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mianavs · 4 years ago

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the re-education

Falling in Stockholm part 5 (finale)

a/n: thank you for all of the likes and reblogs! a sequel will be written in the future with another major character that i hinted at in the beginning~ hope you guys enjoy this final part :)

tw: non-con, somnophilia, smut, torture, mind break

wc: 2.3k

Falling in Stockholm

You were at an onsen.

The hot water surrounding your naked form relaxed your fatigued muscles and enveloped you in pleasure. The longer you soaked in the steaming outdoor bath, the warmer your cheeks became and the dizzier you felt. Leaning back against the rock wall, you closed your eyes as a jet of water rose up and surged between your upper thighs drawing a low moan from you. Released of all your tension, your mind fogged up and eyelids grew heavy as your body began to nod off.

Hard grips on your thighs and a painful intrusion in your cunt woke you up to your horrific reality. Your limbs were still restrained by leather straps and tied to the four corners of the bed. The blindfold was still secured over your eyes and served to distort your sense of reality. Cool air still tickled your naked body that remained splayed open as the initial dull pain between your legs dissipated. Your captor’s ministrations on your sex while you slept made it easier for him to slip in and out of your slickened cunt.

Dabi’s disembodied grunts stopped when you started to struggle against his hold on your thighs.

“I knew this was the best way to wake you up.” He laughed still rutting into you like an animal in heat.

“Sick bastard!”

At your insult, Dabi slammed his length painfully into your abused hole. Each thrust hit your cervix without fail until you were whimpering in pain from the roughness with which he fucked you.

“H-hurts. It hurts! Agh-”

Dabi’s deformed hand gripped your throat depleting your lungs of air. Soon, your body began to spasm and choked gasps escaped your mouth as you desperately writhed underneath his iron grip.

“You feel so good, Y/N,” Dabi chuckled but continued pounding into your messy cunt. “You tighten up when you can’t breathe.”

Dabi’s cruel laugh faded away as the lack of oxygen messed with your head. Specks of white dotted your darkened vision while your body tensed painfully as the remnants of your will to fight were squeezed out you. It was all too much and you eventually stopped resisting. Barely holding on to your consciousness, one final groan and hot spurts of semen into your womb preceded the release of your throat. Wheezing and coughing for air, you never appreciated the feeling of Dabi’s cum oozing out of your cunt more than you did in that moment.

The weight on top of you shifted and the bed creaked as Dabi got off and walked away. The hum of the bathroom light followed by the sound of running water served to calm you down while your breathing evened out. The longer the blindfold stayed on, the easier it was for your mind to wander until you eventually succumbed to sleep.

You were drowning.

Cold water splashed your face and you woke up gasping and coughing on a soaked bed. The clanking noise of metal bouncing on concrete made you jump in surprise. Your ears then started to ring and your drumming heart rose to your throat clogging your windpipe until you couldn’t breathe. The panic attack wreaked havoc on your mind and body and you tugged at your restraints and screamed like a wild animal. The sound of Dabi’s footsteps stopped your hoarse screams and overwhelming terror stiffened every muscle until you lay absolutely rigid.

“Shhh…it’s time for your re-education,” Dabi’s hand hovered over your cheek but you recoiled from his touch. A sound of displeasure left his lips before his hand connected with your face and a harsh crack echoed in your ears.

“Who are you?”

Dabi’s question was met with your silence. You didn’t know what answer he wanted and believed remaining silent was your best bet. There was a deafening silence before a disembodied sigh came from Dabi that was then followed by the crack of a whip.

“AGH!-”

“Who are you?” The question was the same but you made sure to answer this time.

“Y/N!” You cried out not knowing what else to say but hoped it would stop the torture.

Dabi brought the whip down on your right leg this time and tears burned your eyes. The excruciating pain from the whip was similar to the one his quirk inflicted and that, along with your already weakened state, crumbled away at your cracked sanity.

“H/N!”

“L/N!”

“FUCK!”

“HELP-“

No matter what you said, the crack of the whip remained constant. To your horror, Dabi started hitting the same spots ripping open old wounds or making fresh ones on the expanse of your skin. In your delirious state, you weren’t sure if the warm dampness on your skin was leftover water, sweat, or blood.

“…d-don’t…know,” you mumbled, trembling violently. “W-who…am I?”

The sound of the whip made you flinch instinctively, only this time it hit the ground instead. You waited for Dabi to make a sound, a movement, but he remained still while you waited for the pain to come.

“Mine,” that rough voice replied. “You’re mine.”

Suddenly, hands clasped your cheeks and you gasped in response. His warm breath drew closer to your face and you braced yourself for another rough kiss only to feel it travel to your ear.

“Years ago, I was a lost child until the Mayor saved me—just like you. He trained me separately but told me everything about you. Your quirk, your personality, your strengths, your weaknesses, but most importantly he told me about our future. He wanted us to work together—to be together—and take down hero society.”

“M-mayor?” Cohesive thoughts were beyond the capabilities of your fractured mind. That one word was the only thing you could get out.

“Mhmm,” Dabi purred into your ear. “He trained me just like he trained you. We were going to meet soon but those heroes had to go and ruin everything. They killed the Mayor and took you away from me.”

Memories of the Mayor’s death flooded your mind. The stand-off between him and a faceless hero. You, jumping in between them to shield the Mayor like he’d train you to do. Exhausting your quirk and being thrown out of the way. And finally, the life leaving the Mayor’s eyes as you crawled to his body with tears streaming down your face.

You couldn’t reject your memories any longer. The Mayor had been like a father to you and his death had hurt you as much as your parent’s death did. The heroes had to pry you away from his corpse and even then, you fought against them tooth and nail. The only way they managed to control you was with tranquilizers and quirk inhibitors. For a couple of months, your new reality consisted of hospital visits, interrogations, and drugs until the HPSC molded you into an obedient child that they could ship off to an orphanage.

“I t-tried but…heroes…too strong.”

“I know, I know.” Dabi reassured you by pressing his lips to your temple; this time you didn’t pull away. “Do you understand now? I’m making things right again. I’m trying to help you, Y/N. The heroes messed with your head but I’m gonna make it better—just like the Mayor.”

“H-hurt?” You whimpered after Dabi’s warmth disappeared.

“The faster you let go of your hero identity, the less it’ll hurt.”

Your re-education continued with Dabi posing questions and you answering them honestly. Dabi could tell when you were lying and would punish you accordingly.

“You know better than to lie to me, Y/N.”

The punishments Dabi inflicted were less harsh after your conversation. It was like Dabi knew you were trying to fix your tainted mindset and rewarded you by not hurting you so much. In turn, you stopped seeing Dabi as a villain and saw him more like a mentor. He was going through these great lengths to help you and you accepted each burn, slap, punch, cut, and bruise with gratitude.

Each session ended with a kiss to your forehead and sweet words of praise that made your heart soar with pride. Dabi always cleaned you up after each session. He released you from your restraints, cleaned and disinfected your wounds, gave you a bath every now and then, and made sure to feed you and give you water before lying you on the bed. You usually fell asleep before he tied you back up but even when you didn’t, you never fought him on it. After all, everything Dabi did was for your own good.

Then, just when your mind was almost completely fixed, you woke up to a deafening silence that seemed to last forever. You realized Dabi wasn’t in the room nor in the premises and you grew anxious. The longer he was gone, the darker your thoughts became regarding what had happened to him. A particularly terrifying thought that came to mind incited a full-blown panic attack that left you sweaty shaky mess.

What if the heroes got him?

What if they find me and ruin me again?

What if they killed him?

No No No No!

You needed Dabi. He couldn’t just leave you like that. He promised to make things better. He promised to fix you. You couldn’t live without him; you were his. You lay on the bed with tears soaking your blindfold until poisonous thoughts flooded your mind and contorted your fear into rage.

It’s the heroes’ fault.

Those bastards will pay if they hurt him.

I’ll kill them all

Your mind and body eventually tired themselves out and you fell into a deep sleep. With your mind altered to what it had once been, you dreamt of the Mayor. He looked the same as he’d been when he’d died while you were your current age. He wore a proud smile on his normally hard-set face as he looked at you. Suddenly, his eyes shifted and you felt a presence next to you. Turning, you saw Dabi standing next to you. He looked down at you with a smirk before possessively wrapping his arm around you and bringing you to his chest. You closed your eyes and melted into him, inhaling his signature scent of musk and smoke. Looking back to the Mayor, his smile had grown seeing you and Dabi together and approached the two of you. Basking in the warm feeling of being in Dabi’s arms and having the Mayor’s approval, you closed your eyes and hoped the dream would never end.

The rattling of the door woke you up in an instant. Your entire body tensed as you waited for the door to open and the sound of footsteps to inform you who it was. You’d burned the sound of Dabi’s footsteps into your memory ever since he’d taken away your sight.

When the door swung open and the familiar lazy shuffle of Dabi’s feet reached your ears, you broke out in tears of relief. Your cries seemed to shock the man who stopped moving for a while before rushing to your side.

“W-where w-were…you?! I-I was…w-worried!” Your body shook as sobs tore through you.

Dabi remained silent but you heard him take a step forward and before you knew it, his hands hovered over your ankles and undid your restraints before working on the ones around your wrists. When your hands were finally free, you ripped off the soaked material over your eyes only to be blinded by the harsh florescent lights of the room. As soon as your eyes adjusted, you were able to make out Dabi’s face.

After not being able to see him in what seemed like forever, you were overcome with emotion as your eyes hungrily took in his face. He looked tired and worn out but, other than that, perfectly imperfect. The disfigured face that once made you sick, now made your heart race.

With tears of joy, you threw your weak arms around his neck and clung to him, burying your face in his neck.

“Please! D-don’t…leave a-again”

His arms wrapped around your waist and held you up. “I’m sorry.”

Your heart hammered in your chest as heat pooled into your core the longer Dabi’s hands were splayed on your bare skin. It felt like an eternity since he’d held you so intimately and you craved more. Taking matters into your own hands, you trailed your mouth up his marred neck to his face leaving a path of kisses in your wake.

“I…missed you,” you admitted to his astonishment before you crashed your lips onto his deformed ones.

You took the initiative, tasting his mouth and relishing in the warmth of his wet tongue. Your fingers dug into his messy hair and used it as leverage to pull him closer, deepening your kiss. The trance Dabi was in broke when you began tugging on his hair and he took over the kiss, leaving you breathless and aroused.

Soon, a familiar ache in your sex had you grinding against Dabi’s jeaned thigh for some much-needed friction. Noticing your intentions, Dabi smirked against your mouth before resting his knee on the bed and allowing you to straddle his thigh. As you continued to desperately rub your clit on the rough material, he kissed and sucked on a sensitive spot on your neck that drew soft whimpers from your bruised lips. Your slick dribbled out of your cunt and covered Dabi’s leg but you didn’t let that stop you from chasing your orgasm.

A strangled cry and your creamy cum coating Dabi’s jeans signaled your release. Exhausted from your exertions, you collapsed against Dabi completely spent. He held you up as he maneuvered himself to sit on the bed before setting you down on his lap and wrapping his arms around you. Snuggling against his chest, you could hear his rapid heartbeat that matched your own and it was all you needed to admit out loud the realization you’d come to.

“I…love you, Dabi.” You murmured, desperately clutching his shirt as if that would stop him from ever leaving you again. “Please…stay with me.”

“Always.” Dabi replied tightening his hold on you as if that would keep you by his side forever.

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eveningstar1516 · 3 years ago

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Rise of the Demon King ~ Chapter 8

Rise of the Demon King

Fic: Multi Chapter Paring: MC x Everyone (Mostly Lucifer) Type: Angst with a Happy Ending Total Word Count: 26,758 TW: Major Character Death, Reader gets stabbed with a sword through their chest so..., Abusive Parents, Past Child Abuse, Demon Hunters, Loss of Control Summary: You’ve done it. You’ve finally done it. You’ve managed to anger the demon king. Now you hold your head high as he hands down your sentence. AO3 Portal: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27065362

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Previously:

His brothers would always know whenever he went to see her as he’d always come back with a content smile on his face. Deep down, he wished that Y/N could’ve met Cynthia. They would have made great friends as they were the only 2 people who could make him smile like this. Mammon may not have been able to save Y/N, but he swore that he would protect Cynthia, no matter the cost.

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CHAPTER 8 - The Great Pancake Debate (2261 words)

It’s been almost 6 months since you arrived in the Celestial Realm. Needless to say, you are quite certain that these last 6 months have been the craziest and stressful months of your life! When you told Simeon and Luke about you staying here, to say they were ecstatic would be an understatement. Luke jumped for joy and wouldn’t stop rambling about all the fun you were going to have. When you told them about God appointing them to help teach you about the Realm, Luke practically did a double take and it took an hour to calm him. Now you have Simeon teaching you about politics and Luke about how to use your wings and powers. On your second day there, Michael woke you up, or well came to get you as you didn’t get any sleep. Turns out, while the Devildom is constant at night, the Celestial realm is constant day and thanks to the floor to ceiling windows, there was no way for you to stop sunlight from coming in. You were introduced to the council at breakfast. Note to self, the brothers breakfasts are QUIET AND PEACEFUL compared to Archangels off duty. The first thing you saw were 2 angels passionately arguing over which pancake topping was the best, strawberries or blueberries. At some point a third angel cut in claiming chocolate chips were the best and all heaven (would you replace hell with heaven here? idk) broke loose. As for me, I just started chuckling in disbelief while making my way over to pick up a pancake of my own when the angel arguing on behalf of the strawberries saw you.

“Hey kid, what topping do you prefer, strawberries, blueberries, or chocolate chips? It’s strawberries right?”

“Actually, I prefer them plain with maple syrup. Although if Satan was the one making it, I’d go for the one with poison berries. Contrary to their name, they’re not actually poisonous and quite sweet.” All the angels present looked at me with a mix of shock and disbelief, save for Michael who just sat there eating his breakfast hoping to leave soon and get to work.

“Kid, did you say Satan?” The angel arguing on behalf of blueberries asked. “Yeah… Blond hair, teal eyes, Avatar of Wrath, Luci’s son? Ring a bell?” Turning to Michael, blueberry angel asked,

“Micheal, who are they and why are they wearing Lucifer’s old get up?” “This is Y/N. They will be staying here and taking Samael’s spot on the council until their agreement with Father ends and they return to the Devildom. Father has asked us to teach them about how our Realm operates and how to successfully fulfill Samael’s former position flawlessly, unless they want to return now and leave heaven early?” Michael turned towards you with a smirk on his face as he asked the last part.

“Very funny Mike. You and I both know I won’t do that no matter how bad you want me to.”

“What did I say about calling me that?!” Micheal’s smirk turned into something short of a snarl.

“Well, if you won’t take me seriously, neither will I. You want me to call you by your name, earn it and stop being an butt… I meant an butt… Why can’t I swear?!”

“This is the Celestial Realm Y/N. Angels don’t swear.” Michael said smugly over the rim of his cup of coffee.

“God Dang it! Argh! Fudge!. Dang it! Ya know what, forget it, my entire mood is ruined. Thanks Michael!”

“Anytime.”

Shooting Michael one last glare, I sighed and turned to the rest of the baffled angels in the room.

“Yes, what Michael said is true. Stuff happened in the Devildom which I will not get in too-”

“The demon king made Samael kill them.”

“Ok, Mike, first off, he didn’t, I ordered him too, second, I thought I said I didn’t want to talk about it. What gives you the right to tell them huh?”

“I felt like it.”

“You son of a beach.” I turned back to the rest of the angels. “Not a word about it. Anyway, due to some personal issues, I made a deal with Father to stay here on the condition that I take over Lucifer’s spot on the council until he either kicks me out or until our agreement has ended.”

“If I may, when will this agreement of yours be over?” The blueberry angel asked.

“I will be returning to the Devildom once Lord Diavolo has been crowned king and his father is 100% out of the picture. Now if you don’t mind me asking, could you introduce yourselves?” “Oh how rude of us, I’m sorry, I am Gabriel.” Gabriel had chestnut brown medium length hair, reaching shoulders. His eyes were a dull green. He wore a white turtleneck and had a light green shawl with golden tassels. He pointed to the strawberry angel. “This is Raphael and he’s Uriel.” He pointed to the chocolate chip angel. Raphael had long reddish-orange hair put up in a high ponytail. His eyes were a stormy gray. He wore a simple light gray half sleeve with an off the shoulder white cape and little decor. Uriel had short gray hair and golden eyes that almost seemed to sparkle. He wore something that reminded you of an off white scholar's robe with gray accents. “These are Saraqael, and Raguel.” He pointed to 2 of the quieter angels who didn’t participate in “the great pancake debate”. “We make up the Archangel council and we’re happy to have you Y/N.” Gabriel finished off with a smile. You were just barely able to make out a little “Not all of us” from Michael. You decided to ignore it, and then, like all the decisions you’ve ever made, it was the wrong one. Sitting back down you asked,

“So, quick question. What started The Great Pancake Topping debate?”

Breakfast ended 2 hours later with upset angels, and pancakes, everywhere…

In the Devildom. After they lost Y/N

Levi went straight to his room as soon as they got home. As soon as he closed and locked the door he went straight to Henry’s fishbowl, picked it up and sat in his bathtub, hugging the bowl as he cried. ‘Why do I feel like this?! I only like 2D characters and Ruri-chan, not 3D people. How do I miss them?... Why did they leave me? They were my player 2.’ “Well it makes sense, no one would want to stay with a worthless shut in of an otaku like me” he said to the empty room. Henry 2.0 glubbed a bubble in response. “You wouldn’t leave me, would you Henry?” *Glub* “No you wouldn’t… I miss them.” Levi stayed in his tub hugging Henry 2.0 until he fell asleep.

Present

It was another late night, Levi was bingeing a new anime ‘I fell in love with a 3D girl but I’m afraid she’ll leave me after finding out that I’m an otaku who rarely leaves their room’ . He was halfway through the 9th episode when he got a notification from Mononoke Island. One of his raid mates was stuck and needed some help. He paused his marathon to help his fellow mate and stayed up until the early hours of the morning switching between playing Mononoke and watching his anime. Stumbling into the dining room for breakfast the next morning, he was met with complete silence. Lucifer had left early, Belphie was asleep, Beel was too absorbed in eating, Satan in his book and Asmo on his phone to even notice him enter the room. Mammon was busy in the human world helping out sone witches. Levi sat down in his normal spot, taking whatever was left as he mentally prepared himself for the day. As soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of the day at RAD, still dressed in his uniform, Levi left as quickly as he could. There was an anime expo happening in the human realm right now and there was some ultra-rare limited edition Ruri-chan merch being sold there. He had gotten Lucifer’s permission to attend the expo so long as he was back by 11. Existing the portal and making his way to the expo, Levi thought about the last expo he attended with Y/N. They cosplayed as Erin and Levi from Attack on Titan and spent the entire day surrounded by fellow anime nerds. They had also booked a room at a nearby hotel. It was 3 days of bonding time for them. Entering the expo, Levi decided he would get something for them as decor for their headstone put in memory of them in the backyard of the House of Lamentation. Nearing the line for Ruri-chan merch, Levi noticed someone staring intensely at him. He decided to ignore them but keep a loose eye on them, just in case. He got to the front of the line and purchased 4 of the Ruri-chan collection kits. One for use, one for display, one to keep and sell in the future, and one for Y/N. He decided to wander around a little more to see if anything else would catch his eye while he was here. He spotted a Black Butler station and remembered the jokes he and Y/N would crack about Barbatos and Sebastian. He passed a Fate/Stay Night stand and remembered their conversations on which heroic class they would belong to. Levi would have been the perfect Lancer. He passed countless other stalls, each of them holding a memory he made with Y/N. Distracted by his trip down memory lane, Levi forgot all about the person stalking him. He went and purchased some dinner from one of the stalls before sitting down and pulling out his DDD and looked at some pictures of Y/N and him at their last expo. He didn’t look up from his phone until he felt someone sit opposite of him. Levi looked up to see some middle aged man just sitting there on his phone. He didn’t have any food, merch, or even look like someone interested in an anime expo. Feeling an uncomfortable aura emitting from this man, Levi got up and left. He took a quick look over his shoulder and saw that the man wasn’t following him. He left the expo and went down an alleyway to open up a portal back to the Devildom when he accidentally bumped into someone dropping his purchases.

“S-sorry”

“That’s quite alright.” The stranger extended a hand out to let him up. “Say, I’d love to know where you got your uniform from. No schools around here have uniforms like that one.”

Looking up, Levi saw the same man that was watching him with a twisted smile. Masking his fear, he mumbled an excuse about being in a rush and tried to dash around him. Before he could get 2 steps down the alley, the man grabbed him and pushed him further into the alleyway. Levi’s head struck the wall hard leaving him dazed for a moment.

“I didn’t think my intel about finding a RAD attendee at the expo would be true but whaddya know? Seems I caught myself a demon.”

Levi, now more aware of his surroundings, realized he was cornered by a demon hunter. Despite being in an alleyway, there were too many people around for him to do anything rash. Without missing a beat, the hunter pulled out an enchanted dagger aiming straight for Leviathan’s heart. Levi rolled and dogged last minute before colliding into someone’s chest. That person in question wrapped his arms around Levi’s chest and put their own dagger to his throat.

“I know you’re there! Come on out and I might spare your friend's life!” The hunter holding Levi yelled. When no one stepped out, the dagger held by Levi’s neck began pushing on his skin. Levi felt a flare of pain and against his better judgement, transformed. His tail wrapped around hunter 2’s leg and flipped him over while the first hunter charged at him, only to be blown to the ground as a powerful gust of wind knocked him over.

“Jeez Levi, you’re lucky I was here. Seriously, why didn’t ya do somethin’ earlier? Maybe then I wouldn’t have ta save yo ass.” Mammon stepped out from the darkness with a bored look on his face.

“Come on, Lucifer’s waiting for ya back home. LOOK OUT!” Levi turned around just in time to see Hunter number 2 taking a swing at his neck and managed to duck just in time. Mammon then charged over punching the hunter square in the face, knocking him out cold.

“T-thanks M-mammon.”

“No problem. Come on, let’s get ya back home before any more of them show up.”

Stepping through the portal, a question plagued Levi’s mind.

“Mammon, how did you know I was in trouble?”

“Some witches summoned me. I overheard them talk about some hunter group getting a tip about a possible demon being at some expo. Then I realized that it was the same one you were going to, so I decided to go there myself to make sure ya weren’t followed. I’m glad I did too.”

“Th-thank you Mammon. Really.”

“Of course, what are big brothers for. Anyway, about my payment, maybe you can forget about the money I owe ya?”

Groaning, Levi started walking faster, leaving Mammon and his whining behind as he made his way back to the safety of his room.

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catflorist · 3 years ago

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Stars (ao3/ffn) catflorist warning: major character death

Sasuke joined the Akatsuki for simple reasons. He heard they had a plan to destroy the shinobi world, and he wanted a part of it.

As a blizzard raged in the cold northern air, he followed a dark-robed figure into a passageway carved into the cliffside of a snow-capped mountain. The tunnel twisted and turned, snaking past cavernous rooms and rocky chambers. Akatsuki forces milled about everywhere, red clouds hovering on dark cloaks everywhere he looked. His guide, Konan, led him past without stopping.

“Where are you taking me?”

“To our leader,” Konan said, leading him deeper. “She says she knows you.”

He was sure they were halfway through the mountain before she stopped by a metal door.

“Wait here.”

She knocked and the door opened a crack. Whispered words were exchanged, too low for Sasuke to overhear.

“You’ll have to wait,” Konan said. “She's still bathing.”

Sasuke was annoyed. Why was Karin going through these theatrics? He hadn’t seen her for months, not since disbanded the team and left to face Itachi alone. How she’d ended up in the Akatsuki he couldn't guess. Not only that, she somehow had all of them tiptoeing around her.

“Tell Karin I don't have time to wait,” he snapped.

Konan gave him a curious look, but stayed silent.

“What?”

“Enter,” a voice called from inside. The way it echoed off the rock, it didn't sound like Karin’s voice at all.

He stormed in. Torches lit the dark room in a flickering glow, and the air felt warm. A shadowed figure rose from a steaming pool of water. An attendant held out a billowing Akatsuki robe, helping guide arms through sleeves.

When the light caught her face, shock ripped through him. Because it wasn’t Karin.

Her pink hair was dripping wet, her cheeks hollowed. She pulled on glasses over red-rimmed eyes pinched with pain, the green irises huge beneath the thick lenses. The dark robe slipped off bare, bony shoulders—was that all she was wearing? He averted his eyes, stared at the steam curled in the air. His guard down, his chakra stretched out to meet hers of its own accord. But there was nothing.

He recoiled. How was that possible? She should be dead.

A diamond mark on her forehead pulsed like the core of a star, the only part of her with any vitality, energy. That and her eyes—they were still bright and sharp. The rest was fading.

“It's good to see you,” Sakura said.

It didn’t take long for Sasuke to understand. The chakra stored in Sakura’s seal was all that kept her alive, and one day it would run out.

At the same time, it all depended on her, it seemed, the meticulously planned attack on the shinobi world. She was its life force. Every ounce of her remaining chakra was rationed and monitored, planned in advance for that day. It was all anyone talked about, the reason why heads lowered in respect when speaking Sakura’s name.

To fill his time Sasuke accepted mission after mission. He brought back intel, took out troublesome political figures, and weakened supply chains, doing anything they asked of him to prepare for the attack on Konoha, three months away.

He avoided Sakura.

One night Konan pushed aside the curtain hanging in the door of his small chamber, an alcove in the stone set apart from the other Akatsuki members. “You’re back. What was it this time?”

“We intercepted a shipment of weapons,” he said. “They’re waiting in the meeting room.”

“When do you set out again?”

“I don’t know yet. What do you want?”

Konan met his eyes. “She wants to see you.”

He crossed his arms. “Tell her I'm busy.”

“You think you’re so important,” she said in that calm, mild way of hers. “You wouldn’t act this way, if you truly understood the magnitude of what she’s doing for us. For the world.”

Overcome with sudden anger, Sasuke forgot he came to the Akatsuki willingly, that each day he helped advance its mission. That he too hated what their world had done to his family.

“It's all for nothing!” he spat. “You’re throwing her away. For nothing.”

“You’re selfish. It’s no wonder you don’t understand sacrifice.”

He grit his teeth. “Find another way.”

“She’s dying already,” she said. “She’s just making something from the time she has left. What have you done with your life?”

Sakura was frozen. Dying. Sasuke pictured her in a land of ice, the snowy expanse that surrounded the mountain lit by a weak and wintery sun. Perhaps she could stretch her life a few years, each day lighting her chakra no brighter than a candle’s fire, barely warming her hands in the cold.

Instead she would burn up all at once, quick and hot and bright, like an exploding star, and maybe something would grow after the flames cooled. Fire always led to life in some way after all. She would not wait to freeze to death.

“Go away,” Sasuke snarled. The curtain was already flapping in the doorway.

Sasuke stormed through the hideout after a botched assignment. What should have been a simple scouting mission had turned into a bloodbath after a surprise ambush. The hidden villages were growing more hostile and clever as the day of the attack drew nearer.

He didn’t pay attention to his loud footsteps, the eyes following him in fear, until a figure darted into his path. One of Sakura’s attendants, blocking his way with an outstretched arm, a finger held to her lips.

“What?”

“She's asleep.” Her voice was hushed, like discussing a sleeping god. Not his old, annoying pink-haired teammate.

Sasuke stepped back. “So?”

“It's the first time in three days.”

Sasuke realized the hideout was utterly quiet except for their conversation. If he listened hard enough he might hear snow falling outside.

An old memory flashed through him. When they were genin, taking missions as a team, how much Sakura hated waking up in the morning. She’d groan and clutch her pillow, though she’d always get up and help him with their breakfast anyway. That Sakura would never struggle to fall asleep for three days. How things had changed.

Sasuke knew when she woke up, because the deathly silence in the compound lifted. Foot traffic picked up again, the scent of cooking food from the mess hall drifted through the halls.

He walked down the twisted passageway to the metal door, following the route he’d memorized, though he hadn’t ventured this way since Konan led him the first time. He pushed open the doors without knocking.

A wide futon was spread on the ground, where Sakura lay against soft pillows. Her eyes were closed, but he could tell from the stiffness of her shoulders that she was awake.

“Sakura,” he said.

Her head turned, set deep in the pillows like it held a heavy weight. She did not look surprised to see him, did not ask why he’d avoided her for weeks. “Sit down.”

With some reluctance, he lowered himself on the edge of the futon. Steam curled in the air, and water gurgled somewhere hidden, feeding the spring. Beneath the blanket, Sakura’s legs shifted gingerly.

“What happened to you?” he said.

“It’s this world,” she said. “Person after person, sent out to get killed. To protect someone else’s money, or goods, or to fight in pointless wars. And the survivors, they sent them all to me. It never ended.”

She closed her eyes again. “I healed, and healed, until something inside me broke. I couldn’t make chakra anymore. Without my seal I would have died then and there.”

Without meaning to, Sasuke’s hand stretched out, brushing her forehead, where the mark lay. Her brow was feverishly hot.

“That’s nice,” she whispered. He was about to pull away, but his fingers changed course, trailing into her hair, drawing a sigh. He didn’t know what to do. It was a long time since he’d tried to be gentle. He tried to think of what he liked as a child, the comforting touches he received from his mother, or Itachi, a lifetime ago.

When he finally lifted his hand, the cords of her neck seemed less tense, her head less heavy on the pillow.

She exhaled. “I was dying. I’d given everything away, but still they wanted more. That’s why I’m here. The way this world is, it can’t go on. Everything I have left is going into changing it.”

“This world won’t change,” he muttered.

A thin arm emerged from the blankets, fumbling at her bedside for her glasses. She slipped the frames on, appraising him with large eyes. “Then why are you here?”

This new Sakura was a stranger in many ways. She carried herself with a quiet calmness, a stillness, like she’d lived longer than her years. When she walked down the corridors of the hideout, heads bowed. At gatherings, she barely needed to speak louder than a whisper, because everyone listening hung onto her every word.

