synopsis: he finds his child imitating him and his job, he gets cuteness aggression.
character/s: dad! zayne, xavier, rafayel, sylus
warning/s: rafayel’s is heavily inspired by the hyperpigmentation tiktok, (y/n) is barely in here, rafayel calls his baby gup/guppy bc i think it’s cute sue me
note/s: my baby fever got too real w this one
zayne: daughter, aged 5
zayne pushes the bridge of his glasses up to his nose as he sighs and ruffles his hair. it was unlike him to be visibly stressed out as his reputation knows him to be calm, collected, and cool. however, with the onslaught of paperwork and influx of hunters and civilians visiting the hospital, it was a surprise that zayne still had all his hair intact.
he gazes at the piles of paper, the words starting to move and blur the longer he stared at it. he sighs and takes off his glasses, accidentally placing it on the table with a slight slam.
today, zayne wishes to not think about work.
the stressed out doctor needs a nap. surely, he deserves one, right?
you knocked on the door gently, not wanting to disrupt if he were doing something important. he opens his tired eyes and looks at you with an inquisitive expression.
“is everything alright, darling?” his voice was hoarse, having not opened it for a few hours and his back straightened up as you looked at him with a smile.
“zia needs your help with something.” his brows quirk at the mention of your daughter. he nods, standing up and meeting you by the doorframe, ready to help with whatever his daughter needs.
“we’re wosing him!” he hears your daughter yell dramatically as her chubby hands were on top of one another and pushing down on the snowman plushie that was twice her size. you couldn’t even see her hands, she was wearing– no, drowning in zayne’s old akso coat and her short arms were definitely not long enough to fit past half of zayne’s sleeve.
zayne’s lips were quirking as he looks at the dramatic scene unfold right in front of him.
“nurse penguin, go up the dosage by 5.000 miwigrams!” she yells at the penguin dressed like an astronaut that comically fell with a dull thud. zayne has no idea where’s she’s getting the severely inaccurate medical jargon from, but it was still amusing to see.
“noooo!” she wails before she realizes that you and zayne were watching her with matching endeared expressions.
“dada, i mean– doctor zayne, he’s not gonna make it!” zia says, pouting and zayne almost wants to laugh at the way his daughter’s eyes were tearing up, clearly waaaay too invested in her little roleplay.
“what seems to be the issue, doctor zia?”
“he’s melting! i don’t know how to stop, we’re losing him, dada!” zia whines and zayne smiles before shaking his head, not wanting to believe that there has come a point in time where he’s perform resuscitation acts on a plushie but he finds himself pressing on the soft body of the plush and counting in succession before he turns on a fan nearby.
he waits for a few seconds before he raises the plushie to cover his head and move the chubby arms of the snowman.
“thank you, doctor zia! you saved me!” zayne said in a high pitched tone and you almost wanted to squeal at how adorable the scene is as zia jumps and hugs the plushie, giggling at the way zayne makes the plushie hug her back.
when zia clutches on tightly, zayne finally lets go, placing a quick kiss on his daughter’s cheek and heads over back to you with a smile on his face. he wraps his arm around your waist as he kisses your forehead and looks at zia playing with her plushies once more, his previous headache definitely gone.
the both of you looked at each other and laughed as zia glared at the astronaut penguin.
“nurse penguin, you’re fired.”
poor penguin.
xavier: sons, 8. daughter, 4
on the contrary, ever since xavier became a father, he was definitely more and more active. he’s been taking them out on walks, buying them ice cream and definitely using their cuteness against you as they unfortunately inherited their father’s puppy eyes and plump pout.
xavier is definitely a present father as he went as far as taking weeks off just to ensure that his children don’t feel like he’s putting being a hunter above them because god only knows how untrue that statement was.
unfortunately, you, being a lower ranking hunter do not get the same time-off benefits as your husband so there come times where you’ll be assigned to missions lasting days or weeks at most and xavier will be the sole parent responsible for the time being.
but xavier never made you feel as though he were lacking in being a father.
however, as you were unfortunately assigned to a mission in a different city, xavier was woken up to his baby girl crying.
it was almost comical how quick he got up and ran to the source of the pained cry.
“no, no. don’t cry, please! i’m sorry. you can hit me back, i won’t get mad, i swear!” he hears his eight year old son, leo, say in a hushed voice to their little sister who he was trying to calm down as he rocked her in his arms. he can see the other twin in front of leo and was also trying to calm their little sister down.
“please, stop crying, i’m sorry…” his second son, milo, says, voice wobbly as he’s visibly distressed.
“no, i hate you!” stella yells back, punching at her brother’s chest.
from what xavier could see, the living room was a clean mess. a few thrown pillows were scattered but nothing of a major clean up. he could also see the toy sword that he bought leo thrown to the side, the rainbow LEDs flickering in bright colors, indicating that leo was using it and xavier was a smart man. he knew what happened but he wanted to hear leo and milo's side as to why stella is crying.
“what happened?” he asks in a soft voice, his sudden appearance making leo and milo jump as they looked at their father with wide and teary eyes.
“dad!” xavier hums as he walks and sits by them, stella, at the sight of her father, wails louder and makes grabby hands at him. leo carefully transfers his little sister to his father’s arms, stella quiets down and sniffles on xavier’s chest.
“i’m sorry! we were playing wanderers and i accidentally hit her too hard.” leo admits, looking down, his fists clenched and xavier could see the tears falling from his son’s head, down to his folded up thighs. milo nods, confirming the story.
“stella didn’t want to, but we still forced her to play because we wanted to have fun with her. we’re sorry, dad.” milo continues, comforting his twin– who was definitely a lot more sensitive, on the side.
xavier secures one arm on his daughter’s back and the other patting his son’s shoulders.
“didn’t i say last time that stella is still too young to be rowdy with you boys?” they both nod guiltily.
