The Loves Of My Life 🫶🏻🫶🏻

I woke up and chose to torture myself 😍🤞🏻

A Letter.....Long Lost!

kyojuro rengoku x fem!reader

word count- 12.2k

synopsis- the discovery of an old letter from kyojuro rengoku's room shakes the world of tanjiro. he thought he fulfilled every wish of rengoku. however he missed one. tanjiro needs to deliver it to the one it was written for; but the letter has nothing written except a name 'y/n'. who is y/n and how will tanjiro find her?

genre/warnings- post war timeline/ mentions of death/ slice of life/ angst/ fluff/ lots of flashbacks/ kamaboko trio going on a quest to find reader/ emotionally unavailable parents/ just read it i swear it wont disappoint/ comfort/ scenes of rengoku and mitsuri training/ mentions of mugen train

a/n- i had this idea in my head and i literally wrote this in two days. Loosely based off a film I'm obsessed with...this is my first time writing a long fic. im hella nervous. it will have a sequel with a reincarnation au and smut. not fully proof read, ignore small errors.

Nezuko chimed in as urokodaki made his appearance. Soon more people will join in. Kanao and aoi are helping in the kitchen, making several dishes while inosuke is trying to get aoi give him some to taste.

Tanjiro and zenitsu are spreading out the mats for people to sit and get comfy.

“urokodaki sensei! Please come and join.” tanjiro said noticing his former teacher, carrying a huge basket wrapped in a cloth with water patterns similar to his haori. Nezuko trails behind him bringing another basket.

“i brought some mitarashi dango and some hanami-zake for everyone.” said urokodaki with a soft voice, that made nezuko wonder if he was smiling under his tengu mask.

It's been 2 years since the war ended. People lost their dear ones with a pain bearing smile. Some endured injuries that would sustain through out their life marking them as ‘crippled’; while some sacrificed themselves for the greater good.

Seasons changed since then.

So did several people.

People who turned their hearts into stone, heavy from guilt of their family dying; who suffered from the culpability of being protected…

“giyuu san’s here too, please sit inside with the others while we get the stuff ready.”

“yeah how's your sister? I brought her some new kimonos”

A mild smile forming on his lips.

Tanjiro’s eyes widened a bit. It's kinda still new to him seeing such a soft side of the guy who barely used to smile.

……have let their guard down, allowing themselves to move on, now that there's no more threat hanging in the air.

People who had been afflicted by the remorseful long sleepless nights of trauma; killing the one who once bore them in her womb; whose eyes had become dull and frantic, dying inside in agony…..

“oi tomioka! Move outta my way!” grumbled sanemi, throwing a box wrapped in a delicate green cloth in tanjiro's direction as he catches it with difficulty. Having a hand crippled like an old man is sure a poor thing, not that tanjiro minds that.

“ahh the scary guy's here again! Don't touch the box tanjiro. It must've been poisoned!!!” shouted zenitsu, panicking around, hiding himself behind tanjiro.

“What did you just say?” Sanemi’s eyes narrowed at zenitsu, veins becoming more prominent, ready to throw a first at the blonde head's face.

“Goddamn shinazugawa! Don't scare the kid…” said giyu, grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside. “Wh-you’re such a creep tomioka!”

“Kk.”

“Stop giving me that kanroji face!” sanemi said as shivers ran down his spine. Somehow a smiling tomioka was scarier than muzan to him.

…have let go of their distraught, accepting the dreams which they wanted for their loved ones. Fulfilling it in their place.

“Both of them are creeps!” Zenitsu said digging his nails into tanjiro's skin as he spit curses on them. “Zenitsu they are gone now, can you please give this box to kanao san, it smells of fresh ohagi.”

“I'm telling you…it's fuckin poisoned”

“It's not, zenitsu…don't be like that” tanjiro pushed him away with the box. He then took up a broom and started sweeping any other leaves that fell down from the trees.

Pink flowers blossomed everywhere, now that another peaceful season had arrived.

Kanao had suggested nezuko and aoi that they should spend time together this hanami festival. Nezuko and aoi agreed to that instantly. Thus this is how they ended up inviting everyone at tanjiro's, whose house was surrounded by a lots of cherry blossoms.

Kiyo chan naho chan and sumi chan were playing with tengen’s baby as Suma kept pestering urokodaki san for loosening his face mask (I can't blame my lil curious mommy). Makio was sure annoyed at her behavior while hinatsuru just chuckled. Murata sat stiff in the presence of four former hashiras.

Almost all of them had arrived. Except the rengokus.

Aoi brought them some appetizers, as they kept on chatting. After decorating the food all of them would join outside admiring the moment of bliss.

“Senjuro Kun and shinjuro san ain't here yet right?” Asked tengen.

“They haven't made their arrival yet” announced aoi, “however tanjiro san is waiting outside for them, the food is almost done, we can start after they get here”

“HAHAHAHA…. RUSHING IN LIKE A BOAR!!!” inosuke dashed in with a sakura onigiri in his mouth, from the kitchen. “WAhahhh scar guy!! Fight me!” As expected from inosuke, nothing could ever stop him. At first he was a bit spooked seeing a lot of people at once and sticked to aoi till his normal composure returned.

“Still that dumb boar head! Will he ever get mature?” Sanemi grumbled lazily. “I agree” said giyu, smiling at sanemi, which almost made his stomach churn. Tengen bursted out in laughter, “I see you are still in spirit huh? Quite flamboyant of you.”

“YEAH THE GOD OF MOUNTAINS INOSUKE SAMA IS ALWAY—” Aoi smacked him on his head and dragged him away while muttering some apologies to the hashiras.

“He's still much of energy…and his voice has become much hoarse ain't it? I still remember taking those kids on that mission. And this kid in particular was such a ruckus.” Said tengen, stretching his arms.

“Isn't it good to see all of us after so long without having to fear losing someone?” Said hinatsuru, makio and Suma smiled at each other.

“But we had already lost many people.” Sanemi sighed. He wished he could apologize to genya. If life ever gives him another chance he would like to be a little less aggressive.

“If you keep sulking like that, your brother will definitely curse you from heaven.” giyu took a gulp of the matcha tea, sanemi sent at tanjiro's a month ago.

“Now that there are no demons, you two get along with each other quite well don't you think so?” Tengen threw the snarky question at them.

“what the—”

“I wish rengoku could have seen you guys like this…remember the one time himejima san told us that oyakata sama wanted to see giyu smile….”

“See me smile?”

“Yeah, what a waste of time i swear.”

“Rengoku disappeared for a while to buy glasses in order to make giyu smile.” laughed tengen.

“It didn't work though and then kochou emotionally blackmail me to make him laugh.”

“Oh so this is why you wanted to have sake daikon with me?” Giyu smiled again at sanemi.

“I swear if you make that kanroji face again at me, I will kick you on your balls.”

“Everyone food’s ready, let's go and sit outside!!” Said nezuko halting the heated nostalgic conversation of the two.

Murata finally lets himself relax a bit as the hashiras start moving out. Urokodaki slammed a hand at his back, as he felt his stiff posture return. “Don't be so stiff we aren't gonna ask you to duel.” murata’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment as urokodaki laughed off at the kid's nervousness.

These days are indeed peaceful.

Senjuro made his appearance a bit late. He apologized for his fathers absence, blaming on his health. It's not been that best for a few days.

“Oh goodness, is he really going to be fine, we can go run a check up on him you know?” Kanao offered an idea, worried about the shinjuro’s health.

“Thanks a lot. Actually there's something that has been troubling us for a while.”

“Is everything okay?” Tanjiro's asked with concern lacing his eyes. Sanemi noticed, he had always been kind. He was kind to his brother. During hashira training when tanjiro stepped over the line, it actually made sanemi kinda happy and relaxed. Atleast genya had someone in life he could rely on.

Shinjuro's put down his bowl and chopstick on the mats as he brought his hand to his knees.

“There's something we found a month ago….while cleaning aniki’s room.”

Not only tanjiro but tengen, giyu, sanemi, zenitsu and inosuke froze for a second. The untimely death of the young guy was such a sad event that has ached their hearts for a long time.

Tanjiro could smell senjuro’s emotions and it was odd. It wasn't sadness, or guilt, or anger. It was pity. And somehow it stinged tanjiro, the same way it did years ago.

Senjuro took out some bunch of old papers from the sleeves of his yukata.

Tanjiro's throat felt dry and uneasy. It were a bunch of letters.

All of them looked like they were forgotten for months. The letter envelopes had stained yellow and some even have their edges teared off. But it sure emitted a strong smell. The smell of kyojuro rengoku. Tanjiro's still remembers the distinct hints of his aura. And it somehow still lingered around these letters. Especially the one which was sealed.

“What is it?” asked aoi, finally breaking the deafening silence. A strong gust of wind blew the pink petals along with the letters from senjuro's hand. It's scattered around the mats as all of them tried to collect them.

“Y….y/n?” read nezuko aloud. She hold the sealed letter in her hand as tanjiro extended his palm to grab it. It had tear stains. One side of it had brush marks written ‘to y/n’. The ink has now blurred a bit. But it was still readable.

“What's the meaning of all this?” Tengen asked, grabbing one of the opened letters in his hand. Giyu had hold of one reading in pure shock, while sanemi pondered from the side. Eyes as shocked as giyu’s.

“What happened tengen-sama?” asked makio, seeing all of their disturbed expressions. Zenitsu tried to snatch away the papers from inosuke who was trying to eat it.

“We found these letters from aniki’s room. A lady named y/n had sent those letters to him. An—?”

“And that lady was his lover?” asked giyu.

“What nonsense!”

“He never mentioned any of that to me.” frowned tengen.

“Nor did aniki said anything about it at home. At that time our father didn't pay us any attention. He was drowned totally in despair from the death of our mother. Seeing us only infuriated his anger and sorrow. Aniki would train or be at missions and he was rarely at home. He never told me anything about that….”

‘A letter?’ thought tanjiro. He started sweating all of a sudden. He thought he fulfilled all his wishes but—

“Rengoku san! Please think about yourself, can you stop the bleeding with your breathing technique?” Tanjiro has muttered those words back then, panickingly, devastatingly.

He wanted rengoku to say yes. He wanted him to live beside him, fight beside him, eat beside him. But he didn't get that as an answer.

“No, very soon i'll be dead. Before that happens, i need you to hear me out. I have a younger brother named senjuro. Please tell him to follow his heart. And walk down the path he feels is right.” Rengoku’s face had the same content smile, which warmed their hearts up. He continued, “And tell my father to look after himself…and lastly…”

Rengoku went on and expressed his views on nezuko. It felt like a warm hug. Someone has accepted nezuko. Not because they pitied her but since they saw her true potential and that she was no harm to humans. And now when he remembers it clearly, there was something rengoku whispered before his heart stopped pumping.

It was a faint whisper. So subtle that tanjiro thought it was his ears ringing. But now that he recalls, after he said he trusted them as a slayers, he whispered a few words

“and the lette—”

Rengoku stopped mid sentence as tanjiro kept weeping. He wasn't looking at tanjiro but something behind him. It made him smile as he took his last breath.

“Oni-chan? What happened? Are you okay?” Nezuko pulled tanjiro out of his daze. Everyone was looking at him worriedly. Even sanemi was worried.

“I've not fulfilled rengoku san’s last wishes. I- i haven't. I haven't delivered…how can I be so dumb!!”

“What? Tanjiro san! Calm down! You told us everything aniki wanted to say to us.” Senjuro tried to comfort tanjiro.

“No…before dying he whispered something. I thought my ears were ringing but he did whispered something. It was about a letter.” tanjiro kept on babbling as everyone felt dead silent even senjuro couldn't move his hands.

The sealed letter stayed in tanjiro's hands.

Something that belonged to the girl named y/n.

Something probably dear to kyojuro rengoku.

Some words which were waiting since 3 years.

But…..who is y/n?

The rest of hanami festival gathering went by silent. Senjuro entrusted the letter to tanjiro as per as his request before leaving early since he need to be home before sunset to check upon his father. Murata and urokodaki san accompanied him on the way.

“That's completely ridiculous. None of us have any idea who the fuck this y/n is? how are the fuck are you even planning to find her?” Sanemi spit out bitter words at tanjiro, sitting on the porch, watching the sun slowly turn a deep shade of orange. It reminded him of rengoku’s odd hair colour. It's funny how not only he, but his tsugoku also had weird hair colour— a colour which was dear to Iguro obanai.

Tanjiro lowered his head, smiling a bit. Sanemi changed a lot, even if he speaks harshly, he can only smell pure concern. “But I can't start a new life without paying my debts. Rengoku san saved my life. Whoever lady y/n is….I need to deliver this letter to her.”

“I get what you're saying…but there's no address in any part of the letter. Moreover you are being hesitant on opening it. How do you think you will find her then?” Tengen spoke from the back, alerting the former wind hashira and tanjiro. Both wondered how long he's been eavesdropping them. They expect nothing less. He was a hashira and before that he was a ninja. Even after losing one arm and one eye, he still holds the same power.

“Honestly, I've no idea. But I just can't sit and let it slide.” said tanjiro.

“you’re getting married to kanao next year. Better focus on that. Don't get into useless troubles hanging her off.” sanemi said lazily, yawning and getting up to his feet, stretching a bit. “I will be leaving then. Take care.” Tanjiro didn't reply to him.

Tengen shared a look with sanemi. His eyes shooting a mischievous look filled with pride. Tengen has been in a mission with tanjiro and he knows how stubborn he can be. He knows how pure of a heart he had. And how he even had empathy for demons. He knows sanemi have to surrender infront of him.

Annoyed, sanemi rolled his eyes, “if you're that insistent on finding the girl, then why not refer to kasugai crows. Rengoku's crow might know something about the girl.” He suggested as tengen was in literal awe. He never thought sanemi could ever think logically with his brain. Tanjiro’s head perked up in joy at his idea. Now he finally has a path to look up. Sanemi felt awkward and took his leave, avoiding to look in their eyes.

“Ah! Shinazugawa san! Thanks for the idea!!”

“That brat finally seems to work a bit humane ain't he ?!” A deep laugh bubbled up tengen’s throat.

“I’m happy that he has softened a little now that demons have perished. However, about rengoku san’s kasugai crow, do you know where do I get in contact with it?”

“About that, i would recommend writting letter to kiriya sama. I'm sure he would know.” Tengen patted his head with a reassuring smile.

Soon he took his leave with his wives and giyu, since they were going to an onsen. Basically makio Suma and hinatsuru dragged him along forcefully. Giyu looked a bit tired but he was happy.

Things changed and improved rapidly in a short time. Zenitsu and nezuko got married last year. Murata also got engaged. Tanjiro couldn't help but wonder if the lady named y/n had moved on or not? Will rengoku san be happy if she found someone else? Will he be sad? He looked at nezuko smiling at zenitsu as he played with kiyo, naho and sumi. He looked at inosuke giving his shiniest acorns to aoi. He looked at kanao, smiling delicately, just like shinobu did.

He was happy.

But was the lady named y/n happy in her life?

Kanao looked at him and smiled. She came near him and took his wrinkled hand in hers. “Tanjiro san, you know I would really like you to deliver this letter to y/n san before we start a new life.”

“Even if it takes time?”

“Even if it does. I will wait for you for an eternity.” Tanjiro chuckled as red tints his cheeks. How pure kanao’s heart is? How did he get so lucky to have her in his life? God knows.

“Then I will write a letter to kiriya.”

After a few days, a letter arrived from ubuyashiki's. Along with that two kasugai crows were found circling over the house. Among them one belonged to tanjiro, when he was a demon slayer— tennoji.

The other was the one who accompanied rengoku till his last breath. Kiriya felt sad for rengoku and wrote his kind regards to tanjiro sending the crow to him. His name was kaname.

The crow looked pretty much normal and wasn't as hot -tempered as tennoji.

This was the first time tanjiro had seen him. “Hello, kaname san. Sorry for summoning you all of a sudden. But I wanted to ask you something…” the crow didn't reply, but tilted his head at tanjiro.

“I-ahh- do you know anything about a lady named y/n?”

The crow remained quite for a while, as if reminiscing the days which followed great sorrow. “Master's…y/n sama…master's lover…letters…”

His words were what tanjiro was expecting. Tanjiro finally saw a path clear.

“Can you tell me where she lives?” Asked tanjiro hopefully.

The crow shaked his head,“i don't know.”

Slightly disappointed, tanjiro started asking how she looked. The crow wasn't exactly able to describe her. Accepting his defeat, he asked the crow where he saw her for the first time. Maybe if he goes there, he will be able to find her.

“tokyo…capital…mission..”

the crow wasn't that helpful, they only got to know two things.

First- whoever this y/n is, she was rengoku's lover.

Second- rengoku's crow saw her in tokyo, the capital.

This indicates maybe rengoku and the people who went to the mission in tokyo as said by the crow, if alive, they might know something about it. Tanjiro wrote updates to the others.

A few days later, giyu’s letter came along with some sweets. In that he wrote that rengoku went to tokyo for a battle with lower moon 2 back then. Oyakata sama had assigned him to that mission, before he was a hashira. There were a bunch of people accompanying him, one of them being kanroji mitsuri.

Oh! Mitsuri kanroji was his tsugoku, tanjiro almost forgot about that, he got excited to ask her when reality struck him down. She died after the war. Even if she knew y/n tanjiro couldn't ask her.

He continued reading the letter from giyu as the path which formed in his mind started getting blurry.

Upon hearing from tanjiro, kanao dropped by at the kamado’s. She said she might have one way to get to know about y/n. Tanjiro's eyes perked up at kanao’s remark, which almost made kanao’s heart jolt since he was so cute.

Kanao explained, when shinobu was alive, she had once told her that mitsuri was close to a kakushi couple. She further said that mitsuri used to write letters to them about her missions on a regular basis. Those two even came to congratulate her when she was promoted to hashira. She said it was nice to see that a girl around her age so lively.

Tanjiro wrote a letter to kiriya again. And next week when tanjiro went out with inosuke to sell some charcoal in the city, a couple came to visit them.

Nezuko welcomed them, while zenitsu narrowed his eyes on them, especially upon the male.

When tanjiro returned home he was delighted to find the kakushi couple still waiting for him. They didn't hide their faces anymore. Dressed normally as regular citizens. Honestly they were pretty young, and tanjiro admired how they served the corps group keeping them intact.

“I'm so glad you both came.” Tanjiro bowed infront of them in gratitude.

“Oh no, that's completely fine. We are happy to be of any help. Oyakata sama said you wanted to know about mitsuri.” said the woman.

“Ahh not exactly about her, but for instance, do you have any idea if she ever mentioned a name called ‘y/n’?” tanjiro said pulling inosuke back beside him as he kept munching on the snacks for the guests. The guy gave him a creeped stare as he focused back on tanjiro's words.

“y/n? No I don't think so….she ever mentioned that name. Did she tanaka san?” The woman said.

Tanjiro felt anxious as the guy named tanaka tilted his head to think a bit.

“Nope I don't think she did.”, he clarified.

“Oh….” Tanjiro's voice was barely a whisper, that even inosuke sat straight checking if he's alright.

“Is there something else we can do, tanjiro kun? You look upset.”

“No no…it's fine. I was just trying to deliver a letter to rengoku san's love—”

“Rengoku san? Kanroji san’s master ain't it?” Tanaka spoke before tanjiro could finish his sentence.

“Yeah.”

“Oh my god? The one whom rengoku san loves was y/n?”

“You guys know her?” Hope shined bright in tanjiro's eyes. So did a fervent fear. Fear of disappointment. Fear of not being able to pay his debts. Fear of not fulfilling rengoku san's last wish.

“We didn't know about her name but kanroji san used to tell us about her…isn't it shimi san?” The guy turned to his wife with a fuzzy smile on his face.

“Yeah, she seemed so happy, wanting to have a love like them.” Said the wife.

And for the first time till now tanjiro wasn't let down. “Really? Did she lived in tokyo? Rengoku san's crow said he saw her for the first time during a mission.”

“A mission? No.” The wife let out a chuckle, “it started way before that. Kanroji san said….. ”

“Ahh! Master! Can we please have a break! I'm tired from hitting the sword, my limbs are sore.” Mitsuri cried barely holding another strike from her master.

“Haha you got tired this fast, we haven't even started.” the blazing hair resembling fire, moved swiftly as the guy attempted another strike on mitsuri, but thanks to a call outside, he stopped midway.

“Wait a bit, I will be back in a while.” Said kyojuro rengoku, her master. ‘i will be happy if you don't come back for a while.’ she thought as she collapsed on her knees, to exhausted to move.

“Ahh senjuro kun! Bring me some snacks please!!!” She shouted hoping for the little kid to hear.

A bit later, rengoku comes back. Senjuro looked at his elder brother, frowning while holding a letter. Mitsuri sat beside senjuro, who brought her some onigiris.

“What's that master?” She asked, stuffing another onigiri in her mouth.

“Even I'm confused. It's a letter but it wasn't delivered by a kasugai crow but by a postman.”

“Huh? Maybe it's from some neighbour wanting to lower your voice while eating.” Senjuro said shrugged off his shoulders as mitsuri suppress her laugh bubbling on her throat, almost choking on rice. It wasn't an irregular thing that neighbors anonymously complained about kyojuro shouting ‘umai’ every time he ate.

“Open it.” Said senjuro, curious what type of sarcastic words they might have chosen now.

Kyojuro did as his little brother requested. However kyojuro didn't reacted after reading the letter.

“Today's practice is over. You can relax.” He, then ordered senjuro to boil him some bathwater, shooing him away.

Senjuro obeyed his brother, while mitsuri felt kinda odd, yet she was happy to have a day off.

As soon as both of them left the backyard, rengoku blushed like crazy. The letter was still in his hand as he tried to digest the words.

“A love lett—” a big palm shut mitsuri’s mouth, preventing her from shouting. Yet she was squealing. “I thought you left! You've gotten quite quick in sly footing didn't ya? I'm impressed.” He finally removed his hand from mitsuri's mouth.

“Ofcourse you made me practice for 23 hours without sleep. Anyways, what's written in that?”

“Do you want me to make you practice for 2 days straight?”

“Naah I'm fine! But master, I'm happy.”

“Okay.”

“And curious too. Please let me read it.”

“No!”

After shooing mitsuri out of the backyard he tucked the letter in his sleeves. This letter was sure weird.

“Rengoku san thought that she didn't read the letter, but she had a strong memory and could remember each word after seeing it once. She was so excited telling us about that.” said the wife, looking outside the window at the moon.

The flame of the lantern flickered a bit. “So that might mean that the letter should be among those papers…”

“Woah zenitsu! I thought you were asleep?!”

“How am I supposed to sleep if you're talking that loudly idiot!”

Yeah the paper. There were a lot of papers. Some were smudged and unreadable, so they didn't read all of them. Tanjiro went over their cupboard and brought the bunch of papers.

“Can you identify the letter among them?” He asked the guy to inspect. The couple looked at each other. “Maybe we can try but the writings aren't clear.”

“Please if you can. I need to deliver that letter.” tanjiro bowed his head down begging to the couple.

“You're a nice kid, Tanjiro kun. We will surely help you.”

It's been more than twenty minutes since they are reading each and every paper. Inosuke got bored and slept on the tatami mats. Nezuko was already asleep so they didn't wanted to bother her.

“Yeah maybe this one. From what Kanroji san had explained, this seems to be the one.” The guy tanaka handed the delicate piece of paper to tanjiro.

“However, in each of these letters, she referred herself as his wife…I didn't know he was married…?”

“Huh?” Tanjiro frowned upon the man's words. ‘what?’ he checked the letters again. And the guy was right, y/n did refer herself as his wife. They didn't read the papers as carefully since they were long, they just assumed she was his lover. But rengoku san wasn't the one to hide such crucial information.

Tanjiro was confused, they were so focused on finding the address of y/n that they ignored reading the letters, which could provide information about her.

Tanjiro spent the entire night reading each word carefully. Fingers running across elegant handwriting and smudged ink. As he kept reading those with a pain in his heart. There were in total 7 of those letters, which were written to rengoku. And the one which tanjiro kept seemingly in care— the sealed one; one which has a strong smell of rengoku’s aura; one with tear stains.

The couple spent the night in their house and left the next morning after breakfast.

This helped but not that much. However the path had become clearer.

He knew that the girl was from a nice family who had hands in education from the curves in each characters of her words.

Second, she had mentioned that he had saved her and her friends from a fire, in yokaichi.

“I'm leaving for yokaichi.” Said tanjiro during breakfast.

“Eh? Oni- chan?”

“Don't worry nezuko, oni-chan will be back soon.”

“I will also go!” Said inosuke, “inosuke-sama will protect kamaboko gonpachiro, his minon from any harm.”

Tanjiro chuckled at how inosuke shows his care for him, “fine then.”

“Zenitsu san you also go with them…”

“Ehh, but nezuko chan won't you be lonely without me? I know you will be lonely without m—”

“I won't. You guys will be back soon. Till then I will be at butterfly mansion.”

