Perfect Places. — A Gift From Kunikuzushi To You.

in the safety of your arms, he can exist.

wanderer x reader

summary: when the past comes to haunt him in his sleep and he wakes up in a panic, there's an unspoken agreement that you leave him be and never speak of it moving forward. however, he can only pretend for so long.

genre: angst/comfort, fluff warnings: descriptive nightmare word count: 1,347

a/n: i'm back with more fluff ╰ (´꒳`) ╯ this one's kinda dark, not sure if nightmares should be a warning but figured i'd add it just in case. enjoy!

every now and then when he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep, it feels like he’s there again. surrounded by raging flames in the middle of a small burning house with danger closing in and despair bubbling under his skin, forced to face a reality he never wanted to be a part of. 

those words that had once given him another sliver of hope,

“but what if… hearts can be born from ashes?”

faded away in a storm of ash and soot, fueled by the bitter flames of deception. 

why him?

what did he do to deserve this?

why won’t anyone just stay with him?

he drops to his knees with a wretched sob, vision swimming with tears that fall from his eyes with practiced ease. in the distance the sounds of familiar voices grow louder as they approach, cackling and chanting while the puppet digs his nails into the ground. 

he can pick out every individual voice, can practically see their faces as they antagonize him from every direction. the one who abandoned him, the one who feared him, the one who lied to him, the one who tricked him. they all smile and laugh as their detached heads dance around him in a maddening show of victory, as if they’re celebrating the way he curls up and frantically covers his ears. 

let me out.

they inch closer, he can feel their breath against his skin every time they open their mouths. 

let me out let me out let me out.

the one who tricked him suddenly grows a twisted, clawed arm that starts reaching towards him, hand outstretched aiming right for his chest. 

LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT-

he jolts awake and lurches forward with a gasp, arms immediately wrapping around himself as he quivers in fear and waits for the hand to grab him. 

one. 

two. 

three seconds pass before he realizes the voices are gone, the roaring sound of flames replaced by a dead silent room accompanied only by the sound of soft breathing somewhere next to him. 

he slowly lifts his head to peer over his shoulder and ends up meeting your eyes from where you were sat scribbling away into a journal before he suddenly sat up. you acknowledge each other, and there’s poorly hidden concern all over your face, but no words are spoken and you shortly go back to what you were doing before, the way he demanded you to the first time this happened. it was just a senseless nightmare, he doesn’t want nor need your worry or pity. 

he tries focusing his attention on objects around the room, willing his limbs to stop shaking so hard he can barely keep a grip on himself, but that feeling won’t go away. he can still feel multiple pairs of eyes staring through him, hear whispers of their elated mockery in the air. but no matter how hard he tries, minutes pass by and a lump starts forming in his throat with each ticking second. 

he can tell you’ve noticed this when he hears the sound of your quill against the paper slow to a stop, knows you’re looking in his direction, but he keeps his head tucked down into his knees and bites his tongue against the way he’s about to fall apart at the seams. 

“hey,” you call out softly. the sound of your voice rings clearly in the silence and tears immediately start gathering in his eyes at your gentle tone. 

on the other side of the room, you’re fidgeting with the pen in your hand and trying to carefully select your next choice of words as to not worsen the situation. he looks so lonely, so afraid all curled in on himself while using every last bit of his willpower to keep it together, and you are so, so tired of seeing him suffer. 

“are you…okay?”

three words, and the dam breaks. when he slowly lifts his head to face you there are tears streaming freely down his cheeks in fat droplets and a remorseful look on his face. not towards you, but towards his own weakness and the way he failed to keep it under control over nothing more than a measly nightmare. 

your eyes soften immediately at the sight and you’re up from your seat in an instant, silently crossing the room while the wanderer glares at you through his blurry vision. he tenses up as you hesitantly sit next to him with your hands clutched tightly together in your lap, wanting so badly to help but not wanting to cross a boundary while he’s in such a vulnerable state. 

you both stare at each other silently for a few seconds before you finally speak up, voice coming out as an unsure whisper. “do you wanna talk about it?”

he bites his lip and shakes his head, a movement so slight you only managed to catch it because of the moonlight peeking in through the window behind him, and nod your head wordlessly in response. he’s still shaking, you can feel it under the shabby mattress you’ve been calling a bed, and your hands start reaching towards him before you can even register the decision to do so. 

you only managed to lift them a few inches before there’s a sharp intake of breath and he curls in on himself impossibly tighter, seeing a flash of the jagged hand that had been reaching out to grab him before he had woken up. you freeze and quickly bring them back to your lap as guilt rushes through you. “sorry! i’m sorry, i-“

you cut off your apology when he says something, so quiet and muffled that you can’t catch a single bit of it. 

