#(if you're wondering what happened to her wings well i forgot about them and then i had to still add them somehow so that's what we get)

[arrgh-whatever]

Luna redesign?

[maiko-san]

The Chain + TP! Reader (3/?)

< Part 2

Plot : You are Twilight's childhood best friend, who like Twilight can turn into an animal, that is a crow. You just happen to follow Twilight into the portal in your crow form and meet the Chain.

( Fem Reader )

Note : (Y/n) and Twilight are a couple in this fic. Also, apologise that I couldn't include all Links in the conversation but they're there listening.

-----------

"(Y/n)?!" you stand there awkwardly, Link or Twilight stated in shock. "Did you follow me all the way here?!" he asks, you give him a nod as you avert your gaze 'Sorry....' you said. "Oh Hylia...." Twilight sighs as he rubs his temple. The other Links witness the scene unfold as they watch their brother talk to a crow.

"Is it yours, Rancher?" questioned Legend. Twilight takes a deep breath, "Yeah, she's mine" he said as he walks over to you and holds out his hand for you to perch on. You step up his hand as he caresses your head and giving a little scratch on your cheek.

You let out a small coo as you lean into his touch. "You and...." Sky trail as Twilight turns to him, "(Y/n), that's her name" he said. "(Y/n), that's a pretty name. Aw, looking at this reminds me of Crimson and I" Sky said as he smiles at the thought of his own bird companion.

"She has been with me for the longest time" Twilight said, his lips curls up into a smile. "She's my friend" he said, 'and my lover...' he thought lovingly.

"So, it seems we got a new addition in the team huh" chirps Wind, Four and Hyrule smiles. "Well, a friend of Twilight is a friend of ours" Hyrule said. "I wonder how Wolfie will react to this" grin Wild. "I heard that Wolves and Crows have symbiotic relationships! I think they will get along well!" Four chimed.

'Too well...' you and Twilight thought at the same time. "Can't wait for Wolfie to come back" Wind said. A wind blows to your face which causes you to squawk in surprise. You turn your head around to see Epona close to you, 'Epona, you scared me!' you said. Epona snorts and neighs, licking you gently to apologise.

Guess she's happy to see you here. You climb on to Epona's head as you crows, 'It's okay, just don't do that again' you said. "You're happy too huh, girl" Twilight said as he rubs Epona's neck.

.

.

Later that night, Twilight got the first shift. You're still perched on his shoulder as Twilight sits at the edge of the camp so he can talk to you.

"So is this why you didn't want me to come along. They're good people, why didn't you introduce them sooner?" you questioned him, Twilight sigh. "It's not like that..." he said. "It's just, our mission is....much more dangerous and I... don't want you to get hurt...." he said. Twilight was disappointed when you followed him to the portal, but he can't really blame you for it since he wasn't truthful. It would be different if he was honest with you and you would have stayed back in Ordon. He can't really do anything now and has to keep you close to him.

Once the portal to his world opens up, he will send you back home where you are safe from danger, away from evil. Away from Shadow....

"I have a question, Link" you speak up gaining his attention, "What is it, pumpkin?". "Did they really call you Wolfie when you were a wolf?" you asked with a smug look on your face. Twilight raises an eyebrow before letting out a chuckle, "Haha, ah yes they did. They didn't even come up with a better name for me. Dumb isn't?" he said.

"I like Wolfie. It sounds cute" you chirped. Twilight smiles as he pecks at your beak, "Hmm, you're cuter than me, love" he said which causes you to blush. You couldn't help but cover your face with your wing, god why he so romantic?

"Anyways, (N/n). Did you told dad before leaving?" Link questioned, which makes you gasp. "Oh, no! I forgot!" you said, you forgot to tell your parents about leaving to join Link. You didn't even leave a note! They're going to be worried. "Calm down, love. I'm sure your dad understands. I'm sure he knows where you are right now" Twilight said. "Besides, he trusts me to take care of you. He's my teacher after all" he continues.

Twilight notices that his shift is almost over and Four will take over the next shift. He stands up and stretches his limbs, "Time to go to bed" he said. He walks over to the campfire and Four is already awake, ready to take the next shift. "See anything?" Four questioned the rancher, Twilight shakes his head "There's nothing unusual as for now" he said, Four nods as he stands up "Well, I'm gonna stretch my limbs for a bit" he said. "Good night, Twi, (Y/n)" he waves as he takes a few steps away from the camp. He lets you down on the log as he takes off some of his equipment and leaves him only in his tunic.

He doesn't really want to risk taking it all since everyone is out in the wilderness and enemies could attack at any moment, so it's better to leave some on. Twilight lies down on his bed roll as you snuggle yourself on his chest, his hand gently set on your back.

"Goodnight...." he whispers as you reply back, "Hm....goodnight...." you mumbled before dozing off.

.

Click!

Click!

.

You hear a clicking sound, which wakes you up. You open your eyes groggily and let's put a yawn, your feathers puff up doing so as you cuddle deeper in the warmth of Twilight's tunic. It was so warm that it made you doze off again....

Click!

Click!

There it is again.

You snap your eyes open to see Wild holding a slate in his hands, he's smiling and giggling to himself. 'What's up with him?' you thought

Click!

The slate lets out a clicking sound, what is that thing?

"Good morning, (Y/n)" Wild said with a smile, the sun is rising and the first one to wake up was Wild, Legend and Time. You stretch your wings and look down on Twilight, he is still sleeping. He usually wakes up before the sun is up. You were slightly surprised that he hasn't woken up yet, "Rancher went back to sleep since he doesn't want to wake you up" Wild said.

You notice that Wild is cooking breakfast, what is he making? You hop onto the log to see what he's cooking. Seems like scrambled eggs and toast?

"Curious are we? I'm making scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, want a taste?" he said holding out a small portion for you to taste. "It tastes a little bland since I'm running out of herbs" he said.

You smile, 'Heh, herbs you say? Well, I got you covered!' you thought. You spread your wings and fly away, carrying your bag with you. It makes Wild sadden a little bit when you fly away. This causes Legend snorts, "Oh wow, seems the crow hates it" he said as Wild sends a glare at the veteran.

Finding herbs wasn't that hard for you, you managed to pick a beak full of fresh herbs like basil, rosemary, thyme, chives— you name it. You also found a couple of rupees along the way and stuff them in your bag.

When you return to the camp, everyone is already awake and ready to have their breakfast. You land on the log and crows at Wild, the man turns around to see you're back with something in your beak.

"Are those herbs? Did you pick them for me?" he pointed out. You nod, puffing out your chest in pride, Wild smiles "Thank you, (Y/n)" he said, taking the herbs from you. He looks through them and Hyrule leans in, "Oh hey, there's medicinal herbs here too" he said, picking up a herb.

"Did you teach her, Twilight?" Questioned Hyrule to Twilight, the blonde blinks "Ah, not really. She learned it by herself—" he said. "By herself? That's amazing!" Hyrule smiles, he was impressed that a crow learned about herbs all by itself when you were actually taught by your dad, Rusl. "Yeah, it's amazing that a crow learns about herbs. Is it possible for me to teach it to Crimson?" Sky hummed.

Receiving praises makes you feel pleased and happy, slightly bashful. Maybe you should do this more often?

"I wonder what else she can do?" Legend smirks, putting a hand on his hips. "Does she bring back shiny stuff? Like gold?" he questioned. 'Gold?! Where?!' you squawked, looking left and right. This causes Twilight to look away and scratch his cheek, "I think it's better not to mention gold around her" he chuckles nervously.

[ End of Part ]

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

may i request sve bachelors x a masc reader who is not human? idk like a dragon or some other magical being? just snippets of their chaotic lives together and the bachelors reactions to finding out what the farmer is? thanks!

Of course, dear anon! ☺️ Thanks for the ask! 🫰💕

_________________________________________

Magnus Rasmodius:

"Well... That explains a lot." Magnus was still in shock, because it wasn't every day that you saw your friend and apprentice turn into a dragon right in front of your own to knock out the Witch with a single spit of fire and make her fly away. The wizard was so struck by this fact of seeing a mythical creature that he forgot about his ex-wife and her intentions to once again try to ruin his garden.

"And what exactly is that?" Their voice hasn't changed in any way, it's still the same Farmer. The huge reptile didn't seem to be worried about hiding at all anymore.

"Such a powerful flow of magic within you that I felt when we first met."

Magnus stepped a little closer, never stopping to gaze into the ruby-red scales that glistened under the moonlight.

"I’m just wondering: why didn’t you introduce yourself from the very beginning that you are not entirely human?"

"Well, how did you imagine that? 'Hello Mr. Wizard, I am a dragon. Nice to meet ya', or something like that?" In a second, Farmer turned back into his human form, and for some reason he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"You're not going to turn me in to the Ministry, are you?"

"If you promise not to scorch my tower and whole Pelican Town all over. And no flying with Morgan," like a child, Magnus threatened the Farmer with a finger, to which the 'not quite human' snorted a little defiantly, but after a moment nodded to the wizard in agreement.

Lance:

Lance had seen many wonders in his adventurous life, but climbing on the dragon's back while waiting to fly was an indescribable sensation. To be honest, the pink-haired man never realised how he had immediately agreed to Farmer's invitation to fly in the Highlands.

*Chuckle* Yesterday, his spouse announces that he is a dragon, and today they already offered to fly together.

Spreading his mighty wings, the Farmer spread out and soared into the sky, cutting through the wind and laughing loudly.

"Hold on tight, Lance."

And he did - wrapped his arms around the dragon's massive neck and held on as tightly as he could, preparing to fly.

"One flight and you'll be forever the envy of everyone who can soar in the sky!" Rejoicing and flapping hid wings louder, Farmer flew higher and higher as Lance looked at the clouds up close and marvelled at how quickly they had gotten off the ground.

It was definitely a day he would never forget.

Victor:

"Dear, c'mon, this is ridiculous! You took the news quite ok, so what makes you think your mom would react any differently?" Farmer would never have thought that his lover would push them through the window of his house like that. As if they were both some teenagers!

"Because - ugh, you're heavy! - Because my mother and I are different people! I want to bring her to the truth that you're not human step by step. So you need to fly away before she sees you."

"Hey, what do you mean, heavy? You hurt my feelings! Besides, Olivia's gonna be fine with it. It's not like I'm a thief or a murderer or... anything bad."

Victor exhaled tiredly and and gave up on trying to push the Farmer further into the window, as Farmer's scaly wings were just getting in the way.

"Let's take it slow. Please, love..." Here we go, Victor's puppy dog eyes again, Farmer thought. After all, this spaghetti lover knows perfectly well that this is Farmer's weakness.

"All right, have it your way, but I can just transfo..." Before Farmer could finish speaking, there was a knock at the door of the room.

"Victor! I heard some noise. What happened there?"

"Oh, Mother is here! Quick, you need to leave-" in a flash the Farmer took on human form again, just as Olivia came in.

"Victor Jenkins! Why is your room such a mess- Oh, Farmer! I didn't realise you had stopped by for a visit! Come on downstairs, I'll make jasmine tea for everyone."

Victor's heart was pounding frantically. His mother would have had to take a sedative instead of tea if she had seen Farmer in his dragon form. At least Farmer had listened to him in time, phew.

[charmixpower]

Issue Thirty-Five: The Trial

Ah yes because of the safety and defense of Andros, Solaria, ect is the responsibility of the magic schools on Magix

I wasn't aware that they were military outposts and not schools!!!

The way they treat the schools in the comics bothers me soooo much

Kiko has wings now, asking questions will only confuse you more

"here let me show you what my students were doing" *immediately shows two people from a different school*

Bravo actually

HOW THE FUCK DID THEY EVEN GET TO VALTOR!!!! WHO LET THEM INTO THE OMEGA DIMENSION!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!

And expelled.....god the comics are worse than the show about sensical punishments for the Trix

This fucking idiot is annoying and stupid but he has a fucking point, who the fuck was watching the Trix and how did they let them end up on Omega in the first place

But like it's not anyone's fault that the Trix in the comics are just naturally evil

You're both so stupid. When they immediately betray your dumbasses and nearly gets you two killed I hope it will be worth it

A TRUE FUCKING NECK BEARD OH MY GODDD

Why is Stormy pretending to be Flora??? Darcy makes more sense and Flora and Stormy are VERY different

This only worked because there were fat away

Also, reverse S8 shape shifting

If Helia got closer, the other guy is a literal tree, he would have figured out this was a trap but he doesn't

He kinda follows them around from a polite distance, which is really funny

FLORA DOESN'T EVEN GET A CHANCE TO FEEL SAD!!! GIRL FEEL BAD FOR YOURSELF FOR ONE MINUTE, YOUR MOM FRIEND ENERGY IS MAKING ME TIRED

You know this dream had her actually communicating with Brandon so I got to wonder if that's actually Valtor

This sequence is so beautiful!!!

How Stella spoke to Brandon in her dreams is brushed off, she simply did, power of LOVE baby

When Riven fucked up and nearly got the squad killed Helia was all like "I must take responsibility and accept this because I was leader while it happened and it's my fault" but now he's lying

He's embarrassed!!! Helia bby nooo it's okay

.... Actually I agree with dumb and dumber now, you are one stupid ass mother fucker and I don't know how anyone in the light council made it into adulthood being that idiotic

BCJDHFJSJD HELIA WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DRAMATIC HELP FNSNDJSK A SIMPLE EXPLANATION WOULD SUFFICE

He's soooo busy being in his own feelings and upset with himself he forgot about how Flora must feel gjsnfjsks he's such a little idiot Im starting to love him

Riven: *fucks up and nearly gets himself and Timmy killed*

Helia: well we all make mistakes, as long as he apologizes and promises to not do it again

Later

Helia: *makes one mistake*

Helia: I AM A FAILURE OF THE HIGHEST ORDER, I MESS UP EVERYTHING, I CANT BE ALLOW TO CONTINUE TO RUIN THE GOOD NAME OF SPECIALISTS

This boy has NO self esteem babyyyyyyy

I love him, please get therapy your self esteem has broken though the floor and is underground

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Hiiii I was reading your deity AU stuff again and I was wondering where the staff fit into this? If they're even here in the AU

Staff...hey, Cater, do you know anything about any 'staff' deities or something?

[Hm? Staff? Mm...nothing's ringing a bell. Unless...hey, Faun, isn't that what you call someone who's in charge of something or part of a business?]

Put simply, yes. Do deities have a sort of structure like that? Or...maybe they're talking about whoever was a deity before you guys?

"Huh? I thought these guys have been around since the beginning. There's no one else, is there?"

[AH-HA!!! Now I know what this peep is talking about! They're referring to the Ancient Ones!]

Ancient Ones?/"Ancient Ones??"

[Yup! Man, it's been eons since they last showed up.]

Who are they? You can't just tell us something about deity history and not expect us to want an explanation!

[Ah, right, right, my b. Let's see...so, the Ancient Ones were the gods that maintained the balance of the mortal realm long before any of us ever came into existence. Whenever a new deity was born, they took them under their wing and taught them all they needed to know to fulfill their future duties. Guess you could say that these guys were the same as the teachers in mortal schools...only, much more strict.]

Wait...does this mean that you guys went to what boils down to 'deity school'???

[Yup! Though it was sorta like a mentor-guardian type of relationship. In addition to the guardians who guide us when we come into existence, the Ancient Ones were kinda like a second guardian or...maybe a parent would fit better? In some cases, they literally raised some of us into who we are today!]

Really? Wow.

"Well, that doesn't tell us what happened to them! How come we hadn't seen 'em in any of the realms here?"

[Ah...that...is hard to explain. Honestly, no one really knows where they disappeared to or even if they're still alive.]

What happened?

[Well, I......I...don't remember.]

"Eh!? All that buildup, and you just forgot at the best part?!"

[Hey, I'm just as shocked as you! I swear I remembered what happened, but the moment I tried to dish out the deets...poof! It's gone. Just like that!]

Are you okay?

[I...guess? So weird...I've never forgotten that day, yet for some reason...it's like it was wiped away before I could say anything.]

Oh no...maybe we should go see Riddle? Or maybe Lilia? Maybe they can help figure out what's going on?

[Maybe...just wish I could remember what happened...]

Don't worry about it too much. It'll come back to you when you stop thinking about it!...right?

////

[[:......it's only a matter of time, Dire. How much longer do you intend to have us play this game?:]]

[[:Patience, Mozius. The time will come in due time when we reach the next crossroad.:]]

[[:Let me guess: another "prophetic vision" of how this mortal scribe's future will go, or perhaps you're too preoccupied with another book series you discovered on your last trip to the mortal realm?:]]

[[:P-pardon me?! I'll have you know it's all part of the plan, Divus! It's far too soon to reveal ourselves to her.:]]

[[:The little imps are going to grow even more curious. It's only a matter of time before one of us slips...:]]

[[:Such as the feather that the mortal Faun found during your last 'intervention'?:]]

[[:I wondered where that went...regardless, we will reveal ourselves in due time. Just be patient.:]]

[[:...very well...though I'm not sure how much longer things will last around here with Ashton nearly tearing the realm apart in boredom.:]]

[[:Gracious me, what has he broken this time?:]]

CRASH!!!! BOOM!!!!