“B-but nezuko channn!!!!” Inosuke dragged him away as nezuko watched the poor soul. She felt bad but she wanted him to be with her brother. She just felt that the three of them should go together.

The three of them finally reached yokaichi town. It was small but quite dense in population. Tanjiro felt that this was an advantage for them since they stories and folks might spread fast in a vast social surroundings.

“Inosuke, zenitsu let's ask the older citizens first, since they might be living here for a while, they must have known about any fire incidents.”

“I was about to say the same thing as you.” Snorted the board masked guy rushing off in the east direction. Zenitsu simply nodded and went in the opposite direction, sulking. He has been giving tanjiro silent treatment since he had to leave nezuko alone.

Tanjiro sighed as he started finding old citizens nearby asking about a fire incident.

After asking a few of them, he sighed, it didn't really do any help, since many weren't able to hear and some weren't able to remember. When he asked the youngsters, they ran away seeing his old crippled hand.

Tanjiro, let down, returned to the spot where they had started searching. Inosuke was already there tapping his feet as he was waiting for the others.

“Did you find anything?” Asked tanjiro.

“Nahh! They were mere cowards. Running way from me. Though I liked it! Everyone should fear the great inosuke sama.” As expected from inosuke, zenitsu was yet to return. Both of them decided to wait till he comes back.

After a while, zenitsu came back. His sulking still hasn't tailed off. “Ahh zenitsu! Did you find anything? You took so long!!”

Zenitsu didn't reply.

He stared at him with dead eyes.

Oh god! Zenitsu’s moody phases are the worst, especially if it's an urgent task. The whining and sulking from a few years ago flashed in front of tanjiro’s eyes.

“You turned mute or what?” said inosuke, already having enough of zenitsu’s tantrums.

But the only reply that came from the blonde was an eye roll. Inosuke got pissed, ready to throw hands at him if not stopped by tanjiro.

“Zenitsu, I will get nezuko chan make sweet washagis for you when we get back home.”

“Really!! You better do that. I can't even explain how much I've missed my dear wife nezuko chan. She must be so lonely without me.” Babbled zenitsu, finally speaking for the first time till they left home.

“She won't.”

“Stop making snarky comments you stupid boar head. What do you even know about pure love between me and nezuko chan?!!!”

“Ahh zenitsu! Did you get to know anything?”

Zenitsu considered tanjiro a while, before giving in, “At the very west of this town, there's an inn. People said it almost burned down about four years ago…I looked for its owner but they said he will be back late.”

Tanjiro let out a breath. If that's the case, then the owner might remember the incident clearly. If only he could provide any useful information.

“Btw do you really believe whoever this y/n is…she's still alive?” Zenitsu scratched the back of his neck, shooing away the mosquitos ready to feed upon his blood. It's been long three of them are waiting in front of the inn for its owner to arrive.

“Let's just not lose hope.” The inn did looked like it suffered severe consequences from whatever happened 4 years ago. Most of it has been repaired but the aura and the smell can still be recognised. There are still some wooden planks with burn marks which are yet to be repaired.

“May I ask who you three are?”

A chilly voice turned their attention. There stood a thin, frail boy, barely an adult. His eyes were small with hair falling down on his brows. He speculated about them with a suspicious look in his eyes(especially on the boat masked guy). Was he the owner? He looked too young for that.

“Ahh good evening! I'm tan—”

“If you're wanting to stay the night, go somewhere else, I'm not opening the inn today.” He replied coldly before tanjiro could even introduce himself.

“Ahh no, you're misunderstanding…. actually we are here to ask you something about the incident four years ago…”

The look on the boy’s face changed from suspicion to disgust.

“Well…I don't wanna talk about it. You guys can leave.”

“No please, at least hear our questions. It's really important.”

“As if I care.”

“Hey fucker! If you don't answer I'll break each and every bone in your body.”

“Stop it inosuke!” This isn't going any better. It's almost night, they also need to find a place to stay.

“tanjiro can you move aside a bit” said zenitsu, without waiting for his reply, he went to the kid. Apparently he whispered something in his ears which seemed to have creeped the guy out.

Tanjiro gulped. He must be desperate to go home and see nezuko. Sometimes he forgets that their coward friend can be hell scary when it comes to nezuko.

“Okay. He's ready to spill anything he knows.” The look on the kids face made it clear he didn't wanted to recall anything about that incident. However tanjiro had no choice but to push him off the edge.

“Hey I'm sorry if we're causing you any trouble, but you know we really need to know anything you know about a girl named y/n.”

“Y/n?”

“Yeah. Heard it before?”

“No. There were none with this name.”

“Eh? Can you try to recall. There must be someone. A girl who was saved by rengoku san. A guy whose hair was similar to fire.”

“Kyojuro rengoku you mean? He pretty much saved everyone. The inn you see here, is small. Before the incident also it was small and not that popular. Only a few people stayed here occasionally. So I can be sure there was no one named y/n.”

An ‘oh’ is just what tanjiro could manage. The boy got inside the house behind the inn. The night fell and they were still in the same position as before.

Inosuke was throwing tantrums in hunger, so they decided to go to an udon shop nearby. Perhaps they should not lose hope. Thinking empty stomach is not always the best option. This they were sitting in the shop waiting for their order to come.

“But she did mention in those letters that she was saved by him. How come the owner doesn't know anything about that?”

“I already told you we should have broken his bones, monjiro.”

“I think it's useless, let's just go back home to my nezuko chan.”

“Zenitsu! What if you were in place of rengoku san? Would you be happy if your last words don't reach nezuko?” zenitsu went silent at that.

They stayed silent till three bowls of hot udon were placed infront of them. Tanjiro and zenitsu thanked the server for the food whereas inosuke just shoved his head into the hot udon bowl. “You guys seem a bit tense, is everything okay? Asked the old man, the owner of the udon restaurant.

“Yeah we're just a bit disappointed.” Said tanjiro. “Haha and why so? Got rejected by a girl? Can't blame her, it's your hand.” The old man pointed at tanjiro's crippled hand. “What happened that's it's such in a bad condition?”

“Oh! It's…from…from a fight.” Tanjiro smiled, it's hard to offend him anyway,“ i already have a fiance and we are getting married soon.”

“Oh my god! Please forgive my mean words then. I wish you both happiness.”

“Thank you.”

“Then why pull a sad face. My udon tastes the best when you eat it with a good mood, ya know?!”

“Haha, I'm sure it will still taste good. Actually we were here wanting to acquire some information about the fire incident 4 years ago.”

“Oh that was such a bad one. If there wasn't that guy everyone would have lost their life…”

“Rengoku san? You mean?” Tanjiro's eyes perked up. “I see, you know kyojuro. Yeah, that boy was a regular in my shop. Although it's been more than three years since he last visited, i wonder how he's doing? Tell him to visit once, the old man misses him.” the man bursted in laughter while the three of them couldn't even managed to smile even once.

How are they even supposed to tell him, tell him that, “rengoku san died three years ago while saving us from…” zenitsu's voice trailed down into nothingness. So did the old man's. They didn't knew if he's aware about demons so they didn't exaggerated it anymore.

No one spoke for a while.

“I see. What did you guys want to know then? I'm sure you were close to him if he gave up on his life for you all…”

“do you know anyone named y/n? I need to deliver this letter to her.” tanjiro took out the yellow stained letter and handed it to the old man, who squinted his eyes on the writings, drawing a wrinkled finger tracing it's shapes.

“Y…y/n…..yeah she asked me to send some letters to his residence. The kid was young and beautiful.” he returned the letter back to tanjiro.

“She did?!”

“Yeah…that kid almost begged me to not tell kyojuro anything about that.”

The three of them looked at each other. “Can you tell us more about her?” “Do you know where she lives?” “Can I get a refill?” The three of them threw questions at the old man's face, whose lips creaked a bit. “Hmm, I don't know where she lives but I can tell you about her.” He said taking inosuke’s bowl to the counter for another refill.

The restaurant was almost empty so they went and sat on the round seats opposite of the counter.

“It was about four years ago when she appeared in my shop after kyojuro left….”

“umm excuse me…” you said

“Yeah young lady, what would you prefer?” asked the owner pointing at the chart hung on the wall which displayed all the items on the menu.

“I will take a hot tempura udon please.” said the girl beside you.

“And you miss?” The owner directed the question towards you. “Umm I will take anything you prefer.” “Ehh is that so? Fine, I'll make you the tastiest bowl of my special udon.”

“Just tell already…!” The girl beside you whispered into your ear, which was audible to the owner, he chuckled a bit. “Can you shut up….!!”

“I will if you say it…!”

“Okay fine!”

“Umm…if you don't mind, is there any way you can ask the address of the man who just left a while ago?” you asked hesitantly, fiddling with your fingers.

“Kyojuro you mean? I already know his residence, he made me deliver udon to his place before.” the owner said trying to keep his composure, young kids are just so bold nowadays.

“Is that so?” your eyes shined dreamily.

“Why harbored a crush on the man you saw a few mins ago? Hahaha!!” you felt blood rush to your cheeks as you couldn't find words to answer his question.

“She wants to thank him for saving her.” said the girl beside you. “Atsuko!” Atsuko just gave a smirk, ignoring how she threw you in such humiliation.

“Ah…if you don't mind then can you please deliver this letter to him anonymously. Don't tell him I asked you to send it. Please…I can pay you for that..”

“I don't need any payment. I will do that. You can just come and enjoy my special udon sometimes.” the owner accepted the letter from your hands, tucking it in his sleeves. “And maybe watch that man you talked about…he comes here around weekends.” The man hinted you the place which kyojuro normal has his lunch. And if you weren't blushing any harder, you felt your entire face burn with embarrassment. But you want to do it anyway.

Atsuko giggled beside you excited to see what happens next.

“So you delivered the letters in her stead?” asked zenitsu.

“Yeah…she kept coming back with letters for a good six months, if i remember correctly. Maybe kyojuro replied to them…”

It fell silent for a while. The only sound echoing was of inosuke slurping on the noodles.

“So, while you delivered letters rengoku san didn't knew her?” The guy with red eyes pointed the question at the owner.

“No i don't think so, she never came when he used to visit, that is, the weekends.”

“Can you tell us what was the name of her friend again?”

“Atsuko…if I remember correctly..”

“Can you describe how she looked?”

“Ehh? I can't really remember people's faces clearly, but she was very beautiful, big eyes with a nice soft skin. Her hair was long and dark. She had a soft voice. She looked like she belonged from a privileged family. So did her friend.”

“Oh is there anything specific you remember about her?”

“Hmm…let me think…if I'm not wrong rengoku once mentioned her name to a boy who tagged along with him. If you go to him i believe he could provide you some answers.”

“Really? Who was he?”

“His name was….daisuke I guess. He used to wear a similar black sort of uniform like kyojuro.”

After finishing their meal, tanjiro payed for everyone and thanked the old man for all that information. They went to a nearby inn and spent the night.

Tanjiro wrote some letters updating each one of their current status. And he sent a crow to kiriya requesting him to take a look if there's any former slayer named Daisuke and used to frequent his missions with rengoku.

The next day around afternoon, tennoji returned from ubuyashiki's. He said there was indeed a slayer named Daisuke. He had suffered severe injuries from the war and now lives in his village.

As directed by tennoji, tanjiro's crow, they went to the south east from their current position. After two days and one night of sleeping in the jungle without the fear of demons, a village appeared. It wasn't that populated. After asking a few kids, they showed the path which led to Daisuke’s hut.

“Umm excuse me? Daisuke san?”

“Yes, wh— ta…tanjiro….aren't you tanjiro?” the guy said, he was blind from one eye similar to tanjiro, with a missing arm and a limp leg. Tanjiro felt sorry for him.

“Yes, they are inosuke and zenitsu. Sorry for being a bother….”

“Oh no please come inside. I will get tea for you…” he said excited.

“Oh, you don't have to. It's fine. Actually we wanted to ask something….”

“Yeah? Please come in. I will surely help you as much as possible.”

They entered the hut and sat on the tatami mats. Even after pleading not to bring any snacks, Daisuke brought some rice crackers for them.

“Please have them.”

“You didn't have to.”

“Oh it's nothing. Now what did you wanted to ask about?”

“It's about y/n.” Tanjiro said as the rest simply focused on rice crackers. A hint of familiarity glistened in Daisuke's eyes. “Y/n? You mean the one rengoku san was madly in love with?”

Madly in love with? Tanjiro felt a pinch in his heart. Rengoku san must have adored you. The sealed letter had tear stains. Did rengoku cried while writing that?

“Ah…yeah…I need to deliver this letter to y/n but I don't know where she lives. Did rengoku san ever mentioned where she lived?”

“A letter? Why sent a letter when he was so adamant about that?”

“Adamant?”

“Yeah…he said that the pages limited his words to her. He was so desperate wanting to see her that he spent like 2 weeks searching for her without taking rest after his missions.”

“Seriously? So how are you supposed to recover from those injuries?” Daisuke said to his senior with an exasperated expression.

“It will heal when I get to see her face.” Said rengoku, bandaging the cut from a demon's blood arts whom he just killed.

“You're gonna exhaust yourself from build up fatigue.” The sun rays kissed the soil painted in crimson from the shedded blood.

“I will be fine. You go and take rest.”

“I can't believe you're going to find the creepy girl sending you creepy letters claiming herself as your wife.” Daisuke let you a sigh at rengoku's stubborness.

“In that case I gotta meet my wife.” Rengoku's laughter echoed among the vast field.

It still echoed in Daisuke's memories.

“So rengoku wasn't married…?”

“Naah. Honestly I think, after rengoku san’s mother died, he had faced severe neglect from his father. He was the oldest son of the family, so he had to be strong for his sibling. But sometimes we forget, even the strong needs someone to back for them. Even they need some kind words to let go all their tiredness and have a tight sleep. Even they need someone who assured them that they have a bright future…”

That's right. Tanjiro had seen how shinjuro, rengoku san's father, disrespected his sacrifice. He was so lost and depressed in his wife's loss that he forgot about the ones who need the most care— his kids.

Daisuke continued, “when the letter came from y/n, rengoku san must have read comforting words for the first time since that. He used to reread those letters a thousand times when he was free. Sometimes I wondered if he ever got bored doing that…but I knew he didn't. A starved man will eat anything. And I knew he was emotionally starving.”

Zenitsu and inosuke stopped eating rice crackers. Rengoku's death solely hurted them as much as it did to tanjiro, but they never thought it was that deep. That it was something beyond his life as a demon slayer.

Zenitsu could relate. After all he was an orphan. And rengoku was too, being in a situation similar to him, where his only parent was emotionally unavailable for him. He felt sorry for him.

No one dared to say anything. The silence was piercing their hearts like splinters of iron.

“Fun fact was that he did find her,” Daisuke chorted a bit before continuing, “and he literally begged her to marry him…”

Rengoku searched from cabin to cabin in the steam train. In the last letter you mentioned you were going to aomori to visit your relatives by train.

After a bit of negotiation he learned that there was only one train which was going to stop at aomori. This is how he ended up buying tickets at the last moment getting in the train, to find you.

He hasn't seen you before. He wondered how you would look. Even more beautiful and kind than your letters. Even more beautiful than the slight hooks of the curved kanjis you had written his name. Even more beautiful than the blazing sun.

He had checked almost the entire train. The content smile on his face has now thinned into pursed lips. He was nervous. What if he fails to find you? What if he never gets to find you? What if he never gets to see your face?

What if he didn't recognise you?

He flashed all the passengers in his head before lowering his head. None of them carried the same demeanor your letters did. He couldn't imagine any one of them being you.

He entered the last cabin. It was empty. However this cabin seemed a bit different. It had a narrow passage on the right with doors while the opposite side had small rooms. It seemed private. One previously booked by someone.

Rengoku turned back to return to his cabin when the door beside him shot open.

Inside was a girl, who seemed to have frozen for a while.

“Y/n?”

The girl’s eyes widened at the name which left rengoku's lips. She shut the door close, but it didn't closed, something was blocking it. The girl looked down, realizing rengoku had slipped his feet in to prevent her from doing that.

He barged the door open. “Y/n right?”

The girl remained silent for some time.

“I apologize to you with all my might rengoku san. Please forgive my intrusiveness.” you said, lowering your head, nervous at the sudden appearance of him.

“God you're even more beautiful than I thought…” you shoot your head up only to see him looking with such dreamy eyes at you as if you're the only thing he's ever wanted to look at. And it made your stomach churn. Guilt rushed in each of your veins.

“Rengoku san, i shouldn't have wrote those letters to you.” You say. Your friend had warned you before. You didn't listen.

“Why?” He took a step closer.

You gulped before answering,“i wrote nonsense, pretending to be your wife I'm very sorry yo—”

“Then don't pretend anymore.”

“Huh?”

“Be my wife.” Rengoku suggested. His face now inches away from yours.

“And then she ran away?” Said daisuke, barely containing his laugh.

“Yeah…did I do something wrong?” Rengoku said with visible confusion plastered on his face. It was rare to see any expression other than his smiling face.

“Of course she would run away.”

“and why so?”

“Rengoku san, a girl thinks about her future first after marriage. She knows nothing about you.”

“But she wrote me lett—”

“Which you didn't answered….since you thought you couldn't fit your words in papers.” Rengoku couldn't say anything in his defense. It was true rengoku never replied to any of your letters. When he received the first one he thought someone was pranking him. But then the letters came continuously, one each month. He slowly fell in love with those. He fell in love with your letters. And somehow, he fell in love with you.

“Then what do I do?”

“Be honest, tell her about your salary and your job, tel her you can take care of her needs.”

“Yeah? Kk I'm going then…”

Rengoku stood at the aomori station waiting for you to get on the train for your return. Upon spotting you, he called out for you. The train had a delay and he had a good 1 hour to make things clear.

“Eh? R-rengoku san!”

“I work in demon slayer corps. And currently I'm in the highest rank which is kinoe. I get a decent salary of 42,500 yen. I live with my younger brother and father. My mother died a few years ago from illness. I spend my day training, slaying demons and rereading your letters,” guilt rushed through your veins again. “I promise, I will fulfill all your needs and treat you like my queen.”

“rengoku san...”

“sorry i didn't replied to any of those, I just couldn't express myself much in writing. If possible I would like to crawl into a hole. However you don't need to worry. I will make sure that I keep you happy.”

You frowned at his words, unable to explain him. How could you do that to him?

“Y/n san, let's make the words on the letters true. Let's be husband and wife. I know that I work in an organization that isn't approved by governm—”

“Rengoku san, shall we walk while talking? We are blocking the road.” you change the topic, not wanting to talk about it.

“Sure.”

Rengoku continued telling you everything…everything about him. From his childhood till his mother's death. From his father's neglect, to his way up to kinoe, from his sword to the number of demons he slayed. You didn't believe in demons before, but now that rengoku tells you about this, demon folks is something you want to believe. You wanted to believe in everything he said. Even if he's telling the dumbest thing, far from reality, you wanted to believe it.

“Y/n san! Look here!” You turn back to rengoku.

Click.

“And did she said yes?”

“Maybe. He didn't mention her answer. He was so happy that finally he met her.”

“You must have seen her then…can you tell us how she looked?”

“I think I might have a photo of her. Rengoku san, asked to recieve a photo delivery, since he had a mission from the previous oyakata sama.” Daisuke got up limping to the one of the backrooms of his hut. He returned a few minutes later, handling a black and white photo to tanjiro.

Inosuke and zenitsu peeped from the sides to take a look at the long awaited moment, when they finally get to see y/n.

The photo was black and white, but tanjiro felt it was still colorful to rengoku san. In the photo there was a girl, young, with long beautiful hair, in a loose braid. She wore a flower hair ornament, which must have shone in gold back then. She was just how the udon owner described her, big doe eyes, pretty mouth, she looked educated. She was dressed in a floral patterned kimono. Zenitsu wondered what sort of colour the kimono would have been. He wondered if he could get a similar one for nezuko as a souvenir.

The girl was beautiful. Inosuke thought, she had similar smile to shinobu, he wondered if his mom’s smile was like that.

The girl's reflection reflected in several mirrors behind her, and one of the mirror had caught the reflection of the one clicking the photo— kyojuro rengoku.

“The last I heard from rengoku san, he said she wanted to meet him before taking the mugen train mission. He seemed happy, maybe she agreed eventually to marry him….if only he didn't…” Daisuke didn't finished the sentence, considering his surroundings.

They sit in deafening silence for a bit.

A bit later tanjiro thanked Daisuke for the rice crackers and his help. He asked if it were okay to take the photo with him. Daisuke had no problem with that. After bidding farewell they continued their journey, unsure what to do next.

After two days of staying at an inn, cluelessly with no idea how to find y/n, inosuke suggests to go to the station from where they got on mugen train.

“If we go to that lord's land and ask the people over there and show this painting of this long haired girl, then some might recognize her.” He had said.

“First of all that's a train station, second it's a photo. How can you still be the same stupid even after 3 years?” zenitsu cringed hard.

“wha—”

“Inosuke’s right zenitsu, we should go there and ask the people over there.” tanjiro said halting the cat and mouse fight which was about to start between the two.

Daisuke had said rengoku was about to meet her before the mission, which means before getting on the mugen train. Even if it is difficult, some locals must have seen even one glance of her.

The next morning, as per inosuke's idea, three of them left for the station.

“Umm excuse me…” said tanjiro, forwarding the photo in front of the local he stopped on his way, “can you tell me if you've seen this girl?”

The man gave a disgusted look at tanjiro. “no I haven't.”

“Ehh? Are you sure you haven—”

“I don't have time for bullshit.” He went off ignoring tanjiro. Strange. People here are less friendly, some even get irritated if stopped on their way.

It's almost lunch time, zenitsu and inosuke had tried to stop the locals as tanjiro asked them about you. It was clear that this ain't ending soon. Especially when they've got nothing good in hand.

“Let's go buy something to eat.”

“YEAH! I'M HECK HUNGRY!!”

“I saw a kid wearing glasses, selling bentos…let's buy some then…she went in that direction.”

Upon seeing the kid, tanjiro asked her to give them three boxes of bentos. It seemed similar to the ones they had three years ago. The girl was about to leave after receiving her payment, but tanjiro's instinct told him to stop her.

“Wait!” The girl turned back to him as zenitsu and inosuke watched him, confused. Tanjiro put his hand inside the sleeves of yukata, taking out the only photo they had of you.

“Have you ever seen this girl around here?”

The girl squinted her eyes behind the round glass frames,“y/n san! Isn't she y/n san…”

Zenitsu’s eyes popped out, he wondered if tanjiro's a mind reader or something, how can he be so quick?

“Yes! You know her? Can you tell us where she lives?” Tanjiro asked desperately.

“She never mentioned that to us…” the girl said frowning her eyebrows.

“Oh…how did you know her then?”

“Well, a demon slayer who saved us three years ago, requested…”

You waited for kyojuro to come. The sun shone brightly above you. The empty roadway started getting crowdy. You've had enough.

“Y/n san. You wanted to see me?” kyojuro had become a hashira now, and amongst his tight schedule he barely had time for you. It's not like you were disappointed, but still…you and kyojuro often talked through phone booths, after you've suggested that casually one day while strolling with him. Last week when he called you, after what felt like years, you said you wanted to meet him soon. ‘fine meet me at the near hinakawa station, I will be waiting.’ he'd said.

Though it was you, waiting for him to come. You've felt distant from him. And you didn't like it.

“I ran away.” You announced looking in his honey drizzled eyes. Though you aren't sure if it were your overthinking but those eyes seemed a bit dull today.

Kyojuro didn't say anything, maybe confused how to interpret your words.

“my family's against us. And I'm against them. I left the old relations to form a new one. With whom I love. Let's get married.” You said taking his hand in yours.

Kyojuro said nothing but wrapped you in his arms. You hugged him tighter, never wanting to let go. “I'm not alone anymore.” He said before nuzzling his face on the crook of your neck.

Yes. You've always wanted to hear these words from his lips. You've wanted to let him know that he's not alone even when he thinks he is. You wanted him to know that there's someone who will always support him even if he's father thinks he has no talent. This was the reason you wrote him letters in first place. This was the reason you let yourself get tangled in a world far different from yours— in the world of kyojuro rengoku.

He left soon saying he will be back after completing a mission. He said he will send someone to you and asked you to wait for him till then. And you agreed gladly. About half an hour later a girl wearing round steel rimmed glasses along with her grandmother appeared.

“Y/n?” You nodded your head at them. “Rengoku sama asked us to keep you safe till he gets back. If you don't mind then you can come home with us.”

You got to know from the grandmother, how the rengokus had saved their lives two times. You've never seen kyojuro fight, but you knew he was hella strong. Still your heart sinks into your stomach whenever he mentions a mission. You've never encountered demons, once you didn't even believed in them, and now here you are nodding at each of those demon tales of the grandmother.

It didn't mattered anyway as long as he comes back safe. You have to wait for a while for him to comeback….after all you weren't done….you still had an important thing to say.

“Then?”

“Then days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, the slayer never made its return. She left eventually, thanking us. We told her to wait for a while more…but she was too stubborn.” said the girl, fixing her specks again.