Knowing she favored him, the members of the Akatsuki looked differently at Sasuke, too. They brought him into their meeting rooms, seeking his advice and ideas. He learned why each of them wanted to destroy the shinobi system. Its claws had harmed others beyond himself. He started to believe they could truly build something new. Something better, that would never force older brothers into cruel and heartless choices.

When Sasuke returned from a mission he found Sakura sitting on a ledge under the stars, snow gently falling around her. They were high up on the mountain, but the sky was white and hazy in all directions, so he could barely tell where they were or what lay in the distance beyond the haze.

“What are you doing out here? It’s cold.”

“I like the fresh air.”

He sat next to her, knowing it was useless to argue. Everyone knew Sakura did as she wanted.

“My father used to use his katon on days like this. His fireball was strong enough to span the whole length of the lake. But when it was cold, he used it to warm his breath.”

“Show me,” she said.

His hands shaped the quick signs. When he exhaled, a soft puff of fire curled out, a flash of red and orange warming their icy surroundings. “Like this.”

Sakura watched him with furrowed brows. “Can you teach me?”

“Yes, but…” He stopped, tried again. “You can’t...”

“I can’t use my chakra,” she said. “But I can still learn.”

He took her hands. “Serpent, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger.” He didn’t need to, but he shaped her fingers through the signs. “Pull the chakra into your throat. Let it churn. Exhale.”

Sakura mimed the signs, paused in concentration so the chakra could build. Of course, it was only pretend. She exhaled. Her cold breath hung in the air, the furthest thing from fire.

“Thank you. I understand now. Your katon always fascinated me.” She opened her eyes. “Once, I saw you practicing in the distance. I secretly hoped, one day, you would teach me yourself.”

Bitterness filled him. “Not like this.”

“This is enough,” she said, her voice kind.

He thought about young Sakura—energetic and talkative, irritating, nervous around him. He pictured her, watching as he exhaled fire, wishing. The way her voice sounded as she spoke to his back, because he didn’t have the strength to turn and look at her, begging him to stay, or to take her with him.

“Did you mean what you said? The night I left?”

For once she didn’t meet his eyes. “That I loved you? Yes, I meant it.” Then her calm returned. “I’m glad you’ve thought about it since then.”

He felt the urge to throw her off guard, to catch a glimpse of the girl from his memories.

“You still love me,” he accused.

Her eyes seemed to sadden. She touched his face, her hand growing warm. He wrenched away, but it was too late. A cut on his cheek was healed.

He held his cheek like she had burned him. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m in control. I know how much I have left. Shouldn’t I be able to do what I want with it?”

Her hand remained outstretched. He gripped her wrist tightly, so tight it must hurt, and threw it away from himself.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“Why are you always bathing?” Sasuke asked her once.

Shameless, she stood up in the bath, reaching for her robe. He tried very hard to ignore her body, only glancing up when he was sure the robe was around her. The front hung loose, only her hand clasping it together.

“It hurts less in the water.”

Her eyes always gave everything away. Even when they were kids. They said everything she was thinking. When he met her eyes now, he was dazed to find unguarded curiosity, desire. The difference now was she put it bluntly to words.

“Haven't you wondered?” she said.

He would be lying if he said he hadn’t. He was wondering now, painfully aware of how his body was reacting to her there, so close, so easy to touch.

“It doesn't matter,” he said. “You’re—you’re sick.” Dying. But he couldn't say that. “I could hurt you.”

“I've never been as fragile as you thought I was.”

She let the cloak slip. It draped down low, revealing the narrow expanse from the hollow of her throat to the space between her breasts. Sasuke heard a small noise escape his throat, a strangled cry. And he was crossing the room, because he couldn't refuse her, not when it was something he also wanted so badly. Each footfall shed away the time and distance built up between them, laying in his wake like shed layers, so by the time he got to her he already felt naked.

He walked straight into her touch, her palm pressing against his heart, the other curling around his nape. He slipped her glasses off, let them fall, secretly hoping they’d break on the stone ground. He hated them.

In the dark, as he leaned in to kiss her, he could almost imagine they were somewhere else. In a soft bedroom, in a life they lived together, elsewhere. But he could not ignore the echoes sounding off the rock walls, the feeling of emptiness handing over their heads, the cold pressing in.

Sasuke stared up at the sky, his back to the dirt.

Around him, battle was waging. The day they’d all been waiting for, fueled with Sakura’s remaining chakra, was almost over. He didn’t know which way the tide was pulling now. He could only feel the hole in his side and know for him it was over.

When he next opened his eyes, everything was green, like he was lying on the forest floor. It wasn’t what he expected death to be like. But Sakura was there, leaning over him. He smiled, washed with relief. At least, even in this place, they had found each other. It was such a comfort, it didn’t matter to him what happened next.

He tried to sit up, and pain tore through him, though it was fading quickly. His eyelids drooped. Sakura’s hands shifted across his body, so warm.

“Can I go back to sleep?” he mumbled.

She cupped his cheek. “Yes, my love.”

He almost listened to her, but strange sounds reached his ears. Metal clashing, screaming. He cracked open his heavy eyes. A body lay close by, red staining the ground beneath. Above him, Sakura’s face was streaked with dirt and tears.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“My part is over,” she said, hands rooted to his chest like an ancient tree to the earth, unwavering and sure. “I have some left. Just enough.”

His body rippled with an electric shock. “Don’t, Sakura!”

He struggled to move, but she held him down with an iron grip.

“Just take it!” she cried. “What else would I do with it?”

It was always coming to this, he knew. But he wasn’t ready. He needed her to stay just a little longer. There was so much he still needed to tell her.

“One more day,” he begged. “You could stay just one more day.”

Her green eyes were like a storm, and as she steamed the last of her chakra into him, she didn’t look like she was dying. She looked as strong as he remembered. “If I stop now you’ll die.”

That night, when he left the village, he should have taken her with him. Taken her far, far, away. Why had he left her there? What use were his prized eyes and Uchiha blood if he couldn’t see the right choice to make?

“Don't leave,” he gasped. It was hard to see her, tears blurring his vision. “Please don't leave.”

Her hands softly slipped from his chest. “It’s okay, Sasuke-kun.” Her voice came from far away. “Just go back to sleep.”

The mark faded from her forehead like a star at dawn.

Konoha fell. The world was raw and overturned. Burning, and growing, and burning, and growing. One day, Sasuke would want to see it. For now he returned to the mountain, to Sakura’s pool.

He floated in the water, weightless, aching with the life she’d given him.

notes: a longer multi chapter is coming soon, but for now take this, and sorry

#sasusaku #sasusaku fanfiction #sasusaku fanfic #ss fic #ss #my fic #stars

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hoebii · 4 years ago

Text

To the moon

Pairing : JJK x Reader , PJM x Reader

Genre : Angst, fluff, college!Au

Rating : 18+

Warning : Swearing, major character death (disease), symptoms of terminal disease, talking about death, one sided love, pining

Wc : 3.3k

A/N : Thank you @chemicalpink for being my amazing beta who helped making this fic much more than a hot mess. A huge thank you to @taegularities for making me this BEAUTIFUL banner!! I love this banner so so so much~ and @voiceswithoutlips for letting me use her name in the fic, ilysm <3 I had the idea for this fic for a while and this might be the favourite fic from what I’ve written so far so I really hope it’s good. As usual, hope you guys enjoy this one and feed back is always appreciated~

-------

Jimin could only watch from afar as Jungkook and you danced around within the crowd of people. Usually he could be found in the middle, Jimin was known to be the life of the party after all. But, he couldn’t seem to enjoy himself, not while being sober anyway.

Downing the drink in his hand, he couldn’t help but wince a bit at the burning sensation as the liquid flowed down his throat. Slapping himself softly a few times he spoke to no one in particular, “Come on, Jimin, you got this. You’ve watched them love each other for years now, what’s one more night?”

Shaking his head to clear his mind, he pushed off the wall he was leaning against. He needed more alcohol if he wanted to survive the night without another heartbreak. Flinging the cup away nonchalantly, he strode towards the kitchen to grab another one.

Reaching the counter, he grabbed the strongest alcohol he could find and gulped down half the bottle at one go. Would he regret it in the morning? Most definitely. But, did he care now? Not a single bit.

“Oof, what’s got you drinking your life away?” he heard none other than Jungkook ask, seemingly appearing out of thin air beside him.

Choking on his drink, Jimin hit his chest as he placed the bottle down. Glaring at his smiling best friend, he grumbled, “Don’t scare me like that! I almost had a cardiac arrest, my good fellow.”

“My good fellow? Since when am I a ‘good fellow’?”

“You’re right. You almost gave me a heart attack, assbutt.”

Jungkook snorted, rolling his eyes as he grabbed two cups out of the stack, “Okay, Castiel. No need to get your panties in a twist now.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m wearing anything underneath.”

Wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, he bumped his shoulder with Jimin’s, “How sexy of you.”

Jimin shook his head, a small smile on his lips as he raised the bottle to his lips once again, “Very sexy of me indeed.”

“Alright alright. Stop moping about and drinking your life away and come join us! Y/N was asking where you were,” Jungkook revealed, “we need our third dumbass for the trio to be complete!”

Jimin slumped a little at the mention of you, before straightening up with his trademark flirtatious smirk. Thankful that the boy beside him didn’t notice - or if he did then didn’t comment -, “Aw, is this your way of inviting me to a threesome? Cause I’m in just so you know.”

Head thrown back in laughter, Jungkook’s shoulders shook, “Yeah dude, we’re gonna have such a sexy time fucking in a frat house.”

“Bet.”

With that, Jimin took one last swig from the bottle before starting towards the main room, “Time to get this party started.”

-------

Jimin woke up to a pounding head with a start, covering his eyes with a hand in a futile attempt to block out the sunlight, he groaned, “Why’d I drink so much last night. Fuck you past Jimin.”

Moving to get out of the bed, he stopped dead in his tracks when he felt something, or someone, wrapping their hand around his torso. Looking down, his eyes widened like saucers as he recognised none other than Kas cuddling up to his bare chest.

Scrambling to move away, Jimin fell off the bed with a squeak, successfully dragging the bed covers with him.

Jerking awake, Kas groaned about her lost sleep, looking over the side of the bed to the flabbergasted man on the ground.

“If I knew this was how you started the morning, I’d never say yes to sleeping with you,” she remarked in a gruff tone.

“You- I- We-” Jimin sputtered from his spot on the ground.

“You, I, We, yeah we fucked last night,” Kas said offhandedly, rolling back to burrow into her pillow to fall asleep once more.

Clambering up, Jimin looked around the room he was in, noting that it was indeed, not his - though it was a room he wasn’t a stranger to either -. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Jimin was, put in simple words; a fuck boy. He had slept with a majority of the uni population by now. So it was safe to say Kas’s room was nothing new to him - thanks to his previous rendezvous with her.

Though it was surprising that he was there at that moment, for he had stopped sleeping around as soon as he realised his feelings for you. Now, most people might do the opposite and excuse their actions with ‘I’m trying to get over them’ but Jimin couldn’t bring himself to do that. He didn’t find anyone else even remotely interesting enough to spend a night with besides you.

“Kas this-” Jimin started but the brunette was faster, waving her arm dismissively as she spoke, “It means nothing, I know. You’re too in love with your best friend, blah blah blah.”

“I’m sorry.”

Kas huffed out a laugh, rolling over to face him from the bed, “Why’re you sorry? It’s not like we have feelings for each other.” She continued as she rolled her eyes and smirked playfully, “besides, you’re not my type anyway. I’m more into guys like Namjoon.”

Body sagging in relief, Jimin could only chuckle along as he started gathering his clothes, “You know, I could always give you his number?”

“Then what? I call him and say ‘Hey, I got your number from Jimin after a one night stand. Let’s go on a date.’?”

“I mean, technically you could.”

A moment of silence passed as the two delved into a staring contest of sorts.

“Okay, so I’m gonna go now,” Jimin drawled out, getting dressed as he inched towards the exit, “I’ll text you hyung’s number later, by the way. Do whatever you wish to with that.”

“You’re such a shady fucker, Park,” Kas said jokingly, “how you befriended someone like Namjoon is beyond me.”

With a laugh he left, “See you around, Kas.”

-------

Jimin unlocked the front door of his apartment, not caring about the noise as he was certain that his roommate was out by now.

“Welcome back, man-whore,” Jungkook greeted from his spot on the couch, eyes glued to the TV screen in front of him.

Jimin’s body tensed instinctively, eyes widening in shock as he looked at his roommate playing video games, “What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

“Yeah but what are you doing here now?”

“Playing video games.”

Jimin sighed exasperated, “Aren’t you usually with Y/N at this time?”

Jungkook mimicked the elder’s sigh to mock the older, “Yeah but she’s busy today.”

Processing the information, Jimin nodded his head, “I’m gonna go freshen up.”

“Alright.”

-------

Steam escaped the bathroom as Jimin stepped out, drying his hair with a towel as he walked to his room. Just as he entered, he heard his phone ringing. Looking around the place, he spotted his vibrating phone at the edge of the bed where he had thrown it before going into the shower.

Grabbing the phone, he picked up the call without checking the ID, “Can you please call back? I’m on the other line with my proctologist and he’s trying to explain to me why I have a perfect ass.”

“What the fuck did you just say?”

“Ah Jin-hyung! How are you?”

“None of that. First tell me what the fuck you just said.”

Jimin snickered, moving to sit on the bed, “Don’t worry about it. I usually start calls with the weirdest thing I can think of so if it’s a scam call, they leave me alone.”

“You know,” Jin started, “if you used even half the brain power you use on shit like this while studying, you’d be one of the smartest students in your university.”

“Where’s the fun in that though?” Jimin whined, falling back to lie down, “besides, I’m already one of the top students in our batch.”

“Overconfidence will take you nowhere Park Jimin,” Jin stated.

“Lies. You’re a world renowned model, are you not?”

“Aish, you’re such a brat.”

Giggling, Jimin switched his phone from one ear to the other, “Only for you. Now tell me how you’ve been! It’s been ages since we last spoke.”

-------

“Fuck! Taehyung focus!” Jungkook shouted into his mic as he killed another enemy, rushing to his friend’s dying avatar and quickly reviving him.

“Sorry, I was drinking some water real quick,” came Taehyung’s reply, “I thought that spot was safe for a quick sip.”

“You were literally hiding in a bush in an open field,” Jungkook deadpanned, throwing a grenade at the building he knew the enemy squad was hiding.

“Ooh nice one,” Taehyung said as the game announced that he had killed two players with the grenade.

“Taehyung-ah, only two more players left. If we lose then I’m gonna end you.”

-------

You hissed in pain as another rose thorn pricked one of your fingers, “I hate this so much.”

“Oh cheer up, Y/N. Gardening will never be fun if you’re such a grump!” your grandfather announced, plucking another rose and placing it in his basket.

“I wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t love you so much, grandpa.”

“I love you too, bubbles. Let’s go to that patch now! Be careful though, those have more thorns,” your grandfather beamed like a little kid on Christmas morning as he moved towards the white rose patch.

You could only groan as you dragged your feet to follow him, “Great, more thorns. Yay.”

-------

“Alright, five minutes break for getting water and shit,” Jungkook announced before taking his headphones off.

He stood up and stretched, feeling his joints crack as he did so. Looking at the clock, he realised that he had been playing for a few hours now.

“Damn I went so long without moving? No wonder I’m so thirsty.”

Jungkook rolled his neck, hearing some more bones cracking as he walked towards the kitchen to grab some quick snacks. Walking by Jimin’s room, he heard the older man talking to someone.

He was about to move on, having no interest in eavesdropping, when he thought he heard your name. Ignoring his brain that urged him not to listen, he moved closer to the closed door, trying to hear what was being said.

“I don’t know hyung…” he heard Jimin say, “you know how I feel about Y/N. I don’t think I can go on a date with someone else.”

His eyebrows furrowed as he listened. There was a pause, no doubt the person on the other line speaking before he heard Jimin speak again.

“I know I have to get over her, hyung. It’s just,” Jimin sighed, “it feels unfair for the other person, you know? Going on a date with them while I’m in love with Y/N and all.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened, he barely held a gasp in as he heard Jimin. He knew that Jimin used to have feelings for you when they were younger so he made sure to ask him before pursuing a relationship with you when he caught feelings for you too. He clearly remembered Jimin telling him that he no longer had feelings for you when Jungkook had confided to him about his growing affections for you.

Jungkook moved away from the door, shaking his head as he realised that the other man had lied back then. He had prioritised Jungkook over himself. Typical Jimin, he thought.

Not wanting to barge in on Jimin mid call, Jungkook decided that he would speak to him about it later on. With that noted in his mind, he continued his journey to the kitchen to get some snacks.

-------

Time flew by, days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Jungkook ended up never speaking to Jimin about his conversation, too swept up with university life and finals that came banging on the door.

It was during that time when Jungkook’s health started deteriorating. It started with him feeling nauseous even though he didn’t do or have anything that might have caused it, then came his loss of appetite.

Every time he would brush away your and Jimin’s concerned gaze, saying it was just him overexerting himself with all his extracurricular activities and studies. What worried you the most was when he started to drastically lose weight. The once muscular and energetic boy who loved playing outdoor games slowly turned into a sickly and frail boy who no longer had enough energy to move much without getting exhausted.

Jimin and you tried time and time again to get him to see a doctor and he time and time again waved away your concerns, always dismissing his decline in health with some sort of excuse.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when one day he started to complain about severe back pain and difficulty breathing. You had called Jimin and the two of you rushed to the hospital with the barely conscious boy.

-------

It was a day like any other, Jimin woke up, got dressed, made some food for himself and his roommate. Checking on Jungkook in the other room as soon as he was done.

Holding the tray of food in one hand, he knocked on the open door to announce his presence, “Hey Kook. Got your breakfast, we’re having eggs and bacon today!”

Cracking one eye open, the younger man could only give a weak smile, “Morning, hyung.”

Moving to place the tray on the bedside table, Jimin helped him sit up - placing pillows behind him against the headboard so he could lean back and be comfortable as he ate.

“Where’s Y/N?” Jimin asked as he sat beside the bed, grabbing the food and starting to slowly feed the other. You decided to move in with them after Jungkook got diagnosed with the last stage of pancreatic cancer last year.

Chewing on the egg, Jungkook struggled to swallow before answering, “She went to the department store to grab some stuff.”

Nodding, Jimin fed him another bite, making sure that it was small enough for him to swallow without much struggle. The two continued in comfortable silence, only the scraping of the utensils against the plate and the distant chirping of birds from outside could be heard inside the room.

It was a beautiful day, so why did it feel as if something was wrong? Jimin could only wonder, his eyebrows furrowed in thought before he shook his head to get rid of the negative thoughts.

After making sure that Jungkook finished the whole meal and drank enough water, he placed the tray back on the bedside table. Jimin knew that the younger would want to read something to pass the time so he got up to grab a book from his shelf, eyes scanning all the spines before finally picking one he thought the other would enjoy.

Turning, he walked back towards Jungkook and handed him the book, moving to take the tray so he could clean up.

Before he could leave however, the younger man called his name. Turning to face him, Jimin raised an eyebrow in question, “What’s up?”

“I forgot to talk to you back then but,” Jungkook started, a coughing fit making him pause midway, “I heard you on the phone that day last year. The day after the party where you went home with Kas noona?”

Jimin’s posture straightened, his body tensing as he recalled that day. The only one he spoke to on call, as far as he could remember was Jin.

Clearing his throat, Jimin walked back to the bed, placing the tray back on the bedside table as he sat by him, “Oh? What about it?”

“I was walking by to grab some snacks when I heard you confessing your feelings for Y/N, hyung.”

It was like someone had just punched Jimin in the throat, a gasp leaving his plump lips as his eyes widened.

“Kook, I-”

“Don’t worry,” Jungkook smiled softly, “I know you wouldn’t ever try anything. I trust you.”

Jimin didn’t know what to say, opting to grab one of his hands and softly running his thumb over it, “Kook I’m trying to get over her, I swear I am. It’s just a little difficult when you’ve loved someone for years.”

Chuckling, Jungkook placed his other hand on top of Jimin’s, “It’s fine, I don’t blame you. She’s an amazing girl, hyung. Anyone would fall for her.”

The two share a silent moment, though it was a comfortable one. None of them felt the need to speak, just enjoying the little peaceful moment they were sharing.

Jimin felt the grip on his hand tightening, the other’s face turning into one that showed discomfort, “Hyung, I don’t feel so good.”

“What are you talking about? Let me call the ambulance!” Jimin exclaimed frantically, freeing his hand from the younger’s, rushing to go grab his phone from the other room.

Right as he was about to get up though, a hand grabbed a hold of his wrist. Halting him in his steps.

“Clam down, will you? I don’t want the last thing I see before dying is you panicking like a headless chicken.”

Swallowing back tears harshly, Jimin’s eyebrows creased in concern, “What are you talking about? How are you joking in a moment like this!”

Shaking his head, Jungkook smiled again, voice strained with the effort of him speaking through the pain and fatigue he felt, “No listen, it’s fine. Just make sure to take care of Y/N alright? She might act all tough but she’s as fragile as a flower.”

“Jungkook, please. Let me go get my phone so I can take you to the hospital,” Jimin begged, voice trembling as his eyes glazed over with unshed tears.

Ignoring his pleads, Jungkook continued with a laugh, “We always joked about how one day in the future we’d go to the moon together like in those movies. Guess that won’t be happening in this life, huh?”

“Fuck Kook, you can! Just let me get the damn phone!” Jimin almost screamed in frustration, rapidly blinking back his tears as his hands shook.

Meeting his eyes, Jungkook only continued smiling, a peaceful look overtaking his feature, “Take her to the moon for me, alright?”

It was getting harder to keep his eyes open, but this time he didn’t fight the numbness that took over him. In that moment Jungkook truly felt at peace, knowing that the two of the people he cared so much for would be alright. That they had each other when he wouldn’t be there.

-------

That was what you walked in on. The sight of your boyfriend lying on his bed, looking more at peace then you had seen him in the past year. You could almost smile at the seemingly happy moment but the sobbing man beside him indicated something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

“What’s going on? Why’re you crying Chimmy?” You asked cautiously, still standing at the door.

Jimin’s head snapped up, his blood shot tearful eyes locking with yours, “He’s gone.”

The grocery bags that you were holding a moment ago were on the ground, the sound of glass breaking heard from inside. “What do you mean he’s gone?” You asked, lips quivering as your voice trembled.

Getting up from his seat, Jimin walked towards you, pulling you into a crushing hug as you started weeping, “You’re lying! He can’t be gone, he can’t leave me!”

Jimin could only hold you tighter, caressing the back of your head as he shushed you gently, whispering an endless string of apologies even though he couldn’t stop crying himself.

“Please tell me this is some sort of a sick prank you two are pulling on me. Please tell me you’re joking and he’s alright,” you begged, weakly grabbing the collar of his shirt and tugging at it in desperation.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again, kissing you on top of your head, “Let it out, I’m here for you, moonlight. Just like I promised.”

#thebtswritersclub #bangtaninn #jeon jungkook x reader #bts jungkook #jjk x reader #jjk angst #bts fic #bts angst #bts fluff #park jimin x reader #bts jimin #pjm x reader #pjm angst #bts au

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fairykimseok · 4 years ago

Text

Drowsy nights and the white wolf

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Original Character (Kaitlyn)

Summary: Being an avenger is one thing, being an Avenger with Bucky Barnes is another. A little story of how Kaitlyn met Bucky

Gender: would say fluff with a little action, oneshot

Warnings: a mention of blood

This is written with the intention of being Bucky x reader but I just had to name the character. Time wise it is set along the events of TFATWS

Disclaimer: Marvel owns Avengers, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and all its characters

Before I tell you my story maybe I need to introduce myself. My name is Kaitlyn, I am short of special as my mom liked to say and…I might be an Avenger.

All started in the battle of New York, I was in one of the buildings Loki had taken over, with my mom and a few other people. I don’t really remember what happened, I only know Loki had touched me with his Scepter. I woke up the following day at the hospital, the building we were in had collapsed killing everyone but me. I was 16 back then and that was when I first met Natasha. She was the one who had pulled me out of that building and she kept visiting me in the hospital, she sort of became my family when everyone was gone. Short after when my powers started showing up, powers that were the legacy of Loki and the infinity stone, our sessions started. She would train me in hand in hand combat and I would try to master my powers.

She wanted me to go to the avengers’ compound and I had visited a few times, I had a room next to Wanda whom I had met on a few occasions. But that was when the Civil War between the Avengers started, and Nat went hiding. We would still meet sometimes with Cap and occasionally Sam.

And then the snap happened, and I blipped and when I came back, she was gone. My only family was gone. I called Sam as soon as I found out. He told me I could still join the team just as Nat wanted, that they had a new building as the old one was destroyed.

And that is where I am right now, in the new Avengers compound with whom is left here. Mostly me, Rodney, and Banner. Sam comes and goes, Dr. Strange, Clint, and Scot has stopped by sometimes and they frequently video call with others that are far away.

It is sort of lonely here, but I try to focus on my training. It is not easy being the only one with my kind of powers. Dr. Strange has helped me some with that and Banner had run some tests on me to see how they could progress. I get my “military” training with Rodney and when Clint is here, I get the “spy” training.

Oh right, my powers. Well you could say I have a thing with ice. Provided that there is water around I can create ice in whatever form I want and use it accordingly. I am still very sloppy and most of the time it is only a thin layer, but I am getting better.

It was a typical day, I woke up, got breakfast in the shared kitchen, visited Banner in his lab and went to the gym for my training. One of the first things Nat had told me was that I need to be agile, to be able to move fast even in the most difficult situations, so my morning routine had a variety of ballet, yoga or pilates.

“Looking good”, I heard someone at the door. As I turned, I realized it was no other than Sam.

“Hey Sam, what’s up? It’s been a while”, I said, going to my bug to drink some water.

“Thought I would stop by to see how you all here are and also to drop a friend who I think would help you a lot with your training”, he said.

As on cue Rodney entered the room with one more man, he looked around the room before his eyes landed on me. I knew who he was of course, who doesn’t.

“Bucky this is Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn this is Bucky. Don’t worry he is not dangerous just very old”, Sam joked which led to him getting a punch in the arm.

“Nice to me you”, Bucky said with a slight nod of his head.

“Nice to meet you too”, I managed to say in a stake of a mild shock. No, I wasn’t scared of him, I never had been. Cap had told me enough of his stories with bucky back in their days to know that this man is not dangerous even if he had been brainwashed most of his life.

“Bucky can help you with close up combat. If you are going to learn, better learn from the best.”, Sam offered. “We gonna let you at it and come back later with Rods. You gonna be ok old man?”, he asked before leaving, closing the door behind them.

Bucky only eye rolled as he properly entered the room. He unzipped his jacket leaving it at the bench, his vibranium arm echoing in the empty room. “Alright, let’s see what you got. Try to hit me” he said positioning himself in the middle of the room.

“Hit you?”, I asked confused, approaching him.

“Kick me, punch me, hit me. Whatever”, he shrugged.

Whatever, I thought. How? How do you hit the winter soldier? I took a few more steps, going closer all while I was thinking which could be the best approach, how could I attack him. At first, I just tried to punch as naïve as it looked. Of course, he just stopped my hand midair with his. I tried more complex moves, some of those Nat used to do, wrapping my legs around his neck and trying to elbow him on the head, I found myself pinned to the nearest wall his metal arm in my neck. His grip tight. He got flustered for a moment and for a moment there I really saw the assassin he used to be. He loosened his grip and let me down, mumbling an apology.

“How old are you again?”, I asked out of breath.

“Physical or mental age? Actual or birth wise? Kinda difficult question to ask”, he said with a faint of smile but maybe it was my imagination because it lasted for too short.

“Current?”, I offered.

“Something around the early 30s. Or 106, who counts?” he shrugged. “Again”

We went on and on, each time finding me in a helpless situation. I was pretty sure Ι was covered with bruises in every place possible.

I don’t even know how many times we had done the same thing when I got the idea that hey, I got powers. I let him tackle me into a headlock and when he was about to loosen his hold, I touched the metal arm, ice spreading all over it. I took the mere seconds it took him to realize what was going on as a chance to elbow him in the ribs and punch his jaw. He took a step back and smiled not even fazed by my hits.

“Good, but next time count on your strength and not your powers yet”, he said.

“Do you even feel anything?”, I asked defeated, nothing seemed to hurt him.

“It takes a lot more to make me feel anything”, he grinned. “And ice is not one of them”

“I left you here to learn from him and you go and freeze my man?”, Sam exclaimed entering in the room.

“I am fine”, Bucky said waving his metal arm twice before the ice broke and fell on the floor.

“Once a popsicle always a popsicle,” Sam joked earning a death stare from the older man. “How did it go?”, he asked looking at me

“No broken bones, so I guess good”, I shrugged.

“We have a long way ahead of us”, Bucky said getting dressed. “I am out”, he nodded before disappearing.

“So how was it really?”, Sam asked again, examining me.

“I think I barely touched him. My whole body is sore, and my pride is wounded.”

Sam laughed. “That’s why I brought him here to you. The people we are going up against out there are not easy, they will try to kill you without a second thought. You can always use your powers, but you told Nat you wanted to be like her. If you still up for the close combat, he will be here from now on. You may train with him whenever you want. If not, you are still free to stay here and train on your powers.”

I looked at him with realization. Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough. I was feeling so lost without her. “No, I want to try”, I promised with determination.

“Good. Now go, get ready we will all get dinner together before I leave”, Sam left too, and I was left alone in the room.

I sighed heavily, trying to get up I felt the pain running through my body. I was going to be so sore tomorrow.

-----------------------

Days were passing by and I hadn’t seen him anywhere which on one hand was good because I don’t think I had improved since our first encounter and on the other it made me wonder where the heck he might be? It is not like the compound is huge for me to lose him. I reasoned that he could be on a mission with Sam and that is why I hadn’t seen him, after all Rodney wasn’t here either.