[[:Evidently: the common area.::]]

[[:Not again!!:]]

[cyberghost-scout]

I posted 3,655 times in 2022

322 posts created (9%)

3,333 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kaonsilenthappenings

@cyberghost-scout

@elluq

I tagged 1,879 of my posts in 2022

Only 49% of my posts had no tags

#kaonacademyishere - 444 posts

#au mas - 154 posts

#scout's amusement (rp meme and starter) - 132 posts

#letthealienhuntbegin - 116 posts

#roughedge-a-lonemech - 94 posts

#misty show (aesthetic) - 89 posts

#cyberverse-hub - 87 posts

#gotghq - 78 posts

#braveggg-hq - 73 posts

#askburningpassion - 65 posts

Longest Tag: 119 characters

#(he's used to it be cause of war. being around the decepticons and ghosty was the second bot to dispose the most bots.)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

A familiar purple colored vehicon and insecticon are back on earth. Both attempting to keep a very aggressive acting red and black mech under-control. And little Chime was just looking around curiously. ((Roughedge-alone-mech)

@roughedge-a-lonemech

Ghostwire was relaxing a bit, enjoying the time near the place before hearing some sort of commotion.

200 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

#4

Spark Case is wondering around with Nitro in Ghost’s home. Mostly bonding with the little one.bonding and attempting to piece things together.

@kaonacademyishere

The home was quiet, but peaceful, as Ghostwire was reading some earth books. Letting the two bond.

While the cats watched Sparkcase, well, Polaris is. Oberon was just following behind the giant mech with his cute triangle tail sticking out. Mewing whenever Nitrospark looks at him.

226 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

#3

Optimus was with megatron, both of the leaders looking tired and disappointed. Well, more so Optimus. Megatron had a scowl on as he stared over at the lined up bots. Just infront of the ruined buildings behind them. Destroyed legible housing units for future returning cybertronians.

(oh no)

@cyberverse-hub

Fedelis could only sigh at all of this...

238 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#2

((Kaonacademy-I forgot to send it in, apologizes!))

I'd been forever since Spark Case was last seen. Worryingly long, so long that it began to gather the higher ups optics. So many high profile bots were disappearing.

Lenro was horribly worried. He hadn't found the mech before, no meeting or talking time. He was just...gone. now he was stuck pacing around. Looking worse then the weeks before.

@kaonacademyishere

(It's cool.)

The rest were worried about the news. Ghost wire felt uncomfortable as there was no news of what was happening with the disappearances. Flow worried that they are brainwashing the other higher-ups like last time. Oh, it's faster than before.

And Fedelis came around to check on Lenro. "Lenro. You're going to pop a shock absorber." He said, a bit more out of concern with the situation.

465 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

A blue and white aeral mech stood in the center of some sort of plaza. tall bots all around him as he glanced around with his drones drawing towards him.

It wasn't exactly what he thought would happen...he didn't exactly test that tool on something...besides himself. Note to not just use random tools on yourself!

"So many, huge bots." He turned to leave but just smashed into someone.

@letthealienhuntbegin

Flow Let out a surprised yip as she felt someone bumping onto her. She turned and looked down. Her wings frilled up. "Oh my!"

548 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[shinonometrash]

Scones & Secret Feelings

Court of Darkness Fan Fiction - "Event” Story

Chapter 2

Rating: General

Main Characters: MC, Sherry Invidia, Roy Invidia

After realizing you have a crush on one of your close friends, you find yourself in a situation you would’ve never expected... A story that Voltage is too much of a coward to give us!

| Chapter 1 | >>Chapter 2<< | Chapter 3 | Last Chapter | Epilogue | Other Works/Content |

I didn’t have the heart to tell her how awful it was, so I pretended like my soul wasn’t dying inside and ate the whole scone.

Unfortunately, this means I was unable to eat a single one of Grayson’s delicious scones.

(Ahh, the sacrifices we make for love…)

Sherry: You're drinking a lot of tea today, MC!

MC: Haha, I guess I'm just thirsty today!

(I’m still trying to wash away the aftertaste...!)

Sherry: Would you like another scone? There’s plenty left!

MC: Oh, um, no thank you!

Sherry: There’re so many left over…you and Roy only ate one each, and then I ate Grayson’s scones to make sure there’d be plenty for you two to eat…

MC: Ahaha, sorry, I just wasn’t super hungry today after all!

Sherry: It’s okay! But then Roy also ate only Grayson’s scones since he said that you wanted to eat mine instead…

MC: …Did he, now?

I cast a suspicious glance over at Roy and he just smiles in response.

MC: …

(“Perfect Prince” my ass! I’m looking at a backstabbing traitor right now!)

(Wah…Grayson’s scones…I’m so sorry I didn’t get to devour any of you!!)

I silently lament my loss of a scone-eating-opportunity.

Sherry: Hmm…I wonder what I should do with all these extra scones? Maybe I should share some with Rio…?

MC: No!! Don’t do that!!

(Poor Rio doesn’t deserve that!)

Sherry: Hm? Why not?

Sherry tilts her head in confusion at my somewhat passionate response.

MC: Ummm…

MC: B-Because I…I wanted to take the rest of them back to my dorm…?

Sherry: Oh, I see! You could have said so earlier!

Sherry’s face lights up with a huge smile and I feel my heart do a little backflip in my chest.

Sherry: Hehe, I’m delighted to know that you enjoyed them so much!

Sherry excitedly runs over to Grayson and begins arranging the scones in a small box for me

(Aw man, now I REALLY can't tell her how they actually tasted…)

I see Roy walking towards me.

MC: Hey! Roy, I can’t believe yo-

Roy: Do you have a gown for the upcoming ball?

Before I’m able to properly go off on him, he cuts me off with a sudden question.

MC: The ball? What ball are y–ohhh, that one…

Next weekend, after midterms are over, there’s going to be a ball to celebrate.

I had never thought of midterms as something to throw a party over, personally, but it seems that Concordia will find any reason to throw a party.

MC: Yeah, so, I kinda totally forgot about the ball, if we’re being honest. I’ve been too focused on studying…

Roy: It sounds like a break would serve you well then.

Roy: Would you by chance be interested in going into town tomorrow after lectures?

MC: To go dress shopping? Yeah, sure, that sounds fun!

(Dress shopping with Roy and Sherry? That sounds way better than sitting in my room trying to study.)

Roy: Wonderful. Shall we meet by the school gates around 7:30pm?

MC: Sounds like a plan to me!

Roy: I shall be looking forward to it then.

~~

I walk into my room to discover a very pitiful looking winged cat.

Robin: Nnn...welcome back….Milady…

MC: Robin, are you alright??

Robin: My tummy hurts…

MC: Oh no, what happened?

Robin: I think...I ate something funny…earlier...

(Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?)

MC: What was this “funny” thing you ate, exactly…?

Robin: Well I was playing with Master Knight in the courtyard when a yummy looking scone fell from the sky…!

MC: And…?

Robin: And Master Knight said to leave it alone…he said “Don’t eat weird things that fall from the sky!”

MC: ...but?

Robin: But it looked so yummy! So I ate it...but now my tummy hurts…

(Goddammit Roy.)

MC: Well...you should listen to Knight next time he tells you not to do something, okay? He was right, you shouldn't eat things that fall out of the sky.

Robin: Nnghh…okay, Milady, I won’t…

Robin’s eyes light up as he eyes the box in my hands.

Robin: Oh! Did Milady bring home scones??

(Well, he sure perked up real fast.)

MC: No, don’t touch these. They’re not food.

(I need to figure out the safest way to dispose of these…)

(Maybe I can give them to Rio after all, as fertilizer?)

–

The next day…

I arrive at the gates at about 7:35pm.

MC: I am so sorry I’m late!!

Out of breath, I bow my head in apology.

MC: I hope you weren’t waiting here too long because of me…

Roy: Not at all. I only just arrived a few minutes ago myself.

MC: Really? Well, that’s good then…

I had actually arranged things so that I would arrive ten minutes early, but then my brain decided it was time to have a major crisis over what to wear.

MC: Hey…wait…

I notice the lack of somebody’s presence and scan the area.

MC: Where’s Sherry at?

Roy: In the refectory with Rio, I believe.

Roy: Shall we be off?

MC: …Wait, so Sherry isn’t coming with us?

Roy: No…I thought it might be nice to spend some time with just the two of us.

Roy: Does the thought of time alone with me displease you?

MC: What-, no! Not at all! I just thought Sherry would be coming along with us, that’s all.

(Darn. I dressed up all cute and everything!)

Roy: I see. Also, I wished to tell you that I believe your outfit today makes you look even more charming than usual.

MC: Oh, uh, thanks…

Of course, I appreciate Roy’s compliment, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping to hear one from Sherry instead.

(...I’ve really got it bad for this girl, don’t I?)

The thought makes me blush and I look away awkwardly.

Roy: Hmm? Whatever may you be thinking of?

MC: N-Nothing!!

Roy: Oh?

I start walking towards the carriage in an attempt to hide my embarrassment.

MC: Umm, let’s get going, haha!

~~

Once we step out of the carriage–

MC: Hey wait, Roy, I thought the dress shop was the other way?

Roy: We have a bit of time before the shop closes, so I thought that perhaps we could enjoy some tea and cake before choosing a gown?

MC:  Oooh, cake? Sign me up!

Roy: Let us be off then.

Roy gently places my hand on his arm as if escorting me.

MC: Um…?

Roy: So that we do not get separated by accident.

(It’s not that busy right now though…)

Roy: Unless this makes you uncomfortable?

MC: N-No, it’s okay…

(Come to think of it, I’ve never gone to town with Roy alone before.)

(So, maybe it’s just out of habit from his whole perfect prince act?)

Chalking it up to that, I decide to just go along with it instead of questioning it too much.

~~

Roy sits across from me while we both look at our menus.

(This low key kinda feels like a date…)

Not really sure what to do with myself, I point at something on the menu.

MC: Oh, the last time Sherry and I came here we got this limited edition Qelsan chocolate cake with the buttercream frosting!!

Chuckling at my probably obvious attempt to fill the silence, Roy smiles.

Roy: How was it?

MC: It was super good!! But it was also really super rich, so I’m really glad that Sherry and I were splitting it!

MC: Oh my gosh, I just remembered, while we were eating Sherry accidentally got frosting all over her face!

MC: But when she tried to wipe it off, she kept missing the spot!! It was so cute! Oh, and then she–

~~

MC: –ahh, but she seemed so serious I couldn’t even tease her about it!! It was so adorable! I didn't even know she was interested in that kind of thing!

MC: And then the other day she–

Roy: Haha, you certainly seem quite taken with my sister.

MC: W-What?? Do I??

Flustered by his sudden comment, I do my best to try and act natural.

MC: Ahaha, do I really seem that way?

Roy: Well, you have been talking quite enthusiastically about her nearly the entire time we’ve been here…

MC: Oh…whoops…

Roy: But I am very glad that she has found such a wonderful friend.

MC: R-Right. Friend…haha…

(I definitely don’t have romantic feelings for her or anything. Nope!)

(They’re strictly platonic. Just the normal feelings of gals being pals! Haha!)

MC: …

Although, really, one of the main things I’ve been worried about (outside of the obvious fear of ruining our friendship) is whether there’s social stigma about it.

I’d hate to cause Sherry to end up being criticized or shamed if we were to become paramours.

(Maybe I should ask Roy…)

MC: Say…Roy…

Roy: Yes, MC?

I know Fenn sleeps with anybody and everybody, regardless of gender, but that doesn’t really help tell me how this world views gay couples.

(Hmm, how do I go about bringing this up subtly…?)

MC: Um, so…you need to make an heir with someone, right?

Roy: ??!

Roy chokes on his tea.

MC: Whoa! Are you okay?! Do you need some water??

I push a glass of water towards Roy.

He takes a sip and then clears his throat.

Roy: A-Ahem…Pardon me…

Roy: Thank you for the water.

Roy: Now, um, what was it that you were saying?

MC: Well, since you’re the crown prince, it’s expected for you to have an heir, right?

Roy: Um, correct…

MC: Which would mean you’d need to marry someone you can have an heir with, right?

Roy: In theory, yes…

MC: So, what about Sherry?

Roy’s already confused expression shifts to one of alarm and mild horror.

Roy: I-I fear I am not quite following…

Roy: What about my sister, exactly?

MC: Like, is she expected to have an heir too?

Roy: Oh, so that is what you meant. Thank the Creator…

Roy sighs in relief.

MC: Huh? What did you think I meant?

Roy: Err, nothing…

(Weird, but okay I guess.)

MC: Yeah, so like is she expected to have kids to further the bloodline or something? Would she be looked down upon if she didn’t have kids?

Roy: I cannot say that is something that has been discussed, but I think it may depend on the reason.

MC: So, what if it was because of the person she marries?

Roy: As in they are infertile?

MC: Yeah, that, or…maybe if she was in a, um…gay relationship…?

Roy seems a bit surprised by my questions, and takes a moment before slowly responding.

Roy: …I suppose as long as she was happy, that would ultimately be what is important.

He looks at me inquisitively.

Roy: However, I am not certain why you are asking. Are you aware of something regarding my sister that I am not?

MC: Uhhh, no! Nothing like that! Was just wondering, haha!

Roy: I see…

~~

After finally going to the dress shop and choosing a gown, we arrive back at the academy.

When I get back to my dorm, I notice an envelope with my name on it that’s been wedged between the door and the doorframe.

(What is this?)

I open the envelope to see a note shakily written in red ink.

“I see how you’ve been cozying up to Roy lately. You’re trying to steal him all for yourself, aren’t you? He’s not yours! He belongs to everybody! You make me sick.”

(Ah. Great. Hate mail from Roy’s lovely fan club.)

I sigh as I continue reading the note.

“And don’t think you’re being sly by befriending Sherry to spend more time with Roy!! I see right through you!”

(Whoa, hold on here ladies. I think you’ve got something mixed up.)

(I’m not hanging out with Sherry to get close to your precious Roy!)

If anything, I’m hanging out with Roy to get closer to Sherry!

“I’m warning you! Stay away from Roy, OR ELSE!!!”

MC: Yeah, sure, whatever…

(Don’t these girls have anything better to do with their lives?)

Rolling my eyes, I rip the note in half before throwing it in the nearest trash can.

To be continued...

>>Chapter 3

| Chapter 1 | >>Chapter 2<< | Chapter 3 | Last Chapter | Epilogue | Other Works/Content |

sorry this took approximately forever to update!;;;; also, I think I made myself laugh more than I should’ve with MC trying to “subtly” ask Roy stuff...

[spideyspeaches]

Gold Rush ↬ t.h

Gif by @parkeraul :)

A/N: I'm in love with that song 🙈 also here's my super late contribution of professor!tom 😋 cause I've been procrastinating on the wandavision au (in my defence though, it's taking a lot of brainstorming 😂) anyway here you go-

Wc: 2.6k+

Warnings: lemme know if you find one :)

Summary: He taught British History and you chastise yourself for not auditing for that subject earlier.

Pairing: Professor!Tom x Student!Reader

Masterlist || Taglist

Waking up with a start, you groan at the shrill sound of your alarm. With a sigh that was more of a grunt of annoyance, you tried to reach for your phone at the side table, hissing when you felt the corner of your elbow hit the table, pain shooting up to your shoulder. 

Great, you weren't even up yet and your day was already going shitty. You just hoped that your professor won't be grumpy about you being late for the millionth time this semester. 

You hated cultural architecture. You had nothing against the course, but You hated your professor with a passion and wished that you could burn your textbooks for all you cared, right in front of your teacher's eyes, watch him writhe in fear as you banished the very existence of your material. 

You were being dramatic, but in your defence, your professor was an old bastard who never left an opportunity to reprimand you, going as far as letting you know how uneven your margins were on your latest project. 

He wore birkenstocks with a three piece. You wouldn't trust him with your assignments. 

Getting out of your dorm room was work, hard work. But you got out, brushed your teeth and wore what you hoped were presentable clothing. 

"You look hungover." Your roommate, Stacy, commented, spitting in the sink as you scowled at her. 

She was straightforward, outspoken and somehow managed to look like one of those Victoria secrets models that you loathed, even at seven in the morning. You hated her. 

(You didn't.)

"Thanks, I hope I smell too. Want that son of a bitch- what's his name, Wilson, to suffer for giving me that C minus on my thesis." You grumbled, rubbing your hands through your hair to flat them out. 

"You really hate him, don't you." She snickered, popping off her shirt. You tried not to look, not wanting to come off as a pervert, but damn, she was fit. You contemplated her words, frowning at your own reflection. 

