when he realized you were only catching your breath, and he moved to tuck his face into the crook of your neck, one of his horns brushing against your cheek. It was only then that he finally registered that you’d been about to say something when he kissed you. “Oh..sorry, what were you going to say?” He asked sheepishly, his lips brushing against your neck with each word spoken.

You laughed a little, and Sabo swore it was the most wonderful sound he’d ever heard in his life. “I was going to say that I still want to do something with myself, even if it’s not necessary. Remember when you said that you’d light my forge if I ever wanted to become a bladesmith? Does that offer still stand..?”

The dragon grinned, fangs on full display as he internally celebrated you finally finding the motivation to follow your lifelong dream. It made him feel so very warm to know that you felt supported enough by him to try something you’d previously dismissed as impossible. “Hell yes. Let’s do it!”

[tokagedreams]

MASTERLIST

Bungo Stray Dogs

Poe:

-Relationship Headcanons

One Piece

Law:

-Cold, Cold, Cold (Snow Leopard!Law)

Sabo:

-Burn Bright (Dragon!Sabo, Dragon Slayer!Reader)

-Keep You Safe (Socially Anxious!Reader)

Posts about my blog and my writing can all be found under #lizard says stuff

[tokagedreams]

working on a sabo oneshot and i fear it may be growing out of control. we’re already at 10k words and i still have so much to write ＞︿＜

i know my fellow sabo fans out there are wild though, so i’m trusting that y’all will actually read this thing when i’m done…unsure when it’ll be finished but i’ve been working on it daily, so i’m hoping soon!

it’s an AU with dragon!sabo and dragon slayer!reader, so if you like pretty boys that turn into giant mythical beasts, this one is for you!! ( つ•̀ω•́)つ

[tokagedreams]

COLD, COLD, COLD

Pairing: Snow Leopard!Law x Reader

Word count: 8.3k

Warnings: Description of wounds, mild wound infection

(a/n: wrote this for my AO3 a little bit ago and decided to post it here too, for people who don’t use archive! this is just a mostly fluffy oneshot, but i might write more for snow leopard shapeshifter/hybrid law in the future if people other than me enjoy it lol)

You’d always rolled your eyes when your parents called you a ‘bleeding heart’, scoffing when your friends told you that you were too empathetic for your own good. You could concede that you had a bad habit of giving too much of yourself to others, despite knowing that your care likely won’t be reciprocated, and you’re working on it. Maybe you’ve gotten hurt more times than you could count by devoting yourself to people who have no appreciation for your efforts, but that doesn’t mean that your empathy will be the death of you! You’ve stubbornly clung to that assertion your entire life, refusing to let anyone rip it away from you, but today might just be the first time your certainty on that matter actually wavered.

You’d certainly taken risks before, they always say that no good deed goes unpunished, but it was usually a calculated decision in which the pros outweighed the cons. This time, though, even you had to admit you were veering drastically in the direction of outright stupidity. You had enough sense to recognize that approaching a heavily injured snow leopard was an incredibly idiotic thing to do, but somehow still not enough sense to talk yourself out of doing it. You had deliberated on it for a little while, initially you’d even been prepared to leave it up to nature and avoid interfering.

Your respect for wild animals extended to a respect for the cycle of life and death, which you believed humans generally shouldn’t meddle with, so you usually tried to encroach on that sort of thing as little as possible. When your eyes had first been drawn to the disheveled heap of spotted fur and splattered blood in the snow, your heart dropped in dismay, but you told yourself that it wasn’t your place to take away a potential meal from whatever creature had managed to hunt this formidable feline. Then, the distinct glint of metal caught your attention, and your perspective immediately shifted when you recognized a bullet lodged in the snow leopard’s shoulder. This bloodshed had been the work of a human, and that changed everything.

Perhaps it was the anger at whoever had done this that fueled your poor judgement, or perhaps it was the distress over the sight of another in pain that had you acting so unwise. Either way, you found yourself rushing into your house and frantically digging through your closet for a spare quilt, one that you wouldn’t mind having to get rid of if it got covered in blood after this. After trying and failing for a moment to calm your racing heart, you hurried back outside and brought your quilt to the unconscious big cat. There’s no way you’d be able to simply lift him by yourself, and you certainly couldn’t ask anyone else for help, so you had to improvise a little.

Cautiously, you crept closer until you were kneeling at the snow leopard’s side, and you slowly extended a trembling hand towards his disheveled fur. Whatever kind of fight had left him in this condition, it seemed to have thoroughly exhausted all his energy, so he thankfully didn’t react when you touched him. Slowly and cautiously, you pushed your weight against the injured animal and managed to roll him onto the quilt with a lot of effort. You let out a heavy sigh of relief when he didn’t wake up, and before you could talk yourself out it, you gripped two corners of the quilt and began to haul your ‘patient’ inside.

Bringing the snow leopard into your house was possibly the most reckless thing you’d ever done, but once you committed to helping him, you really didn’t have many options. His thick pelt would definitely protect him from the cold outside, but you would be freezing your ass off if you tried to do everything out there. Plus, you were kind of getting worried that whoever shot him might show up, and you definitely didn’t want to meet whoever was crazy enough to try hunting this thing.

-

After running around frantically for about half an hour setting things up, your basement had been turned into your best attempt at a makeshift vet clinic. You were wholly unqualified for this job, but so was everyone else in your area, so you were going to do your damned best to play doctor. You started with the simple parts, disinfecting cuts and tenderly wrapping up the bigger scratches with gauze and bandages. You handled the big cat’s wounds with as much care as you could manage, feeling more tension release from your shoulders after treating each one. Although you had to keep your focus, you couldn’t help but take a moment to stare at the intricate pattern of his spots, appreciating the softness of his fur underneath your fingers as you worked. He really was a beautiful creature, even when he was in this sorry state, and you couldn’t imagine why anyone would’ve done this to him.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t put off the worst part forever, and you had to steel yourself to finally address the bullet wound on the snow leopard’s shoulder. Taking a deep breath, you brought your hands up to inspect how difficult it would be to remove, but all hell broke loose the moment you touched it.