“we’re sorry, dad.” leo apologizes, xavier shakes his head.
“i’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” xavier gestures to stella who was peeking from his chest, looking at her older brothers warily.
“we’re so sorry, stella.” the twins say with regret, stella looks from her father, to her brothers who were anticipating an answer. stella, being young and never holding a grudge, nodded her head and her brothers basically tackled her into a hug, apologizing once more profusely.
xavier smiled at the scene and took a look at the swords splayed around in the living room once more before an idea pops into his head.
he calls for his children's attention before he walks sluggishly, almost like a zombie.
“the three of you can team up. i’ll play wanderer. try and defeat me.” xavier proposes and with the three smiles that confirmed his proposal, he spent the rest of his afternoon play-fighting with his children.
the moment you came home, you saw them all huddled together on the living room floor, sound asleep. xavier hugging his twins on either side of his arms and stella laying on his chest.
you definitely had a new wallpaper after that.
rafayel: daughter, 8
the lemurian painter, when he found out that he was a dad-to-be, for lack of a better term, exploded in colors. everything that had something to do with the baby, it had to be colorful.
the nursery walls? painted a vibrant blue with corals and sea creatures smiling, the onesies? all the cutest color combinations he could think of, any color would work! colors in gender– when talking about a baby, definitely did not exist to him as he ensured his baby guppy will grow up appreciating and loving color.
now, eight years later, rafayel is stuck in a dilemma. while he knew that his kid would inevitably inherit his taste for the arts, he knew that honing his daughter’s skills in painting would take time.
“raf?” you called for him and he put his paintbrush down, paint smeared on his cheek as he gave you a serene smile.
“yeah?”
“mira wants to show you something.” you say with a smile that’s almost alarming but before he could ask, you move to the side, your daughter enters the art room, holding a piece of canvas paper in her hands.
“what’cha got there, ‘gup?” he turns to his stool, staying seated as his height is taller than her daughter standing. mira looks at her artwork and bites her lip, shy.
rafayel has been waiting for this moment all his life. he never wanted to rush mira’s artistic process, when mira expresses her interest in the arts then that’s when he’d step in because when that happens, rafayel knows it’s out of passion for the craft and not for the sake of following in his footsteps, so to have this moment right now is almost monumental to him.
“i…” mira trails off before she faces the paper down and pushes it to rafayel’s hands.
“i drew you.” rafayel’s heart melted right there and then as he giggles. “you drew me? my guppy drew me? why wouldn’t she? her father is the most handsome, i know i’ll look the best in your draw—” rafayel was at a loss for words.
for the lack of a better term… the drawing was… something.
his head was waaaay too big and his arms weren’t proportionate, his eyes were bulging out the outline of the head and mira even went as far as drawing sea creatures. somehow, reddie, the family’s pet fish was more decent looking than him.
“oh.” rafayel’s smile dropped as he sees the drawing before his lips curl up and you can see him physically restraining himself from laughing out loud. with that, you couldn’t help but turn around and finally let your shoulders shake, soundless laughter leaving your chest as you couldn’t help but fall on your knees.
“i knew you wouldn’t like it.” mira’s voice wobbles and that snaps rafayel back into reality as he sees his daughter pouting, she tried grabbing for the paper and rafayel shakes his head fast.
“no, no! i love it. you can definitely see that it’s me!” rafayel reassures, a few chortles leaving his lips as he looks at the image once more.
“oh… where were you when the mermaids were sculpting my statue…” he says, still trying not to laugh as much as he wanted to.
don’t get him wrong, he’s knows it’s no picasso and that mira is obviously a beginner, but his reaction was rooted from downright adoration that his daughter drew a picture of him when she knows she doesn’t know enough of the basics to cover it, knowing that mira was interested in drawing– the arts, was enough to have him all giggly and on cloud nine.
“i don’t think it looks good…” rafayel immediately shakes his head once more. “it’s looks fantastic, what are you talking about!”
“then why’s mama laughing?” rafayel doesn’t want to look at you in fear that he’d burst out laughing himself as he perched his daughter on his lap.
“mama doesn’t know what she’s talking about! did you know, you draw fish better than your mama.” mira perks up at the praise.
rafayel nods, affirming his statement as he now sees the glint in her eyes, the same color as his.
“yeah, with a bit of practice, you’ll be better than me!” mira was now excited, feeling giddy at her father’s praise.
“how about this. you draw your mom next then i’ll teach you how to paint, do you want that?” mira nods excitedly before she bolts out the door, preparing to draw you in the same way she drew rafayel.
“was drawing me necessary?” you say as you wiped the tears of joy on your face. rafayel finally lets out a laugh.
“if i get an abstract portrait, so do you.”
sylus: daughter, 7
the big bad leader of onychinus was tired. he just finished up a meeting with one of the underground syndicates that were seeking his alliance. it did not end well for the other party as they were unreasonable with their demands and it was an obvious ploy to overthrow sylus out of his position.
he gets home to his mansion, greeting mephisto as he trudged along the wide hallways of his abode. wanting to greet his wife, he was surprised when the aforementioned pulls him aside and told him to quiet down.
sylus raises a brow, yet nothing was of importance to him. at least not before kissing you in greeting so he does just that and you swat his arm– that automatically finds itself wrapped on your waist, he smirks, inhaling your scent as you shush him once more.
“what's happening, my wife?” sylus asks as he peers over your shoulder to the entryway of his weapon room.
his eyes widened as he saw his daughter sitting down on the throne-like chair, luke and kieran kneeling before her.
“do you want to live, yes, no, maybe so?” she giggles and you couldn’t help but snort, knowing that she was just acting like her father. you hear sylus scoff from behind you but he makes no move to intervene.
luke and kieran play along, begging for their lives in a joking manner.
“missus, please spare my life! i gave you a chocolate bar when your dad told me not to!” luke pleads.