Apart from the hours of training I did through the day, I had started running some laps in the late hours. It is when the humidity in the air is the highest here, so it makes me feel more at ease with my powers. I was running again today, just a few laps around the compound, when I stopped at a clean spot.

I breathed in the humid air allowing my body to absorb as much water as it could from the atmosphere. I tried to catch my breath as I heard a bike running down the entrance of the compound towards the building. For a moment, I was perplexed as who it could be before I realized it was him, returning from somewhere. He headed to the garage. I didn’t even know he had a bike, but I decided to return at my task no point on focusing on him.

I closed my eyes again, opened my arms in an L shape and tried to focus, focus on my surroundings, on the water in the air. I took a deep breath as I tried to expand the cold emanating from me. I tried to crystalize as many water particles as I could around me, turning the humid air into a frozen one.

And I tried to expand it as much as I could. That’s when I felt it, the other presence close to me, in between all the cold a warmer figure. I turned at once defensively, ice-like awls flying towards the direction of the intruder only to stop a few centimeters away.

“I am sorry”, I said as I made them disappear. “I didn’t know it was you”, my body relaxing a bit.

He stared at me unfazed, as if he wasn’t even scared, I had almost pierced him throughout his body. He stared at me dead in the eyes and I couldn’t really understand what his look meant. It was like he was studying me. “It’s late, you should better go in,” he said before turning and heading back to the building.

“How long have you been standing here?”, I yelled at his retreating figure.

“Enough,” he yelled back without even turning.

I followed him with my eyes until he disappeared behind the doors. I took another deep breath as I headed back myself. There was something about this man, so mysterious, so distant yet I felt being drawn to him.

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Wednesdays are usually gun days, I would do the training with Clint, trying different guns and basically learning how about anything could be a weapon if you use it correctly. Hell, one day Clint decided I had to try the bow, but it went terribly. In my defense my eyesight sucks so how was I supposed to do well?

Clint hadn’t been here for a while, so I went to the training room alone, picked a gun, set the target, wore the protective gear, and started shooting. Surprisingly I wasn’t that bad at shooting, I give myself credit, even though I still lack on technique and consistency.

I was halfway through when I felt eyes on me again. I turned to face the room and sure enough I saw him leaning on the door frame. “Not bad,” he commented as I removed the protective headphones.

“Thanks”, I said feeling self-aware, I don’t know why I was getting so nervous around him.

“Need to relax your shoulders a bit” he continued as he walked to pick a gun and went to a nearby booth. “You are going to dislocate it otherwise”.

I nodded as I watched him go, he didn’t miss one, switching between hands and meters away from the target. I was impressed but don’t tell him.

“So, guns are your thing”, I said as he stopped.

“I wouldn’t say I have a thing, just too many years of experience, but if I had a thing, I guess it would be knives”, he said thoughtfully.

“Show me”, I challenged without even thinking.

He gave me a funny look as he picked one, moved back to the booth and while still looking at me threw the knife head on to the target. He didn’t even blink.

He shrugged and I think I saw a hint of smugness there. “Practice makes perfect”, he said as he turned to leave the room. “Keep on practicing”.

“Good to see you too”, I mumbled to the empty room. Cause it was good to see him, wasn’t it? I did want to see him. I had found myself almost searching for him in the days that he was nowhere to be found. I had seen photos of him in the news and back in those years he did seem dangerous but now, with the haircut and his general stance he seemed more like the Bucky Cap was describing in his stories albeit still very distant. Would I entertain myself with the thought that he was hot? I mean, the beard, the toned muscles, the mystery, the eyes, oh those eyes. Nah, I shouldn’t think of that.

“Focus”, I murmured to myself as I started shooting again.

-------------------

I was back in the gym where we first met, doing my flexibility exercises as he entered the room. He walked straight to me, his eyes never leaving mine. I got up from the floor I was sitting. I was so drawn to him; I couldn’t take my eyes of him. We were too close now, bodies almost touching. He looked down on me and I felt my body shiver. He brought his hand to my cheek and caress it, and I melted to the touch. I raised mine to touch his hand as I followed the muscles all the away till his shoulder and then his face. He used his metal arm to guide me closer to him by my waist. And then he started leaning, our breaths coming as one, lips almost touching…

I woke up with a start, my heart racing a like an f1 car in Q3. I was sweating. “It was just a dream”, I said as I tried to catch my breath. “A very vivid one”.

I looked at the clock on the night stand it was still 3 in the morning, but my glass was empty. I got up, sighing, intending to go get some water from the kitchen. As I left my room, I heard some soft, almost incoherent, music coming from the end of the corridor. I walked towards it, recognized the tune as something from the 30s or 40s maybe, I turned at the end of the corridor and there was faint light coming from a crick of the door of the room in the right.

I wondered who could be up this late at night and I picked in the room. It was luminated by a small lamp on the desk. A pickup next to it and a few records stacked in the bookshelf behind. He then moved into my line of vision. Drink at hand, shirtless, only his bottom pajamas on. I gulped at the sight of his bare torso, not a good combination with the dream I just had. I noticed the scars on his body and those where the metal was fusing with his torso.

He was sipping his drink, occasionally humming to the tune. This must have been the most human I had ever seen him and then it hit me that this is a very private moment for someone like him, with the kind of life he had, and I was intruding. I turned to go to the kitchen as I originally intended, unbeknownst to me at the time that he had noticed my presence.

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“Your favoritism is showing”, Sam commented as he followed Bucky’s look.

It was one of those days that we had visitors in the compound. I was just outside the building on the front yard, with Hope and in the middle of the very tiring martial arts session.

Bucky was leaning of the living room windows that had just the perfect view of the front where me and Hope were.

“I don’t get what you mean,” Bucky said to Sam, his eyes still on us.

Sam laughed. “Come on don’t play dumb. It is not so subtle when you mention her while on missions neither how you look at her when she doesn’t.”

“How do I look at her?”, Bucky asked finally turning to look at Sam.

“Well, intently the least. There is some longing, some what if in there”, Sam explained.

“You know it’s true,” Rodney added coming into the room.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Bucky exclaimed finally leaving his spot from the window and sitting on the couch. Anyone could see he was started to get annoyed.

“You know if Steve was here, he would tell you to go for it”, Sam pointed.

Bucky glared at him before hissing “I hate you both”.

Sam laughed loudly.

-----------------

I had just finished my session with Hope when Sam approached us.

“How you doing ladies?” he chirped.

“Good”, Hope beamed, “It went pretty good”.

“That’s always great to hear”, Sam approved and they both smiled at me making me blush.

“I am gonna head back in”, Hope said, “Is Scot here yet?”

“Yeah he just came with Cassie. You all gonna stay here for lunch?” he wondered.

“Sure thing”, she nodded before heading in.

“So how is it going with you? How it’s going with my boy Bucky?” Sam asked shifting his attention back to me.

“Uuhm, good, I guess. We haven’t talked much but he has offered a few advices here and there which helped me for sure. I was pretty sure he hated me at the beginning”, I laughed.

“I am telling you he hates everyone, but I think it might be far from true in your case”, Sam winked. “But anyway, keep up the good work and who knows you might come with us in a mission soon.”

I looked at him perplexed but didn’t comment on it.

Later during lunch, I tried to pay more attention to Bucky and it did seem that he wasn’t so comfortable in a room full of people but I did notice that there were times he was looking at me for no reason.

-------------------

True to his words, Sam did invite me to a mission about a month after he said so. They were happy with my progress which gave me the confidence I needed to try more. There were still a lot I needed to learn, and they thought that if I was part of a simple mission it would also give me the experience of handling difficult situations.

I had a fitting with Banner who provided me with a suit, he had coordinated with Shuri for this. It was a black one with blue details, small lines in the shoulders, abdomen, and wrists. My palms and fingers were free so that I would be able to use my powers easily and of course it had parts of vibranium protecting the vital organs of my torso. The part I liked the most was the neck as there was extra fabric which I could use to cover my face up till my nose. I braided my hair in a French style, took the gun and in ear com that Sam had left for me and I was ready to go.

“Nervous?”, I heard Bucky asking me as he joined me at the front yard. We were waiting for Sam to come with the Quinjet and get us. He was also dressed in his suit, with an one-sleeved jacket, leaving his metal arm exposed.

“More than I would like to admit”, I replied.

“It will be fine, we got you”, he assured me.

Up in the Quinjet, I spend most of my time in awe with how it was. I had never been into one and I was marveled.

“So, the mission is to get to the convoy and get the asset out. The asset is a scientist. We plan on ambushing them based on the route they are supposed to follow. I will stop them, and we attack. Bucky and I will take care of the guards and all you need to do is take the guy and go away of the rest of us”, Sam started explaining the plan, showing a map on the screen. “If everything goes according to plan, we will be there way earlier to map the area. Clear?”

“Hmm, how are we going to go there? I wouldn’t assume there is a place to land there”, I pondered.

“Parachutes”, Sam simply offered, studying the map. “We plan on landing around here. And as soon as we get the asset, we have this place here as an exit point. Just a few km away.”

“For us, he would be flying”, Bucky accused him.

“Not wanting to be that person, but I have never used a parachute”, my stress levels were increasing by the second. Not only I was in charge of another person making it out alive, but I had to jump of a plane, not to mention my fear of heights. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Don’t worry we will jump together”, Bucky offered which unknowingly to me earned a playful wiggle of eyebrows and a look of approval from Sam. Bucky on the other hand only glared at him.

When it was almost time for us to jump, we started getting ready. Sam left first, flying to the place to make sure we didn’t have any company. It was the first time I had seen him with Cap’s shield, and it was not as weird as I expected it to be.

“You ready?” I heard him ask.

“As ready as I can be”, I smiled nervously.

“Look it is your first time and it is reasonable to be nervous. But it won’t help you down there. You are ready just believe in yourself. We will be there, and we won’t let anything to happen to you. Ok?” he comforted me giving me a pat on the back. And there was something there in his eyes, a bit of worry, of determination, I couldn’t really tell but I believed him.

“Ok”, I said with confidence. “So how do we jump?”

“Well, since you have no experience, we will do this together. Here tie this in your belt and around your waist and clip it to my belt”, he proceeded with wearing the parachute and fixing the ties and held as together. This was the closest we had been since the first day that we trained together. I had made the mistake of looking up at him as he checked the equipment. We don’t have that much of height difference which has as a result my eyes to be at the same level with his lips. Which was a great distraction for my nervousness. “You can put your hand here to be steadier”, he said as he guided my hand to get in between the ties of the parachute at the front of his chest. “And the other should probably go behind my back”, he suggested.

“Ok”, I said as I did what he proposed. I did feel steady like this, but it was super close. I could smell his cologne from this distance.

He took a step behind and an agent opened the airplane door for us. “Want to count to 3?”, he asked, wrapping his hand around my waist holding me closed.

I did make the mistake to look at him in the eyes which created a new kind of tension, but I nodded. “One..Two….AAAAAAhh”, I screamed as the jerk jumped of the plane without a notice. I hid my face in the crook of his neck as we were falling, letting him take care of the rest. The one instruction they had given me was to stay as still as I could so that he could guide as without problems.

And somehow miraculously I felt my feet touching the ground and him starting to untie as from the parachute. “See we made it”, he remarked with a rare smile.

I let a loud breath. “I can’t believe we did. Now what?”

“Sam you copy? We are moving to the meet up point”, he talked to his in-ear com as he gestured me to follow.

“Copy”, I heard Sam replying.

We walked carefully to the place we were supposed to ambush them. Sam informed us that he could see the convoy coming. The asset being in the 3rd of the 4 cars.

We had positioned ourselves as we saw the cars turning towards our direction. As they were passing by us, Sam shoot the first one causing a collision and the rest came to a stop. “Go go go”, I heard him over the radio.

Sam was already flying towards our direction eliminating as many guards as he could. A lot more people than I expected came out of the vehicles. I saw Bucky running easily taking out the first 3-4 guards that came out of the last car as stealthy as possible. Sam threw him the shield and with a jump Bucky swiftly caught it and landed on top of the Jeep that was supposed to have the asset, starting to shoot.

I run behind him going to the other side of the car where I could see an man trying to hide. With the guards of the car gone I was able to take him “Follow me”, I shouted taking him by the shoulder and leading him to the forest in the direction of the exit point.

But as I turned to go that way, I saw another vehicle coming to us, probably a backup. They were driving fast directly at us. “We got company!”, I yelled in the com getting the others attention. I tried to shoot at the driver, but the windshield was bullet proof.

Sam flew past by and shoot at the tyres. Even though the van crashed to the side a bunch of guards came out and started shooting at us. “Kaitlyn, go!” Bucky yelled moving past me.

I took the asset and started running in the forest unfortunately though a few guards saw us and started following. The first bullet flew right past me and I stopped abruptly. “Get behind me”, I demanded as I tried to shield him. I created an ice shield as thick as I could to shield us both. The guards kept shooting as I tried to take steps backwards. I drew my gun and tried to shoot back getting one of them on the leg. My shield had started thinning as bullets kept coming to our direction. One passed through and I felt like it hit me, but I didn’t have the time to think of this.

I looked up on the trees to see how heavy they were with snow and I got an idea. I lifted my hand and closed my fist as the snow fell heavy on the guard. I lowered my shield to see if the danger had passed and thankfully there was no one else. Sam flew next to me and Bucky came behind running. “We are clear”, Sam confirmed. I looked back at the man hiding behind me, he wasn’t hurt which was the point so that meant I had done a good job.

We took him to the exit point where the Quinjet was waiting. I sat down at a sit to catch my breath. I had never used my powers for so long and I felt drained now the adrenaline levels were falling.

“You are bleeding”, Bucky exclaimed as he run towards me, kneeling in front of me and taking my arm in his. There was a hole in my suit, and there was a scratch on my upper arm I hadn’t even notice. There was some blood there, but it had mostly dried. “How did this happen?” he asked.

“Hmm, I am not sure I didn’t really feel it, but I think there was a bullet that passed the shield I had made”, I flinched into the touch.

“We need to clean this”, he answered with worry as he went to take the medical kit. He kneeled again and cleaned my wound, patching it.

“Thank you”, I whispered as he sat next to me. I took in his state, eyes closed, sweat dripping from his temple. There was something raw in him like this yet so beautiful.

“Good work Kaitlyn”, Sam patted me in the back. “We are proud of you”.

“Thanks Sam”, I smiled.

We left the asset to a safe place where some agency they didn’t care to tell me, would take him and put him into some kind of protection. We flew back to the compound.

“Are you staying?” I asked Sam.

“No, I got something to do. See you guys in a few days”, he waved before flying away.

I turned to look at Bucky “Come, let’s get in”, he responded.

I followed him in, each going to our respective rooms. I took a bath washing away the blood and tiredness. It was long into the am hours and I couldn’t get myself to sleep after all this. I headed back to the living room, gazing out at the night sky. A few stars visible.

“Here, I made you this”, Bucky said, and I jumped in shock.

“I didn’t hear you coming”, I faltered taking the mug he offered. It had some hot tea.

Bucky grinned. “It’s linden and chamomile. Will help soothing your nerves”.

“Thank you”, I smiled bringing the mug to my lips.

We stayed silently for a few moments, sipping our drinks, and looking out as night shifted.

“I am sorry I didn’t protect you”, he started.

I turned to look at him “Bucky, I- there is no need to be sorry. I…I didn’t expect you to. You had to fight so many people and protect yourself. I was just clumsy, and you were there the whole time. Hell, we jumped of a plane and walked out alive,” I laughed to show him that I was just fine.

“Still I told you that I wouldn’t let you get hurt and you did”, he countered meeting my eyes. There was dare I say hurt in there.

I took a step closer, taking his hand to mine, which took him by surprise, his eye fixating there for a moment. “Don’t worry, I am really fine. I am glad we are all ok”, I said squeezing his hand lightly.

He cleared his throat as he removed his hand. “It’s time for some sleep. Good night”, he said.

“Goodnight Bucky,” I responded as he turned to leave, and turned my attention back outside.

“Kaitlyn?”

“Yeah?”

“You can call me Buck”, he encouraged and with a small smile he left.

I was left standing there with my mouth open, not knowing what to do. Ι bit my lips not knowing how to handle the new emotion of excitement I was feeling for no apparent reason. I went to my room and slept a peaceful sleep.

----------------

There had been a month since our mission, I was still training daily, each day feeling more confident with my skills and powers.

Sam and Bucky were in another mission for almost a month now, we didn’t really have news of them. Last time we had checked they were in Prague. Ι was worried, I didn’t want to admit it to anyone else but I was listening to the news everyday wondering if they would be mentioned.

“Hey Bruce”, I greeted as I entered the lab. “How is it going?”

“Hey kiddo”, he greeted back, leaving whatever weird thing he was working on.

I walked around the lab indifferently, “Any news from the guys in the field?”

“I spoke with Sam yesterday, they somehow ended in Madripoor. I personally haven’t been there, but I hear it is an interesting place. They met Sharon in the way”.

“Who is Sharon?”, I perked up.

“Oh, you probably haven’t met her. I only met her once briefly a few years ago. She was a friend of Steve’s and an old agent of Shield”, he explained.

“I see”, I said thoughtful, for some reason the idea of a woman travelling with them in troublesome situations didn’t make me feel very at ease. I mean if she was a friend of Steve’s, was she also a friend of Bucky’s?

I tried to shake away any unwelcome thoughts that came to my mind.

“Thank you, Bruce. Want to try the new blasters?”, I asked trying to channel my energy to something else.

--------------------

It was a Saturday evening; it was raining, and it was relatively cold. I was in my room, listening to some music and absentmindedly looking out the window. My tea still warm in the mug.

I heard a knock on the door that shook me out of my trance. “Yes”.

“Hey”, I barely saw a head behind the semi closed door. “May I come in?”

“Please, come”, I smiled to the familiar face. “When did you return?”

He got in closing the door behind him. “Half an hour ago probably. I just wanted to check up on you”, Bucky said scratching the back of his neck.

“I am good”, I offered going closer, my eyes try to take all his features. “Is this a bruise? Were you hurt?” I tried to reach with my hand right below his eye where I could see some shades of purple and yellow, but he stopped me midair.

“Yeah but it is nothing. Don’t worry. I ‘ve been worse”, he gently lowered my hand not completely leaving it though as our fingertips were still touching.

“That doesn’t really make me feel better about it. Neither should you. You shouldn’t get hurt”, I shook my head in disagreement.

He snorted. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry”, he smiled and for moment I think – I THINK – my legs turned to jelly. A bit my bottom lip and his eyes darted there directly.

I opened my mouth to say something, but words weren’t really there.

“It’s late”, he said. “I ‘ll see you tomorrow”. He opened the door and left with a last smile.

---------------

A few days had passed, we had shared some training sessions. I had run into him in the kitchen a few times in the morning where I would go to make breakfast and he would usually drink coffee with Rodney before they both left for a meeting they did with the rest of the team that was spread around the world.

Sam stopped by occasionally and they could train together or go on a mission together. I was worried why they hadn’t asked me to go with them again. I had been to a few simple ones with Rodney but never again with Bucky and Sam.

That day, it was late at night and I had just come back from my evening run. I took a shower and after drying up I endeavored to the kitchen to find something to munch on. He was sitting at the living room, the only light coming from the full moon outside. Soft music was playing and he appeared to be playing with a knife. He was throwing it in the air and catching it again and again.

At first, I thought whether I should approach him or not, maybe he needed some alone time. I went to the kitchen and got some almonds and water. I thought that maybe he would hear the noise and either come or leave if he wanted to be alone. When I was done eating, I gave a look to the living room to see if he was still there.

Naturally my eyes went straight to the couch that I had left him but found nothing. Only then I noticed that he had moved to the windows and he was looking at me. I jumped “You scared me”, I muttered.

“What are you doing up at 3 in the morning?” he asked.

“Right back at you? I was just about to go to sleep”, I retorted getting away from the shadows of the kitchen and closer to the windows. The moon light was accentuating his features. He had a week-old beard and was wearing a simple black t-shirt and pj pants.

“Tried the sleep, didn’t work. Came here to relax”, he explained while still looking at me intently.

“Do you want me to make you something? A tea? Some milk?” I offered.

He moved from the windows and met me halfway. “No, I am fine”, he murmured. He brushed a few stray hairs with his hand and put them behind my ear. His eyes never leaving mine. “Didn’t really tell me why you were still up”.

“I – I came back from running and wanted to eat something before I go to sleep”, I could feel his breath merging with mine, and I was feeling so lost.

He brought his metal arm to my waist and with his other arm he caressed my cheek. Ι couldn’t but lean into the touch, momentarily closing my eyes.

He started leaning towards me when a noise came from down the corridor. Someone had opened their door and was making their way to us. He immediately broke contact, gave me one last look, and left. “Sup Banner?” heard him saying somewhere away from my line of vision. I was just left there, frozen, not knowing what to do and utterly confused.

“What are you doing in the dark kid?”, Bruce asked, and I almost jumped.

“Ah you know, night cravings. Going to sleep. Goodnight Bruce”, I faked a yawn and practically run to my room.

------------

The next day I intentionally went for breakfast later than usually. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see him yet neither did I know what to do if we met.

Of course, with the good luck I always have, I almost fell on him as I turned to enter the kitchen. He caught me as to not fall murmured an apology and left which as I saw from the kitchen, he rode his bike and left the compound whatsoever.

I spend the whole day in the training room unleashing all my nerves using my powers. At some point Bruce had to come to tell me to stop because the temperature in the compound had decreased by 10 degrees and apart from the room I was using, crystals had form in two rooms radius.

I apologized and we spend the rest of the afternoon trying to unfreeze the rooms and increase the temperature. Thankfully the compound has top notch systems.

I ate a quick dinner right after and locked myself in my room.

I was laying in my bed, cocooning with my blankets, watching a movie when I heard a knock on my door. I looked at the clock, it was almost midnight. “Who is it?”, I questioned.

“Bucky”, he cleaned his throat, the nervousness in his voice evident.

For a moment I pondered if I should really go and open or not but my curiosity and well the eagerness got the best of me. I got up and unlocked the door, opening it enough to see him. “Can I come in?”, he wondered, anxiously giving looks to the rest of the rooms in case anyone showed up. I just moved aside for him to get in without saying anything, wasn’t sure what to say either.

I moved to go and sit back on my bed and he followed but hesitated to sit, he only did when I gestured him to. He cleaned his throat again. “This isn’t easy for me”, he started and I then felt bad, because I was giving him the silent treatment but I was failing to understand that for a person like him, that had been through so many horrible things it surely wasn’t something easy. I relaxed a bit and gave him a reassuring look as to proceed.

He fidgeted a little more before he tried again. “Firstly, I need to apologize for how I left yesterday, I just panicked. You know it is funny because Steve had told me that I had my way with the ladies back in our time but all this”, he gestured between us, “is fairly new to the current me. And I pretty much have no idea what to say or do”.

“Well, thank you for apologizing”, I smiled and took his hand in mine to show him that everything was ok, and he could feel more comfortable. He clenched back which I took as a good step. “You can always start by telling me what you feel, if you want”.

“You would think that it is easy”, he snorted, yet he intertwined our fingers. “I just feel better when I see you and when I am with you. And I feel excited every time we meet. And I feel eager for the next time”.

“Well if it helps, I feel the same”, I mumbled.

His shoulders seemed to relax a bit to the sound of my words.

I lifted my arm and tried to turn his face gently to look at me or else he would make holes to the floor from how intently he was looking at it. I smiled and he grinned.

“So…”, I started.

“So, we could maybe try and spend some time together one of these days…”, he trailed off.

“Well, it is not like I have something to do now… we could always start with watching a movie?”, I questioned.

“Yeah I would like that”, he smiled.

We picked a movie and sat on the bed, at first apart but as the movie was progressing, in between laughs and comments, we came closer and ended up cuddling. I am not sure when but at some point, I fell asleep in his arms.

“Sshh, go back to sleep”, he whispered as he was trying to get up and leave the bed, my hand instinctively holding him in place.

“Don’t go”, I mumbled, eyes still close.

“I can’t stay here, and you are asleep”, he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I opened my eyes, as awake I could be “Stay”

He looked me again, eyes full of adoration. I could see he was thinking of it. I sat up, and gently pulled him close to me so that he could sit back again in the bed. “Stay”, I repeated.

“Ok”, he said “I will”.

He moved to remove his sweater and close the lights and came back to the bed. I moved enough to make him space and he got under the blanket, the mattress moving under the extra weight. I looked down at him and a feeling of completion, of happiness filled me. I couldn’t believe that those blue eyes were staring back at me.

For a moment I wasn’t sure if I should do it, if I was overstepping but my eagerness took a hold of me. I leaned in, placing my hand above his heart, feeling it moving fast. He looked at me inviting, his hand moving to my cheek, guiding me closer. I stopped just centimeters away, our lips almost touching, to give him one last look, as if I was asking for the final permission. He closed the gaped and I felt the softest lips against mine.

After a moment we parted and he caressed my cheek. “Sleep now.”

I laughed at him but obeyed, getting back in position, my head on his chest as he wrapped his arm around me. And just like this we fell asleep.

--------------

After this night, Bucky was a totally different person. He was constantly smiling to me, hugging me with every chance he got, kissing me when he thought no one was looking. And in the compound, he was totally different, he would help me clean around, sing while he was doing chores.

Sure, there were also some bad days when he would wake up in his sleep screaming from the nightmares and I had to hold him in my arms and remind him that everything was in the past. That no one was here to hurt him and even if they tried, they would have to go through me first. After a while he would usually calm down, we would lay down again, he would put his head on my chest, and I would caress his hair. He, then, would fall asleep and I would let him sleep as late as he could even if he would be grumpy about it afterwards.

But everything felt so dreamy. And I would trade everything in the world for a smile of his.

#bucky barnes #Sebastian #sebastian stan #bucky barnes x original female character #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #bucky fic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x reader

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lovesgonnabe · 4 years ago

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Love Is Worth It - Episode I

It Was Just A Normal Day

Characters: Chris Evans x Maya Alonso-Evans (Black OFC)

Warnings: Angst, Nothing extreme but could upset some, cursing, slight Implied smut

Word Count: 2k

Summary: What happens when those that don’t agree with you or your love are in positions of power?

Authors Note: This is out a lot earlier than expected so I hope you all enjoy. Also it has been a while since I’ve written so please bear with my rustiness, and there’s slight edits so there may be errors.

Disclaimer: There is slight police abuse of power that may be triggering to some.

Taglist: @thesecretlifeofdaydreamss if you would like to join the taglist message me.

Please leave a note and tell me what you think!

October 24th, 2019

The day started out just like any other...

Chris woke up at 5am to go on a run with Dodger.

I got up 30 minutes later headed to our home gym got on the Peloton for a workout then get started on breakfast.

Chris and Dodger get back around 6:30am

At 6:45am Chris carries me to the shower where we have “spontaneous” shower sex till Delilah knocks on our door.

7:30am I get Delilah ready for school then we eat breakfast as a family while Chris and I play footsie under the table and he quizzes her on current events. Did I mention she’s only 5 years old...

At 8:30am Chris and Delilah are out the door headed to school since it’s on the way to the set for Chris’s next project.

At this time I’m just sipping coffee reviewing my appointment schedule at the office and I head out the door at 9am.

It was just a normal day but something felt off.

When I pulled out of the gate of my driveway I see a Boston PD car just sitting on the corner next to our noisiest neighbor Mrs. Goldheim. She’s 70 and acts like she has no business to tend to but mine when what she really should be doing is getting some of her own dick, so she can hop off my dick and mind her damn business.

Anyway I’m getting off topic, as I drive down the road that same police cruiser begins to follow me lights off and at a safe distance for about a mile and then turns left down Sycamore, I was mad confused but I didn’t have time to think about the weird ass Boston cops right now.

I got to the office around 9:45am, had my first client at 10am and from that point It was nonstop between facials to acne treatments to talking women who don’t need plastic surgery off of that ledge I had my hands full for it only being the middle of October. But hey that’s the life I signed up for when becoming a dermatologist.

My last meeting about my new skincare venture ended at 5:30pm and I went to pick up Delilah from after school care. We stopped by the supermarket to get groceries so I could hopefully make my abuelas famous arroz con pollo for dinner tonight.

As a treat we stopped at Cold Stone got two pints of chocolate devotion for our after dinner mini celebration. Since not even a month ago Delilah was moved ahead to the first grade and got an A on her recent math test.

This is where the normal day began to take a nosedive.

Around 8pm we were headed to the house from Cold Stone, my little Dede and I were talking about her day, and Chris called to let us know that filming ended a tad early and he was already home.

We are just around the corner when I see another police cruiser this time they were following a lot closer but yet again they had on no lights.

My hands began to clam up as I kept looking in the mirrors at the two white men in the vehicle following me.

As I pulled into my gate they followed me in. Rushing I parked, grabbed my purse, and got out, unhooked Delilah from the seat and carried her to the door.

“Excuse me Miss” one of the officers spoke stopping me before I could enter my home. I felt like I was frozen In place with a hand on the doorknob.

“Mommy what’s wrong” Delilah asked looking at me with fright her big brown eyes. I turned around putting my shy ray of sunshine down, with a reassuring smile, I look at her and tell her that everything was alright as she hid behind my legs while the officers approached us.

It might be because I’m scared but it felt as if they both were towering over me, even though i was the one with the high ground standing on the steps.

One man looked like he was on a mission while the other looked like he was just there for observation.

The younger one looked at Delilah and said “there is no reason to be afraid sweetheart we are the good guys” the tension was thick as Delilah looked up at me and no one said a word.

The older man of the two cleared his throat and looked at me dead in the eyes as if he was trying to intimidate me.

“Good Evening Miss, are you the nanny? I’m looking for your boss.” I raised an eyebrow ignoring the question and asked “can I please get her in the house?” both officers looked at each other weird since I didn’t answer his original question but both nodded.

