𝐛𝐧𝐡𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮

𝐛𝐧𝐡𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 ˚⁎⁺˳ . ⊹

katsuki bakugo, shoto todoroki, izuku midoriya, & hitoshi shinsou x gn!reader a/n: a late happy valentines day ! a new format that has absolutely no consistency at all so enjoy <33

◞♡° KATSUKI BAKUGO ; the one who always shows up in your morning run to the coffee shop he’s caught your eye the first time you came in. its a smaller coffee shop and you’ve been coming here for years, seeing the variety of people come in and out on their morning coffee runs. but he’s stayed. every morning, 7am on the dot, hes in line, getting his daily caffeine. sometimes you come before him, sometimes you come after him, but at some point hes become a part of your daily morning ritual. seeing his spiky ash blond hair, and tall build at the till ordering his hazelnut latte with no whipped cream (you don’t mean to eavesdrop, he just speaks very loudly) has become something you’re looking forward to, a question in your mind as you make your way to the little shop. you’ve built a relationship on passing glances, and fleeting meeting of eyes. maybe one day you’ll build up the courage to say hello, but for now you were content with the slight squeeze in your heart every time you see his bulking frame, and the pause in your breath every time you catch him looking at your way.

◞♡° SHOTO TODOROKI ; the one who’s browsing for books in the same section your fingers brush the spines of the books on the shelf, your head tilted to the side to read all their names and the authors who write them. finally picking out a book, you pluck it out from its space, and flip it over to read the blurb. unsatisfied, you reach to put it back, and you notice a boy, about a metre away looking browsing along the shelves. he’s probably the prettiest person you’ve seen in your life, and you couldn’t help but stare. the boy notices, and looked over at you, and you swear you’ve never moved faster, your head whipping back to look at the various books in front of you. you pick a random book and squeeze it in your hands, your cheeks aflame as you open it up, attempting to busy yourself with the much too pretty stranger standing next to you. your eyes saw words, but you really couldn’t read anything, mind buzzing and skin prickling at the proximity of the stranger. and it didn’t help every time your eyes flitted upwards, you could see his fleeting glances your way.

◞♡° IZUKU MIDORIYA ; the one who sits down next to you on the bus the gentle rumbling of the large bus soothed your eyes closed, and your head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton. all you could really think about was the feeling of finally hitting your head on your fluffy pillow, but it doesn’t seem your eyelids could wait that long. just a moment into your mind buzzing to a quiet, you feel a shuffling next to you, and the thump of a bag next to your feet. you peel open your eyes to see who’s taken up the space next to you, and it was a miracle you didn’t splutter out loud. “hey, sorry i didn’t mean to wake you.” he whispers in apology, eyebrows furrowed in worry. you blink hard, trying to process exactly how handsome this green haired man is.

“no no no, don’t worry about it all.” you breathe, entranced by his jade green eyes and the flush of freckles on his cheeks.

“good.” he smiles, the corner of his eyes crinkling and you didn’t think that your heart could go at a faster rate. you clutch the bag in your lap and look straight ahead, praying your flushed face didn’t betray you. the lights of the city at night sped past you, and you were acutely aware of every movement around you, whether it be the drum of his fingers on his knees, or the slight brush of his large shoulders against your hunched ones. as he takes his leave, hoisting his bag onto his back, he wishes you a good night, and you watch him leave the bus with wonder in your eyes, and parted lips.

◞♡° HITOSHI SHINSOU ; the one in the airport you first notice him in line to immigration. tall and perfectly mussed purple hair, and he’s just somehow commanded your attention, even from across the hall. in fact he was three lines away from you. so you just looked at him, appreciated him, and went on with your day.

the second time you see him is walking towards your gate. The area was sparse of people, with a family of four in the corner and a couple walking along past you. you look up from your phone and notice him walking just in front of you, pulling along his suitcase behind him. your eyebrows shoot up for a moment, and you let out a small breath of laughter to yourself, wondering how rare this must be. he then turns a corner into the bathroom, and you continue along, wondering how far away your gate must be.

the third time you see him is in the coffee shop right across from your gate, as your waiting with your receipt for your name to be called to pick your drink up. tapping your foot, you look at the menu up behind the counter again, taking a more in depth look at the various coffees as you wait. in the corner of your eyes you spot a familiar head of fluffy violet hair, and your mouth visibly dropped open as you fully register who was ordering a coffee. it was the first time you saw him up close, and you were pretty sure your heart stopped for a solid moment. the tired stranger turns around and your eyes immediately dart to the sign behind him, in some sort of attempt to not look like a complete idiot. he saunters over to you (no, not to you idiot he’s just waiting for his coffee as well) and you freeze, heart pumping so hard you were scared it would break through your ribcage and tear through your skin. he stations himself next to you, and pulls out his phone to scroll through. it was kind of insulting to see him so relaxed and for you to feel like you were on the verge of a seizure. but what you didn't know was that he was squeezing his phone tight, peeking up at you through his lashes, waiting for your name to be called just so he could know what it was.

back from the dead!

note from kin: the gif for this one’s probably my favourite one so far, but i just know that the quality is going to get nerfed because everyone’s so small

also, just in case it wasn’t obvious, the prompt here is that that you ‘died’ one way or another but then you come back because (plot twist) you didn’t actually die - though it’s a bit different in albedo’s case

fandom: genshin impact

character(s): gn! reader, diluc, kaeya, childe, zhongli, xiao, venti, albedo, a couple of other mentioned characters

pairing(s): diluc/reader, kaeya/reader, childe/reader, zhongli/reader, xiao/reader, venti/reader, albedo/reader

warning(s): death (obviously), blood/injury, implied suicidal thoughts

genre: angst

diluc:

diluc has many feelings about this situation, the main one being: why

why would you do this to him? do you enjoy torturing him? is that it?