“no, missus! spare me. i’m the better looking one!” kieran says, luke nudges kieran and kieran does it right back, causing a little nudge fight to occur with sylus’ right hand men… if he could call them that, they were definitely acting like children.
your daughter, athena, laughs before she lifts her hand, a weak red linkage tugging at their clothes, it was a weaker version of sylus’ evol but it was still impressive nonetheless.
luke and kieran play along, pretending as if her evol were making them fly in the air as they make exaggerated “whooaaah” noises.
“missus, please hear us out!” athena hums before she clears her throat.
“oki!” she shakes her head, “wait no, that’s not how daddy does it… proceed.” luke and kieran internally coo at their boss’ daughter’s cuteness.
“how about… i buy you ice cream and candy for one week… or whenever the bossman tells you no.” athena’s eyes sparkle at luke’s suggestion.
“no, my proposal is better! what if i buy you anything you want if you let me free.” kieran rebuts and athena looks conflicted.
“princess, don’t think too hard about this.” the two henchmen jump slightly at sylus’ booming voice, athena gasps in happiness as she recognizes the voice.
“daddy! you’re home.”
sylus smiles at the running child who hugged his waist, greeting him. he kneels down and places a kiss on the crown of her hair.
“hello, my princess. how was your day?” he effortlessly lifts up his daughter, raising her on his hip as he walks toward the two henchmen who were fearing for their lives, wondering how much sylus heard about them giving athena treats they were not supposed to.
“it was fun! uncle luke and uncle kieran played with me the entire day!”
“speaking off…” sylus trails off and the men squeak at sylus’ glare.
“what option do you choose, princess?” athena’s brow furrows and sylus kisses it away. “you have to weigh down what’s more beneficial to you in the long run, sweetheart.” he advises and athena, smart for her age, immediately knows the right answer.
“uncle kieran’s because it’s not just food?” athena looks at her dad for confirmation and lets out a happy sound once he nods.
“yay!”
sylus huffs out a laugh, finding his daughter adorable. she definitely took after you in terms of how easy you were to please but he’d have it no other way. now that playtime was over, luke and kieran casually lounge at the room.
“how about you go and help mommy out with dinner?” she pouts. “you help too!”
sylus chuckles. “of course, princess.” he puts his daughter down and lets himself be pulled by the tiny being.
luke and kieran released a sigh of relief that they were holding as they saw the father-daughter duo leave the room… only to stand at attention once sylus comes back, his arm being pulled by his daughter.
“this conversation isn’t done. i’d like to know more about what you were giving my princess even if it wasn’t allowed.”
maybe luke and kieran had to beg for their lives after all.
note/s: dad!lads!dad!lads!dad!lads!dad!lads!dad!lads! *gunshot*
consider buying me a ko-fi ^^
I love how it’s essentially canon that Kougami’s the only one who tolerates and likes her cooking.
Prompt: Sweetness
“I’m so grateful you’re taking care of the house, Acchan. But I do feel bad that you won’t be with your friends during your summer break.”
Akane moved the phone to her other hand as she took off her shoes. “It’s okay, Kaori’s busy with her internship and Yuki’s going to be overseas. Just focus on getting better, Obaa-chan.”
“Yes. Oh, and don’t forget to leave some wagashi on the front porch.”
“Eh? What for?”
“For the youkai, of course!”
She wryly smiled. “Obaa-chan, you still believe in that superstition?”
“It doesn’t hurt. And I still haven’t forgotten how you survived falling in the river, when you couldn’t swim. Something must have rescued you.”
“That was a long time ago. Your accident was much more recent.”
“Well, my injuries could have been worse. The nurse is here, so I have to hang up. Good night, Acchan.”
“Good night.”
She finished unpacking first, assuming there’d be mochi or konpeito lying around. However, she was soon proven wrong. She looked in the refrigerator, then the cupboards, with growing concern. How strange, there weren’t any sweets left. Well, she could probably make some instead. Obaa-chan had plenty of cookbooks, and she was good at following instructions. She rolled up her sleeves and set to work.
***
“Finished it off again, huh?” She couldn’t help smiling as she looked at the empty plate on the porch. Over the past week, she had made yokan, leaving a handful of cubes out every night. And every morning, they were gone. She assumed some animal must have eaten them, but she was growing fond of whatever it was. It had a good appetite; nothing was left behind.
As she was hanging the laundry out to dry, she noticed something strange. A misshapen indent in the ground. Drawing closer, she slowly realized it was a footprint.
It looks like a dog’s, but it’s very big. If one paw is bigger than my hands…
Aware that she was alone in the countryside, she desperately looked around. Dense foliage met her gaze. But…other than the footprint, there were no other signs of a large creature. Perhaps, it was a youkai. Akane pressed her lips together and tried not to laugh at herself. She was being silly for even entertaining such a thought.
Nevertheless, she decided to switch it up.
In the middle of the night, Akane woke to a dry throat. She poured herself a glass of water in the kitchen and for some reason, she thought of checking the plate of dango. Groggily, she made her way through the dark house and opened the door to the porch.
What she saw instantly dispelled her sleepiness. In the yard, a weasel was lying belly up, pink tongue lolling out. A fox urgently patted its face.
But Akane was drawn to the figure sitting on the porch. He was strikingly handsome in the moonlight. One hand held a half-eaten skewer, and sharp teeth gleamed as he bit into the syrupy dumplings. A fluffy black tail swished in the air, brushing the fabric of his dark gray kimono.
Keep reading
Just a reboot of 5 year old comic. It’s a “what if Naru can see and hear Gene even when the latter is dead” kinda thing. ^ u ^
role reversal au (4/?)
yes i stole that line from yuri on ice shhhhh
bonus:
She can’t change him. He thinks she realized that a long time ago. Maybe when they first met and she was forced to shoot him. Or maybe when he murdered Makishima. Or maybe when he ran with his tail between his legs – ran from her love, from her softness, from her.