I looked at my watch showing it to be 8:40pm usually I would kissing my man trying to figure out the best way to get him out of his clothes. But at the moment I’m standing on my steps scared for our life.

I unlocked the door and told her to go and get her dad who at the time was in the living room playing the grand piano. The beautiful sounds of the piano could be heard when I opened the door and as I closed the door you can hear Dodger bark and scurry toward the door.

The officer began to speak once more “now I’m going to ask you again Miss is your boss home?”

Placing my hand on my hip, I let out an exasperated sighed and said “if I had a boss and they were here I would be very confused”.

The younger officer eyes grew out of surprise and the older officer did not look too happy by my snarky remark.

“Miss please cooperate we don’t want any trouble, but since you can’t answer my questions hand over your license” the older officer said with a smug look and his gloved hand outstretched.

My stomach grew with a bubble of nerves even though it can’t be seen on my face i was scared.

“If I may ask officers what is this about this is my home have I done something wrong?” I huffed retrieving my license and handing it to the older officer, “we will see about that” he says and walks to the cruiser leaving the other officer in silence.

“Look we are just doing the job we were called out to do” the younger officer said to me I looked at him like he had two heads but before I could say another word Chris walked out the door closing it behind him.

He look so damn fine in grey sweats with a matching crew neck sweater, his gold chain I bought him for Father’s Day laying on top and his Red Sox cap pointed to the back.

He came up next to me wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing the top of my head, mumbling. “Baby are you alright?” he asks looking at me rubbing my back as I look at him.

I nod as a sense of calm settles over my body as he familiar sent and touch centers me and makes me feel safe.

“Is there a problem officer? He asked now removing his arm from my body to cross his arms and stand in front of me as if he was my bodyguard.

“Wow you’re Captain America” the officer said in shock as Chris and I rolled our eyes.

“Yea I know but I asked you is there a problem officer” Chris asked slowly getting closer to the younger now shitting his pants scared officer.

I love that he is trying to defend me but we don’t want to make matters worse so I grab his arm to pull him back a bit. Which didn’t work because all he did was softly move my hand a say “let me handle it love”.

I rolled my eyes and watched the shit show unravel. The officer stuttered and Chris cut him off.

“Look I know you are here to do your job but you are on my property and harassing my wife so I would like to know what the problem is what has she done?”

He didn’t look upset and Chris said it respectfully but it was just a feeling that Chris did not want to be fucked with at this moment.

There was another beat of awkward silence the officer was too scared to speak. Chris rubbed his beard and chuckled “can anyone answer my goddamn question as to my wife is in front of our home being harassed” it was like his voice dropped an octave and my panties got wet.

I’m literally trying to tell my brain to stop thinking about using my husband as my personal jungle gym, that this wasn’t the time for that, but I digress so to distract myself for a second I looked at my watch again stating it was only 9:20pm.

Damn I’m not sure if time was moving too slow or too fast but by the time I focused back on Chris and the officers they were being cussed the fuck out.

“What the fuck do you mean you have to take her because she fits the profile of a suspect, do you have a warrant, what the fuck did she even do officer!”

“Mr. Evans we understand that you are upset but we need you to calm down” the younger officer said to a red faced Chris.

“Don’t you tell me to fucking calm down when you are also trying telling me, you want to arrest my wife for some crime she didn’t commit because she’s black” Chris was now fuming.

“Sir this isn’t about race, there has been a string of burglaries in the neighborhood and she fits the description of the suspect we are looking for, we just want to take her in and ask a few questions” the older officer answered.

From where I was standing I could see everything especially how the officer had one hand on his gun holster and the other with cuffs ready to be put around my wrist.

All three men proceed to argue, I had to step in this was getting out of hand and in a minute I would not be the only one in handcuffs.

Walking over to the group who were now in the middle of my driveway with my hands out then they all went quiet.

“Chris honey it’s okay, this is ridiculous I know but let me go with them, you call Austin, tell him what’s happening and then come to the station I will be fine” I said looking at his blue eyes with slight tears as his breathing quickened.

I was hoping to be okay at least for Chris’s sake so he won’t kill the two men in front of me. He read me my rights with Chris now desperately pleading with them to release me.

As the older guard roughly grabs me pulling me towards the cruiser Delilah runs out of the house with Dodger behind her with tears in her eyes.

“Dede get back inside” Chris says as he grabs a barking Dodger who was headed straight for me “daddy why are they taking mommy, what’s wrong she said everything was ok” then she wails out “please don’t take my mommy” over and over while she kicked and screamed when Chris picked her up and ushered the 3 of them back into the house.

A tear slips down my face as my head is lowered into the car and the door to our home closes. One officer looked remorseful and the other looked so satisfied as he looked back at me through the rear view.

He threw on his sirens like he caught some mass murder that he’d been hunting for years.

Then he laughed a menacing laugh taunting me.

“You thought just because you are fucking some white man with money you would get off? Well I’m sorry to break it to you sweetheart but that not how the world works for people like you.” He said to me as I cried harder.

“That’s enough Whitmer I think she get it” the younger officer said.

The rest of the ride the only sound was the radio. I was booked and brought into a cell by myself cold and alone but thanking god that at least I was alive and not hurt.

All I could think about was the smile on my little Delilah’s face and how today was just supposed to be just another Normal day.

I guess those are slim when you’re Black in White America.

#chris evans x black ofc #chris evans x black reader #chris evans x reader #chris evans x poc!reader #chris evans fanfiction #black reader #poc reader

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avengerscompound · 4 years ago

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The Surrogate - Chapter 3

The Surrogate: A Clintasha Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Clint Barton x Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Word Count: 2213

Rating: E

Warnings: Blood and Injures, smut (FF, oral sex, shower sex, vaginal fingering)

Synopsis: A freak end of the world incident leads to meeting your two best friends, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. While your friendship with the two Avengers is anything but conventional, they are your all-time favorite people. When you find out that Clint and Natasha want to start a family but have exhausted all their options, you realize your powerset might allow you to give them what they want. Having your best friends’ baby might seem like a good idea on paper, but when you are as close as you, Clint, and Natasha are, will doing something so intimate mean feelings get a little mixed up?

Chapter 3

Your induction into the Avengers had been long and not always the most pleasant. The people were great, the training was excruciating. It started with legal clearance. Then they ran tests on you. Those tests gave you a better understanding of your powers, but it still left them pretty useless to anyone other than you. A blood transfusion with someone of the same blood type as you could heal them of anything minor, but it didn’t work on old injuries or scar tissue, and they couldn’t regrow missing limbs or organs. It worked on illnesses too, but in the case of cancer, there would almost be a battle between your powers and the mutated cells, and the more cancer there was, the less likely your powers could help unless you kept donating blood.

With that understanding, you were asked if you wanted to train to be an agent. You could potentially get into places that others couldn’t. After all, poison couldn’t kill you. Nor could bullets or knives. You could also help others with minor injuries if they needed it. You took a little while to decide but in the end, agreed. That’s when the intensive training began.

Every day you woke up at four and went for a run. The run was followed by boot camp where you’d do circuits or run obstacle courses. That was followed by weapons training. Then computer hacking, or field medicine, or behavioral profiling, or any of the other myriad of things you needed to learn to become a spy.

During the eighteen months you trained, you also formed bonds. You dated a couple of other new recruits. One of them for several months and when you ended up breaking up, it was messy and you both got in trouble for creating drama. You made friends throughout the facility. Most were people at your level but there were people in the medbay that you got close with too, along with receptionists and a couple of the avengers. There was even an incident where you got drunk and made out with Sam Wilson at a Christmas party.

None of the relationships you formed were anywhere near as close as the ones you developed with Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton. To begin with it seemed to just come out of Clint feeling responsible for you. He was the one that dragged you into this life, he didn’t want you to feel alone while you were adjusting.

Clint was an easy person to like and it wasn’t long until you were both as thick as thieves. Being around Clint meant you were around Natasha too. While she took a little longer to warm up to new people, she was cool and protective once it happened and long before she had accepted you as one of her people, you had developed a kind of crush on her. Once she decided you were one of hers, they both felt like family.

It was Natasha that you had your first mission with. She took you another two newbies and Sharon Carter to break down some HYDRA bases. It involved several raids of different warehouses, office buildings, and underground installations and your group and been going from country to country for over a week.

“How many more of these are there?” Sharon asked, cracking her back as she walked through the door. You, Mendez, Sharma, and Natasha all followed after her.

“Too many,” Natasha complained, heading right to the bathroom. She was holding her side like she was in pain and you were worried she was trying to make her injury seem less dire than it was.

“Alright. I’m ordering food,” Sharon said as Mendez flopped onto the couch and Sharma went straight to the minibar. “Can you go check on, Nat? Help her with the stitches if she needs some.”

You nodded and knocked on the bathroom door before letting yourself in. Natasha had stripped her catsuit down so it was hanging at her hips. The black of her sports bra contrasted against the pale cream of her skin, and as your eyes traveled down her body, looking for injuries they were drawn to the large gash on her side oozing dark red blood.

“Let me see,” you said, coming over to her.

“It’s not too bad. Already started healing,” she explained, uncovering the part she was holding a washcloth against that was slowly turning from white to red. “Stings though. I could use some butterfly bandages at least.”

You looked it over. “I can help with that,” you said. “I bet I could kiss it better though. Given you heal faster than normal anyway.”

Natasha smirked at you and raised her eyebrow. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

You chuckled. “Fine, butterfly bandages it is.”

“No, no, no,” she said. “You don’t mind?”

“Of course not,” you said. “I kissed Clint after all.”

She laughed and winced at the pain in her side. “It would be a vast improvement.”

You laughed and moved in, licking your lips. Her hand went to your jaw and guided you in, bringing your lips to hers. The spark between you happened instantly, seemingly starting in your core. A moan escaped you, but was smothered by her lips, her hand pushed back into your hair, holding you in place as your lips caressed hers. You darted your tongue out running it over the corner of her mouth and she brought her tongue out to meet yours, circling them together.

She pulled back, tugging on your bottom lips with her teeth. “Bozhe moy…” Natashas sighed, she put her hand on your hip and dragged you flush against her. “Now I know why Clint likes kissing you so much.”

You laughed softly. “Yeah, he’s always injured.”

She started laughing too and kissed the corner of your mouth, her tongue flicking out as she did. “How many times have the two of you been together now?”

“Like work kissing or actual sex?” You asked.

Natasha laughed louder. “Work kissing...”

“What?” You said, breaking down into laughter with her. “That’s what it is.”

She got control of herself and her fingers flexed on your hip. “Actual sex.”

“Four,” you breathed as you ghosted your lips over the shell of her ear.

“Then we have some catching up to do.”

She captured your lips and kissed you greedily. You submitted to her, snaking your arms around her waist and pulling her closer to you. You felt like you were in some kind of dream. You’d imagined doing this with Natasha and while you knew she and Clint were in an open relationship, you were too chicken to suggest it to her.

She pushed her thigh between your legs and you began to grind on it. The way the spandex of your catsuit rubbed against your pussy as you rocked on her thigh creating a delicious burn through you. Natasha’s hands slid up your sides and over your breasts. Her touch almost making your skin vibrate under them. When she reached your throat she held them there, her thumbs caressing the zipper, making you purr into the kiss.

She pulled back and unzipped your catsuit, taking her time so she could really appreciate the way your skin came into view. “We should get into the shower so I can wash this blood off me.”

“How is it?” You asked, taking another look at her wound. It had scabbed over but still looked painful. You knew after what you were both going to do it would be fully healed.

“Nearly there,” Natasha answered as she pushed the arms of your catsuit off. She dragged the skin-tight fabric down your skin, crouching in front of you as she pulled the suit all the way off.

You started up the water as she stripped the rest of her catsuit off and began stripping you of your underwear. You hummed and ghosted your lips up her neck as you removed hers as well. When you were both naked, you took a moment just to admire her. The enticing curve of her hips, and the soft swell of her breasts. The way her nipples stood out, dark pink against cream. You leaned down and flicked your tongue over one before pulling it into your mouth. It drew a moan from her and she guided you back under the water.

The warm water washed down over both of you and as you suckled on her breast the warm water filled your mouth. You moved further down her body, licking and sucking the water from her skin. When you were kneeling in front of her she leaned back against the tiles and put her leg up on your shoulder.

You hummed as you came face to face with the thatch of red pubic hair, the smell of sex wafting from her, heady and inviting. You licked your lips and nosed up her folds. Your tongue darted our flicking over them, getting the first taste of her salty musk. There was a small spark, like you’d touched your tongue to a battery. She hummed and her hands went to your hair pushing you in tighter to her cunt.

“Don’t be a tease,” she purred, her hips rocking against your mouth. You groaned and began to lap at her cunt. Your tongue swept wide over her folds, exploring every part of her sex. It dipped inside and there was a strong jolt between you. Shy gasped and her cunt flooded, dripping onto your tongue. “That is quite the side effect,” Natasha groaned. Her hands tightened in your hair, making your scalp prickle.

You moaned and sucked hungrily. Your head was swimming like you were getting drunk on her. Nat tugged on your locks and you looked up, your eyes meeting hers. “Focus now,” she growled.

Her demand sent a shiver through you and you began to suck on her clit. You were rewarded with a low moan and more of her arousal dripped from her. It began to run down the insides of her thighs, and was carried away by the shower. You pushed first one finger and then another into her, and slowly began to fuck her with them.

“Deeper,” she moaned as you thrust them in and out and sucked on her clit.

You complied quickly, pushing your fingers deep inside her, and scissoring them. The soft muscles of her cunt, squeezed around your digits and she moaned loudly letting her head fall back. Her red hair was soaked and fell down her back, sticking to her skin.

“Deeper, dorogaya,” Natasha groaned. When you complied, she moaned louder still and her hands tightened in her hair. “Curl them.”

You did as you were told, and your fingertips touched on a spongy spot inside her. She cried out and her toes curled. Her fluids began to run down your wrist and you lapped them up before going back to sucking on her clit. “Right there,” she praised. “Harder now.”

You stroked over that sweet spot inside her and she began to fall apart. She got louder and louder, her cunt beginning to flutter around her digits. With a loud cry she came, her hips bucking against your face.

You moaned and kept going but she put her hand on your jaw and guided you back. “Your turn,” she purred. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

She dropped to her knees in front of you and you braced yourself against the cool tiles lifting your leg and resting your foot against the wall. Natasha slowly lapped up your folds. The spark of your powers happened immediately and intensely like she was drawing them out with her tongue. You both groaned loudly and you tangled your fingers in her hair and let your head fall back. With the current already running through you, you knew you weren’t going to last long.

She teased it out, flicking her tongue over your clit and dipping it inside you. She used her lips to ruffle the folds of your labia and nipped gently at your clit. It was hard to keep your focus with that alone, but as she began to focus on your clit you lost control completely.

You moaned and bucked against her face. You grabbed hold of the showerhead to keep yourself up as she thrust her fingers inside you and immediately began working them over your g-spot. You had trouble holding yourself up as electricity coursed through your veins. She hit your g-spot hard again and again. Your legs trembled and your toes curled and with a loud cry, you came, gushing onto her.

She moaned and drank up what she could before getting to her feet. She wrapped her arm around your waist and supported you as you came down from your orgasm high. “Holy, hell,” she said. “I love your powers.”

You started laughing and kissed her cheek. “They’re pretty great.”

You ran your hand down along the spot where her cut had been. It was now just clean, fresh skin with no trace of an injury happening in the first place. Natasha grabbed the shampoo and started washing her hair. “Come on,” she said. “Better hurry up. There’s no way they didn’t hear what we were doing in here.”

// NEXT

#clint barton #natasha romanoff #clint barton x natasha romanoff x reader #clintasha #clintasha x reader #clint barton x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #clint barton x natasha romanoff #hawkeye #hawkeye fanfic #black widow #black widow fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #smut #pregnancy #the surrogate

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spoiler1001 · 4 years ago

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Heartbeats were a strange feeling, if one was aware of them. Lucien-no that wasn't right- felt his pulse from his scar. He opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by old friends. They looked at him with bright eyes, with Cree being the only exception. She looked at the tiefling with sharp eyes. It was dark, he couldn't tell the time. But as his eyes adjusted to the dark, nobody looked happy to see him.

"You have a friend. Said this was his fault. What should we do with him?" Cree spoke in a low tone. There were quiet sounds of suppressed sobs and soft gasps. It sounded like-

The tiefling turned around and the pulse beating against his scar froze.

Caleb looked awful. His skin was pale, blue veins showing through and his lips blue. His hair was matted and muddy. He was shivering from the cold and shaking from hunger. His clothes were bloodied and he had bruises on his face. The bandages were dangling off of his arms, stained red. Lucien practically could sense the infection growing. He sat in front of the grave on his knees, clutching his clothes to his body. It was at this point that the rain and cold made itself known to the Nonagon, making his hair and red, torn clothes stickbto him like a second skin. Caleb was soaking wet, rain making his clothes even worse for the situation. A small puddle of reddish mud built beneath him.

"What happened to him." The tone was harsh, maybe too much so but the wizard was important to him

Caleb flinched at the sound of his voice. Yes, the voice was too harsh. The Nonagon kneeled next to him. Two fingers were placed under his chin and Caleb let his eyes meet- Molly? Mollymauk fit for the moment, right now. Caleb took a shaking breath. He looked even worse up close. There were dark bags under his eyes. Some of it bruising, some from exhaustion. Green stains colored his skin, matching the grass around the grave.

"What happened to him?" Mollymauk repeated. "He travels in a group." Unease filled his mind. Were they-

"I left. Someone had to- after everyone was saved and Lorenzo killed- someone had to keep watch in case-" Caleb rocked back and forth. "It's just me." Ok so as far as he knew, they were alive. Maybe Cree can scry on them later, but that's not important right now.

"And the bruises?" Molly let his hands grab Caleb's shoulders. There was dried- something- it was nearly impossible to see what it was without light, but it ran down the part of his neck behind his ear, and onto his back.

"Someone tried to grab your coat." Caleb looked away, towards Cree. Lucien stood up. "Find us the nearest Inn with a hot bath. Take him with us."

"As a prisoner?" Cree asked, almost happy at the thought.

Molly hid his frown at the thought. "This man is loyal. He comes with us as a friend. I will make anyone answer for any injuries."

"As the Nonagon wishes." Cree sighed and roughly brought Caleb to his feet. Not healing him, Lucien noticed. He was tired. Coming back to life was...unpleasant. He was tired. His soul felt like it was floating through the air. He needed a nap- or a drink. Getting out of the rain would help. It was starting to sting.

"Bring the coat." Molly added. Cree openly scowled. Caleb wobbled towards him. There was a horse and cart. Molly helped Caleb into the cart and climbed in.

"Is it you?" Caleb whispered. The hope and wonder in his voice was heartbreaking. Molly wanted to bundle him up and tell him it was ok.

"When it's just us? Yes I'm me. I'm Molly, otherwise I'm Lucien." Molly nodded. Caleb let tears fall from his cheeks, leaving streaks in the mud on his face. Molly opened his arms and Caleb buried his face into the crook of Molly's neck. Molly purred and hummed.

"I'm sorry you died." Caleb whispered.

"Just...there's time for that later." Molly promised. "Thank you for staying."

Caleb responded by whispering something into Molly's chest. Molly purred louder and Caleb drifted off to sleep.

Molly placed a hand on the back of Caleb's neck, feeling him breathe. Caleb's hair had grown out well past his shoulders. It would look so nice washed and brushed out.

"Nonagon, is it wise to bring along someone that claimed responsibility for-" Cree spoke up, climbing into the cart that was now moving.

"I made my own choices, both when I died and now. The fact that he stayed says more about his character than me falling. I think such kindness should be returned." It felt weird to Molly, speaking so formally, but he had memories of Lucien again. Had the memories and habits. Even his accent was thicker. "I need to recover my strength in these coming days then we make our way north."

"Finish what we started?" Cree asked hopefully.

Molly frowned. It would take a lot for that trip. "Yes."

The Tombtakers found a nice inn rather easily. They rented three rooms to rest.

Molly settled into a lush room with the mattress being a giant pillow. There the actual pillows were wonderful for heads with horns while the mattress enveloped him. The blankets were silk and felt wonderful against his skin. The walls had beautiful murals of the gods that was allowed in the kitchen. The platinum dragon danced on the ceiling, seeming to sparkle against the candle lights.

There was a door to the side, a bath that could fit five. The wash room was just as painted but with murals of the moonweaver and wildmother hidden in a mural of fields lit by a full moon. Molly stretched out on the bed. Caleb laid next to him, absolutely filthy but solid enough to make Molly want to grab onto him and never let go. His eyes were moving quickly under his eyelids.

Molly let his hand rise, becoming even with Caleb's cheek, but pulled away at the last second, letting it come to rest in the area between them. Caleb didn't let his face change but raised his hand, resting it over Molly's.

Molly hummed and let sleep overtake him.

----------------

Molly woke up to an empty bed. He lifted his head to look around. Cree sat in a nearby chair, crossleged. There was a familiar orange cat sleeping by his head.

"Your companion is washing. It would be unsightly for one to travel with you to be so…" Cree let her words die out. "How are you feeling?"

Molly felt worse than before but he felt more alive than how he felt when he immediately woke up. Mud was still all over him but he could wait for his turn.

"And the coat?"

"We have it, but you don't expect to wear it." Cree huffed.

"It would be nice to keep for sentimental value." Molly smiled, not mentioning that if someone were to peak in from his old friends, they have something to look on from.

Took a step out into the main room, dressed in nice looking travel clothes. His hair was tied back and brushed while still looking a bit damp.

He wore an off-white shirt, the sleeve pulled up to see dark gray cloth wrappings around his forearms. And black pants. Only the shoes were the same, but they were made for travel. Molly took a moment before looking up at Caleb's face. Oh. He was shaved. Molly had to pull his eyes away. "I need to sleep for one more day, but afterwards we can move out." Molly stood up.

"If that is what you want." Cree sighed and walked out of the room. Molly looked at Caleb. After she left he physically relaxed.

"You look better." Molly hummed.

"Lucien, I do not think she likes me." Caleb spoke carefully.

Molly frowned. "So what? I do. And you are clever."

"She's worried about me outranking her." Caleb raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't exactly at my best last night."

"You were more composed than most would be. We'll see how traveling together goes." Molly hummed, patting Caleb on the chest. Caleb took a step back, letting Molly into the bath.

The door remained open as Molly took his bath.

"Talk to me. I need….I don't know. Just-" Molly sighed.

"What do you wish to discuss?" Caleb's voice was even.

"What happened after-"

"I killed Lorenzo. We saved the others, we came here, dealt with the gentleman. Someone in the group told Cree, but I couldn't be with them anymore. There's a new cleric with them."

Molly sighed. "Did you leave because of the new cleric."

"No. Caduceus is wonderful. Good for them. It's just that, years ago, I had a teacher that said I was not good enough to be a leader and had to be built up. He...asked a lot of me. When you died…" Caleb let out a self loathing laugh, the sound raspy. "I do not handle death well."

"I made a choice to use too much magic. Not you, not anyone else." Molly countered. "And Yasha?"

"She left after mourning at your grave." Caleb shrugged.

"Maybe she'll find us on our way." Molly smiled.

The water was warm. Like flames reheated it before he went into it. It helped with the stiffness of his joints. His muscles relaxed as it became easier to wash the caked mud off of himself. "I know Cree did something to you." Molly said quietly.

"Do not fault her for it. She and I had a disagreement about the people who had the privilege to see you awaking." Caleb froze.

"How bad was the disagreement?" Molly sat up.

"Nothing but a few scrapes and bruises." Caleb shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't like that. She has no right to say anything given how they abandoned my grave but you returned." Molly stood up and looked around, seeing fresh clothes waiting for him, with a deep red coat.

"I'll be sure to pass along your discontent." Caleb said, almost to himself.

"I can tell her myself but- Caleb…." Molly took a look at Caleb. There was a small trail of blood from the back of his head, behind his ear. Molly grabbed a bit of his red coat and held it to the wound. "Let me guess- Cree?"

Caleb's silence said everything.

"You shouldn't let her walk over you. This can't continue." Molly sighed.

"There were more pressing concerns." Caleb whispered. "I'll get food." He stood up, leaving his notebook open to show about a dozen different spells. Molly recognized a couple of them but they were personalized. None of these spells were anywhere else. Clever wizard. Molly's Lucien instincts told him to protect him because of the advantage he brought. Molly's Mollymauk instinct told him to protect him because of friendship and- nope not going there.

"He's an assassin, you know. Those scars on his arms are the same as Volstruckers." Cree whispered. Slipping through the door as Molly closed the book.

"The what?" Molly didn't care about what she was saying.

"Cerberus Assembly assassins. They hunt traitors. Will kill even their own family. The Gentleman deals with the Assembly from time to time." Cree shrugged.

"That's none of my business." Molly shrugged. Mentally he was trying to will her out of the room.

"It should be. What if he's with the woman who-"

"I doubt that very much." Molly hissed, shutting her up. "Thank you for your concern but issues regarding Caleb are mine and mine alone." So fuck off. Molly added mentally.

"If that's what you want." Cree sighed with exacerbation.

"Yes it is. Leave him be unless I say otherwise." Molly swallowed his anger. He knew that Caleb had a past but he didn't want to know. It didn't affect him. Cree just shook her head and stepped out of the room.

Caleb came back with a plate full of meat and potatoes. Molly perked up a bit and noticed that Caleb had Molly's coat in his arms. The necklace he always wore showed through his shirt. Caleb handed the plate over to Molly. Caleb sat on the bed and looked at the coat.

"The walls are rather thin here. One could hear a lot of conversations." Caleb hummed.

"You heard Cree." Molly facepalmed. "I'm sorry-"

"She's right. I was trained for that line of work, but...I dropped out of school." Caleb took a deep breath. "'Caleb Widogast' isn't even my birth name."

"What do you want me to call you?"

"Caleb."

Molly gave him a smile. "Then Caleb is all that matters. Now eat, we need to gain our strength again."

--------------

Caleb wore the coat. It was colorfully loud and sparkled delightfully, and Caleb wore it, matching it with the necklace he never took off. Molly loved it. Magic morphed around Caleb. Caleb had written a few spells of his own. There was a tent, a giant cat's claw, a tower. The tower was his favorite. It was warm, colorful.

There were separate rooms for the Tombtakers.

There were intended separate rooms for each of the Tombtakers.

Molly liked to sleep in Caleb's room. Molly was on his way to bed when he heard a conversation.

--------------

Caleb had braided his hair as he was ready for bed. Cree was sitting on the couch in his room. She was not invited into the room but she was there. Practically purring.

"I'm just saying that the rest of us have a bond. The Nonagon can use us whenever he needs. The rest of us are able to be communication tools for him. It's wonderful. It's like never being alone. It's like letting something devine overtake you."

That made his stomach drop.

"That sounds wonderful to those that enjoy it, but I will have to refuse." Caleb smiled politely, but opened the door for her.

"It is what it is, Bren." Cree shrugged. Caleb froze, causing the lights to flicker in the tower for a moment before his smile dropped.

"I don't know what your deal is Cree, but stop. I'm not stealing your precious Nonagon from you. I am his friend." Caleb glared. "I have no intentions of betraying him."

"I know. I just like knowing who I travel with." Cree smiled and went on her merry way.

Caleb just shook his head.

"She still bothering you?" Molly asked, slipping into the room.

"She's just showing that she's watching me. It's nothing." Caleb shrugged.

"She said a name that bothered you." Molly pointed out. "I'm assuming it is your birth name."

"Title, really. It is no matter. How close are we to Aeor?" Caleb smiled.

"A few days' travel, normally. We do have to stop. I have to go...even a score. A Cerberus Assembly member, she hallowed me out for my magic. She has to die." Molly hugged himself.

"Any way I can help?" Caleb looked Molly in the eyes.

"Stay safe. Stay here in the tower. She's hired some old friends." Molly sat on the bed.

"Who?"

"The Mighty Nein."

Caleb raised an eyebrow.

"They don't look happy about it either." Molly laughed. "Yasha is with them. They look good."

"Do you want me to prepare warm beds?" Caleb rubbed his hands together.

"You are a genius." Molly laughed.

"It will be nice to see them again." Caleb sat down next to him.

"When this is over, do you think that they'd let me back in?" Caleb asked.

"You want to leave?" Molly asked.

"I'm worried about...Cree is worried that I might prove a distraction to you in regards to this team. I might agree, so after this, I might return to them." Caleb shrugged.

"If you go, I'm going. Fuck the Tombtakers." Molly bumped his forehead against Caleb's arm. "They don't get me. You do."

"I've always seen kinship with you, Mollymauk. I was always worried that you didn't see me as such an equal." Caleb ran his thumb over the decorated horns.

"I've always saw you as an equal. I am lucky to have met you." Molly slowly giving Caleb time to back out, let his tail wrap around Caleb's leg, right above the knee. Caleb took a deep breath, let his lips turn up, and those smirking lips pressed against Molly's.

Molly let out a chirp, followed by a high pitched ecstatic noise. Molly pulled Caleb closer and only let him go when he needed to breathe.

"Charmer." Molly smirked.

"Rest, Mollymauk. We have a big day tomorrow."

-------------

The next day was hard. Killing Vess was easy. Too easy. Maybe the Mighty Nein wanted her dead. Molly danced in the cold, waiting for the Mighty Nein to greet them, his black swords stood out against the snow.

"We never did go waltzing." Molly mused. Caleb, still wearing the large colorful coat, but this time layered with cotton to keep warm. He smiled warmly.

"I can work on adding a ballroom to the tower." Caleb promised. "We can talk about it later."

"Promises, Promises." Molly giggled.

"You two are worse than Yasha and Beau." A familiarly friendly voice rang out.

Caleb and Molly smiled at Jester. There was a big hug with tears in everyone's eyes. Yasha pulled Mollymauk into a bone crushing hug. Caleb watched the hug as a small green goblin jumped into Caleb's arms.

"Caleb! We thought you were dead." Nott yelled.

