#*we return to smoking in silence with a new understanding between us*

[manonblackbaek]

Moonlit Promise

Gwynriel — One-Shot

In the moonlight, Gwyn and Azriel confess what is burning within them and a promise is made to soothe their souls.

Word count: 1.431

a/n: keep in mind that this work is deeply inspired by M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Village’ (2004), and was made for the Gwynriel Weeks 2024 @gwynrielweeksofficial (doesn’t follow a specific prompt tho)

hope you like it <3

Gwyn doesn’t hear him arriving. His wings are silent, and his feet are light. But she knows he’s outside her bedroom chamber.

His light shines differently than the moonlight. It’s just as tenuous and pure. But more bluish. Not exactly cobalt like his siphons, but teal—like her eyes. Like Nesta, Azriel has a light that surrounds him that only Gwyn can see. She doesn’t understand that aspect of her powers yet, but that is something friends and her are trying to unveil. Nesta’s light is ruby-fire. Beautiful and fitting for her.

But his light through her stained-glass windows makes wonders to the colored glass. Instantly her room is a rainbow of colors. Instantly, she’s restless. Instantly, she can’t force herself to sleep.

Gwyn walks out, barefoot with only a shawl over her white night dress. She moves toward Azriel who sits on the balcony railing, overseeing Velaris, the City of Starlight. She’s still not used to the view, and is amazed by it every time she comes up the House of Wind. In her heart she hopes to never take that beauty view for granted.

He turns as she sits down next to him, throwing her legs over the railing.

“I heard the Inner Circle is going to have an inquiry tomorrow. Each member of Velaris is to be questioned in the meeting hall,” she says.

“Yes,” Azriel says. “To see how the border was breached.”

His breath turns to smoke as he speaks. There was an attack that afternoon, creatures attacked the city and some suspects that someone inside might have invited them in. That’s why she’s spending the night at Nesta’s house.

Gwyn shivers, but she isn’t scared—not with Az here—and doesn’t feel cold. Something inside her is burning, glowing.

“It is cold outside,” Azriel says. “You ought to go in.”

She pulls her shawl closer. “Why are you on this balcony?”

“It is not safe.”

She smiles. “There are other balconies.”

There is a moment of silence. She notices that he’s tense and disturbed by what happened earlier, so Gwyn searches for something to say, to distract him and help if she can.

“Nesta and Cassian’s mating ceremony was beautiful. I’m glad I went. I’ve always loved music and singing, but I fell in love with dancing that night. Cassian danced with me. He’s a good dancer and taught me some of his techniques.” She laughs quietly, remembering how happy she felt having fun with her friends. “You’re a good dancer too. I saw you dancing with Nesta and the High Lady.”

“Did I?”

“You did. But you didn’t dance with me.”

He doesn’t react. She isn’t surprised.

“I met many people that night. I liked that too. The priestess and the acolytes are good company, but I miss meeting new friends. Nesta’s sister was there, she’s very sweet—and her mate was there as well. They were acting very oddly, but I understand. I’m sure they’ll sort things out in no time.” Gwyn looked at Azriel, and whispered. “Do you know how I know?”

He shook his head lightly, “How?” he asked.

“Sometimes we don’t do things we want to do, so that others won’t know we want to do them.” The wind is the only sound around them as Azriel’s shadows dance around her feet, curling around her ankles and calf. “They never touch,” she says, quietly. “They didn’t even dance that night. And their eyes never met, one would stop looking right before the other turned to look. I guess they’re scared to act on what they feel, scared to reach a point of no return. All mates must feel that way, don’t you think?”

Az considers for a moment and says, “I can see that.”

Azriel must be thinking of Nesta and Cassian and how long it took them to accept the bond between them, as well as with the High Lord and Lady of the Night Court, as she was told. When she looks sideways at him, he’s staring at her, and she feels completely exposed before his eyes. They had never once talked about mates and… about them.

The moment is so intense she can’t breathe properly. So she blurts out, “Do you find me too much of a tomboy?”

Azriel frowns and shakes his head lightly, “No.”

In all fairness, it is a ridiculous question, but hopefully it’ll whisk his attention away from the previous topic. Gwyn has always been prone to be talkative whenever nervous.

Gwyn looks up at the sky. Hearth hammering, cheeks red, and says, “I do long to do boy things,” she confides. In a whisper, she says, “Like that game the Illyrian boys play at the stump at the camp. Cassian told us that they put their backs to the woods, to the creatures that might be there, and see how long they can wait before getting scared.” She leans forward and looks at the immense height beneath them. “It's so exciting.” Gwyn glances sideways towards Azriel, he’s not looking at her anymore, but his wings are higher, ready to fly—ready to catch her if she falls. There’s a little smile on her lips when she continues softly, “I understand you hold the record. It will never be broken, Cassian said.”

Azriel gives a small shrug. “It's just children's games.”

Gwyn rests her face on her shoulder and looks directly at him. “How is it you are so brave when all the rest of us are fearful all the time?”

He meets her eyes, and says, “I do not worry about what will happen. Only what needs to be done.”

She opens her mouth to say more, but he speaks before she can utter another word.

“How did you know I was here?” Azriel asks.

“I saw your light through the window.” He blinks, and she sees the curiosity in his eyes. “No, I won't tell you your color.” Gwyn smiles, “Stop asking.”

The wind blows stronger, and she sees snowflakes move all around them. One of his shadows darts forward fast to touch one, before coming back towards her to play with the end of her braid.

It’s a beautiful sight, she thinks. How his light and his shadows dance around as one. The burning sensation in her chest intensifies at the image before her. The beautiful winged male with shadows and lights dancing around his body, as he bathes in moonlight at her side. She feels more content and brave than ever.