no, that’s not fair... he knows you didn’t mean to make everyone think you’d up and died on them

but still. two weeks. two ENTIRE weeks he’d thought you were gone

it had been a simple trek to dragonspine, and you’d reassured him that you’d be fine without him, so he’d stayed behind to deal with business, while you put up a request for some volunteers from the adventurer’s guild to come with you

in the end, a team of five left mondstadt city. only four came back.

three days after you left, diluc opened the door of dawn winery to see those four ghostly, stricken faces staring back at him. not a word was said for a good minute, but in that moment, he already knew what news they were about to deliver

he stopped them before they could recount the details of your inability to outrun the avalanche and subsequent fall. his mind had already laid out every agonising moment for him, from your last thoughts to your last breath - did you think of him? did you call for him, hoping against all hope that he would save you? did you die waiting for a hero that never came?

the next day, he joined the volunteers who set out to recover your body. if any of them noticed the lonely figure trailing behind them, head lowered and dragging his feet as if the weight of the world had fallen on his shoulder, they didn’t say a word

he dug first with his weapon, igniting the metal with his pyro vision so that it cut through the snow easily, and when that became too heavy for his grief-exhausted arms to bear, he dropped it and dug with his hands instead, refusing to give up, even when the cold seeped through his gloves and bit into his hands until the skin began to crack and bleed

but, in the end, they could only bury an empty casket. despite all of his efforts, they couldn’t find your body.

he chooses a quiet place by the vineyards of dawn winery and marks the grave with a simple headstone, vowing that he’ll come by every day to polish it - even when he’s old and grey, and the flowers have stopped springing up in the grass

and, of course, THAT’S when you finally decide to show up

“what’s with the long face?”

there you stand, in the flesh, perfectly healthy if not a little malnourished, still dressed in the now rather tattered clothes that you set out in, and, most importantly, alive

he can hardly believe it. in fact, he doesn’t believe it for a good moment or two; he turns away, blinking hard as frustrated tears threaten to running down his face. surely he can’t be so grief-stricken that he’s started hallucinating?

but then you walk up to him and set a hand on his arm, a comforting and wonderfully solid hand, and the warmth in your voice as you ask him what’s wrong is too true to life, too inimitable to be an illusion. it’s you, and you’re alive!

he saves the questions for later and wastes no time in pulling you to himself, sinking to the ground as his legs finally give out beneath him. you wrap your arms around him, and he’s dimly aware of you speaking, but he’s so awash with his own relief and unadulterated joy that he can’t hear anything but the ecstatic thumping of his own heart

these two weeks without you have been absolute hell. he never wants to feel as he did again. he never wants to lose you again - he can’t lose you again

because this time, at least, you came back. if you hadn’t, and if in the future, you don’t… well, diluc doesn’t know what he’d become

for now, though, he holds you close. he’ll worry about it tomorrow - and tomorrow can wait. it owes him this much.

kaeya:

when you suddenly show up, dripping wet and looking remarkably like you’ve spending the past few days being pickled in brine, to your own graveside wake, kaeya is absolutely beside himself

he’d rather been under the impression that you were dead. deceased. completely gone from this mortal coil.

after all, who could survive being dragged into the waters of qingce by an oceanid? who could suddenly resurface perfectly intact after being trapped under the surface of the water for over four hours?

you, apparently. and kaeya isn’t sure whether he should be throwing himself at you in joy, weeping out of pure relief, or giving you the hardest punch he can for scaring him like that

five hours he’d waited by the lake’s edge, freezing paths over the dark water in hopes that he might catch sight of you in those depths if he went further out, wandering all the way around the lake’s border and then back again, hoping against all hope that you might have washed up on the shore

he knew, though, deep down, that there was no point. you were doomed as soon as he let you slip under the surface.

he’d stayed in the area for the next few days, always finding himself wandering back to the lake, no matter how much he tried to focus on exploring the new landscapes, hoping against all hope that he might see you again

but, of course, he didn’t, and so he returned to mondstadt with a piece of himself missing - a piece of himself that, though he denied it, died as soon as he watched you disappear into the water

no one was willing to dive into that lake to retrieve your body - if there was even a body to retrieve. kaeya tried to return to qingce to do it himself, but jean wouldn’t even let him out of the city.

“i can’t let you go,” she’d said impassively, steeling herself against kaeya’s pathetic, pleading gaze. “it’s suicide.”

kaeya had stared back at her, and his reaction would stay with her for the rest of her life.

“so what?”

in the end, kaeya hadn’t been allowed to journey back to qingce, and the funeral was held without a body

at which point you suddenly walked right up to the morose procession and enquired, loudly, as to whose funeral it was

the brief silence that follows is so palpable that you could probably smash it with a hammer

kaeya's completely frozen on the spot, mouth opening and closing soundlessly as your other friends converge on you, and you disappear under a multitude of tearful hugs for the next five minutes. he stays there, unmoving.

it’s only once the two of you are alone in that deathly-quiet graveyard that kaeya finally lets himself break down. his entire body is trembling as he sinks to his knees right there on the grass, hands reaching up and tangling in his hair as he attempts to come to terms with the tumultuous feelings threatening to overflow from inside him

you kneel in front of him, opening your arms silently, and he can only fall forward into your embrace, burying his face in your shoulder and unable to stifle a sob of pure relief that you’re here, you’re alive, he didn't fail you after all

he tries to apologise for not being able to stop you from going under in the first place, for not being able to save you, for not going back for you, but you refuse to let him apologise for something that wasn’t under his control. you just hug him tighter and promise in whisper that he did all he could, and that you’ll never leave him like that again

eventually, the two of you will have to separate, but right now kaeya can’t bring himself to let him go - not when, mere hours ago, he’d thought he’d never be able to hold you like this again

how much time do you pass like this? neither you nor kaeya know. only the gravestones surrounding you like stone sentinels do - and only they will ever know.