"I'm alright. Let me set up camp and we can talk." Caleb smiled.

"Just like that?" Fjord asked in disbelief. Both Caleb and Molly blinked in surprise. That voice was new. Neither Molly nor Caleb had any ground to comment, but it was new.

"We are not enemies." Caleb promised. "I missed all of you."

"We missed you too." Jester smiled. "You look good."

"So do all of you." Caleb grinned and summoned the door to the towers. "Welcome to my tower. I hope it is to your liking."

#critical role #mollymauk tealeaf #caleb widogast #widomauk #lucien critical role #cr spoilers #this is the biggest oneshot to date.#but i did it

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pines-troz · 4 years ago

Text

Weekend With The Warners Chapter Three - Animaniacs & Pinky and The Brain

Summary: When the CEO assigns Pinky and The Brain with the important task of watching over the Warners for the weekend, Brain is prepared for any antics that the children have in store. What he didn’t take into account was forming a familial bond with the kids.

Word Count: 7,652

AO3 Link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849962/chapters/68854656

The big day had arrived and the two genetically altered lab mice were on top of their schedule. Brain had set his alarm clock to 6:00 AM. He and Pinky woke up and gathered their belongings. Brain decided to bring along his newly modified robotic man-suit just as a precaution. Once the mice were ready to go, Brain hopped into the pilot seat of his robot and placed their mouse-sized suitcases into his pants pocket. Pinky climbed up the suit and made himself snug as a bug in the front pocket. The intelligent mouse steered the suit and exited the lab at around 7:00 AM, about an hour before any of the scientists would arrive for work.

The mice made their way down the streets of Burbank and decided to have breakfast at a local diner. There, they spent a little of an hour consuming their morning meals and engaging in some casual conversation together.

By the time they arrived at the Warner movie lot, it was a quarter to nine, and the mice swung by the main office building to retrieve the credit card from Nora Rita Norita. When the mice made it to the top floor, Brain made his way over to her office and gingerly knocked on the door.

“Enter!” The CEO boomed from the other side.

Brain cautiously opened the door to find Ms. Norita in her workout attire stretching on the treadmill. She took the small towel and scrubbed the sweat off of her face before tossing it over the handle.

“You must be here for the credit card, I take it?” The businesswoman remarked as she eyed Brain’s robotic suit.

Brain wordlessly nodded while trying his best to muster his courage while confronting the higher-up. Ms. Norita went over to her desk, opened the drawer, and retrieved the golden credit card. Pinky’s eyes lit up upon seeing the glistening card again. He eagerly reached out for the card, enamored with its shimmering aura.

“Try not to have too much fun over the weekend, gentlemen.” Nora Rita Nortia humored in her flat voice as she gave Pinky the credit card, who immediately hugged it.

“We won’t,” Brain assured, trying to hide his anxiousness from the formidable businesswoman as he made his exit. “I guarantee you that Pinky and myself will have an appropriate amount of fun while supervising the Warner siblings.” With a nervous chuckle, Brain grabbed the doorknob and carefully closed the door on his way out.

Once the mice left Ms. Norita’s office, Brain exhaled and leaned up against the wall as he gazed at his partner. “Pinky, I would be a liar if I told you that the CEO was not the least bit intimidating.”

“I heard that, and I plan on using that information to my advantage.” Ms. Norita shouted from behind the door.

Brain’s eyes widened with terror. Now that the CEO knew his weakness and planned on exploiting it, he had no choice but to stay in her good graces in the foreseeable future.

“Very well.” He muttered as he made his way towards the elevator. “Pinky, hand me the cellphone. I’m going to arrange an Uber driver to pick us from the movie lot at noon.”

Pinky turned on the smartphone and smiled. “Hey Brain, we just got a text message from Dot!”

The pudgy mouse retrieved the phone from Pinky and read the message.

We’ll be outside the water tower by 11:45 <3

Once the mice left the office building, they killed some time by strolling around the movie lot and making idle chit-chat. They arrived at the water tower ten minutes beforehand where they patiently waited for the Warners to arrive. However, the three rambunctious siblings proved to be fashionably late.

Brain decided to make some small talk to make the time go by faster. “Well Pinky, I am fully prepared for whatever comes our way this weekend.” He announced as he checked his phone, the clock now reading 11:55 AM. “I even took the liberty of educating myself on the slang of today’s youth. Everything from vibe checks to poggers...I had to make sure that the latter word wasn’t a derogatory slur. Thankfully it’s just a synonym for an excited, surprised overreaction.”

“That’s wonderful, Brain!” Pinky complimented. “Did you do all that research just so you could relate to the kids?”

“What? No, I just wanted to have some comprehension of the contemporary vernacular.” Brain denied whilst waving his hand downwards. “Now, where are those children? Our driver will be here at any moment.” The pudgy mouse scanned the lot in search of the three siblings.

“Hellooooooo mice!”

The enthusiastic shouts from above startled the mice. They instinctively looked up to see the Warners wave at them before leaping off the water tower with their suitcases in tow. Brain stared in shock as the three kids made their descent. Acting swiftly, the smaller mouse managed to catch the children in his robotic arms right in the nick of time. Once the children and their belongings were safe in his arms, he stumbled backward, trying to support the combined weight of the Warners and their heavy luggage. Fortunately, the mouse was able to shift the levers in his suit and quickly maintained his balance.

As Brain let out a huge sigh of relief, Yakko and Wakko leaned in and smooched his cheeks. Dot gave Pinky a kiss on the cheek. “Naarf.” The lanky mouse bashfully replied upon receiving the friendly affection from the girl.

Brain, on the other hand, let out an amused snort as he gently lowered the children on the ground. “It’s nice to see you kids all excited for our little weekend getaway.”

Dot immediately had her sights set on the mechanical man-suit. She tapped at the suit’s knees then proceeded to grab a hold on the right arm, carefully inspecting it. “Oh Brain, is this a new model?” She inquired, sounding rather impressed.

“Why yes. I’ve made some modifications to the suit over the years.” Brain answered, pleasantly surprised that the Warner sister would take great interest in his work.

“So what hotel are we going to anyway?” Yakko asked. “The CEO didn’t really clue us in on where we’ll be staying.”

“She reserved us a deluxe queen room at The Ritz-Carlton.” Brain answered.

“A hotel made entirely of Ritz crackers!” Wakko eagerly exclaimed with their tongue hanging out. “Sounds scrumptious!” Even Pinky was excited by the notion of an edible hotel and licked his lips.

“That’s the name of the hotel, Einstein.” Dot corrected, causing Wakko and Pinky to let out a dejected groan.

Brain felt his smartphone vibrate and fished it from his pocket. He opened it up to find a message from the Uber driver.

“Come along children,” Brain alerted the Warners. “Our driver just arrived, and we don’t want to keep them waiting.” The Warners gathered their luggage and walked alongside Brain.

“Oh, we are going to have such a fun-fun, silly-willy weekend together!” Pinky joyfully declared while clapping his hands.

As the five walked exited the movie lot, Brain caught a glimpse of Nora Rita Norita, now dressed in her usual business attire, as she led a group of white-collar businesspeople to their important conference. The CEO pushed her glasses upwards as she stared at Brain, knowing his weakness. The mouse flashed a nervous smile and a thumbs up to assure her that he would complete his assigned task to the best of his ability. Once she turned her attention back to her associates, Brain exhaled in relief.

Once the group arrived at the studio entrance they spotted a blue minivan with an Uber sign parked by the sidewalk.

Brain took the time to pack everyone’s luggage into the trunk while the Warners took their spot. By the time the smaller mouse arrived in the car, everyone already took their place. Yakko sat in the middle seat while Wakko and Dot took the back seat.

“Pinky, come sit next to us!” Dot hollered as she patted the empty seat between her and Wakko.

“Okay!” Pinky chirped. Brain took Pinky from his coat pocket and handed him over to Dot, who placed him in the middle seat.

Brain took his place in the van next to Yakko. After shutting the door and buckling his seat belt, the driver took off.

In the backseat of the car, Wakko proceeded to take out his tablet and showed an image from his favorite anime to Pinky while Dot quietly looked on.

“I’ve been watching this cool show called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood,” Wakko gushed while flapping his hands, which were cozily tucked inside his sweater sleeves. “So it’s about these two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who have to find the philosopher’s stone so they can get their bodies back, and on their journey, they come across all sorts of crazy characters!”

“That sounds incredible, Wakko!” Pinky exclaimed. But as the mouse looked at the image of the blonde boy and his brother in a suit of armor, Pinky began to feel confused. “So, uh, which one of the brothers is the robot?”

Meanwhile, in the middle seat, Brain was sitting awkwardly as Yakko had his white earpods on and jammed out to the songs on his smartphone. The mouse could only imagine what kind of music the boy was listening to that had him this excited. As he twiddled the man-suit’s thumbs, Brain looked out the window, pondering to himself as he watched the cars pass by on the freeway.

After a few moments of musing and taking in the scenery, he felt a gloved hand prod his cheek. The mouse looked over to see Yakko taking out one of his earpods.

“You wanna listen to some tunes?” Yakko offered. “My playlist is full of oldies music.”

“Well, I can’t say no to that.” Brain obliged, accepting one of the white earpods. The intelligent mouse placed the small headphone into his left ear, expecting to hear pop music from the 1960s or old show tunes from the mid-twentieth century. But when Yakko pressed play, Brain was surprised to hear symphonious violins playing the main theme of ‘For Unto Us a Child is Born’, a chorus from the classic oratorio Messiah.

Brain looked over at the oldest Warner, who eagerly swayed in his seat, humming along to the song. “You weren’t kidding.” The mouse humored with a raised brow.

“Yup, George Fredic Handel’s Messiah is full of bangers!” Yakko proclaimed with a snap of his fingers.

Brain shrugged his shoulders and contentedly listened to the rest of the song. The eloquent mouse spent the rest of the car ride listening to the classical music on Yakko’s playlist.

Once the van arrived at the front of the hotel, the group retrieved their luggage from the back of the vehicle and Brain thanked the driver for their service while Pinky gave a friendly “Love you!”, to which Brain rolled his eyes at.

Once the group entered the hotel, the mice headed over towards the front desk to check in. Meanwhile, the Warners stood in awe as they drank in the scenery of the luxurious lobby. After taking in their surroundings, the siblings decided to release their manic energy in the lobby. Yakko and Dot immediately sprinted towards an empty sofa and started to bounce up and down. Wakko searched for something to stimulate his interest. Soon enough, the middle child found an abandoned gold bellman cart with red carpeting and knew what he had to do.

Meanwhile, The Brain was nearly complete with the check-in process as the front desk receptionist handed him three hotel keys: one for himself, one for Pinky, and one for the oldest Warner sibling.

“And here are your keys.” The employee said as she offered the three white cards over to the mouse. Using the robotic man-suit, Brain gingerly accepted the hotel keys from the receptionist.

“Thank you very much.” Brain politely acknowledged with a small nod.

“Enjoy your stay.” The receptionist smiled.

“You too,” Brain replied instinctively but winced when he realized his slip-up that the employee would not be staying in the hotel as a guest. “Wh-what I meant to say is have a good day.” The mouse attempted his conversational rebound with a nervous smile.

“Love you!” Pinky called out with a wave.

When Brain turned around, he scowled at his partner. “Pinky, you don’t have to say that to every person we converse with! Do you realize how uncomfortable you’re making them?”

“No, not really,” Pinky answered honestly as he climbed up to the suit’s shoulder so he could sit next to his partner. “I like to think that it makes their day a hundred times better!”

Just as Brain was about to come up with a witty retort, he saw the Warners were already causing playful pandemonium in the lobby. Yakko was driving the bellman cart, occasionally pushing his foot onto the ground to gain speed. Wakko and Dot were perched on top of the cart, with the Warner sister holding onto her sibling as they imitated the iconic Jack and Rose pose from Titanic. Wakko had his arms spread out while Dot placed her hands above her sibling’s side to keep them steady.

“I’m the king of the world!” Wakko cheered with their tongue hanging out.

Brain massaged his temple. “Of course, this is what I get for leaving the kids to their own devices.”

Pinky noted how stressed his partner was and decided to ameliorate the situation. He got out of the front pocket and climbed up on the robot’s left shoulder. Taking his fingers, he blew a sharp whistle out to the Warners, who immediately turned their attention over to the mice.

“Hey, kids!” Pinky called out to them. “We have the room keys so you can bounce around in the hotel room!”

“Okay!” They chorused as they pushed the bellman cart over to them. After they got off, the siblings placed their suitcases onto the cart. Pinky plopped down on the shoulder, pleased with the cooperative kids.

“Splendid work, Pinky.” Brain whispered into Pinky’s ear. The lanky mouse felt all blushy and gooshy when he felt his partner’s warm breath tickle his ear. Pinky giggled and instinctively wrapped his arms around himself to contain his feelings.

Yakko and Wakko pushed the cart over towards the elevator while Dot grabbed Brain by his robot’s hand, leading him and Pinky to the open elevator doors. One by one, they all entered inside. Wakko had their sights set on the buttons and immediately pressed all of them.

Brain looked at the illuminating floor buttons and released an exasperated sigh. “At least we’re only on the ninth floor.”

Once they reached the right floor, they all stepped off the elevator and walked through the corridor. The Warners trailed behind Brain until the mouse stopped at their destination: Room 920.

Brain used the hotel key and opened up the door to the hotel room. Two queen-sized beds, a flat-screen television, a leather couch, and an elegant bathroom. The room also had a phenomenal view of the city skyscrapers. Brain had to admit, the CEO clearly knew what she was doing when she booked the room for them.

Yakko and Dot awed in unison, their eyes glistening at the sight of their luxurious room.

“Naaarf.” Pinky purred with eyes full of wonderment.

“Poggers! This is the coolest hotel room ever!” Wakko declared as he ran into the room. As Yakko and Dot followed their sibling into the room. As Brain closed the door behind him and entered the room, he glanced over at Pinky and flashed him a confident grin to indicate that his studies on current slang have paid off.

The Warners gathered on the sofa and observed the city below them, their faces pressed against the glass as they took in the glorious sight. Brain cast a small smile at the children’s sense of wonder.

Pinky stood upon the suit’s shoulder and launched himself onto the comfortable mattress. The mouse landed with a soft thud. The bed may not be as squishy and homey as the sponge bed, but he enjoyed its welcoming softness. Pinky started to roll around on the bed, laughing loudly while doing so.

Brain was pleased to see his partner enjoying himself. He climbed out of the pilot seat of the man-suit and hopped down onto the bed to accompany his partner.

“Now sleeping arrangements should be quite obvious,” Brain addressed to the Warners, who were still gazing at the city view from the windowsill. “you children will share the bed by the door, while Pinky and myself will share the other bed.”

“Egad Brain, I finally get to live out one of my favorite fan fiction tropes!” Pinky exulted.

“Pinky, we already sleep in the same bed together back in the lab.” Brain dryly reminded his partner of the sponge bed he specifically made for him and his roommate.

“Oh, right,” Pinky said. “But still, we have a whole mattress to ourselves!” The taller mouse crowed, catching Brain in a surprise hug. The smaller mouse instinctively kicked his stubby legs in the air as he tried to resist the forced physical contact. Once Pinky let Brain down, he held the smaller mouse’s hand and started to jump up and down on the bed. Once they gained momentum, Pinky twirled Brain around, causing the intelligent mouse to cry out in protest.

“Nyaaaaaahhh!!!” Brain shouted as he was being twirled around against his will.

Yakko looked away from the window to find the mice dancing atop the mattress. He budged his siblings to get their attention and gestured towards their weekend guardians. The three kids instinctively clamored their way towards the bed, wanting to join in on the fun. Once Yakko, Wakko, and Dot perched themselves on the mattress, they started to bounce up and down. Soon enough, they joined hands as they bounced around in a circle, giggling as they contributed to the merriment.

While Pinky was enjoying himself, Brain kept screaming. As the mice jumped around, Brain noticed that they were too close to the Warners. Brain maneuvered Pinky, guiding him away from the three pairs of feet. They narrowly avoided being stepped on by the kids. Brain needed this silliness to stop before Pinky got hurt.

“Everybody off the mattress!” The smaller mouse yelled from the top of his lungs. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot immediately leaped over to the other bed, obeying Brain’s command. Once the intelligent mouse composed himself, he looked over to see how frightened the Warners were with his tone of voice.

Brain was overcome with tremendous guilt. “I’m sorry. That came off harsher than I intended.” He ruefully apologized. “Perhaps we should go outside the hotel room and find some engaging and wholesome activities to partake in.”

The Warners put on their thinking faces as they tried to come up with a fun way to spend the afternoon. “How about going to the pool?” Dot offered with a snap of her fingers.

“What a brilliant suggestion, Dot.” Brain complimented. “Now, let us prepare for a fun afternoon by the pool!”

“Woo-hoo!” Pinky cheered.

“Count me in!” Yakko declared while Wakko and Dot gave each other an enthusiastic high five.

It took about twenty minutes for everyone to get ready for their poolside excursion. The mice and the Warners were appropriately dressed in their swimwear. Brain wore his green and yellow palm-tree patterned swim trunks while Pinky wore a blue and pink floral print tankini. Yakko wore green swim trunks, Wakko wore a blue swim shirt and red swim trunks, and Dot wore a purple one-piece suit and yellow sunglasses. Brain packed a blue beach bag filled with five towels and various bottles of sunscreen while Wakko added their pool toys into the bag. Once the beach bag was packed, Brain placed Yakko in charge of carrying their belongings.

The pool was located on the rooftop of the hotel, so they took the elevator up to the top of the building. The moment the elevator doors opened, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot eagerly sprinted towards the pool. The children were close to jumping in, but a booming voice stopped them in their tracks.

“Not so fast there, kids.” Brain alerted as he walked alongside Pinky, holding hands as he chided the children. “No one steps into that pool until all of you slather your bodies with sun lotion.”

Yakko and Wakko groaned, their shoulders sagging in defeat. Dot, on the other hand, took a moment to see the mouse’s reasoning. “Yeah, he has a point there.” She concluded.

The three children approached the deck chair the mice claimed. Yakko opened up the blue bag and took out the bottles of sunscreen, and gave the mouse-sized bottles over to the murine couple. The Warners quickly applied the sunscreen on their arms, legs, ears, tails, and noses.

After Brain applied a good amount of sunscreen all over his limbs, chest, and enormous head, he turned over towards Pinky, who covered his fur with the lotion.

“Pinky, could you be a dear and coat my back with the SPF 50 sunscreen?” Brain asked.

“Well of course, Brain!” Pinky happily replied. Squirting an ample gob of lotion in his hands, the lanky mouse generously spread the white substance all over his partner’s back. Brain sighed with contentment as he felt Pinky’s gentle hands caressing his shoulder blades and working his way down his back.

“Yes!!!” Brain joyfully cried out as Pinky massaged his back with sunscreen.

Once the Warners protected their bodies with the sun lotion, they carried their aquatic toys and made their way over to the pool. Pinky retrieved his rubber duckie while Brain grabbed his mouse-sized pink inflatable pool chair.

The Warners splashed each other in the shallow end of the pool. Dot riding around on a blue pool tube while Yakko and Wakko whacked each other with limp styrofoam pool noodles. Brain drifted off in the middle of the pool, but kept a watchful eye on the kids. Pinky, who was mounted on his rubber ducky like a horseback rider on their equestrian steed, scooted over towards Brain. The lanky mouse desperately reached out his hand towards his partner.

Brain took notice of what Pinky was doing and turned to face him. “What are you doing?” He questioned.

“Poit! Why I’m trying to hold your hand,” Pinky strained as he kept extending his reach for his partner’s hand. “But I...can’t....reach…”

Brain sighed to himself and immediately took Pinky’s hand. The taller mouse’s eye lit up and smiled. Brain returned the smile as he locked onto Pinky’s eyes. Even though he knew Pinky for years, he could not get over how marvelously blue his eyes were. His eyes glistened like a sparkling sea during sunset. Then the smaller mouse blissfully closed his eyes as he held onto the mouse he loved.

Pinky kept his loving stare on Brain for what seemed like two minutes. When he decided to take a quick glance at the kids, he only saw Yakko playfully spinning Dot around on her pool tube in the shallow end.

“Brain,” Pinky alerted with a gentle squeeze of his hand. “I can’t find Wakko anywhere!”

Brain’s eyes shot open and he turned over towards the shallow end, only seeing two of the three Warner siblings. The mice looked over their shoulder towards the deep end of the pool, only to find a grey fin menacingly swarming them.

“SHARK!!!” Pinky screamed as he tugged Brain away from danger. Pinky stumbled as he stood up on his rubber duckie and instantly fell into the water, dragging his partner along with him.

Once the mice reached the surface, Brain desperately clung to Pinky as the taller mouse swam for him and his partner’s lives towards the edge of the pool as quickly as he could. But the shark fin interfered with their escape route as it stopped right in the middle of their path.

Suddenly, the shark fin emerged from the water, and so did Wakko Warner.

“Hi!” Wakko greeted with a friendly smile. The middle child wore a grey shark fin over their red hat. “You like my cool fin strap?”

Pinky was overcome with relief upon seeing Wakko. “Oh, that fin looks lovely on you, Wakko! Troz!”

With an irritable frown, Brain shook his head and retrieved his pink pool float. The mouse continued to swim towards the edge of the pool.

“Oh thank goodness,” Pinky chuckled. “I forgot that sharks don’t live in swimming pools. Narf!” But the mouse’s smile faltered into an anxious frown. “...or do they? Brain, do sharks live in-” He turned towards his left expecting to see Brain there, but was shocked that he was gone. Pinky swam around only to find Brain already out of the pool, carrying his pink pool float.

“Brain!” Pinky called out to his partner. “Do sharks live in swimming pools?”

“No Pinky, they don’t!” Brain spat before he continued his way to the pool chair.

“Oh that’s a relief,” Pinky said. “For a second there I was starting to worry.”

Just as the mouse swam over to his rubber ducky, he noticed Wakko in a surprisingly somber mood.

“Is something wrong?” Pinky carefully asked.

“I hope Brain doesn’t hate me,” Wakko admitted, overcome with remorse.

“Poit! He would never hate you, Wakko.” Pinky assured. “He’s just a little grumpy is all. He just needs time to cool off.”

“I hope you’re right,” Wakko replied as he swam over to join their siblings.

Pinky joined the Warners at the shallow end of the pool. Yakko and Dot waved at the lanky mouse as he approached the siblings.

“Hey Pinky,” Dot asked. “Yakko and I were wondering what you and Brain have planned for tonight?”

“Oh, I already made a reservation at the karaoke parlor after dinner!” Pinky exclaimed. The mouse looked at the children, who all seemed excited at the idea of a karaoke session. Even Wakko started to cheer up the moment he heard the news. “But don’t tell Brain,” Pinky told the kids. “I want it to be a surprise! Zort!”

“Oh, I love surprises!” Wakko declared as he waved their hands in the air.

“That’s good to know.” Yakko casually responded before wrapping his arms around his sibling. The oldest Warner picked Wakko up, who kicked their feet in protest.

“Let me go!” Wakko chuckled as he tried to free themselves from the oldest Warner’s grasp.

“Okay, if you insist!” Yakko replied, tossing Wakko back into the pool. Pinky laughed and clapped his hands as he watched the silly sibling antics.

After getting out of the pool, Brain walked over towards the blue bag to retrieve his latest invention: a folding web chaise pool chair with a manual crank attached to a metal harness that functioned as an elevator. The sole purpose of the device was to make jacuzzis and hot tubs more accessible to mice such as himself.

Brain walked over to the jacuzzi and secured his device by the pool’s edge. He then took a seat in the pool chair and used the crank to descend into the hot tub. The mouse stopped the crank once the bubbling water reached his chest. Brain placed his hands behind his head and let out a blissful sigh. The mouse looked over at the children, who were playing some sort of pool game. Brain decided to appreciate the moment of solitude while he still had it.

A few minutes later, Dot got out of the pool, shaking the water from her hair. Placing her sunglasses on, she spotted Brain and walked over towards the jacuzzi.

“Room for one more?” The Warner sister inquired.

“By all means.” Brain invited, and the girl settled herself in the hot tub.

“Wakko wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry for that little prank earlier.” Dot informed him.

The mouse felt a pang of guilt for his reaction to Wakko’s antics. He may have been upset that the middle child had ruined the peaceful moment between Pinky and himself, but the mouse held no ill will against Wakko for messing around.

“I’ll soon inform them of my forgiveness.” Brain replied. “I know that Wakko had no malicious intentions with their little joke.”

Dot nodded, happy to know that the mouse didn’t hold any grudges against her older sibling. “So, are you enjoying yourself?” She asked while adjusting her sunglasses.

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Brain answered honestly. “And you?”

“Oh, I’m having a lot of fun!” Dot eagerly replied. “Although I must admit, I need some time for myself. My older siblings can be too much at times.”

“I can empathize with the sentiment.” Brain agreed. “Pinky can be a little too outgoing and energetic at times.”

Dot nodded and hummed. “Say, you wanna know some fun facts about Yakko and Wakko?” She playfully asked.

“Oh, do tell.” Brain answered with an intrigued smile.

“Okay, so Wakko always does this thing where he copies the behavior of people he admires.” Dot explained. She looked over at the pool, and pointed towards her older siblings. “Watch closely!”

Brain focused his attention on the Yakko, who scooped a handful of water and threw it up in the air. Wakko followed suit, mimicking their older brother’s movements.

“Fascinating…” Brain commented as he watched the older Warner siblings.

“And Yakko normally stays in the shallow end of the pool because he can’t swim.” Dot informed him.

“Really?” Brain questioned. “How?”

“He never bothered.” Dot candidly answered. “He tried taking swim lessons back in the nineties, but he got kicked out because he was too busy making googly eyes at the swim instructors and lifeguards.”

“How am I not surprised,” Brain dryly responded.

“And as a heads up, Yakko can’t consume anything with lactose.” Dot said with a twinge of sadness.

“Duly noted.” Brain acknowledged. “I suppose I should tell Pinky to put in dairy substitutes if he wants to make his world-famous cheesecake for Yakko in the foreseeable future.”

“Hold the phone, Pinky can bake!?” Dot asked excitedly with glistening eyes.

“Absolutely! Pinky can whip up all sorts of pastries and confectioneries, ” Brain remarked. “Cheesecakes, cannolis, macaroons, eclairs, crème brule,” Brain listed before curling his fingers, pressing them to his lips for a passionate chef’s kiss. “They’re simply magnifique!”

“Wakko is definitely gonna have a field day with Pinky if he ever knew that.” Dot remarked.

“Oh, indubitably.” Brain affirmed with a nod.

Back in the pool, Wakko looked over to see Dot having a pleasant conversation with Brain. The middle child thought about what Pinky said, that the smaller mouse needed time to chill before he was fine. He could apologize to Brain and try their hardest to show the mouse how to have fun without coming off as mean or hurtful. Wakko finally worked up the courage to approach Brain again.

The middle child turned over to Yakko, who lifted Pinky up in the air. The mouse giggled as he splashed into the pool. “I’m gonna swing by the jacuzzi, I’ll be right back!” He informed the two.

Pinky resurfaced and waved at Wakko. “Okay, have fun!”

After getting out of the pool, Wakko carefully thought about the best way to approach his sister and the smaller mouse. He looked back to their older brother, who launched Pinky back in the air for another splash in the pool.

Wakko smiled, knowing what he needed to do. He knelt down in a runner’s starting position as their sights set on the jacuzzi. The middle child then broke out into a sprint.

“Hey fellas!” Wakko exclaimed. Brain and Dot turn their gaze over to the middle child as he sprinted towards the jacuzzi. Brain’s eyes widened, anticipating the upcoming disaster that was sure to happen.

“Cannonball!” Wakko sang as he launched himself in the air, bending his knees and wrapping his arms around his legs.

Before Brain could react, Wakko plunged straight into the middle of the hot tub. The splash launched Brain about ten feet up in the air. The mouse looked over at the city skyline and back down at the hot tub with a sense of dread.

“Oh dear lord...” He exasperatedly remarked as he began his swift descent.

“Nyaaaaahhhh!!!!!” Brain screamed helplessly. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the worst. But instead of making a crash landing onto the hard ground, he landed in a soft cottony material. He reluctantly opened his eyes and realized that he was inside Wakko’s red hat.

A hatless Wakko looked at Brain with a mix of relief and embarrassment. “Sorry!”

“Wakko, you must never jump into the jacuzzi like that!” Brain berated. “You could have seriously hurt yourself!”

Wakko winced upon receiving his scolding. “I know…” He mumbled, their eyes shamefully cast downwards.

Brain felt his heart go out to Wakko upon seeing the regret on their face. Then the mouse’s frown melted away, turning into a soft smile. “And I want to thank you for saving me.” He gently praised the Warner sibling, causing them to look back at the mouse. “I would have entered a world of pain had it not been for your creative thinking and nimble reflex.”

Wakko beamed at Brain, glad that the mouse wouldn’t stay mad at them for the duration of the trip. “You’re welcome!” He happily replied as he scooped the mouse from their hat, placing it back on their head.

But a loud whistle broke the tender moment. Wakko, Dot and Brain looked over at a physically fit lifeguard, who wore a stern face as he marched towards them. The three braced themselves for a reprimanding speech on pool safety.

Yakko noticed this from the pool, and he had to think up something to get them off the hook. He looked to Pinky, who was climbing out of the pool, and came up with a surefire solution. The oldest Warner approached Pinky and whispered something into his ear. After a moment, Pinky gave the oldest Warner a thumbs up. Yakko gently picked Pinky up and placed him out of the pool.

Pinky took a few steps from the pool and started howling in pain. “Oh ho ho, I hurt me foot!”

The lanky mouse clutched onto his right foot and rolled around on the ground, pretending to writhe in agony. “Oh ho ho, I hurt me foot!” Pinky wailed as tears sprinkled from his eyes. “Oh, the pain! The agony! Narf!”