“what?” you whisper softly, meeting his eyes again as he slightly unfurls from himself. 

“please,” he repeats himself louder this time. there’s a heart wrenchingly desperate sort of look in his gaze has you instantly forgetting all of your previous awkwardness as you lift your hands again and hook them around his body to pull him into your embrace. he looks furious, uncomfortable, and anxious all at once, but in the end the grief he’s remembering so vividly overpowers everything else and he lets you tuck his head into your neck with a defeated sob. 

his arms finally unwrap themselves from around his knees and he immediately clutches onto your shirt for dear life as you hold him. he really is trembling like a leaf, body so tightly wound that he feels almost entirely solid against you. on instinct you start absentmindedly running a hand through his hair in a comforting manner as his tears dampen your shirt, yet he makes not a single sound as he cries silently in your arms. 

“shhhh,” you whisper gently, tightening your hold on him a fraction as the situation starts to catch up with you and you feel tears start to prick your own eyes. “you’re okay, it’s okay. everything is fine.”

with the rhythmic feeling of your fingers against his scalp and your steady heartbeat to fill the silence of his racing mind, his shaking eventually slows to a stop and his tears finally run dry as you continue to hold him and coo soft reassurances every now and then until your eyes are starting to slip closed with fatigue. 

he knows he should be embarrassed, ashamed, angry, and so many other things, but in the safety of your arms he can’t bring himself to fight the lull of your steady presence, so instead he mutters a weak and exhausted, “don’t leave me.” into your shirt. he didn’t intend for you to hear but, of course, you did, and like it’s the most obvious and casual thing ever respond with an equally as quiet, “okay.”

this time, when his eyes slip shut and he falls into unconsciousness again, the past leaves him alone. in the safety of your arms, nothing tries to haunt him. nothing holds him back. 

in the safety of your arms, he can exist. 

genshin men as wedding dates (3)

It’s wedding season and you’ve got a large one coming up. But it’s not just any wedding, it’s a family wedding meaning…extended relatives. Are you going to brave the night out on your own or are you rsvping with a plus one?

Featuring— Alhaitham, Cyno, Tighnari, Kaveh, Dainsleif, Dottore

gn!reader, modern au, mentions of alcohol, mostly platonic but implied romantic feelings

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 (here)

AL HAITHAM

there has to be some sort of trade-off; his time is precious so there's got to be something in it for him. luckily for you, who's one of the few people he considers a close friend, it's just some random errand he doesn't want to run

he’s a mediocre date; follows your lead and is just kind of a wallflower honestly. will make polite conversation but only if someone talks to him first

drinks just enough to loosen up but not enough to get sloppy, and definitely still sober enough to read the book he brought. you leave him be, but you’re still going to go have a good time at this reception

yikes someone from the groom's guest list comes sidling up, hoping to shoot their shot with the handsome stranger sitting alone. of course he gets annoyed; not only was this person disrupting him but wasn’t it obvious he came with you?

wait where are you

he finds you on the dance floor with… someone else??… which is fair since he's here as a friend, but he strides up to you anyway and does not hesitate to interrupt

"thanks for keeping my date entertained but I'll take it from here" and then he leads you away to a different corner of the dance floor

did not think this all the way through because now he’s dancing with you but it’s just so…… robotic. he tries, he really does, but that doesn’t stop the secondhand embarrassment from anyone who happens to see him. you don’t mind though, you think it’s cute

"finally haitham, I've been waiting for you all night!" and then you kiss him on the cheek

perhaps it was a combination of the lighting effects and the alcohol, but you don't notice the blush on his face

CYNO

events like these aren’t really his vibe but you catch him in a good mood after you 'laugh' at one of his jokes

seems like a very intimidating guest at first and that’s not the impression he wants to give to your family, so he brought his joke book! chooses to tell one at your table during dinner and the silence after he explains the whole thing is truly deafening

he tries again but says "how about this one; y/n thought it was hilarious." so now you have to fake laugh and elbow the cousin sitting next to you to laugh as well

one of the uncles from the table next to yours actually overheard and leaned back in his chair to tell him it was hilarious so that’s a win

when you get overwhelmed by relatives asking you when you're getting married, he steps in to help you but accidentally says,