He doesn’t expect to see her so soon. But she’s there – she’s smiling at him and sweaty and flushed like she came running. And she probably did. There is a chance to push her away, to say no, but he doesn’t try.
With her thin arms, with her pretty smile, she whispers, “Found you.”
.
.
She’s a force to be reckon with.
Even the men within the base know that. When Akane trains with them, shows them how to take apart a gun and put it back together, wipes sweat off her brow and work from dawn until night. They respect her, Kougami can tell.
He can’t blame them.
She’s also pretty good with the kids. They immediately gravitate towards her, wide smiles and bright eyes. She picks one up and holds the child against her. Before long, she’s pointing a finger over towards where Kougami sits and watches.
He blinks.
The two both smile at him. He can’t help but give a smile back, no matter how tired it may be.
.
.
He loves her. He loves her so fucking much.
Touching her feels like a sin. Just being in her presence is enough to make him want to drop to his knees.
She says it all the time, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
And he loves her too. He’s not sure how to respond. He gives her a quick kiss, he offers a smile, he wraps his arms around her. They could stay up all night, it can range from talking to fucking. Sometimes it turns into lovemaking – his hands dragging down her body slowly, testing the softness of her breasts and the firmness of her arms – sometimes it’s desperate ( he feels like he can’t breathe without her, he feels like he’ll drown, like he’s going too fast down a street but he doesn’t want to stop because the thrill of her makes him feel alive. )
He feels her heart race against his as they press together, sweaty and sticky and panting.
“What’re you so afraid of?” She whispers, the sun breaking through the window, highlighting the different colors within her hair.
He swallows ( you, you, us ), “I don’t know.”
.
.
They both have nightmares.
His are vivid. His always seem real. He’s running. Or he’s chasing someone, he’s not too sure. Other times, he has blood on his hands. Sometimes on his clothes. Other times Makishima is there. And a few times, he remembers seeing Sasayama.
Akane cries sometimes when she wakes up, shaking like a leaf in a storm, arms wrapped around herself and teeth worrying her lip. She tries to keep it in – she’s a lot like him in that regard. But it’s spilling out too fast, and if she doesn’t stop, she’ll overflow.
So he holds her. Not only for her, but himself too.
She’s delicate in his arms. Hot tears soak through his shirt. He knows they’ve done so much to get to where they were, he can’t blame her for letting it out once in awhile.
He wish he could do the same.
.
.
He has to be strong.
Hell, Kougami has had to be strong his entire life. For his team, for Akane, for his men.
As the war wraps up, as blood is shed and cleaned from hands, he looks onward. There is no turning back – that ship sailed a long time ago.
He looks up, eyes immediately falling onto the graceful curve of her back, her slender neck, and her brown hair matted to her forehead. She was talking with one of the guys - Deshi, he’d lost his arm a couple months ago, but that didn’t seem to stop him from having a smile on his face.
As if feeling his stare, Akane turns her head slightly to the side and offers a smile of her own. It was blinding in its own way, his shoulders relaxing by instinct.
She really had no idea how much he needed her now.
.
.
She didn’t tell him at first.
To be completely honest, he could understand why.
He paces back and forth across the small space they had. His shin bangs against the side of the end table, but that didn’t break him from his thoughts. Akane watches him with large, amber eyes. Finally, he stops in the middle of the room, arms instinctively crossing over his chest.
“How…How long have you known?”
Akane drops her gaze. There was an ache in his chest, “A month, at least.”
He nods, even though it takes awhile for his brain to process the words. He almost wants to laugh at the irony. God - if there fucking was one, which he seriously doubts - really doesn’t like him. Even though things are calmer now, with not only the chairman but the SEAUn as well, there is still too much danger.
Way too much to even consider – to even think of that.
But this doesn’t stop him. This doesn’t stop him from slowly crossing the room until he’s in front of her. Akane blinks, hands nervously curled in front of her as he crouches down. This doesn’t stop him from leaning towards her, face close to hers for a few seconds.
Finally, he breathes, “I want it to look like you.”
Not like him. Nothing like him.
Akane blinks, and then blinks again. Her lips are parted into an O shape and so he leans in and steals a kiss. Finally, she smiles, “That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing.”
.
.
He doesn’t tell anyone she’s pregnant. It’s not only no one’s business but their own, but also a dangerous thing to know. What could he possibly do if the word got out? Any enemies would probably jump at a chance to get their hands on Akane.
Kougami grits his teeth at the thought, hands twitching by his sides. He hasn’t had a cigarette in over an hour. One thing he also has to improve on - smoking around a baby was a big, fat no apparently.
When Akane had stopped smoking all-together, she made it look so easy. It was not only frustrating, but something admirable about her. Once she set her mind to something, it was impossible to stop her from achieving it.
From underneath the protection of a small roof, Kougami watches the rain fall.
“Kougami?”
He turns his head towards the voice to see Cho-Sun, watching him curiously. Kougami merely grunts in reply, pushing himself up off the wall.
“Everyone’s inside eating,” the man continues.
Kougami merely nods. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t the least bit annoyed. His hands are twitching so much to delve into his pocket and take out his pack that he’s forced to cross his arms over his chest. “I’m not that hungry.”
Not only was the large group they had short on food, but medicine as well. Kougami could go a couple days without eating - Akane used to do the same thing, but now she didn’t have much of a choice.
“Is that right?”
“Mm.”
“You said the same thing yesterday.”
Kougami feels his lips twitch, “Did I?”
There is silence between them, the rain deafening.
Drip. Drop. Drip.
“You should take a break.”
Kougami glances at him.
“Me and the guys were talking and – well, there’s a temple about a day away from here, farther up the hill. That’d be a nice play for you and Tsunemori to relax. She seems more tired lately.”