Tanjiro couldn't believe what he heard. Rengoku had so many things going on in his life. He had more priorities than him and his friends. Someone who was more important. Someone who left her entire family for him.

Yet.

And yet.

He chose to save them sacrificing himself.

He wondered if the you hate him now.

Zenitsu and inosuke were too stunned to speak. All of them were on the verge of crying. To think…that he couldn't return because of them. To think that they played a role in ruining you happiness. That he died saving them.

“She said she was going to asakusa at her friend’s house, named atsuko.”

Tanjiro bowed at the girl, he couldn't manage thanking her, since he knew if he draws one more breath trying to talk, he would break down right there.

The three of them took a train to asakusa after eating those bentos. They looked similar because rengoku had bought the same boxes from that bento girl 3 years ago.

Inosuke was oddly quiet inside the train. The other two also barely chatted before reaching their destination.

Tanjiro had visited asakusa before and he didn't liked that experience very much. Especially the narrow lanes. This time the city looked more developed than before. And it was more crowdy too. They made their way as the girl has previously informed, that atsuko works as a teacher in a big school for aristocrats.

Coincidentally, tanjiro found the same vendor from his last visit. Back then nezuko wasn't able to savor his ramens since she was a demon. He wished he brought her along. They ordered a steaming bowl of ramen, as the vendor was delighted seeing tanjiro again.

“Where that bamboo girl you carried along with you?”

“She's at home right now.”

“Don't give my wife stupid Nicknames.” ,shouted the blonde at the vendor. Tanjiro apologized in his stead as he kept fuming. “So why are you three here all of a sudden? It's been long ain't it?”

“Yeah we're looking for a girl named y/n. She has a friend who teaches in a big school named atsuko.”

“Y/n never heard that sort of peculiar name…”

“are there any big schools in this area, where aristocrats study?”

“Umm…there are a lot of big schools, you could go and ask at the library. There's only one library here and all the school students or teachers borrow books from there. They must know something about that.”

“Oh really! Thankyou very much.”

Without any further do, the three of them went to the public library after eating.

“Woah this is so big.” Tanjiro said.

“It has so many books shall I borrow some for nezuko chan” zenitsu got lost in his dream world. Inosuke was quite whenever he gets in a new environment with a lots of people, so tanjiro didn't bother checking at him.

However, inosuke tugged on tanjiro's yukata pointing at something with his boar mask tugged on his head. Tanjiro could see his eyes popping out.

“What happened tanji—” zenitsu choked on his spit. Tanjiro’s jaw dropped, his mouth open wide. Inosuke was pointing at a picture hung on the wall. Tanjiro took out the photo hurriedly from his sleeves.

There's no mistake. This was indeed the same girl. Underneath the painting was written ‘princess akiko’ in bold letters carved carefully on metal.

“But isn't her name y/n?” Said zenitsu. What's going on? Before tanjiro could say anything, a woman in her twenties bumped into them while rushing.

The photo slipped out from tanjiro’s fingers.

“I'm so sorr—” the women's words halted as she looked at the photo lying on the ground in front of her. She picked it up before tanjiro could.

“Where did you get this picture from?” She asked as if it were a taboo to have this.

“Ahh you know y/n?”

“Y/n?”

“She looks similar to the girl in that painting” the boy with the boar mask declared.

“For the hundredth time inosuke it's a photo.” said zenitsu.

“She doesn't looks like her. She is her. She is princess akiko. The youngest daughter of the imperial family.”

What?

Three of them couldn't believe their ears. “But her name is y/n…” whispered tanjiro in a low voice.

“Just who are you?” She looked at the picture carefully, as if hiding it from the world, “isn't this rengoku?”

“You know rengoku san?”

“That's the man who saved us from a fire incident in an old town. And then became the main reason of the storms in akiko’s life.”

Tanjiro's eyes widened at the mention of the fire incident “Are you atsuko?”

The women nodded, surprised they know her name. Tanjiro, then explained the whole matter.

“I see.”

“This isn't right akiko…you shouldn't have continued writing letters to him in first place.” Atsuko said trying to persuade her not to run away.

“I can't. I can't live here. They will never accept him. And I can't live without him.”

“Akiko, try to understand…rengoku loves y/n.”

“And i am y/n!” The sound of the rain pouring down increased.

“You are princess akiko. Y/n is just a fake name, you created to hide your real identity when decided to write him letters. I supported you then since i thought it was a one time thing.” Atsuko shook the girl's shoulders trying to bring her to the path she considered right.

“But I don't wanna be akiko. I wanna be y/n…y/n rengoku.” Tears fell from the eyes in front of her as sobs escaped her lips.

“You're playing with rengoku’s feelings. Even if you run away, how do you intend to tell him the truth? You can't pretend to be y/n your entire life akiko.”

The girl didn't answered atsuko. That day slowly came to an end along with the rain. And Akiko did run away to rengoku, away from her pointless life, being a puppet in her family's hands.

“She returned a month after she ran away. When I asked him about rengoku she said nothing. Soon her brother came and took her away.” Whispered atsuko in a voice so doleful, that it was clear, it hurted.

“Did rengoku san knew she was a princess?” Zenitsu asked.

“He probably didn't. Akiko's family arranged several politicians later to set her up but she caused such a ruckus that her family gave up at last.”

“Do you know where she is now…i need to deliver this letter to her.” Each word tasted like bile to him. He couldn't even imagine how miserable it had been. You literally rejected a crystal palace only to live a normal life with him. Which didn't even come true. How feverishly would it have hurt? How apathetic fate was…

“She lives in osaka, running an orphanage. You would find her there. Shall I get someone two drive you three over there?”

“That will be very thoughtful of you” said tanjiro.

Atsuko arranged a driver, who would drive them to the orphanage, they expect to find you in. The car ride was even more silent than the train one. Inosuke, even, didn't make any fuss seeing a car for the first time.

‘So this is where princess akiko lives.’ thought tanjiro. The building was similar to butterfly mansion, nothing that luxurious but quite spacious. The driver left soon after dropping them.

They crossed several corridors of children buzzing like bees. Laughter echoed among the hallways. How wonderful of a place for someone who lost their parents. Similar to them. They wondered if they would have grown up in this orphanage if they were born here.

Finally they reached to what seemed like an office. Similar to one shinobu used when researching herbs, the one which kanao uses now. They entered with a knock.

“Y/n san?”

Your head perked up at the name, which once your beloved used to refer. That beloved who never came.

Your heart ached a bit expecting kyojuro. A melancholic smile forms on your face seeing three kids infront of you. Of Course it wasn't him.

“yes?” you said gently, trying not to give in to your emotions.

But tanjiro could smell it. He smelled the intense grief bubbling within you. He could imagine how long you've bottled up your emotions.

Without saying much, he took the letter out of his sleeve placing it on your desk.

“It's been waiting for 3 years.”

“Huh?”

“Rengoku san wanted me to deliver this to you. Sorry this took so long.” your hands froze at his name. Your chest heaved without even you realizing as you grab the letter.

A single drop of tear fell on the spot which had been previously stained with tears. Tears of kyojuro rengoku.

Your fingers shaked tracing your name on the letter. The name which he used to call. Y/n not Akiko.

You teared the seal, taking out a paper. It was filled with words. Words, he never thought he could express on paper.

Dear y/n,

If you're reading this, then I'm sorry. I might have broken my promise of protecting you forever because by the time you read it— I will be dead.

Y/n i wanted to tell you, that I've loved you. I have loved you from the very beginning. Before even I saw you. You were the one who protected the flame in my heart. While others told me to set it ablaze, you made me learn how to keep the flame burning.

You were as beautiful to me as the rising sun. So bright, so clear. You were the epitome of my life. I wanted to live a peaceful life with you, in which my father let's go of his depression. In which your family accepts us. In which we don't have to hide from others. I wanted you to have my surname.

Your words were like the first rain of summer to me. You saved me from quenching my thirst by your words. I have been starved…. starved for so long that I forgot what being hungry for love feels like. Until you came into my life. you healed my heart, handled it as if it's porcelain.

I thought papers were something I would never choose to express myself with. But look at me now. Haha. I don't know why I'm writing it now, but I just feel like, the time’s soon going to be over. And I feel like I will be gone without seeing your face.

Please don't hate me for that.

If I get to spend my life with you I will probably burn this off, but if this letter somehow unfortunately finds you…I want you to know, I gave my best. I gave my very best to save the ones surrounding me. That I fullfilled my duty till the end. So don't feel sad.

I still can't believe you chose to love me. If possible I would like to meet you in another birth, in another universe without demons, where I will be yours, completely yours. You're the best thing that happened to me, y/n. You're just perfect.

But I must say….you’re dumb for choosing a man who bets his life for others, leaving the silver spoon you had in your mouth.

Sadly, our time was limited in this birth. Good bye princess akiko.

~ your kyojuro

The letter fell from your hands. Your lips quivering as you barely contained your tears, which stained the letter.

You just managed a smile at the kids who brought you this letter. He was no more. And you couldn't believe that. He knew you were Akiko not y/n. The truth you weren't able to tell him.

“I'm sorry for making this long. Rengoku san died saving us from a demon, 3 years ago” said tanjiro, tears staining his cheeks. So do the others, barely containing their emotions.

“oh! But i-im glad you all are safe. H-he fulfilled his duties right?”

“Does it hurts?” Tanjiro asked.

“A lot.” And if he wasn't seeing things, he saw rengoku for one second with a silly smile on his face, maybe wondering how to comfort you.

The second he blinked his eyes he was gone. What remained was his letter. Tanjiro handed the photo to you before leaving. He wondered if in another birth he gets to see the both of you reconcile.

He took a deep breath wanting to return to kanao. Maybe he would just ask her to marry him this year. He doesn't want to waste anymore time away from her.

“Where were you?” Asked zenitsu to inosuke, who went missing for a while. They are currently waiting for a train to go back home.

“To buy this.” Inosuke showed a butterfly hair pin decorated with blue crystals. It was beautiful.

“Woah. Who did you buy it for?”

“Aoi.” Tanjiro chuckled at his bluntness, while zenitsu smirked. It's funny how inosuke still gets both of their names incorrect but he never made a mistake in saying aoi’s name correctly. Who knows they might have two weddings…

Now that tanjiro had finally payed off the debt, he wished you happiness as he looked forward to a happier future. He will remember you, not as princess akiko, but as y/n.

“Let's go! I can't wait to see nezuko!!”

“Zenitsu watch out your way!!”

© strawberrymochin 24 | plagiarism won't be tolerated | comments are reblogs are appreciated | banners are by me |

Ryoumen Sukuna

Long Fics

Defiance | wc: 106k (complete)

summary: a psychic shares her vision with the king, saying that his soulmate would replace all 5 of his concubines one day. he had her banned from the premises for that absurd prediction. it wasn't until months later when he started believing the old bitch, after one cute yet disobedient servant started working at the shrine.

Controller | wc: 45.4k (on going)

summary: working as wasuke itadori's personal assistant wasn't all that bad. you got paid well, the hours were reasonable, he wasn't a complete asshole like most CEO's were. but there was a catch, and it came in the form of his charismatic son that trouble always seemed to follow. or maybe he was the problem? just don’t say you weren’t warned about him.

Short Fics

Hesitance | wc: 23.3k (complete)

summary: sukuna is a gym owner, and very fond of his least productive employee. this series includes a short fic + collection of moments the two have shared together during readers time working for him. side stories can be read on their own, but I highly suggest reading the hesitance 1 first to get a good idea of their dynamics.

No Rest for the Wicked | wc: 3.7k (on going)

summary: in which a certain mafia leader executes your employers entire clan, yet instead of killing you along with all the other house staff members, he decides to spare your life and makes you his own little maid. you hate him, he knows you hate him, and that's one of the many things he finds amusing about you. from this little blurb

One-Shots/Drabbles

Unspoken Bond

summary: sukuna gets into a motorcycle accident and forgets who you are.

husband!sukuna

nympho!sukuna

king!sukuna

All rights reserved © 2024 yenayaps. Do not copy, repost, translate, or modify my works in any platform

dividers by @cafekitsune

disclaimer: very much inspired by cdrama the princess royal and taking some elements from webtoon the broken ring: this marriage will fail anyway but of course, with my own twist here and there 🥹

Happy New Year 🍾🐉

IDGAF they are his kids now

myherotober day 4: monster

If only he was real and my man 😞🙏🏻

Title: Falling Into Place

Pairing: Shinichiro x Reader

Summary: A few misfortunate and fortunate events lead to you dating the leader of the Black Dragon. It turns out it’s not so bad. | Genre: Fluff | Warning: Bullying, some light angst | Words: 17.3K

‘Are we going to make one for Sano as well?’

Your hand that had just put your school shoes into your shoe locker paused briefly.  

When you came into the hallway to change your shoes, you did notice several girls from the B-class standing together and talking about something. Still, you did your best to ignore them, hoping they wouldn’t see you. You wished it was that easy. You wouldn’t bother them, and they would leave you alone, but you weren’t always that lucky.

You knew some of them from elementary and middle school, and it seemed with every year you were unfortunate enough to end up in the same school as them, they’ve only gotten worse. Even those you didn’t know personally growing up, you still knew to some extent. If only because they were all the same.

Mean, untrustworthy followers with obnoxious giggles. 

You were grateful that now in high school, you, at the very least, were lucky enough to end up in the A-class where it seemed the girls were much nicer or at least not as much under the influence of one girl in particular. The girl that was the sole reason you paid attention to what they were about to say, sensing something shitty and shady was coming.

‘What? Sano?’ asked the girl in that sweet voice you long since knew was just an act, just as everything else about her, ‘Well, I would love to. But I don’t support delinquents!’ she even added a little giggle at the end, causing some of the other girls who were standing around her to laugh as well. You rolled your eyes at her fake kindness.

‘I guess he will just remain a loser for Valentine’s Day too,’ said another one of your classmates just as you closed your locker shut, sparking another outburst of giggles from some of the girls and for you to frown even if you didn’t say anything and instead left so you didn’t have to be in the presence of those girls a moment longer.

‘Goodbye, y/n-chan. Have a nice day,’ called that girl with her sweet voice after you, and you had no choice but to wave at her and mumble a goodbye. You heard her comment on it. Something like that’s okay. She’s shy like that, and you force yourself to continue to walk, hoping you would be out of her mind, too, if you were out of her sight.

Stepping outside the school and breathing the fresh air you didn’t have to share with that girl and her followers was soul-cleansing.

You supposed everyone experienced a girl like that every once in their lives. Someone who always gathered a following and admiration from girls and boys alike. She always seemed to have it all together, a good and secure family, lots of friends, exciting experiences and vacations, and good grades, and everyone seemed to buy into her sweet persona. Everyone but you, it seemed.

This girl was like that ever since you knew her, and as shameful as it was to admit it yourself, it did take you a couple of years to correctly figure it out and see her for who she really was.

Before, you supposed you were one of her followers or at least getting there until, for some reason, she decided to exclude you from the group and make you a target instead. She had to have a reason. She had a reason for everything she did, but you never really understood why. Either way, you always told yourself you were better off especially given what you just heard.

Now, every time you heard or noticed another one of the mean tricks, she liked to pull on people unfortunate enough to simply met her in life, you couldn’t help but think about all those things she did before, even those you didn’t think were all that mean or cruel at the time, in a new light.

Are we going to make one for Sano?

No way!

Those words and that obnoxious giggle haunted you all the way home as you recalled your past experiences with that girl.

You knew what she was planning since something similar already took place in middle school. Back then, you two were classmates, and you naively believed friends because of how friendly and sweet she was. She suggested you and your female classmates should bake giri choco (obligatory chocolates) for every boy in your class so they wouldn’t feel excluded if they didn’t have anyone who wanted to confess to them.

Back then, it sounded like such a nice gesture. You really admired her for being such a good person. Of course, all the other girls agreed, and you all baked chocolates and handed them out on Valentine’s Day.

Everyone was happy and praised her for how nice and thoughtful she was to suggest such an idea. Even the teachers seemed impressed. You were impressed. Even if some of you were slightly disappointed since that was the year you tried to gather the courage to make chocolate for your crush. The friendly and funny boy who lived two houses from you and used to play with you behind his house. You liked him a lot and for a really long time, and you were hopeful that he might like you back. In the end, even if you couldn’t confess that year, you were glad to see so many people were in a good mood, and you took part in making it happen. It really boosted your self-esteem and made you giddy.

And besides, you told yourself, there was always next year. You weren’t going to be selfish after all.

Then a month later came White Day, and the boys, following the girls’ example, gave out white chocolates and other sweets to every single girl except for you.

You were shocked and humiliated, waiting for every single break until the last one when you would find something on your desk or your school bag, only to be crushed when you were the only one left without any gift at the end of the day. You didn’t understand it. Sure, you weren’t confident or naïve enough to expect a confession from your crush or anyone else. Still, at the very least, you did expect a reciprocate chocolate like all your classmates.

Your self-esteem and mood hit their lowest by the end of the school day when everyone talked about what they got and played a guessing game of which boy gave out their sweets, only for you to put your shoes on with a red face and tears threatening to break out of your eyes. You remembered being so confused, hurt, mortified, and upset.

As if the cruel fate wasn’t done with you just yet, that girl pointed out how weird it was and told you not to be sad that you ‘were the only one’ who didn’t get anything loud enough for every girl to hear and take pity on you.

At that moment, just as some girls patted your back or tried to hug you, reassuring you not to feel too bad about it, you saw that girl’s tiny smile. You thought it was cruel of her to smile when you were this upset. It was the first time you thought of her as anything other than a sweet and good person and friend.

It wasn’t until graduation that one of your classmates said she asked around and heard that someone spread the word that you didn’t participate in giving out the chocolate and, therefore, shouldn’t get any on White Day. By then, you were a target of some other jokes, so you already knew what that girl was all about and that she was behind this all.

It wasn’t the first time you heard about something that girl was planning. Although you knew it was shitty of her, you weren’t the type to tell on her, fearing what she might do to hurt you if she found out. You already ended up as her target a few times, and it was soul-crushing, to say the least.

At times, you often wished you were someone else. Someone braver who could stand up to her and who others would believe, but even in your fantasies, you more often than not allowed insecurities and self-doubt to win, imagining everyone calling you a liar and taking her side.

Sighing, you knew there wasn’t anything you could do. Not really, at least.

But...Sano-san will be hurt if he’s the only one without chocolate.

It shouldn’t bother you all that much.

You didn’t know Sano that well, apart from living in the same area and often ending up in the same schools. You two were always in different classes. You probably never even spoke directly to each other. You had a faded memory that you and a few other kids played tag together, but by then, you couldn’t even be sure about that.

And he was a delinquent. Everyone knew he was a part of the Black Dragon, their leader, so that should have been an immediate red flag that he wasn’t a good person, and everyone should stay away, but… 

You found yourself chewing on your lips nervously while walking home, taking the extended tour to gather your thoughts a bit.

Remember how much it sucked when you were excluded from something?

You crossed your arms, hoping you wouldn’t start to cry about something that happened back in middle school now, and instead thought about what you could do, missing the increasing sound of an approaching motorcycle.

‘Hey, look out!’ someone called. Before you knew it, you were pulled toward something solid and warm simultaneously as something fast and loud speeded by your ear, causing you to cower even more into the warmth, fearing you would get hit.

‘Fucker!’ you heard a male curse close to your other ear. You blinked a couple of times before glancing up, only to find Sano Shinichiro frowning at something in front of him.

You were stunned and confused, wondering if you mentally somehow brought the boy to your path by thinking about him and what that girl was planning so hard, only to realize that you were extremely close to him. In fact, given the pressure you felt around your shoulders and the warmth against your chest, side, and belly that seemed to pay no attention to the fact that you still had your uniform on, you realized he was holding you. You were in his arms.

‘S-Sano-san, w-what-what-?’ you stuttered, feeling your face grow red at the realization that Sano Shinichiro, a boy, this boy, was holding you against his chest with his body pressed into yours and his face so close you could count his eyelashes if you wanted to.

His dark eyes blinked, and before you could finish your questions, they were on you, and well, they were dark.

Your own eyes blinked, and your words drifted into silence as you were met with his gaze for the first time, noticing that Sano Shinichiro’s eyes were really dark. It wasn’t uncommon to have dark eyes in this country, but for some reason, you couldn’t help but think you didn’t often see dark eyes that were so pretty.

Upon meeting yours, that frown that was causing his brows to furrow and wrinkles over his forehead smoothed out, and his dark eyes obtained a very soft look.

Handsome, your mind supplied. Sano Shinichiro was lovely when he had this soft look inside his pretty dark eyes.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked, and once again, you could only blink, feeling out of character with yourself over what was happening, ‘W-what?’

‘He was driving like a maniac. He almost caught you that close to the sidewalk,’ he said, and you blinked again, taking his words and their meaning in realizing he probably saved you from the potential harm of some reckless driver. You wouldn’t even see it coming.

‘Oh, thank you,’ you said and felt the shock sustaining only for embarrassment and self-awareness to catch on, ‘Uh,’ you swallowed, worried your face was as red as a tomato before you finally said, ‘You can let me go now.’

That soft look disappeared as his eyes widened twice their size, and Sano pushed you away from him so fast you felt a bit hurt, ‘S-sorry, I didn’t mean to… I swear I’m not…like that!’

You pushed your personal feelings aside, realizing he probably was worried you would think he was a pervert for holding you that long. Not to mention you took pity on him knowing how often you worried what people might think about you, ‘It’s alright. You still saved my life, I think. Thank you.’

He reached to the back of his head and scratched his neck, looking really shy and uncomfortable now, ‘It’s fine. I’m glad you’re alright, y/l/n.’

You raised your eyebrows, unable to hide your surprise, ‘You know my name?’

Sano dark eyes shifted to your face again, ‘Of course, we’ve been in the same school since kindergarten. Never in the same class, though. It’s a bit funny,’ he chuckled, and a relaxed smile took hold of his face.

It suits him.

‘Yes, strange,’ you said, momentarily hypnotized by him. It was the first time you spoke to one another, engaged in contact, and overall shared an experience which must have been why it felt so odd.

You straightened yourself and fixed your school uniform, trying to gain some composure, ‘Well, have a nice day. I need to go home.’

It wasn’t the whole truth, but you didn’t know how to end the moment like this.

Sano didn’t seem to mind offering you another smile and a lazy but calm goodbye wave. Despite his reputation, he had a relaxed and positive aura around him. One you couldn’t seem to escape either.

‘Hey, you did?’ asked Sano and snatched some bags out of the hands of someone who must have been in the same gang as him even if that person didn’t even ask him to, ‘I was thinking about your problem and maybe….’

He and his friend got too far for you to hear, but it all still left an impact, wondering if you shouldn’t have warned him.

Wouldn’t you be more prepared if someone warned you that you were about to be singled out on White Day? Wouldn’t you somehow manage to skip school just to avoid the humiliation and spare some of your feelings? Wouldn’t you be grateful that you still had at least one ally despite everything?

You were too much of a coward to come up to Sano and tell him what that girl was planning to do. You couldn’t leave a note because there might be a chance that he would show it to someone and recognize your handwriting. He might have been a delinquent, but you knew about his failed attempts at confessing and how heavily he was ridiculed about it behind his back. You doubted even someone like him would manage to survive a mocking from that girl. In your mind, you couldn’t imagine anyone would.

You didn’t realize you stayed in the same spot looking at him until he turned around and looked back right at you.

Shocked, you realized it would seem like you were watching him leave, which you were, but not because you were just caught up in your thoughts.

About him… but not like THAT!

You turned around and ran, hoping you could save your face at least a little bit.

It really isn’t your problem. You barely know him, and he’s a delinquent. The Leader of Black Dragons.

You stopped yourself since you felt you were being unfair and lying to yourself a bit.

It was hard to explain because his gang friends did partake in the usual activities of minor vandalism, petty crimes, and other delinquent activities; you couldn’t help but think Sano was a decent enough guy. You did see him around the neighborhood. A delinquent or not, you did notice he was friendly to locals, caring, always asking them about their day and sparing precious time humoring them with a chat.

You knew he had three younger siblings he often dealt with and took care of and a grandfather who ran a dojo and was well respected and liked around.

You just couldn’t really label him a just delinquent, not when you could recall so many instances when he was more than that. And this was without you two being friends or talking. Something told you he might be a really good person.

 Besides…he just saved your life, knew your name, and he was-

-your mind supplied the image of his relaxed smile and the soft look in his dark eyes-

Nice.

Like so nice!

Talking to him gave you a comfortable warmth even if you were struggling with your dilemma.

I didn’t deserve to be excluded like that, and neither does Sano, you decided.

Seeing no other option, you came to your kitchen and pulled out some recipe book making Sano Shinichiro homemade chocolate.

Ridiculous, you kept on telling yourself.