You looked disheveled, the dark eye bags under your eyes very apparent as you tried to mask them with foundation, setting your hair for the millionth time. Oh well, you were presentable enough. Sweatpants would have to do for your only class today, you could binge Netflix after this wretched class. 

"I do. I hope his third wife divorces him and he loses his thermos of coffee in the subway." You said, adding your look finally before wearing your shoes. 

"That's cruel, didn't know you had it in you." She snickered, patting your back and following you as you closed the door, "Well I have to go to my boring science lectures now so, see you later hun." 

"Yeah, enjoy your chemistry period with your boyfriend!" You cheered sarcastically, rolling your eyes and hugging her to tell her that you were only joking. Your relationship was this, of jokes and hugs and kisses. You considered her your best friend. 

Rushing towards the gates of your university, you hastily tightened your loosening hair tie, adjusting the straps of your bags. You were pretty sure you had broken your record of being late to your class. You may hate the professor, but you actually enjoyed the subject. 

Wheezing as you ran past the late comers, you nodded at the receptionist, hastily signing yourself in. You would blame your clumsiness for what happened next, because one second you were fixing your sande on the foot of the fountain, and next thing you knew you were crashing into a firm body, your nose hitting the random stranger’s chest.

"I’m so sorry! I’m kinda late to class and I wasn’t looking and- whoa, ow.” You rushed your words, groaning when you felt blood rush from your head to toe, nose throbbing with double vision, a reminder of your clumsiness. 

“Whoa, hey calm down, it’s okay, I wasn’t looking either.” The stranger said, his thick South Western accent snapping you out of your self pity. 

You felt blood rush to your cheeks instead, not anticipating your face in a flush this early in the morning, when you got a good look at the stranger. He was good looking, in his black high turtleneck and brown checkered pants. He had a small leather satchel clutched in his hands, face looking as flushed as you felt when you realised that you had been gawking at him.

He was probably no older than his mid twenties, making you wonder what he was doing in your university. He was too old to be a student, and too young to be a professor. But then again, you wouldn't judge him for joining college late.

Right? 

"S-sorry, you um, you must be really late, you should go." He stuttered, your heart fluttering at his dimpled chin and thick accent. His eyes were gleaming in the morning sun, captivating in a way that left you in awe. 

"Um yeah, I am." You nodded, composing yourself, hoping that you didn't look too sleep deprived or disheveled, "where are you going, if you don't mind me asking."  

"Um, the architecture wing?" He said, unconsciously stepping besides you.

"Oh, I'm going that way. Is it your first time coming here? Haven't seen you around." You asked, trying not to stare at his sharp jawline and the way the morning sun hit him just right, illuminating and accentuating his curly brown hair. 

"Yeah, it's my first lecture, so um, looks like I'm late too." He smiled. It was infectious, you noticed as you mirrored his expression. 

"Oh, you're a student?" 

"Actually, I'm a professor. Just transferred from UCL." 

So you were right, he was a professor. He looks so young though. You thought, nodding at him, your thoughts interrupted by his laugh. Looking at him with confusion, you raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, everyone says that. I started right after finishing graduation so, I guess I'm not much older than you." He smiled, kicking the small pebbles littered around the set grassy ground. It had just rained, the smell of wet ground still fresh. 

"I said that out loud didn't I?" You smirked, ducking your head to hide. 

"You did." 

Entering the building, you realised that you hadn't asked which subject he taught, crossing your fingers and hoping that he would replace the old bastard that taught you cultural architecture. 

"I forgot to ask, which lecture do you teach?" You asked, looking for your class in the end. The hallways were empty, it was way past your first lecture and all the students were already in the auditorium. 

"Oh, uh, British History." He answered. You didn't let disappointment show too much on your face, smiling shyly before gesturing towards the class, "that's you." 

"Oh, um thank you." He smiled, pursing his thin lips together as he walked towards the class. You could hear screaming of the students as you both neared the classroom, you still standing by the door, "I didn't get your name." 

His question snapped you out of your disappointed gaze, 

"Oh, it's Y/n. Y/n L/n." You said with a smile. 

"Pleasure to meet you Y/n, I'm Thomas Holland, but you can call me Tom." He said awkwardly, before turning back to his class, who had yet to notice him.

"The pleasure's all mine Professor." 

For the first time in your college life, you didn't feel like tearing your hair off during your lecture, your thoughts wandering around. You wanted to berate yourself for not paying attention, but your thoughts kept going there. 

It was funny, how you met him not long ago and he was already taking up residence in your brain. You could not control your feelings after all. Something akin to nausea or excitement eased into your stomach when you pictured his smile, his black turtleneck that accentuated his biceps and pectorals. The little rebellious eyebrow and the tiny scar above it. 

It made your heart flutter, everything seemingly seemed to stop around you. It scared you a bit, how You had managed to envision the little details of his face in your brain after such a short duration. 

You didn't realise that you were smiling until you felt a nudge on your side, making you nearly jump on your seat. 

"What?!" You hissed, scowling at your classmate. 

"Who're you thinking about?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows as she leaned towards you. You had known her long enough to know her name but never bothered learning, and you were too scared to ask now. 

"It's none of your business." You muttered, glancing up to see your professor scowling at a student as they stood up. 

"Well okay, but did you hear about the hot new professor? Apparently he's teaching British History, I regret not taking that as a subject now." She said, her cheeks flushed with excitement. You furrowed your brows, feeling a pang in your chest at the realisation that you were probably just another girl with a stupid crush on the hot professor, that there were already girls who would die to feel his touch. 

"How do you know about him?" You asked, raising an eyebrow as you try to act nonchalant. You weren't being subtle, apparently, because you could see her snapping her bubblegum with a smirk, leaning forward as if trading secrets. 

"You kidding right? Everyone knows about him, you got a crush on him or something?" She suggested, scooting close enough to make you squirm. 

"I literally just met him, and ew, he's a professor, why would I see him that way?" You whisper, willing your heart to stop palpitating at the thought of said professor, your gut twisting in anticipation. 

"I don't know girl, he's hot and young and so much better than this bastard." She sighed, leaning on her palm with a fake dreamy expression. 

You went back to ignoring her after that, noticing how her notebook said 'Eloise'. At least you didn't have to ask her her name now. 

Your class went surprisingly well, or maybe it was because you weren't paying attention and thinking about him again. You really needed to get a grip on yourself. 

Walking out of your class, you decided to go to the cafeteria, your stomach begging for your attention.

Setting your things on a table, you took out your phone to scroll through Instagram, before switching it off and looking around the cafeteria. You didn't know what you were expecting to see, but your stomach was gurgling with hunger and nothing made sense when you were hungry. 

Walking to grab something to eat, you pick up your bag, hanging it over one of your shoulders before getting in the line. 

Just as you were about to turn with your bun and cup of coffee, you crashed into someone for the second time that day. Cursing your clumsiness, you heard a familiar British accent curse not very colourful words, making you stumble over as you tried to wipe off the hot coffee off his shirt.

"Hey, it's okay." He said, stopping your frantic gestures by holding your wrist with his to cease any movements.

"Professor Holland! I'm so sorry, it's like, I'm just clumsy. I have no excuse." You sighed in resignation, mentally facepalming at spilling your coffee at the hot professor. 

"It's okay darling, I've had much worse spilled on me." He smirked, his hand still holding on to yours. You had started walking away from the location, and yet his hand didn't let go, "You know, I used to babysit during my college days." 

"Oh, babysitting, right of course." You chuckled awkwardly, chest heaving with the sudden close proximity with the professor, dissipating the not quite PG thought that just occurred in your mind at his words.. 

"Sorry for-" You said in unison with him, chuckling. 

"You go first." He said.

"I'm sorry for spilling coffee on You, it must have hurt and I ruined your shirt and now there's a big splotch of coffee right in the middle!" You said, circling your fingers around your palm as you walked with your back to the exit as you walked out of the cafeteria, food forgotten and him following your pace. 

Before you could continue your awkward blabber, you were standing in the garden outside, leaning against a pillar with the garden in your view looking golden in the setting sun. He was standing in your view, the shadows around his jaw making it look sharp enough to cut glass. 

Taking a breath, you looked up at his smiling form with confusion when he didn't answer, instead leant onto the pillar next to you.

"You were... gonna say something?" You reminded, smiling awkwardly as you fiddled with your fingers.

"Oh? Oh! Oh yes yes, You know, I was kind of disappointed that you weren't in my class, Mister Wilson talks very highly of you." He said, folding his arms on his chest, it made his biceps bulge. 

"He does?" You looked at him with surprise, guilt panging in your chest when you remembered yourself bad mouthing the professor not long ago. 

"Yes, says you're a bright student with a bright future." He answered, leaning his head back so that his neck was exposed, Adam's Apple bobbing as he gulped, his hair falling into place perfectly against his forehead. The arch of his neck was beautiful, tracing it with your eyeballs as you imagined which other curves of his were as beautiful, immediately dismissing those thoughts, chastising yourself for thinking such a way of a professor. 

"That's… sweet of him. I've never heard him compliment me once in the two and half years I've been in his class." You chuckle, leaning your elbow on the pillar to get a better look at his side profile. 

"Hmm, he says he's hard on you because he wants you to do your best..." 

You stopped listening past that, your breath growing more erratic the more he talked, his smooth voice washing over you like warm honey with a squeeze of lemon. Swallowing a sudden lump in your throat, your heart leaping, leaving you nauseous and in a dream like trance. 

Tom noticed immediately, noticing your slouched posture as you stared at him with a small smile, the upturn of your lips so inviting that he almost dived in, wanting to know the feeling of them what they felt like against his. 

He wasn't the kind to date his students, in fact, he rarely dated after joining uni and becoming a professor. 

He strictly believed that student/teacher relationships should end in only a professional non romantic set up. That was all up until he crashed into you that morning. 

You had been in his mind all day, stirring him crazy as he imagined your smile, the way your eyes lit up when you talked about your subject of interest, the say your fingers fiddled with the ring you wore on your index finger. 

He wondered if this feeling would last forever or become a vague memory, an attraction of hearts that didn't last but felt good till it did. If he was rushing, or if you even felt the same way. 

He was smart, of course that's how he became a teacher, but he still couldn't place your feelings. 

So when he saw you staring at him, his heart leaping in his throat at your adorable smile, the only logical answer his brain gave was that you liked him too. Temporary attraction or not, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in it's mouth. 

Next thing he knew your lips were crashing onto his, your chest pressed against his firmly as your hands reached up to the base of his neck. 

Your fingers were soft, tongue swishing against his as he opened his mouth to let you enter. His hands automatically reach for your waist, holding onto firmly as he slammed you against the pillar. 

The sun was nearly down, the last of the rays hitting the garden, lighting you both up in a golden glow that left you breathless with a fire raging in your souls. 

"What do you say that I audit for British history? I'd like to learn more lessons from you, Professor Holland." You said, breathless against his chest, hiding your nose against his sternum, blood rushing to your ears as his warm hand burned against the bare skin underneath your shirt. 

"That would be great darling, anything to see your pretty smile every morning." 

A/N: let me know what you think! :)

[wilteddaisies]

Yours - Chapter Two

Azriel x Female!Reader (acotar)

Word Count: 2.2k

Summary: You are Feysand’s daughter and you’ve just come home from your studies in the Day Court. Azriel needs someone with extensive training in magic in order to complete a mission for the Night Court. You happen to be just what he needs.

Fic Warnings: age gap?, probably cursing, eventual smut, wing kink ;)

Chapter Warnings: cursing, injury, mentions of blood, angst, masturbation

Note: Finally more Azriel! It was surprisingly hard to hold myself back while writing this chapter. I wanted to write the angst and the pining, but in my head I just wanted them to love each other already lol. But don’t worry, that part will come soon ;). It won’t be the only thing coming soon. Hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO

As you gazed at your reflection in the mirror of the bathroom, you realised that you really did look like a mess. Your eyes had dark circles under them and your whole body seemed to sag with exhaustion. You turned the water to practically scalding, waiting a moment for it to heat up before you stripped off your dress and then followed with your undergarments. You stepped into the steaming shower and hissed as the water hit your body. Your muscles sang in thanks to the scalding shower. 

After using your favorite jasmine scented soap, you finished up and stepped out of the shower. You dried off but then quickly realised that you forgot to bring clean clothes into the bathroom with you. Cursing, you wrapped your towel around you and reached for the door knob. Hopefully, Azriel was still passed out and you could just grab the clothes. 

But, when you pushed the door open, you found him sitting upright on the bed. Forgetting your state of undress, you rushed over to him.

“Az, you're awake!” You tried to gently push him back down to the bed. “Lay back down before you strain your back or your wing.” But, he resisted, taking your hands in his instead. He took note of your appearance, his words escaping him for a moment at the sight of your flushed cheeks, damp hair, and bare legs. He tore his eyes away from where the towel was struggling to conceal your breasts and cleared his head.

“Did you do this?” He looked at his nearly healed wing. You nodded. “How. . .” he began, “How long was I out for?” 

You glanced at the clock on your dresser. “Just a few hours.” you shrugged. 

“You managed to almost completely heal my wing in just a few hours?” He looked at you with a peculiar expression on his face. Was that awe? Admiration? Surely not. You looked down, trying to hide your blush and you nodded again.

“I may have learned a thing or two in the Day Court.” you said with a little smirk. But you should be proud, even Helion praised you for your ability to pick up magical techniques so quickly. 

“You certainly did.” That was definitely a new look. Azriel looked at you like he was seeing you for the first time. “Maybe you can fix these hands next.” he says jokingly but also with a sad sincerity. You look at his scarred hands still holding your own. He looks too, as if remembering that he still held them. His brows furrow at them, as if he resents that his rough scars are touching your smooth, unblemished hands and tries to pull them away but you don’t let him, holding on with a gentle firmness. 

“No, Az. Please. Don’t pull away, not from me.” You tried not to be hurt by his actions, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust you with his scars but that he was ashamed of them. But, he shouldn’t be ashamed of them. Those were the same hands that fought to protect Prythian in two wars, the same hands that carried you over Velaris to go on adventures in the city while your parents were busy, the same hands that held you steady as you were learning to fly, and they were the hands of the person you loved so deeply with your entire being. You raised his left hand to your lips and pressed a kiss to each and every scar littering the back of his hand, his knuckles, his fingers, and his palm. Then you did the same to his right hand. 

When you looked back up to meet his eyes, you saw that tears were falling from them. Azriel, who never cried, was weeping in front of you. And the sight shattered your heart. Had no one ever shown him this love? How often did he feel loved and secure and appreciated? Not nearly enough, not by a long shot. 

You took his hands and wrapped his arms around your waist. They immediately tightened, drawing you closer. Your breath hitched for a moment, but you leaned in to kiss his cheeks, trying to catch each tear. Your arms snaked around his neck and as you met his eyes once again. But this time, along with adoration, you found smoldering intensity. Your gaze drifted down towards his lips and ever so slowly, you leaned towards them. They seemed so warm and inviting, plump and slightly parted as he was breathing a little heavier. Your eyes drifted shut as your lips finally brushed his. For a moment, you savored them, their softness, their taste. But they had only just touched when he pulled away, gently pushing you away with his hands that were just around your waist. 

As your contact broke, shame coursed through you, you took a few steps back, adjusting your towel. Fuck. It was the wrong thing to do. You must have misread the atmosphere in the room. You opened your eyes but kept them glued to the floor, slightly panting from the moment you just shared. 

“I-” His voice sounded choked and he cleared his throat before speaking again. “We can’t. . . We shouldn’t have-”

“I know,” you interrupted, curt. And there you were, with him still sitting on the edge of the bed and you nearly four feet away. The awkward silence that ensued was unbearable. 

 “I should-”

“You should-”

More awkward silence. . .

He sighed. “I should go.” Azriel stood up and turned towards the door. You looked at him again.

“But your wing-”

“Is practically healed, thanks to you. I’ll be fine. Thank you, truly. I don’t know

what might have happened if you hadn’t been here.”

You blushed at his praise. He looked at you as if he wanted to say more, but then thought better of it. He gave you one last smile and walked out of your room, shutting the door. You slumped down onto your bed and tried to forget his rejection.

You tossed and turned in your sheets, gods damn it you couldn’t fall asleep. After using magic to clean Azriel’s blood from your sheets, you got dressed and practically fell into bed, thinking that the exhaustion of using your magic would pull you under. But no, your pulse was still racing, your skin still burned from his touch, and your core ached every time your thoughts drifted back to the feeling of his lips on yours, of his hands tightening around your waist. You pressed your thighs together hoping to relieve the pressure but it just made you yearn even more for his touch. Your thoughts drifted even further, to the image of his sculpted abs on display, even more defined with the gleam of sweat. You wondered how they would look above you, with his muscled arms on either side of your head while he pounded into your- 

Fuck. You gave in. Your legs spread and your fingers drifted towards your center to find yourself unsurprisingly wet. You moan softly as you imagine your fingers as Azriel’s. You teased your clit, lightly petting it before drawing circles around it. You lightly jolted at the zap of pleasure. Your free hand clamped over your mouth to muffle the whimpers that escaped you. You slid one finger inside you with ease, then another, hissing at the pleasant stretch. You thought of his eyes, their smoldering hazel seeming so deep you could see into his very soul.