The lifeguard then moved towards the downtrodden mouse. Yakko quickly got out of the pool and gathered the blue beach bag and motioned towards his siblings and Brain to follow his lead. Wakko placed Brain on top of their hat, and followed Yakko and Dot as they fled from the scene while the lifeguard was distracted. The children and the mouse arrived at the elevator. Brain pressed on the button, hoping that the doors would open fast enough before the lifeguard could detect them. Fortunately, their desperate pleas were answered as the elevator doors opened. One by one, the four flooded inside the elevator.

Once Pinky saw that the four successfully made it by the elevator, he stopped crying and stood up on his feet. “Oh, I’m feeling better now!” He said in his usual cheerful voice before he skipped along his merry way towards the elevator doors. “Love you!” Pinky called out to the lifeguard.

The lifeguard stared at the mouse in befuddlement. “Love you too?” He muttered with a hesitant wave.

Once Pinky made his way in, Dot pressed the button to close the elevator doors and the button for floor nine. The doors swiftly closed and the group made their descent down to their sanctuary. When they were safe at last, Yakko cackled aloud and soon his siblings and the mice joined in, breaking out into a fit of laughter.

“I can’t believe that actually worked!” Dot exclaimed.

Brain hopped down from Wakko’s hat and approached the lanky mouse. “Good work, Pinky.” He complimented as he patted his partner’s shoulder. “You’re acting is as believable as ever.”

“Aw that’s nice Brain, but I can’t take all the credit,” Pinky explained with pink-tinted cheeks. “it was Yakko’s bright idea to create a diversion to get you three out of trouble.”

Brain looked over towards the oldest Warner and smiled. “Well Yakko, I admire your clever thinking.”

Yakko was overjoyed by the compliment, smiling gratefully at the intelligent mouse. “Hey, I’m always happy to help!”

The smaller mouse smiled back at the oldest Warner before turning his attention to the middle child. “And as for you Wakko, I recognize that you didn’t mean any trouble with your little shark fin stunt earlier and there’s no use in dwelling over what happened. It’s all water under the bridge.”

Wakko felt a wave of relief wash over and he softly smiled at the smaller mouse.

Once the elevator stopped on their floor, the five got out and made their way back to the hotel room.

“Well, I hope you all enjoyed our little poolside adventure, for I am certain that we won’t be welcomed back after our little scene.” Brain remarked. “But no matter, I already took into consideration other engaging and wholesome activities for the weekend, many of which aren’t limited to the confines of the hotel.”

Once they reached the door to their room, Yakko retrieved his key and inserted it in the metal lock. The green lights blinked from the lock, indicating that they were allowed access in the room. The oldest Warner opened up the door and allowed everyone else to walk in first before he entered.

Brain climbed up the nightstand. “Now I want you all to change from your swimwear into your finest attire, for we’ll take to the streets for tonight’s dinner!” Brain explained.

The Warners gave Brain a serious salute before racing towards the bathroom door. Dot managed to get in first, slamming the door behind her older siblings.

The next half-hour was spent getting prepared for their evening of fun. The siblings scoured through their packed suitcases to find their best attire to wear. Dot put on her Spotify playlist from the tablet, not that it bothered Brain in the least. In fact, he thought that the Warner sister had splendid taste in music, as her playlist consisted of pop music from the 80s and 90s.

Brain, now dressed in his light blue blazer and a cream collared shirt. He looked in the mirror as he adjusted his red tie whilst discreetly singing along to Kiss From A Rose. “Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey. Ooh, the more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah.” The eloquent mouse crooned.

Pinky was settled on the bed, dressed in his checkered green suit jacket and blue bowtie, smiling contentedly as he listened to Brain sing and imagined that he was singing for him and him alone. The lanky mouse admired the way his partner could carry a tune along with his seductive voice. Oh how he could listen to Brain sing all day. Pinky was always quick to compliment Brain’s singing and tried to encourage him to showcase his talents to the world, but the big-headed mouse vehemently denied that request time and time again.

Pinky needed to find a way to pretend that he was busy with another activity so as to avoid suspicion from his partner. He hopped over to the nightstand where he found the hotel brochure. Surely there were plenty of pretty pictures to look at. But as he picked up the laminated pamphlet, he discovered the sparkling gold credit card that the CEO bestowed to him and Brain.

“Naaarf!” Pinky admired. The mouse picked up the credit card and placed it on the pillow. Pinky laid down on the mattress and propped his head in his hands as he gazed on the card’s entrancing glow.

Brain hopped back on the bed and looked over at Pinky, who was admiring the shimmering credit card. The pudgy mouse shook his head and walked over to his partner. Brain chuckled upon seeing how enamored Pinky was with the glimmering card.

“I see you’re enchanted by the credit card.” Brain observed astutely.

Pinky eagerly nodded his head. “It’s like watching the baby sun from the Teletubbies! Troz!”

“Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?” He inquired with a cheeky grin.

“I think so Brain, but what if my milkshakes can’t bring all the boys to the yard?” Pinky asked anxiously.

“No Pinky, I was not referring to your dreams of opening an ice cream shop or your chest, as soft and comfortable as it is.” Brain berated as his cheeks blushed to a dark shade of red.

“You’re darn right, mister!” Pinky confirmed with a nod.

��The CEO informed us that she will pay for any additional expenses we make over the weekend. I intend to take advantage of her little gesture of kindness by making as many extravagant purchases as possible!” Brain eagerly explained with a devious smile. “And treating you and the kids to an elegant, fine-dining experience will be the first stop in our weekend spending spree!”

“Zounds Brain,” Pinky awed, but he then remembered what he had in store for the evening. “But we have to make sure that we finish dinner before 7:00 because I already made plans for a fun bonding activity with the kids at 7:30!”

Brain frowned at the thought of Pinky planning something without his input. “What plans?” Brain interrogated.

“Oh, I can’t tell you. I want it to be a surprise!” Pinky gleefully answered.

“I can hardly wait.” Brain responded sardonically. “Very well, I’ll try to find any upscale restaurants within the area, and make a reservation for six o’clock.” The intelligent mouse said as he scrolled through his smartphone. The CEO entrusted him and Pinky with the company credit card and, darn it, he was going to treat himself, his partner, and the kids to an expensive dinner at a fancy restaurant!

“Hey Brain?” He heard Wakko speak.

Brain put his phone aside and looked at the middle child, who was wearing a red cavalier hat with a blue feather sticking up from the side, a white tunic, and a musketeer tabard with the colors of the Non-Binary flag. The mouse was not surprised by Wakko’s unconventional fashion sense, but he certainly admired the middle child’s bold choice of wardrobe. “Yes, Wakko?”

“Can we go to McDonald’s for dinner?” Wakko eagerly asked.

“McDonald’s?” Brain scoffed. “Why on earth would you want to have serviceable fast food when we could easily go to any one of the more elegant eateries in the city?”

“Because other restaurants don’t have Big Macs.” Wakko answered with a confident nod.

Yakko and Dot soon came out from the bathroom and stood beside Wakko. Yakko was dressed in a black leather jacket and a white T-shirt in addition to his signature brown slacks. Dot wore a purple pantsuit, a white collared shirt, and a pearl necklace.

“Yeah, and it’s been ages since we last went to McDonald’s.” Yakko explained, backing up his younger sibling.

“And what other restaurant could provide a relaxed, down-to-earth atmosphere tailor made for the average American family?” Dot added with great conviction.

Brain was secretly impressed with the Warners’ gumption and steadfast determination, but he had to remind the children who’s boss.

“Oh no, I remember all of those times you annoyed me into taking you to McDonald’s back in the nineties!” Brain remarked with an exasperated tone of voice. “Well, I am here to inform you that my fortitude has hardened considerably over the years, and this little song and dance won’t work on me again!”

Yakko looked over at his siblings with a mischievous grin plastered on his face. “McDonald’s! McDonald’s!” The eldest Warner started chanting. Wakko and Dot immediately joined in. “McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s!”

As the Warners chanted, The Brain crossed his arms, grumpily standing his ground. He was the adult in the situation and he would not bow down to the whims of the children. But the mouse was shocked to see his dearest partner join the children’s crusade, chanting alongside them.

“McDonald’s! McDonald’s!” Pinky exclaimed, pumping his arms in the air.

“Pinky! Who’s side are you on!?” Brain snapped exasperatedly.

“Poit! The one with the happy meals.” Pinky sheepishly replied with a shrug.

Brain knew he was outnumbered and outpowered. As much as he wanted to have an exquisite dinner at a high-end restaurant, he had to give the kids (and his partner) what they wanted. With an annoyed sigh, he held up his hands and surrendered to the sassy children's demand.

“Alright, we’ll have dinner at McDonald’s!” The Brain announced, eliciting cheers from the Warners and Pinky. The smaller mouse held up his hand, pointing his finger upwards to assure his dominance over the group.

“But if you children even think about causing anymore trouble under my supervision, then I shall sell you to the zoo!” Brain sternly warned. The mouse knew he was making an empty threat, and the children probably knew that as well, but he wanted to ensure that they would be on their best behavior while they were out on the town.

“We’ll be good,” Yakko affirmed before turning over to Wakko and Dot. “Right sibs?”

“We promise.” The younger Warner siblings chorused, smiling as golden halos appeared above their heads. Dot flashed a confident grin while Wakko wore a more nervous smile.

“Good.” Brain curtly nodded. The mouse climbed up the sleeve of his robotic suit, walked along the left shoulder, and settled himself in the driver’s seat. “Now let’s go.”

AN: And so the fun officially begins!

So originally this chapter was supposed to be longer, but as I was filling in the details, I realized that it was too long, so I decided to divide it into two parts (with part one being over 19 long lol) So consider this chapter to be part one of the Mice and Warners cause shenanigans on a Friday.

This chapter was so much fun to write because it gave me the opportunity to explore the dynamics between the two parties.

Pinky would definitely be the more affectionate one of the two, doting on the Warners and giving them lots of positive attention. He would have the strongest connection with Dot, since she finds him very cute and she’s always quick to compliment him and show him affection. Pinky and Wakko are both fun-loving, but naive and they’re always looking to have a good time. Yakko would love to make Pinky laugh because that boy craves validation for his humor and Pinky is the easiest to please since that mouse loves almost anything and he would find Yakko hilarious.

Brain is the responsible, but tired one who puts up with their shenanigans, but also respects the kids and finds them endearing. He and Yakko would have back and forth banter. Despite the two of them not always seeing eye to eye, Brain is quick to praise Yakko’s more positive attributes. Wakko just loves Brain, and Brain shares the sentiment despite the two of them having opposite personalities. In the next chapter, we get to see more of their relationship. With Dot having wit, Brain is able to connect to her the easiest, as the two of them would share intellectual conversations and spill some gossip as well.

The pool section was fun to write as I managed to come up with a lot of crazy shenanigans as well as quieter moments between the characters.

The McDonald’s bit was a lot of fun to write, and yes it was inspired by the classic McDonald’s alignment chart (“McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s!”, “We have food at home.”, *Pulls into the drive thru as children cheer* *orders a single black coffee and leaves*), The Warners and Pinky would definitely be chanting for McDonald’s while Brain would be that one of those folks who orders a black coffee lol!

Thanks for reading!

#animaniacs #pinky and the brain #brain #pinky #yakko warner #wakko warner #dot warner

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heyyyharry · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 1: The Queen

(from ‘The Winter and The Crown’)

…in which Y/N is betrothed and her kingdom is in chaos.

Word count: 7.6k

AU: queen!y/n, commander!harry

Description: Y/N and Harry set off on a new adventure to find ‘the cure’ for an ancient curse, meanwhile, the enemies are plotting to take her kingdom.

Wattpad link (Reyna as Y/N)

A/N:

I know my characters can be frustrating sometimes because every single one of them is flawed and makes stupid mistakes. I want them to feel real, and real people are always frustrating. So please, for me, keep the comments fun and lighthearted, because the main purpose of fiction is to entertain and I really don’t want you guys to argue over my writing. Let’s not be mean to each other and my characters - because they’re basically my children and it pains me when someone’s mean to them 😂

I’m looking forward to seeing your theories and questions about the plot ✌🏼

Also, the series will be updated WEEKLY instead of biweekly, so the next chapter comes out next week on Wednesday (July 22, 2020).

Prologue: What Happened To Harry?

The night was wet and dark. Heavy snow was lashing against the windows of the carriage as the moaning of the wind muffled the shouting of men and neighing of horses. Kennedy Rowley hugged her little girl, who was wrapped in a soft fur blanket, to her chest. This was their first time travelling to the North, and Kennedy had worried that her child wouldn’t be able to bear the cold. To her surprise, the little one had been an angel for most of the trip. She would eat and sleep and listen to her mother’s story even while the snowstorm was raging on outside. It was the same story all over again, and yet the baby never got bored.

“Once upon a time,” Kennedy began, rocking her baby gently in her arms. On her left, her husband had dozed off, snoring softly with his head leaned to the side.

Once upon a time, there were one hundred kingdoms living in harmony. The largest, strongest and richest kingdom in the North was ruled by an old king. The King had four sons: Lokesh, Kashvi, Reagan, and Aalam.

While The King and Queen were kind and admired by their people, the princes were spoiled, arrogant, and greedy. All four had grown up to become strong and great fighters, but the one with the most potential was Lokesh, the eldest. And the King was very proud of his heir.

The year Lokesh turned eighteen, the Queen died of a terrible illness, and not so long after that, grief killed the King. Lokesh became King in the North. At first, he was happy; his father’s crown was everything Lokesh had wanted since he’d been fourteen. But now that he’d got it, he wanted more. And so the new king came up with a plan to become the almighty ruler of all one hundred kingdoms. With the help of his four brothers, his army started invading the neighbouring kingdoms. Villages were burned. Innocent people were killed. Dynasties crumbled. And soon, all ninety-nine kingdoms had surrendered to Isolde.

The war was over, or at least that was what Lokesh had thought. As clever as he was, he hadn’t expected that the same greed which had driven him to start the war had turned his three brothers against him. A civil war broke out with four sides fighting each other for a year. Thousands of lives had been taken, yet no one won and no one surrendered. When the year had passed, the brothers agreed to call it a truce and divide the land into the North, the South, the West, and the East. Each brother would rule the largest kingdom in their region. Lokesh in the North - Isolde, Kashvi in the South - Theros, Reagan in the West - Attwell, and Aalam in the East - Rouxvania.

Twenty-four small kingdoms in the North now became the low courts which, despite having their own rulers, took orders from the high court of Isolde. Same for the twenty-four small kingdoms in the South, the West, and the East.

Legend has it that there was a time when the weather would change constantly in a year, but because the brothers had angered the Gods, it's always sunny in Theros, flowers always bloom in Attwell, and the leaves are always red in Rouxvania. As for Isolde, the land ruled by the tyrant Lokesh, the people must suffer from an endless cold.

By the time Kennedy had finished her story, the carriage slowed down and came to a stop. Her husband stirred awake as they heard a knock on the window. The door was opened, and a guard announced that they had arrived.

Kenny carefully wrapped her sleeping baby in the blanket as she stepped out of the carriage and took in the white scenery surrounding them. The sky was pearl-grey even though the sun had risen and the wind had stopped whirling around empty branches. The baby whimpered as a snowflake landed gently on the tip of her nose. Meanwhile, her mother kept spinning around with her mouth open wide; this was not only her first time seeing the North castle, but also her first time seeing snow. When she and Harry had been little, they’d always talked about travelling North just to spend a whole day playing snow fight and building snowmen.

This was not what she’d meant. She didn’t want her first time seeing snow to be without him.

“Your Majesty,” Stefan Russo said and nudged his wife, who started and immediately turned around. Kennedy curtsied when she saw the King of Attwell marching toward them with two guards in black armours following right behind, the silver hilts of their swords shining in the crystal clear sunlight. The King was also dressed in black. He was even more handsome than the rumours. His hair was short and wavy and as black as a starless night sky, and she could envision a raging snowstorm just from looking into his mysterious grey eyes. He was powerful and regal, but at the same time, just a young man of twenty years old.

“So you’re Stefan and Kennedy,” he said, his voice raspier than she’d expected. “Guests of the Queen are also guests of mine. You don’t have to bow to me.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Kennedy and Stefan both said.

“You can call me Kenny. Everyone does,” Kenny added. Only her mother and late husband had called her Kennedy. She shivered at the thought of them; she didn’t want to think about them now.

“How is...Her Majesty, Your Grace?” Stefan ventured, his palms trembling; he wasn’t used to talking to a sovereign.

The King’s expression remained unreadable. He didn’t look at them when he said, “She’s with Harry at the moment.”

Stefan and Kenny gaped at each other, then at the King as if they’d just heard something extremely outrageous.

“Harry?” Kenny blurted. “We were told that he–”

“A lot has happened since we sent our men to deliver the news to you,” Lance Devany cut her off. “But we still need you here, as you might be able to help us.”

Help them? How could two peasants help the King and the Queen?

Neither Kenny nor Stefan got a chance to question when Lance told the servants waiting by the carriage to take their luggage to their chamber. To the couple, he said, “Come. I’ll try to explain as we walk.”

“W-Where are we going, Your Majesty?” Kenny asked.

Seeing the horrified looks on their pale faces, Lance sighed and spun on his heels. “To the dungeon.”

Chapter 1: THE QUEEN

Ten months ago

Y/N woke up screaming. Outside, the sky was still dark. The snow was falling down lazily, and the only sound she could hear was the whistling of the wind through bare branches and her laboured breathing. She was alone in bed, dressed in her sweat-soaked nightgown. Her hands weren’t bloody, and Egon wasn’t on top of her with his rotten fingers wrapped around her throat.

The door swung open, and the warm glow of firelight from the corridor washed over the colourless carpet as a figure dashed into her chamber, sword drawn with a sharp whoosh.

Harry’s horrified eyes locked with her own. “Is everything all right?”

She nodded, her shoulders slumped. “Just a nightmare.”

Harry heaved a sigh as he put away his sword and looked around the bed-chamber to make sure it was really empty.

“Were you outside the whole time?” she asked when he turned away.

He looked hesitant, glanced at the bright corridor and then shook his head as if to say, ‘Fuck it’. He closed the door, allowing darkness to engulf them once again as he strode toward the bed and sat down in front of her. Beaming, he brushed her damp hair out of her forehead and planted a kiss on it. “Go back to sleep, Peach.”

“Harry—“

“I know, I know,” he said tiredly. “I was worried. That’s all.”

“You’re not my guard. You could just ask someone else to keep watch.”

Harry tilted his head, his mouth quirked a little. “I don’t trust the other guards. What if you decide to sleep naked?”

She smiled, hating herself for feeling relieved that it'd been him who'd guarded outside her door. It was riskier now that Lance was returning tomorrow; still, it wasn’t tomorrow yet.

“Can you stay with me until sunrise?” she asked, taking his hand and kissing his palm.

He considered her for a moment, but she already knew he wasn’t going to say no. Eventually, he nodded his head. “Scoot over.”

She giggled and made room for him under the covers. Harry slid in beside her, lying on his back with an arm behind his head, the other wrapped around her shoulders, tugging her in. She rested her head on his chest and snuggled close, feeling much safer now that he was here to keep bad dreams away.

Closing her eyes and counting his heartbeats, Y/N gradually fell back to sleep.

The next time she woke up was to Jo shouting at Harry to get out of the room. Harry launched himself out of the bed and combed his fingers frantically through his messy curls as Jo continued scolding at him. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Y/N realised that the sun was already hanging above the tallest trees outside her windows. Harry had overslept.

“No one has come in, right? Just you?” she calmly asked Jo, who stopped shouting to answer, “Yes, just me. What were you thinking, Y/N?!”

“Hey, you’re talking to the Queen, woman,” Harry said.

Jo smacked him hard on the arm, causing him to yelp and bounce back. “You slept in her bed,” Jo snapped. “You don’t get to speak morals here. Now get out!”

“Stop it. Both of you,” Y/N yawned as she swung her legs to the side of the bed and stretched her arms tiredly. Harry somehow managed to duck around Jo and pecked Y/N on the cheek before he sprang to the door, shouting, “Love you!”

Jo gasped and placed her hands on her hips, eyes widened at Y/N. Y/N only shrugged, unable to stop the smile blooming on her face. She stood up and leaned against a bedpost as Jo came to shut the door.

“Relax. We’ve been doing this for two months already.”

Jo rolled her eyes and repeated the same thing she always said, “You have to be more careful.” Then, she paused and wetted her lip. “Lance is returning today.”

“I know,” Y/N sighed, crossing her arms. “I get chills just from hearing his name.”

It was meant to be a joke, but Jo didn’t laugh.

“You’re going to marry Lance. Are you going to keep Harry around forever?”

Y/N shrugged. “Our people don’t care who’s in my bed every night or who’s in Lance’s, as long as I’m married to a king and he to a queen.”

“But does Harry care?”

Jo’s question froze her to the spot. She swallowed and lifted her shoulders. “He was the reason I agreed to marry Lance.”

“He did that for the sake of our kingdom, you know that. No man is happy that their woman is married to someone else, even just for an alliance between two kingdoms.”

Y/N looked at her friend funny. “I thought you hated Harry.”

“I hate both Harry and Lance,” Jo scoffed and stepped forward to cup Y/N’s face. “I’m worried for you. If this goes wrong, you’ll get hurt the most. I don’t want you to lose more than you've already lost.” When Y/N didn’t reply, Jo pressed her lips into a tight smile. “Now, let’s get you dressed to welcome your obnoxious future husband.”

“I'm hoooome! Where’s my beautiful bride?”

Y/N exhaled as all eyes in the room pinned on her. She was standing at one end of the table, her palms fanned out on the map of Isolde. They were in the middle of an important meeting, and the last thing she wanted was to be interrupted, especially when the interruption was called Lance Devanny. She could hear his voice all the way from the courtyard as soon as his retinue had arrived. For someone whose whole life was a huge question mark, Lance Devanny really did love the attention.

She cast a silent glance at Harry, who was standing beside the chief minister. He instantly knew what it meant and excused himself to leave the room so he could stop Lance before he got here. Before Harry could even reach the door, however, it swung open and Lance strutted in with that mischievous crooked grin on his stupidly handsome face.

“Are we having a celebration without me?” he asked, looking at Harry and then Y/N, who rolled her eyes and murmured, “It’s always a celebration without you.”

She saw Harry scowling at the King, who brushed right past him, straight toward her and swept her into his arms. She didn’t have a chance to react when he pressed his lips firmly against hers. Her eyes shot open, and she could see Harry’s jaw twitch as he turned away.

It felt weird, kissing Lance. He’d never kissed her on the mouth. Their charade had only included fake smiles and hand kisses and the most scandalous thing she’d done had been allowing him to put his hand on her back for the whole night, and even then, they’d had a loud fight afterwards.

How dare he kiss her right here in front of all her court?

Still, she couldn’t help but notice that he smelt like flowers. She’d expected him to smell like sweat and horses. After all, it’d been a long journey travelling on the road from Attwell to Isolde. But he smelt like flowers, and his lips were warm even though he’d just arrived in the cold. Strange. Well, at least now she knew Lance Devanny had a heart that was pumping blood to keep his body warm like a normal human being.

He drew back, her eyes locked with his for a second before he looked over his shoulder at Harry. Y/N didn’t know what it meant. Was that supposed to be an apology for kissing her in front of him? Or was it to flaunt that Lance could kiss her in front of Harry? Whatever the King’s reason was, Y/N would kill him after this.

“Is my baby dove happy to see me?” he asked and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

She almost snorted. It was a joke between the two of them. He’d told her that he should call her lovely names like a man in love would call his consort, and she had hated all the options he’d proposed, like ‘my love’, ‘sweetheart’, ‘darling’, because those were for Harry to call her. So Lance had said, “How about ‘baby dove’?“

“Why a dove?” she’d questioned.

“Would you prefer ‘baby chicken’? Either is fine with me.”

It had been funny the first time he’d said it, and their guests at the time had looked so confused and uncomfortable (they probably weren’t used to a couple of monarchs who were actually fond of each other). But now that Harry was glowering at Lance and possibly her for looking more delighted than she should, ‘baby dove’ wasn’t so funny anymore.

All the courtiers in the room were watching them; Lance was putting up too good of a show for them to miss, and so she must play along. She cleared her throat and faked a smile as she pinched his cheek. “I’m so happy you’re here safe with us.”

Lance’s eyes popped open as she pinched as hard as she could, knowing he couldn’t cry out in pain otherwise they would know. When she released him, his cheek was so red she had to lean in and pretend to kiss it, only to whisper to him, “Do not kiss me again or I’ll make sure that’ll leave a bruise.”

She pulled back, smiling, and Lance rubbed the spot on his cheek as a corner of his mouth turned up; there was a fascinated look on his face.

Harry broke the silence, his tone flat and dry, “We’re in the middle of a meeting, Your Majesty.”

Y/N truly admired him for having kept his calm the entire time. If she’d seen someone kiss Harry, she would have jumped on the person like an angry bear.

“What about?” Lance asked. His joker character had been replaced by a stern expression – his mouth formed a straight line and his forehead puckered slightly. She wasn’t sure which version of him was the real Lance. Probably neither.

The chief minister spoke, gesturing to the red circles drawn on the map. “There have been some uprisings in the villages at the northern border.”

“The low courts were in on this?” Lance asked.

“No, not the low courts,” Y/N said. “Their people. I don’t know who started it but villages were burned and innocent people were killed.”

“When did it start?”

“After the Queen’s coronation,” Harry said. “You were in Attwell.”

Lance grimaced as he rested his right hand on his sword-hilt. She’d noticed that he did that a lot, as if touching his sword would bring him a sense of comfort, to which she could definitely relate. “So...two months ago, and no one bothered to write to me?” he asked, sounding a little betrayed.

Lance had left Isolde right after her coronation to return to Attwell. The people there were more open-minded than those in Isolde; they had actually welcomed Lance home with open arms, whereas her people had started burning villages and killing each other the second she’d been crowned. Sometimes, she wondered if it had anything to do with her sex. If she were a man, would they treat her like a hero instead of a sinner?

“This is my kingdom,” Y/N said, her voice rougher than she’d wanted it to be, and everyone started eyeing Lance. Maybe they didn’t expect their Queen to talk to her betrothed with such ferocity.

Despite her breaking character, Lance remained calm. “Your kingdom is my concern, too,” he said. “Just like how mine is yours. If your people are protesting against you, they’re protesting against us.”

Y/N stared at the red circles on the map and only dipped her chin in response.

The chief minister drew a breath. “A week ago, Commander Joaquin led our cavalry to put out the protests, and...he was killed on the way home.”

“Fuck,” Lance muttered, not caring who had heard him.

“Harry is our new commander,” said Y/N as she scratched the tip of her nose with her index finger, not looking at anyone. “He was the only one who stayed and fought to save Joaquin.”

“I’m sorry I failed,” Harry mumbled.

“It’s all right, son,” said the Lord Chancellor. “You did your best.”

Lance cast Harry a look. “Good job. I was wondering why you were here.”

Harry responded with a dry smile. “Funny. I was wondering the same thing about you”

Everyone was puzzled, but Y/N paid attention to neither of them. “Tomorrow we’re heading out to the border to bring supplies for the people in those burned villages. Winter is coming and they would not survive alone in the cold now that their homes are gone.”

It was the first time Y/N had seen Lance and Harry share the same look of concern. If they weren’t in a serious situation, she would probably tease them for it.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” asked Lance, tentatively. “It’s just a way of saying, right?”

Harry’s brows furrowed. “You’re not actually going, are you?”

“I am.” Y/N narrowed her eyes at both of them. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing. My commander died for me.”

“Which is why you shouldn’t be out there,” Lance cut her off. Was it genuine concern that she saw in his eyes, or was it just her desperation to find some sign that he was capable of having human feelings? “I’m going with them,” he asserted. “You stay home.”

She stepped toward him. He was a head taller yet she showed no sign of weakness. “Do not give me orders in my own court. You stay home.”

He pursed his lips, pretending to think for a second. “No, I don’t think so, baby dove.”

“I agree with the King, Your Grace,” said one of her advisors. She and Lance both turned to the man. “It’s too dangerous. We must keep you safe at all costs.”

Y/N shook her head. “If I showed fear to my own people, then it would prove that they were right about me. If I want their trust, I must trust them first.”

“You’re talking about the people who took innocent lives and burned down villages because they hate you,” Harry said; his voice was calm and steady yet fearful somehow.

She hated it when he sided with Lance.

“I’ll carry a sword and wear armour,” she told him. “And I can fight better than many of our men. Whatever it takes, I’m going.” Looks were exchanged, yet no one dared to object. “Meeting adjourned.” With that, she swept out of the room.

The door fell shut behind Y/N and the room erupted with whispers. Harry exchanged worried looks with Lance; he hadn’t thought there would be a day when he agreed with this bastard, and yet, the life in court kept surprising him.

While the chief minister was giving orders to the guards about protecting the Queen on the journey tomorrow morning, Harry slipped out of the room in silence. There were footsteps following him into the corridor. He kept on walking, but Lance was quick to catch up with him.

“Can you convince her to stay here tomorrow?” Lance asked.

Harry appreciated how passionate this man was about keeping Y/N alive. Still, it was irritating that he'd sounded sincere. Sometimes Harry actually believed this wasn’t at all an act to Lance and that he truly cared about Y/N. Would Harry prefer him not caring about Y/N?

“I can try but she won’t listen,” Harry said coldly.

Lance heaved a breath. “That woman is enjoying her power way too much.”

“And that frightens you?” Harry asked, this time, unable to suppress a smirk.

“Since she's going to be my wife, yes.”

Lance's answer pulled him to a stall. He spun and finally faced the King, who appeared too confident for Harry’s comfort.

“You do know your wedding to her would be fake, right?”

“I do.” Lance shrugged. “But do you?”

Harry pretended like he hadn’t heard the question. “I’ll find her and try to talk her out of it,” he lowered his voice. “But don’t ever kiss my girl like that again.”