It was ridiculous that because of the whole mess in middle school, you were never brave enough to actually make chocolate for your crush. Even an obligatory one that couldn’t be used against you, but here you were working on Sano’s. It must have been the near-death experience and him being your hero with dark eyes-

Don’t think about it! You warned yourself. You were crushing on your classmate, a goodhearted and sweet boy who had lived two houses from your own since middle school, and one of these years, you would have the courage to confess to him or move on. Just because Sano wasn’t so bad didn’t mean he was as good as your crush, and crushing on more than one person seemed selfish, right?

But you finished, and based on some testing, the chocolate turned out pretty good. Definitely even better than when you were in middle school.

You saved my life, Sano-san. Now we’re even.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

You planned to come to school early and drop the chocolate into Sano’s shoe locker, hoping even delinquents checked those before rushing away. No one would see you. No one would know. Sano would have chocolate just like everyone else. That girl’s malice plan would fail, and you would perhaps gain some good karma for your troubles, maybe in the form of your crush speaking with you on his own for once.

You were pretty sure about your plan, thinking it was more or less bulletproof, making sure not to look too interested in the news that those lovely girls from 3-B gave everyone chocolate up until your lunch break. Mentally, you praised yourself for executing such a rescue mission.

You knew something was up when you heard some of the boys who were eating by their desks whispering about something.

‘You know, y/n-chan,’ started that girl later that day, suddenly appearing by your desk without her usual flock of girls as her entourage.

By all those years you spent in her presence, you knew this meant she was about to do something she didn’t want anyone to witness, and even if you tried to be brave, it made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

You offered her your most disinterested face as you turned toward her smiling one you once thought was so pretty but now knew for a fact was just her being malice, ‘You should only give chocolate to people you like or everyone. It’s rather cruel to bring Sano-san’s hopes up like that.’

Your façade cracked as you frowned at the girl gathering some courage, even if not nearly as much as you would have liked, ‘Crueler than excluding him simply because you think you have some imaginary power?’

‘Well, it’s not my fault Sano-san is involved with gangs and such. Actions have consequences, and acting in such a way can really cause a person to be excluded, you know?’ she asked, looking as sweet as honey. Still, you were pretty sure she wasn’t talking just about Sano.

You watched her for a while before she giggled, ‘But that’s not the point, you know? You shouldn’t give chocolate to people you don’t like, y/n-chan. If you were going to single someone out. Wouldn’t you have picked someone else?’

She watched you like she knew a secret, which you thought was impossible because you never spoke or hinted that you were crushing on your classmate, your crush, even when you were friends.

She doesn’t know. She’s just being her usual self, trying to get under my skin. 

But then she giggled and looked ahead, and as much as you hated it, your eyes followed as well. There were three boys standing in front of another of your classmate’s desks, so you could have been looking at anyone, but when your eyes moved back, she was already looking at you like a canary who caught the mice, ‘It’s not very nice to get someone’s hopes up.’

You thought that was rather ominous and feared retaliation. Still, when she didn’t say anything else and gave you a friendly wave, you could only watch her leave with a sinking heart before your gazes returned to your crush.

Your nerves were getting the best of you, and your imagination created all sorts of scenarios about what she could have planned for you. When you received a note in your shoe locker at the end of the day, you didn’t even bother reading it and immediately tossed it into the trash.

Come and meet me behind the east wall after class.

As if!

Like hell, you were stupid enough to be left anywhere without witnesses now.

You instead rushed home, watching your back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, you ensured you never had to use the bathroom by sipping as little water as possible. And made sure you were always supervised during class during breaks. It worked since you sprinted down to your shoe lock after class only to find another note.

Come and meet me behind the east wall after class. 

Was she seriously trying to do the same thing twice? Well, she did use the same thing she tried in middle school on Valentine’s Day, so it was possible she wasn’t above repeating some things. But it did leave you puzzled.

It’s a trick…right?

Surely, her plan was to get you alone, and you were too cautious to fall for that. You tossed the message away and rushed home repeating everything you did yesterday, except this time, just as you were discussing if you could take a sip of some water, Sano Shinichiro appeared in your classroom, causing some of the boys to bow to him before he stopped by your desk with that relaxed smile on his face, ‘What will it take for you to come to meet me behind the east wall after the damn class?’

Your eyes widened, and your mouth parted, ‘T-that was you?’

Sano blinked, and a slight wrinkle appeared across his face as he frowned, unclear if he was confused or upset, ‘Who else did you think it was?’

Your eyes betrayed you once again, only this time your gaze followed to the door to your classroom, where one of the followers always waited to see if you would leave the room’s safety.

When you saw out of the corner of your eyes that Sano did the same, the girl quickly cowered away. She might have been brave enough to laugh behind his back. Still, just like many other people, she took the fact that Sano was a gang leader seriously enough not to get at odds with him.

It wasn’t the first time you noticed one of the girls from 3-B came to your classroom in the last two days, and you were still unsure what she planned to do if you decided to leave the room, but you didn’t like that she would now go report back to her leader and the other girls.

‘Hey,’ a warm palm suddenly appeared on your shoulder, bringing you back to the moment, ‘Are you alright?’

His frown was smoothed out, but it appeared there was something close to concern in his dark eyes as they traveled through your face trying to read you.

‘Yes,’ you lied, unsure how to explain to someone like Sano what was happening.

He watched you for a second longer as if giving you time to come clean which you couldn’t before he took a deep breath and nodded, taking his hand off you, ‘Behind the east wall after class. Be there, or I’ll come to your house.’

You blinked and leaned away, startled by that idea, ‘Don’t say stuff like that. It’s creepy.’

He blinked before he brushed the back of his head, looking sheepish, ‘I just meant... Just be there, alright?’

You decided to give him a break and nodded, ‘I will,’ your gaze shifted toward the door again, but the girl didn’t return, ‘Be there on time, please.’

‘I will. No worries,’ he assured you with ease, but you genuinely believed him for some reason. You didn’t know much about delinquents besides the rumors and bad reputation, but you assumed that for someone to become a gang leader, they had to be strong and responsible on some level.

You watched Sano leave, wondering what he could want to talk about. Did the girls tell him he wasn’t supposed to get chocolate, and he wanted to thank you? Did they steal it, and he never got it? But you were sure you heard all the boys got it this year from 3-B…, so what gives?

 You changed your shoes and met Sano behind the east wall, where he greeted you with that relaxed smile and sincere look behind his eyes. Oddly, whatever worries you had about what he could possibly want, melted away, at least until he opened his mouth.

‘I brought you this,’ he said. Suddenly, he pushed a white desert box and a plushie of your favorite animal into your arms, ‘I should have waited for March, I know, but I really couldn’t.’

Your eyes blinked as he carried on looking like a nervous wreck with the trembling, rambling, and rubbing of the back of his head messing his styled hair, ‘You were truly thoughtful, and I felt…I still feel really shitty that I didn’t ask you out myself first.’

Strange. He looks nothing like a gang leader now, you thought to yourself, realizing that the corners of your mouth lifted.

You opened your mouth and tried to speak as his words started to make sense, ‘My captains would riot if they knew their leader didn’t make the first move. Damn, it’s so uncool. I asked like twenty girls, and I should have…I should have asked you instead. Pathetic,’ he cursed at himself before his dark eyes widened, and he quickly clarified, ‘I’m pathetic, not you. You… you’re sweet and great.’

You raised your brows, finally managing a ‘You don’t really know me-’ in between his speech, but Sano didn’t waste time and quickly said, ‘I asked around about you.’

Somehow that was like a punch into the stomach that knocked all the air out of you as you suddenly realized what was happening and who was behind this.

You dropped the items in a moment of recklessness and covered Sano’s mouth with your palm, dread creeping into your heart and goosebumps covering your skin, ‘Did the girls in your class tell you about me? You can’t trust them… they’re…they….they play games, and don’t like me.’

Sano’s dark eyes widened a fraction before they dropped, seemingly looking at your palm on his mouth.

Startled, you pulled it away and stepped back, ‘They just… don’t like me.’

Sano frowned a bit, seemingly confused, ‘They said nice things about you.’

You looked away and sighed, wondering why did you bother in the first place. No guy would understand, ‘Trust me,’ you said and crossed your arms over your chest, thinking about their fake smiles and acts of kindness that they were lacking, not to mention their attempts at humiliating you or others, ‘girls aren’t as simple as you guys.’

‘Hey!’ he started, but when your eyes lifted toward him, there was no fight in his posture or expression. He merely rubbed the back of his head, ‘Well, I don’t know much about girls, so I can’t really say much about it.’

You nodded, glad he at least admitted such a thing.

He looked so uncertain now; before, he was nervous but giddy now; he seemed almost lost, ‘Are they like bullying you?’

‘No,’ you said all too quickly. You were unsure. Before, in middle school, you experienced some really shitty things from them. You were sure they bullied you back then, but now it just seemed like they were ignoring you or whispering their bullshit behind your back.

‘Okay. Is it…did I offend you because I didn’t ask you out before?’

You bit the inside of your mouth. You weren’t offended. You honestly didn’t really think about Sano asking girls around. Still, even if he was a delinquent, it was nice to have his attention for a moment right now. It was nice to have any attention, to be completely honest. You would graduate in a few months, and it felt like you were behind on the many things your classmates seemed to achieve. Logically, you knew it wasn’t a big deal and that many people were just late bloomers, but it sucked so damn much to be left out of things all the time.

You didn’t even kiss anyone or go on a single date. You had some friends but knew you weren’t overly liked or missed if you didn’t come to school. You were really lonely if you allowed yourself to think about it too much.

Your eyes fell on your gifts; at least someone thought they wouldn’t mind dating me.

You kneeled down and picked up the items before you returned them to him, ‘I don’t need you to give me anything. To be honest, I just gave you the chocolate because you saved my life the other day.’

And I didn’t want you to feel left out like I do, you thought but refused to say. He would feel bad, and he was lovely in this weird boyish way that seemed to be getting under your skin.

Sano’s face became unreadable, and you genuinely felt terrible, so you tried to explain, ‘I like someone else. Sort of.’

‘Like a boyfriend?’ he Sano, his face still not back to his previous relaxed self, but he sounded more or less like himself. It still made you feel shitty and wonder if you had made a mistake by telling him.

‘Like an unrequired crush,’ you clarified, ‘So don’t feel bad about not asking me out sooner.’

The dark-haired boy still didn’t seem too convinced, but he nodded, ‘I see,’ then, to your delight, he startled to laugh a bit and grinned at you, ‘You know I must have thought up about fifty outcomes for how this would go. This was not it.’

You shrugged your shoulders, ‘I’m just glad I didn’t get jumped or something.’

‘Come on, a bunch of high school girls can’t be that bad,’ he said and waved his hand while you rolled your eyes, ‘Clearly, you never became any girl’s target for bullying.’

He snatched the chocolate from you but nodded at the plushie, ‘Keep it. I still owe you something for the chocolate. It was delicious. Where did you buy it?’

You smiled, feeling your heart swell with pride, ‘I made it. If I was about to give anyone a chocolate, I would do it right.’

Sano opened the desert box and shoved some content into his mouth before offering you some as well.

You supposed there was no harm in that.

‘It was terrific. Your crush must be lucky.’

‘I never gave him any,’ you said and tasted some of the store-bought chocolate. It was good, but homemade was better, ‘It’s too-’

‘Sweet,’ finished Sano with a nod but took another one, ‘How come you never gave your crush any? Isn’t Valentine’s Day a perfect opportunity for that?’

You looked away, ‘It’s…just a crush.’

‘Well,’ Sano watched you for a while, and even if you couldn’t see his face, his voice was very upbeat and supportive, ‘if it’s half as good as the one you gave me, he would have to have dead taste buds not to love it.’

You crushed the plushie of your favorite animal closer to your chest as you felt heat enter your cheeks. It felt good to be praised like that, ‘Thank you, Sano-kun.’

‘Call me Shinichiro,’ he said and put his hand on your shoulder, startling you into looking at him, ‘And he’ll especially love it if it’s coming from such a sweet and nice girl like you, y/n-chan.’

Your eyes blinked several times really fast as a strange warmth spread across your chest. You couldn’t recall the last time some boy used your first name like that or said such a nice thing about you.

Your face burned, and you would much rather Sano wouldn’t notice, so you quickly tried to argue, ‘Don’t say that. You don’t really know me. We talked like three times-’

‘I told you, I asked around-’

‘Ah, no, those girls-’

‘It wasn’t just the girls; even so, they didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. You’re nice,’ he smiled, and you had to admit, it was a charming smile, ‘You could have left it with a thank you for helping you out the other day. Still, you invested your time to give me chocolate and…,’ he tilted his head. His dark eyes softened like they did last time, causing your insides to twist a bit, ‘Did you know if it wasn’t for your chocolate, I wouldn’t get any?’

You swallowed, going for a lie, but before you could, he chuckled and grinned, ‘Your face is all red, y/n-chan. If you’re like this with me, I wonder if your crush doesn’t know all about your feelings.’

You pouted and waved his hand finally away from your shoulder since it obviously did something to your circulation and caused you to heat up, ‘Can’t get all red if I don’t talk to him.’

Sano blinked, surprised, ‘Really? That’s sort of stupid.’

‘No one asked you,’ you said and started to walk Sano easily, catching up, ‘I just mean, if you really care for someone, you should tell them before it’s too late.’

‘I don’t plan to ever-’

You barely got behind the corner and froze, forgetting what you were trying to say in the first place.

There clearly, only because you would have to see them when you would be leaving, was your crush hugging that girl in a way that left no doubts about their relationship.

You were left speechless, trying to understand what you saw, even if it couldn’t be more precise.

It felt like a bad dream. You knew realistically, if you never confessed, you didn’t really have any right to feel like someone stole anyone from you, but at that moment, you couldn’t reason with yourself.

Especially not when that girl leaned away and almost immediately looked at you as if she knew you were coming, ‘Ah, what a coincidence, y/n-chan.’

What was worse was that your crush wasn’t even looking at you; he was only looking down at the girl with a dopey smile on his face, clearly like someone who cared a lot about her.

‘Ara, ara,’ said that girl in that sweet voice you long since learned was fake, ‘what’s with those teary eyes?’

Your eyes widened as you realized she wasn’t lying.

You felt your eyes hurt the way they usually did right before you were about to cry. You could even feel the lump inside your throat, which meant if you were to open your mouth and make a single sound, you would start crying like a baby right there in front of your crush, that girl, and Sano.

No! NO! NO! NO!

You must have flinched or moved, ready to bolt it, regardless of how bad it would look, knowing nothing would be more humiliating that crying right now since your crush would find out why.

Suddenly, you felt a firm and grounding touch on your right shoulder, offering comfort even before he spoke confidently and authoritatively, ‘Don’t make fun of her.’

Your heart, which was already speeding from the adrenaline, started to beat even faster, ‘She’s crying because of me.’

Your eyes looked over at Sano and blinked some of the tears, jumping away, but most of them retreated back as you were shocked by his words.

He looked so different now, just as he had when he saved you on the street.

Intense, you thought to yourself. He looked strong enough to make people follow and believe in him. Surprisingly, you included.

‘Huh?’ spoke your crush, but your eyes remained on Sano partly because it relieved you from your heartache to look at him and have him touch your shoulder like that and partly because you feared if you looked back at your crush, you would start to wail.

Then came the chuckle, and your tears were forgotten in favor of shock and anger. It wasn’t a nice fun chuckle. You heard those enough in your lifetime to know that. It was mean, like a mockery.

‘So what? Not only you can’t get a girl, but you also make them cry now?’ ‘joked’ your crush, but you hardly found any humor in such a statement, mainly because being this close to Sano and having his hand on you, you could physically feel him flinch like the comment struck a nerve.

You watched the boy for a while and noticed how he seemed pleased with his joke, and for the first time in a very long time, he didn’t look as handsome or worthy of your admiration. Did he really think so highly and better of himself simply because Sano was involved with gangs? He wasn’t even fearful about the fact just thought it was beneath him.

He had a similar look to the girl who loved to hurt you so much, and at that moment, you couldn’t help but think they probably deserved each other.

‘Now, don’t be like that,’ said that girl in her overly sweet voice, ‘Besides, you shouldn’t make assumptions when you don’t know what really happened. Right y/n-chan?’

You watched the girl feeling your annoyance grow. Why did she always like to toy with you so much? She obviously planned for you to catch them. Did she expect you to confess you were upset because she stole your crush? Did she want you to humiliate Sano by confessing to you and you rejecting him?

You hated how much power she seemed to have.

You brushed your face, annoyed that some tears got away before you said, ‘You’re right,’ you said, and for a moment, you could see how pleased with herself she looked, ‘You shouldn’t make assumptions like that. You’re not very good at them,’ you said, looking at her before you looked at your crush again, ‘In fact, Shinichiro made me really happy with his confession,’ it wasn’t a lie, not really. Even if you were stressed about it, it did feel good that someone chose you like that, ‘He even brought me my favorite animal,’ you squeezed the plushie to your chest, soaking some comfort from it before you smiled and looked at the dark-haired boy by your side who was still holding onto your shoulder.

He could have ratted you out now or accidentally revealed you surprised him, but instead, he just looked at you. His gaze wasn’t soft or surprised, but curious and maybe a hint of playful now that sort of forced you to continue, ‘It’s a beautiful thing when someone offers you their heart. Especially if they’re as amazing as Shinichiro. I just got a bit emotional by it.’

You said and shrugged your shoulders, sparing a single glance at the two noticing how some of the previous smugness wasn’t on their faces anymore.

You turned back at Sano, who turned to look at you as well, now grinning, ‘I don’t mind. You’re pretty even when you cry,’ then while still keeping his hand on your shoulder, his other one reached over and brushed your cheek and some lost tears away, ‘But don’t do it too often. Happy tears or not, I prefer you more when you’re smiling.’

Your mouth shut closed, and you were sure you were red again from how hot your face felt.

The touch was too relaxed, gentle, and familiar for your liking, but you found it easy not to flinch and give up the ruse.

Sano then pulled you closer to his side and looked at the two before you, ‘Later.’

Just like that, he took you with him away without a second glance, wave, or polite wish for a nice day. You heard the girl call after you, but luckily it was after you were a bit away, and Sano’s shoulder blocked the words.

You were a bit out of it all, which was probably why you failed to notice when you appeared in front of Sano’s bike.

‘Here,’ he said and handed you a helmet.

‘What? No way, I can’t ride with you!’ you said, a bit too panicked.

His dark eyes danced across your face momentarily before he asked, ‘Why not?’

You were sure your face spoke loud and clear about your reservations regarding the bike.

‘It’ll be fine,’ he said with a certain ease that would cause you to be annoyed, except his dark eyes looked incredibly grounding with their strange confidence, ‘I took my little brother with me before, and it was fine. He’s eight,’ he grinned when he said that, and you bit your lip to stop it from smiling. You had no business doing that when you were lured into a death trap like this. Come on,’ he assured you and raised his hand with the helmet for you to take once more.

You eyed the thing reluctantly before you looked into his eyes again. There were traces of amusement like he could tell he would convince you. Still, they also had rock-solid confidence as if he knew he would keep you safe when you decided to accept, ‘You can trust me.’

You were still afraid, but it was true, he just supported your little lie back there, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle to have some faith in his riding skills. Not to mention he saved your life the other day.

Your teeth let go of your lip as you very hesitantly said, ‘Promise not to go too fast.’

The boyish grin he shot you was almost worthy of your fears and anxiety over the ride. Almost. It was a pretty grin, but you would like to think you were better than to let something like that get to you so quickly.

‘I promise.’

He tossed that word around so quickly, yet you couldn’t help yourself and believe him. It made you wonder if he didn’t become a gang leader just by smiling at people and promising them stuff. Even you could see the appeal, and you hardly knew the boy and had just had your heart sort of broken by a crush, who hopefully would never know you liked him.

You felt the pressure inside your throat and heaviness inside your eyes once again. Still, you refused to have Sano, a victim of another waterfall of tears for someone who was so rude to him.

You pushed away the warmth from your chest and took the helmet, switching it for your plushie.

Sano gave you a moment before he motioned for you to come closer and helped you secure the helmet responsibly and carefully.

You watched his face so close all the way he worked, wondering how he could look so relaxed, almost carefree yet caring, before you mumbled, ‘Thank you.’

He just grinned at you and knocked his knuckles against the helmet, ‘Don’t worry about it.’

You told him to drop you off at the end of your street to avoid meeting your family, that would surely freak out if they found you riding back with a known delinquent on top of it. You didn’t think it would matter how serious you would be about Sano being a good person.

Once you sat behind him, he glanced back at you, and you could see the slight frown on his face, ‘You need to come closer. I don’t want you to accidentally fall off.’

As if he wanted to demonstrate to you that it could have been an issue, the bike jolted, sending you stumbling against his back, pressing into his body for the third time since you spoke with him less than a week ago.

The experience made you both regret you ever agreed to the ride and throw your arms around his middle.

If anyone saw us now, they would surely think, I’m some desperate lovesick girlfriend, you thought to yourself, realizing you never properly discussed what happened with your crush and that girl. Oddly, you felt relieved as you didn’t wish to dive into all of that just yet.

You heard his easy-going laughter and then felt his hands on your wrist, pealing them a bit from him, ‘Careful, or instead of holding onto me, you’ll spoon me.’

Your face is hot as you let out a tight and embarrassed, ‘Shut up.’

He tried to look at you, but with your red cheeks and crippling fear, you were nowhere near a state you could look back at him.

Sano seemed to accept that, as in the next moment, he started the bike and finally took you guys away.

After a few minutes, the sensation of air against your body and movement got bearable, even enjoyable, if it wasn’t for the fact that your doubts and insecurities caught onto you, repeatedly replying to what happened back in the school. You felt like such an idiot. That girl knew you liked that boy, and she might even know you liked him for a while, and she thoroughly used it against you to make you suffer. You were beyond the point of believing she actually liked him and just so happened to be confessing to him in a place she would know you would see them. You knew her better than that, even if everyone assumed nothing but the best from her.

I wonder what did I ever do to her for her to hate me so much to do those things, you thought to yourself, and before you knew it, you realized you tightened your hold on Sano.

You expected him to loosen it once more, but instead, for a brief moment that he was waiting for a green light, his hand brushed your wrist, and you heard him say, ‘I got you, y/n-chan.’

Having his back to him and knowing he couldn’t see you, it felt all too easy and right to lean forward and press the top of your helmet against his back below his neck. It felt comforting. Something you would never have guessed the leader of the Black Dragon could make you feel, but he did.

You snuggled closer to him with the excuse that you didn’t want to fall down from the bike at that speed. Still, you would be lying if you didn’t admit that when Sano stopped at the corner you instructed him to, you felt slightly disappointed that it was all over.

‘Thanks for the ride,’ you said and returned his spare helmet to him.

When Sano reached for it, his palms pressed against yours, and you noticed his relaxed expression was gone. Instead, he looked rather grave, saying, ‘You shouldn’t cry for those people. They don’t deserve a single one of your tears, and you already gave them plenty.’

You wanted to check if you didn’t start to cry again, feeling a bit like an idiot, but Sano’s hands kept on holding onto yours on his helmet, ‘Yeah?’

Your eyes blinked, hypnotized a bit by his pretty dark ones that looked so convincing it did something to your insides, making it hard to focus on anything else.

Weird, you thought to yourself trying to brush it all as you were emotional about everything that happened today.

You cleared your throat, trying to appear normal and not like a lunatic, ‘O-okay.’

He finally took the helmet just as right about the last person you wished to see you called out your name. Your family was alright in general. Much better than when you were a kid, but you still couldn’t help but often feel like an outsider who kept most of her struggles to herself. You just couldn’t bring yourself confine in them as quickly as you knew other people could.

When you heard your name being called by one of your family members, you knew it would be troublesome if they saw you with someone like Sano.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You knew your worst fears came to life when you found yourself sitting beside Sano at your kitchen table. At the same time, your family questioned the two of you about everything and anything.

What a nosy bunch, you thought to yourself, irritated over how rude some of the questions were. 

You weren’t even sure how it happened. One moment you and Sano were about to part ways, and the next, your relative dragged the boy into your home, yelling, ‘Y/n brought home her boyfriend!’ They made it sound as if you brought home a winning lottery ticket for some reason. 

Luckily, Sano didn’t seem to take any offense either at being forced to dinner or the rude question. He quickly joked and even made fun of himself, keeping the mood somewhat positive and pleasant for everyone.

‘Ah, well, that’s nice. This one sure worked hard on making that chocolate for you.’

It got on your nerve relatively fast how lovesick they made it out to appear when the reality was somewhere entirely else about the whole Valentin’s chocolate. But you held it back, quietly playing with your food instead. Your family meant well, but it often felt you were the odd one to their loud and cheerful personas. You were simply different.

‘I’m glad. It was delicious,’ said Sano, ‘I got her a plushie, but it almost doesn’t feel like it’s enough.’

‘Oh, that cute thing. It’s so nice you knew her favorite animal.’

‘I still can’t believe those girls remember that,’ you mumbled mostly to yourself since it seemed no one at the table was really paying attention to you. 