childe:

it’s something he’s heard stories about plenty of times: a lover goes out to war, or to call on a relative, or to sell vegetables at a market in the city, and never returns. but that’s all it’s been to him - a story. he’d always thought of it as something that happened to other people, never something that could happen to him

but it has, and now he thinks he understands why, even in old age, those people’s faces still seem haunted by that loss - indeed, the moment he found your abandoned sword half-buried on one of the beaches of guyun stone forest is one that’ll probably be burnt into his memory forever

a tiny part of him had still clung to the hope that you were alive out there somewhere, but it had already been days since you were first pronounced missing, and you’d never leave your weapon behind - after all, you were visionless. you had no way of defending yourself properly without it.

childe stayed on that beach for a long time. he still doesn’t know how long exactly, but it was long enough for the sun to dip beneath the horizon and for the waves to start lapping impatiently at his boots.

when he did leave, he took your sword with him. but he didn’t bury it just yet - because he refused to let go of that shred of hope

he employed himself for the next few days with looking for any sign of you - day and night, with barely any time to eat or sleep, chasing every lead he could find, no matter how small

but he found nothing, despite pulling out every single desperate tactic he could think of. he began to think that maybe he never would.

eventually, he set off for your favourite spot on mount tianheng, beneath a tree on one of the peaks, but he still couldn’t bring himself to bury your sword there

so, instead, he stabbed the blade into the ground, anchoring it firmly in the dirt - and, after a moment, stabbed one of his own arrows into the ground beside it. he told himself that this arrow would protect your sword as he should have protected you in the first place.

now, five days later, however, when he arrives at that spot to have a quiet moment to himself, the sword is gone. so is the arrow. all that remains of them are two neat little slots in the ground where they’d been stuck

his first thought is that they’ve been stolen, and he feels an immeasurable kind of rage begin to bubble at the pit of stomach - but then he hears a sharp little whizz, and the arrow he’d stuck beneath your sword comes flying out of nowhere and buries itself in the dirt by his feet.

he looks up, and there you are. sitting on a lower branch of the tree, sword at your hip where it always is, wearing that smile that he adores so much.

you hop down, and he stares at you in sheer shock for a moment. finally, he takes two, deliberate steps forward, and pulls you into a silent embrace.

there are no words, no tears, barely even a sound, but the way that his body trembles in your arms tells you all that you need to know.

a long while later, the two of you finally pull apart, and he sniffs bravely, then says with some of his usual bravado, “well, you have to tell me all about what happened now.”

and that’s the end of that - or so you think

for weeks afterwards, childe finds himself lying awake into the small hours of the morning, unable to go to sleep. he’s scared - no, terrified that, if he closes his eyes, you won’t be there when he opens them again

it’s almost funny, to be honest - first, you taught him love, and now you’ve taught him fear

but, in a way, he’s grateful that he’s learned to feel it - because, as long as this fear persists, he’ll be able to protect you with all he’s got.

zhongli:

it must have happened during osial’s attack, but he didn’t find out until an entire week after the fact

zhongli hadn’t dwelt on the incident for long, selfishly indulging in the freedom of a life free of an archon’s responsibilities, completely unaware of what had happened to you

he did of course wonder why you hadn’t come to see him, feeling almost a little hurt, but he reassured himself with the thought that you were probably busy helping out around the city - becuase, despite the traveller, adepti, and qixing’s best efforts, liyue harbour did sustain a fair bit of damage from the whole ordeal

but then he’d spotted a poster pinned up beside one asking after the traveller’s missing twin - a poster that, somehow, he’d completely missed for the past few days (or was he simply refusing to see it?)

your face smiles at him from the yellowing paper, and the single word stamped above your head seems to echo around him

how had he not realised that you were missing for an entire week? had he really been so idiotic as to think it wasn’t odd that he hadn’t seen you on the streets at all?

or did he realise the truth when you didn’t return to him as soon as the battle was over? was he simply refusing to accept it until this moment?

he doesn’t know. to be honest, he doesn’t care.

two days later, your posters start disappearing. no announcement comes, but the absence says two words loud and clear - ‘presumed dead’.

he finds it impossible to enjoy his freedom now, when every smiling face on liyue harbour reminds him of you in the most damning way possible

the reflection of his eyes in the tea in the bottom of his cup seems to warp into your own eyes, glaring back at him accusingly, asking, why did you let me die?

because - and this is the worst part of it all - zhongli only has himself to blame for all of this

none of this would have happened if he hadn’t made that deal with the fatui. osial only rose again because zhongli allowed those harbingers to do what they did.

he lingers for a long while over this, but in the end, there are only two things he can do. everything is over; he can either continue to regret, or move on.

he decides to light some incense for you, and sets out to buy some from a local merchant

and it’s there, as he attempts to make sense of the multitude of numbers being thrown at him, that he suddenly sees your face amidst the crowd milling around the harbour

that isn’t anything out of the ordinary anymore, but then he blinks and looks again, and you don’t swim out of view or fade away; you’re still very much there, wearing a faintly annoyed expression as the crowd around you continues to buffet you back and forth

zhongli makes a decision in a split second, abandoning the incense in the surprise merchant’s hands and charging after you, calling your name with barely-disguised desperation - and you barely have time to turn around before he’s crashing into you at such a speed that the two of you go toppling clean over

the people around scatter, some simply shaking their heads at the disturbance and others standing in shock at the sight of such a man behaving like this, but zhongli can’t be bothered to keep up his image at a moment like this