Kougami stays quiet, considering it. For the last couple weeks, things had been relatively peaceful. No shootings, no surprise attacks, etc. Still, peace only seems to drive Kougami up the wall even more than violence. But the mere thought of quiet and being alone with Akane is enough to make his shoulders relax.
“Mm. I’ll look into it.”
.
.
“Be careful.”
“I am being careful, worrywart.”
Kougami snorts, hands deep within his pockets. Now, she was calling him names? “Don’t blame me if you fall.” It isn’t like he won’t be able to catch her.
Akane balances herself on an overturned tree trunk, arms spread out on her sides. She looks as if she is flying - it makes him stare.
“How far away is the temple again?”
This time, he really does laugh, even though it was just a breath of laughter - she’s asked this around three times already. “I did offer to carry you, you know.”
Akane turns her head slightly, an impish grin there, “You would have to catch me first.”
“I’m always up for a good challenge.”
.
.
This love scares him. He already knows this.
This love makes him reckless. This love makes him frustrated. This love makes him crazy.
Touching her is an addiction in itself. Her soft body molds against his, pliant while his is unyielding. Now, the slight bump in her stomach makes it a bit more difficult to press together, but he doesn’t mind it. In fact, he enjoys it more than he originally thought he would.
As she lays back, hand lazily tracing over his thigh, he presses a warm hand against her stomach. The area is firm and swollen, a slight redness to it. He curves his palm around and she sighs.
There is life here. Something they created together. Something that was meant to be. Kougami wasn’t really one to believe in fate, but he’d also believe he couldn’t be happy either.
For the first time in a long time, he gave her a smile, eyes crinkling at the edges. It reminds them both of better times, simpler times. It reminds them that now - they are no longer Inspector and Enforcer.
They’re just two people in love.
.
.
For seven more months, he stays by her side. He never leaves her for longer than a couple hours. Her stomach grows big, the women within the base help her around, and she is given full meals every day.
She feels selfish, he can tell. He is quick to reassure her though.
He’s scared again. When his hands slightly shake when they press against her stomach, against the life they created, she smiles softly at him, holding them steady for him - like she does all the time, “I love you, Shinya.”
Deep down, he hopes that is enough.
Things are easier between them. He can kiss her without feeling like his lungs will burst at any second, he can touch her without flinching, he can look at her without glancing away just a second later. There is still that guilt - unrelenting and thick within his stomach. It will not leave him, he knows it won’t leave until the day he dies.
Love stings. Love is frightening. But, fucking hell, he would do anything at this point to stay with her. To build this future with her. For once, there is light at the end of the tunnel and he is climbing towards it desperately.
He wants this. He wants her. He wants them - us.
.
.
“…What do you think it’ll be?”
He looks up from his book - he’s read it so many times that the pages are worn now. Kougami feels his lips tilt upwards - nowadays, it seems he is unable to control his smile. Something that only happens around her, “You’re asking me.”
She was sitting up, eyes playful and already smiling, hand resting upon her swollen stomach. “Yes, I’m asking you.”
The former Enforcer stares at her - he cannot help it. Simply having her presence beside him, it makes his body feel weightless. As selfish as he is, a part of him wants to understand why he can’t let her go. If things had gone differently, if he’d told her to stay away, would she still have come?
He wants to laugh outloud at the thought. Of course she would.
Her eyes are warm, patient.
Finally, he sits up, “Aren’t you supposed to have a feeling? I’ve heard that before - mothers usually know the gender before they’re born.”
“Maybe I’m an exception.” She is only saying that - she probably had a good feel of what it would be, she just wanted to hear what he was going to say.
Slowly, he moves towards her, and she opens her arms for him, allowing him to press his ear against her stomach quietly.
Here, with her and their child, he feels at peace. Things seem to evaporate around them - while the acute awareness of what happens around them is still there, her presence seems to blanket over him. He does not deserve her, he does not deserve this small sliver of happiness. He knows that, he knows that in some ways, he has ruined her.
As if noticing his change in thoughts, she places a hand on Kougami’s head, smoothing down his hair and fingers touching his cheek. He breathes in deep, her scent causing his stomach to tighten.
“I think it’ll be a girl.”
In reply, Akane gives him her biggest, prettiest smile, “Me, too.”
There is peace within him.
.
.
It all ends on a sunny day.
The summer is ending - things are dwindling down once again. Kougami hasn’t heard the alarm sound away in what seems like months. Children and women are sometimes allowed to walk around during daylight, allowing the kids to dance and sing and smile as much as they want as they play.
Laughter this free is foreign to Kougami, but he basks in it anyway.
Even so, he does not stop what he is so used to. He trains with his men every day, he eats small meals, he watches the edges of their base for any type of trouble. None comes. Sweating and tense, Kougami glances over, his eyes immediately soughting her out to soothe away the itching feeling.
Akane sits on the steps, eyes bright and smile even brighter. Familiarly, she cups a hand over her stomach, and the other lifts to wave at him. He doesn’t respond, head tilts curiously and a drop of sweat rolling down her temple. She is getting bigger - besides her stomach, Akane hasn’t grown much. Not only is the infant inside her weighing her down, he worries if she will be able to deliver it naturally.
But today is peaceful, he decides. He should not worry about small things that are yet to come.
He hasn’t told her. He probably won’t. When she reaches eight months, he intends for her to leave here. He has a few contacts, fortunately, that’ll be able to help her find somewhere safe to stay and to deliver the baby. Being born on a battlefield - he wouldn’t ever want that.
He knows she will argue, but there won’t be much point to it. She also knows he has a duty, and his burdens isn’t hers to carry. Once things have wrapped up here, he will follow after her. And he will gladly start a new life with her. He wants quiet mornings, wrapped around each other within the blankets. He wants to teach his child all he knows, watching them crawl and then walk. She wants to hold the woman he loves against him, to feel her heart against his as they finally allow their bodies to relax.