"we'll take the step when we're ready"

wait what

mans is a mess trying to fix the situation and you've never seen him like this so now you have to save him by laughing it off and dragging him away

he plays genius invokation tcg with some of your teen relatives; they were losing though, so they distract him by saying "heard the next wedding's you and y/n" and it works

he gets really awkward around you after that and you have to reassure him that it’s fine, no big deal! you even joke that if fake dating tonight would get all the annoying aunties and uncles off your back, then sure let’s do it

he’d never tell you, at least not anytime soon, but it doesn’t sit right with him to hear you say ‘fake dating’

TIGHNARI

if you’re not bringing a bag/clutch/purse/whatever, then he will and he has everything: antacids, aspirins, bandaids, safety pins, an epipen, etc

wow this venue decorated the place with such nice plants, a shame they’re not for anyone to take home. good thing no one noticed him take clippings to propagate

it's great to have him on your team because he is very good at all the physical wedding games like cornhole, ring toss, etc. you don't win anything except bragging rights but at a family wedding? sure, you'll take it

doesn’t smile in any group photos; only smiles in photos of just the two of you and selfies that you take on your phone, even though he pretends to be over it

is not nice to your offensive relatives; super passive aggressive with lots of backhanded comments. he'll make some snide remarks under his breath but everyone thinks he's joking. finds out one of your uncles is a flat earther, and takes it personally

complains about the music and how it's too loud but doesn't do anything about it, so you take him outside for a stroll in the little botanical garden

despite the nice, peaceful atmosphere of the garden, you guys do eventually have to regroup with everyone else gathered out on the lawn to watch fireworks and tighnari is doing is absolute best to stall

"....eh, we can see just fine from here, no?" he says as he pulls you down next to him onto the bench he's sitting on. if he plays his next cards right, maybe... you'll even rest your head on his shoulder?

KAVEH

he asks you if he can come as your date to the wedding because he loves these sorts of events and you agree because it’s always a fun time with kaveh

neither of you want to be dd so somehow… somehow he ropes his ‘annoying roommate’ into driving you two there and back

makes sure both of you are dressed to the 9's; maybe he wants to upstage the wedding party because he arrives in a satin suit and his shirt is unbuttoned dangerously low. some poor relative has to take a million photos of the two of you until he likes it, and then some more ‘just in case’

shows off some of his architectural work from his phone; even gets a few inquiries from your rich relatives for future jobs. networking king

once it hits cocktail hour, you’re taking a shot together. his arm is around your waist and that’s where it stays the entire time you guys are mingling with others

drinks a little too much and gossips about your family a little too loud though, so you've gotta reel him in even though you're not too far behind

drags you onto the dance floor and is a fun, but messy, dancer. you guys are in almost all the candid shots the photographer takes

on the drive back his roommate makes an extremely sharp turn and you find yourself thrown into kaveh. physics, am I right. you’re apologizing profusely even though he insists it’s fine and that you should, in fact, just stay in that position, your body against his

throws up in the car after you get dropped off and the next morning you wake up to a slew of messages from him complaining about how his roommate is so cruel for making him clean his car at 7am with zero regard for his hangover

DAINSLEIF

he agrees to go but panics the week of and keeps asking you if you're sure you want to take him as your date even though it's been rsvp'd for ages

maybe not the most fun date, but overall not a bad date

offers you an arm when you two go somewhere together, holds your hand through a crowd, pulls your chair out for you during the reception, etc

brought you one of every dessert from the buffet and risked looking like an absolute glutton because

“you said to bring you a dessert, but didn’t specify which one”

he’s very sweet to the older guests; they are swooning and keeps winking and telling you he's a keeper. you don’t have the heart to tell them you’re not even dating

gives random unsolicited advice and it’s always a hit or miss

he is so awkward in the photobooth because he doesn’t know what to do? it takes 4 photos in one strip and he looks the same in 3 of them. finally on the last one you do the thing where you lift up the corners of his mouth so he’s at least smiling

keeps his copy in his wallet for a long time, maybe even forever who knows

you never thought him to be a dancer so you’re a little surprised when he asks you to slow dance; even more so at the fact that he is very good at it??

you follow his lead, and dancing with dainsleif is honestly such a tender moment. if not for the color of your clothing, people might have mistaken you two as the newly weds, what with the way he’s looking at you while you rest your head against his chest

you see him crack a sliver of a smile when you catch the bouquet and you think that he’s just happy you won. but he knows full well what it insinuates especially when everyone’s clapping him on the back in congratulations