True, once upon a time, you were friends with the girls, who were now soulless followers, but even back then, it felt like they ignored what you had to say.

‘No,’ blurted Sano, and you looked at him for the first time since this annoying dinner started, ‘I saw the keychain on your school bag the other day and figured you had to like it enough to carry it around.’

He offered you a boyish grin, and you couldn’t help but stare at him before you returned to your food, puzzled. It shocked you that when he was saving you on the street, he had time to notice that keychain you bought your first year in high school. He wanted to give you something special you would like instead of just some sweets. It seemed like a lot an effort to put in for someone you didn’t even consider girlfriend material before. You doubted Sano thought about you all that much until the day he saved you, and he confessed you weren’t on his radar when he was asking his classmates and some girls in his school out, so the plushie meant a lot. 

Then again, it also seemed like a lot an effort to make chocolate for some delinquent who helped you out once.

You glanced at him again when he fell into another series of twenty questions with your family, and you couldn’t help but feel happy about his presence this close to you.

Weird, you told yourself not for the first time that day and finished your food.

Your good mood didn’t last, as someone pointed out that Sano would have a lot of work to try to figure out what you were thinking because of how quiet you were.

‘I’m not quiet, just selective about people I talk with,’ you clarified, helping pick up the dishes. Still, for the first time, you were excused and told to show Sano your room and toy collection, which spiked your blood pressure because they were not toys, even if they were stuffed animals. It showed just how worried your family must have been about you staying forever alone if they were this desperate to get you a boyfriend. They didn’t mind a boy coming into your room one bit.

‘I’m glad you thought I was worthy,’ said Sano, and you rolled your eyes before he continued with a smirk, ‘It makes me feel even more special when you talk to me.’

You paused on your way to your room, realizing what he was talking about, and shrugged your shoulders, ‘You’re alright.’

He continued grinning as if you told him the highest praise before you finally showed him your room. It perfectly represented you and your interests down to your favorite animal collection.

You settled your new addition between the old ones and spoke, ‘I’m still surprised you noticed that keychain the other day on the street. Everything happened so fast.’

Sano, who was busy analyzing the items on your desk, hardly looked at you, ‘Nah, I saw it on your bag all the time in school.’

It was strange to think he noticed you before he helped you.

Before everything that happened.

You noticed him too, but he was a gang leader member, so that was a given.

He didn’t stay long, for which you were eternally grateful as you weren’t sure how much weirdness you could handle for one day, and you didn’t even start on your homework.

As you wished him goodbye by his bike, he tossed you another one of his boyish grins that made his face very handsome, ‘I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow morning too, alright? I already promised,’ he nodded at your house, where your family sort of bullied him into picking you up for school, so you wouldn’t have to wake up as early as you did.

‘You don’t have to do that. They were just being obnoxious,’ you assured him, but he shook his head, ‘It’s fine. I don’t mind.’

Your eyes moved away because it felt a tiny bit uncomfortable to see him look at you so calmly before you noticed he didn’t put on his helmet, ‘Aren’t you going to put it on?’

‘No, it’ll ruin my hair,’ he said, putting his hands up as if showing his hair to some imaginary audience. His hairstyle was a bit funny, but it suited him. Still, you couldn’t help yourself but comment, ‘A helmet is a part of your bike for a reason. Are you going home or to meet someone?’

‘Why?’

‘Well, if you don’t have any gang duties or are going to meet friends, then it doesn’t really matter if you mess up your hair,’ you said before you shrugged your shoulders and sighed in defeat, ‘Wear your helmet, Sano-san. Please,’ you said and looked away, feeling the heat rising into your cheeks over your request. He could do whatever he wanted. You just wished he would do it safely.

‘How about we make a deal?’ he asked, and you forced your eyes back to his face.

He was grinning, and his dark eyes shone with amusement, ‘You’ll call me Shinichiro again, and I’ll wear my helmet when I’m on my way home.’

You opened your mouth, recalling how you used his first name so carelessly when lying to those two at school. 

The fact that his face looked so happy now did something to you, but you didn’t allow the warm sensation to make you weak, ‘How about I call you Shin-kun, and you wear your helmet all the time?’

‘You drive a hard bargain, y/n-chan,’ he said, but he looked nothing but satisfied, ‘Fine, I’ll bite.’

He put the helmet over his pompadour, obviously ruining it, ‘Let’s give it a try.’

You nodded and stepped closer, knocking your knuckles against the helmet on top of his head before you offered him a small smile, ‘Thank you, Shin-kun.’

You hoped he could tell you meant more than just the helmet, and based on the softness that entered his dark eyes, you knew he did.

You stepped away and waved at him before he disappeared from your side, realizing it was the third time you watched him leave you, but for the first time, you weren’t annoyed.

You returned to your home and dodged the family’s attempts to tease you about saying goodbye to your boyfriend until you got to the security of your room, where you realized something.

We didn’t really talk about the whole pretend boyfriend/girlfriend thing.

Everything happened so fast, and you could tell Sano-Shin didn’t want to cause you more anguish by talking about what happened in school. Your family just assumed he had to be a boyfriend since you made him chocolate, and he brought you home with a plushie. You attempted to say it wasn’t like that. Still, they just thought you were being secretive and shy as usual, so after the first failed try, you let them believe whatever they wanted.

It’s unreal, so I’m sure it won’t be a big deal, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You couldn’t have been more wrong if you wanted to.

Shin followed his promise and came to pick you up, much to your family’s delight.

Oddly, you were glad to see him. You wouldn’t say you were a total loner, but you knew you lacked severely in the friends’ department. You used to think you had a lot of friends, but with time you realized it didn’t make you friends just because someone was polite or even friendly with someone.

You figured that the fact that you felt cozy inside when you saw the boy waiting for you by his bike was probably because it was a while since someone wanted your company for more than a moment.

The ride was less scary for you than the first one, and you even found yourself smiling a lot at the fact that Shin brought a spare helmet for you.

When he got you to school, you patiently waited for him to style his hair, giving him occasional pointers. You had the time since the boy showed up with some time to spare, ‘Here, let me.’

You did your best not to touch him anywhere but his hair. You combed and styled it as best as possible before stepping away from him, noticing how red his cheeks and face looked.

You bit the inside of your mouth to hide your own smile and embarrassment while Shin stated it was good and you could go.

When you entered the school with Shin by your side, you immediately felt everyone’s eyes on you. It was more than a bit unnerving, and when their looks got replaced with whispers, your heart sank at some of the rude things the students said like I bet he’s paying her, or I didn’t think she was so easy.

That last one earned the boy a sucker punch so fast, you didn’t even catch it until he was on the ground with Shin standing above him, ‘Don’t ever say that again.’

His voice was surreally icy, unlike anything he had used around you until now. Even when he was pissed at the driver who almost hit you or your ex-crush, he still remained human. This made him sound appropriately dangerous.

You didn’t bother sparing the boy on the ground another look, and instead, you found yourself taking hold of Shin’s arm, trying not to blush too hard about it all, ‘Let’s go. He’s not worth it.’

‘You’re right,’ he said, and only when he looked at you did you see his tense and dangerous vibe fade a bit.

However, he didn’t leave and instead called out, ‘Listen up! If I ever hear anyone of you say stuff like that again, you’re going to regret it.’

You felt a shiver rush through your body, and you tried to distract yourself by pulling Shin with you further into the building, ‘Let’s just go, please.’

You didn’t say it out loud, but it meant a lot to you that Shin stood up for you like that. You realized yesterday he was much better than people thought about him. You included. Initially, at least. 

Before you split up, he patted your shoulder with a grin as his previous dangerous vibe was utterly gone, ‘Wait for me after school, yeah?’

You couldn’t hardly keep the smile on your face when you nodded. 

It felt good to have someone in your corner again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since then, it seemed whoever was talking about you did so in secret because you could still feel gazes on you at times, but no one dared to be loud and rude to you anymore.

Well, at least I don’t have to hear what they think of me; you told yourself. You were used to being ignored or shit-talked like this by the followers and that mean girl, so it wasn’t all that different. Plus, you would be lying if you didn’t find some amusement in the fact that whenever you lifted your eyes to glance at someone who mentioned your name, their face went pale. Their eyes widened in fear that you would rat them out to Shin. 

Shin and his gang could make some money by protecting bullied middle and high schoolers. It couldn’t be the worst gig. 

You felt good about things for several days until you went to the restroom. As it seemed you and Shin stumbled upon a specific routine with him giving you rides, there wasn’t anything different about that day. You spoke with some friendly classmates. You could feel just how eager they were to ask you about everything that happened with Shin, but they didn’t, so you didn’t bother bringing it up. It didn’t seem like their business anyway.

So far, neither of you mentioned you weren’t an actual couple. Simply letting people talk whatever they wanted, given how much praise you noticed Shin got from some of his male classmates and friends the first day, you wondered if it maybe improved his status or something if people thought he finally landed a girlfriend.

It felt strangely rude to say you weren’t together for some reason, and since no one asked you directly, you figured you would just let them think whatever they wanted to. 

The moment you heard the door to the restroom open while you were still in the stall, you knew you would be in trouble.

Afterward, as you sat on the closed toilet long after the last class was over, you debated how long it would take for someone to find you. You figured that girl and her followers must have told every other girl not to use this restroom, and it seemed no matter how loudly you called for help, no one could hear you.

As mean as it was, it was primarily annoying to be left stranded in a locked stall. You were just grateful those girls weren’t childish enough to try and get you wet like they once did in middle school. It could have been a lot worse, but you doubted it would do you any good to be left inside the restroom all night. Indeed, if you didn’t come home, your family would notice, but who was to say they would realize something must have happened in school and not on your way home?

Hopefully, they won’t think Shin did anything to you, you wondered to yourself.

When the door opened, you were conflicted if you should scream or not since it could have been one of those girls returning to do something worse to you.

‘Y/N-chan?’ called out Shin’s distinguished voice, and you breathed a sigh of absolute relief, feeling your eyes tear up for the first time since you realized those girls locked you inside the stall, ‘I’m here.’

You immediately heard a loud hit that shook the stall a bit and then found the door could finally be opened to reveal the dark-haired boy, ‘Are you alright? One of my captain’s girls came to say-Hey, hey, are you hurt?’

You shook your head and covered your face, unable to stop yourself from crying. You were surprised that when you saw him, you felt so pathetic and grateful all at once, and given that you were really stressed out and scared about what would happen to you, it just all came crashing down. 

‘I-I…shit,’ suddenly you felt Shin take hold of your arm, and in the next moment, you were pressed against his solid and warm body while his hand kept a grip on the back of your head, ‘I’m here. I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner, but I’m here now, and you’re alright, okay?’

You couldn’t speak as all that came out were sobs and hiccups revealing your anguish, so for now, you simply nodded against him, hoping your tears weren’t soaking his clothes too much. A part of you felt awful letting out all those thoughts and feelings you spend the last hour or so trying to contain. Still, a more significant portion of you felt nothing but relief and gratitude for the dark-haired boy.

Shin kept you in his arms for a really long time, and you would happily remain there even longer. Still, you felt it was time to let go as the embarrassment from what you were doing caught onto your weak heart, ‘Thank you.’

You stepped back, and he let you, but his hand merely moved from your back to your arm, ‘Are you alright?’

You nodded without meeting his eyes.

He kept on looking at you while you refused to look back at him until he sighed and spoke, ‘So girls, huh? Who would have thought?’

You finally look at his face only to shoot him a look, ‘Only a boy wouldn’t know what they could do. Besides, this was nothing.’

His face was grave; you could tell by how he narrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t like your words, ‘So this happened before?’

You shrugged your shoulders, ‘This and other things. I shouldn’t have gone to the restroom alone. It’s my fault.’

He squeezed your shoulder, ‘Be honest. Is it because everyone thinks…well…,’ he didn’t finish, but the slight flush of his cheeks and his voice crack was enough for you to guess what he meant.

We’re together.  

You shook your head. Even if that was the case, you wouldn’t want to hurt Shin like that. Not when he was the only one who helped you so much and did so many little and small things for you. And it was barely days when you started talking to him, ‘No, they didn’t like me since middle school. I don’t know why.’

He was silent for a moment before he surprised you with the confident look that took over his face. One that spoke of authority and seriousness.

‘This won’t happen again. I’ll make sure of it.’

You didn’t have any heat inside you to argue or tell him he couldn’t really help you. He might have been a gang leader, but you doubted he had the guts or ruthlessness to threaten or hurt a girl. Even if a small sinister and exhausted from all of these mind games, part of you wished he would.

He took you home and told you he would also pick you up the next day. You barely acknowledged that and simply wished him a safe trip before you went home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Shin could tell you were over what happened and didn’t wish to bring it up, so he dropped it and instead talked to you about some unknown facts he learned about the animals in your collections.

You figured he was trying to cheer you up, so you let him reward him by asking him a few things about bikes that you quickly found was his endless pit of knowledge. You would be lying if you said you were all that interested in the subject, but something about the way Shin’s eyes seemed to shine with life and passion when he spoke got under your skin and made it impossible not to crave to see it more.

That girl and her followers must have found another victim because they largely ignored you for a while.

However, little by little, you notice some odd occurrences happening around you.

It started when one day after Shin dropped you off but decided to skip, you found two of your classmates furiously cleaning your desk.

When they saw they were caught, they bowed to you and quickly explained, ‘Someone spilled something, y/l/n-san.’

‘But we managed to clean it almost all up.’

You gratefully thanked them, confused by their generosity since, apart from school stuff, they never bothered to speak with you.

A little after that, you found your shoe locker opened, but apart from your shoes, there was nothing there, and even if that seemed silly, you thought one of the 2nd year boys was standing guard over it.

A week later, you watched as your classmates pushed one of those girls that was a follower out of your classroom. She shot you a nasty look as she was passing you by, but she didn’t say anything, and when you came into the room, you found two other classmates, all boys picking up your things off the floor.

They didn’t tell you anything, and you were too confused to say anything either, so you just helped them with the rest of your stuff onto your desk and allowed them to return to their seats.

Then came the day you felt brave enough to go to the restroom again. It was empty, so you tried to be as quick as possible, and just as you were about to leave, you heard someone yell outside.

Reluctantly, you exited, hoping you weren’t about to get jumped or something, only to find five boys, only one from your class, with their backs toward the restroom, keeping any of the girls outside from entering by the looks of it.

‘What’s going on?’ you finally found the guts to ask while the girls were allowed to enter, only for one of the boys to hesitantly admit, ‘The Black Dragon issued a warning that if anything happened to you around the school, they would come after every guy who didn’t protect you.’

You were left speechless.

That’s a joke, right?

With the bit of spare time you had left, you went to seek out Shin. Until now, you only ever saw him on your way to and from school. He was surprisingly punctual, only sometimes coming late in the morning, but with the excuse that he couldn’t get his younger brother, Mikey, out of bed fast enough.

‘Did you…,’ you started unsure how to form your question feeling strangely tender inside over what that student revealed to you.

Shin was looking at you; all the while, his other classmates silently kept their distance as if they knew better than to try and eavesdrop, ‘Did you tell your gang to threaten guys into protecting me?’

He raised his hand, touching the top of the doorway, looking as relaxed as he always had with his dark eyes softening at your sight, ‘I gave you my word I wouldn’t let anything like that happen to you ever again. I would be a shitty leader if I didn’t stick to it,’ he grinned.

You watched him feeling your face warming up. Everything from his words to his leisure posture to what he did to ensure you didn’t have to fear your bullies caused you to feel beyond happy to have him in your life and like you didn’t deserve him at all.

Your heart speeded up, and the unfamiliar urge to reach out and touch him, somehow, anywhere, just so that you would be connected arose, confusing you. You never had a need like this before.

‘You’re too kind,’ you found yourself saying, knowing your cheeks must have been flushed, ‘Are you sure you’re a delinquent?’ you asked instead of any soft and cheesy words that came into your mind.

He hummed, his dark eyes never leaving yours, ‘Well, hopefully, none of those guys will slip up, so I won’t have to show you just how much of a delinquent I can be.’

You had to cover the side of your face and look away because you felt far too warm and fluffy inside over his words for some reason.

It’s that stupid voice, for sure. 

‘What do you like to eat?’ you asked him, and he blinked at you, puzzled by the question, ‘What?’

You shrugged your shoulders, ‘I’ll make you something. You…you really did a lot for me.’

When he grinned at you, you felt your heart speed up even more and wondered how long an appropriate time was to forget about one crush and gain another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You didn’t really plan to discuss what happened to you in middle school or how being on your own in high school affected you. But with Shin and the hours you spent in one another’s company when you learned more and more about his life, they just sort of came out. 

‘You must really hate her that she even took your crush from you,’ he said as he stopped eating the food you got him. You didn’t always make him something, but whenever you agreed upon it up front, you did, and occasionally, you even tossed some sweets for him and his siblings or captains.

You thought about it, ‘I hated that she made me cry and got under my skin, but…I sometimes see them in class, and I don’t really care,’ you admitted, ‘It was just a crush anyway, and I’m kind of grateful I never confessed.’

‘Yeah?’ he asked and had a strange look behind his dark eyes, ‘What if he would accept?’

‘I wouldn’t get to know you,’ you said before you could stop yourself and quickly turned away, ‘You know, since what boyfriend would like his girlfriend to hang with a gang leader and all and – and I would never have gotten those girls off my back so-’

Shin tossed his head back and laughed. 

You would have given him a piece of your mind, but you were too hypnotized by how beautiful he looked at that moment sitting in the school’s room, looking so happy and carefree.

‘I get it, y/n,’ he said and started eating again, smiling with a look that made you want to toss your arms around him and pull him closer.

Your cheeks were on fire again, but even if just a tiny bit, so were his, ‘I’m sort of glad none of those girls I liked ever accepted my confession either. I wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.’

Your heart pounded so hard that even people outside the roof had to hear it.

You wished all so desperately to be braver at that moment than you were and reach out to touch him somehow but found it impossible to do so even when he got you to feel all mellow inside like this. 

Back in middle school, when you were forced to postpone your confession to your crush, you merely told yourself you would do it later. It wasn’t really a promise back then, not even a proper note for the future. It was more like an empty thought. One that wouldn’t cause you too much anguish if you never followed through with it because how could it? 

Now, however, looking at Shin, the most beautiful and unique boy, you have ever met, you refuse to let it stay just a thought and idea for the future. 

No, now, you would make it a promise. Something you couldn’t cower over forever. Something you would most definitely follow through with because how could you not?

Soon, you promised yourself in silence before offering him a kind smile feeling your entire heart agreed with you. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes after you started to hang out more in school too, you found yourself in an unfortunate situation with some members of his gang. It was an unlucky coincidence, really.

You were alone in the grocery store when two tall and intimidating-looking gang members caught you and tried to steal your wallet. Until then, you only ever saw the members of the infamous Black Dragons around the neighborhood, but with the exception of Shin, you never spoke to any of them. 

You held your breath, dreading what they would do with you and hoping they would just take your money and leave when one of them pulled open your wallet.

His eyes doubled in size, and he started to stutter, ‘Y-y-y-our n-name is-is-’

You became less fearful, and it seemed his partner was just as confused as you before he snatched your wallet from the boy and started to panic, too, ‘Y/L/N… that’s your name? OH NO!’

Suddenly both boys were on their knees, bowing to you and begging you for mercy, ‘PLEASE, DON’T TELL THE KING ABOUT THIS!’

‘HE’LL KILL US!’

‘HE’LL TELL HIS CAPTAINS TO KILL US!’

‘WE DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS YOU!’

‘BUT NOT BECAUSE HE DOESN’T TALK ABOUT YOU!’ 

‘HE DOES!’ 

‘ALL THE TIME!’ 

‘WE’RE SORRY!’ 

‘WE’RE STUPID!’

You didn’t even have time to say anything before they returned your wallet, snatched your bags, and told you they would walk them home for you.

You told yourself you wouldn’t say anything about them but then decided you would feel sort of shitty if you knew something like this could happen to anyone else.

So far, you didn’t have a reason to use the phone number you got from Shin, but you supposed today’s misadventure was a good enough reason.

‘Moshi, moshi,’ greeted a child on the other end, and for a moment, you were unsure what to do until you heard a slight groan, ‘Not funny, you pedo-’

‘Wait!’ you called out, startled, ‘Sorry, is… Shin there?’

‘Who’s asking?’

You opened and closed your mouth. Throughout the last couple of weeks, the two of you never discussed the fact that everyone around the school assumed you two were a couple. It wasn’t like anyone else brought it up, so you two just sort of carried on getting to know each other and became close. You would consider yourself friends, but the truth was you knew you were crushing on him a lot by now. Not to mention, he did try to confess to you after Valentine’s Day. It was, overall, a strange situation, and you were too shy and awkward to bring it up.

‘Well?’ demanded the child, and you cleared your throat, trying not to blush too hard, ‘Just tell him y/n is calling.’

‘His girlfriend? Huh, so you’re real? Though he made you up,’ he said, and you couldn’t help but chuckle at his bored tone.

‘Hey,’ he said with much more amusement, ‘Say, how come you decided to date someone as weak and stupid as my brother?’

You grimaced, recalling some stories about Shin’s younger brother, Mikey, that now made a lot more sense when you heard how he spoke about his older brother. ‘Well, I can’t speak much about his strength. I only saw him punch one guy for me,’ you admitted.

‘Oh yeah?’ asked Mikey almost gleefully.

‘Yeah,’ you nodded even if the kid couldn’t hear you, ‘Uh, he said something untrue and horrible about me, and Shin really let him have it. He ended up on the ground with a busted lip.’

Mikey chuckled, ‘Nice. But that guy had to be pretty weak. My brother isn’t a good fighter.’

‘I wasn’t able to tell,’ you said, wondering if he wasn’t a good fighter, how could he have become the leader of Black Dragon before you carried on, ‘And he isn’t stupid, just lazy. I corrected some of his homework, and if he invested more time into it, he would be fine.’

‘Grandpa always calls him a slacker too,’ agreed Mikey, and you smiled to yourself, thinking about Shin, unable to stop, ‘To be completely honest. I find your older brother a pretty great and good person. He helped me out so much, and that was even before he properly got to know me. But even before we became…uh, close, I felt he wasn’t all that bad. I can also tell he cares about all of you a lot because he always smiles when he talks about you guys.’

You heard someone say something to Mikey.

‘Alright, I’ll give you my brother now. Come around. I’ll show you how a really strong person fights.’

You grinned upon hearing that, ‘Alright. Bye, Mikey-chan.’

Just before Shin came to the phone, you heard the kid tell him loudly, ‘Your girlfriend is already cooler than you. You better beg her not to break up with you.’

‘Don’t be jealous, Mikey. If you ask me nicely, I’ll tell you all about my sweet moves to get a cool girl like that.’

You giggled a bit as you heard Shin’s voice, ‘Sorry about that. My brother can be a little shit.’

‘It’s alright. He’s funny. I’m curious about what sweet moves you want to show him. Getting rejected twenty times and stuttering through a confession?’ you realized too late you might have opened the door to the discussion you never really had before you heard him let out a fake whine, ‘So cruel, y/n-chan.’

You smiled and closed your eyes in relief before speaking again, ‘Listen, I won’t tell you who it was, and I don’t really want you to punish them, but I think you should know two of your members tried to rob me today?’

‘WHAT?!’

‘Nothing happened. They found my student card and realized who I was. They apologized and even swore they would never do that again, and I know it isn’t my business, and I don’t want to.’

‘Are you hurt?’

You frowned, confused, ‘What? No, you’re not listening.’

‘Are. You. Hurt?’ Shin asked again, this time far firmer, almost like he was angry.

You sighed, wishing you didn’t say anything now, ‘No.’

‘I’m coming over.’

‘It’s late,’ you said and glanced out of the window, looking at the dark sky.

‘I’m still coming over,’ he said seriously before he eased his tone a bit, ‘Can I?’

It could have been troublesome, but you didn’t have it in you to tell him no when he sounded like that, so you nodded, ‘Alright, we can talk for a bit outside the house, okay?’

Shin showed up less than twenty minutes later, obviously going far too fast.

Once he got off his bike carelessly, almost letting it fall to the ground, he was by your side in a second, putting his palms on your face, his dark eyes filled with concern and seriousness, trying to see if you were hurt before he lowered his gaze to the rest of your body, ‘I told you I’m not hurt.’

‘You also said you weren’t bullied before, remember?’ he asked, and you bit your lip because it was true, and you didn’t like to be reminded of it.

Once he genuinely deemed you unharmed, he let you go and stepped back with a loud sigh, ‘I’m sorry. Sometimes these things get out of hand. I was worried they were rough with you.’

You shook your head, your annoyance fading as you could see just how worried he was and why he was acting this way. You explained what happened again and simply asked him if he could tell his gang not to drag girls into dark alleys.

How bizarre that I get to ask that of a known gang leader.

Shin nodded, ‘I’ll ensure they won’t ever do that.’

You smiled, knowing all too well that when Shin said something like that, he meant it.

He then sighed and brushed his hair, which you only then realized wasn’t styled but sort of effortlessly messy in a good way.