Lance stood there with his shoulders squared and hands behind his back. Harry could feel Lance’s eyes on him as he walked away.

After having wandered all around the courtyard, he found Y/N at last and fell into steps beside her. She acknowledged him with a sideways stare and nothing more as she continued walking.

“You’re mad at me,” he said, breathless. She didn’t answer, her expression ice cold. “Hey, I’m sorry for what I said back then, I shouldn’t–”

“You shouldn’t have said anything at all,” she cut him off and whipped around, stabbing a finger at his chest. “You were supposed to be on my side.”

“I’m on the side that wants to keep you alive, Peach.”

“No, you’re on the side that underestimates me,” she snapped, crossing her arms and stretching to her full height. “Do you think Lance cares about me at all?”

Honestly? Yes, Harry thought, even though he shook his head in answer to her question.

“That’s right.” She nodded slowly. “That bastard doesn’t want me to go because he thinks I cannot defend myself. The only reason people are protesting is because they don’t want a queen to rule them. They don’t trust me to protect them if I can’t even protect myself. If only I can just show them–”

“Do you think the uprisings will stop once you’re married to Lance?”

She paused and blinked. “Are you saying that my people suspect that we’re faking it?”

“Probably.” He shrugged. “It’s been two months and you’re still not married.”

“There are so many other things to take care of,” she sighed and combed her fingers through the black waves of her hair. Sunlight filtered through the glass window on their right, making the gems on her crown sparkle like stars. He hated how they would be in the middle of a conversation and he would notice something pretty about her and get distracted. He snapped back to reality as she was saying, “...it’s a tradition that the royal wedding must be in the first month of Winter.” When he didn’t respond, she stepped closer and whispered as if she was afraid someone might be eavesdropping, “Are you...fine with this?”

He blinked. “With what?”

“Me marrying Lance,” she said, studying him with her eyes. “I just realised that I’ve never asked you how you felt about this.”

“I was the one who made you accept his proposal,” he said, working up a grin, which failed to distract her.

“You’re dodging the question.”

He pushed his hair back. “Well, as your most humble servant, I’m happy that you’re marrying Lance to secure the alliance between Isolde and Attwell. As your...lover in the dark, however,” she rolled her eyes and turned away to hide a smirk, “I want to smash his teeth in.”

Y/N covered her mouth as she let out an unladylike snort. “He’s got a pretty punchable face, hasn’t he?”

A grin stretched Harry’s lips. “I’m glad you agree.”

Y/N reached out and touched the hilt of Harry’s sword with her index finger, and he suddenly felt the urge to grab her hand and lace their fingers together. Still, his hands remained at his back.

“And the kiss…” she trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

“It’s all right,” he said despite himself. “Even the chief minister seemed convinced so…”

“Mmmm,” was her response before she withdrew her hand and her arm dropped back to her side.

Harry knew it wasn’t a good idea to turn the ship around after he’d just driven through a storm, but the longer he gazed at her, the more his heart ached as he couldn’t stop imagining her lying among the corpses on an open field. She hadn’t been there when they’d been ambushed. He’d watched people die all around him. Tomorrow wouldn’t be a fun excursion, and he didn’t want her to put her life at risk just to prove a point.

“Please consider not going tomorrow.” She threw her arms in the air as soon as he’d said it and yet he continued anyway, “You don’t know what it’s like. I was there when they killed Commander Joaquin. I couldn’t save him and I don’t want to lose you the same way.”

When their eyes met again, her smile had vanished, and now she looked furious. “And I was there when we thought we were losing the war against Calanthe’s family. My father was fighting side by side with his men on the battlefield while my mother and I were hiding underground with all the women in court. Why is it that my father had to be on his horse with a weapon in hand, and I have to stay home and wait for all my men to die before I do?”

Harry was tongue-tied at that. He felt like whatever he’d say next would only upset her more, even though it seemed quite impossible now. She worked her jaw, her gaze sharp and intense as she said, “Don’t ever give me orders in front of my court again. Not you, not Lance, not even my second-in-command is allowed. When I’m there, my decision is final.”

Her dress slapped the air with a whoosh as she stormed off, and Harry decided not to follow.

A feast was held to celebrate Lance’s visit, or return. Isolde would be his second home once he and Y/N had been married. Y/N felt bad that he would have to travel back and forth while she had not once visited Attwell, then the guilt shrank as soon as she remembered he’d been the one to propose this fake marriage.

There’d been so many times when she’d meant to ask him the same question she’d been asking herself – How long was he planning to do this?

Would he actually sacrifice his youth and a chance to marry someone he actually loved for the sake of his kingdom and do it so willingly? As annoying as he could be, she (like most people) was curious to find out who the real Lance was. But every time the question about this ‘foolproof plan’, as he’d called it, was about to roll off her tongue, Y/N would notice something that made her think Lance cared about nothing but himself. Sure, he cared about Attwell, but it was his kingdom. So it was also for his own benefits, wasn’t it?

Now they were sitting at the high table, watching a dance performance which wasn’t really that great. Y/N supposed it was more entertaining for the men to watch pretty ladies wearing masks and tight corsets (that made their bosoms look bigger and rounder) dancing in circles. Her eyes searched for Harry at one of the courtier tables and sighed in relief to see that he wasn’t watching the performance but laughing with one of her advisors. Well, at least one of us is having fun tonight, she thought.

“Hey, I’ve just discovered something.”

Y/N sighed, turned her eyes heavenward as Lance leaned in closer.

“That you’re extremely annoying?” she whispered back. “If so, then congratulations.”

“Adorable.” She wasn’t looking, but she could hear his obnoxious smirk. “No. I’ve just discovered the reason you wanted to go to the border with us.”

“With you?” She scoffed. “Darling, you’ll be going with us. We’re not yet married and you’re still a guest in my home.”

He didn’t argue with her this time. “To prove to your people that you’re unafraid isn’t the only reason, is it?” he pressed on. “You want to protect him.”

Y/N stiffened in her seat, still, she managed to keep a straight face as she picked up her goblet and took a sip. The wine stung her throat, and she grimaced slightly.

Lance didn’t care if she was ignoring him on purpose; he casually went on, “You weren’t there when he almost lost his life saving Joaquin, so you want to be there this time to make sure he won’t die a hero and a fool. Unfortunately, you cannot tell him that, because he'd have another reason to believe that you shouldn't go. So you'd rather let him believe that it's all because of your pride and that you're doing it for you, not him. Am I correct?"

Yes, she wanted to say, but that's not the whole reason.

Y/N couldn’t tell Lance that, ever since the day Harry had returned with her commander’s blood on his clothes and a wounded leg as a reminder for what had happened, she’d been having nightmares about losing him. They’d be in the middle of a battle, stumbling over muddy corpses, and she would witness someone drive a shiny blade through Harry’s chest. She’d run toward him but she could never reach him in time.

She hadn’t told anyone about those dreams, because after all, they were just dreams. But she’d had many dreams where she’d killed her brother and bled out beside him. Now her brother was dead, and the invisible wound deep inside of her never stopped bleeding.

She couldn’t tell Lance any of that, and so she sneered at him. “So you figured it out? What do you want as a reward? A ribbon?”

Lance tilted his head. His cheeks were a bit red and his eyes weary from the long trip and lack of sleep. At this moment, he looked more human than he’d ever been, far from this mortal God everyone kept portraying him as.

Y/N didn’t realise she was staring until his mouth curled to its favoured side. “Hey, I’m supposed to be the snarky one here. You’re stealing my show.”

He reached for his goblet but she seized it and pulled it toward her. “I think you’re drunk and talking nonsense.”

He let out a chuckle, resting his chin on his knuckles. The way his eyes bored into her made her uncomfortable. “You told me you’d protect him,” he said. “You said that when I recruited him for the army.”

“So?”

“Remember what I said to you?”

She averted her eyes, looking back at the dancing girls. The music was too loud and the people were too drunk; no one cared enough to eavesdrop their conversation. She licked her lip and finally answered, “That you’d protect me.”

“That’s right,” Lance said. “For you, I’ll keep him alive tomorrow so you don’t have to go.”

“Thank you,” she replied flatly, glaring sideways at him. “But I don’t trust you. I couldn't even trust you to saddle my horse without stealing the reins.”

Her comment made him toss his head back and laugh. “Your man is the con artist here. Not me.”

“You’re a pirate.”

“Captain.” He smoothed his hair back.

“Big difference.”

“And I was. Not anymore.”

“You still didn’t tell me about it. I know nothing of your past so I cannot trust you. How am I to know you won’t be the first person to put an arrow through his heart the second we’re under attack?”

Lance’s face grew grim as he exhaled. “No matter what you believe, my lady,” his voice lowered, “we’re very alike.”

“We’re nothing alike,” Y/N snorted. “Your people love you.”

“Do you think they’ll mourn for me when I die?”

“They’ll have to. You’re their King.”

Lance shook his head slightly. The fun Lance was gone, and instead, she saw the solemn face from the meeting today.

“Mourning for someone because you have to and doing it because you care, are two very different things,” he said. “Your family is as dead as mine, but you’ve got Jo and Harry. Even though they don’t understand what you’re going through, at least they’ll be by your side to pull you up every time you fall. I’ve been on my own since I was born. My mother died before she even knew me, and my father never wanted me.”

He stopped at that, and from his troubled expression, she realised he hadn’t meant to reveal so much about himself. It wasn’t a lot. He hadn’t told her his birthplace or his favourite food or anything private, and yet it was probably more than he’d ever revealed to a stranger. Was she a stranger? Did she care? They weren’t here to make friends; they were simply sitting together because of their mutual enemy.

“I wonder what you were like as a boy,” she said, changing the subject.

His playful smirk reappeared. “What are your theories?”

Her mouth twisted as she regarded him. “I imagine a younger version of you, but with the same bothersome attitude.”

“Ahhh, that is quite true. I was born holding a dagger. My first word was ‘murder’ and I joined the army as soon as I learned to walk.”

To both his and her surprise, Y/N burst out laughing. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her maids at the threshold whispering to each other, hinting at her and Lance. It might be strange to them that she and the King of Attwell didn’t seem like they wanted to murder each other. No, not each other. Like she wanted to murder him.

She gave him a nudge. “I expect you to go straight to your chamber after this. No fooling around with my maids.”

The King raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused. “What’s that? Is my baby dove jealous?”

She did a disgusted face. “I’d only stopped hating you for one second and you just had to ruin it. No, I don’t want them to think they’ve got a chance to become your mistress and my equal. That’s another rule for this marriage of ours. No mistresses. It’ll get too complicated.”

Most of the kings in history had taken mistresses. Y/N’s father and uncle had been the only ones she knew who’d had only one woman for the rest of his life.

Lance narrowed his eyes as he said, “Not fair if you get to fool around with Harry.”

“Harry and I are in love.”

“So when I fall in love with someone, I’m allowed to make her my mistress?”

“You’re allowed to see her behind my back. I won't have mistresses in my court.”

Lance stuck out his bottom lip. “I never thought one day I’d get to hear my betrothed say, ‘You’re allowed to see another woman behind my back.’”

“Aww,” Y/N said with feigned pity. “Did baby Lance really think he’d get to marry for love?”

Lance laughed drily and said nothing as he retrieved his goblet from her side of the table. She watched him finish the wine with one go and wave at a servant boy to pour him some more. Maybe she was just drunk, or maybe he seemed a bit wounded by her harmless joke.

Harry was just about to call for a servant when a lady’s skirt swept right past and obscured his view. Fluttering a fan in her hand, Jo smiled down at him, and he rolled his eyes and said, “I don’t want to dance with you.”

She shoved him aside and flopped down onto the seat beside him. “I wasn’t going to ask,” she said, her smile gone. “I don’t even want to touch you.”

He folded his arms on the table and arched an eyebrow at her. “It’s not my fault that I was born with male parts.”

She looked him up and down in a condescending manner. “Were you? Sometimes I really can’t tell.”

Harry rolled his eyes and turned his eyes back to the high table where Y/N and Lance were chatting. It was odd that they actually seemed to get along tonight. Harry knew the laughing was real because he could tell when his Peach faked it. He knew her too well, which was more a curse than a gift sometimes.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Jo asked. She was also glaring at the King and Queen.

“Hopefully not me,” he murmured.

She snapped her head to him. “What did you do?”

“I said something during the meeting and she got upset.”

“She’s the Queen, moron. You don’t get to speak to her like you sleep in her bed.”

“I do sleep in her bed–Ouch!”

Jo didn’t look at all guilty for hitting him with her fan. “You know what I meant. You don’t get to contradict her. That job belongs to her advisors. People already underestimate her abilities as a ruler, she can't have just anyone tell her what to do. ”

Harry already knew that, but when they were discussing the matter of her life and death, he could not just standby and regret it afterwards. Instead of admitting it to Jo, he sighed and changed the subject, “What are your thoughts on him?”

“You mean...do I trust him?” She shifted her gaze from Lance back to Harry, her forehead puckered. “The answer is no for both of you. Men, in general.”

“I’m serious,” he scoffed. “I think he’s got feelings for her. You should have seen his reaction to Y/N saying she’s going to the border tomorrow.”

“She’s going to the border tomorrow?!”

“Exactly.” Harry pointed a finger at Jo’s face. “That.”

“Well, she can’t go! She’ll get killed!”

“I’ve tried to convince her but...you know her.”

“Maybe she’ll listen to me,” Jo said.

“You cannot tell her, Jo. I don’t think I’m even allowed to talk about it to you.”

“Right, right.” Jo breathed out in frustration. To his surprise, she touched his arm, gently. “Promise me if something bad happens you'll protect her.”

“Of course,” Harry said. What he meant was, ‘I’ll try.’ Commander Joaquin had died in his arms, and he’d also tried to save the poor man. He’d have to try twice harder if they were ambushed again. This time, unlike the last, they knew what to expect.

“Lance will come with us, too,” he said, trying to sound hopeful. “He’ll also protect her.”

“I thought you didn’t trust him.”

“I don’t. In general.” Harry lifted his shoulders. “But I trust him to protect her.”

Jo’s jaw tightened as she rubbed the back of her neck and traced her fingertip around the rim of her goblet. “Come to think about it,” she began, “they’ve got a lot in common. He was always the black sheep of his family, never thought he’d fit in, was a rebel who travelled from place to place, murdered his own brother, and now at twenty years old, he’s ruling a kingdom on his own and his family’s dead. Sometimes I fear there are things about her that he can understand better than we’ll ever be able to.”

Through the dancing crowd, Harry caught Y/N’s eyes and returned a beam as she waved at him subtly. He forced himself not to think about what Jo had just said, but the last sentence kept lingering in his mind.

When the bell in the courtyard chimed twelve times at midnight, Y/N was sitting on the carpet in front of the fireplace, back against her bed. She was wearing a nightgown, her hair falling loose down to her back. She should have gone to sleep early so she could wake up before dawn, but instead, she sat there and watched the hypnotising flame licking at the wood. The door of her chamber creaked open at last, and a dark figure slipped inside. His footsteps were light, but she knew who he was the second she heard it.

She didn’t look until he’d sat down beside her, crossing his legs and leaning back against the foot of her bed. In the warm orange glow, his cheeks looked redder than she assumed they actually were. She could smell the wine wafting from his clothes, and he seemed to have noticed the tiredness in her eyes, because he stroked her cheekbone with his knuckles and asked, “Are you feeling well? Should I get a physician?”

“No, I’m fine.” She took his hand and held it with both of hers. “I just...I just want to talk to you,” she said. “And apologise for the way I reacted this morning.”

“You don’t have to apologise for anything.” Harry beamed at her. “I should apologise for crossing the lines. Sometimes I forgot that you’re a queen and I should love you like I should love a queen.”

“How do you love a queen?” she asked, teasingly.

He shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know. I’ve never loved a queen before.”

“I can tell.” Her eyebrows wiggled and he snorted as she scooted closer and laid her head on his shoulder.

They were quiet for a long moment, and the only thing that told her he hadn’t fallen asleep was his tight grip on her fingers. “This reminds me of that night in the cave,” she said nonchalantly. “It was easier then, wasn’t it?”

“Peach,” he said with a light chuckle. “We nearly got lost, died in a snowstorm and froze to death.”

She felt her smile growing. “Still easier than this. It’s always easier when there’s just the two of us.”

There was a pause, and when he spoke, she could sense that his smile was gone. “You’re right. But as long as we’ve still got those memories, we can revisit them when things get rough.” Then he kissed the top of her head. “Now get some rest. We’re leaving early in the morning.”

She pulled back to look at him. “You’re not staying?”

“I can’t risk it. I might oversleep again,” he said with a hand at the back of her head. When he saw her frowning, his brows pinched together. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She could already feel her lip quivering as she clutched his fingers a bit too tight. “What if this is a terrible idea, Harry? What if I’m not...meant to be Queen?”

“Hey.” He cupped her face with both hands. “You are meant to be Queen. You’ve gone through a lot to be here. You deserve this.” As though he could read her thoughts of self-doubt, he schooled his face and went on, “I’ll tell you who you are in case you’ve forgotten. Your name is Y/N. First daughter of King Willem. The rightful heir to the throne. The rightful ruler of the high court of Isolde. The saviour in the prophecy. And most importantly, you’re my Peach, the love of my life. And whatever’s going to happen tomorrow, we’re going to be together and we’ll fight together just like we’ve done before. Whatever happens, I believe in you, all right?”

She mustered a smile and nodded once, reaching up to place her hands over his. He pulled her in for a passionate kiss and when he let go, she craved for more. She wanted to beg him to stay as he got to his feet and the nightmares crept back into her head like shadows waiting for the lights to go out so they could turn on you.

“I love you,” she blurted, sounding hopeless for a reason she could not explain.

Harry stopped at the door, turned around, and smiled. “I love you, too.”

Then he slipped through the gap and disappeared into the firelit corridor.

(end of chapter 1)

#harry styles #harry styles x you #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles writing #harry styles series #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader #harry styles smut #harry styles fanfics #harry styles imagines #harry styles imagine #tctm series #princess!y/n #queen!y/n

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jaskierswolf · 4 years ago

Text

The Howling of Wolves pt.2/3

TW for the whole story: Angst with happy ending, kidnapping, mentioned previous child abuse, mentioned torture (but off page), Major character injury and recovery, canon typical violence

Jaskier gasped awake as a bucket of ice cold water was dumped over his head. “Oh bloody hell, fuck that’s cold.” He spluttered through mouthfuls of water.

His hands were bound in cuffs that were chained to the wall. The metal almost burnt his skin meaning they were laced with dimeritium. He was all too familiar with dimeritium handcuffs, they had been a staple of his childhood during the experiments of his youth. Just to be sure he tried to let out his magic and shift. It would be idiotic not to try, but sure enough he barely felt a ghost of his magic over his skin.

At least who ever had taken him had allowed him to keep his clothes.

There was an unsettling itch just below his skin which he hadn’t felt in months which was bothering him.

How long had it been since he shifted? Not since before Geralt had gone off on his werewolf hunt, perhaps even a few days before that. Not long enough for him to be feeling like this though. It was normally at least a couple of weeks before he started to feel cramped in his own skin.

Fuck. How long had he been unconscious…

Unless whatever was in that dart had messed with his magic more than he thought.

“Geralt?” It was a long shot but he had to ask, at the very least he could work out whether his boyfriend was in danger.

“Your witcher isn’t here, petal.”

Jaskier’s heart sank and he felt a dizzy panic hit him like a giant.

“No.” He whispered.

He couldn’t be here. Not now, not again.

“Now, is that anyway to greet your mother, Julian?” His mother stepped out of shadows, and people wondered where he got his flare for the dramatics.

“Well, I would say it’s lovely to see you, mother, but I am currently chained to the wall.” He held up his bound hands as if to prove his point. “So really I’d rather be on my way and out of your hair, if you don’t mind.”

She laughed. “Oh dear boy, the cuffs are for your own good.”

He snorted. “Oh yeah, heard that one before.” He muttered.

“If we can just work out how to cure you then everything will be ok. You don’t need to be a monster.” She cooed, the same shit that she’d been spewing for years before his escape.

“I am not a monster!” He snapped. “Geralt knows that.”

“That witcher is no better than the beasts he slays!” His mother shrieked. “I only ever loved you, darling. Why must you fight me?”

“Loved me?” Jaskier scoffed. “You hate my very existence, or do you just hate the reminder that you cheated on your husband, that you’re stuck in a loveless marriage?”

“Gag him!” His mother ordered and Jaskier’s chains were yanked hard. He fell back against the floor.

“Hmmph!” He protested as one of the servants tied something around his head.

“Now, shall we begin?” His mother knelt down and cupped his cheeks. He saw his own eyes reflected back at him. There had never been any doubt of who his mother had been. His eyes were the spitting image of hers.

It had taken him a long time to learn to love his eyes.

“Hmmph.” He grumbled and rolled his eyes at her, shaking the cuffs on his hands. He’d never been very good at keeping his hands still.

She stroked a finger along his cheek and he tried to turn away.

How had he ended back in this hell?

He just hoped Geralt would find him soon.

___________________________________

The witchers of Kaer Morhen had gathered in a dingy looking cave. Geralt was pacing irritably across the entrance of the cave. It had been weeks since Jaskier’s disappearance. He’d tried to track his partner on his own but whoever had taken him had been too good so he’d sent messages to his pack and waited, impatiently for them to arrive at a fairly central location.

Lambert had been the last to arrive. He’d turned up with another witcher in tow, a blond blue-eyed witcher from the School of Cat. On any other day Geralt would have teased his redheaded brother about finally finding a friend who could tolerate him… but today his focus was on Jaskier.

“Wolf, you are making us all seasick with all that pacing.” Vesemir said in a calm voice.

Geralt snarled at the oldest witcher. How could he be so calm when Jaskier was missing?

“Jaskier is missing, possibly dead, and you are worried about getting seasick!” Geralt snapped.

“Hey.” Eskel punched his arm. “You’re not finding anyone like this. Getting pissed at Vesemir won’t help Jaskier, Geralt.”

Geralt groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need to find him.”

Eskel pulled him into a hug and he buried his face in his brother’s shoulder. “We’ll find him. They’ll regret taking one of our pack. I promise you.”

“I’m gonna fucking murder them all.” Lambert agreed.

Geralt looked at Lambert over Eskel’s shoulder and scowled. “No. Whoever did this, they are mine.”

Lambert laughed darkly and nodded. “Alright, White Wolf. You have a deal.”

“No.” Vesemir said firmly. “We do not take revenge. We get the pup and we get out.”

“But Vesemir!” Lambert whined.

“We kill to defend ourselves, nothing more.” Vesemir’s voice left no room for arguments.

Geralt scowled and picked up his swords. “Let’s get moving.”

“Do we actually know where we’re going?” The blond witcher drawled as he pushed himself off of the wall. “Because it seems like not one of you actually has a plan?”

Geralt glared at the newcomer and his fingers itched to reach for his sword. He wouldn’t hurt Lambert’s friend but normally they would greet new witchers by sparring or wrestling, especially if they were being welcomed into the pack of wolf school witchers. Jaskier had gotten a pass, partly because he wasn’t a witcher and partly because he could turn into a fucking dragon. It also helped that Geralt had vouched for him.

Lambert had vouched for Aiden but Lambert didn’t have a good history of choosing friends, and Geralt didn’t trust Aiden yet.

“Don’t even think about it, you bastard.” Lambert snarled.

“You gave Jaskier concussion.” Geralt pointed out.

Lambert had the audacity to laugh. “Fair point, sorry Aiden, he gets a free hit when all this is over.”

“Idiots.” The cat witcher muttered. “All of you. Remind me again why we’re friends?”

“Because I’m pretty?” Lambert suggest.

Eskel snorted.

“Oi!” Lambert growled.

“Can we please focus!” Geralt snapped. “Jaskier is missing! I don’t care if Lambert’s pretty or not.”

“Yeah but…” Lambert protested.

“You’re gorgeous, darling, but the White Wolf has a point.” Aiden winked at Lambert who spluttered and went bright red.

“Right. Yup. Ok.” He muttered and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“What did you say that man called him?” Aiden asked, peering at Geralt with cool blue eyes.

Geralt frowned. “Julian.”

Aiden nodded. “Then I think I can help you, if you’re willing to trust me, dog?”

Geralt glanced at Lambert. His cheeks still matched the colour of his hair and he was scowling angrily at the world, but he nodded. The nod was barely perceptible even to Geralt but it was enough. Lambert trusted this new witcher and he was Geralt’s only hope right now to finding Jaskier.

He reached out his hand and Aiden grasped it tightly as they shook on it. “Help me.” Geralt all but pleaded.

“Alright, listen up dogs.” Aiden grinned, his fangs shining in the firelight.

____________________

Jaskier groaned as he was pulled to his feet. How long had he been here now, stuck in his old bedroom as if he’d been sucked into one of his nightmares?

His skin itched, his bones ached and he felt like he was on fire. The metal cuffs cut into his skin and his once cream shirt was now yellow and covered in splatters of blood.

The last time he’d been here, his family’s attempts at ‘curing’ him had been based on working out the limits of his abilities and where they had come from. This time his mother, without the help of mages, had decided to starve his magic instead. He woke up shivering each morning and it was instinctive to him to try and shift but every morning he let out a pitiful cry and fell to the ground sobbing.

He was stuck.

He couldn’t breathe.

He had begged his mother to take off the cuffs, to allow him to shift. He’d promised he wouldn’t shift into anything dangerous or try to escape but he needed.

Gods he needed.

He ached.

But his mother just pulled him to her chest and stroked his hair, whispering that it would pass and that he was just experiencing withdrawal following his time with the witchers.

The witchers.

Geralt.

Where was Geralt?

Why hadn’t he come?

He’d been sure that Geralt would find him.

And it all hurt so damned much.

“F-fuck!” He stammered and curled up into a ball on the floor.

At least before his room had at least tried to resemble a bedroom. Now it was just a stone cold prison.

He felt sick to his stomach. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could survive. He needed to shift. They knew that. They knew they were killing him in this crazy plan to cure him.

But he needed to survive.

He had to.

For Geralt.

For his pack. His family. His heart.

He had to survive.

____

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fishfingersandjellybabies · 4 years ago

Text

Worthy of Everything (Part 3) - fic

Characters: Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne Summary: “I’ve got you, Damian. Now let’s get you home.” A/N: Location is based on that page in TEC 1029 where they show Damian reading the casebook. Also, can’t tell if Damian’s new uni is black or gray based on the three issues it’s been fully seen in so...have fun with my vague guess haha. Dick sends a picture of Damian sleeping with his pets to only Barbara, the only one that I can see in canon who has given a shit about Damian and his emotional state in the last year, to confirm that he actually found him. Damian still spends a lot of his time apologizing for things that aren’t actually his fault and it breaks Dick’s heart, but he helps as best he can. Purposeful parallels to part one huzzah!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

It was an old observation tower, in the historic district. Disused since the 80s, but not run down. Still owned by the city, if he was remembering correctly, and still got annual inspections, just in case it was ever needed to be reopened.

So the building was stable, just empty. And could see all of Gotham City.

Of course Damian would come here. It was so obvious. They touted that they were the family of the world’s greatest detectives, and it didn’t occur to a single one of them. Didn’t occur to Bruce.

They should all be ashamed.

Dick took a deep inhale, ignored the butterflies in his stomach, and the tears already threatening to mist over his vision.

God, he missed this kid. He missed his kid.

The threat of tears was the joy he wanted to feel, the joy he knew was coming. How long did he have that stupid amnesia? How long was he gone? Too long, no matter the actual number.

The butterflies were the fact that he knew Damian. Knew what he heard on that phone call. Knew Damian was a feral cat on a good day, always ready to run, always halfway gone even if he was standing there.

It’d been a few days since they talked, what if Damian changed his mind? What if he already ran? Dick could be walking into an empty building, abandoned again, and he honestly didn’t know if he could take that. Didn’t know if he could take losing Damian again.

To death, to amnesia, to Bruce – how many times has he lost Damian already? How many times could his boy be ripped from his fingers?

He swallowed the lump in his throat and moved forward.

Damian would be here. He had to be.

He walked up to the door, locked by a numbered keypad, and saw that it was propped open. That was a good sign.

He stepped inside, and stood there for a moment, listening. There was nothing, not even the skittering of rodents. No footsteps. No hints of life at all. That was a bad sign.

The stairs were off in the corner and Dick practically ran to them, taking them two at a time. He huffed as he reached the landing, looking both ways down the expanse of the hallway that curved in front of him. There were doors along the outer walls, ones that clearly went to the rooms that could see out to the city. A few doors on the inner walls, probably closets and bathrooms and the like.

That was fine. He’d search every one if he had to.

So he started with the one closest to him.

But the butterflies turned into moths as he walked, as he checked more rooms that ended up empty. More rooms that had no hints that anyone had been there. No beds or clothes or food wrappers.

Turned into birds as he got halfway around the circle, with sharp beaks and talons, ripping at his insides. He’s not here, his mind began to supply giddily. He’s already gone. Doesn’t trust you like he doesn’t trust Bruce.

No, he tried to fight back. He’s here. He knows I would never-

As he caught first sight of the stairs ahead, stomach dropping knowing he’d done a full lap, he heard a door close. A heavy door, like one to the outside.

He ran, believing it to be the door he’d come in, that Damian had just left. But as he reached the landing that overlooked the lobby, he saw the door was still propped open. He glanced to another set of steps nearby. Smaller ones, that went to a rooftop entrance. He was going to check there last.

“Damian?” He finally called. He’d waited on that, in case there were other squatters here, other villains. But now that there was a sign of life, a sign someone was here, he couldn’t hold back.

No answer.

It must have been him going on the roof, Dick decided, so he rushed to the smaller stairs, and took them just as quickly as he’d taken the first set. As he reached the door, he slammed into it, throwing it open.

But…there was nothing.

Again, no signs that anyone had been up here. But almost worse than that, no signs of someone leaving either. There was no claws of a grapple hooked to the roof. No tied off rope. Not even any potential scorch or tire marks from a potential vehicle, or hookup for a glider.