DOTTORE

you only ask him if he's your absolute last option because why in your right mind would you take dottore as your date to a family wedding. he only agrees to go as 'an experiment'

pick out his outfit please lest he wear one of his funky little suits

introduces himself as dr. and he's so dramatic about it so a lot of people are fawning over him; you suppose all families love a doctor but only you know that he's technically not even legally allowed to practice medicine

scowls behind you when an old family friend starts talking to you for a bit too long. excuses himself to socialize with said friend, but then you wonder why hardly anyone else approaches you the rest of the night

insists on you wearing his suit jacket because he doesn't want you to 'catch a cold' uh huh okay doctor

he makes the 7-year old flower girl cry at the reception but the thing is, he wasn't even trying? everything he says sounds vaguely threatening and kids are just terrified of him

so first of all he makes it very clear that he's doing this for you okay; he will make it up to you by doing some simple science party tricks for the kids

.... except he way overdoes it and sets off a mentos/soda rocket into the ceiling

and he’s not even sorry; he’s actually proud of that little demonstration like ‘go little rockstar.’ you’re forced to leave early in shame

he does go down as a family urban legend though because aunties will say "if you don't behave, the scary doctor will come get you!”

With so many new characters, I feel like part 3 has been long overdue!

RIN ITOSHI OMFG 😭

⚡️💜

THIS MOMENT SHINES LIKE

GOLD !

Honkai edit prompt - Day 2: Favourite playable valkyrie: EDEN .

♡ or ↻ if use/save! Credit is greatly appreciated.

🧁_MESSY MOODBOARD ❕

rainbow 🌈

⌗ like or reblog if you save ༊*·˚

imagine this: you're itoshi rin's best friend and you have been since grade school, somehow enduring the period of his life when he pushed everyone away after his and sae's fallout.

you were the only one that didn't budge at his sudden coldness, stubborn and unrelenting against his metal walls that eventually melded to encompass you too. you're the only one he actively wonders about during his time at blue lock as well, thinking about whether you were okay or not during the time that he could spare.

you show up to the blue lock u20 match, sat in the spot reserved for family as you cheer for him until your throat hurts, shouting your heart out whenever rin holds the ball.

you ask him if he could hear you cheering for him after the match, he wraps you up in his jersey and nods. despite how hellish his night has been, it's been made a little better by seeing you.

for the two weeks he has off blue lock, rin intends to spend it all with you. the problem was, the second day that you're out and about, you just so happen to bump in to the rest of the blue lock players.

immediately, rin wants to drag you away, not wanting to dampen his holiday with these idiots, but bachira being bachira, invites you to hangout with them during the day. everybody can see how miserable their precious, star player is, grumbling and complaining under his breath whilst you try to at least comfort him. you're grabbing him by his arm to pull him towards something fascinating, you let him take the first sip or bite of whatever food you bought, and you always allow him to take the vacant spot beside you.

it's chigiri who truly is ballsy enough to ask why rin lingered with you rather than just going home if he was going to be so miserable.

his response is: 'wherever y/n strays, i follow'.

⠀⠀⠀ ✿ “ fuwa minato ” layouts ⌗ 🥂✨

art creds : 1 - 2 - 3

like / rt if u use ^_< ~ ♡

Headcanons for dottore in his time in the academya with a crush who's nice and friendly with him?? Love seeing this loser obsess with someone who showed him kindness for the first time lmao

Il Dottore Having a Crush Headcanon [Sumeru Akademiya Edition] ⋆*.✩‧₊˚

[Dottore x Reader]

Synopsis: Il Dottore having a crush on another student.

Tags: Mostly fluff, a little crackish, soft headcanon, slight cw obsessive Dottore, and slight violence.

Notes: Oocish? Proofreadish??? I love Dottore. I ran out of ideas after the third sentence #igetstuckeasy. Gets really rambly. It's not super great so i might fix it later Also, it’s like 4 am :sobs: ALSO THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FIRST ANON <3333. Please tell me if you enjoyed!!

(Reader is always gn unless otherwise specified.)

Dottore being shunned for being a "monster" and "madman" wasn't anything new – he was kicked out of his home for his scientific experimentation concepts, and now he is being rejected by the students and teachers at the akademiya for the same thing.

However, you are the exact opposite. Most of the time at least. Before you associated yourself with Il Dottore, you were admired and respected by your peers. You weren’t as smart or as talented as the other students, but you were a pleasant person to be around and that’s what the other people at the akademiya liked about you.

The way you met Dottore wasn't the most...conventional. You saw Dottore getting beat up by one student in a classroom, and you were feeling like a menace that day; so you simply hit said bully over the head with a book – hard. He’ll be fine right? A small blackout never hurt anyone anyways.

Dottore was confused. He also was quite concerned, you were standing over him and the other guy with a book in hand. Why wouldn’t he be concerned? 