The snow leopard’s eyes snapped open, deep yellow with a menacing slit for a pupil, immediately locking on to you. The next few moments were a blur, hazy with adrenaline and too fast to process. With a frightening speed, the injured feline rose to his paws, jarring some of the wounds you’d just dressed with such care moments before. Disoriented and defensive, he turned on you, and all you could do was sprint to the basement door.

As your hands frantically grasped at the knob, your attacker lunged and took a swipe at your back, and you shrieked as his claws dug trenches in your flesh. Searing pain shot through you, but you pushed on, having no intention of dying to an animal you’d foolishly tried to help. You twisted the knob and shoved yourself through the threshold, slamming the door behind you and locking it for good measure.

You could hear him throwing his weight into the door on the other side, followed by the shrill sound of him clawing at it. For a terrible moment, you thought he might bust it down, but the door didn’t budge.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, collapsing onto the basement stairs as blood slowly trickled down your back, dripping onto the floor with a soft sound. It took you a second to process the fact that the atmosphere was now quiet enough for you to hear something so small, and you glanced at the door with unease. The banging had stopped, and the only noise that emanated from the room was slow shuffling. His wounds must’ve finally caught up to him, you could only hope he hadn’t made any of them worse.

For as much as you wanted to cry tears of frustration, the wild animal’s reaction had admittedly been understandable. He was hurt, and you were a stranger, it was only natural that he’d react defensively. You sighed deeply, cursing yourself for getting stuck in such a preventable mess. “I was just trying to help…I took care of all your other injuries, I couldn’t just leave you to die.” You muttered feebly, knowing full well that no response awaited you in this one-sided conversation.

Except, you did get a response. It was little more than a grunt, and it had to be a coincidence, but the timing was eerily perfect. “Damn, it almost seemed like you could understand me for a second there.” Another grunt, right on time. Perhaps the pain was just making you loopy, but you felt like you had to try something else, just to prove to yourself that it was nothing after all.

“If you can understand me, hit your paw on the door twice. I have to know whether or not I’m losing it.” You were met with what almost sounded like a scoff, but it was followed by pawsteps getting closer. There was one thump, then another, and then there was silence again.

“Holy shit,” was all you managed to get out, because maybe you weren’t crazy after all. Looking down at the small puddle of blood that was gradually starting to form beneath you, you remembered with a start that you had to do something about your back, and you rushed upstairs to patch yourself up to the best of your ability. As you eyed the angry claw marks in a mirror, you could hardly believe everything that had just happened only moments ago.

-

The next few days were interesting, to say the least. However, they weren’t nearly as disastrous as you’d dreaded after your first encounter with the snow leopard. As crazy as it sounded, you could no longer deny that he was genuinely capable of understanding you, even if he couldn’t exactly respond. There was no other explanation for the cautious sort of truce that had been drawn between the two of you, it had to be that he recognized that you’d tended to his wounds, and he no longer viewed you as an immediate threat.

He still certainly didn’t trust you, just as you didn’t exactly trust him, but you regarded each other as neutral. He still wouldn’t let you anywhere near the bullet lodged in his shoulder, but he didn’t react to you with aggression anymore. The wound on your back was starting to form a thick scab, it thankfully hadn’t been deep enough to need stitches, but it was a painful reminder that he was still a dangerous creature.

You developed a routine, wherein you’d bring him meals twice a day and then leave him the hell alone, for the most part. He had the courtesy to stay back each time you nervously cracked open the door and set down a tray of meat, the memory of his claws still fresh on your mind. He let you collect the trays at the end of the day without a fuss, either, but his piercing eyes followed you in a way that sent a shiver down your spine.

Sometimes, you’d sit outside the door and talk to him, receiving occasional grumbles of acknowledgment in response. You’d talk about how your day went, how his healing progress was coming along, and you even told him a bit about yourself. If his mind worked like a person’s, then you figured maybe you could gain his trust by letting him get to know you.

By the fifth day, you noticed that he’d started to sit by the door when you rambled to him, which was as close as he’d ever get to active participation in the conversation. He did make plenty of noises, though, and it was enough for you to feel like you actually had someone to talk to for once. Living in the middle of nowhere was terribly lonely at times, so you couldn’t afford to be picky about who you chose to converse with. If a snow leopard was willing to listen to you, then you were willing to tell an animal random stories about your life. You weren’t shy about what you told him, it’s not like he could ever repeat anything personal he heard about you, and it made you feel lighter to share things about yourself with someone.

After the first week, you stopped locking the door, and you started entering the room with much more confidence. He never made any moves to approach you, but he didn’t move away when you set the meal tray in front of him each time. You remained aware of the fact that he was a dangerous animal, but you started to let your guard down bit by bit.

You even started to linger sometimes when you brought him meals, and you moved up to talking to him while you were in the same room. His eyes no longer frightened you, as he clearly didn’t stare at you with intent to harm anymore, he just had an intimidating look about him. You liked being in the room with him now, because it meant you could watch his body language. The way his ears perked up when you addressed him, the way his tail swished slowly when you told him something entertaining, and the way his snout wrinkled any time you made a stupid joke. He was fascinating, and his mind seemed so deeply human that it made you start to wonder about him.

-

Sometime after the first week, something unexplainable happened. Even more unexplainable than his human level comprehension, that is. When you brought him his first meal of the day, something was different about him. It took you a moment to notice what had changed, but eventually you realized that the bullet was gone, and there was gauze layered over the wound. You found the discarded bullet lying on the countertop, alongside an array of the medical supplies you’d left down there.