So…was it Damian coming back in?

He’d never left the doorway, so immediately just twirled back around on his toes.

There.

A door on the inner ring, one of the closets that he’d already checked, was open just a crack, but that was all Dick needed. Because he could see the dim light of the hall bouncing off a pair of eyes, the shadow of a face under a hood.

And just like the phone call: “I know you’re there, kiddo.” He smiled as he started back down the stairs, slower this time. “I can see you.”

Damian blinked, and seemed to almost shrink back, just a little.

“I’m not leaving.” Dick promised. “And if you run, I’m chasing you.”

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the door opened just a little, like it was a twitch, or a hesitation, before pulling open completely.

Damian stood there, in an unrecognizable uniform. All dark grays and blacks, save for an almost white chest plate and silver boots.

But Dick didn’t care about that. He cared more about how tall Damian was now, and how he’d missed that growth. How Damian looked a little thinner than he remembered, and there were the starts of dark bags under his eyes.

“…You came?” Damian asked quietly, stepping forward.

“Of course I did.” Dick laughed. Those joyful tears were beginning to form in his eyes now. “You doubted me?”

He wasn’t hurt by the idea, and frankly didn’t blame Damian if he thought so anyway. He’d been hurt by so many people who claimed to love him before, Bruce and Talia number one on that list, why would Dick be any different?

“No.” Damian said simply. “I just…hoped you’d change your mind.”

Dick blinked, stepped forward. His heart broke as Damian took an immediate step back, but not towards the closet. Towards the steps to the outside.

“You shouldn’t see me like this. Shouldn’t want to see me like this.” Damian murmured, dropping his gaze. “Not after what I’ve done.”

“And what did you do?” Dick asked, already knowing. Bruce had told him. The prison under Mercy Hall. Potentially killing Brother Blood. None of it mattered to him.

That wasn’t what Damian confessed to, though.

“I killed Alfred. It was my fault.” Damian said, like it was an actual fact. And Dick instantly wondered how many times he’d been told that, that he believed it. Who told him that, that he believed it.

How many times Bruce told him that, that he believed it?

“No, kiddo. You didn’t.” Dick tried softly. “Bane did, and I know you had to watch. I’m so sorry that those bastards made you watch, but there was nothing you could have done.”

But Damian was shaking his head. “I didn’t try to help you.” He continued. “When…when you rejected us after you woke up, I…I guess I rejected you.”

“Convinced yourself I was gone, so it would hurt less. I get that.” Dick nodded. “I don’t blame you for that. I would have done the same thing. Hell, I did. Or do you forget that after you died, I left the country and pretended to be a spy, instead of confront the fact that you weren’t here and our family was in shambles?”

“I never visited, I never checked in. Even Father did that, in his roundabout way.” Damian sighed, but glanced up. His eyes looked so old. So tired. “I never came after you.”

“So?”

“So why did you come after me?” Damian almost sounded like he was begging, hands laid out in front of him. “Why did you waste your time?”

Dick blinked, then smiled. “Because I love you.”

Damian’s hands instantly balled into fists. “Well, you shouldn’t.”

“And like I told you before, you don’t get to tell me that I can’t.” He took a step forward, and was happily surprised when Damian didn’t step back. “And honestly? At this point, I’m going to love you out of spite. Just to annoy you. Just to be an asshole.”

He took another step forward, and they were only feet apart now. Damian just stared up at him.

“…I don’t deserve it.” Damian whispered. “Not after what I’ve done. I don’t deserve you.”

Dick took another step forward, and now they were chest to chest. Just like he was with Bruce in the kitchen. Only now there was no anger. There was only relief.

“Opposite, actually.” Dick grinned. Damian just stared up at him in wonder. “None of us ever deserved you, Damian.”

Damian blinked, and his eyes were instantly watery, his lip trembling against his will.

“…Grayson?” He breathed. And that was all Dick needed. He reached out and enveloped Damian into his arms. Held him as close and as tightly as physics would allow. Laughed when his tears fell onto Damian’s hood.

“I’m here, kiddo.” He murmured, holding the back of his head as Damian slowly returned the embrace. Squeezed as hard as he could. “I found you.”

Damian nodded, dug his nails into Dick’s back. “Thank you.”

“Titus and your cat are at my apartment waiting for you. So are a warm bed and a hot meal. Probably haven’t seen either of those in a while have you?” Dick asked softly.

“Too busy.” Damian admitted. And that’s why Dick never saw the remnants of food, or a bed. Because he didn’t sleep, didn’t eat. Focused too hard on work that wasn’t his. Just like his goddamn father.

Well, that was going to change.

“Well, not anymore you’re not.” Dick decided. He waited a moment, let them stand in silence for a second, then tightened his grip on Damian’s shoulders, buried his face against his hood. “I’m so glad I found you, kiddo.”

Damian didn’t argue this time. Just locked his hands together behind Dick’s back and repeated, “Thank you.” Another moment, and suddenly Damian tried to lean away. “…Father?”

But Dick didn’t let him. Refused to let go, refused to give Damian even an inch. “Not if you don’t want to.” Dick swore against his head. “We won’t see anyone else, not if you don’t want to.”

And that seemed to be it. Seemed to be the final bit of assurance for Damian to finally accept what was happening, whose arms he was engulfed in. He all but slumped into Dick’s hold then, and let himself cry. Let himself sob like he did on the phone.

Dick only smiled.

“I’ve got you, Damian.” Dick promised. “Now, let’s get you home.” A second, then an amendment. “Let’s get you to our home.”

Dick gathered Damian up in his arms, laughed when Damian grumbled about being carried, relished the feeling of holding his little brother again, of knowing he was never letting go, never losing him again, not this time – and they did.

#dick grayson #Damian Wayne

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coffee-n-bagels-comic-universe · 3 years ago

Text

Bloody, Beaten, Bruised or Maximum Effort

Quick Tag List: @kuruumiya @spacelizardtrashboys @enigmaticandunstable @nattinngrst @amyofaquitaine

This passage contains potentially: scenes of one (or more) characters swearing, blood, self-harm (unintentional) and scenes of a violent nature. whump content and potential tear-jerking moments.

Summary: In this 'chapter' Kirby has her first fight in New Jersey, and stay in New Jersey for a week, leading to some heavy whump content by a certain someone.

Kirby's POV:

Standard match, one on one with a ten minute time limit. Not much for a debut but it's made into a big deal upon learning the opponents were male and female and not the standard male on male.

Jobber VS Newcomer.

Andrew Strong VS Kirby 'Gluttony' Lucifarian.

The bell rings and the fight starts.

"Strong throws the first punch and misses."

"The Ogress capitalises and hits him with a Feeding Frenzy."

"Strong is backed into the turnbuckle but the Ogress continues her attack."

"The referee is forced to separate them and Strong gets The Ogress in a lock-up."

"A swift knee to the stomach and Strong is staggered."

"The Ogress hits Strong with the Organ Grinder and it looks like it's all over."

"She covers Strong and … one … two … three. She's done it! The Ogress has won!"

Walking back to the locker room, I caught a glimpse of Moolah as she sneers at me and I shrug her off, focusing on getting into some clean clothes and going back to the hotel. I change and walk out of the dressing room with my bag slung over my shoulder.

"Good work out there, Kirby."

I recognise the voice and turn to see André, "Thank you, Drey."

"Moolah, doesn't seem to like you girls."

"We're stealing the hag's time in the sun. She always hates people who do that, even if she brings them in. I'll see you soon Drey."

"See you soon, Kirby."

I start walking back to the hotel when I start hearing a voice behind me, gradually getting closer.

"Hey, Miss, I think you dropped this." A distinctly masculine voice called out.

I turned around to see what the person wanted. To my surprise they had picked up my wallet, "Huh, I didn't feel it fall out of my pocket, thank you."

The man handed it to me before introducing himself, "Paul Orndorff. I saw your match earlier, you're fast for a giant, tough too."

"Thank you, Mr Orndorff."

He looked over his shoulder, "Oh, well, I have to go, Piper's waiting for me."

"Uh well, bye Mr Orndorff."

He left without another word and I unzipped my bag slightly to place my wallet inside, zipping it back up and continuing back to the hotel. I spent the night in a cramped hotel room and went to the gym the next morning.

Setting myself up at a heavy bag and practicing as per usual, no interruptions, no one else near by to talk to.

It was as if my mind just drifted away and I went into this mental fog, no gloves on but punching as if I did, breaking through the skin on my knuckles and only stopping after I noticed smears of blood on the heavy bag.

I wiped it down and bandaged my knuckles before moving on to doing push ups, lunges, squats and other exercises that wouldn't leave me covered in blood.

I was alone for the rest of the day, so I ordered some pizza (simple, pepperoni) and relaxed in the hotel, I pulled out a sketch book from my suitcase and began sketching.

I didn't plan on sketching anything too important so I just went with what was on my mind, which happened to be Roddy, Jeez it's like I'm becoming emotionally attached to this idiot.

When I see him next I'll give him the drawing if I have it with me. I close the sketchbook and go back to the gym for around an hour, before coming back to the hotel and getting some rest.

I woke up the next morning (January 9th) and had a day much the same as the last, got up, did my morning routine, went to the gym, came back, ordered Chinese food and started drawing. It was just a shitty little thing, but once again, the Rowdy one came to mind.

What is it with Scottish men and me, is it because I'm a quarter Scottish, is it maybe because I believe in the folk tales and stories of old, of knights on white steeds, saving fair maidens and living happily ever after, while the monsters they kill or maim lie in a pool of their own blood and wish they could've had a different life?

I have no idea, and the idea of my own mind comparing me with those monsters makes me regret ever reading those stories while growing up, rather I should have stuck my head into scientific textbooks instead of tales of heroism and fantastical ghouls, then I would have never become and wrestler or met the amazing people in my life.

I look back down at the paper and decide to let Roddy have two final full page drawings on the other side of the sketches I've already drawn of him, I add in a small note on the page under a picture of Roddy that Sam had found.

The more I looked at the drawings and that lone picture, the more I realised the small details of Roddy's features, the strong jaw with a cleft chin, his hazel eyes? or are they dark blue? either way they intrigue me. And that musculature, Roddy's not slim but not a big man either, he's at that almost perfect weight to body fat ratio. Good lord, listen to me calling … Piper, Roddy, Him, perfect. I think I want to be sick, just to be rid of those thoughts.

Right as I run into the small bathroom I hear a commotion in the hallway and someone being thrown or more accurately, hurled into the other side of the bathroom wall. I take a deep breath, re-fix my mask into it's usual position and dart out into the corridor, right as the commotion ends.

The obvious victim of the bout was on the floor face down with a long, not to deep cut down the back of their left leg and was breathing heavily when I reached them.

"Woah, hey, hey buddy." I whispered to them in an effort to calm them.

"Kirby?"

FUCK

…

That Glaswegian accent, fuck, He's not even supposed to be in town, or is he?

"Piper?!" I whisper-yelled, more to myself than to him.

"Hey…" his voice trailed off, I heaved him over my shoulder and went back into my hotel room, tossing him down on the only bed and grabbing his left foot, reaching over to my suitcase and getting my personal first aid kit, nothing too fancy, some bandages, plasters, the bare essentials. I cleaned the cut and bandaged it, taping the bandage in place.

I glanced up from Roddy's leg and saw that he had passed out, "Shit." I muttered to myself, louder than I thought and his eyes flickered open.

"Kirby? Is that you?" His voice weak but still understandable.

I stood there, frozen to the spot, unable to move, I wanted to cry as I realised how badly he had been beaten up, his eyebrow cut, coming close to his eye, his hairline a mix of matted brown hair and blood that was starting to coagulate and then I started to notice more things wrong with Roddy's visage.

His shirt (a Piper classic, yellow with a wild cat graphic) was torn in several places, showing bruises and nicks in his flesh. His kilt, however, was fully intact, including his belt and sporran, though all of it was scuffed with little scratches, but no cuts.

"Kirby? Kirby talk to me, please?" He spoke so carefully and it broke me.

I dropped to my knees, weeping, and Roddy shot to his feet, before dropping down on his left side and leaning on the bed, getting only a couple of steps closer to me.

"Kirby, are you okay?"

"Roddy, look at ya," I took a deep breath in, "How can you be so beat up and worried about me? How is that possible?"

"Kirby? look at ya, you're crying over me? I thought you didn't care about me that much?"

I wiped the tears from my face and got Roddy back on the bed.

"Stay there, Piper."

"Oh, feisty."

"Roddy! Stay on the bed and don't move."

"Yes Ma'am."

I trudged into the bathroom and ran a long cold shower, and I heard him move off the bed before swearing and sitting back on the bed.

"I thought I said, DON'T MOVE Roddy!"

"Alright, alright. … feisty"

After the shower, I dressed in the bathroom after drying myself off and exited the room. I instantly noticed a sleeping Piper.

"I guess I'll sleep on the floor then."

"C'mere." He lazily waved his arm to try and beckon me over.

"No, Roddy, get some rest."

"Come here and get in the bed." He rolled over and picked up the duvet, lackadaisically blowing a joking kiss in my direction.

"Jesus, Roddy, fine."

I climbed into the bed and felt Roddy's arms curl around my waist and his face between my shoulder blades.

"Rod, get off."

"Wha'?"

"Get off of me."

"Why?"

"Aren't you married, get off."

"if I was married, there would be a ring on my finger," He waved his left hand in front of my face, "No ring, no wife."

"Oh. Still, get off."

"Now, would that be 'get off' in the, leave me alone, way or the 'get off' in the, I love you take me now, way." The latter a clear joke but it annoyed me even more.

"Leave me alone, Roddy."

He slid his arms off and rolled to face the other way.

"Small bed, Kirby."

"I wasn't expecting company, Piper."

"Your tattoos are nice."

"Sleep, Piper."

"I'm just saying."

"Roddy, you are injured, sleep."

"I looked through your sketchbook earlier, y'know, when you were in the shower, just flicked through it, and wow, you're a great artist."

"For the love of God, Roddy! would you please just get some sleep."

"Alright!, alright. No need to yell."

"One more word and I'm chucking you out the nearest window."

We both fell silent and managed to get some sleep, it wasn't until sunrise that either one of us awoke. As I stirred from my slumber I was face to face with the Scottish idiot. I yelped and, without realising his legs were intertwined with mine, fell off the bed with him falling on top of me, waking Roddy up in the process.

"Oh, well, morning sweetheart, did I wake ya."

"Rod, get ya damn 'Loch Ness Monster' away from me."

Rod's cheeks turned pink and he quickly looked down between our bodies before sheepishly standing up and hurrying to the bathroom, I took the chance to change into a graphic tee and some black jeans, not noticing that Piper had left the bathroom door wide open, until I heard his voice.

"Woah, so uh, all of you is bigger than normal?"

I yelped and threw one of my shirts at his face, before realising that I had thrown the shirt I was planning on wearing at him, "Wait, Roddy, I need that shirt."

He laughed before handing me back my shirt, "Uh, thank you … for …saving me last night."

"Were you even supposed to be in town?"

"Well no, but I …" He trailed off

"I can't hear you, Roddy?"

"It's nothing, really."

I continued on with my normal routine, mindful that Roddy was in the same room as me and injured. It wasn't until the phone rang that I had a problem, before I could reach the phone Roddy had already answered it.

"Who is this?"

I could hear a loud, angry voice on the phone and Piper got defensive.

"You think you're a hard man do ya?!"

Damien. That's got to be Damien, which means I am in some real trouble now. Thanks Piper, ya dafty.

"I'll get her to call ya back once you've calmed down."

He slammed the phone back into it's place and breathed out a hefty sigh.

"Kirby, is Damien your boyfriend?" He seemed instantaneously calm

I almost choked on air for a moment, "No! He's my manager, and he's like double my age. He's Vic," I paused for a moment, "He's my dad, as well as the other members of the D.O.D. We're not all his biological daughters though, just Vickie."

"So, he adopted you?"

"I guess you could say that." I avoided looking him in the eyes.

"Tell me the truth. Now!"

"Promise you won't tell anyone first."

"I won't tell a soul, now, why are you so, uptight, about who he is to you."

"First things first, my name isn't Kirby Lucifarian, it's actually Kirby Trevor."

"Oh, so Damien's not you're adoptive father, either?"

"No, my real parents are Heaven and Eric Trevor. Damien's Vickie's dad and only Vickie's dad."

"Are either one of your parents giants? or is it just you?"

"Just me, the closest person to me in height, family-wise was my uncle Rory. He's the reason I have the tattoo on my wrist."

I walked up to Piper and showed him the 'R' tattooed on my right wrist.

"So, he passed away?"

"Yeah. He died, eleven, no no, twelve years ago now, when I was Seventeen, My uncle Vaughn died a couple months later, he's why I have the lighter on my left arm, my uncle Vaughn was best known for being, in the nicest terms, a layabout smoker, and the smoke took him in the end."

"So, you have a lighter to remember a man who died by smoking?"

"Dark, I know, but uncle Vaughn would've laughed at it. Erik laughed at it when I explained it to him."

"Eric, your dad?"

"No, no, Erik, with a 'K', my old tag partner before I joined the D.O.D. I think you would've liked him."

"Really, now why would I like a guy I know nothing about?"

"Well, Erik's Scottish, He's from Edinburgh. He's tall-ish, then again I am a giant, so who am I to say what's tall, he's six-foot-five. He played the bagpipes when he was younger, he quit playing when he was twenty-three, same year we lost the tag titles."

"Rough," He interrupted "Continue, please."

"Uh, well. Erik's strong, very strong, he would compete in the Highland games and well, … I guess back then I thought I'd never leave him, until Damien gave me an offer I couldn't refuse and I left him. I had a whole life with him planned inside my head and I left it all behind, for what, cramped hotel rooms and breakfasts with André."

"You had breakfast with André the giant and you didn't tell me … You, You had a good Scottish man, and you left him, for," He gestured to the room, "all this?"

"Well I jus-"

"No," He held my jaw and looked me straight in the eyes, "You had a life, a man who obviously a close relationship with you, and you gave it up for breakfasts with André and shitty hotel rooms."

"I know I'm stupid."

"But you're not stupid, you saved me, I could have died in that hallway and you brought me in here, you stopped that bastard from killing me. I could kiss you."

"Please don't."

Sorry for cliff-hanger ending, but … END OF BLOODY, BEATEN, BRUISED or MAXIMUM EFFORT.

#Lucifarians #wrestling fic

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7-wonders · 5 years ago

Text

You Say I’m in Love

Summary: Michael makes his rescue with his unexpected ally in tow, and HBIC Madison Montgomery whittles away at your willpower to continue surviving.

Word Count: 2444

A/N: The long-awaited next chapter of Mad Love! As always, feedback is appreciated, and if you enjoyed, I would love if you left a like, comment, or reblog. Enjoy :)

Two weeks in captivity comes with little fanfare; a daily changing of the guard is the only sort of notification that you receive, along with Madison Montgomery’s foray into your prison cell to verbally and, a new addition in the past couple of days, physically harass you. Although it’s nothing too serious, just a little pushing and shoving that occasionally turns into something a little harsher, it chips away at whatever remains of your morale. At this point, you’re not sure that there is anything left in that respect.

A choked groan escapes your mouth as you’re slammed against the wall by an unseen force, almost as if to illustrate your point. It’s laughable that you’ve thought of Michael as the “blond devil,” because with the way that Madison is standing across from you with a cruel smirk on her face and a cigarette poised between her fingers, she owns that title. You slide down to your knees, attempting to regain your breath and breathe through what you’re sure is a cracked rib. However, you’re given barely a moment to recover before being hauled up to your feet again, this time with Madison’s hand gripping the roots of your hair.

“You know, you disgust me,” she hisses, watching with unfettered glee as you wince in pain.

“Yes, you’ve made that very clear in the past couple of days.”

“When the cat’s away, the mouse will play.”

“So you’re scared of Mallory, then?” She releases you suddenly, eyes full of fire as she glares at you. Obviously, you’ve hit a nerve by bringing up the younger woman who’s next in line for the Supremacy (yeah, you’ve eavesdropped, but what else is there to do here?). Hot, blinding white light explodes in your field of vision, and it takes you a moment to realize you’ve been punched. Another moment, and you conclude that she made you punch yourself. “Fuck, I throw a mean punch.”

“You’ve never asked me why you disgust me,” Madison notes.

“That’s because I don’t care.” A drop of blood blooms on the floor, and you pinch your nose and tilt your head back to stop the blood from flowing more.

“I’ll never understand how somebody could be in love with the Antichrist.”

You unexpectedly let out a sharp laugh, the sound coming out as more of a wheeze as you grab at your ribs in discomfort. “I’m not in love with Michael!”

Madison looks like she thinks you’re obviously lying, and you scoff.

“I’m not! Like, I love him, sure, but as a friend!”

“I can’t tell if you’re lying or just insanely blind.”

“Thirty seconds ago you were making me beat myself up, and now you’re trying to describe my feelings to me?”

Madison rolls her eyes. “If you didn’t love him, you wouldn’t be resisting helping us take him down.”

“You want to kill him! I can’t let you do that. Like I told Cordelia, he’s my friend.” Madison takes a step towards you, making you flinch in anticipation. “Where is your Supreme, anyways? Shouldn’t she be here to keep you in check?”

“Cordelia’s away, and since Myrtle’s an old bat, I’m in charge.” Makes sense why you’ve only been beaten up in the past couple of days, then.

“Well, your good witch, bad witch routine isn’t exactly working, and it’s obvious that Michael’s not coming for me. You gonna put me out of my misery and kill me, or do you want to beat me up some more before that?”

Madison narrows her eyes, and you steel yourself in preparation. “You wanna know how I know you’re in love with the Antichrist who you’re so sure is not going to rescue you? It’s the way that you look when he’s mentioned. Your eyes get all soft, and then you look like you’re waiting for him to come in and sweep you away.”

“Yeah, because I’m desperate to get out of here!”

“What about how fast you come to his defense? That’s not just friendship.”

You look at Madison like she’s crazy. “Yes, it is.”

“This is the first time you’ve ever been in love.” It’s not a question. “I know you have this idealized version of what it’s like to be in love with a person. You’re expecting there to be this big ‘aha’ moment, sparks and instant connection and love at first sight. It’s not like that, though. It’s the little things that make you realize that you’re in love.

“When you can say anything, no matter how dumb you think it may be, and you know they won’t laugh at you. You can see their face when you close your eyes, feel their arms around you even after they’re done holding you. Their presence eases any pain, and you can just truly be yourself without fear of ridicule. It’s a slow realization, not at all like what you’ve read about or seen in movies. It doesn’t surprise me that you haven’t come to that conclusion yourself.”

You’re silent, face stone-cold as you digest the verbal blows that Madison just laid on you. She’s not right, that’s ridiculous. There’s no way that you’re in love with Michael. He’s...dependable, and can make you laugh even when you feel like crying, but so what? Maybe you do get to say things without fear of judgement, his smile whenever you make a dumb joke bringing butterflies to your stomach. You’re absolutely certain that you’re not in love with Michael...almost.

Madison smirks, knowing that this has gotten to you more than any punch or shove could. “I pity you, really. You’re pathetic.”

With a short laugh, she saunters out of your cell. The door clangs shut behind her, the sound barely registering in your brain. The only thing that resounds in your head:

Are you in love with Michael?

“I swear, Mallory, that if this is some sort of trap, I will not hesitate to brutally and painfully murder you and every single witch I can get my hands on.” The threat is blunt, although Mallory would expect nothing less from the Antichrist standing next to her.

“You really think I wouldn’t have already had the witches ambush you if this was a trap?”

“Pardon me for not exactly trusting you right now.”

Michael really can’t be blamed for his apprehensiveness right now. Honestly, Mallory had been preparing herself to be tortured or killed after Michael got the information that he wanted. It was a gamble for her to go rogue in the first place, and it was a near-miracle that she had actually been listened to when she showed up on his doorstep last night. After hurriedly explaining herself, and being more shocked that Michael actually listened to her (maybe (Y/N) is a good influence on him), a hasty game plan had been established. And by “game plan,” it was really just Mallory stopping Michael from running to rescue (Y/N) without any sort of idea of what he was going to do.

“I just need you to trust me until we get (Y/N), then you can hate me.”

He glances at the rising Supreme with suspicion. “Why do you want to help, anyways? You’re the reason (Y/N)’s in this situation in the first place.”

“Because I was stupid and naive for going along with whatever Cordelia told me to do. I should have backed out the moment that we actually became friends, but I didn’t. That’s going to remain one of my biggest regrets; that I didn’t stop this situation from happening in the first place.”

Michael knows that she’s being serious; those big, dark eyes of hers hide no secrets. Still, he can’t help himself from harboring a fair amount of resentment. “(Y/N) trusted you, Mallory.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Mallory yells, making Michael stop in surprise. “You don’t think I saw the betrayal in her eyes when her fucking car crashed and I was the last person she saw before she passed out? Or how she reacted when she woke up and saw that her eyes really hadn’t deceived her? I used to look up to Cordelia, and I would gladly have followed her to the ends of the Earth before this mess. She teaches us that the sisterhood we have with our fellow witch is the most sacred of all bonds, but she’s wrong. The secrets, the lies, the anger? That’s not sisterhood. What I have with (Y/N) and Kate is sisterhood.”

Mallory takes a deep breath, reining in the anger that Michael wasn’t aware she was capable of.

“Let’s just finish this, and then you can kill me and be on your way.”

Michael shakes his head. “Oh, I’m not gonna kill you.”

“You’re not?”

“Not unless (Y/N) asks me to.”

They reach an unassuming looking set of storage units, and Mallory pulls a key from her pocket and unlocks the front gate. “Far enough away that you weren’t able to trace us, but close enough that we wouldn’t have to use transmutation to get here.”

“You were planning this out for some time then?” Michael tries to act like he doesn’t care what the answer will be, but Mallory knows that this is all just evidence that he’s cataloguing.

“A few months.”

Michael confidently strides to the first unit, holding his hand out and busting open the lock with a flash of sparks. “Stay here.”

“What? Why would I stay here? I’m going with you!”

He looks back at Mallory, who shudders when she sees the definition of a devilish grin on his face. “Wouldn’t want you to inadvertently end up as a casualty.”

It starts with a scream.

You’re jolted awake (you hadn’t even realized that you’d fallen asleep) by a sharp noise from far away. Dismissing it as a chair squeaking or a dog yelping, you roll over on the mattress and close your eyes again. Your attempt at sleep is thwarted when you hear the noise again, only closer this time. Now, you’re certain that what you’re hearing is screaming. Sitting up, your heart hammers in your chest as more screaming is heard, accompanied by sounds of banging.

The commotion slowly gets closer and closer, making you begin to feel like a character in a horror movie. You had thought that nothing could frighten you more than being kidnapped and forced to marry the Antichrist, but this might just top that fear. Glancing around, you realize that there’s no sort of weapon that could protect you if this is finally the witches coming to kill you. As a last resort, you press yourself to the wall facing the door in an attempt to catch whoever may come inside in a sneak attack.

An eerie silence falls upon the cell, your ears ringing from the sudden lack of noise. Then, a sound akin to a cannon exploding momentarily deafens you as the door goes flying off of its hinges. You shriek and cover your face, hesitantly lowering your arms when the door clatters near the mattress that’s been yours for two weeks.

“Michael?” Disbelief colors your tone, sure that the blond in front of you is merely an illusion. After all, the witches had used illusions to trick you before; why not do it to fully shatter any willpower you may still have?

“(Y/N),” Michael gasps. The intimidating demeanor that he had upon breaking into the room melts away as he races towards you, concern evident on his face. You begin to shake as he grabs you by your shoulders, realizing that he’s real and here and that all of your wishful thinking has finally come true.

“Michael, I-I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have...I didn’t mean--”

“Shh,” Michael quiets your tearful words, eyes scanning you and filling more and more with anger as he notices the blood and the various cuts on your body. “Who did this to you? Which one of those witches dared to lay a hand on you?”

“Madison.”

His nostrils flare, but he focuses on what’s important and pulls you to him in a hug. “Don’t worry, they won’t ever hurt you again.”

“Did you...kill them?”

“I did what had to be done.”

You nod, allowing yourself to sink into the hug. “This is the first time you’ve ever hugged me first, you know.”

Michael laughs, kissing the top of your head for a long moment. “Don’t worry, this won’t be the last time.”

“Promise?” You look up at him, and your heart aches when you see that he’s crying. “Yeah, I promise.” He pulls away from you, but remains touching you. “Do you think you can walk out, or do you want me to carry you?”

“I can walk.”

Michael leads you to the door, stopping right before reaching the hallway. “I’m going to caution you and say that the carnage may be a lot for you to handle. I...lost control when they started trying to attack me, and may have engaged in a bit of overkill.”

“I’ll be able to handle it, Michael.” Just walking down the hallway, however, reveals the white concrete walls splattered in copious amounts of blood. You shudder, choosing to bury your face in Michael’s shoulder so as not to actually see any bodies and letting him lead you out of your prison.

The sunlight burns your eyes when you emerge, and you blink furiously to regain your vision. When the black spots do clear from your eyesight, you see another figure waiting for you.

“What the fuck? Mallory?”

She sheepishly waves at you. “You told me to do something about it, and so I did. I’m just sorry that it took me so long to come to my senses.”

Mallory tries to take a step forward, but becomes frozen by an unseen force. Michael has a hand raised ahead of him, glowering at the witch in front of him.

“You’re lucky that I don’t kill you right now, little witch. The only reason I’m sparing your life is because you helped me find (Y/N). If I find you plotting against me ever again, however, I will kill you.” His hand flexes, and Mallory falls forward. “Get out of my sight before I change my mind.”

Mallory wants to say more to you, but Michael looks deadly serious about his threat. Within a second, the new Supreme is gone.

“Now,” Michael smiles softly, “let’s go home.”

Home. The comforts of your physical home are appealing to you on a level that they never have before, but standing in Michael’s embrace, you realize that you already are home.

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