He wants happiness. It’s a normal human reaction, he knows. Even though he doesn’t deserve it, he wants it.
His thoughts are broken, however, when the signal for the alarm goes off.
.
.
Chaos.
It is to be expected.
The women and children are rushing, some screaming and others crying. Fumbling to find their mothers and their sons and daughters. His eyes sweep the area, searching for her, but her image is blocked and swept along with the rest of the crowd.
He curses.
Now he is able to hear it - gunshots. They are a familiar sound, and his instinct kicks in, beats into him. He must never forget - he is a dog, a hound, a wolf. It is his job to survive, no matter what the consequences. His tongue feels heavy within his mouth, but this doesn’t stop him, “Bayani! Chenglei!!”
The two men nod, and take off towards their positions, two groups of soldiers following the two wherever they may go. Guerrillas learn fast, they move fast, and there is no room for error. He follows swiftly - fortunately, it’s probably a rival base that simply want his head. With their clumsy infiltration, hopefully, things will be resolved soon.
The area is mostly clear. He is able to draw his weapon without worries. This is what he trained himself to do, this is how he survives, after all.
.
.
There is destruction. There is blood. There is sweat.
Vaguely, he hears screaming.
His head is ringing, and he can’t feel his left leg. It takes a moment to realize what happened - a bomb had gone off, apparently. It knocked him off his feet and the air out of his lungs. The men that had been following behind him hadn’t been so lucky.
He is unsure of how long he has been out – but it couldn’t have been more than five to ten minutes. The fires created had yet to burn out, and the bodies were still fresh. Frustrated, he turns his face away the gruesome scene.
His leg is still there - but a fresh gash is embedded into the side. He bleeds profusely, but this doesn’t stop him. Survival sometimes comes easy to him - somehow, he is still alive. There must be a reason for it, and so he stands, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg and moves. His enemies must sometimes get frustrated that he won’t die so easily.
He shoots down whoever he sees. The enemy’s reflexes are slow and clumsy, and he has plenty of time to take them down. Even though running takes a toll on his leg, even though he is forced to see the remains of men, he still moves. And he keeps surviving.
She is at the forefront of his mind. Getting back to her is the only thing that makes sense to him now.
As he breaks through the trees, his eyes fall onto the sight of a young boy. He remembers seeing his face around the base before, he has a younger sister as well ( and her body lays a few feet away ).
His stomach is suddenly filled with ice.
The women and children…!
He sees more bodies thrown around - three women and five children, so far. Some with overwhelming burns, others with bullets within their bodies. His grinds his teeth, pushes himself to move faster.
Panic isn’t something he does normally. Not since–
He rounds the corner - an elder woman is crouched on the ground, praying. He moves past her swiftly. His men are there, armed. Though it is a smaller number than before, they have still successfully kept the grounds safe and he almost falls to his knees at the relief.
It is short-lived, however.
For when they see him, the looks on their faces tell him enough.
Apparently, his world is able to shatter fairly easily.
.
.
She suffered two bullets to the back - one directly hit her mid-spine and the other made it through her chest.
She didn’t die instantly.
It turns out they were right.
It was a girl.
.
.
Years pass in a blur.
There are many times where he asks himself - how am I still alive and she is not? Was this punishment - some type of punishment for the many wrongs he’d done? He can’t particularly blame the higher ups for that, then.
No, he blames himself.
He always blames himself.
There are many nights where he lay in bed, unable to sleep. Where he is unable to even force food into his mouth without growing sick at the taste. Where his gaze falls onto the pistol on his bedside and suddenly he has it in his mouth, aiming upwards.
He’s forcing himself to suffer, isn’t he?
He deserves this. I deserve this, I deserve this.
He tries not to think of her often. He isn’t very good at that. He is also unsure whether or not to call the dreams she’s in nightmares. Do they count as nightmares if he strives every night - if only he can get a few minutes of rest - to see her face?
It’s torture.
I deserve this. I deserve this.
He doesn’t even give into the hallucinations anymore. She touches his back, right over where his heart is - it’s still beating, why? She kisses his jaw, feather light and ghostly. She sits on his stomach while he’s laying there, watching her lips move. He doesn’t try to touch her ( she’s not real, she’s not fucking real ).
Slowly, his eyes flicker over to the gun sitting on his bedside table.
I deserve this.
.
.
He keeps himself busy, because what else is there to do.
A gun in his hand, smoke leaving his mouth, liquor within his stomach. How he has survived this long, he will never know. He is reckless with his life - he even starts fights only to give up in the middle and allow them free reign.
Nothing is as painful. Not even broke ribs and a punctured lung.
They can probably tell he wants death from looking into his eyes. Which is why they won’t give it to him. They’re sadists, they beat him half to death and then leave him. His body will not quit, it won’t give up from any of it.
It does what it knows. It survives.
Whether he likes it or not.
.
.
Every morning, he remembers her.
He remembers her touch, he remembers her smile, he remembers her eyes.
She was protective. She was determined. She was generous.
She was everything he was not - she could see the beauty in things. Even in him.
She was a girl who wanted to save the world. But not save herself.
He loved ( hated ) that about her.
.
.
“You’ll die like this. It’s a pity.”
Kougami ignores the voice - for it inside his head. Pointedly, he looks away from the person in front of him, the smile, the familiar slouch of shoulders.
“It’s really a shame.”
His hands tighten into fists between his legs.
Makishima smiles again. “Is this how you want to die? Here?”
In the middle of nowhere. Where no one would find his body. Yeah, it sounded pretty good to him.
“I never thought I’d see something like this. For someone such as yourself to fall here.”
Heh.
Kougami closes his eyes.