‘Your hair looks nice today,’ you said before you could stop yourself and then covered half of your face before you looked away, ‘Sorry.’

He chuckled, and you could tell a lot of stress fell off his shoulders before he stepped closer to you and brushed it again more aggressively, ‘You think so? Want to touch it?’

You were embarrassed, but at the same time, you felt tempted to make him too.

You reached out and ran your fingers through his obviously not that long ago washed hair. It wasn’t the first time you touched it, but it felt nicer tonight than when it was soaking with hair gel, ‘I like it.’

Your eyes met his half expecting more teasing or to find him blushing all the way to the tips of his ears, but instead, you saw him with a rather gloomy look.

‘What’s the matter? I like your pompadour style too,’ you assured him quickly, worried you offended his most beloved look, but he shook his head, ‘It’s not that. It’s…my mom is sick.’

Before he said it, you figured out that he only ever spoke about his grandfather as the sole adult around the house. You knew she was still alive since he mentioned his father had passed away five years ago. Still, his mother was a bit of a mystery until your own family discussed Sano’s one evening, mentioning something about her being in a hospital for a long time now.

‘It’s why I freaked out so much,’ he explained, ‘She’s not getting better, and if you…,’ he didn’t answer, just shook his head, but you didn’t need him to anyway.

Looking at him was heartbreaking. All the more because he already did so much for you, and here you were, powerless and useless to do the same.

Without anything else to offer, you offered yourself as you put your arms around his neck and pulled his body to yours. You couldn’t recall the last time or ever if you ever hugged someone who wasn’t your family. But with the way Shin practically sank into your embrace, almost crushing you with how tightly he was holding onto you, trying to get you even closer to him, you were sure you were doing a good job.

‘Shin,’ you said finally and felt him hum before he pulled away enough to look at your face.

You offered him a small smile, ‘You should introduce me to your captains. So, they know who to look out for.’

‘Yeah?’ asked the boy, his smile returning.

Given how much on fire your face felt, you had no illusion about how red it must have looked, but even so, you two didn’t let go of each other. 

You nodded and decided to at least somehow hide your face by pulling him closer again, and he did the same.

The incredible feeling of warmth and safety inside your weak belly was almost enough to make up for the merciless teasing you had to endure from your family after you got back into the house. 

Almost 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shin introduced you to his captains a week later on a day you didn’t have school. He started to skip more and more classes. Still, he always made a point to give you rides and occasionally even come back for lunches, if only to spend them in your presence. 

Meeting gang members should have been terrifying, and some of you wondered if you should invest some money into a paper spray. Still, once they all gave you a very formal bow that made you feel like you were in some royal in a historical drama, they seemed to decide on a much friendlier approach looking at you like you were a new animal in the zoo. 

‘Ah, she’s pretty, Shin-chan,’ said one with strangely alluring hair of three colors, ‘You’re going to have cute babies.’

‘Oi!’ warned him, Shin, and the only reason you didn’t die of embarrassment was that Shin was blushing just as hard as you. 

‘Seriously, are you blackmailing this poor girl, Shin?’ asked another one stepping closer to you with a far less friendly smile than the others.

Before Shin could answer, you took hold of his hand and asked, ‘And where’s your girlfriend?’

It earned you a few chuckles, and the captain, who asked for some teasing from his comrades, but Shin grinned at you and pulled your closer, looking really impressed.

He kept you close to him since that. Being in the sea of boys in dark Black Dragons uniforms, you didn’t mind it all that much, preferring that you could count on his hand on your arm or your own on his for comfort when things felt too overwhelming. 

‘They liked you,’ he said as he dropped you home later than usual that day, looking like he wouldn’t mind if the two of you could spend even more time together. 

You felt the same. 

‘I like them too,’ you admitted, ‘Some more than others.’

He grinned before an almost shy look took over his face, and his dark eyes glanced somewhere into the distance, ‘I hope you don’t plan to like them…more than me.’

You opened and closed your mouth. Right there at the tip of your tongue was, ‘I don’t think I ever liked anyone as much as I like you,’ but you just couldn’t force it out. 

It seemed the moment carried and was threatening to become awkward, which you would hate so much because of how good it felt to be with Shin. 

Unsure if you would ruin it or not, you acted before thinking and pressed your lips in a quick motion against his cheek, feeling just how heated and soft his skin was from an entire day under the sun outside. 

Even if you would probably die out of mortification if someone ever found out, you felt crossed with yourself later on that you didn’t aim closer to his mouth. 

You didn’t dare to see his reaction and just let a high-pitched bye before running to your house, grateful none of your family saw that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neither of you mentioned your little stunt afterward, and things returned to their routine. The anxious coward part of you was grateful since you would hate to mess something up when having Shin in your life brought you so much joy. But there was a every day getting, stronger part that still craved for more. 

Almost as if that girl recognized you were dealing with something in your new relationship, she started talking at you. She couldn’t speak to you since you found the new willpower to ignore her despite how rude it made you seem. That being said, you often heard her fake sweet voice carry around the hallways after you. 

‘You know, y/n-chan. Being with Sano-san isn’t really good for you if you act like this,’ she said during one of those days that Shin skipped school, forcing you to eat with some of your friendlier classmates instead. 

‘You might want to think about all that bad behavior rubbing off on you. Your family probably wouldn’t take too kindly to learn that you changed so much,’ said the girl. She wasn’t wrong. Even if you didn’t like it, if your family heard from anyone that you were acting badly, they would indeed believe them and blame you. Even if right now they were over the moon that their weirdo-daughter found herself a boyfriend.

You watched her smug face smiling at you with that fake kind smile feeling nothing but disgust and anger. You hated that she still held power over you to threaten something, in this case, someone you cared for so much. 

‘You know,’ you said while looking at her and some of her followers who came into the classroom, realizing a lot of people were silently listening to you two, ‘I used to wonder why did you hate me so much to bully me so severely-‘

‘Bully, y/n-chan? You must be confused-’

‘But now I couldn’t care less,’ you admitted knowing for a while now it was the truth. Being with Shin and knowing he would look out for you in any way he could bring you a sense of security and power, for lack of better words. You felt strong enough for once against whatever this brat would toss at you. 

She pressed her lips into a new tight smile, obviously upset you spoke to her in such a way. 

‘You’re not a good person,’ you glanced at every single one of the followers who came to your classroom, ‘neither of you are. And honestly, your opinion doesn’t matter to me one bit anymore. In less than a month, we’ll be graduating, and that will be the last time I ever have to see your face or hear that silly laughter of yours,’ you looked away, returning to your lunch box, deciding that you were happy for once in a very long time. You refused to let them take that from you by causing you to stress and worry about things you couldn’t control. So be it if that brat and her followers wanted to talk to your parents. If they wanted to believe her, so be it. You felt enough of an outsider with both of those groups to know you would still choose to have Shin in your life.

You heard her, and some other girls chuckle or snicker, ‘I don’t know what makes you say such things. Perhaps you’re just tired from staying up too late with delinquents, who are up to no good.’ 

You refused to dignify her with an answer knowing she would just turn it around. 

You expected them to giggle some more and leave before you heard one of your classmates say, ‘Hey if you’re done here, you can just leave already.’

The girls were silenced, and everyone, including you, glanced at your classmate, your former crush, ‘This isn’t your classroom. You don’t see us occupying your space with your obnoxious chatters.’

You were surprised, to say the least, since you thought the two were dating, but maybe that wasn’t the same. Not that it matters all that much to you now. 

‘That’s right,’ agreed some other classmates, and you turned to look at him, ‘And stop messing with y/l/n all the time. It’s pathetic.’

Your classmate, who was eating with you, also said, ‘If you’re so jealous, you might want to rethink your attitude.’

‘We all know you 3-B girls are just annoying bullies,’ said someone else before she not so quietly whispered, ‘No wonder Sano would prefer y/l/n. She’s a much better person than her.’

You didn’t really know what to say to all that, and it seemed that girl and her followers didn’t either after being called out like that. 

They left in silence, looking at least a little bit ashamed or maybe sad, but you meant what you said since you couldn’t really be bothered by them and their mind games anymore. 

To show your gratitude to everyone, you thanked everyone, and the lunch went on much calmer.

Later when Shin came to drop you home, you told him what happened, and he offered you a grin and knocked against your helmet, ‘That’s good. But if they still cause you trouble, let me know. I’ll figure something out.’

‘Shin, you can’t beat up girls.’ You knew he wouldn’t do it, and even if some of his gang subordinates would willing to ruffle them up, you didn’t want anyone to get hurt or in trouble because of you. 

‘Of course,’ said Shin sounding almost offended you would think that, ‘But I would fight with their boyfriends and crushes. Maybe older brothers.’

‘All of them, huh?’

‘Yup, every last one if it meant it would protect you,’ he said proudly, and you hid your face against his back and put your arms tightly around his middle, ‘Thank you, Shinichiro.’

You never would have thought you would feel blessed to have a delinquent in your life, but you truly felt that way. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the graduation came and passed, you already met most of Shin’s family. 

You visited his place as once your family let out you and Sano were together, his grandfather demanded you come for dinner too. 

Mikey later blurted out that it was because, like everyone else in the family, they didn’t think you were real, which got Shin to curse at them and then apologize. His family was lovely, and you liked them a lot. You even got a chance to accompany them once to visit Shin’s mother in the hospital. She cried when she said she could tell you were a good person, and she was grateful he had someone like you. She even thanked you, causing you to cry like a baby once you managed to get into the hallway startling the rest of his family. Still, Shin just chuckled and patted your head, explaining you tended to get emotional like that. 

Either way, it wasn’t a big deal for you to come to his home that day, but you made it a big deal by putting on your new summer dress and spending more time on your hair and makeup. You kept it decent, though. Shin was around you long enough to know what sort of a girl you were, so there was no point to start pretending to be someone else. He seemed to have liked you just fine up until now. 

I just hope he’ll continue to like me after this too.

You found him in his room, already familiar with the layout of his home, and allowed to come inside by Emma, who hugged your middle and had you promise to come to listen to some music with her before you would leave. 

‘Hey, I wasn’t expecting you today. I didn’t forget, did I?’ he asked, sitting up from his bed. After graduation and even a little before that, he stopped using hair gel and allowed his hair a messier and wilder hairstyle. You didn’t mind it. He looked handsome all the same.

You shook your head, ‘Don’t worry. I just thought I stop by.’ 

You started university and found a part-time job while Shin went to work full-time. It made the both of you to have less time for one another, but you still made it work. It was good neither of you minded all that much to spend hours with the other while he was busy doing something else. 

‘So what’s up? Do you want to watch a movie?’ he asked and sat on the floor so you could do the same. In your mind, you pretty much planned the whole thing out, but it seemed to actually be here, and seeing the young man was proving to be a hassle. 

‘Er, sure in a bit?’ you agreed hesitantly. 

He grinned and arched his eyebrow, clearly mocking you a bit about your weird behavior. You didn’t blame him. 

Your pulse pounded harder as you forced yourself to move closer, cursing at yourself that you chickened out during graduation when there was noise and other factors that made it all less quiet and awkward. 

Shin’s dark eyes, which you always found so pretty, blinked at you, and much of his amusement faded.

Even if he wasn’t doing anything, you could tell he stilled. 

You moved closer until your knees touched the outside of his leg while he sat cross-legged on the floor. It was hardly the first time you were this close, but it seemed both of you now knew what this was all about. 

You never really addressed the fact that you weren’t a real couple. At first, it was either pointless or seemed rude, but with more time, you grew familiar with the notion. You never openly called each other boyfriend or girlfriend. Still, whenever Shin or you bought the other somewhere, people assumed you didn’t correct them. You were unsure what were Shin’s thoughts on the matter, but you knew pretty early on yours that you didn’t want to correct anyone anymore.  

A sense of woozy headiness filled you when your noses touched. Being close to him wasn’t new. He rode you home and hugged you quite often, making it somewhat easier to think you weren’t just friends. Still, you never brushed your nose against his ever so slightly and felt your breaths mingle like this before. 

You remained like this for a second before you sighed and erased the last couple of pesky inches between you with your lips. You never did this before, so it wasn’t more than a quick and innocent peck. It wasn’t enough to actually know anything about his taste or touch, but it still caused a tiny spark between you too. 

When you opened your eyes, you found his dark ones already on you, ‘Why?’

You swallowed, feeling a shiver running across your body at how breathless he sounded, ‘I-I felt like kissing my boyfriend.’

He blinked, and given how close your faces still were to one another, you felt rather than saw his hand slide up the back and around your neck, ‘Yeah?’ he asked and licked his lips, causing your eyes to stick to his mouth like glue, ‘Well, now I feel like kissing my girlfriend back.’

You sensed his head dipped, and he caused your chin to tilt toward him. 

‘Ok-’

Then his mouth was on yours, and your mind emptied completely. Nothing else existed except for this. The heat, the pleasure, the firm pressure of his lips, and the soft glide of his tongue against yours.

You didn’t know when you raised your hands, only found your fingers sliding into his hair while he tipped your head back further, giving him as much access as he could possibly want. 

He tasted like mint, smoke, and Shin. It was so delicious and indescribable you wanted to drown in it, and you almost did. 

A moan slipped from your mouth to his, and he answered with a tortured groan of his own. 

His hand tightened around your nape in a way that, instead of that sweet and comfortable warmth, made you feel the heat.

Your first kiss should have felt strange or at least a little bit uncomfortable with how little practice you had, but it certainly didn’t feel that way. Instead, it felt completely perfectly right.

You were both breathless when you broke the kiss, and he immediately pulled you into his arms.

You remained like that for a while quietly, with the only sounds coming from your loudly beating hearts, heavy breaths, and some faint sounds from other parts of the house.

Your eyes stayed closed until Shin pulled your face toward his and pressed your foreheads against each other, ‘I’m glad you gave me that chocolate on Valentine’s Day.’

You smiled, ‘I’m glad you didn’t wait until March to return the favor.’

He chuckled and pressed a soft kiss against your temple, ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’

Koniec A.N: Thank you for reading. Have a lovely day 😊

Chapters: 2/3 Fandom: jschlatt - Fandom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: jschlatt/reader Characters: Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF) Additional Tags: jschlatt/reader - Freeform, Schlatt/reader - Freeform, RPF, Angst, scrapped from tumblr oops, Rekindled Flame, Catholicism mentioned, Doomed Lovers - Freeform, based on a fob song, Mentioned Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), the nickname ‘johnny’ is used Summary:

it’s been nearly six years since the two of you abruptly ending your fling that blossomed through your freshman year of college. you got married, he became big on the internet. so what was really lying behind the two of you? maybe even insinuating it wasn’t just a fling, maybe fate.

Not only can I fix him but Being houses controversially young girlfriend would fix me IM ON MY KNEES FOR YOU SIR 🧎🏽‍♀️

Fate | Buggy x reader x Shanks ♡

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

genre: smut, nasty nasty smut (minors dni) and a tiny little bit of fluff at the end

pairings: buggy x reader x shanks

wc: 13.3k

cw: fem!reader, bartender reader, semi public sex, a lap dance, a LOT of dirty talk, biting, piss kink, omorashi, so much oral, jealous!buggy, buggy is actually really sweet, brat tamer shanks, spanking, pussy slapping, spitting, some parts are dialogue heavy, buggy's detachable dick, shanks lowkey has a clown fetish, squirting, overstimulation, aftercare, love confessions

masterlist | one piece masterlist

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Your childhood friends, Buggy and Shanks, both found your bar around six months ago and have been hooking up with you ever since. The connection the three of you have runs much deeper than mindless sex so you finally get them in the same place at the same time so you can fuck like animals and confess your love.

a/n: I'm so fixated on buggy right now i literally can't think of anything else

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

You're just starting your evening shift at your bar when a familiar hat and blue pigtails comes sauntering into the building.

“Hi, Buggy,” you call, and your old friend wanders up to the bar with a grin on his face.

“Hi, sweetheart. We’ll have whatever you got. We're celebrating tonight,” he says. You nod and signal to one of your security guys to go down to the basement and get the big barrels you're not strong enough to carry. You don't need to worry about any trouble at the bar when Buggy and his crew are there, though you worry that one day he'll be here at the same time as the actual pirate whose protection you're under.

The small island your village is on is under the jurisdiction of red-haired Shanks. Your mayor hasn't officially accepted Shanks’ offer yet. Still, you have a feeling that with all the business their pirate crew brings to your village—buying from your local farmers and frequenting your bar—he'll formally accept when Shanks returns from his next voyage. The lack of permission from your mayor doesn't matter to Shanks; he's ultimately just using this island as a base to place you under his protection.

You, Shanks, and Buggy were all on the same pirate ship as youngsters. You'd been impossibly close, inseparable at all times. After they'd had a falling out at the site of your former captain's execution, you'd refused to pick a side, and Shanks had taken you with him so he could drop you off at a quiet island where you leave your pirate life behind you.

However, after Shanks and Buggy had made a name for themselves, your history of piracy had worked its way into your present. Shanks had been the first to find you, having been the one to drop you off, and wasn't surprised to see you now owning and running one of the bars in your village. He'd walked in by himself and jokingly asked if your bar was pirate-friendly. Your security guy was about to launch forward but was stopped by you, who had called his name and ran around the bar to launch yourself into him. He hugged you back with one arm, and you welcomed his crew into your establishment. Your staff were on their best behaviour that day and respected you more after finding out you were close friends with one of the emperors of the sea.

Buggy had accidentally stumbled upon your bar but was beyond shocked to see you. He had initially threatened your village, but upon receiving a smack and stern talking to from you, he gave up embarrassingly quickly and asked politely to frequent your bar. You allowed him, glad to see him alive and warned him that you were under a different pirate’s jurisdiction. You ordered your staff to be hushed about the pirate being Shanks, so you don't scare off Buggy.

Since then, they'd been coming to your island intermittently, competing with each other without even knowing. Shanks knows there's another pirate who sometimes docks up on your island, and Buggy knows another pirate is trying to lay claim to your land, but neither of them knows it's the other. How they've avoided each other for this long is a mystery to you.

“Hello? Sweetheart?” Buggy's voice draws you from your memories, and you look up at him with a smile. What're you smiling at? You weirdo,” he says, reaching over the bar to flick your forehead. One thing both Buggy and Shanks never grew out of was their childish teasing. Buggy, in particular, likes to wind you up. Whenever you would tattle to your old man, Rayleigh, about the boys teasing you, he would insist that it was because they had a crush on you.

“Nothing, Buggy. I was just reminiscing about the old days,” you say. He rolls his eyes and calls you a sentimental fool. Buggy turns his attention to the bar behind you. He detaches his hand from his body and reaches for the top-shelf whiskey. He's too much of a lightweight for it. You know that much, so you snatch it back and scold him for using his power to rob you of money. You never realised how differently you view your ‘lovers’ compared to everyone else until your staff asked how you have the balls to tell them off and flirt with them, fearing losing a limb for messing with an emperor. Buggy begrudgingly listens; you're the only person he can't bring himself to argue with. He can tease you and wind you up until the cows come home, but if you look genuinely upset, he fills with guilt immediately.

Your security guy comes back with a barrel of cheap booze and helps you set it up. You start to serve it up, beginning with Buggy and then calling over his crewmates. You ensure everyone is served before returning to cleaning glasses and steins to ensure you're on top of things.

Buggy keeps a keen eye on you as you move around the bar, busying yourself with odd jobs. You can feel the clown watching you, and you feel your skin heating up. Your friendship with Shanks and Buggy has always been more than platonic, especially now that you're all grown adults and you own a bar. They're always sneaking you off on breaks or taking you home after to fuck you. They're very different in the bedroom; Shanks is confident and in control, whereas Buggy takes care of you, but ultimately you're in charge. Buggy’s an emperor of the sea now, so you're curious to see if that's helped his confidence. Insecurity usually had him doubting himself in the bedroom, leading to him easily bending to your will for a bit of praise. He appeared to be more sure of himself when he walked in, so you take that as a good sign.

You're focused on the bottles behind the bar when you feel a tug at your skirt. You look down to see a hand creeping under your skirt. The hand slides around to squeeze your ass, and you turn around to see Buggy, handless, staring at you. His hand works its way to the front and slips beneath your panties, collecting your wetness on his fingers. You want to scold him, tell him off for touching you in public, but the predatory grin he's giving you right now is turning you on so bad. Typically, if you told him off, Buggy would drop to his knees and ask to eat you out as an apology, but you're curious to see if his boldness can translate into something more dominating.

You ask your friend to cover you while you go on a break. Buggy follows you as you round the bar and go through the back door to the staff-only area. He wasn't subtle about it. You know most of his crew just saw him go in here.

Buggy catches up to you when you're near a staff storage room, and he attaches his hand back right in time to push you into the room and turns you around to back you up against the door. He immediately attaches his lips to yours. His kiss is heated and messy, hot tongues pressing against each other. Buggy’s hands come up to squeeze your tits through your top, and he drops his kisses to your neck. You were thankful he had come in without makeup tonight, so you don't have to explain to your staff how your neck ended up covered in red lipstick. It happened to you once and was embarrassing for both of you, so you appreciate the consideration. He drops to his knees, kissing your thighs, and as his hand reaches for your panties, you stop him.

“Bug, wait. My break is only ten minutes. We don't have time for all this.” You say, pulling him up by his hair. “Just fuck me properly”, You whine, pulling him into a kiss. He lets you guide it before you get tired of messing around. You want to see how his status as an emperor and newfound confidence has changed the way he fucks you.

“You want me to fuck you?” he asks, turning you around and grinding his hard cock against your ass.

“Yes, and I want you to fuck me hard. You're a Yonko now. Where's all that power and aggression?” you ask. Your teasing question works; Buggy's voice is barely above a growl when he responds.

“You wanna see my real power?” he asks, punctuating his question with a slap to your ass. This is exactly what you've been waiting for with Buggy. You nod, and he turns you back around again. He doesn't look mad. There's no dark glint in his eye, and he just looks excited. You know Buggy, he'll never be a hard dom, but you just want to see more control from him, and that is exactly what he's showing. “I need words.”

“yes. I want you so bad.” Buggy smiles at your consent, leaning against the storage cupboard wall. He pushes you down on your knees and undoes his belt and trouser button.

“If you suck my dick for me right now, I promise I'll take you back to my ship and destroy your tight little pussy” You nod and waste no time reaching up to free his cock from his trousers. Buggy laughs at your eagerness. He doesn't receive this kind of sexual attention much, so you tend to fluster him, though he's not letting it show tonight. When you finally get his hard cock in your mouth, he moans embarrassingly loud. He throws his head back, staring at the ceiling as you work him into your mouth. He's all too aware of the fact that he'll cum down your throat the second he makes eye contact with you. “What would people say about you if they opened this door to see you on your knees for a pirate captain? And an emperor, no less,” he says, hips bucking into your mouth slightly as he gets closer to his orgasm. “What would Shanks say if he saw you like this?”

You moan around his cock at the question, and his hips stutter forward, breaking his rhythm. His cock harshly hits the back of your throat, and you gag slightly, pulling off of him. He uses his grip on your hair to pull you back to his cock. You want Shanks and Buggy to fuck you together more than anything. He's never spoken to you like this before, making you gush.

You slip a hand between your legs as you take his cock back into your mouth. Buggy finally looks down at you and groans when he notices what you're doing.

“Are you really touching yourself to the thought of red hair catching us?” he asks, scoffing. “I bet a horny slut like you would want him to join in” You know, Buggy's just as attracted to Shanks as you are, and you feel his cock twitching in your mouth at the mental image of sharing you with him. It doesn't take him much longer to cum. He cums down your throat and helps you wipe off any stray drops of cum that missed your mouth. He pulls you into a kiss as you tuck him back into his underwear and zip up his trousers for him. Buggy almost looks embarrassed at how quickly he's cum, but he quickly gets over it when he realises how turned on you are.

“I'm the boss here, you know. I can cut my shift short if I want to,” you say, pulling him in for another kiss. Buggy feels a stirring in his stomach when he kisses you. It's been happening for years; he chalks it up to being impossibly horny and refuses to look further into it. You go back into the bar and tell your staff that your shift is over, and you trust them to lock up. As you walk back to the Big Top with Buggy, he tells you stories about what he's been up to since he last left your island.

Buggy brings you onto his ship and down to his captain's quarters. As soon as you're in his space, the door is swung shut, and Buggy all but pounces on you. He pulls you into a rough kiss, walking you to the middle of the room. You occupy his thoughts all day, every day. He fantasises about your pretty self putting on a show just for his eyes. He sometimes wants to ask you if you can dance and see if he can ask you to give him a private performance. He’s finally got a chance to fulfil multiple of his fantasies at once, so he doesn’t hesitate in taking it. He pulls away, breathing heavily. He sits down on his throne, which has been pushed up against a wall, and leaves you standing in the middle of the room.

“Take it off for me, give me a show,” he says, leaning back. “make it flashy.”