You certainly hadn’t been the one to remove it, he never let you touch that particular wound, but it had been tended to all the same. Tended to in a delicate manner that would be impossible to pull off with large, plush paws. It was like a human had magically appeared some time in the night, treated the bullet wound, and then disappeared before you could see them. That wasn’t possible, though, all the doors to the house were locked, and you were positive that the two of you were alone here.

You weren’t sure what made you turn to look at the snow leopard, but you found yourself blurting out the question before you could even attempt to rationalize it. “Did you take that bullet out of your shoulder?” You breathed, looking at him with utter confusion. You expected him to make that weird scoffing noise again, or to roll his eyes at you, but he did something entirely different. He nodded.

Your expression was nothing short of baffled, but you found that it was all too easy to brush off the fact that the impossible had happened. It was already crazy enough that he could understand human speech, was it really that much harder to believe that he could somehow treat his own wounds?

“Right…Umm, keep up the good work, I guess?” You finally replied, your tone rather incredulous. He had the gall to snort, his whiskers twitching in clear amusement at your confusion. You didn’t ask any further questions, you doubted you’d manage to figure anything out without him being able to talk.

-

Sometime after the second week, infection struck. Things had been going so well between the two of you, you were almost starting to consider the feline to be your friend, but now they were going downhill fast. Overnight, he’d developed a fever, and his instincts seemed to have dulled when you went to check on him, because his reaction to you was a bit delayed. He was flopped over on his side, and he made no effort to get up when you entered, only following your movements with his eyes.

You rushed to his side, touching the back of your hand to your spotted acquaintance’s nose and frowning at how abnormally warm it was. He blinked at you, his usually sharp eyes now hazy and unfocused. You cursed under your breath, realizing there was no faucet in the basement for you to cool him down with water. You looked back down at him, contemplating what to do with the miserable feline.

Before, you never would’ve considered moving a wild animal out of the basement, but now you weren’t even entirely sure if he qualified as wild to begin with. He was an animal, sure, but you now knew he was just as capable of reason as any human. He was slow to trust, but he wasn’t aggressive, he was just distant. He wasn’t a threat as long as you didn’t make him feel like he needed to be, you reasoned with yourself.

Making up your mind, you moved to kneel in front of the snow leopard. “Ok, here’s what’s going to happen…I’m going to bring you to my room where I’ll be able to help you, and you are going to be civil- because I know you’re capable of it.” He seemed to pause, your words taking a moment to register, before nodding with an exhausted huff.

“Can you walk if I help you? You’re way too heavy for me to carry, sorry.” You looked at him hopefully, to which he made a displeased grumble but managed to stumble onto his paws. He swayed, and for a moment you thought he might collapse, so you moved to stand at his side and allowed him to lean some of his weight against you.

It was an awkward, impractical maneuver, but you managed to get him up the stairs and down the hall to your bedroom, where he promptly flopped down onto your bed. You’d think he was a house cat with the way he made himself comfortable on a human’s bed, but you chalked it up to the fever. Still, it struck you as odd how familiar he seemed to be with living in a house and accessing the amenities of civilization.

Shaking off your wonderings, you made your way into the bathroom and located some towels, running them under cold water and wringing out the excess. You returned to the bedroom and placed one towel around his paws, setting the other over his ears. Then, you rummaged through your closet until you found an old fan that you hardly ever used. You plugged it in and placed it on the floor in front of the bed, hoping that the combination would lower his temperature back to a healthy range.

You still had to address the root of the problem, though, a large scratch on his side that seemed to have festered with infection. Grabbing the first aid kit under the bathroom sink, you sat down on the bed beside him, peeling back the gauze over the poorly healing wound. Cautiously, you moved to disinfect it, warily eyeing the feline’s reaction, as it would undoubtedly be painful. His teeth bared in a grimace, revealing large, pristine fangs, but he didn’t lash out at you. Sighing in relief, you returned to your work and diligently tended to the agitated gash.

Once you were satisfied with your work, you laid a fresh square of gauze over it and leaned back, examining his condition. He seemed slightly less miserable, but the fever evidently still took its toll on his body and mind.

You stayed by his side for the rest of the day, bringing him food, water and replacing the wet towels when they were no longer cool. It made you feel closer to him, seeing him in such a vulnerable state, and you hoped this would help to gain more of his trust.

When night fell, you relegated him to the foot of the bed, and you crawled in to sleep in your usual spot. You’d never been this close to him for more than a few moments, but he didn’t recoil from you, perhaps due to his less than stellar state. At some point in the night, he shifted to lay over the top of your legs, the tip of his tail occasionally brushing over your hip. You didn’t stop him, you found that you didn’t mind the company. It made things less lonely, living by yourself in such a secluded place, and you weren’t about to complain about having a companion around for once.

Come morning, you groggily patted the snow leopard’s shoulder, shaking him awake so that he could move off of you and let you get up. You didn’t comment on his position, only smoothing out some of the fur along his spine with your fingers as you got out of bed. He didn’t make any move to pull away from your touch, and you considered that a grand accomplishment, given how much he usually kept his distance. Perhaps he was starting to like you, or perhaps he was just grateful for the help when he couldn’t take care of himself.

-

The fever passed within a few days of you tending to him, and the infected cut gradually calmed down and resumed healing as it was supposed to. However, even after he was more or less back to normal, he never made a move to return to the basement. Sleeping on your bed each night became a routine for him, and he had taken to following you around the house during the day. His injuries were progressing well, and he had regained the majority of his mobility.

He still wasn’t exactly the friendliest creature, but he wasn’t so distant anymore. By the time another week went by, he was sitting next to you on the couch while you watched TV and keeping you company in the kitchen while you made his meals. You still told him stories, and he listened intently to each and every one, you certainly considered him your friend by now.