You adjusted the angle of your hand so that your palm pressed against your swollen clit with every movement. You felt a tightening in your stomach, you writhed as your core tightened further, and clamped down on your fingers as you finally fell over the edge. You bite on your hand to keep from crying out in pleasure. Your thoughts are still on him as you come down, your pussy throbbing and legs trembling with the aftershocks. You leave your fingers inside you for a moment more before pulling them out, savoring the feeling of the slight stretch of your walls and how you could feel yourself throbbing around your fingers. 

Fuck, you wish it was him. You feel tears start to well in your eyes and your heart cracks at the realisation that he will never be yours, never love you as you love him. He’s one of your father’s best friends, he’ll never see you as anything other than a child. You know this and yet you still want him, yearn for him, need him. You fall asleep on a damp pillow. 

You wake up the next day with not nearly enough sleep, but you got up anyway at the sound of talking from downstairs. You threw on a robe and left your room to find out what was going on. Still trying to shake off the haze of sleep, you trudged into the dining hall, which had now been turned into a makeshift meeting area. Your mother, father, Mor, Amren, Cassian, and Azriel stood around the mahogany table which was covered with books, maps, and other various papers. You tried to avoid Azriel’s gaze, not that it was difficult, he seemed determined to look at everything else other than you.

“Perhaps it could be sedated with a poisoned arrow,” Mor suggested.

“Tried that,” Az countered, “the thing just knocked the arrows away, as if it was swatting flies, and any arrows that made their mark merely bounced off of its hide.”

“Shit,” Feyre huffed. She was the first to notice your quiet entrance. “Sweetheart, what are you doing? Go back to bed, you must be exhausted from using so much magic.” She walked over to where you stood at the entrance of the dining hall and embraced you. You leaned in to her comforting touch, but as much as you wanted to rest, you knew you couldn’t until you figured out what to do about Azriel’s mission. 

“I can’t, mom. There’s work to be done.” You gently escaped her hold to peer over the documents on the table. Maps, more maps, a blueprint of the castle’s underground chambers, and was that-

“A wyvern,” Cassian answered your unspoken question. The beast in the ancient drawings looked ferocious. That was the thing that Azriel had tried to bypass in order to access the weapon? How had he even managed to fly or winnow home? 

“We just have to find a way to get around the bloody thing,” Amren huffed in annoyance. “It’s fast, and strong. Even against a fae. Maybe we could get Helion to brew us an airborne potion or maybe come up with a weapon that can be used against it. But he’s dealing with trouble in his own court at the moment, it could take weeks to even-”

“Let me go.” The silence was instantaneous. All eyes snapped to you. “I can use my magic to subdue it. Or I could try to talk to it.” The wariness in their eyes turned to confusion. 

“Huh?” The confused sound came from Cassian this time. “Did I hear that wrong or did you say you could talk to it.”

You smiled, “Being a daemati is good for reading more minds than just those of the fae and humans.” Everyone looked to Rhys, who thought about it for a moment. 

He finally shrugged, “I guess I never cared enough to try. But, in that case, I’ll just go with Azriel instead.”

“Dad, no-” But your mother already beat you to it. 

“Oh come on, Rhys. You were doing things much more dangerous than fighting wyverns at her age.” She took his hand and pleaded to him with those gorgeous blue eyes that you inherited, batting her eyelashes, as if it would help convince him. It would. “We had our epic adventure. Maybe it’s time for our daughter to have one of her own.” 

He looked like he was going to argue, but then he looked at you, the spitting image of your mother with a temper to match, and with his own midnight black hair. He looked at you and saw the strength that you inherited from both of them. It was his duty as a father to protect you from harm, but it was also his duty to help you grow, whether it be as a woman, a fae, or a warrior. He finally sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. But,” he turned to Azriel with a glare icy enough to rival Azriel’s own signature glower, “you bring her back in one piece. Or I will feed you to the wyvern myself. Or worse, I’ll hand you over to Feyre.” Your mothers face broke into a wicked grin and you could see there was some truth in his words. 

You squealed and hugged your father, then your mother. And then you looked to Azriel, who had been ignoring you the entire time, but finally looked up to meet your gaze. 

And with just a touch of a mischievous glint in his eyes he said, “Let’s go on an adventure.”

Author’s Note: Thanks for reading and for the notes on the last part! I am SO FUCKING excited for this next chapter, I absolutely loved writing it. If you wanna to be added to the taglist for this fic, you can leave comment below :)

I do not consent for my work to be reposted or translated on tumblr or any other site, but reblogs are always welcome!

Taglist:  @moonchild-cf​ @pansexual-booknerd​ @huffypuffyme @tinkymae​  @peneflop​  @myfuckingacademia

[katsukikitten]

Warnings: Stripper AU, dub con, 18+ N!SFW, Ayo it's gonna be lit okay?  @bakugotrashpanda thank you for always beta reading and encouraging me to write 😂

The girls around you giggle as you finally arrive to whatever hell hole dive bar they planned to take you to for your 25th birthday. They wouldn't tell you where you were going or what the general theme was going to be. The only thing they gave you was your outfit on your bed and a strong promise of getting SHIT FACED. Which you so desperately needed, especially after the shitty birthday you had today. 

And since you didn't know exactly where you were going you felt...a bit uneasy. Especially so when they blind folded you as soon as you got in the car but only AFTER placing you in a guady sash that read "Birthday Bitch" and a tiara that screamed princess. Still these were your close friends you were talking about. Women you've known since highschool. 

But Jhiro, Asui, Uraraka, and especially Mina had been far more adventurous than yourself, so you were totally unsure of what to expect. Your only hope was that it wasn't a strip club. 

They guide you through the boisterous club filled with whistle calls and screams for more shots or drinks. The music competes with the unsteady beat of your heart causing it to race in an attempt to keep pace with the high BPM of the song. It smells of sweat, liquor, and expensive perfumes and colognes, you were beginning to wonder just where the hell they were taking you. 

"M...Mina when can I take off the blind fold." You ask, words slightly slurred from the pre gaming the five of you did as yall got ready. Her only response is her bubblegum pink lips curling upwards as she giggles. The sound of the music begins to fade as you seemingly stumble further into the building, you hear a door open before it is shut, sealing away the outside music. 

Mina and Jhiro as gingerly as they can guide you into a plush armchair, keeping the blind fold on. 

"Yall, am I where I think I am?" A bit of your temper shows through in your tone of voice as you feel up the luxurious fabric of the chair, the soft ambient light that you can see through the bottom of your blind fold and the godly smell of caramel, spice mixed with clean, almost mountainous air. 

"Hold out your hands!" Mina squeals, Jhiro helps you hold them together. A large stack of paper is set into your palms setting your mouth into a harsh line. You pull the blind fold from your eyes to be met with a delectable nightmare. 

Two sizable men laze atop rugs, pillows and cozy furs making them seem more exotic than what they are. One with ash blonde hair pushed back by rushed fingers, looking put together and yet wild, with the sides faded. The other's hair long, almost unruly as it trailed down his back, a red hue so deep you first mistake it for black. 

But what really grabbed your attention was their eyes. 

Harsh deep garnet and dazzling ruby red gaze at you. One dissects you leaving you feeling vulnerable, raw, as if by one glance he could see through your bones to your soul and all the things that made you tic. While the other set felt softer, pretty boy brooding yet inviting, adding balance to the intensity that his ash blonde counterpart had. 

A shiver collectively runs down the female's spines. 

Suddenly you feel a bit self conscious and stupid in your barely there body con black dress. You pull at your hem with futile haste, their eyes linger on your powerful thighs.

"Welcome ladies to the private show of the Deadly Duo." A sharp toothed smile pairs nicely with the introduction. 

Deadly Duo indeed.

"I'm Red Riot and this is Ground Zero. The men by the door are Chargebolt and Cellophane, they will bring you whatever food or drink you so desire." You follow his sultry voice to the two men by the door. An electric blonde stands tall and flirty in his crop top and tight black jeans while a raven haired man stands on the other side shirtless, leaving the print in his grey sweatpants to do the talking for him. They both wink in yalls direction. Your focus falls back to the men before you, finally you notice what they are wearing. Their broad chests are bare, glistening from either glitter or their own sweat from an earlier escapade. Their theme seems to be a set of sorts Ground Zero wears a silky black fabric around his waist that does not shy away from a certain outline, his ash blonde hair is adorned with a black grotesque crown. It was made of sharp things, shattered glass, razor blades and two old switchblade knives giving it the illusion of horns. Paired nicely with pitch black wings, glistening as if silver stars were sprinkled on the feathers. 

While Red Riot wore white fabric wrapped around his defined abs. His head piece was golden, circling behind his head as if they "rays" of light, making him look much more like a rare subject  of a renaissance painting. His pair of wings were white glistening in gold. 

Their wings flutter, one seemingly agitated the other curious. Although you knew they were a prop, you would have sworn they were real. 

The lights turn low, leaving only their eyes and crowns to glow. 

"Are you sluts ready?" Ground Zero's voice is dangerous and low. Causing your gut and thighs to clench. Unknowingly you nod causing his wolfish grin to grow.

This was going to be more than the tacky fireman and cop duo Mina dragged everyone to for her own birthday. They were less like pieces of meat and more like Gods. 

A God seducing a mere mortal such as yourself. 

You gulp, all of you mesmerized by the movements of their hips, the sway of their bodies and fluttering of their fake wings. King of Hell and Heaven pulling you in making it hard to keep focus on anything but them. 

"We don't dance for free." Ground Zero's voice comes out as a harsh bite. Bringing the five of you back to planet Earth. 

"Birthday girl, the money!" Mina stage whispers a bit behind you. You stare down at the stack 2,000 and 5,000 yen bills. You nervously take a few and let them float to the floor. The girls behind you hollar for more as they toss their own money towards the men. 

"Heh she's already flustered." Bakugou whispers to Kirishima as he comes behind his friend, hand snaking up Kirishima's abs, nails leaving red marks along his skin.

"It's cute." The red head whispers as he throws his head back in mock pleasure. 

"Well cute doesn't cut it. Let's step this shit up a notch." The blond snarls, grabbing onto Kirishima's throat, giving it a squeeze. 

Kirishima allows a genuine groan to leave his lips while you let out a small whimper. 

"Are we gonna do the thing if they tip enough?" Kirishima's whisper is breathy as Bakugou makes him sway in beat with his own hips. The hot head's only reply is a deadly grin. He takes his large palm and places it on the back of Kirishima's nape before harshly shoving him to his knees before he places a black gladiator shoe onto the small of the red head's back. 

"Collect our money from the birthday bitch." Kirishima fights to keep the smile off of his face, knowing full well Bakugou intends to milk these women dry. 

You're frozen in place as doe like rubies gaze up at you. He crawls towards you slowly, his face slightly pained or maybe it is twisted with pleasure. It makes you think horrible, rancid thoughts.

Is that what he would look like on top of you? 

He ignores the bills, as if he is in a trance, keeping his eyes locked to yours. He stops at your feet before he can do anything else you offer him a 5,000 bill with shaking hands, he takes it gently and sets it aside. Instead he gets up onto his knees, hands hesitantly hovering over your ankle and calf. 

"Permission to touch Princess?" He looks up at you through long dark lashes. The light plays tricks on you as your mouth grows dry, you truly were staring down at an angel. 

"P...permission granted." A wicked smile plays on his lips and for a moment you think you've been fooled. His hands are calloused and yet far from rough, one hand holds firm onto your ankle while the other follows the natural curve of your calf all the way to just above the back or your knee. Long, strong fingers inches from the hem of your dress. 

"Mina this is good shit!" Jhiro whispers to her friend who giggles in response. Almost breaking the spell. They throw more money but earn the blondes agitation. Yes, most of the time it was about the money, but in some rare moments it was about the looks on people's faces. To have them so enthralled by their own fantasies that they forgot who they really were. 

He could see you were dipping into that space quickly, Kirishima is about to seal the deal. 

Trailing slow kisses up your smooth legs, sharp teeth glinting in the golden and red ambient lighting. 

Depending on your reaction to what Kirishima is about to do determines Bakugou's next few moves. 

Kirishima's doe creature mask breaks for a fraction of a second and the wicked smile happens again, his mouth just above your knee as he opens wide, letting his teeth sink into your thick thigh. 

The whimper that leaves your lips, the fluttering of your half mast eyes and the shape of your mouth send Bakugou into that rare state. 

He gives a harsh head tilt to the men at the door before glaring at the extra women in the room. 

"Are you ladies feeling neglected?" Chargebolt asks, lips a breath away from Jhiro's ear, her ear jacks twist on their own as her face flushes. Meanwhile Cellophane is purring in Mina's ear. 

"How rude of them to ignore such beauty. Let's get the four of you a private showing." 

"A..ah okay." They agree, getting up to squeeze your arms and drop off more cash onto your lap. 

"Don't get too wrapped up!" Mina teases before exiting with the rest of the crew. Leaving it to just the three of you.  

As soon as the door shuts, Bakugou falls to his knees, crawling slowly. Much slower than Red Riot, agonizingly so, his hard set eyes locked with yours even as Red still holds your leg captive. You push back into the plush chair in exhilarating fear, chest rises and falling in shallow and quick movements unable to break his molten hot gaze. His movements are methodical, quiet and not even his wings twitch as he makes his way, as if he does not want to make a sound. Like a panther hiding in the shadows, stalking its prey. 

The light play tricks as the muscles of his back and broad shoulders seem to be highlighted. These men were strong, more fit than you've ever seen and yet, yet your eyes were glued to theirs. 

Especially the ashe blonde's. Finally he reaches your feet, hands hovering over your left leg and before he can ask you're nodding frantically. He sucks his teeth, locking over your soft skin before grabbing onto you with a bruising grip, eyes holding yours once more. 

"I wasn't going to fucking ask." He yanks your leg towards him, away from the other. You frantically try to push your dress down to cover your lacy, barely there thong that Mina convinced you to wear. A steely grip is at your wrist. 

"Ah, ah ah, it's only fair, Princess." Bakugou teases before letting his hands trail up your leg, causing you to tense and yet ease into his touch at the same time. He trails biting kisses up your leg and lets his fingers actually touch the skin beneath your hem. 

You yelp, hand hesitantly hovering over his washed out golden strands. You were unsure of the rules, of if you were allowed to touch them. 

A soothing hand pats your knee. 

"Don't worry, he isn't as much of a brute he seems to be. Plus." His ruby eyes gesture towards the corners of the room, "Cameras are always watching." 

You give a slow nod, as Ground Zero comes up from his bite above your knee, black blooms on your skin before he presses a chaste kiss atop the purplish flower. He shoots Kirishima a glare, it was going to be hard to get you back into the fantasy. 

Another shaking bill is offered causing Bakugou to sigh. He grabs the stack from your lap and sets it aside. 

"Let's forget that for now, okay?" Kirishima beams and you nod slowly. 

Bakugou gets an idea, knowing Kirishima will adapt quickly to Bakugou's intent. Zero shoves Red to the side, placing himself between your legs, climbing slowly up your body as if you were his lover. 

He pants heavily as he does and you feel something as he grinds onto you. You cannot tell if it is an actually hard on or a semi, either way you're flustered and unbelievable aroused as this man, no this God among men stares into your very fucking soul. He stands, placing his hands on both sides of the armchair, leaning in close as you back away, cornering you like the prey you are. 

His breath fans your ear, he wants to give it a bite, sink his teeth deep into your semi exposed neck as your smell pulls him in a little too far into the fantasy. He comes closer and his heat is almost unbearable. 

"Do...do you do this for every show?" You squeak out, buzzing from excitement and primal fear. His eyes narrow as if he is lost in thought before the question finally registers in his mind. That deadly smirk returns, lips brushing your ear as he speaks, his rough hand grabbing onto the sash. The sound of tearing fabric fills the room for a moment. You squeeze your eyes shut. 

"This is all for you, kitten." Suddenly the warmth is ripped away from you as massive arms wrap around Zero's middle. 

"Don't forget about me, Princess." He drops Bakugou roughly on the ground before he falls to his knees. Worshiping you as if you were the star of the show. 

Kisses trail up your legs, stopping on your inner thigh just before your hem. This time a whine leaves your lips, as two sets of red eyes gage your reaction. He continues his work, crawling up between your legs until you could easily wrap them around his torso, he motions you closer with a single finger and you follow, he knocks away the ugly tiara and places a black and golden flower crown atop your head. He lets his fingernails scratch gently along your scalp as he moves away. Before holding you by the nape of the neck. Keeping you nose to nose with him.  

"That is more fitting for you my Princess." Kirishima gives you a lazy cat smile. Before a cocky laugh sounds behind you causing your core to flutter. 