“you’re alive,” he whispers, indescribable joy rising in his chest when you laugh in reply. he didn’t think he’d hear that sound ever again.

the two of you must be a sight, tangled together and half-lying in the middle in th middle of the street. it’s the sort of behaviour that one would associate with lovesick teens, not the refined gentleman of a god that he is

then again, he can’t really help it. this is just the sort of thing you do to him - and he’s absolutely fine with it

xiao:

he should've known better than to let you see him in the first place, let alone get attached enough to keep allowing you to meet him over and over again

bad luck follows xiao around like a shadow, and it isn’t picky about who it affects

still, he did it anyway - he continued appearing to you whenever you asked him to

it was idiocy - though others might have called it love. for xiao, there isn’t really a difference - because only a fool would think they were deserving of love after committing the crimes that he had.

at first, you were never in danger when you called his name. he came anyway, of course - but then, one day, you were in danger, and he didn’t, not until it was already too late

the two of you hadn’t even been that far apart - he had perched atop one of the stone pillars in huaguang stone forest, and you’d been nearby on mount hulao. if only he’d responded as soon as you’d called, he would’ve gotten there on time.

but he was selfish, and chose to stay there on the pillar for a few moments longer, wanting just another minute to quiet contemplation before he joined you on the mountain

and, as the most damning torture of all, fate had you fall just as he landed on the mountain. he could only watch as you disappeared under the geovishap’s gargantuan claws

the minutes after that are unclear. all he remembered afterwards was the sure weight of his spear in his hands, the wind whipping against his face as he moved faster than he ever had before, the burn of tears in his eyes

xiao had thought that he’d long since lost the ability to cry. how cruel it was that this was how he learnt that he hadn’t.

when he became fully conscious of his surroundings again, the geovishap was stone dead, and you were nowhere to be seen.

still delirious (with grief or anger he didn’t know), xiao fled from the mountain, leaving behind the geovishap’s corpse, and a lump of amber that hadn't been there before

he didn’t know where he was going, only that he was running - and maybe, if he ran fast and hard enough, he’d be able to run straight out of his nightmare, and wake to find you alive on the other side

but, of course, he wasn’t dreaming, and he couldn’t wake up if he wasn’t asleep in the first place

which brings us to now. the last days since the incident have passed in a grey blur, and the fog is finally starting to lift enough from xiao’s mind for him to make a realisation

the amber on mount hulao - would it be too presumptuous to hope that his fellow adepti knew of his bond with you, and protected you where he couldn’t? he almost dares not to hope, but…

he moves faster than the wind itself, and he’s touching down at the spot before he’s even fully aware of it, the geovishap’s body has already melted away into the grass, leaving only the lump of amber that he’d somehow not taken account when he left all those days ago

breath held in anticipation, he raises his spear, and strikes the amber with the sharp edge of the blade. several shards splinter away; he spots something familiar within the orange resin

he works feverishly, and soon enough the last of the amber falls away, revealing you, in perfect health, and a little annoyed by the fact that he took this long to get you out

you can’t really stay mad at him for long, though, not with him looking at you like that, eyes wide and almost wondering

xiao surprises both you and himself by abruptly throwing his arms around you. he’s never initiated contact with you before, and you yourself have never gone beyond just patting his arm

it feels nice, he decides. he can only thank the universe - and his fellow adepti - for the fact that he’s able to lose himself in your embrace like this.

venti:

he heard the news one late afternoon, as he stood playing through his usual repertoire beneath the statue outside the cathedral

he’d picked up on your name amidst a conversation between two people passing by, and while his outward demeanour didn’t give anything away, he was listening intently almost immediately

“...don’t know what happened, but they found their boat by starsnatch cliff this morning. no body or anything, though.”

“talk about unlucky… they must have gotten caught in a storm or something.”

that was all venti managed hear before the two move out of earshot, but it was enough to shake him right to the core. his fingers stumbled on the strings of his lyre, so tense that he accidentally snapped a string

the crowd started murmuring amongst each other as he slowly lowered the instrument, face frozen and eyes wide. then he suddenly turned and sprinted in the direction of the knights of favonius’s headquarters, ignoring the loud complaints coming from his audience

he burst into the building without bothering to wait for approval from the guards outside, and they probably would have arrested him if lisa hadn’t walked out of the library at that moment and stopped them

venti practically dropped to her feet, begging her to tell him what happened - surely what he heard wasn’t true?

but lisa only shook her head and offered to bring venti to the site of your wrecked ship. she didn’t know either

the knights escorting the librarian to starsnatch cliff didn’t say anything about the bard following them, but the pitying looks they shot him said it all. they didn’t think there was a chance that you had survived.

in the end, venti couldn’t bring himself to face the wreckage - because he knew he would lose all hope if he did

he spends the next five days sitting at the precipice of starsnatch cliff, gazing out across the endless seas, desperately wishing that he might see the shape of a raft or a boat riding the distant waves. several times he falls asleep and dreams that your figure was sailing back to him from the fog, only to wake to see nothing but empty horizons again, and no amount of wind can swipe away his bitter tears then

then, on the evening of the fifth day, he suddenly sees something - a lone figure seemingly stumbling across the surface of the water itself, lurching every now and then

it’s been a long time since he’s used his powers like this, and his abilities have waned since the loss of his gnosis, but now he’s able to spur himself to his feet, gathering masses of winds beneath him, and he flies straight for the figure with wild abandon

and - joy of all joys - it’s you!