Another half a week went by, and he had moved on to laying his head in your lap while you read a book, even allowing you to pet him from time to time. At night, he had started laying next to you on the other side of the bed, rather than at the bottom. He’d taken to coiling his tail around your forearm or thigh, a subtle form of closeness that spoke volumes of the growing trust between you. He even started pawing at you gently when he wanted to get your attention, rather than just grunting and expecting you to look his way.

You were really starting to get accustomed to having him around, and you were considering the possibility of inviting him to live with you permanently. You could use a roommate, and he was the closest thing you had to one at the moment, so you were beginning to grow attached to the idea of him sticking around. You were debating how to ask him, since he couldn’t exactly give you a verbal response, but being direct always seemed to be the best option.

You worked up the courage to broach the subject one night as the two of you were settling down for bed. He had nestled in a bit closer to you than usual, his tail brushing up against your side, and it just felt like the right moment to ask. “I’ve been thinking…” You started, and he raised his head to stare at you with those sharp yellow eyes. “You’re pretty much healed now, so you could leave at any time if you wanted, but you seem quite comfortable here. So I was wondering if maybe you’d like to stay here and live with me?” The snow leopard blinked at you for a moment, clearly not having expected the question, but then he made a sound you’d never heard from him before.

He started to purr, a low and content rumble that let you know he wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea. He shifted slightly closer to you, and you tentatively reached out to pet him between the ears. He allowed it, gently butting his head against you like a domestic cat, and coiling his tail around your wrist. It had taken weeks of constantly spending time around him and taking care of him, but you felt like he was truly your companion now.

You turned towards him, laying your arm across his back and snuggling closer to his warm, spotted fur. In a surprisingly tender display, the snow leopard gently licked your forehead with his rough tongue, resting his head against yours. Your lips curled into a warm smile, and you fell asleep that night feeling less alone than you had in years.

-

When you woke up the next morning, the other side of the bed was cold and empty, and you felt your heart clench. You finally found someone to keep you company, and now it looked like he just up and disappeared right after seemingly agreeing to stay. You took a deep breath before you could start to despair, and as your eyes adjusted to the light pouring into the room, you realized there was something left beside you.

Furrowing your brow and taking it into your hands, you realized that it was a letter. You buried your face back into your pillow, groaning as you were left to contend with yet another impossible act from the mysterious creature. You’d long since stopped finding his human intelligence strange, and you’d chosen to selectively ignore the bullet incident, but this was absurd. The handwriting was neat, there was literally no possible way this could’ve been written with paws. Even if he held the pencil in his mouth, it still wasn’t feasible, yet it was right here in front of you. You’d always had your suspicions, but there was definitely something weird about that snow leopard, there’s simply no way that he’s a normal animal.

You sighed, lifting your head up again as your curiosity got the better of you, and you sat up to read the letter left for you. Impossible as its existence may seem, it was undeniably real, and you began to scan the carefully scrawled words.

‘Hey,

Sorry I had to leave, I needed to check in with some friends before they go and assume I’m dead. I’ll come see you later today, so wait for me. When I get back, there’s something I need to show you. I don’t mind the idea of sticking around, but there’s something you really need to know first, and it should explain a lot of things. Just promise not to freak out, ok?

-Law (the snow leopard)’

There was so much to unpack in such a short letter, so many things that left you with more questions than answers. At least you knew his name now, right? That was basically all you knew, though, everything else was nothing short of entirely cryptic. What the hell did he mean by ‘promise not to freak out’? You’d already handled having a damn snow leopard in your house, what could possibly be more alarming than that?

You tried to get out of bed and go about your day like normal, but you couldn’t get him out of your head. You couldn’t stop thinking about Law, as you now knew his name to be, and what secrets he was hiding. You knew there was something abnormal about him, but you just couldn’t put your finger on what exactly his deal was, and the curiosity was killing you. You wanted answers so bad that it physically hurt, and yet you had no way of knowing when those answers would come.

Waiting around for Law to show up and explain himself was agonizing, and you eventually just settled for reading a book on the porch and keeping an eye out for him. It was cold as hell outside, but you wanted to be there the very moment he showed himself, so that you could finally put all these questions to rest. You were hardly even processing the words you read on each page, your mind kept wandering to the strange feline that you had come to care so much about. You just continued to scan each paragraph mindlessly while you zoned out, lost in your sea of thoughts.

-

You had no recollection of falling asleep out there, but you must have at some point, because you were awoken by the feeling of a rough tongue lapping at your cheek. You blinked your eyes open, being met with the familiar spotted pelt that you’d been dying to see all day. Temporarily forgetting all about your frustrations with his confusing letter, you threw your arms around him and hugged him close.

“Law, you’re back!” He must have liked hearing you use his name, because he purred softly in response, a sound that you were quickly becoming very fond of. With his warm body pressed against yours, you finally realized just how cold you were, and you internally cursed yourself for dozing off in this weather. Shivering, you led your companion inside with you and settled on the couch with him.

You continued to shake until the snow leopard curled up around you, surrounding you with his warmth. He gave you a look like he was silently scolding you, and you patted his head in agreement, knowing full well that you’d been foolish. “I know, I know, that was stupid…I was just eager for you to get back. Do you have any idea how confusing that letter of yours was?”

His tail brushed against your cheek, as though acknowledging your complaint, so you continued. “Will you please give me an explanation now? I know you’re not a normal snow leopard, I’m prepared for that revelation, but I’d really like to know exactly what you are.”

Law appeared to contemplate for a moment, seemingly hesitant to move, but you’d started to warm up in the heat of the house by now. After regarding you for a moment, he shifted around until he was sitting in front of you, where he promptly covered your eyes with his large paw. Getting the message, you placed your own hands over your eyes when he pulled away, anxiously awaiting what you would see when you put your hands down.

It was quiet for a moment, aside from some subtle shuffling noises, and then there were footsteps. Not pawsteps, but distinctly human footfalls padding towards you. You were utterly perplexed, to say the least. Finally, you felt hands close around your wrists, the feeling of flesh alarming you as the touch pulled your hands away from your eyes. You promised not to freak out, though, so you tried to act like you weren’t internally losing your mind as you opened your eyes.