"Your Princess?" He fists Kirishima's hair forcing him to let go of you before Bakugou yanks him back, holding intense eye contact with his counterpart, "More like my slut." 

"F..fuck." You groan before Bakugou leans down to Kirishima, he's close. So close their noses brush before Bakugou tilts Kirishima's head kissing him with a passion unseen and unmatched. Kirishima groans, giving Bakugou access to his mouth and you can do nothing but stare as you watch a struggle for power between two wet muscles, you barely notice Bakugou's broad other hand snake to Kirishima's throat giving it a good squeeze. 

You're salivating, cunt clenching before a moan escapes your mouth. Bakugou pulls away and a lewd string of saliva connect the two before it breaks off. For a moment Kirishima looks as starstruck as you, his cheeks are so red, eyes lost as they stare endlessly into the man who is just a smidge shorter and smaller than him but God damn if he doesn't hold Kirishima's heart and yours in the palm of his sharply manicured hands. Bakugou speaks without his eyes leaving Kirishima's making sure he doesn't fall too deep into subspace. 

"Tch. Sounds like you like what you see huh slut?" You whine again at his crude words. You watch his hand so softly sweep away hair from his counterpart's face smiling down at him cruelly. 

"Oi, you still on cloud nine there? Or are you present enough to have a bit of a competition?" Kirishima's eyes come to life at the thought of a friendly fight. He gives him a sharp toothed smile, letting his hand trail up Bakugou's abs stopping over his slow beating heart. Kirishima can never understand how he keeps such a level head over so much heated contact, how he never slips up and gets a little too caught up. Or maybe the look in Bakugou's eyes say that he is. The hot head grabs his jaw line roughly, turning him towards you and looking at you at the same time.

"Alright let's see if you're my slut or his Princess." 

"O...okay." You whisper pulling another deadly laugh from the horned devil. His wings unfurl a bit, making him seem bigger before his weighted gaze settles on your skin.  He let's go of Red, trapping you in the chair again, leaning as close as he did to the red head. Nose grazing yours. 

"You don't even know what you've blindingly agreed too. Are you that desperate or just stupid?" His voice drawfs the rushing blood in your ears. His hand tentatively hovers over your throat, reading your gaze before he takes an extra step. Cutting off a bit of the blood flow to your brain, gasping for delighted breath you stare him down. Heart hammering in your chest as you felt like a small lamb ensured in the sharp teeth of a wolf. 

"Answer me." A nasty bite, dark eyes clouded with his own dom space but still attentive enough to watch for queues. 

Although you are more than willing, he is playing a dangerous game. He doesn't know your kinks, worse yet your safe word. This session had turned more into a scene than anything else. Even though the three of you are not having sex he needs to he sure of your limits. 

Or a least a good dominant should. Still you answer and still he is a damn good guesser. 

"I..I'm desperate." Bakugou's smile sends a rush of heat to your sex and an endless amount of endorphins to your brain. You feel a bit high, head light from lack of air. He turns your face slightly away from him, pressing his cheek to yours as he breaks the spell for just a moment, easing his grip on your throat. 

"You say black when you want us to stop. Got it." It takes you a moment to process what he's saying before you frantically nod yes, "You gotta say it around baby girl." 

God you melt, melt and die right there in the chair. His voice feather soft in this moment making you want more, more, more as if he really were the demon king brought here to corrupt you. 

"Yes, King." It's a whisper but it's enough to make Bakugou's dick twitch. 

Fuck what a good name and one he hadn't heard before. He presses a soft kiss to your hairline before using his soft voice for a final time. 

"That's my good kitten." It's a soft growl and somehow you melt even more. He trails kisses along your jawline, giving you a moment to say yes or no before he kisses down your throat, pushing away the fabric of your dress to expose your shoulder. You moan as his breath tickles the perked skin, waiting impatiently for that anticipated kiss. Although it never comes. Instead he settles for sinking his teeth into your shoulder instead of your throat. Pulling and gnashing his teeth leaving a bruise as dark as your dress. Teeth outlined the black blossom. He drags his tongue along your throat before his replaces it with your hand. Pulling you into a bruising kiss that has you seeing fireworks, earning a moan. He slips his tongue in and you do not even attempt to fight, only attempt to keep up. He squeezes your throat tighter and you're floating. Clinging onto Bakugou with dying strength, nails biting into his biceps. 

Too soon he pulls away, a hazed look in his eyes surely matching your own. His cheeks slightly flushed as the two of you pant. He gives a cocky grin as if he already knows that he's won. He steps back a bit, hitting Kirishima on the shoulder before whispering in his ear. 

"Black means stop got it?" Kirishima holds contact with him and nods before coming close to you. 

Unlike his counterpart Kirishima uses more of his hands, letting them trail on your legs, your arms, nails raking against your scalp. Pulling at your hair. It is hypnotic in the same sense that Bakugou was. You sigh deeply, happily as you look into a deep set of ruby red eyes. He takes his side of you, the right side, especially since Bakugou already claimed your left. Gently he allows one hand to rest on your hip. He gives you a moment and when nothing comes out of your mouth he squeezes. Kissing slow, soft kisses on your jawline, throat. Lips pressing on the crook of your neck before he too removes the fabric exposing your other shoulder. He does not breathe hotly over his meal, he dives right in.  Pointed teeth sinking in as you groan from the pleasure.  He almost draws blood. He does not suck, no he only bites. All teeth marks set deep in blackish blue when he pulls away. He checks on you again before he methodically he leans in, grabbing your chin to tilt you to him, kissing you so softly, lips moving at a snail's pace before they begin to quicken. Faster and faster until those teeth are pulling at your bottom lip, tongue finding its way in as you sigh into the kiss. 

Just as before the kiss ends too soon and you cry out in mock rage but true agitation. 

God you just wanted them. Kirishima makes room for Bakugou to push his way into the small space before you. Each trapping you from their respective side. 

"So…" Kirishima pants, Bakugou finishes for him. 

"Who wins? Who owns your dirty mouth?" Their voices low and breath mingling with yours as they stare into your face. 

"Can..can you please show me my options again." 

[toutallyahoe]

Everybody Talks ~ Iwaizumi Hajime (Haikyuu) pt 1

requested by: --

a/n: i forgot to post this here, lmao whoops

but anyways, had to split this because tumblr cant support 7000+ words asdfghjkll

this is my longest one shot so far, please enjoy it. em begging thee

part one | part two | part three

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Hey baby won't you look my way?

I can be your new addiction,"

There it goes again, the annoying song that he was already very familiarized with as it was the very same song that his soulmate had been listening non-stop for the past few days. Iwaizumi Hajime doesn't know if his soulmate had a different time zone than his (thirteen hours difference to be exact) or just a psychopath listening to the loud song for the whole night that the dark haired male could barely sleep. And it had been almost a week already!

"Hey baby what you gotta say?

All you're giving me is fiction,"

Hajime doesn't even understood the song that much despite it's catchy tune. It was in, on what he assumed, was english. Yes, it was very catchy song at first as the beat was very enjoyable and the singer had a nice voice— but listening to the song for almost one week straight? It can drive anyone insane. And Iwaizumi Hajime had to deal with listening to the song over and over again in non-stop repeat because of his (probably) psychopath soulmate listen to it in full volume.

"I'm a sorry sucker and this happens all the time,"

The dark haired male was rather a bit thankful that the volume of the song he was hearing was a bit bearable as whatever song anyone's soulmate was listening too, it was projected to the other about only eighty percent the noise. Still, the song was loud and Hajime wonders if his soulmate would go deaf with how loud the song was playing on their end. Well, if they weren't going deaf already.

"I found out that everybody talks,

Everybody talks, everybody talks,

It started with a whisper!"

Sighing, Hajime stared at the ceiling of his room, a small frown on his lips. God, his soulmate was lowkey an asshole for making him listen to the same song over and over again for the past few days. If he ever finds his soulmate, the dark haired male was sure to beat them up— or at least, be angry at them for making him listen to a song that he could barely sleep.

"And that was when I kissed her!

And then she made my lips hurt!"

Looking at the alarm clock on top of his nightstand beside his bed, the dark haired male let out another annoyed grunt as he saw the time. It was already midnight and he still had school to attend to tomorrow. Not to mention volleyball practice early in the morning aswell.

God, for a moment, Hajime hated the soulmate bond so, so much.

"I could hear the chit chat!

Take me to your love shack!"

But Iwaizumi Hajime also remembered that his soulmate rather had a nice taste in music that even made him listen to his soulmates favorite bands— or at least he assumes they were their favorite bands.

Hajime was stuck with the soulmate bond that let's him hear the song what his soulmate was listening too, and it reminded the dark haired male that his soulmate was somehow sharing a part of themselves to him.

"Mamas always gotta back track!

When everybody talks back!"

Sighing again, Hajime wished he would just smack his soulmate right now.

  

"Hey honey you could be my drug?

You could be my new prescription,"

Hajime let out an annoyed grunt as he just finished serving and stood outside the court. It was unfortunately out of bounds as he put too much pressure on hitting the ball, but Hajime could barely care about it right now.

"Too much could be an overdose!

All this trash talk make me itchin'!"

Jesus fucking Christ, it was practically by the end of the day, but his soulmate was still listening to the song? The dark haired male now fully believed his soulmate was a psychopath. Period.

"Oh my, my,

Everybody talks, everybody talks,

Everybody talks, too much..."

"Woah, losing your edge there ace!" Hajime turned his head to whoever had said those words and saw it was a fellow third year and (unfortunately) friend of his, Hanamaki Takahiro. The light brown (pink-ish?) haired male had an eyebrow raised towards him but an amused smirk on his lips with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You okay there? Or are you getting old already?" Takahiro snickered as Hajime rolled his eyes at the wing spiker. The light brown (salmon???) haired player was always a bit of a tease along with another third year, Matsukawa Issei. Speaking of the middle blocker, it seemed like the black haired middle blocker also decided to come and join on annoying the dark haired ace.

"You've been also more annoyed than usual," Issei pointed out as he stood next to his light brown (pastel pink???) haired friend with his arms crossed on his chest aswell. "Love the eye bags, by the way," Issei continued as he grinned while Takahiro snickered more at his comment.

"Oh, shut up," Hajime had grunted as he rubbed the temple on his head. The dark haired ace was already tired from the lack of sleep and practicing volleyball even if he do love the sport. He can't deal with his teams bullshit right now.

"Iwa-chan can't sleep because of his soulmate!" Yelled the volleyball captain of the males volleyball club of Aoba Johsai, Oikawa Tōru, who was unfortunately the dark haired male's best friend since childhood from across the court. How did he know what the three were talking about? No one would ever know other than knowing the captain enjoyed gossip and doesn't care if he even gets caught listening to conversations that doesn't include him. Oikawa Tōru had no shame.

Sighing again, Hajime was so fucking done. Of course the chocolate brown haired male would know about his soulmate problem even if he doesn't say anything about it. For some odd reason, Tōru had a sixth sense with him and his soulmate. How annoying.

"Because of your soulmate...?" Takahiro asked, confused. The confusion on his face was immediately then replaced with an amused look as a shit eating grin was replaced the smirk on his lips. Hajime already felt the headache coming.

"That's pretty kinky, not gonna lie," Takahiro said with no shame whatsoever. Obviously his imaginations running wild from the chocolate brown haired male's shout about Hajime and his soulmate. Issei could only chuckle at his friend's words as they both look at the dark haired ace who was slowly losing his sanity and patience.

"But seriously, Iwaizumi. What's the deal with your soulmate?" Issei asked. Finally something Hajime could actually answer and not be teased by the assholes that he calls his teammates and friends. Unfortunately.

"The dumbass hasn't stopped listening to this one song for almost a week now," Hajime grunted as he could still hear the said song in his mind.

"It started with a whisper!

And that was when I kissed her!

And then she made my lips hurt!"

"Really?" Takahiro said, a bit surprised that a measly song would annoy the dark haired ace. Sure, Iwaizumi Hajime was a bit of a hot headed person but he was a hot headed person who can control his temper— unless it's with Oikawa Tōru, then Hajime would not hesitate to beat the shit outta the chocolate haired captain.

"What's so bad with the song?" And it seemed like the black haired middle blocker agreed aswell as Issei asked that question. The taller male didn't know if he should congratulate their ace's soulmate for making the dark haired male so annoyed and irritated for the past few days or feel bad for Hajime.

"The song isn't the problem," Hajime huffed as he saw both Takahiro and Issei look at him with raised brows. Clearly wanting him to elaborate more since they were confused. Sighing, the dark haired male decided to just come out with it. "They just have been playing the song non-stop and it's driving me insane."

"I could hear the chit chat!

Take me to your love shack!"

"What's the song?" The light brown (peach?!?) haired male had asked. Curious on what Hajime's soulmate was listening to. Can you blame him though? Their ace seemed to be a bit secretive with his soulmate, even if they had been teammates and friends for years. Iwaizumi Hajime didn't seemed to like talking about his soulmate, either it be him not liking them or just likes his privacy. It was probably the latter but who knows?

Sighing again, Hajime gestured the two to follow him to the changing room. The practice was almost over anyways and both Takahiro and Issei had finished their serves earlier ago aswell. The dark haired ace was going to let the two third years hear the song he had been listening to for the past few days with his phone. Hajime, after all, downloaded the song his soulmate had been listening to non-stop.

  

"Mamas always gotta back track!

When everybody talks back!"

Arriving at the changing room with the two males tagging along, Hajime wasted no time going to his assigned locker and opened it up. Taking out his phone and unlocking it, Hajime immediately then went to his music app and searched the song his soulmate had forced him to listen to for almost a week.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day,

When everybody's words got in the way!"

Finding the song, the dark haired ace turned to both his friend and gave them a blank expression as he hit play on the song.

The familiar intro of the song played loud on the device's speaker and it didn't take long for the singer started singing the song that Hajime was song he could sing along perfectly from how much he had heard the song already. The dark haired male had practically memorized the lyrics of the song already and he wasn't even kidding.

"Woah," Issei whistled as he look at the song that was playing in Hajime's phone more closely. "Damn ace, you're soulmate has taste!" The black haired male said. Rather surprised and impressed to the song Hajime's soulmate taste in music.

"It's in english too," Takahiro pointed out. He then turned to look at Issei who looked at him aswell. The two seemed to be communicating without even saying anything, but seeing the furrowed eyebrows and small frown on their lips, Hajime knew what they were thinking.

"Your soulmate is probably in a foreign country..." Takahiro said as he looked back at the dark haired ace. A bit worried but the wing spiker seemed to force a grin on his lips. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, you're pretty lucky to get a foreign soulmate ace," Issei said. "Imagine getting help with english!" The black haired male chuckled. The two friends continued on listing the positives of having a soulmate who can talk in english and joking about it.

The dark haired ace didn't seemed to listen to the two though.

Hajime knew that there was a huge possibility that his soulmate was in another country than where he was. Soulmates were rarely even in the same cities most of the time, so Hajime fully knows about him maybe not meeting his soulmate. Still, it still hurts to think that his soulmate was far away from him and probably would not meet.

Iwaizumi Hajime didn't considered himself as a hopeless romantic, but it had always been his dream to meet the other person who he had sharing music to since he was seven years old.

There were two reasons why Hajime hated sharing about his soulmates music taste. First was that it hurts to be reminded that Hajime would only hear the song his soulmate was listening to and most of the time those songs were in english and were too loud for his liking. Sure, his soulmate listened to some mellow song aswell like lo-fi and even taking note on songs he listened too aswell, but his soulmate seemed to enjoy the upbeat and loud ones a lot.

Second was that Hajime felt like the music he listened from his soulmate were sacred. It was a silly thing to think but for the dark haired ace, the music and songs his soulmate was listening too, it was only for him to listen to and only him alone.

God, perhaps Iwaizumi Hajime was a hopeless romantic. Or at least, a little bit of a hopeless romantic with how he thinks about some dumb songs his soulmate was listening too.

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next >

[ariparri]

Aahh it's here, it's finally here TwT

This story was written by cursedautumn on Instagram as her part of a story/art trade.

Woke up today to see that she was able to finish it and I just love it ToT

I just adore this ship so much and I'm happy the first kiss scenario exists through a story!

The original scenario has Veruca a bit more shy when asking for another kiss before Diego just smothers her and starts calling her cute. But this, this was perfect!!

And I think that last bit of the story may be a nod to Avis, Veruca's great grandmother, due to her patronus/symbolism being a blue butterfly. If it is, that's just so cute!

The June evening of that year was absolutely perfect for a date: the sky was clear, dark blue and starry, and on the horizon there was a strip of sun so bright ruby color that it was painful to look at it. The air was heavy with the scent of pine and wood, and the flower beds flanking the Westside Park paths were filled with scarlet roses, yellow tulips, and white peonies-in short, a beautiful profusion of flowers. In the twilight, the gazebo, festooned with glittering garlands and lit with candles, looked like a real magic house, and Veruca, who came here to meet Diego, marveled at the beauty and romantic atmosphere of this place. Diego had a way of surprising her, even though this was probably their tenth date. By the way, they never kissed, and he was still eager to give her a real holiday every time. Romantic!