ice crackles from your feet with each, heaving step you take, and he realises that you’re clutching a blue-glowing stone in one hand

in that moment, venti forgets all enmity between him and tsaritsa, and thanks her with all his heart for granting you a vision

he swoops down and catches you in his arms, and the wind follows in his sheer joy, sending the two of you tumbling this way and that, before finally depositing you gently on the shore, mere metres away from your wrecked ship

venti doesn’t even speak for a good while, just clings to you desperately and refuses to let go for even a moment, and somehow that’s even worse than if he’d been in floods of tears instead

you just hold him in return, trying to catch your breath, and the two of you end up falling asleep right there and then, despite how uncomfortable it is there in the sand

venti’s been all cried-out for hours now, and your limbs are so heavy with fatigue that you can barely move, so there the two of you stay, huddled together like children

venti has already loved and lost once before, and that had been enough to think he would never love again. then you came along, and he loved, and lost again, but this time you came back to him, and for that he will always be endlessly grateful

albedo:

the two of you had been out on an impromptu resource-gathering expedition (read: secret date) on wuwang hill. it was your first time in liyue, so you were practically buzzing with excitement, and albedo felt more content than ever with watching your face light up at every new thing you saw

but the evening had quickly soured when the two of you came across a gang of treasure hoarders taunting an injured fox

albedo attempted to calm you down, wanting to deal with the situation as diplomatically as possible, but you’d been positively beside yourself, and flew forwards, aiming a punch at the leader of the group

somehow you managed to punch him hard enough to knock several teeth out of his mouth, and as he stumbled backwards with a yell of agony, the rest of the treasure hoarders turned on you as well

albedo couldn’t very well leave you to fight them off on your own (and, to be honest, he didn’t think very highly of the hoarders’ behaviour thus far), and so the two of you stood back to back, fending off all sorts of projectiles and punches being aimed at you

but neither of you were fighting to kill, only to defend and possibly incapacitate, so the things the two of you could do were limited. albedo imprisoned a decent number of them in geo-produced prisons, but they just kept coming - it was like two arrived to replace each one you knocked down

soon enough the two of you were cornered right on the edge of the hill, and, noting the dizzying fall behind, albedo turned to tell you that the two of you should retreat

everything that happened next seemed to be in slow motion. you turned to look at him, stance wavering for just the briefest of seconds - and a stray thrown blade struck you directly in the chest

in that moment, as you teetered on the edge, eyes wide and seemingly staring directly into his, everything around him seemed to drop into darkness

everything came to a standstill as you fell. the treasure hoarder that threw the blade stood there in shock, and as albedo stood there, frozen in horrified disbelief, his friends quickly seized him by the arm and ran for it

a wise choice - because, if they’d still been there when albedo suddenly came to, they probably wouldn’t have survived the encounter

instead, with no one around to take his anger out on, albedo could only hurry to find you down below on the rocks, using his geo vision to create steps along the steep cliff face

you aren’t breathing when he finally gets to you.

time seems to slow down. he sits there beside you for what feels like an eternity, until the sun has gone down and the blue sky is replaced with a carpet of darkness and stars

it’s beautiful, but he can’t bring himself to look at it. as far as he's concerned, the stars went out the moment he watched you fall, and he has no interest in looking at a dead sky

then, suddenly, he realises something. he doesn’t have medical training, now has he ever learnt to heal… but that doesn’t mean he can’t fix you in other ways

he knows that he doesn’t have the strength to carry you all the way to his laboratory in dragonspine, but he brings plenty of things everywhere with him - and there are plenty of other methods he can employ as well

taboo things, maybe, things that he never would have even thought to try on any other occasion - but he’s desperate, and there is no such thing as too far when it comes to you

he works with almost maniacal fervour, trying one thing after another and another, refusing to let himself rest for even a moment - because each passing minute marks even more distance between the two of you, and he cannot, will not let you drift out of his reach

hours later, the stars have disappeared again, and you open your eyes to see albedo gazing down at you with a faint smile.

Dorm Leaders + Jamil + MC's Nightmare

Hi! I've really put some thought into this, so it sort of ended up bittersweet and maybe some parts turned out to be more angsty... Please avoid [Vil & Leona's] if you are uncomfortable with self-deprecating thoughts.

Also for clarification, I did not open Anon. The user deactivated, which is why you now see them as anon.

All you could feel was ink around your body. The slimy, dark substance suffocating your being as the inked hand of your beloved snaked to your neck, their face unrecognisable from the corrupting ink.

"You…" He groaned out, his voice scratched and hollow.

"You did this to me…"

You screamed, reaching for your throat. "NO!" You winced, realising you were in your bed at NRC. You looked around the room, tears in your eyes searching for your beloved.

"YN?"

Malleus Draconia

He rushed to you, still half-transformed, his height a little taller and his wings touching the floor. The black wings extended out, its wingspan covering you up as he pulled you out of the covers, wrapping you in his body instead.

"Love… talk to me," The Fae begged, fear rising in his chest as he felt the way you trembled in his arms. He rested his chin to your forehead, his lips pressing to the crown of your head as he inhaled your scent. "Please… YN."

Your body shook to the point the tears rolled down your cheek. You clutched to Malleus' shirt, burying yourself deeper into his chest as your breath hitched. In the moments of silence, Malleus rubbed your shoulders to soothe you as you relaxed into your lover's chest.

You began recalling your nightmare. "I… I saw you in ink."

The one line from your lips brought you to a choked sob, as your hand reached out to cup your beloved's face. You felt his leather-like wings curl up to you, "Malleus… I don't want to lose you again."

The words from you were a thorn in his heart. For many days, he tried to forget his moment of weakness to the ink, but he couldn't imagine the damage that had been done to your psyche, considering that you were the one to deal with him in the first place. From that day forward, he vowed to never lose control ever again, but evidenced by your nightmare, you were concerned about him too.