In front of you was no longer a snow leopard, but a human man. He was quite tall, with dark hair and surprisingly tan skin considering the season. From underneath the hoodie he was wearing, you could make out several tattoos where his sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, sleek and inky black. His pants were spotted, reminding you of the spotted fur you’d grown accustomed to over the last few weeks. Even more familiar were those striking yellow eyes, still just as intense as ever. If that wasn’t enough to make you recognize him in this new form, he also kept his feline ears and tail, proving that he was, in fact, your snow leopard friend.

You sucked in a breath, a million thoughts running through your head as you tried to process this turn of events. You were expecting something weird, but a shapeshifting human/snow leopard was definitely not your first guess. It kind of made sense though, when you got to thinking about it. “That…explains a lot.” You finally said, thinking back on everything he’d done that should’ve been impossible. Having a human form would definitely explain all of the strange things you’d brushed off before.

Law’s shoulders sagged in relief, evidently having expected a more intense reaction from you. It was quite surprising, but you’d had plenty of time to prepare yourself for this reveal, even if you hadn’t anticipated this particular outcome. Or maybe it was just taking some time for the absurdity of it all to sink in, you weren’t quite sure yet.

-

The moment when you really started to process things came once the two of you finally went to bed that night. For starters, the comfortable silence you fell into reminded you that you’d spent the evening actually talking to Law. Not just the one-sided conversations you were used to having, but a normal back and forth shared between two people. Perhaps even more surprising, nothing about it had felt particularly strange or unusual.

Law wasn’t exactly the warmest person, but compared to a snow leopard that only grunts or nods in response, conversing with him was a breeze. You’d expected it to feel like meeting someone for the first time, but somehow he was familiar enough that it felt more like catching up with someone you hadn’t seen in a while. Maybe it was the feline ears and tail that remained in his predominantly human form, reminding you that he was still the one you’d spent all that time with. Whatever the reason may be, talking to Law came easily to you, and you enjoyed his company even more so now that he could speak.

Looking at him didn’t feel all that different, either, despite the fact that he’d taken an entirely new form. Although he no longer looked like a wild beast, he somehow still had that same intimidating aura around him as a human, which was what you’d become accustomed to.

The only time that it felt a little weird was right now, when Law was settling down on his side of the bed like usual. You’d been sharing the bed for a little while now, and you hadn’t thought much of it back when he was a snow leopard, but now it strangely felt a lot more intimate. You knew logically that you’d been sharing a bed with a person this whole time, but it was somehow more embarrassing when he looked like this. Not to the point that you wanted him to sleep elsewhere, but just to the point that it left you feeling a little flustered. He was admittedly pretty handsome in this form, and you weren’t exactly used to having an attractive man in your bed.

You laid on your back for a long while, just staring at the ceiling and processing everything you’d found out. It was a shocking turn of events, but you ultimately concluded that it didn’t really have to change things. He was still the same Law as he always had been, you just knew more about him now. There was no need to act different around him, you’d already regarded him as a friend before anyways, so all you had to do was keep doing just that.

You sighed, shifting onto your side and blinking tiredly at the wall, taking stock of all the decorations in your room. You thought you’d never fall asleep, up until a familiar spotted tail coiled around your leg, and you were finally able to drift off. Some things were different now, but mostly it was the same in all the ways that mattered.

-

Having a roommate was deeply refreshing in a lot of ways, especially one as fascinating as Law. He didn’t seem to think that his feline characteristics were all that special, but you certainly did, and you took great interest in them. Over the next few weeks of observing him, you actually discovered a lot of little habits of his that were endearingly catlike, much to your delight.

For one, now that he could use his hands, he often brought you little offerings— mostly snacks, but sometimes he brought you books or games when he noticed you were bored, or a blanket when you showed signs of being chilly. He also tended to bring you personal things that you’d accidentally left laying around, sliding you your phone on more than one occasional when you’d left it in another room. It reminded you a lot of a cat bringing their human a dead bird or mouse, but you were eternally grateful that he found more practical things to give you.

On mornings when you woke up around the same time, you were treated to the sight of Law kneading at the pillow with his claws while he stretched. Similarly, you sometimes caught him rolling around on your sheets or rubbing up against the couch cushions, leaving you to wonder if he was leaving his scent on your things the same way a house cat would. You weren’t entirely sure if he had scent glands in human form, and your sense of smell certainly wasn’t strong enough to pick up on anything, but it was an interesting thought.

Another feline feature you’d taken notice of were Law’s eyes, which were strikingly similar to those of his snow leopard form. They were the same bold yellow, and they dilated much the same as any cat’s eyes would. They were a little intimidating when his pupils were narrowed to slits, but after how frightening your first encounter with him was, nothing else could really phase you anymore. Although he would look away the moment you noticed, you also caught him just staring at you a lot, focused intently on your movements. Your working theory was that he stared at you when he wanted attention, but you knew he’d never admit to it if you asked about it. He even did the affectionate slow blinking thing you’d seen cats do, which you took as a compliment coming from someone who wasn’t known for being particularly affectionate.

Law’s tail and ears also continued to be a more reliable indicator of his mood than anything else, and their movements often tended to give away some of the feelings he hid behind his stoicism. His face tended to be perpetually grumpy, but the contented slow sway of his tail told you that he wasn’t actually in a bad mood at all. Sometimes when you were teasing him, he pretended not to hear you, but the way his snow leopard ears swiveled in your direction always made it obvious that he never stopped listening to you.

Law’s acts of affection also kept following the trend of cat behavior, continuing on from where you’d left off when he was in beast form. As with before, you always had to wait for him to initiate anything, allowing him to come to you when he was ready to be touched. His desire for touch became more frequent the more he got used to you, though, it was sort of like seeing a stray adjusting to domestic life.