"Do you like it?" Diego asked coquettishly, adjusting the collar of his snow-white shirt. Veruca nodded confidently. "I told you, this is a great place for a date!"

"And you were right as always!" she laughed. They began to pull out of a wicker round basket the provisions they had brought with them for the date: a bottle of rose wine, expensive cheese, a mind-blowing scented baguette with a thin crisp crust, glasses, a bunch of ripe grapes and a bag of cherries, chocolates and napkins. "I think there are more garlands here than there are stars in the sky."

"And the brightest star is right here, right next to me," he said. Veruca smiled: her boyfriend offered a few standard, but very pleasant, compliments. Diego took one of the cherries in his mouth and took a big bite. A drop of juice rolled down his chin and was about to fall on his shirt, but he caught it and wiped it with his finger so that Veruca blushed involuntarily and turned away, pretending to be very busy looking at the wine in the bottle.

She and Diego had been dating for quite some time, and she couldn't even remember exactly when it all started. Their relationship flowed like a river: from date to date, hugs, dancing, talking — but so far without kissing or anything more daring. It seemed strange to Veruca that she, a grown-up girl, didn't kiss her boyfriend, but given the circumstances, she could be forgiven for that. And then, what's the point of a relationship if you have to force yourself into it? Diego didn't force her. He just waited. Veruca understood what he wanted, and she often found herself wanting to finally expand the horizons of possibilities. But she just didn't feel ready for it yet. Maybe it will happen today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next month. Veruca didn't make a wish. She had learned to expect anything from herself.

Although, frankly, she liked Diego not only in platonic terms. As a man, he was remarkable, but his merits were not limited to this. He was a rare beauty: dark, fit, muscular, with long, thick hair the color of bitter chocolate and pleasant dark eyes. When he undressed, smiled, ruffled his hair, Veruca was ready to devour him with her eyes, and inside she had a burning desire to kiss him. However, she held back. Controlled herself.

"Well, let's get started!" Diego said solemnly, picking up the wine bottle and carefully uncorking it. Veruca followed his strong, beautiful hands with her eyes. "Shall we start with a baguette with cheese? I'm starving."

They sat down at a table in the gazebo next to each other. The sun had set, and Westside Park was plunged into a romantic haze. They unwrapped the thin paper that served as the packaging for the baguette. Dark cherries and transparent grapes glittered enticingly on their round, glittering sides. Diego poured the wine into the glasses — the liquid sparkling and fresh as a morning lake.

There was silence for a while. Veruca sipped her wine. It was sweet, with hints of apricot, not too cloying or tart. Her throat burned pleasantly. It wasn't that she was getting drunk very quickly, but tonight the wine was particularly relaxing, and she quickly stopped thinking, stopped worrying, and leaned her elbows on the table with an exhalation. Diego didn't say a word, but his eyes said more: he looked at her with love and adoration. With each passing second, Veruca felt lighter and lighter, and wanted to laugh, jump up, and dance. She stared at his handsome face, at his broad shoulders, at his dark gold hair…

"Hey, honey!" Diego snapped his fingers in front of her face and smiled. "What are you thinking, mmm?" Veruca smiled and caught his hand. "Nothing, really."

"How's the wine?" he asked, rolling a seductive smile on his lips. Veruca shrugged, pretending to be only mildly impressed.: "Very pleasant. Light. I love that kind of thing."

"I know," Diego grinned, and moved closer to her. Veruca took a slice of bread and took a bite; it was fresh, crisp, and delicious. "Damn, this wine is crazy! I got it from a distant relative of mine, who works for Limmiani wine products."

"Oh, you're related to a Limmiani worker?" Veruca asked in a flirtatious tone. "I'm definitely not going to leave you now!"

They laughed as they sipped their wine and ate crusty bread, tender cheese, juicy, honey-sweet grapes and cherries, and hard but fast-melting chocolate. The sky overhead shimmered and glowed with cold bluish stars. It got a little cold. Veruca shivered, she forgot her coat at home. Diego noticed this and immediately asked her to take his jacket; she accepted the offer and did not regret it at all — the fabric was soft and warm, it smelled pleasantly of perfume and flowers. They sat there for half an hour, enjoying each other's relatively intimate physical company, until Diego asked her to dance.

"Dance? Here?" Veruca laughed, feeling a little light. It was already dark and not so warm. "That's nice, but I'm not sure I can waltz in my heels."

"Then take them off," Diego suggested. "The grass is soft, there are no insects here. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Veruca hesitated a little, but finally obeyed and kicked off her shoes. She put her bare feet on the ground. The grass was still warm, warmed by the afternoon sun, and very soft, like Wilhelmina's blue velvet dress, which she loved to wear on winter visits and of which she was insanely proud. For a second, Veruca thought she was going to fall, but she managed to stay on her feet and held out her arms to Diego.…

And at that moment, music began to pour out of nowhere. Pleasant, clear as a bird's song, it shimmered and flowed like a stream — a real delight for the ears! She relaxed, and she and Diego began a romantic dance in Westside Park, under the stars and trees.

Their dance was somewhat awkward, a little drunk, but pleasant and somehow natural, as if it wasn't some kind of surprise. Numerous golden lights blurred in Veruca's eyes. The scent of flowers, honey, and just-begun summer filled her lungs like fresh sweet wine filled a crystal glass. Veruca remembered the time she and Diego had been to the Hogwarts summer festival. It smelled like summer there, too. Memories intertwined with the melody, and suddenly it dawned on her — the same music played at the disco when they won the title of the best couple of the festival! Veruca wanted to laugh, but she didn't: she didn't want to ruin such a tender and romantic moment. Diego even remembered the music they had danced to when they were only sixteen or seventeen. Did he cherish everything connected with it so much that even the music from the festival was imprinted in his memory?..

Veruca's heart ached with love and tenderness. She rested her head on Diego's shoulder. He stroked her back with his hand. The rough palms touched the soft, exposed skin of her back; it was like a tickle, like a butterfly sitting on her back, and then it fluttered up, flapped its wings, and flew away.

She was frightened, excited, and attracted by their closeness. Veruca knew better than to be afraid of Diego, and she trusted him. No, perhaps it was not he who frightened her, but the unknown, the unknown romantic expanses. She was standing right on the edge of the abyss, ready to throw herself into it. The fear was gone. Veruca wanted to do something urgently, so that they would be even closer than they were now.

Even closer. Impossibly close.

The dance was not enough.

Breathing, too.

Veruca couldn't wait any longer. She lifted her head and met Diego's warm gaze. He was looking at her, waiting for something. His hands on her body felt like living, open fire.

Veruca cupped his face in her hands, raised herself on her toes, and pressed her lips to his. And Diego returned the kiss, holding her even tighter.

Veruca froze, feeling her hands grow cold, her head burn; her lips burned as his hot and sensual mouth pressed against hers, and she went limp and soft, her heart ached sweetly in her chest and fluttered with wonder and happiness. The smell of Diego enveloped her — the smell of hot chocolate, perfume and apricot wine, his warm hands, his shirt and smooth hair. They kissed timidly, carefully, as if they might hurt each other. It was... nice. Very much so. She had never been kissed before (the cheek doesn't count), and the kiss with Diego Caplan, her beloved man, was unexpected and completely beautiful. Everything around them — the gazebo, the darkness and cool wind, the wine and food left and the music — didn't matter, because Diego was there, and she was kissing him on the lips for the first time.

Finally, they pulled away. Veruca suddenly felt weak, vulnerable, and at the same time liberated. She did it! She kissed him! She kissed Diego Caplan on the lips herself, and he answered her! She was filled with a sweet delight in herself.

Diego smiled in surprise; he seemed equally shocked and delighted. Veruca heard his voice close to her ear: "What was that, Miss McQuaid?"

"Don't you understand, Mr. Caplan?" Veruca was not left in debt. Then she lowered her voice. "I think the second time you will understand for sure."

"Oh," Diego said knowingly. His eyes flashed. "Would you like to repeat it? I'd love to, believe me."

Veruca was flushed. Merlin, she had to be so drunk to pay compliments that gave a head start to Diego Caplan, the master of compliments! She laughed nervously and started to turn away, but Diego cupped her face in his hands — just as she had done a few minutes ago — and asked softly, "Did you like it?"

She bit her lip. "Yes. And you?"

"Me, too." Diego grinned with a raise of his eyebrows. "Can we try again?"

Veruca laughed and was about to agree when he kissed her. The second kiss was bolder, less innocent. They intertwined their tongues, bit each other's lower lip, hugged, squeezed and clung tighter, embodying in this kiss all that they could not express in words, all that Veruca was so shy, and what she could not get over. Finally, this barrier was overcome.

The second kiss was followed by a third. Veruca and Diego kissed hungrily, feeling an acute lack of each other's warmth. It had been dark for a long time, and the ground was cold, but they were warm, even hot. It was hard to stop. They finally broke away from each other, disheveled and flushed, and their hot foreheads touched.

"You're the best," Diego muttered breathlessly, "woman I've ever had. I adore you."

"And you're the best man I've ever had," Veruca replied with a sly smile. "By the way, I think we have some wine left. Why don't we finish it off?"

"Food is sacred," Diego agreed, and they walked back to the gazebo, holding hands and laughing. A butterfly with bright blue wings, hiding behind one of the light bulbs, fluttered into the air and flew away into the black sky, shimmering with flashing diamond stars, into a summer night full of love...

[the-coffee-story]

Coffee - The Plague Doctor's Revenge

Chapter 5 - Old Friends

It took around half an hour to stitch Doc back up. Coffee left halfway through to get himself something in the cafeteria.

"Alright," the nurse finally said. "Should be good for now. Come back in a few days for a check-up."

"Aye, aye." Doc nodded absentmindedly.

"And maybe at least try not to get into knifefights anymore!", she called when he'd already opened the door.

"I mean, it's not like I'm actively looking for knifefights to take part in...", Doc mumbled as he left the room. Walther snickered.

Five minutes later they were walking down the brightly lit white corridor. Walther picked an ant off their sleeve and gently put it on a potted plant on the white plastic windowsill. "Gah. I helped Tessa with her science project, ended up spilling pheromone solution over myself and became the sexiest ant in all of Great Britain."

An amused smirk was playing on Doc's lips. "And what did Tessa say to that?"

"Great, now I gotta compete against ants to win your heart." Walther laughed. "She's writing her finals soon. And then we'll... I dunno. Get a nice little cottage with a scarecrow in the garden and a pride flag in the living room."

"Sounds like a plan."

Walther laughed. "So you support my gay romance?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Doc scratched his wounded arm. "God. The stitches were unnecessary."

"If you'd waited a little more you would've been the proud owner of a new red shirt."

"What do you have against red shirts?"

"Nothing, as long as they're not soaking with blood."

Doc chuckled. He was about to say something in response when he was suddenly interrupted by a melodic voice coming from further down the corridor. "Maury, is that you?!"

They both turned around to see a fourty-something doctor...not quite running, but walking quickly down the corridor, surprise in her pale white face. Then her perfectly curved lips spread into a smile, revealing a row of pearly white teeth. "Oh my God, it really is you!!!"

She ran up to them and hugged Doc. "Great to see you again." Her melodic voice was muffled because her face was buried in his lab coat, but Walther could hear she had a Scottish accent.

He chuckled. "Calm down, Eugenia. Calm down. Actually, I go by Terence Tilch these days."

Walther frowned. "That explains why you knew so much about legal name changes-" Doc flushed red.

"Really?" The woman stepped back and tilted her head gracefully. "That's a shame, it was a pretty name. I named my firstborn after you." She looked up, her long black lashes fluttering like the wings of a butterfly. "You're even taller than I remember you."

"I am genuinely unsure whether that is an insult or not."

"It is a mere fact." Her quiet laugh could make anyone's heart melt.

"You know each other?", Walther asked.

"We used to work together." The woman flashed them a brilliant smile. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself again. My bad." She held out her hand. "Eugenia Edicius. Leading surgeon."

Doc raised an eyebrow. "You got an upgrade."

"Indeed." She smirked. "You?"

"Depends on whether or not you consider cutting up corpses an upgrade. I certainly do."

"Aaand that didn't sound creepy at all." Eugenia turned to Walther. "And you are...?"

Walther smiled shyly. "Uh...Detective Welle Walther. His colleague and adoptive problem child."

Eugenia laughed. "Oh dear, looks like I missed a lot." She gracefully flicked her hair out of her face.

Everything about her was beautiful. Her eyes were the colour of moonbeams through leaves, with a few golden brown spots that made a nice contrast, and her hair as black as night, save for just a few silver strands. She almost looked like a nymph. Just her presence made Walther weirdly dizzy.

"How have you been?", Doc asked. His voice was warm.

"Oh, you know..." Eugenia sighed. "I married Wilhelm after you left and we had a beautiful boy..." Her eyes sparkled like frozen leaves.

"That's wonderful to hear! Does Wilhelm work here too?"

"...but then this year there was a fire in our house, and I... only managed to save our son. Wilhelm didn't make it."

"Oh." Doc's smile faded. "Oh, that's... I'm so sorry..."

Eugenia gave him a sad smile and shrugged her frail shoulders. "It's okay. I still have our son." She glanced up at Doc. "We named him Maurice, you know? To remember you after you disappeared."

"That's...whoa, that's so overwhelming-"

She laughed. Her laugh sounded like a bell.

"Dr. Edicius!", a nurse called from down the hall. "I know the Doctor is a charming fellow, but we have surgeries to make!"

"Oh. Right. Pardon me, Edith." She gave both of them a sweet smile. "I'll see you. Terry, I assume we'll meet here quite often from now on, isn't that so?"

He nodded. "You know me too well."

She waved and walked away.

"Something here seems very off," the Doctor said as soon as she had left. "And with that I'm not saying I don't trust her...wait, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Walther frowned. "I thought you know each other?"

"We do. But people change." He started walking towards the staircase and Walther had to jog in order to keep up with his pace. "You see, while we were stuck in the elevator Coffee actually told me something very interesting."

"And that would be?"

"We've got another masked vigilante in town. This time in a Plague Doctor mask."

"Jeez, are we in Gotham?" Walther laughed but stopped when they saw that Doc's face was serious. "And what about it?"

"Walther, how many guys with knee-long black curls do you know?"

They frowned. "None. What do you mean?"

"So, you could say, that is pretty rare."

"Correct."

"I knew...one. Eugenia's husband, Wilhelm Wisper."

"Oh." Walther's eyes widened. "Oh! Are you suggesting-"

"It all seems a little off, doesn't it? Wilhelm dies in a fire, Eugenia moves here, and just like that we have a masked stranger in Graytown who happens to have the same characteristics."

Walther nodded. "This stinks. So what are you planning to do?"

"I think I should investigate a little more. This whole thing seems rather suspicious."

"So where do we start?"

"I'll go back to where I came from and ask my family about Wilhelm's death."

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Old friend': New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Old friend"

"I'm proud to be who I am now, of my thoughts and to be with the woman I love,"

Chapter Summary: Yirina is moving, without having eaten, to Century House to apologize to Park for her behavior from last night but things will lead her & Park to be meeting...a old friend in town...

Link of the Picrew used !

To read it on AO3, click here!

Words : +3700

Taglist : @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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I didn't eat anything when I stepped out of the apartment, not even a simple slice of bread with jam on it, not even after Zasha told me to do so, and honestly, right now, I did not want to eat until I've got to sort off something...and that something was to go see Park herself at Century House and apologize for my actions last night, I'm the one to blame because I didn't say anything to the moment I go out of Peter's apartment until this morning, I'm the one to blame to be acting like that, I can be stupid...and I was stupid during that moment.

That was the only thought that was crossing inside my brain at the moment I started to walk outside the building through the streets of London...I needed to forgive myself, that's the main thing for me to do now. I couldn't look myself at the numerous windows & mirrors around me, prompting me to keep my eyes away from them until I was in front of the MI6 building, this time avoiding everyone's look on me and not putting my eyes on the others, keeping my mind focused to excuse myself.

Once the elevator was on the floor of our office, I didn't let the doors getting fully open that I was already out of it, walking almost as if my life was depending on how fast I was doing it to reach the office and I arrived in front of the door, opening but then, as I thought that I would see Park at her desk working, no one was actually here in this room, she wasn't here and the only thing I could perceive is the silence of the room...a silence that was interrupted every one second by the white clock on the wall near my desk.

My mind at the moment was trying to not panic at not seeing Park in here as I walk inside the room that was still looking the same when we came here to grab the necessary things before leaving for Peter's place: nothing was removed, nothing was new on our desks despite the boxes that the cleaning crew had to bring here, that was very weird...