A few seconds later, he distinctly hears the Illusion walk away. He will not talk to the dead - he decided that a long time ago.
.
.
Four years.
When he looks at the calendar for the first time, he realizes it’s been four years.
There is this dull throb that resonates through him. But he’s starting to realize it will always be there.
.
.
“You look like shit.”
“…I feel like shit.”
His voice is rough, but soft. He has not spoken aloud in so long, it feels foreign. The woman in front of him pushes back her long hair, eyeing him for a few moments, “…Are you sure you’re up for this?”
He can do nothing but stare at her.
She releases a sign, but moves out of the doorway to let him through. There is clear hesitation in his steps, mouth tilted down in a grimace as he steps inside. The apartment is clean, even though the neighborhood wasn’t as good as he would prefer. He was starting to realize - the rest of the world could probably never be as stable as Japan.
He’s glad he will never have to go back there.
She is probably waiting for him to take a seat, but instead, he stays standing, shoving hands within his pockets. He looks a mess - he knows it. Five o’clock shadow, hair strewn every which way across his head, shirt wrinkled. Still, she says nothing about it.
“I’ll go and get her. Don’t worry - she’s quiet. And she loves new people.”
He doesn’t say anything.
She leaves the room and he is left alone.
A few minutes later, the door to the kitchen opens again.
He looks up and stares.
.
.
Vaguely, he wonders how many times his world can break and restart ( over and over and over and over and over again ).
.
.
The small girl stares back. Her hair is short, barely reaching her shoulders. She is still wearing pajamas, but her expression is curious and open.
His heart was slamming so hard against his ribcage, he thinks it will bruise.
Slowly, she steps further into the room, the door closing behind her. There is three feet between them, she is small and delicate and he is large and unyielding.
His hand reaches up on its own record and rubs down the expanse of his jaw, the action made out of pure instinct. He felt like he would bolt at any second - he didn’t know the face of his demons would look this way.
His eyes were beginning to sting.
.
.
He hesitates. There is tension between them. She tilts her head slightly to the side, chin up to look at him fully.
“Aoi-chan, don’t be rude. Say hello,” Says the woman behind her - she’d stepped into the room to watch.
The young girl blinks, as though she was being broken from her thoughts. Quickly, she bows to him, “Hello, my name is Aoi.” Her voice - fuck, her voice is small, words slightly slurred and thick from her age.
This really is torture. His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest any minute. His eyes wouldn’t stop stinging. The impossible weight of the world was holding him down. Scars - new and old - burned on his body.
He opens his mouth to say something - anything - but nothing comes out and he is forced to close it. He’s pretty sure his throat is closed up pretty tightly at this point.
“What’s your name?”
He stares. Her large amber eyes stare up at him. It takes him a few seconds - probably ten. But she waits, patient. “Kougami Shinya.”
Her lips mouth the name a couple times, as though to commit it to memory. He does not move for a long time, but when he does, his knees feel weak and he is forced to crouch in front of her.
He doesn’t touch her. He doesn’t want to ruin something else - not her.
Her eyes are alight with questions, thick lashes fluttering when she blinks. Her hair is messy. They hold eye contact for what seems like hours, her head still tilted slightly to the side as though she was trying to figure him out.
Finally, she smiled.
In that same instant, his breath was stolen away from him.
“Kougami Shinya, it’s nice to meet you.”
.
.
She looks just like her mom.
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Ghost Hunt Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Shibuya Kazuya/Taniyama Mai, Oliver Davis/Taniyama Mai Characters: Taniyama Mai, Oliver Davis Additional Tags: alcohol use Summary:
Naru receives a rude awakening at an ungodly hour by his far-too-inebriated assistant. Certain truths come to light in the fallout.
Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime
“The Mysterious Death of Dr. Eugene Davis”
Aeternus.Flamma
000
Prompt: ghost hunt but make it buzzfeed unsolved!AU (it can be with or without Gene being alive) i think that would be entertaining Submitted by Anonymous
000
[Intro music plays]
RYAN: [Narration] Today on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we discuss the mysterious death of Dr. Eugene Davis.
SHANE: Eugene?
RYAN: Yeah, Eugene.
SHANE: I only know, like, one other Eugene. When was this?
RYAN: Like, recent. If you’d let me get through the intro…
SHANE: Fine, fine. Go on.
RYAN: As I was saying, today we discuss the mysterious death of Dr. Eugene Davis, one of the most renowned mediums of our time.
SHANE: Medium. Right.
RYAN: Yes, medium. Dr. Davis, known as Gene to his family, has been called the perfect medium–no other person has thus far been able to so accurately communicate with other spirits. Not only could he channel on near demand, but he also showed, on numerous occasions, speaking fluently in languages he did not know.
SHANE: Oh, sure. Like that can’t be faked. This bullshit has been literally faked for hundreds of years. Picking up a few lines in French isn’t exactly convincing. I’ve said it before. All psychics are bullshit.
RYAN: Yeah, fine, maybe not. But how about entire conversations with loved ones in Russian? Or Arabic? Can–can you do that?
SHANE: Just cause–okay, well, you can learn languages. There are people out there who have learned dozens of languages over their life–
RYAN: Did I mention he was sixteen?
SHANE: …
RYAN: Yeah, think about that a bit more. He’s seventeen and apparently he fluently speaks, uh, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean… English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Russian, Arabic… Like, people have tried to disprove this kid and–
SHANE: Wait you, said Dr. Eugene Davis.
RYAN: Yeah–
SHANE: Doctor?
RYAN: We’ll get to that.
SHANE: Yeah. Okay. I call bullshit now. This is already ridiculous.
RYAN: It gets weirder.
SHANE: Of course it does.
Keep reading
The Brothers' Dancing... Behind the Scenes Interview:
Belphie: Yeah, I tried to do something sexy but my legs were still asleep so that's what you got.