He liked to lean against you when you sat on the couch, resting his head in various places on your body. You came to learn the silent implications of each position, since your companion wasn’t the most fond of using his words for these things. Laying his head on your shoulder meant that he just wanted to accompany you in whatever you were doing, on your lap meant that he wanted his hair to be pet, and on your stomach meant he was tired and wanted to nap on you. He made figuring all of this out pretty difficult, but things went pretty smoothly once you made sense of his nonverbal communication.

On rare occasions, he would still butt his head lightly against you or even nuzzle you. He did this when he was feeling particularly pleased with your company, for whatever reason. A more common occurrence was the way he sometimes said ‘goodnight’ to you before bed, by rubbing his cheek against the top of your head. It was different from the way humans usually gave each other affection, but you were quite fond of the way he expressed himself.

Law’s tail in particular seemed to have a mind of its own, and it was almost always coiled around some part of you anytime he was next to you. It seemed to be a subconscious way to tether himself to your presence, and he always appeared to relax significantly once he had you in his tail’s grasp. He had a bit of a protective streak, so you reasoned that he felt better able to keep both of you safe when you were within his reach. It was actually kind of sweet, really.

-

Weeks turned into months, and the time truly seemed to pass quicker when you had someone to share it with. Things continued along the same trajectory for a while, with the two of you growing steadily closer as Law let you in more and more. You got to know each other bit by bit, and the dynamic shared between you became comforting and familiar. It was much of the same, up until a certain day when you decided to stay in bed for a while after being up late the night before. It was the first time you properly cuddled with Law in human form, and it brought about some unexpected feelings.

-

Law shifted his body closer to you, pulling you in until you were laying chest to chest and he was holding you against him. You felt his tail curl around your leg affectionately, and his soft feline ears brushed against your neck as he rested his head on your shoulder. This was the closest he’d ever allowed himself to get to you, and you realized there was no one else you’d rather be near. You felt hesitant to make a move to return the affection, not wanting to overwhelm Law and risk scaring him off by doing too much too soon. He really did remind you of a domestic cat in certain ways, but you’d never dare to point that out to him.

As you were internally debating with yourself, you felt Law shift around a bit before suddenly freezing up, and you leaned back to glance down at him with confusion. You were startled when he suddenly tugged at the back neckline of your shirt, exposing more of your skin to his eyes, but you quickly realized what had caught his attention. His gaze was locked onto the now healed scars that trailed from your shoulder to your mid back, fixating on them with growing tension. You hadn’t felt the need to bring up the rocky start between the two of you, content to leave all of that behind you, but it was evident that the snow leopard shapeshifter felt differently.

In an uncomfortable silence, Law traced the marks with his fingers cautiously, a slight tremble behind the touch of his hands. “These..these are from my claws? Shit, I had no idea I hurt you this badly…You were always so damn gentle with me, too gentle, and I left you with scars that will never go away.” He murmured quietly, clearly shaken by the physical reminder of how he’d lashed out at you in his feral form. Distraught by the revelation, he retreated from you like a frightened animal, condemning himself to the very edge of your bed.

Law looked down at his hands with dismay, the warmth had completely left his eyes again as he stared at his claws with clear contempt. They weren’t anything like the beastly claws of his full snow leopard form, they were pretty much just particularly long and sharp human nails, but he clearly still didn’t trust them not to hurt you. You frowned, disappointed at the loss of his warmth and saddened by the prospect of the distance between you growing again.

You made up your mind then, refusing to lose the one you’d grown so fond of over something you didn’t even blame him for. You reached for Law with no hesitation this time, wrapping your arms around him snugly and pulling him against you. He shifted around defiantly in your hold for a moment, but you both knew that he was more than capable of overpowering you if he truly didn’t want to be near you.

If you’d tried this a month ago, Law probably would’ve grumbled about it to hide his own embarrassment, but right now he was just unusually quiet. You usually had to wait for him to decide that he wanted to touch you, never taking too much initiative, but he gave no reaction this time. You would’ve been happy to see him accepting your embrace, but the way he just slumped against your chest halfheartedly made your stomach drop.

Law seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, his brows furrowed and the tip of his spotted tail twitching with unease. You’d never seen him act like this before, it was an unnerving contrast to the strong willed personality you’d become accustomed to. Not knowing what else to do with yourself, you leaned your head down and nuzzled your cheek against his dark hair, between his snow leopard ears.

“Law…Stop worrying about it, I’ve never held that against you. I knew how risky it was when I brought you inside, you didn’t know who I was and you were just trying to defend yourself. You were heavily injured and you had no idea what my intentions were, it wasn’t exactly unreasonable for you to claw me.” You took a steadying breath, pushing aside that memory. “But things are different now, alright? Our wounds are healed and we can trust each other, we both know you wouldn’t ever hurt me again. I care about you, and I don’t want you to leave because of something that happened when we were strangers.” You murmured softly.

You felt Law shake his head from where he was leaned against your chest, and you waited patiently for him to find his words. “You don’t understand…I wanted-“ His voice trailed off, thick with emotion, like he didn’t dare to voice his next thought.

“You wanted what..? I won’t understand unless you explain it to me.” You prompted gently, determined to get to the root of Law’s doubt. You heard him take a deep, shuddering breath, and he seemed to hesitate for a moment, questioning if he should dare to continue his sentence. You trailed your hand over his shoulder blades, rubbing soft circles between them in an effort to encourage him. Whatever it was, it was clearly important.

“I..I wanted us to be mates someday.” He finally admitted, so soft and strained that you almost missed it. Your eyes widened slightly, but you tried your best to stifle your shock, not wanting to give him the wrong impression. Perhaps you should’ve foreseen such an outcome, with how close the two of you had been growing, but Law was so damn difficult to read. You never wanted to assume that him seeking out your touch was a sign of anything more, but it might’ve been a more reliable indicator of his feelings than you thought.