"Excuse me?" The voice of a woman interrupted me as I was leaning on my desk to look over Park's desk, making me turn my head around to the door, discovering a woman with glasses, brown hair, and wearing a big leather jacket, sounding a bit german in her voice. "Miss Grigoriev?"

"Yes?" I whispered in a low voice at her.

"Hmm, sorry to bother you but there are some reports miss Park asked about Harry Stone," She announced, showing me the files that she was holding in her arms.

"Good," I simply said, my eyes moving away from her, almost sounding annoyed. "You can put them on her desk, I don't know where she is actually," I suggested, pointing with my hand towards Park's desk and it's without a word that the woman complied, walking inside the room to reach the desk and putting the reports on the only empty space on Park's desk.

"Here you go," The woman breathed after she put them on the desk, turning around to look at me but then, I've got a flash in front of my eyes, remembering something...

"Wait, do I know you?" I asked her, moving away from my desk. "Are you called Sam?" I demanded, starting to remember to have seen that woman a long time ago and it was in here, in that very building.

"Yes, that's my nickname," She replied with a smile to me, starting to go back to the door as I was intrigued by this 'Sam' "Name's Samantha but...I assume that you don't need to know more about me," She added before she got her hands on the door to close it, seemingly leaving alone but I needed to know.

"Wait!" I raised my voice to stop, walking fast to reach the door and open it, wanting to stop her to go away as her presence and her words were intriguing but when I open the door, she wasn't at my sight, as if she vanished into thin air...as if she never existed..."What the hell?" I mumbled to myself.

Confusion was the only word of that little weird situation while I was closing the door, wondering who was this woman I saw once a long time ago without remembering when but that's strange: a brown-haired woman sounding german, disappearing like that...that's strange...Without any other thoughts, my attention got into the reports she brought here on Park's desk, and to try to forget that situation, I decided to see them closely.

In fact, instead of multiple reports as this Sam claimed to be, there were actually only one but looking pretty big & rather combining a bit of everything and I took a look at it: it was mostly talking about Stone's family and that wasn't good to see: he had two siblings who disappeared at a young age, his parents died when he was imprisoned, and then, his choice of either spending his time in prison or joining the SAS, he took the latter one.

Then, after I closed the report, finding nothing else, my eyes went suddenly on a little yellow note that was on a document and I took it...'We need to talk, come to the underground parking, the same car we used last night, it's urgent! P.' That note...it was written by Park herself, recognizing her own handwriting on it.

"Dammit," I said, discovering that Park was in fact here but she was waiting for me somewhere else, causing me to take the jacket that I took off before that 'Sam' came in and left the office.

If she wrote this and she wasn't here, that means it's very important but it was still strange that she was doing it like that. I tried to figure out what's wrong by using the stairs to go down instead of using the elevator despite it was faster, exhausting me a bit before I arrived at the underground parking floor, walking towards the parking place that the car that I & Park used was, her waiting for me over there.

I then got delighted on my face for a few seconds when I saw Park in that car, sitting on the driver's seat, the delight going away when my original thoughts came back, my apologies needed to be done as I approach the car at its front passenger side.

"Park?" I said as I open the door, hearing the radio of the car on and, staying neutral on her face, not saying a simple word or turning her head at me. "Hey, Park, are you alright?" I asked her but no responses from her before I installed myself on the passenger seat, finally reacting as she shut down the radio that was going to pass some news.

"You're okay, Yirina?" She spoke up, sounding worried but looking outside at the wing mirror of her side.

"Listen, I'm sorry about...last night," I went straight to the subject, avoiding her question and wanting to apologize to her now. "It was stupid to not talk and tell you what's wrong but...I wasn't feeling alright," I continued, her not willing to stop me in my words. "Seeing you...in that state and what I saw in that place...that make me bad but I'm the one to apologize,"

"You know well that I'm the one that start it, you just said it yourself," She told me, releasing a little breath out of her mouth.

"I...no, you're not the one to blame, I am," I exclaimed, looking at her while putting my arms down on my lap. "I'm just trying to..." I was then interrupted when Park moved her right hand above my left one. "I...I'm sorry," I muttered, trying to find my word at this, her touch feeling a bit different than before.

"I am too," She whispered, finally turning her head at me, seeing her eyes that were almost dried up, as if she cried a lot. "I'm accepting everything from you but is my forgiveness acceptable?" She demanded and I nodded.

"Listen, it's been months that I said that you were forgiven, stop telling yourself that you're not forgiven, you...are," I reminded her, giving her a little recomforting grin that she managed to do on her face. "Just...stop about it, okay?"

"I will," She muttered before she moved in for a kiss that she was supposedly meant to be on my cheek but my head was still looking at her, making it a kiss on the lips that surprised her. "I...thanks for that," She said, sounding better in a few moments after the kiss, passing her hand through her face to remove the bit of hair on it.

"It's okay," I smiled at her after the kiss, blushing a bit before my eyes went on the front to look outside the car, wondering now why we were here and not in our office. "So, why are we here?" I asked directly.

"It's important," Park responded, moving her hands on her lap and tapping with her left fingers on her legs. "After what I learned, we can't talk in our office and Zasha's one," She added.

"Why that?" I demanded.

"It happens that the CIA has some...bugs inside our respective offices," She answered, my eyes going wide at this revelation. "They've been listening to us talking about Perseus & the situation since a long time,"

"Ears & eyes everywhere in London," I mumbled, remembering perfectly this 'Alex' words to us when he met with us two days ago. "They weren't joking on it," I said loudly.

"Five minutes after our cleaning crew got away, guess who arrived at the same place," Park moved her right hand to reach something behind on the backseat before taking in it, a simple picture she shows to me, seeing on it this 'Alex' with some people arriving at Peter's apartment. "One of our men forgot something and I had to go back before he saw them arrive, he took a picture and got away before been caught," She explained the context, keeping the picture in her hand.

"That's how they manage to know about the situation: by listening to us," I guessed as Park got the picture back behind us. "But if they know that, they know other things like...Liliya's origins and more..." I presumed, thinking that this little bugs problem is occurring for a long time.

"I guess that too," Park joined me on that idea, taking a deep breath after saying that. "Instead of having the boxes from Peter's place in our office, I decided to move them in a safer place," She gestured with her head towards the back of the car. "Put them in the trunk of the car, the only place the CIA can't look at,"

"Better than nothing," I admitted, looking with her at the back until I resume to look in front of me. "Are we going to study them now?" I questioned her but she shook her head.

"No...not for the moment," She replied as she moves her hand again on the backseat to grab something. "Before, we have to talk...to an old friend," She added before she put on my lap a medium-sized black bag like that without telling me more, prompting me to open it, discovering a tracking device, along with a little tracker.

"What is it for?" I asked her, taking in my hand the little tracker.

"Remember Lukas Ritter?" She asked me back, making me turn my head slowly towards her in curiosity, remembering that man perfectly in my head as I nod to her. "I was told by some MI5 agents when I arrive here that they managed to find a place that he always goes every morning in London," She explained, putting back the tracker in the bag. "So, I gathered some useful equipment for us and I'm sure that he can help us to...know where Stone & the other Perseus agents are hiding,"

"Yeah, can be very useful indeed," I smirked at this as Park was already starting the car engine, ready to drive away. "Where is it by the way?"

"In the Farringdon neighborhood," She responded, putting her hands on the steering wheel and starting to move the car. "I'm sure that we will get what we need," She affirmed as I put the bag at my feet, now wondering how that improvised mission will happen.

Even with that new thing to do, I was still astonished to learn that our offices were rigged with micros by the CIA, realizing how they succeeded to know about Stone & the situation in London: just by installing micros in Century House and hear us talking about it, very simple...and more like a big bad move from them, wanting to cut their ears off once we go back in our office but it would be tempting and not the best thing to do...for the moment now.

Now, I was in a car with Park after I managed to apologize along with her in the streets of London, going into the direction of where our 'insider' Lukas Ritter used to go and the means of proceeding on how we could manage to get the tracker on him was going to be discussed once we got at our destination and that destination was in fact a pub called 'The Old Bank of England'. Park got ourselves in a good parking space that was in sight of the pub's entrance.

"He should be coming soon," Park observed the entrance, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel before she stopped doing that. "Here is he," She discreetly pointed near the entrance, seeing Lukas Ritter in the same clothes the day we first met him, looking alone.

"What now?" I demanded.

"Well, that's the thing, how should we proceed?" She demanded at me back, turning her head around at me. "He can recognize us the second we step inside that pub," She added.

"Yeah, he can recognize us," I repeated, letting a little sigh out of my mouth before something turned on in my head. "Of course, he doesn't know that we know,"

"Uhm...I'm not following you here," Park narrowed her eyes at me, holding the steering wheel as I got myself well to look at her.

"We know that he lied to us and fled our control in Moscow but...does he know that he's wanted by us?" I suggested. "He proclaimed that he needed to go into hiding and if he's here, maybe that...he would like to 'talk' about defecting," I continued on that idea, thinking that Lukas doesn't know that we're seeing him as an enemy.

"Oh...I see," Park was like enlighten to hear me out. "You're saying that...one of us should go in there, saying things to make him convince that we're dumb to continue to buy in his lies and put the tracker on," I nodded at her to that.

"I'm going in," I volunteered myself, leaning to open the bag at my feet to take the little tracker with me.

"Are you sure? I can go if you want," Park proposed.

"Nah, I'm fine, don't worry," I told her with a smile, putting the tracker inside a pocket of my jacket before opening my door. "I'll not be too long, don't worry," I reassured her, making a little wink to her before I close the door, leaving myself outside to join the pub.

I took a deep breath before I could bring myself to walk away from the car and to engage myself on the pedestrian crossing to go to the pub that was on the other side of the street and without any hesitation when I arrived in front of the entrance that I open it, discovering a very traditional place and very charming to see, filled with people but that wasn't the main thing to think here, now trying to find Lukas around and that wasn't so hard to do, he was sitting with his back against me at the end of the main room as a waiter was finishing to bring him something to drink & eat.

"Ein guter Kaffee zum Start in den Tag, [Good coffee to start the day,]" I heard him speaking in German when I was arriving behind him at his table, observing a little muffin with him.

"Can't say better about that matter," I spoke up, getting myself at his sight and as I thought, he was looking to get chocked himself with the sip of his own coffee.

"What the..." He tried to say, taking a little tissue in his hands to clean up his lips, his eyes focused on me. "How...miss Grigoriev?" He was still sounding shocked to see me standing near him.

"I'm surprised to see you here as you are too with me," I exclaimed before pointing out at the seat in front of him. "Can I sit?" I asked him.

"Uhm..."

"I'm pretty sure that you don't want to make a scene in here, right?" I presumed, seeing him hesitant to let me sit before he nodded, gesturing with his hands to the seat. "Good, that's better," I said with a smile before sitting down on the seat, not removing my eyes from him. "So...Lukas, what a pleasure to greet you in England,"

"I'm...how did you find me?" He demanded, his hands trembling before he pulled them on his lap below the table.

"We can thank the MI5 for that," I replied, starting to act as the perfect dumb agent that still believes in his innocence. "Said that our insider in the KGB entered England but we don't know exactly why," I explained, getting my hands on the table for that. "And besides, hanging out in a pub where some of their agents are going, not a good idea," I lied, trying to find in my head some ideas to make him believe that we don't really know about him.

"Scheisse! [Shit!]" He cursed, mumbling with a low voice as he turned his head to look at the people in the pub, thinking some of them were MI5 agents...good lie indeed..."And I thought that I was discreet," He sighed before turning around again. "Okay, I'll tell you,"

"Then, tell me," I breathed, seeing him clear his throat to talk, knowing that what he will say isn't true.

"Well, Perseus...managed to find out that I became a snitch even after I had to go into hiding," He started, taking a sip of his coffee as I was staying attentive. "I escaped one of their bases in Russia but I had to travel through some countries before reaching London, Perseus having put a price on my head," He resumed, taking a look outside for a second.

"So, if I heard right, you're asking for us to protect you from Perseus, right?" I presumed and he nodded at me clearly. "Hmm, I don't know if it's believable but your presence shows that you're saying the truth," I told him, putting my hand below my chin, fainting to think about it.

"Oh, thanks," He breathed, sounding relieved. "You don't know how much it's meaning to me," He added another lie, knowing he was here for another reason than to 'defect'.

"You helped us well, that's a lot from you," I exclaimed, grabbing the tracker discreetly with my right hand before I move it to tap on his shoulder, mimicking that he did good and taking the chance of putting the tracker in a good place: right below the collar of his jacket, a place that was out of sight of anyone. "You maybe want to know that Stone isn't longer alive, we killed him in Cuba," I decided to get into acting even dumber, giving him the illusion that we don't know about Stone's resurgence.

"Oh, good," Lukas simply said but his hands around his cup of coffee started to look a bit to hold the cup firmly, urging to crush it with his hands...Stone is certainly close to him...."Guess that it's good riddance for you & miss Park," He admitted, getting his eyes on me.

"Of course, it's good," I confirmed to him before looking around, having done my job here. "Well, why don't you...come to Century House when you're willing to? We can sort off your situation and protect you," I proposed before my eyes went on that muffin he took, having not eaten since I woke up. "Uhm...can I take it? I can even give some money to have another one," I demanded.

"Uhm...why...why not?" He reluctantly agreed on my little proposition, sighing before he gave me his own muffin with some chocolate chips on the top of it. "And...giving me your money?" He demanded.

"Sorry but I don't have my wallet now," I excused myself, having never got a wallet since...a long time with me. "Maybe I can give you the money when you will come to Century House," I suggested, taking directly a bite on the muffin and that, it was so good to taste something today. "Now, I'll leave you to your own coffee, remember that we don't forget what you did for us," I muttered to him before I decides to walk away from him, not even waving at him and having managed to steal his own muffin...what a chance...

Not only that but the tracker was now on him and by luck, it could bring us right to the lair of where he & his little friends of Perseus are hiding in London and I was simply smiling about it, enjoying my muffin on the way back to the car Park was waiting for me and I only got inside at my seat that I saw her with the little tracking device with a green dot blinking multiple times...

"It's working, the tracker is ready to..." Park said before turning around to see me taking a bite of the remains of the muffin. "Uhm...how..."

"I managed to stole it from Lukas before leaving, didn't eat anything this morning," I replied before she could even ask her question to know how I got my hands on that precious muffin. "Well now, we'll know where he is going to hide," I exclaimed, getting my eyes on the tracking device.

"Yes but now, we should go back to Century House, we'll be better," Park suggested before she hand over on my lap the device, letting her control to start the car, putting our seatbelts first as I was thinking of what happened in that pub...

I love when a little improvised plan comes together...

[clumsyclifford]

if you're still taking prompts “i haven’t seen him smile like that in ages.” with emo lashton maybe? so perhaps emo lashton having a good day i guess 😅 i love them so much sorry if you want just change this to normal lashton 🙈 -fiancee

emo lashton having a GOOD DAY i think you’re messing with the entire natural order of the world fiancee i dont even think this is legally allowed but i tried my best for you. also this fic includes a secret shoutout to @reveriesofawriter & her long way home theory so.......yeah

-

The thing about feeling bad is that Ashton always forgets that it ends. 

When it’s him, it’s so easy to lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel in favor of shutting his eyes and drowning in the darkness of it, sinking as deep as he can go until the pit of his stomach reaches the floor, until the soles of his feet hit rock bottom. Under the heavy weight of bad days, bad weeks, it always slips Ashton’s mind that it won’t always be this dismal. There’s an all-encompassing fact to his depression, so that when it sinks its teeth in it swallows Ashton up whole, and he thinks this is it, there’s only this, it’ll be just like this for the rest of my life, and it’s in those times that Ashton wonders if he shouldn’t just maybe cut that timeline short.

But he has to grit his teeth and bear it, because that’s really not an option for him. So he shoulders his own weight, and then one day he finds himself cracking a smile at a funny joke, and the realization strikes like a hammer, that this is the end of the darkness, for now. The tunnel has finally opened up, and the sun is starting to shine again, and Ashton feels dizzy with freedom.

The feeling of floating after being bogged down by the absolute bitch that is depression is relieving, no doubt. But there’s nothing compared to watching Luke get that feeling.

Ashton recognizes the signs of a crash as soon as it happens. Normally maybe he wouldn’t, but he’s so attuned to Luke, these days especially, that when something shifts, Ashton feels it. It’s small at first, and gets worse; Luke doesn’t really talk when they have dinner, and then he just stops coming to dinner. Ashton sees him around the house less and less, and makes a habit of knocking on his bedroom door just to hear the monotonous, “Yeah,” just to be sure Luke’s still inside, breathing. There’s no use trying to prise Luke from his misery — Ashton knows how listless Luke can be, how heavy he must feel — and all Ashton can do is tap subtle reminders into the doorframe that he’s here, if Luke needs him. 

(One way or another, Luke always needs him. Selfishly, Ashton is glad, because God knows he needs Luke more than is probably good for him, and this way it’s at least a two-way street.)