You handed Dottore the book and left the classroom after that. You didn’t know him that well, you saw him around campus once in a while and you heard the rumors about him, but you never really talked to him. In all honesty, you didn’t care about him or his rumors. ‘Madman’ this, ‘homicidal maniac’ that, he’s passing his classes with higher marks than everyone else so he has to be doing something right. Right?

Ever since Dottore ‘met’ you, he’s been preoccupied with trying to find out more about you. Most people don’t hit a stranger over the head with a book. He’s overheard conversations about you and has been trying to find out what kind of person you are. Most people at the akademiya despise him – do you despise him too? Did you want a favor from him? So many questions about you plagued his mind since that day.

The first time you had a verbal conversation with Dottore was after one of your classes. You were having an existential crisis behind a building because you slept through your lecture and didn’t understand half of the material, and he was trying to hide from other students.

“I’m so going to fail, what does this even mean – maybe it’s not too late to drop out...” “[Name] it’s halfway through the second semester, yes it’s too late to drop out now.” 

At that moment, you started to realize that you didn’t really like Dottore. He’s not…awful, it’s more like he laughed at you mid-breakdown. Yeah, you can have inhumane experimentation ideas, but laughing at your panicked state was a big no-no. (It’s fine, you started to like him more as you got to know him better.)

You proceeded to try to subtly avoid him after that. You were polite to him because you had to be, but you didn’t want to deal with him too much after that conversation, but that’s hard to do when you saw him almost everywhere. Dottore was like gum stuck to your shoe that you couldn’t get rid of. 

Honestly having him around you wasn’t too bad, and after a little bit, you started to enjoy his presence. You kept the bullies away from him, and he helped you pass the classes that you tended to sleep through. Sometimes you felt sorry for him though, he is a little odd – if you count inhumane scientific suggestions as odd; but they’re just suggestions, right? So no harm done. Plus, his ideas were slightly interesting if you thought about it. 

The more you willingly hung out with Dottore, the more he grew addicted to the feeling. After a certain point, he starts to think of you as a close friend. Seeing how you were his only friend.

Dottore as your friend is a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing because he’s extremely helpful when it comes to your classes and he’s an entertaining person to be around, but it’s a bad thing because he’s such a wildcard.

He’ll bully you and pull pranks on you all the time. Your least favorite prank that he pulled on you was when he hid your Sumeru Akademiya uniform from you. Or when he promised to help you study but spoke in Fontaine/Fontais (French) the whole time.

I think Dottore’s feelings for you kind of snowballed. It slowly built up till the realization just kind of…crashed into him. He confirmed his feelings for you after he received a birthday gift from you. It was something really trivial honestly. He offhandedly mentioned that it was his birthday a few days prior and was surprised to see you with a neatly wrapped package the next day at his front door.

“Why are you here [Name]?” “This is for you Dottore.” Dottore looks at you puzzled “A package?” You sigh “A gift you idiot. A gift for you – for your birthday.” Looking at you like you're the weirdest thing he has seen he says “A gift for my birthday?” “Yes Dottore, a gift for your birthday.” “Why would I need a gift for my birthday?” “Have you never received a birthday gift before Dottore?” “...No?”

He was pleasantly surprised to see a mini tool kit inside the package. You knew he liked tinkering with stuff, and he was surprised you remembered that. He just kind of stood there in thought for a bit after that and was like 'wow this is nice, someone cares about my wellbeing'.

I also think Dottore would try to impress you by complimenting you or trying to “flirt” with you. Keyword – try. He’s so shit at it, it’s not even funny. He tries, he really does. He just wants you to feel like how he feels when he’s around you. He’s just not as good with his words as you are, though that could be because he was shunned by mostly everyone in his life for his whole life. 

When he’s complimenting you it either doesn’t make a lot of sense or it’s extremely backhanded, and when he’s trying to flirt with you he either forgets what he was supposed to say or just starts to insult you.

“[Name] if you were a…” “If I was a?” “I forgot what I was going to say [Name].”

Dottore isn’t really the type of person to do anything when he has a crush on someone. He won't actively try to seek out a relationship with you mainly because he doesn’t want to ruin the relationship he has with you. He may be bad with social cues, but he understands if you don’t reciprocate the feelings he has for you it could mess up your guys’ current relationship.

On a different note, he’d do anything for you. You were the only person who really showed him any form of kindness, even if that kindness was extremely minuscule at first. He appreciates everything you've done for him – whether that’s getting him gifts, or cooking him meals, he’s really thankful you do that for him. He’s just so whipped for you.

Il Dottore is a man that found an obsession with the feeling of being wanted. A feeling that you have provided for him, and one day he hopes he can tell you how he feels.

genshin needs a baseball episode