The Fae pressed his scaled forehead to yours, his bright orbs staring into your tearful ones. Oh, how he wished he could use his magic to kill off those nightmares, but it was impossible since they came from your own thoughts. Your hands instinctively went to cup his jaw, with one of his clawed hands covering your hand and another wrapped around your waist.

"There is not a day that I wish for it to never occur, YN," He told you, his eyes serious about the ordeal. "Your nightmare is only proof that I need to be the strongest magic user in this land, so no harm shall befall to the future bride of the Draconia family." He said with utter resolve.

Overwhelmed with emotion, you began to grow tired once more, slumping against your lover's chest with his wings still wrapped around you. The Fae proceeded to lie on your shared bed, his wings shrinking to accommodate his size.

"There is much I would sacrifice to you," He whispered against your skin. "Anything you tell me not to do will be taken as my own blood oath, so sleep with the assurance that your Tsunotarou won't leave you."

Riddle Rosehearts

It was the first time you saw Riddle's face full of concern. No blooming reds of happiness, nor raging crimson of anger was on his face. Simply worry, and concern that struck him cold. It was a difficult feeling to describe as he saw you sitting there, as if he was on the day of his Overblot again, staring back at your hopeless face.

He slowly approached you, as if not to scare you, before draping his jacket gently over your shoulders. His hands weren't shaking as they reached out to your own, but his heart was. His palm held your own hands, before bending his head lower than yours to kiss it. "YN… Take your time. I'll be here as long as you need me."

With Riddle next to you, your breathing steadied, as you tried to recall what happened. "It was like that day again," You began.

Riddle's blood ran cold. The grief that he caused you, it was unforgivable in his book. His grip tightened, still wary of the way that he hurt you that day. All the efforts you put in to save him… He wasn't sure if there was any other way to repay you for it.

"The ink held you once again," You continued, being careful with your words, knowing just exactly how Riddle might act in this instance. "I was scared. You reached out to me, to harm me, but that wasn't the scariest part."

It was the first words he said with anger. "What do you mean, YN?! Hurting you is my own nightmare, how could you think-"

"What if I lost you again?"

Those words caused him to clam up. He hadn't thought about it, but you both were fools, having a weakness for each other so dearly. You were right, though. You were always right. He knew, if he ever succumbed to the ink with his life, the one to carry the ache the most would be you, as you carried on his memory with a broken heart.

He'd never let that scenario happen.

Riddle Rosehearts swears on it, as the Queen of Hearts.

"To you, YN," He leaned his forehead to your shoulders, his voice low and in a whisper, just loud enough for you to hear him. "To you, the firs rule of the Queen of Hearts will be to never make you shed a tear."

Kalim Al-Asim

Of course Kalim would cause a ruckus, seeing as how he witnessed the blankets and pillows fly off the bed when you woke up from your slumber. Usually, your nights ended with loving cuddles with Kalim, but this time you went to bed alone since one of the Dorm Leader meetings dragged on.

His first course of action was to have you in his arms, pulling you as close to his body as possible. His lips were drawn to you, kissing the tears that so carelessly fall from your eyes. They didn't belong there, he thought, as he kissing away a tear by the corner of your mouth.

The butterfly kisses made you relax into Kalim, slowing your breaths down as you placed your head under Kalim's chin. Your nightgown was patted down by one of Kalim's hands, the warmth on your thighs calming you down.

"There's my desert lotus," He called out to you, feeling your head nudge into his collarbone. "There's no need to speak if you don't want to."

You finally met your gaze to Kalim, your head shaking from side to side. "I promised to never keep secrets from you," You reached for his hand, knowing how much that promise meant to him. "I don't have any plans to break that anytime soon."

He was attentive, silent the entire time as you explained, but there was no denying the silent tears that fell from his cheek. It was horrific in his memory, not being able to reach out to you and only harming you whenever he got closer. There was no denying that the one who was hurt the most was you, yet Kalim wasn't sure how to fix it.

"I couldn't help but think," You hesitated to say your next few words. "What if I can't save you again? What if it was my fault that I lost you-"

His hands reached to grip your shoulders, pulling you into a tight embrace. Not a word was exchanged between you two, as you felt Kalim's tears on your shirt. You let his hold you, as did you. In silence, you held one another, both frightened by the aspect you presented.

Your beloved Kalim met his gaze to you again, his eyes puffy and reddened by his crying. "YN… YN please don't say that," He begged. "I don't want to harm you again, I never want to hurt you…"

"But-"

No retort came from you.

"No, not even the ink, will we be torn apart. It is my vow for life, my desert lotus."

Jamil Viper

He was quick to react, quick to have you in his arms as he cuddled you into his chest. Your body was shaking, your sobs choked with gasps for air as your tears soaked the sheets below you in an uneven pattern, your mind replaying the scene you last saw over and over again in your head.

"Match my breathing, YN."

Jamil's voice snapped you out of your trance, as he guided your head to press gently against his chest. There you felt the soft thump of his heartbeat, a rhythm that sent a wave of calm throughout your body. The gentle heave of his chest against your frantic one slowly matched to each other, soon falling in melody with one another.

Jamil's agile fingers reached the flesh of your cheek, swiping away the hot rivulets of tears that made tracks on your skin. His expression, one that was typically sour or sly in nature, was fearful as the day the ink took him, where he witnessed and felt the backlash of harming you. It was a feeling he was disgusted by, but with the way you looked, it's as if that day occurred again.

"He was in your dreams, wasn't he?" He murmured into your skin, as his head was on your lap. It comforted you as much as it comforted him, besides that, he could look at you much easier.

You nodded, hesitant to explain what that version of Jamil did to you. "He… He told me he was going to come again."