You didn’t have to take pause to consider your own feelings, you had long since admitted to yourself that you were more than a little fond of Law these days. The terminology in your mind may vary from the snow leopard shifter’s, you were looking for a boyfriend rather than a mate, but it seemed you were ultimately on the same page. All that remained now was whatever perceived blockade was holding him back.

“Then what’s stopping you from making it happen? All you have to do is ask, you know?” You replied, curious but cautious not to pry for too much too fast. Conversations involving heavy emotions could be difficult with Law, it was all too easy for him to stonewall you if you pushed too far, so you had to tread carefully. You might be inclined to attribute it to the animalistic part of him, but you had a feeling that it had more to do with his personal experiences, it seemed like a defense mechanism above anything else.

Law shifted in your arms, pressing his face up against your neck and nuzzling you with his nose. It was evident that he was conflicted, torn between relief that you hadn’t rejected him and fear of whatever was eating away at him. It pained you to see him struggle with such turmoil that was all in his head, barring him from finding peace with you.

“A snow leopard is supposed to protect his mate at any cost, but instead I’m the one you needed protection from. How can I be right for you when all I’ve done is leave you with scars?” He tried to explain his reasoning to you, and you really did want to be understanding, but you just couldn’t follow that logic. He was punishing himself on your behalf, and that didn’t sit right with you. It was your blood that he once spilled, so it should be your call how to feel about it.

“That’s not all you’ve done!” You insisted, trying to keep the frustration out of your voice. “Don’t you dare reduce the time I’ve spent with you to one bad moment…You don’t know how much happier I am having you around, and you don’t get to deny that. Please don’t deny that, Law, I’m serious.”

There was a long moment of silence, in which he seemed to be grappling for a response, but he eventually found one. “Do you really mean that..? That I make you happy?” His tone was hesitant and uncertain, but almost reluctantly hopeful.

“Yeah, I really do…and I don’t know much about snow leopard courting or whatever, but I’d very much like to be your mate.” You affirmed, causing Law to huff in slight amusement when you admitted your lack of knowledge.

“You’re agreeing to something, but you don’t even know what it entails?” He asked bluntly, though you could tell that there was some dry humor behind his words. A little snark was good, actually, it meant that his guilt was taking a backseat to more pleasant feelings.

“Exactly!” You easily agreed with a soft laugh, before replying more seriously. “But really, I completely adore you, and I want us to be together too.” You told him earnestly, no longer feeling any need to hold your feelings back. Law buried his face in the crook of your neck, but you could feel the heat that emanated from his cheeks. Evidently, he wasn’t very used to this sort of thing. Most importantly, though, he let out a pleased purr.

“Good, because I don’t intend to let you go now that I have you.”

[tokagedreams]

lizard be like (posts once in 2023) (disappears into the void for years)

ummm hi, it’s me again! i really didn’t intend to drop this blog immediately after creation, stuff just came up and i stopped writing fics for a while (｡•ㅅ•｡)

i know that i had at least one bsd headcanons post in my drafts before i quit, so i’m planning to at least post that for you guys! bsd is still my special interest, but i haven’t had that much motivation to write for it lately, so maybe no fics from there for a little while…

BUT i actually started writing stuff for one piece on my AO3 account, so i decided i’m going to post those here too! so i guess this is a multifandom blog now, and i’ll probably be on the one piece train for a while. i kind of wanted a space to just casually talk about my writing with people on top of posting works, so that’s why i decided to come back here :)

i wrote my proper OP fics with the correct capitalization and stuff, so i think i’m going to stick with that for full writing and just have headcanons be lowercase from now on

i also decided that i’m ultimately unable to take requests, sorry! if you couldn’t tell from my like 2 year disappearance, my writing is just too irregular to fulfill requests for people, unfortunately. i’m still open to people sharing ideas and stuff in my inbox, though!

thanks for all the support on that first headcanons post while i was gone!!! <3

[tokagedreams]

EDGAR ALLAN POE RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS

(a/n: i have soooo many more thoughts about poe bro i love him so much..anyway, fellow poe fans if you have poe requests i am begging you to drop them in my inbox)

pre-relationship

- the two of you met back in america years ago. you guys start out as ride-or-die best friends, you’re the inseparable duo that does everything together. when poe goes to yokohama with the guild, you go with him even if you’re not a guild member.

- you’re an infuriating case of ‘the two besties that are clearly in love with each other but would rather die than confess because they’re convinced their feelings are unrequited when they obviously aren’t’. you’ve basically been acting like a couple for at least a year but somehow you and poe are both convinced that it’s just a friendship to the other person and nothing more.

- both the guild and the ADA assumed you were already dating until poe referred to you as his ‘best friend’ and they’re just like are you fr right now?? 🤨 it’s literally so freaking obvious you two are head over heels in love to everyone except for you and poe. especially if you’re not even in the guild and you moved across the world just to be with poe 💀 ranpo (affectionately) hates you guys because you refuse to believe him when he tells you that your feelings are requited.

confession

- ranpo #1 wingman frfr!! at first he tries to make it happen naturally, but eventually he realizes that’s a lost cause..so he basically forces poe to confess to you because he’s so sick and tired of hearing poe lament about how you don’t love him back when you obviously do!! i could see ranpo being like “i’m not reading any of your new novels until you confess to (y/n) 😈” and that would be the final straw because poe is not about to throw away all his chances of ever beating his rival.

- i think we all agree that poe is a hopeless romantic, but i feel like he would just be too anxious to actually do anything fancy for a confession. he’s probably fantasized about the perfect confession a hundred times, but when he gets pressured to actually do it, all of those plans go out the window because he’s just freaking out lol.