You start with your top, taking care to remove it slowly. You feel one of his hands squeeze your tits. You whimper at the stimulation, and Buggy laughs. You carefully push your skirt's waistband over your hips until you can drop the garment to the floor. You turn around and hook your fingers in your panties, pulling them down your legs. You go to kick off your heels, but Buggy's hand grabs your ankle to stop you.

“keep ‘em on,” he says. You turn back around to look at him and see he's shirtless, hair down, palming his hard cock through his trousers. You notice he's become more like Shanks now that he's trying to take control. His hand grabs hold of yours so he can drag you over to where he's sitting. He pulls you to his lap so you're straddling him. He guides his cock to your entrance and kisses your neck and shoulders as you take him to the base. “ride me, baby,” he growls.

You obey, lifting your hips upward and slamming them back down. You both moan at the way his cock feels dragging against your walls. Buggy soaks in your pretty noises as his fingers dig into your hips to guide you.

You lean down to capture Buggy in a kiss, tilting your head to avoid his cute nose. Kissing Buggy always feels like you're unravelling a secret; the big scary clown pirate emperor is really just your silly man who wants to take good care of you. You feel close, and you start to drag your hips, grinding down on him. You whimper into the kiss, prompting a laugh from Buggy, who uses his grip on your hips to hold you in place while he fucks up into you.

“I'm gonna cum”, you moan, dropping your head to his shoulder.

“Yeah? Go on then. Make a mess for me”. All it takes is a few more thrusts to reach your high. Buggy watches intently as your orgasm crashes over you. He groans as you scratch at his back. He manages to hold off his orgasm as you come back to your senses. “Can you give me another one?” he asks.

“Didn’t you promise me you were going to destroy my pussy?” you say, pulling him into another kiss.

“I did, didn't I?” he says, before moving forward and laying you down on the fluffy rug spread across the floor. He's on his knees, hovering over your body. He pushes his cock into you again, groaning at how sensitive you both are. He braces himself with his elbows on either side of your head, and then he starts to fuck you properly. He grunts in your ear as he fucks you down into the floor. His cock fills you up so well that it is almost embarrassing how you whimper about it. Buggy loves the rush of adrenaline he gets from fucking you. How you cling to him and whine about how good he feels makes him feel like he could do anything. Your hands fly to his hair as he rearranges your insides, and he moans as you harshly tug at his hair. “That's it. Let me know how good I'm fucking you.”

Your second orgasm hits you like a freight train. He sinks his teeth into your shoulder as you gush around his cock. His orgasm follows closely behind, and he bites down harder as he fills you up with his cum. He tries his best to fuck you through both of your orgasms, and when your walls finally stop pulsing around his cock, he slips out of you carefully. He cleans you up with tissues and then carries you to his bed. He changes into pyjamas and then climbs into bed with you.

“Stay here for tonight. I'll take you home in the morning,” he says, moving a piece of hair out of your face. Buggy is not typically so affectionate with you after you sleep together; he’s never mean to you, but he’s never this soft. It makes you wonder what's changed.

“Are you leaving tomorrow?” You ask, cuddling up to his chest.

“Nope, we still have one more day here.”

✩♬ ₊˚.☁️⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Buggy returns to your bar again the next night. He’s doing his usual routine of staring at you, drinking less than all of his crew and waiting to get you alone so that he can fuck you. He’d reminiscing about his previous trip to the island after you’d left the ship that morning, and he’s been having shameful thoughts about trying a specific gross kink with you. You and Buggy had hooked up before. You're no stranger to his wilder kinks, but there's still one that he's been keeping from you up to this point. He thinks he's finally got you comfortable enough to try it. He's been trying to buy you drinks all night, but you've insisted on being a good little bartender and drinking water instead, which was his plan all along. You don't realise Buggy has only had one drink, wanting to stay sober for what he's going to do with you tonight.

He overhears you complaining to one of your coworkers about needing to piss, and his cock twitches in his trousers as he thinks about the night he saw you piss yourself.

It had been an accident; you'd been out drinking with him, and there wasn't a toilet around, but you didn't want to go outside, so you had to try and make it to the next bar without pissing yourself. You were almost there when you felt it start to come out. You made a run for it, and Buggy followed you to guard you. However, he didn't turn around to check for onlookers. He just shielded your body from view with his own. He was too busy staring at the puddle you were making on the floor as you pulled your already-wet underwear down so you could go in the alley. It should have been gross, but he couldn't look away. He couldn't stop thinking about burying his face between your legs.

He hears you ask your coworker to cover you so you can go to the bathroom, and she denies you, saying you close in ten minutes and asking you to hold it. The way you whine in response reminds him of how you whine to him when he teases you. He turns around, facing you. You're standing behind the bar in little black shorts, a crop top and heels, driving him insane. He's grateful for your bar's questionable short and all-black dress code.

After ushering the Buggy pirates out of the bar, you rush through your cleaning and leave your coworker to lock up. You step outside the bar and are met with Buggy waiting for you, leaning against an opposite wall. He's watching the way you walk over to him with a grin on his face. You're wobbling, desperate to piss, and trying to hold it in. You're fidgeting, and it makes Buggy laugh. You scold him, which he pays no mind to before lifting you over his shoulder and carrying you to your home, which isn't far from the bar.

As soon as he's in the door, he puts you down and watches as you run towards your bathroom. Like the predator he is, he lures you into a false sense of security by encouraging you to go to the toilet while he puts your stuff down. However, when you get to the bathroom door, you're greeted by one of his hands holding it closed. You try to get it to let go, but it's no use. Buggy is stronger than you. You scream Buggy's name in anger, and suddenly, his hand is joined by the rest of him.

“Can I help you, sweetheart?” he asks, feigning ignorance and moving his hands to your hips now that his body is blocking the door.

“Please move, Bug. I need to go so bad. It's not funny,” you whine, nearly in tears from the pressure on your bladder. Buggy pulls you into a messy kiss, and when you pull away, he expects to see you glaring. Instead, you're looking up at him with teary eyes and the cutest little pout. He wants to ruin you. “I need the toilet,” you whimper.

“There's one right here,” he says, patting his thighs, and you immediately stop struggling in his grasp. You look up at him in bewilderment.

“That's not funny.”

“I'm not joking,” he responds, leaning down to kiss your neck. “If you think it's too gross, I'll move, but I want to feel you let it go so bad.” He groans into your ear before resuming his kisses. He can tell you're thinking it over.

“What about the mess?” You ask, voice shaky and unsure.

“I'll clean it up.”

“Okay,” your voice is small and desperate, but having your permission launches Buggy into action. He lifts you and carries you over to the guest bedroom that he sometimes crashes in when he's docked here. He dumps you on the bed and helps you strip down to your underwear. Your hands instinctively fly between your legs to cup your pussy, but Buggy is quick to swat them away. He grips the back of your thighs and pushes your legs up towards your chest. Buggy leans down to kiss your stomach, leaving red lipstick marks in his wake. You moan as you finally start to relieve yourself. Buggy leans back, gaze fixed on your cunt.

“Yeah. That's it, baby. Let go for me,” he encourages as he watches you make a mess of your underwear, the sheets, and his trousers. You almost hate how good it felt. Buggy leans down to kiss you, but it's a kiss full of aggression and desperation. “That was so fucking hot,” he growls into the kiss.

He pulls away from the kiss to stare at you, from his makeup all over your skin to your soiled underwear; he wishes he had a camera on him right now. He reaches down and pulls your underwear off, tucking the soaked fabric into his trouser pocket to take with him when they depart from your island. Your exposed pussy has him drooling, and then he hears you whimpering for him to do something other than stare at the mess you made. He can tell the embarrassment is starting to creep in, so he leans back down to your face, shushing you and kissing your lips. He savours the kiss, knowing you probably won't kiss him for the rest of the night after what he's about to do.

Buggy drops to his knees on the floor and drags you closer to the edge of the bed. He then dives right in, licking and sucking at your pussy. He buries his tongue in your hole, moaning loudly at the taste. He'd fantasised about doing this to you for months, but none of his dreams come close to how it feels to have you with him right now, indulging in his dirtiest fantasy. He drags his long tongue back up to your clit and suctions his mouth around it, flicking his tongue over your sensitive bud. You're so close to cumming, and with the relief you've already had tonight, you feel tears start to pool.

“Please, Buggy. I'm so close,” you moan, bucking your hips up into his face. Buggy's hands hold you in place as he sucks harshly on your clit as pushes two fingers into you. You moan and arch your back as he fingers you open. His tongue feels so good, and the extra stimulation of his fingers has an orgasm washing over you easily. You moan Buggy's name as tears roll down your face. He's completely focused on drawing your orgasm from you. He licks at every drop that leaks from your sweet pussy.

When you've calmed down, Buggy rises to his feet. He stares down at you like he's staring at his last meal. Your makeup is just as smudged as his. Your skin is covered in remnants of him. You're a vision of pleasure, panting and drooling as you come down from your intense orgasm. Buggy commits the sight to his memories. He towers over the bed, reminding you of how big Buggy is.

“You ready for me?” he asks, detached hands groping your body. When you nod and give him permission to fuck you, he grins something evil. He attaches his hands and manoeuvres you up the bed so your head is against the pillows. He wastes no time pushing his cock into you; if you haven't woken up the neighbours yet, then you definitely will when Buggy starts to thrust his hips. “You look so pretty under me,” he coos. “I should take you to sea with me so I can fuck you on my ship every day,” he says. You know you're close; you feel the tension building inside you. Buggy knows it, too. He can feel your pussy clenching down around him. Right as the tension is about to snap, Buggy pulls his cock out of you, stopping your orgasm in its tracks. You cry out in frustration.

“It's okay, I got you. I just need you to turn over for me,” he says, helping you turn onto your hands and knees. He slowly pushes his cock back into your waiting pussy. He slides a hand over the skin of your back, and then he pauses. He spots the mark on the back of your shoulder. It's a love bite Shanks had given you during your last hookup a few days prior to Buggy arriving. “Who else are you fucking?” he asks, filled with rage. You want him to continue, but you're unsure how he'll react to hearing Shanks' name after all this time.

“Bug, listen-” He doesn't listen. Buggy’s insecurity and the feelings for you he's mostly ignored have risen to the surface. He drapes his whole body over yours to speak directly into your ear.

“If you want to cum, you better tell me who else has been inside of my woman” His voice is low and threatening, and it has you gushing and clenching around him.

“Shanks,” You say, trying to move on Buggy's cock that's still inside of you. Buggy goes completely silent, not growling and panting like he had been seconds ago. It's like his rage has been quelled.

“red-haired?” he asks in shock. You nod the best you can while being squished underneath him. You're expecting another spell of rage, but you feel Buggy's smile against your skin instead. “you promise it's only us?”

“Yes, Buggy. I promise. Now please make me cum” you whimper. Buggy gives in immediately, rutting his hips against yours with reckless abandon. If anything, he's more passionate and determined to make you cum after finding out you've also been with his self-declared nemesis.

“Cum for me,” he says, voice easily cutting through your moans. Your body obeys him without question, slamming face-first into your orgasm like you were made just for him. He cums along with you, pulling out and spilling over your back. Once you've both finished, he reaches for the tissues you keep on the bedside table and wipes his cum off your back.

He then carefully picks you up and carries you to the bathroom, setting you down on the toilet seat. He starts running the shower. As he waits for the water to heat up, he brushes his teeth and tongue with the spare toothbrush you keep for him. He jokes that you can kiss him now and laughs when he looks down at you to see you puckering your lips. He indulges, pressing an overly dramatic kiss to your lips. He tries to calm his heart when you laugh at his silliness, but he can no longer deny his feelings. To distract himself, he ushers you into the shower so he can clean you up properly. He's got both of you clean and in your bed within no time.

He lies next to you in bed, indulging himself in the domestic side of you despite knowing he's got to leave for another voyage tomorrow. He lets you press kisses all over his face and ask him questions about his adventures that he's more than happy to fill you in on. After a while, a comfortable silence fills your bedroom, and Buggy thinks you're finally going to fall asleep so he can leave. He's not quite so lucky; amidst the silence, you raise a hand to cup his cheek and say something that makes his heart feel like it's about to burst out of his chest.

“You're so pretty without makeup, Bug” He's not used to these kinds of compliments, and he buries his face in your neck, grumbling at you to ‘shut the fuck up and go to sleep.’ You listen, giggling as you get comfortable against your pillows.

You hear Buggy call you the most precious jewel on the grand line and realise he must think you’re asleep. You don’t have the heart to wake up and embarrass him so you keep your eyes closed as you take in his sweet compliments and confessions he could never say to you whilst awake.

When you wake up, Buggy is gone from your bed. You check the guest room to see new sheets have been put on the bed, and you look out the window to see your soiled sheets freshly washed and on the line. You smile to yourself as you go downstairs to make breakfast for yourself. Both of your men now know you're sleeping with both of them and if your calculations are correct - and all goes well on their voyages - then both of your men will return to your village on the same day.

✩♬ ₊˚.☁️⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

A few days pass, and your shifts feel boring without your pirate men bothering you the whole time. You had taken to dressing up a little more for work just in case one of them comes back early and walks into the bar while you're on shift.

Tonight, you're wearing a black minidress and thigh-high boots. You know you look good, having spent 10 minutes staring yourself down in the mirror before leaving the house. Neither of your men showed up at the bar. You'd heard whispers about a pirate ship docking up and gotten your hopes up. You swing open your front door, sulking over the lack of your not-yet boyfriends. However, when you wander through the door, you notice a tall figure blocking the doorway to your living room. At first, he startles you, but you give him a warm smile when you finally realise who it is.

“Hi, Mr.Beckman”, you say, offering him your hand, which he presses a kiss to. He informs you that his captain is waiting for you in the living room, and then he takes his leave after apologising for invading your privacy. You tell him he's welcome anytime and thank him as he leaves your home, leaving you with the red-haired man you find sitting on your sofa.

“Shanks!” you yell, surprised that he's come home a day early. He stands up to catch you as you run into his arm. He picks you up and spins you around, leaving a kiss on your forehead. “You're early”, you point out.

“We were ahead of schedule, and I wanted to see my girl,” he says, pulling you in for a proper kiss. “this dress looks so good on you”, he groans into the kiss before pulling back and asking you to do a twirl so he can check you out properly. He whistles lowly as his eyes take in every inch of your body, all dressed up for him.

“I wore this for you. I've been waiting for you to come back. Why don't you come see what's underneath it?” you say, guiding his big hand under your dress. When Shanks finds his path to your cunt, unobstructed by any panties, he laughs. He moves his hand from your dress, smoothing down the skirt of your dress and then lifting his hand to your chin to tilt your face towards him.

“As much as I want you to give me a proper welcome home, I need to talk to you,” he says, pecking your lips and sitting on the sofa. Shanks pats the space next to him, and you sit down, tucking yourself into his side. “I heard rumours kicking around that my sweet girl has been getting cosy with another pirate”, he says, and you roll your eyes at him, partially because he won't be mad when he finds out who it is and partially because you're not exclusive with either of them.

“It's Buggy,” you say, swinging a leg over Shanks to straddle his lap. His momentarily stormy expression relaxes when he hears the name of the third party in your trio.

“Buggy?”

“I know, I was surprised too. It's like fate is trying to keep us together. I've always belonged to you guys,” You say, grinding your hips down over his hardening cock. Neither you nor Shanks have ever been shy about how you feel about Buggy, but he was always too prideful to admit his feelings. Shanks is smiling now that he knows you haven't been disloyal to him. “he'll be back tomorrow if everything goes to plan,” you say.

“I'd bet you'd like having us both together, wouldn't you, baby?” he teases, bucking his hips upwards and knocking you forward into his chest. “you'd like to take both our cocks in this slutty pussy” The addition of Buggy, though he's not physically there, has ignited Shanks. He's launched into action, talking filthy in your ear as you grind your bare pussy over his crotch. “But you'll have to deal with just me tonight. Is one cock gonna be enough to fuck my greedy girl?”

You nod frantically, adjusting yourself so that you're grinding against his thigh. He chuckles at your eagerness and guides your hips over his leg. You ride his thigh as he leans back into the sofa cushions and watches you. He keeps his hand settled on your hips as you drag your pussy over the muscle of his thigh. Shanks notices you're getting close to an orgasm and tightens his grip to stop you from reaching your high. You whine in protest, and he can tell you're about to start complaining, but he cuts you off himself.

“I want to taste your cum”, he says, pushing you to stand up. He laughs as you stand on wobbly legs. He tugs at the bottom of your dress, signalling for you to take it off while he removes his clothes. He pauses between removing articles of clothing to watch you shimmy the dress down your pretty body and kick it off. Seeing you naked is better than any treasure Shanks could find at sea. Once he's naked, he lies back against the sofa and then beckons you back over to him. “take a seat”, he instructs, helping you straddle his face without falling off the couch.

You lean forward, taking a testing lick at his cock as his tongue makes contact with your pussy. He wastes no time shoving his tongue into your hole and licking at your walls. You moan loudly as you begin to take his cock into your mouth. His cock is thick, and it tests the stretch of your pretty lips. Shanks moves his tongue so your clit, licking and sucking at it as you start to bob your head.

You're both laser-focused on making each other cum. Shanks suctions his mouth around your clit, flicking his tongue over it as he makes out with your pussy. Considering he only has one arm, his grip on you is steady as he holds you in place. You try your best to take his cock as far as you can, and when you take him to the base without choking, you feel the vibrations of his moans against your pussy. Shanks is always vocal, letting you know how good you are.

You start to struggle when you get close to your orgasm. You can't focus on sucking him or bobbing your head while you're moaning and whimpering.

“OK, baby. That's enough,” he says, squeezing your thighs to keep your attention on his words. “Just let me make you cum”, he says, pulling back down to his face once again. His grip is sturdy and keeps you steady as your orgasm crashes over you in waves. He loudly cleans up every single drop from your cunt. Your tense, shaking muscles don't phase him as he holds you in place. He only lets go once he's sure you're done.

Shanks helps you up before standing up and grabbing your hand, letting you pull him through the house and into your bedroom. He lifts you with one arm and kisses you before planting you onto your bed. He tells you to lay back against the pillows, and you follow without question. Shanks climbs onto the bed, sitting on his knees between your legs.

“You're so beautiful”, he says, staring at your naked body so intensely that his gaze has you shifting in discomfort.

“stop staring at it and just fuck me” you whine. Shanks looks up at you with a dark grin that reminds you of who you're dealing with. You've had your soft, warm welcome home, and now it's playtime. Shanks is far more in control than Buggy; riling up Shanks isn't as easy. A little bit of attitude and lack of manners is a good start.

“You wanna tell me what to do, princess?” he asks, you know it's a rhetorical question but you answer anyway.

“I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just giving you a heavy-handed suggestion,” you say, batting your eyelashes at him. He rolls his eyes at your attitude, but you know he's enjoying it; his cock is hard and leaking. He uses his strength to turn you over onto your hands and knees. Once you're in position, he lands a smack on your bare ass, making you gasp.

“How's that for heavy-handed?” he says, massaging the area he had smacked to soothe it.

“More”, you sigh, “Please, Captain”. He groans at the title. You had taken to calling him captain in the bedroom; it is his official title, and it's a reminder of his strength and power. He obliges, giving you a few more swats on the ass before rolling you back over so you can lean your head against the pillows.

“Do you misbehave for Buggy too, or are you a good girl for him?” he asks, leaning over to look into your eyes. He knows your answer is going to annoy him when he sees the cocky smile that settles on your face.

“It's neither. Buggy is a good boy for me,” Shanks laughs, not at all surprised by your confession. “Although he did take charge last time, I guess being a yonko boosted his confidence,” you said, smiling while remembering your most recent time with Buggy. Shanks is still looking at you with his eyebrow raised. “And I was good as gold for him”, you tease, tangling your hands in his red locks and pulling him into a kiss.

“You can behave for other men, but you can't help yourself with me," he says, pressing his fingers to your mouth. You obey his wordless instructions and take them into your mouth. Now that you're gagged, Shanks can speak without backtalk, and your pussy drools with every word that leaves his mouth. “I was going to be nice; fuck you nice and slow and make love to you, but you just can't help running this bratty mouth. I missed my sweet girl and her perfect pussy, but now I have to deny myself to teach you a lesson.” he pulls his fingers from your mouth, waiting to hear a quiet “sorry, captain” from you.

When you apologise, he presses his thumb against your clit and rubs in circles, chuckling at the way you moan out and open your legs. He pushes two spit-soaked fingers into your hole and warns you to keep still as your hips buck up into his hand. You try your best to stay still as Shanks, who holds an unbothered expression on his face, plays with your pussy. He rubs your clit with his thumb while he fingers you. Having one arm has aided with his fingering skills. He hasn't set a rule on volume, and he never has; in all the punishments he's given you, he's never cut off your ability to tell him how good he makes you feel. He's too enamoured with your voice to gag you for more than two minutes. You moan and whimper and beg for him to speed up. The stimulation he's providing you with feels so good, but it's not enough to send you over the edge.

His cock is red and drooling precum. You know he's as desperate as you are, but he's holding himself off.

“Don't you wanna feel good, Captain? I can jerk you off,” you say, reaching out towards him. He shakes his head, pulling his fingers from your cunt only to slap it, fingers smacking harshly against your clit, making you yelp. You're so close to cumming.

“thought I told you to keep fucking still”, he growls, returning to his task of slowly fingering for you. He looks up at your face, expression faltering at the tears starting to pool in your eyes. “Just be good for me, sweetheart,” he says, his voice softening. His cock twitches when he hears you say an obedient “Yes, Captain.”

He speeds up his fingers, fucking you right close to the edge and then stopping as he feels your walls start to spasm around his fingers. Having your orgasm ripped away from you prompts the tears to start falling. Shanks leans down to kiss away your tears, whispering about how pretty you look. You know what he wants to hear.

“I'm sorry, Captain. I promise I'll be good,” you beg. Shanks smiles softly, pressing his fingers to your entrance. “Please, I need to cum. I promise I won't be a brat.”

Shanks cuts off your begging by kissing you, messily pushing his tongue into your mouth. He pushes his fingers back inside of you and thrusts, curling them against your walls.

“Cum whenever you want,” he says against your mouth, intimidating demeanour gone and replaced with your sappy, loving man. You cum with a cry of his name, legs attempting to close around his hand. He works you through it, cooing at you as you gush around his fingers. He pulls his fingers from your pussy and licks them clean as you regain your breath. “tastes so fucking good.”

You watch him intently as he spits onto your pussy and uses his cock to spread it between your folds. You're still sensitive and the feeling makes you twitch. Shanks smiles at you as he pushes his cock inside you, pressing kisses on your face as you whimper at the way his cock stretches your pussy. He starts to thrust, making you arch against him. Your hands reach up to his hair as he sloppily makes out with you. When he pulls away from the messy kiss, you whine his name.

“What is it, princess?” he asks. You wordlessly open your mouth, tongue lolling out. Shanks doesn't need to be told what you want. He spits into your mouth, whispering praises as you swallow. “See what happens when you're a good girl for me?” he says, kissing you again.

Shanks is committed to making you cum, hips laying heavy thrusts as his cock all but splits you open. His lips trail over your skin like a fountain pen on paper, signing his name in invisible ink. His voice has your mind reeling. You feel delirious. You're close already, and Shanks can tell.

“Wait for me, baby. I'm almost there”, He groans, feeling the first signs of his own orgasm. You're not sure if you can hold off any longer, and you tell Shanks as much as your nails cling to his back muscles. He gives you permission to cum, and you fall right over the edge along with him. Your pussy spasms around his cock, milking him for all he's worth while you gush around him. He says something to you, but all you can make out is your name. As you start to calm, Shanks stays inside you, laying his full body weight on you.

“you wanna know something, baby?”

“hmm”

“I've been in love with you since we were eleven,” he says like it's nothing. You go to protest, but he cuts you off to continue. “Buggy is too.”

“This is just the pussy making you talk crazy,” you say, too tired to deal with Shanks's bullshit.

“Nuh-uh. Bug and I used to talk about it whenever you went crying to Rayleigh that we were picking on you.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“We found our way back to you, didn't we? Do you really think we'd be using this tiny island in the middle of nowhere as a base if we weren't obsessed with you?” He says, hand-drawing patterns over your skin.

“Whatever. Just pull out and go to sleep” You huff, and Shanks does as you ask, gently pulling out of you and rolling onto his back. He waits for you to roll over before tucking himself against your back, pulling flush against his chest. He presses a kiss to your shoulder and lets you get comfortable. Just as he's about to drift off, you softly call his name.

“Yes, sweetheart?” he asks.

“Say I do love you back; what would happen?”

“Honestly, not much. We'd just be official. We can stop acting like this is just sexual. If Buggy can man up and admit his feelings, we can admit nothing between us was ever casual, and it was always supposed to be this way,” he says matter of factly. You nod, turning over in his arm so you can Bury your face in his chest.

“Good night, Shanks.”

“Good night, Baby.”