"Like hell he will. Like I'll fall for that ink again."

"Jamil, but what if you do?" Your anxious thoughts ran through you. "How can I be strong for you when I fear for you life?"

"Dammit!" He cursed, his head pressing into your lap. "Damn that ink, YN! If it comes for me again…"

He sat up, his thoughts racing through his head. Your hand reached out to him, clasping to his own. Hand in hand, you both found solace in one another, unsure of what's to come. Jamil himself, he knew that he wouldn't be able to overpower the ink, but what he could do was outsmart it.

"If I ever become a part of that ink again… You'll have to stop loving me to stop me," He said, his tone serious.

"You always think of the impossible, Jamil…" You smiled through your tears.

"I will," He admitted, pressing his lips to yours as if to comfort you. "But, if it means cheating natural law, cheating the ink or cheating death itself, I'll be by your side to prove that I mean it."

Azul Ashengrotto

He noticed it right away, even before you woke up. He was sitting right next to you, a book in his hands, reviewing how his contracts went. Your sudden awakening almost threw him off the bed, but luckily, he held on as best as he could. You didn't immediately burst into tears, noticing that Azul was on the floor. The silly mishaps of readjusting himself and you apologising made you forget what happened just for a moment, until Azul asked you.

"What startled you, Angelfish?"

You shied away, now finding it embarrassing to discuss about the thoughts that haunted you right after such a scenario. "Can we… take a bath?"

He hummed lowly, agreeing to it. The mer-octopus usually intiated taking long baths together to make up for quality time, or simply calm his nerves down being around you and the water. It was not a strange notion for you to initiate it, but it was a rare occurance.

It was one of the moments he was willing to be vulnerable to you. There, in his merform, sharing the tub with you. The bath was not too cold, and you settled in between three of his mutiple tentacles. He kept any notions of shyness away for now, seeing as how your chest heaved with thoughts of panic as you collected yourself.

"I dreamed that it happened to you again," You admitted. There was no use beating around the bush with Azul. He'd eventually find out, but he had no need to, since you promised that you'd be honest with him at all times. You heard a sigh from your boyfriend, finding one of his tentacles starting to wrap around one of your arms, slinking to your wrist.

"It being the Overblot," You continued. The tentacles that held you became tense, but Azul is one that's reluctant to hurt you.

Azul finally opened his mouth. "Did… Did I hurt you?"

You nodded, turning to meet your gaze to your Azul, who's expression winced, and one that began to flood with regret as you told him. His sky blue eyes clouded over, as he tried to find the words to say. "Where did I touch you?"

Your hands ran over your naked skin, before taking one of his tentacles to touch the base of your neck. A choked sob came from Azul, his tears clouding his vision as he whispered his sorries, curling away his tentacles but you kept them in place. "Azul… I trust you. Touch me, it's alright."

He did as you said. "The trust Angelfish… it's the very kind that saved me."

Idia Shroud

He was prone to late night gaming, but this was the first time he abandoned his online game. Luckily, no one else was playing with him, so it was easy for his to abandon it. Of course he was unsure how to comfort you, he was frightened that he'd scare you even more. Calling out your name wasn't as effective as he thought the first time around, so he called it once more, his pale hands touching yours instead.

The warmth of his hair evaporated any hot tears that dared to trickle down, leaving the tracks that they once tread. What Idia didn't expect was to have his loved one tackle him to the bed, both falling to the mattress with a thump. Thank goodness he requested for the best sheets, otherwise he'd be much more worried about how you injured yourself.

He said nothing, as he felt his cheeks bloom pink with how willing you cuddled into his chest. Of course he was curious about what you went through, but he more so was curious what brought such an affectionate self out of you.

"You're here…" You mumbled, taking in the scent of Idia's jacket, holding him tighter. "Oh thank Great Seven you're still here Idia…"

His hands reached to pat your head. "I… I was still playing my game YN. I never left," He said, his confusion growing further. Now to him, this was puzzling. You were someone who always smiled at him, so for you to break down in tears was already a big concern. Unless…

He was sharp enough to know what came out of your nightmare. "Was it my Overblot?"

The nod from you that ruffled his shirt was all it took.

"I promised you that I'd never think of using the ink," He reconfirmed it with you. "That time was the first and last of it."

He listened to what you had to say, your fear of losing him again and your fear of the backlash he'd face once again in the aftermath of the Overblot. Your fear of him loosing his sanity, your fear of not being able to see him again… he almost felt guilty that your fear was caused by him.

"Maybe if it were only the two of us…" He thought aloud. "With Ortho… Then that stupid ink won't ruin everything."

"Idia, you-"

He cut you off once more. "But my parents might be worried if I bring you back just like this, so… marry me YN. You can live with me, away from everyone."

Leona Kingscholar

Having just returned from practice, of course he thought that someone came in and attacked. He ran up to you, checking for injuries. Upon inspection, the only injuries he could trace was to your psyche itself, as you clung to Leona in fear for the nightmare coming true.

He let you nuzzle against him, only having to use one hand to lift you close to him as you hung onto him tight, arms around his neck as he arranged the pillows and blankets in a circle, tossing a few of his strewn about clothes onto the mess. Despite your tight grip to his neck, it was easy for someone like him to toss you to the bed, in the impromptu nest that he made with you in the middle.

You sat upright, taking in the new surrounding slowly as Leona crept up to you, his body curling as he rested against the mattress. As if it was upon instinct, you followed suit, curling up to Leona as your lion rested with you in the nest he made.

Of course he wasn't going to touch you in that sort of way. His makeshift nest was meant to be comforting, and at least it brought down your breathing levels to normal. Your hyperventilating stopped, as you looked up at your lion, who was deftly wiping away tears from your cheek with his other arm supporting his head to look down on you.