- he’d tell you to come over because he needs to ‘show you something important’, he doesn’t make it obvious that he’s going to confess his feelings at all. so you get to his house and he tells you to wait on the couch while he gathers everything, and you’re starting to get anxious too because you’re like ummm wtf is he about to show me?? poe goes to his office and after a moment of ‘gathering’ (he actually already had his stuff sorted beforehand, he spent the entire time petting karl to muster up some courage), he brings you this giant stack of messy papers and just stands there awkwardly. and you’re so freaking confused until you start reading them and you realize that they’re all love letters and poems about you, written by poe himself. they’re all dated too so you can see that they range from today all the way back to like at least two years ago.

- poor poe is actually sitting there literally trembling while you read, anxiously waiting for you to respond. obviously you tell him you love him too, and he honestly looks like he doesn’t believe it or just can’t process it for a second, you have to kiss him on the cheek or something to get him to register the fact that you seriously love him. but after that he’s like the happiest you’ve ever seen him, he’s hugging you so hard, grabbing your hands and he might even excitedly kiss your face a couple times. this is genuinely a dream come true for him so he can go a little wild as a treat <3

- he owes ranpo so bad after this btw 💀

relationship

- since you and poe had been acting like a couple for a long while before officially getting together, it’s not that hard to get used to an actual relationship. now there’s just a lot less uncertainty and hesitance, you can comfortably do all of the things that you previously chickened out of because you didn’t want to ‘ruin your friendship’. your feelings aren’t a secret anymore, so you both have free reign to be as affectionate as you want to be.

- in terms of love language, i really feel like poe could appreciate any kind of love from you. he might be a little shy about physical affection, and he probably won’t want to do much of it in public, but in private i think he would secretly love it. his favorite type of love to receive from you would probably be words of affirmation, this man needs that praise and validation so badly!! in the beginning of your relationship, he doesn’t know how to handle your compliments, if you’re flirty he will simply explode. he eventually gets more accustomed to it, but he still blushes like crazy and gets all bashful every time you praise him. his favorite type of love to give to you is probably acts of service, just look at how much he bends over backwards to do favors for ranpo in canon lol. he will do literally anything for you!! with his absurd salary and spending habits, you can count on being showered in gifts too, he just wants to spoil you!

- you and poe are definitely one of those couples that enjoys just chilling in the same room doing your own separate things. it will actually make him so happy if you just quietly sit in his office while he writes! maybe after you’ve been dating for a long time he might even have you sit on his lap sometimes.. 😳 since he spends so much time in there obsessively writing new novels to beat ranpo, it got really lonely with just him and karl, so having you there just makes everything better. he also probably doesn’t take very good care of himself when he’s really focused on writing, so he will be eternally thankful if you help make sure he eats, drinks and sleeps enough. he might be the type to say “just one more chapter..” every time you tell him to go to bed, but you can usually persuade him with the promise of cuddles and a kiss goodnight.

- speaking of cuddles when you go to sleep…i am convinced that poe would secretly love being the little spoon!! he’ll of course default to being the big spoon unless you’re somehow taller than him, because that’s kinda just the norm for tall people in most cases. he might even be hesitant at first if you ask him to swap places with you, because he’s likely never done that before, but when you hold him for the first time..it immediately becomes his new favorite thing. it makes him feel so safe and secure and loved, please hold this man!!

- you play with poe’s hair all the time, it’s something you both enjoy because damn he has a lot of hair and it’s really fluffy. you push his bangs back because you want to actually see his eyes for once!! it makes him so flustered because he lowkey feels exposed without his bangs, but if you tell him his eyes are pretty he’ll be like “omg really?? 🥺” and forget all about his embarrassment. it works every single time. when poe is stressed, he often just lays his head in your lap and lets you run your fingers through his hair, it’s very grounding and calming to him. he gets embarrassed if you catch him off guard and just randomly start petting his hair, he tells you to go pet karl instead 💀

- poe is 100% the type of guy to kiss your knuckles or your forehead all the time. he’ll kiss you on the lips too, but it can be kind of overwhelming, so he doesn’t initiate those kisses as often. i think he would like being kissed on the cheek by you a lot, something simple and sweet to brighten his mood. despite being your partner, he still gets nervous to ask you for kisses when he wants them, but he’s honestly pretty unintentionally obvious about it so you can usually tell lol.

- poe gets so embarrassed if you ever read his novels, he knows that you appreciate his writing, but your opinion is so important to him that he gets anxious about it. he usually doesn’t let you read books that he’s written to challenge ranpo until after he’s already shown them to the detective. but you always read them when he gets back home and he’s all mopey after ranpo has successfully solved another one of his mysteries. although he remains determined to continue trying, it’s always a major blow to his self esteem when he loses to ranpo again. so you read the books for yourself so that you can praise him about every specific detail and make him feel better about himself and his work. you may not be his rival or the greatest detective in the world, but you are poe’s partner, so your words are still very meaningful to him.

- poe would definitely call you lots of pet names if you’re comfortable with it. he calls you things like ‘my dearest’ and ‘my beloved’, but he’ll also call you things like ‘darling’ and ‘love’. if you have a nickname, he’ll typically use that in place of your full name because it feels more intimate to him. if you do the same to him, he’ll be so happy! he’s down with being called basically any term of endearment as long as it comes from you, but some may make him more flustered than others. if you shorten his name and call him ‘ed’ it makes him feel so much closer to you.

- poe talks about you all the freaking time! he’s not above straight up bragging about how great his partner is, he constantly feels the need to tell everyone how great you are. hopefully ranpo likes you a lot because my guy has to listen to poe gushing about you constantly lol. if poe ever finds out that you’ve told your friends good things about him, it will warm his heart and make him feel so appreciated. he’s basically never prepared for you to match his extreme passion in your relationship, it shocks him every single time and he can’t believe he actually met someone who loves him as strongly as he loves them.

(a/n: thanks for reading my first fic on this account! i hope you guys like my theme lol, i just wanna be known as the tokage guy who writes bsd fics)