✩♬ ₊˚.☁️⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

The next morning, Shanks follows you around town like a lost puppy, shadowing you as you buy groceries for the bar. He helps you carry the bags back and even helps you put away your bags when you get back. He can't help but sneak kisses between tasks, not being discreet about your feelings for each other. He's also more antsy than usual; he's sticking close to you, looking around like a meerkat and absentmindedly playing with the fabric of your top when he isn't carrying something for you.

“Are you okay? You're not usually this antsy,” you say, pressing the back of your hand against his forehead like you're taking his temperature.

“I'm just keeping an eye out for Buggy” It's kind of sweet how desperately he wants to include Buggy.

“You'll hear him before you see him,” you say, making Shanks chuckle fondly. “And that probably won't be until later tonight. When he docks up here, I usually don't see him until my shift,” you inform him. Shanks nods, chilling out with your words.

A couple of his crewmates are already drinking in your bar as you clean up, so you're ready to open. Shanks’ men are nicer to you than Buggy's. Beckman is always a gentleman; he's even played security guard for you several times, kicking out patrons who wouldn't take no for an answer. When you ask Yasopp to lift his feet so you can sweep under his table, he swings his boots onto the chair opposite him with a sharp salute and a “yes, ma'am” that has you rolling your eyes.

In comparison, Buggy's crew aren't as welcoming. His business partners have never caused any problems when he's brought them in. Crocodile and Mihawk were initially intimidating, but you won them over with your selection of wine and the knowledge that you were once an apprentice of the pirate king. Alvida was happy to have another woman to talk to after being stuck with Buggy for so long. Outside of those three, his underlings had been rather cold, and you've occasionally had to shut down the bar due to their rowdiness. You dread the two crews meeting tonight and hope the relationship between the captains can enforce an amicable atmosphere between the crews.

Your coworker comes in to complete the opening and leaves you to get ready in the staff room. Your outfit consists of a black mini skirt and a matching black top. You've already done your hair and makeup, and you know Shanks is going to have a hard time keeping his hands off of you until Buggy shows up.

As you walk back into the bar, your heels clack against the wood floor. You get a few whistles from Shanks' crew, and you're all but ambushed by the red-haired man himself, who basically corners you against the bar. His crew are no strangers to the affection between you and Shanks, so once they're done teasing their captain, they leave you be. Shanks wraps his arm around you, complimenting your outfit choice.

“Do you think you can behave yourself until Buggy gets here?” you ask as Shanks' hand cheekily slips beneath your skirt. You're suddenly reminded of Buggy doing the same thing to you with his hand. You roll your eyes at the similar tastes of your men.

“I don't know. You look good enough to eat”, Shanks growls, pressing a sloppy kiss to your cheek with an embarrassingly loud ‘muah’ noise that has your coworker fake gagging behind the bar. Shanks reluctantly lets you go and takes a seat at the bar. He watches you busy yourself with refilling his crew's drinks while you both wait for Buggy's arrival.

You don't have to wait long. About half an hour into your shift, the door swings open and Buggy storms in. He's by himself, meaning he probably saw Shanks through the window and sent his crew away. He's also red in the face - whether from embarrassment or rage is unclear.

“SHANKS” He yells, the top half of his body flying over to where Shanks is sitting while his legs run to catch up. Shanks looks up at Buggy fondly, and memories of your time together as a trio come flooding back as you observe them. Buggy screams something about Shanks embarrassing and betraying him, which Shanks merely laughs off. Buggy pauses mid-rant when his eyes land on you. “Hi y/n”

“Hi, Buggy,” you smile back, leaning over the bar to pull him into a kiss that clearly shocks him as it almost knocks his hat off. Shanks tilts his hat back onto his head and kisses Buggy's cheek, making him so flustered that you can practically see the steam radiating off him.

“Why don't we take our girl home and have a real conversation?” suggests Shanks. Buggy, unable to respond coherently, just nods, and Shanks tells you to get your stuff ready. You apologise to your coworker on the way out, who simply says she already knew this would happen. You and Shanks animatedly talk about the past while Buggy is uncharacteristically quiet, interjecting with his own point of view every so often. When you enter your house, you sit on the sofa, leaving your men to sit on either side of you.

“Why do we have to talk,” Buggy grumbles, tugging at the fabric of your skirt. “Why can't we just tear this off you, fuck you and then talk another time.”

“Because I don't want any problems between my favourite guys,” you say, batting your eyelashes at Buggy. Buggy gives in embarrassingly quickly, looking up at Shanks, who's bearing a similar expression to you. Buggy's heart squeezes as the feelings he's spent years suppressing rise to the surface.

“I'm not sure what I did to make you hate me,” says Shanks, but Buggy cuts him off.

“I don't hate you. I never hated you. I was willing to follow you through hell. We were supposed to find the one piece together, but then you changed your mind. I felt betrayed”

“I'm sorry, Buggy. I really am.” Shanks says, reaching across you to caress Buggy's cheeks. Buggy leans into the affection, making you smile warmly.

“Whatever. Can we get to the good stuff now? we'll handle all the emotions later.” Buggy says as his detached hand grazes Shanks’ crotch. “Besides, I think our princess wants some attention.” Shanks turns his attention to you, laughing at the pouty expression on your face. He is not done revelling in the fact that he finally has his two favourite people in front of him, so Shanks pulls Buggy in for a kiss that Buggy reciprocates with a quiet moan. They're clearly happy to have each other back, so while they kiss, you lean in and push Shanks's coat off his shoulders, pressing a kiss on his neck as you do so. When Shanks pulls away, he has a smear of lipstick around his mouth, making both Buggy and you laugh.

“You want some lipstick too, baby?” he asks, pulling you in for an enthusiastic kiss. Your teeth almost clash with how much force he puts into the kiss. It reminds you of how Buggy kisses you. It feels like he's overwhelmed and trying to pour some of his feelings onto you with his tongue, which he pushes into your mouth. You feel Buggy's mouth pressing against your neck as his hand plays with the front of your skirt. Buggy also lifts his head when you pull away from the steamy kiss. You can see how hard Shanks is, and you're sure Buggy is no different.

“There's more room on my bed than on here,” you say, starting to stand. Shanks also rises and lifts you over his shoulder. Buggy leads the way to your room, though Shanks is more than familiar with the layout of your house and lets one of his hands fly over to your ass. Your skirt isn't long enough to cover your whole ass in this position, so Buggy takes the opportunity to squeeze and grope your ass. You're thankful that Shanks is sturdy enough to be unphased by your squirming. Shanks drops you on the bed, leaving both of the men towering over you at the edge of the bed.

“There's still one thing that hasn't been addressed”, Says Shanks, twirling Buggy's hair around his finger. “Our insatiable girl has been fucking us for months behind each other's backs” You go to defend yourself and remind them that you were never exclusive with either of them, but Buggy's hands grab at you and pull you to sit up at the edge of your bed.

“You're right. I think she should have to answer for her actions. Any flashy punishments in mind?” Buggy asks. Shanks thinks it over for a second, picturing in his head all the positions both he and Buggy could put you in.

“You know how sensitive she is”, says Shanks and Buggy nods, more than familiar with how receptive you are to his touch. “I say we give her exactly what she wants; make her cum over and over again until her pretty body can't take anymore.” He says. It almost frustrates you how well they know you. Overstimulation is easy to achieve with you, and it's the perfect punishment that involves getting their dicks wet.

“I say one orgasm for every month she was hiding us from each other. When did you start seeing us, sweetheart?” Buggy asks, using his hand to keep your eyes on him. You know you can't lie. You started seeing Shanks first, and he's fully aware of how long he's had you back.

“Six months”, you say, your voice quiet. You're not even sure if you can handle that many orgasms, but you're willing to try. Both men start to strip as Buggy gruffly tells you to do the same. You're completely naked, and the two men are both in their underwear. Shanks instructs Buggy to sit up against the pillows on your bed. You do as you're told, as Shanks tells you to sit between Buggy's legs and back against his chest.

When you're in position, Shanks lies on his front, pulling you slightly down the bed so he can get a better angle to lick at your cunt. He shoves his tongue into your pussy, eating you out with vigour. He drags his tongue back up to your clit, lapping at it and then sucking at it. Your back arches away from Buggy as you cry out in pleasure. Buggy reaches up to play with your tits, adding to your stimulation. Shanks pushes two thick fingers into your pussy, as he all but makes out with it. Your fingers tangle in Shanks's beautiful red locks, similar to how he's tangled up in your heartstrings.

“Talk to us, pretty girl. Does that feel good?” Buggy asks, taking the lobe of your ear between his teeth. You frantically nod, and Shanks's tongue sends shockwaves through your whole body.

“Feels amazing”

“You gonna cum?” he asks, and you nod again, gasping out a yes as you feel the familiar stirring in your stomach. “You hear that, Shanks? She's gonna cum”

Shanks waits until your moans start to shake and then pulls away, slipping his fingers out your soaked cunt and over your shoulder into Buggy's waiting mouth. Having your orgasm ripped out from under you has you crying out and writhing in Buggy's arms. Buggy's unbothered by your whining as he sucks your juices off of Shanks’ fingers. He moves his arms down to wrap around your waist. The sigh has Shanks palming himself through his underwear. Shanks looks down at you, heart softening as your eyes, wet with frustration, blink up at him. You're not being bratty today, something that surprises him. You're far too excited to have both lovers in one place to act up now.

“I said we'd give you six orgasms. I didn't say we'd give them to you easily,” says Shanks, making Buggy laugh in your ear at the way you groan. You should've known the punishment would go further. Shanks leans back down to finish his meal but stops short of actually pressing his mouth to you to tease his fingers at the entrance to your hole. You beg him to do something, eyes screwed shut in frustration. Both men coo at your desperation. “I would if only I had something a bit thicker to fill up this pretty pussy with,” he says, holding his hand out to Buggy, who grumbles something about Shanks being annoying. You can feel that Buggy’s hard cock is no longer pressing against your back, and when you open your eyes, it's in Shanks's hand. “Open that pretty mouth and stick out your tongue”, he orders.

When you open your mouth, Shanks spits onto your waiting tongue and lays Buggy's cock down on it. You hear Buggy hiss at the sensation of your tongue against his cock. Shanks spits over Buggy's cock, using his tongue to spread the saliva. You can't believe how turned on you are by this. You didn't even consider using his power in the bedroom like this. Buggy is whimpering in your ear; the sound only makes you wetter.

“Stop teasing. We're supposed to punish her, not me,” says Buggy. Shanks apologises and pulls away, instructing you to suck Buggy's cock. You obey, egged on by the praise Buggy throws at you. Shank's pulls Buggy's cock from your mouth and pushes it into your hole. Both you and Buggy moan. Shanks's eyes are fixed on where Buggy’s cock is stretching you out. He slowly starts to move, and Buggy's grip on you tightens.

“How does she feel, Bug?”

“Warm. So fucking tight,” Buggy moans. Shanks leans down to continue his earlier task of licking at your sensitive clit. This time he doesn't stop licking and sucking until you're sent over the edge. Buggy is close too but holds off the best he can while your pussy clenches around him. You moan their names as Shanks stays in position between your legs, licking you through your high. When he finally sits up on his knees, he pulls Buggy's throbbing cock from your pussy and holds it up to your lips.

“Be a good girl and finish him off”, Shanks says, whispering encouragement as you accept it into your mouth.

“Fuck, Shanks let go of it. Hold her head in place,” growls Buggy. Shanks listens, moving his hand to get a firm grip on your hair, holding you in place as Buggy starts to face fuck you. You can feel Buggy clinging to you, telling you how good your mouth feels. It doesn't take long for Buggy to cum down your throat, and you do your best to swallow the whole load. Some drips from your mouth, which Shanks is quick to clean up with his tongue. Buggy's cock goes back to his body while Shanks helps turn you over so that you're straddling Buggy. Buggy immediately pulls you into a messy kiss as Shanks sits back to appreciate the two of you.

“You're both so pretty” He coos.

“You red-haired idiot, don't say things like that”, Buggy whines, obviously flustered.

You let Shanks guide you to the middle of the bed and bend you over, shoving a pillow beneath your hips for comfort. You hear Shanks ask Buggy to hand over his belt; moments later, your hands are secured behind your back. Shanks, who's now removed his underwear, slides his hard cock between your folds. He teases your hole, pushing his tip in and then pulling away. He waits a second to take in your pretty noises before giving in to your whining and pushing his cock. He's been hard since he saw you at the beginning of your bar shift, so it's a miracle he doesn't cum as soon as he feels your pussy wrapped around his cock. He lets out a moan that has both you and Buggy drooling from how good it sounds. Shanks starts to thrust and tells Buggy to watch how well you take his cock.

Buggy, who's tying his hair out of the way, looks up at Shanks, who tells him how pretty he looks. Buggy hasn't adjusted to how sappy Shanks is and flushes completely red. Instead of answering, he just pulls Shanks into an aggressive kiss. You can hear the sounds of their kisses behind you, and the sound makes you gush around his cock.

“You feel so fucking good”, groans Shanks, reaching, running his hand down your back to grip your hair and pull you upward against his chest. Buggy moves on the bed and is now in front of you. He kisses you and reaches a hand down to rub your clit. You moan into Buggy's mouth as he speeds up his fingers. “You're squeezing me so hard,” says Shanks, heavy thrusts jolting you forward.

You cum as Shanks ruts into you, chasing his own high. Your cries of pleasure make it difficult to kiss you, so Buggy moves his mouth to the crook of your neck, cooing praises into your skin. You hear Shanks behind you moaning and cursing, dangerously close to the edge with the way your pussy walls clench around him. He cums with a shaky groan, filling you up with his cum. He relinquishes his grip on your hair, chuckling fondly as you slump forward against Buggy. Shanks massages the sore area with his hand, giving you a moment to breathe.

“How many orgasms have you had now, pretty girl?” asks Shanks.

“Two”, you say, a satisfied smile spreading across your face.

“Good girl, make sure you don't lose count.” Shanks and Buggy both guide you to lie on your back, and Shanks tells Buggy to hold your legs open. Buggy does as he's told, holds your legs spread, and pushes up your chest. Shanks grabs hold of Buggy's hair and pushes him down between your legs. “Clean her up for me.”

Buggy nods as he sticks his tongue inside of your cum filled Buggy. Shanks watches as Buggy eats Shanks's cum out of you. Buggy is eager to please as he licks at your cunt. It took him a while to get the hang of eating you out when you first started hooking up, but now he has an understanding of your body that no one else has. He works you over with his tongue, your post-orgasm sensitivity pushing you to the edge quickly. If you're this sensitive already, you dread to think how you'll feel after the next few orgasms you've been promised. Shanks looks from Buggy's face to yours and immediately recognises how close you are. He tells Buggy you're near and to make you cum now. Buggy pays extra attention to your clit as you attempt to buck up into his face. He holds you down as his tongue sends you over the edge and straight into an orgasm.

You writhe as you cum, drenching Buggy's face. Buggy remains unmoved, tongue still working at you even when you start to come down again. In fact, Buggy doesn't let up at all when your third orgasm quells; he pushes two fingers into you, ready to send you into a fourth orgasm. You're ascending from one plane of existence to the next as Buggy has the next orgasm building so quickly after your last. Every nerve in your body tingles and an odd feeling settles in your lower stomach.

Shanks looks on in awe; watching his two fated mates so animalistic has him too enamoured to even worry about his hardening cock. He's sure the way you're crying out for them is disturbing your neighbours, but he doesn't have it in him to care. Shanks watches as Buggy adds another finger. The pleasure is so intense that you shift up the bed, instinctively searching for something other than the sheets to grip. Shanks moves his hand from Buggy's hair to your face, caressing your cheek and running his thumb over your lips.

“Don't run from it, princess. Let Buggy make you cum” he says, voice soft. As if on cue, you're launched into another mind-blowing orgasm. It takes a second to register that you're gushing all over Buggy's face because Buggy seems completely unbothered by it, continuing to work you through your high and prolong your orgasm. Your body feels momentarily numb as you arch off the bed, shaking as you soak the sheets beneath you. Buggy finally relents, shifting back onto his knees, wiping his face with the back of his hand and messing up his makeup. You notice the way his face, neck and torso are dripping with your juices. You feel panic rise at the fact you've just squirted everywhere, but Shanks immediately stomps it back down by pulling you into a kiss.

Once you're rolled into a spot where you're not lying in a pool of cum, you get a glance of yourself in the mirror and almost recoil in shock. Your hair is messy, and your face is covered in smudged and transferred makeup. Your body is littered with remnants of lipstick and hickeys. When you look up at Shanks and Buggy, who look equally roughed up, they're staring at you with fondness in their eyes. You can't believe the men above you are looking at you with such hunger when you look this much of a mess.

“You're so beautiful,” says Shanks. Buggy's lipstick transferred onto your face almost makes it look like you have messy clown makeup on, and it causes a stir in Shanks’ crotch that he takes note of for future reference - maybe he’ll ask you to dig in Buggy’s makeup bag. Buggy is kneeling next to him, leaning on his shoulder to catch his breath. Most of his makeup is gone, having been transferred onto you and Shanks, but he still looks radiant to you. He has a smile settled on his face, a soft, content smile you don't see often from him. It makes your stomach warm to know you have this level of connection with two people. “Do you want to stop? We can stop if it's too much. Four orgasms is alot,” says Shanks, eyebrows furrowed in concern as he observes your ragged breathing. You frantically shake your head, immediately having an answer for him.

“I don't wanna stop,” you whine. You might be sensitive, but you crave as much of them as you can get. “Please. I want more,” you beg. You move your exhausted body to kneel in front of Shanks and push him down to lie on his back. Shanks easily does what you want him to, lying back but using his elbow to hold himself up and watch you.

You crawl on top of Shanks, straddling his hips and stare down his torso, examining the canvas on which you and Buggy have made art; bright red lipstick and shiny lip gloss cover his neck and chest. You don't waste any more time, grabbing ahold of his hard cock and guiding it to your hole so you can sink down on it. You feel Buggy's presence behind you and pull him closer to you so he can help guide you down. Buggy tells you to bend forward so he can join in. He grabs a bottle of lube from the night side table, spreads it over his fingers and pushes two against the tight rim of your hole. You gasp and clench around Shanks, who groans but is careful not to jolt you. Buggy works you open with his fingers until you've had enough and beg him to fuck you properly.

“Please put it in. I can take it. I need it so bad,” you beg, knowing Buggy would give it to you anyway. Shanks laughs from beneath you.

“Weren't you all fucked out from four orgasms like ten minutes ago?” He asks, amused by your sudden eagerness. “I didn't know you had crazy stamina,” he comments. Neither did you. Buggy pulls his fingers out of you and lines his cock up with your ass hole. His hands grip your hips, a steady presence as he pushes inside you.

You let out a strangled moan as they're both bottomed out inside of you; you've never been this full before. The three of you take a second to breathe, and in the silence, it hits you: you're physically connected to the two people you love most. You've always been theirs, always connected with them beyond romance, and always believed that your very livelihoods are intertwined. You're overcome with a feeling of genuine love.

“Please move. I need you so bad,” you whimper. Your heightened emotions have tears building in your eyes that don't go unnoticed by Shanks, who looks over your shoulder at Buggy and signals him to start moving. Both men begin to thrust, and it feels so good you find yourself clawing at Shanks’ chest. Shanks’ cock twitches inside you at the thought of the marks that will be left behind. The feeling of both men filling you up quickly overwhelms you, and the tears spill down your cheeks.

“Oh, pretty girl, you're crying for us. Does it feel that good?” coos Shanks. He reaches his hand up to wipe at the tears. Buggy’s lips trail your shoulder blades as he whispers praises into your skin. Your legs start to shake, and you can barely support yourself. You're about to cum again, and both men can feel it.

“You feel so good, sweetheart. Your ass feels amazing,” moans Buggy. “Cum for us. I know you want to,” he says, hand reaching around to rub your clit. Your hand intertwines with Shanks’, and you pin it down to the bed by his head, squeezing his palm as you approach your orgasm. Shanks tries the best he can to fuck up into you harder, planting his feet on the bed for leverage.

Your orgasm is intense, and you sob about how good it feels as you lose your balance and slump forward to bury your face in Shanks’ neck. Shanks and Buggy continue their movements, chasing their orgasms. You barely have time to recover before you cum again, holes spasming around your men. Your vision goes white, your body goes numb, and you gush all over Shanks’ torso. Buggy is next to follow, teeth sinking into your skin as he fills you up. Then Shanks cums with a pretty moan before stilling inside you. You all stay in this position; naked, connected and in a sticky mess of cum and sweat. You're on the verge of passing out, so Buggy is uncharacteristically gentle as he pulls out, shushing you when you whine at the feeling. Buggy helps Shanks lift you off of him, and then the pair of them get you over to the guest bed so Buggy can clean you up. Shanks strips your bed and prepares your sheets for cleaning first thing in the morning. Buggy finishes cleaning up the mess of cum between your legs and over your hips and starts to wipe at your makeup that was ruined by his own cosmetics. Shanks returns to the guest bedroom and leans against the doorframe to watch the intimate moment between you and Buggy. A smile settles on his lips as he watches Buggy steal a kiss while wiping your makeup off.

“Ready for bed, you two?” he asks as Buggy throws away the wipes. Your bed is only a double, so the sleeping arrangement ends up being you fully on top of Shanks, resting your head on his chest. Buggy tucks himself into Shanks’ side and rests an arm over you.

“Love you,” you mumble as you drift off. Buggy doesn't respond, as he is too flustered. Instead, he kisses your temple and lies back down to you in slumber.

“I love you too, baby. I love both of you,” says Shanks before closing his eyes.

✩♬ ₊˚.☁️⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

You wake up with your whole body feeling sore and drained of energy. You're noticeably alone, but you can hear the hushed voices of your lovers. You roll over to see them standing by the window, engrossed in conversation. Shanks is tucking Buggy's hair behind his ear, and Buggy looks like he’s been crying. You can’t see Shanks’ face, but imagine his expression must be similar.

“What are you guys talking about?” you ask, sitting up. Both men turn to you, looking startled. They hadn’t expected you to be awake yet. Buggy quickly wipes his tears, and Shanks wanders to the bed, sitting beside you.

“We were just clearing the air. You know that a lot happened between us, and Buggy and I were just working out our share of issues so that we could move forward with each other,” he says, leaning in to kiss your forehead and lips. Buggy hasn’t moved from his place by the window. “How are you feeling?” he asks, voice soft and deep.

“I’m okay. I feel sore, though,” you say, pouting at the two men who are the cause of your physical exhaustion. They both smirk at your pouty face, knowing damn well that you had asked them to wreck you.

“That's cute, baby. I didn’t mean that, though. I meant, how do you feel about our relationship?” Shanks clarifies. He calls Buggy to come and sit down with the two of you.

“I want to be official - no matter what happens, I'll always be yours - but how will it work? If you’re working towards being king of the pirates, you can't keep coming back here, or you’ll make no progress,” you say. Shanks nods, looking towards Buggy. The sombre atmosphere lifts as a smile splits across both of their faces.

“We spoke a bit about that earlier. It won’t be safe for you to stay here. If info about you gets out and other pirates try to go after you, you need to be somewhere we can protect you. So we think it would be good for you to come with one of us.” Buggy says, pausing to gauge your reaction. It’s been a long time since you’ve been on a pirate ship, but you have always been pretty good with a sword. Part of you feels nostalgic about being aboard a pirate ship again. Buggy and Shanks are both emperors so no matter who you went with, you'd be safer.

“If I do go with one of you, then what about the other?” you ask, not wanting anyone to be offended that you didn't pick them.

“Then we’ll keep in touch via den den mushi and letters. I'm sure we’ll also cross paths on some islands,” says Shanks.

“It’s been a long time since I've been part of a pirate crew, but I think I can go back if it means being with you”, you say, finally wearing a smile to match those of the men sitting next to you.

You still have a few days to think over and choose who you go with, so for now, you hold out your hands and insist one of them, who ends up being Buggy, carries you to your bathroom so that you can shower together. Shanks stares at you both with hearts in his eyes, and Buggy whisks you off to the shower.

“C’mon, red-haired, our girl needs us”, he calls from the bathroom, and Shanks appears in the doorframe moments later to see you seated on the counter while Buggy turns on the shower. You’re still naked, having not been clothed after last night, and Shanks walks over to you to stand between your legs. He leans in to press little kisses all over your skin, which you interrupt by pulling him up for a kiss.

“You two better behave in the shower, or I'll kick you out”, you say, gently scolding them for all the work they put your body through the night before. You glare at both of them, and Buggy rolls his eyes, pushing back the shower curtain so Shanks can lift you and place you under the water. Both men join you and are delicate as they wash you. They don't apologise for any marks left on you; they're pretty proud of them, but they leave little kisses on them as a thank you for bringing them back together. You had previously thought you’d been fated to a life behind that bar until the universe got your boys back to you. This feels right; it feels comfortable, and you believe in soulmates more and more as every moment passes.

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thanks for reading!!! reblogs/comments are much appreciated! ♡

tag list: @bloodfixnd

pls drop a dm or ask to be added to the taglist (if you to be tagged in one specific character list just let me know!)

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

I need shifting tips….