In the dark fog clouding the house, Ashton rigidly maintaining his role of caretaker, they both forget their plans.

“Alex.”

Alex's smile becomes tinged with uncertainty. “Ashton!”

“You’re at our house,” Ashton says slowly, racking his brain for a reason why.

Alex furrows his brow. He’s brought his guitar, Ashton notices, and it hits like a fucking freight train.

“Aren’t we writing?” Alex asks, and Ashton slaps his palm against his forehead.

“Fuck. Shit, we so are. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I totally forgot. I’m so sorry, man.”

Alex grins. “No problem. I’ve been there. You want me to go, or…?”

“No, no, you’re here already. Sorry. Come in.” Ashton glances behind him as Alex crosses the threshold and the door swings shut. Luke is in his room. Luke’s been in his room all day, and for most of yesterday too. Fuck. If he’d remembered he would have rescheduled with Alex, but now Alex is here, and Ashton likes to hang out with him even if they can’t get much done. Besides, Ashton likes writing with Alex.

It just feels wrong without Luke, but — whatever. Life has to go on. 

“Let me just,” Ashton says, feeling frazzled. Alex laughs.

“You’re high-strung today,” he observes, and Ashton runs a hand through his hair, feeling kind of embarrassed.

“Yeah. Uh, maybe. Sorry. Let me grab Luke, um, if I can.” He bites his lip. “He might not want to…he’s kind of, um.” Ashton trails off, but Alex picks up the thread anyway, and nods soberly.

“It’s cool,” he says.

“I’ll just check,” Ashton says, and leaves Alex in the living room, setting up his guitar, while he disappears to the back of the house to drum his fingers against Luke’s door.

“Luke?”

Luke pulls the door open, and Ashton breathes a sigh of relief without meaning to. Luke’s in the cotton t-shirt and joggers that he sleeps in, and his hair is unruly. Ashton resists the urge to reach out and fix it, and then thinks fuck it and reaches out anyway. He’s missed seeing Luke. There are dark circles under his eyes, and if Ashton peers further into the room he can spy Luke’s laptop open on the bed and his songwriting notebook next to it.

Luke says, “Alex is here. I know, I heard.” He leans into Ashton’s touch when Ashton rearranges his hair, and Ashton leaves his hand cupping Luke’s crown even after he’s finished fixing it up.

“You wanna join us?” he offers quietly. “It’s fine if you don’t. Alex will —”

“No, I will,” Luke sighs. “I should.” 

“Don’t do us any favors,” Ashton says, joking but also serious. “Honestly, Luke.”

“I’m coming,” Luke says firmly. He rubs his eyes with the heels of his palm — almost childishly, Ashton thinks — and says, “Give me a minute to, like.” He gestures vaguely, kind of towards himself.

“Okay,” Ashton says, because he knows too well how it feels to be babied when he’s set his mind to something, and it’s too frustrating for words. Luke is an adult. If he says he’s fine, Ashton has to trust that.

“He’s coming,” Ashton relays when he returns to the living room. Alex is sitting on the couch, messing around. Ashton gets snatches of familiar tunes, but Alex switches it up before he can put a name to them.

“Is everything okay?” Alex asks. Ashton shakes his head, smiling wryly.

“That’s the wrong question,” he says, and exhales loudly. “Everything will be okay. We’ll be fine.”

Alex gives a short nod. “I get it,” he says, and Ashton believes him.

Luke appears then, bundled up in a hoodie that once belonged to Ashton and the same joggers. “Hey,” he greets Alex, with a smile that doesn’t really reach his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries, man,” Alex says, hopping to his feet to pull Luke into a hug. Ashton half expects Luke to jerk away, but Luke sinks into it, and Alex maybe hugs him tighter than usual. 

When they break apart, Alex says, “There’s something I want to show you guys, actually. I forgot I had this here, but — it’s all in my 5SOS book.”

“Your 5SOS book?” Ashton repeats, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Luke sits beside him, and Alex stares at them for a moment before shaking his head.

“You know I’m, like, a grown-up, right? I shouldn’t be forced to sit on the floor with you spry motherfuckers.” Despite this, he eases himself to the carpet, stretching his legs out next to Ashton’s knee. He retrieves a familiar notebook from inside his guitar case — Ashton recognizes it from past writing sessions. “My 5SOS notebook,” Alex explains, waving it at them. “Where I put all the stuff I write with you guys.”

“Aw, he has a notebook just for us,” Ashton coos, nudging Luke gently with his shoulder. Luke huffs a tired laugh.

“I’m organized,” Alex says pointedly. Ashton grins. “Anyway, I was looking through it when you went to get Luke, and it has all the stuff from our first writing sessions ever, remember that? Five hundred years ago, or something?”

“Something like that,” Luke says. Ashton rests a hand on Luke’s knee, almost unconsciously.

“Long Way Home,” Alex muses, and hands off the notebook to Ashton. “You almost made me cry with that one.”

“What?” Luke says dimly. The page is covered in scribbles, many of them crossed out, and it’s faded with time and wear. Still, Ashton can make out Alex’s messy handwriting — Long Way Home (?) across the top, and underneath, (love song to the boys).

“Not in a bad way,” Alex says. “It was just — I don’t know. It’s like watching your kid sibling enter high school. I’d already done it, and seeing you guys do it — I mean, I knew you’d be a smash. I wished I’d had someone telling me, you know, take it slow. You don’t need to grow up so fast.” Ashton studies the page, Luke peering over his shoulder at the words. REMEMBER: SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! it says under the song title, and immediately beneath that, no one let these boys grow up before they’re ready. “I know it’s your song, but I like to think of it as my song to you,” Alex says, and when Ashton looks up at him he’s grinning shamelessly, but there’s not a hint of insincerity on his face.

“You wrote this about us?” Luke repeats, incredulous, running his fingers over the page as reverently as if it were the Bible, instead of some ratty ten-year-old notebook.

“Kind of,” Alex says. “You wrote it about yourself. I just helped.”

“The bridge,” Ashton remembers. “We’re just taking it slow. You wrote that part. You fucking sneak.”

Luke shakes his head, and when Ashton turns to look he’s smiling. This one isn’t like the one from before; it goes far past his eyes, pulling up every part of his face, loosening muscles that have probably been stagnating for weeks. 

“I just thought you might want to know,” Alex says. “I played it for the band — mine, I mean — and the moment they heard it, they knew. But, you know. We get it. We got it then, and we get it now.” A hint of timidity now curves itself into Alex’s smile. It’s not a familiar look. “I don’t think you really did take it slow, actually. Ignored your own music and shot straight to fame, but whatever, it’s none of my business.”

Luke actually laughs. The sound goes straight to Ashton’s heart, gives it wings, eases an ache he hadn’t even really known he’d had, and the energy of the room shifts. Ashton thinks maybe he’s the only one who feels it, but it’s definitely different.

“We’re taking it slow now,” Luke offers, sweeping a hand around the room. The other hand settles on top of Ashton’s, on his knee. Unthinkingly, Ashton flips his palm up, threading their fingers together. “Just took us some time to realize we needed it.” 

“Well, better late than never.”

“Yeah,” Luke says. It seems mostly to himself.

“So,” Ashton says. “Not that that wasn’t super sentimental, and I will be needing photos to send to Mike and Calum, but I feel like we should maybe try to write?”

“Yeah, okay. Give it back.” Alex snatches his notebook back, flips to a blank page, pulls out a pencil.

“Let me grab my guitar,” Luke says, and pushes himself to his feet, abruptly severing the connection between their hands. Alex’s eyes travel around the room, but Luke’s guitar is missing from its usual spot on the wall.

“It’s in his room,” Ashton explains. Luke drags his fingers across Ashton’s scalp as he leaves, a tingling trail in their wake. 

“He’s been pretty bad, huh,” Alex says in a low voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so…”

“Listless?” Ashton suggests bitterly. “I know. He’s been bad. But that was good. I haven’t seen him smile like that in ages.”

Alex shakes his head. “I was so worried that this would happen to you,” he says. His tone is almost mournful. “Maybe I should have done something more, I just thought —”

“Dude, stop,” Ashton says. “There’s really no point. You’re not responsible for us. As much as you probably wish you were. We made these decisions, and this is our life. It’s not all bad. It’s not even mostly bad.” At Alex’s skeptical expression, Ashton rectifies, “It’s usually better. You caught us at a rough time.” 

“I’m sorry,” Alex says.

“Don’t be sorry. Fuck, man, just don’t be sorry for anything.” It’s pointless, is the thing, and Ashton had meant what he said. Alex isn’t responsible for their growing up. Nobody is but themselves, and — and despite everything, despite the burning, piercing anguish that sometimes balloons in his chest, threatening to drown him, if he could go back he wouldn’t really change anything. There are downs, and they are low; but there are also ups, and those are too high to surrender. Ashton knows he’s lucky. If he’s going to be depressed, he may as well be doing the job of his dreams.

“I’m smarter than you, you know,” Alex says, with a hint of a mocking smile teasing at his lips. “And so much older.”

“More susceptible to damage, you mean. Let’s see you crowdsurf nowadays, grandpa.”

“I’m seriously gonna fucking poison you.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“I know where you live, you —” 

“That’s nothing, I could gather your whole band —”

“Just because your band fucked off to Australia —” 

“Alright, lads,” Luke interjects, returning with his guitar and the notebook Ashton had seen on his bed. “Enough fighting over me. I assume that’s what was happening.”

“If it was, I think I was winning,” Alex says immediately.

“Doubt it,” Luke says. “Not likely to leave Ashton that easily, am I?”

Alex inclines his head. He knows when he’s been beaten, evidently. “I surrender,” he says.

Ashton looks at Luke, and Luke is deliberately not looking at him, pink staining his cheeks. But the corners of his mouth are tugging themselves unwillingly into a smile, and Ashton breathes out and resists the urge to kiss Luke’s cheek, because he can see the sun coming out, finally, and it’s going to be a beautiful fucking day from here on out.

[marie12141989]

It’s A Cold And It’s A Broken Hallelujah part eighteen

Pairing: Castiel x reader

Word Count: 1628

You stared at the spot where Castiel had been a second ago, there was no way he was gone. He had just been there. He had just been right infront of you, you crawled to the spot where he had been at and started to rub your hands over the floor he had been standing on. Dean watched you with tears rolling down his cheeks not sure what you were doing until he realized that you were talking "Cas? Castiel? Castiel? Castiel! Cas!" you said, as you started crawling around on the floor. Dean lowered his hands and watched as you frantically looked all over the room for said angel, he quickly got up onto his feet when your shouts became screams.

He walked over and put his hands on your back. You spun around ready to fight who ever was coming after you only to realize that it was Dean "Dean. Dean he's gone. He's gone. He's gone! He'sgonehe'sgonehe'sgonehe'sgonehe'sgone!" you shouted as you curled into a ball. Dean felt his heart break all over again while he gathered you up in his arms while he listened to your mantra.

"I know. I know sweetheart. I know." he whispered in your ear. He buried your face in his chest as you let out another scream of agony, he looked up at the ceiling cursing Chuck for taking the one good thing you had probably ever had in your life.

-------------------------------------With-Adam-and-Serafina---------------------------------------------------

Adam was lounging in one of their chairs when he heard Serafina gasp. Worried he got up and quickly rushed to her side. "Sera what's wrong?" he asked when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Castiel." she whispered looking up at him.

"Who?" he asked confused.

"Castiel. He's one of my brothers. He's...........he's gone Adam." she said as more tears fell.

"I didn't know you could sense that." he said surprised.

"Normally I can't tell which of my siblings has died. There's so many of us and I've been gone for so long I've forgotten what most of their grace feels like but Castiel's soulmate. She's in utter agony, it's so stong that every angel can feel it." she told him before she wrapped her arms around Adam's neck before she broke out into sobs herself.

"Well if you can feel it that distinctly I wonder who else can." Adam said while he rubbed her back.

-------------------------------------------In-Heaven----------------------------------------------------------

Every angel stopped and fell to their knees as your sorrow hit them. Naomi let out a gasp as she sank to her knees, she had always laughed at the human expression of feeling like one got hit by a freight train but now she was sure she knew the feeling. "Naomi what's going on? I feel so strange." one of the male angels asked.

"Castiel. He's gone." she whispered. The angel blinked at her in confusion.

"He's died before. What makes this so different?" he asked not understanding.

"I don't think he's coming back. And his soulmate is unknowingly letting all of us know. What we're feeling right now must be her sorrow." Naomi said. Suddenly she felt something wet on her cheek and she wiped at it to see water on her finger. She stared at the wet spot in surprise before she realized that there was more water on her cheeks.

"Naomi. You're crying." the angel pointed out. She looked up at him while taking several deep breaths.

"So are you. I wonder if we're being made to grieve with her." Naomi said as she wiped more tears away with the sleeve of her coat.

------------------------------------------With-Chuck/Amara----------------------------------------------------

Chuck was walking through a park when he felt it, his steps faltered for a second and he looked down at his left foot in surprise. He was still getting use to sharing a body with Amara and if the two of them weren't in sync something would go wrong. "What the hell?" he muttered when he realized that her side had stopped. Suddenly he found himself kneeling on the ground. "Amara what is wrong with you?" he growled in annoyance.

"Castiel. He's gone. He's your child! Don't you care that your son is gone brother?!?" Amara demanded.

"He was a failed attempt at the perfect angel. What ever happened to him is what he deserved." Chuck said trying to play off that he did feel a small pang in his chest when he felt Castiel being taken. He let out a chuckle as he reached up with his right hand and wiped away a stray tear from his left cheek. "Come now sister. There's no reason for this." he said before forcing his body to comply once again.

---------------------------------------------Back-At-The-Bunker-----------------------------------------------

Dean had never felt as helpless as he did at that moment, Sam was in his room mourning losing Eileen once again while you sat on the floor catatonic. Eventually he helped you up off of the floor and the two of you slowly shuffled to your room. "Let me know if you need anything okay?" he asked while looking you in the eyes. You just nodded your head yes before walking into your room. Dean stood a few feet away not sure if he should actually leave you alone or not before he headed off to another part of the bunker, he figured that he would leave you alone for about fifteen or so minutes before he would check on you and Sam once again.

You slowly looked around your room while wiping at both your eyes and your nose, this isn't how Cas would want you to be. He would want you to pull through and move on with your life even if you were pretty sure that it wasn't possible right now. You were straightening up some things to try and take your mind off of what had just happened when you saw one of his pairs of pants on the floor "Castiel if you were here I'd be chewing you out right now. I told you a million times to throw your dirty clothes in the basket." you mumbled to yourself before picking them up. You checked the pockets for anything and felt something in the right pocket. In confusion you grabbed it and pulled it out to see a small square jewlery box, it just added to your confusion since he knew that you didn't wear earrings to often due to the risk of them being ripped out and causing damage being to high.

It was to small to have a necklace in it or bracelet in it "I don't wear rings either. Why would he get this?" you wondered out loud before opening the box up. You let out a gasp and the box fell from your hands, you covered your mouth and stared down at the ring that was sitting in the cushion of the box. You remembered about a year ago when you had been on a hunt with him and the two of you had stopped at a jewelry store. You had been looking at a few engagement rings and while the two of you were waiting for the jeweler to come back with the info you needed the two of you talked about the different kinds of jewelry you liked. He had remembered exactly what kind of engagement ring you would of liked to have if anyone had ever wanted to propose to you and he had gone out and got it for you.

You bent down and picked the box up before looking over the ring. You pulled it out of the pillow and slid it onto your finger, it was a perfect fit. You dropped the box again and put one hand on the floor to brace yourself. You didn't know when he had been planning on asking but something told you that since he had it on him at some point he had wanted to do it in the near future and had just never got around to asking. You climbed up onto your bed and layed down on his side of the bed, you buried your face in his pillow and took several deep breaths.

You knew that eventually the smell would fade away and that eventually you would forget what he smelled like. That thought terrified you, if you forgot what he smelled like would you forget the sound of his voice too? Would you forget how blue his eyes were or how much you loved running your fingers through his soft hair. You wondered what else about him you would forget before it was finally your turn to cross over. And then you wondered, would you be stuck in Heaven? Would you just be stuck in an endless loop of reliving "your best memories" or would someone take pity on you and send you to the empty instead?

Would any of this even matter if you couldn't beat Chuck? And then to your horror you realized that if Chuck had his way it definitely wouldn't matter because if he succeeded in "fixing" Castiel you would mean nothing to him. You would rather die a thousand times over than never be with him again, even with all of the ups and downs. You looked at the ring on your finger one last time before you looked up at the ceiling "Michael........please........help us............we need help...........Michael." you called out, you weren't surprised when you didn't get any reply. You let out a sad laugh before turning your head away you were so busy cursing him in your head that you didn't hear the soft flutter of wings and you didn't sense the other person in your room now until you felt a hand softly touch your arm.

"Y/N?" came Michael's voice.