He hummed as you reached a hand to him, rubbing one of his ears, causing your lion to purr for you. It was a gentle rumble of a purr, but the sounds steadied your beating heart. You let Leona play with your hair, as you began the entire tale.

"I saw you join hands with the ink again," You started. It was just the beginning, but Leona felt his hairs stand up. If anything, he wished to erase that moment from ever occurring. His feelings from that event, he wasn't sure if they were truly gone, but somehow you made it all better.

"It was you in an Overblot, and I couldn't do anything to stop you," You continued, gripping the sheets tighter. "What… what if it really happens again Leona? What if you can't come back to me?"

He hated it. He hated how logical you were in these moments. He huffed, almost in a growl, pushing you into the bed as he further soothed you. "Don't think about it Herbivore. Can't dream about it if I'm here."

You gave in, slowly but surely falling into slumber again, your chest rising and falling as Leona adjusted your sleeping position. In his heart, Leona never knew what to say to you, because you were always right. His feelings of inferiority never went away, instead kept buried deep inside as his care for you took over. It was for the second time in his life, Leona felt hopeless.

He pulled you into his chest, before looking at the sky above from the window in his room.

"Great Seven, I pray you don't take me away from her. I pray that my love for her trumps all my reckless thoughts…"

Vil Schoenheit

He was utterly horrified, the scream causing him to drop his eyebrow pencil. Seeing that it was you jolting from a nightmare, he left his vanity, hurrying to tie his robe as he took a good look at you. He kicked off his slippers, sitting next to you on the bed, holding your hand in his.

"Oh, oh…" He muttered, taking a good look at you, wiping away your tears with his handkerchief. "My darling's scared…"

"Vil," You cried out, your voice cracking as you remembered the nightmare of him. The way he cared for you, was almost the same way his Overblot self did. Your reaction to it was completely different however, as in the nightmare you remembered the feeling of wanting to puke as the Overblot version of Vil cooed over you.

Your own Vil soothe your worries, as a garden with the sweet scent of his perfume, and the gentle touch of his fingers to yours. His voice itself was a melody that healed your ears from the screeching nightmare, as you felt his embrace.

He stopped wiping your tears the moment you calmed down. He kept it away, shifting his full weight on the bed to meet you face to face. One hand clutched the middle of his robe, as the other hand rubbed circles into your hand, his face full of concern.

"Will you tell me what's wrong, darling?"

You weren't sure to tell the truth to him.

Vil was someone you knew that hated that version of him. You've seen the way he tore himself apart because of it. It was not a thing you could bring up so easily around Vil, because for as much as the nightmare hurt you in your dreams, you were unsure if you could bring yourself to hurt Vil in reality.

Your silence only enhanced the worry from your boyfriend, as he thought the nightmare caught you in a trance once again. He rushed out of the bed, to get the tea that he steeped for his own consumption. Your hands shook as you accepted the cup, taking a sip.

He asked again, and was met with your refusal. Sitting next to you on the bed, he could only give you his soft smile as he helped you take a drink of the tea.

"I'll wait until you're ready, my sweet potato," He said, smiling after pecking your cheek. "For now, rest with me, love."

825 notes View Post

hazyspells

3 years ago

» HAIKYUU + "JUST FRIENDS"

ft. akaashi, atsumu, kuroo, kita

tags : gn!reader, angst

a/n : ...hello

» AKAASHI walks you home - like he does, most of the time - in bleak temperatures with light snow scattered on the pavements. unfortunately for you, you’d forgotten your gloves, which leaves your fingers numb from exposure. akaashi notices it from the way you blow into your bare fingers repeatedly, and promptly reaches for the extra pair of gloves he always carries in his bag and hands them to you. when you accept his gloves with a smile, he doesn't know why but he feels his heart sink with a ‘thunk’ following whatever you say afterward; “thanks ‘kaashi, you’re a great friend!”

» ATSUMU’s a little tired of suna and osamu’s constant teasing of you and him, but he doesn't really mind either, because you're one of the only things he thinks of. not that he’d admit it, but there’s also a part of him that is dying to know if you really feel the same way that he does, and an even bigger part of him that’s wishing, praying for a reality where you're his. but the universe is unfair - you reply to them, wearing a apologetic yet genuine smile on your face, with a shake of your head - “nah, we're just friends.” then turn to grin at atsumu with a tilt of your head and a small part of him just dies, “we're really friends, aren't we?”

» KUROO bends down the moment he sees your mouth stretch wide open in yet another exhausted yawn; a piggyback-ride offer that you accept, climbing onto his back and securing your arms around him. as you do so, kuroo tries to ignore the heat pricking at the apples of his cheeks because while he’s used to carrying you home every other day, he certainly isn't used to the feeling of your warm breath fanning the crook of his neck and the snug fit of your arms wrapped around his shoulders. “i love you, tetsu.” his breath hitches at the sudden announcement you make. he feels his hopes soar, just a bit, until you add on with a soft yawn, “you're like a brother friend, y’know? big bro friend.”

» KITA invites you over to his house for a simple friday dinner and, with much insistence from your side, to help out with the cooking too. he stays in the kitchen as well to make sure that grandma yumie doesn't overdo whatever she’s making, to which she replies brightly with, “it's not called overdoing, shin-chan, we’ve got to make your future wife feel welcome!” you answer her statement by adverting your eyes groundward, obvious embarrassment carved out in your features. kita’s just about to deny whatever she’d said (although he kind of doesn't want to) when you speak up first instead. “ah, no grandma yumie, shin’s just a friend! he’s like a big brother to me.” and then he feels his heart stop.