Beel: That wasn't a dance move. I was trying to get out of the way for Belphie... He spun around and I wasn't expecting it.
Asmo: I had three seconds to accentuate my ass, legs, AND crotch, what were you expecting me to do???
Satan: It's hard to dance with one sleeve on... If I did anything else the jacket would have smacked me.
Levi: I THOUGHT I HAD MORE TIME OKAY?!? Mammon got in the way!! 😫
Mammon: 'Cause they forgot to fuckin' add a section for me!! 'Course I had to crash Levi's! What'ddya want from me??
Lucifer: I don't know what everyone is complaining about. My section was perfect.
Mammon:
Mammon: He forgot to bring deodorant to practice.
Lucifer: 😑 ......
Lucifer: Maaammmooon...?
Mammon: 😰 *gulps* Aw, shit......
I've been spending far too much of my time trying to learn medieval illumination techniques
one of my first semi-successful attempts at fore edge painting! done on an old paperback of aesop's fables.
+ some glamour shots:
Afternoon Tea for Three, by Frédéric Soulacroix.
The Love Letter, 1750, by François Boucher.
La Soirée, by Vittorio Reggianini.
Flirtation, by Frédéric Soulacroix.
Une Beauté en Rose, by Marie-Félix Hippolyte-Lucas.
The Artist Marie Suzanne Giroust, 1770, by Alexander Roslin.
Portrait of Mary, Countess of Howe, 1764, by Thomas Gainsborough.
La Jeune Musicienne, 1788, by Michel Garnier.
Our Sun has an entourage of planets, moons, and smaller objects to keep it company as it traverses the galaxy. But it’s still lonely compared to many of the other stars out there, which often come in pairs. These cosmic couples, called binary stars, are very important in astronomy because they can easily reveal things that are much harder to learn from stars that are on their own. And some of them could even host habitable planets!
New stars emerge from swirling clouds of gas and dust that are peppered throughout the galaxy. Scientists still aren’t sure about all the details, but turbulence deep within these clouds may give rise to knots that are denser than their surroundings. The knots have stronger gravity, so they can pull in more material and the cloud may begin to collapse.
The material at the center heats up. Known as a protostar, it is this hot core that will one day become a star. Sometimes these spinning clouds of collapsing gas and dust may break up into two, three, or even more blobs that eventually become stars. That would explain why the majority of the stars in the Milky Way are born with at least one sibling.
We can’t always tell if we’re looking at binary stars using just our eyes. They’re often so close together in the sky that we see them as a single star. For example, Sirius, the brightest star we can see at night, is actually a binary system (see if you can spot both stars in the photo above). But no one knew that until the 1800s.
Precise observations showed that Sirius was swaying back and forth like it was at a middle school dance. In 1862, astronomer Alvan Graham Clark used a telescope to see that Sirius is actually two stars that orbit each other.
But even through our most powerful telescopes, some binary systems still masquerade as a single star. Fortunately there are a couple of tricks we can use to spot these pairs too.
Since binary stars orbit each other, there’s a chance that we’ll see some stars moving toward and away from us as they go around each other. We just need to have an edge-on view of their orbits. Astronomers can detect this movement because it changes the color of the star’s light – a phenomenon known as the Doppler effect.
Stars we can find this way are called spectroscopic binaries because we have to look at their spectra, which are basically charts or graphs that show the intensity of light being emitted over a range of energies. We can spot these star pairs because light travels in waves. When a star moves toward us, the waves of its light arrive closer together, which makes its light bluer. When a star moves away, the waves are lengthened, reddening its light.
Sometimes we can see binary stars when one of the stars moves in front of the other. Astronomers find these systems, called eclipsing binaries, by measuring the amount of light coming from stars over time. We receive less light than usual when the stars pass in front of each other, because the one in front will block some of the farther star’s light.
Twin stars don’t always get along with each other – their relationship may be explosive! Type Ia supernovae happen in some binary systems in which a white dwarf – the small, hot core left over when a Sun-like star runs out of fuel and ejects its outer layers – is stealing material away from its companion star. This results in a runaway reaction that ultimately detonates the thieving star. The same type of explosion may also happen when two white dwarfs spiral toward each other and collide. Yikes!
Scientists know how to determine how bright these explosions should truly be at their peak, making Type Ia supernovae so-called standard candles. That means astronomers can determine how far away they are by seeing how bright they look from Earth. The farther they are, the dimmer they appear. Astronomers can also look at the wavelengths of light coming from the supernovae to find out how fast the dying stars are moving away from us.
Studying these supernovae led to the discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up. Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will scan the skies for these exploding stars when it launches in the mid-2020s to help us figure out what’s causing the expansion to accelerate – a mystery known as dark energy.
Astronomers like finding binary systems because it’s a lot easier to learn more about stars that are in pairs than ones that are on their own. That’s because the stars affect each other in ways we can measure. For example, by paying attention to how the stars orbit each other, we can determine how massive they are. Since heavier stars burn hotter and use up their fuel more quickly than lighter ones, knowing a star’s mass reveals other interesting things too.
By studying how the light changes in eclipsing binaries when the stars cross in front of each other, we can learn even more! We can figure out their sizes, masses, how fast they’re each spinning, how hot they are, and even how far away they are. All of that helps us understand more about the universe.
Thanks to observatories such as our Kepler Space Telescope, we know that worlds like Luke Skywalker’s home planet Tatooine in “Star Wars” exist in real life. And if a planet orbits at the right distance from the two stars, it could even be habitable (and stay that way for a long time).
In 2019, our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) found a planet, known as TOI-1338 b, orbiting a pair of stars. These worlds are tricker to find than planets with only one host star, but TESS is expected to find several more!
Want to learn more about the relationships between stellar couples? Check out this Tumblr post: https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/190824389279/cosmic-couples-and-devastating-breakups
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