In a moment of recklessness, looking at the shadow playing with her hair, she says, “When we are mated, will you dance with me?”

He chokes and looks at her, eyes wide. He doesn’t say anything.

She doesn’t meet his eyes when she says, “I find dancing very agreeable.”

Gwyn counts her heartbeats as she waits for his answer, for something, whatever it may be.

He doesn’t say anything.

Impatient and shyly, she asks, “Why can’t you say what is in your head?”

“Why can you not stop saying what is in yours?” Azriel says abruptly.

Gwyn is surprised by the strength in Azriel's voice. She looks at him, his face is flushed with color and his eyes burn with something she cannot name.

His shadows pause, listening and waiting.

“Why must you lead, when I want to lead? If I want to dance, I will ask you to dance. If I want to speak, I will open my mouth and speak. Everyone is forever plaguing me to speak further. Why? What good is it to tell you, you are in my every thought from the time I wake? What good can come from my saying I sometimes cannot think clearly or do my work properly? What gain can rise from my telling you the only time I feel fear as others do is when I think of you in harm?”

She can’t breathe. Azriel looks as if he can’t either.

“That is why I am on this balcony, Gwyneth Berdara. I fear for your safety before all others.” His confession makes her insides burn. He looks at her as if something in him is burning too. “And yes,” he says softly. “I will dance with you at our mating ceremony.”

As Gwyn sits in the moonlight, unable to move, to say anything, tears stream down her cheeks. A scarred hand reaches out and wipes a tear. His touch causes more tears to fall.

So Azriel strokes the end of her braid and leans forward and kisses Gwyneth Berdara on her bedroom balcony at the House of Wind.

thank you for reading <3 you can find me on ao3 here https://archiveofourown.org/works/54568846

[evscribe]

“So it’s like when female ghouls are in heat?” Aether asked. 

“What? No!” They said, a pained groan quickly following. Y/N crumbled into the large pillow in their lap.

“But you said this happens because your body wants a baby.” His dark eyes looked at Y/N utterly confused. 

“That’s an oversimplification.” Their voice muffed by the soft fabric their face was buried in. Aether sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He wanted to understand so he could comfort them and make them feel better. Who wouldn’t want to when your partner has been a crying and pained mess for going on four days? 

“It feels like it could be a heat sometimes but it’s not. Something about my uterus shedding so a new egg can attach.” Y/N explained. Their head lifted and teary eyes met his. 

“There’s an egg?” His brows furrowed as he reached over to wipe away the tears that streaked across their cheeks.

“It’s a microscopic thing that turns into cells and then later into a baby. It's not what you think.”  They explained, hands clutching the pillow so hard their knuckles were white. A small acknowledgment leaves Aether’s lips, before his hand moves to rub their back. A gesture of comfort that typically Y/N loved. His warmth, even through the shirt they wore, seemed to alleviate an inking of the ache in their back. A soft sign left them. For once they were grateful for how warm the ghoul ran. Aether notices this and pulls them into his lap. Their back pulled firmly to his chest. 

“I guess neither of us have a good grasp on the other's anatomy, huh?” He asked, resting his head cautiously against theirs.

“I guess not.” They comment before another wave of agonizing cramps washed over them yet again. It’s moments of silence before the pain starts to diminish. Aether’s strong arms wrapped around Y/N’s waist start to unwind before they stop him. Their smaller hands halting his movements. 

“Please don’t,” It was a quiet request. Had the room not been silent he likely would have missed it. “Your warmth and pressure are the only iota of relief I have right now.” 

“We can go to the infirmary. The nurse will have something to help.” He recommended. There was a tinge of desperation in his voice. Y/N shook their head. Aether knew of their history and understood their decision, but he hoped they would make this exception. 

“Is there anything else that could help?” He couldn’t help the tilt of his head.  

“Not unless you have a blunt,” they said before a small groan left them. “or two.”

Aether thought for a minute. He rarely ever smoked outside of the parties he and other ghouls threw and it was always within the comforts of the ghouls’ shared den if not here in his room. 

“Cirrus or Sunshine might. Will you be okay if I go find out?” Y/N gave a nod in reply before inching out of his lap. When they are out of his grasp he rushes to the ghoulettes quarters not far from his own. Y/N could indistinctly hear a conversation outside of Aether’s room, but couldn’t muster enough energy to listen. Y/N curled into themself willing that the agonizing cramps and torturous ache throughout their body would cease. With a small creak of the door Aether had returned. Y/N eyes find his face , a proud smile there with fangs almost glinting in the low light of the room. 

“Cirrus sends gifts.” He tells them, holding two carefully wrapped blunts delicately between his pointer and middle finger. 

“Blessed be.” Y/N murmurs, sitting up again. Aether finds a spot on the unmade bed yet again, producing a lighter from his pocket before passing it and the blunts to them. They set one on his bedside table before putting the other between their lips and lighting it. Y/N couldn’t help the greedy inhale they took before passing it to Aether. The slow haze starting to course through their body and mind. The blunt was effortlessly passed between the two for what seemed like forever and no time. The pain of cramps faded into a dull twinge and the body ache paused by the time the expertly wrapped blunt had become a meager example of what it once was. Aether put out the barely lit roach between his pointer and thumb. 

“How ya feelin’?” Aether asked, his head cocking to his right.

“Better.” Y/N admitted with a smile. Their eyes were now cloudy and half lidded. It was a refreshing difference from the past few days. 

“Can I ask you a likely invasive question?” Y/N asked, almost mindlessly.

“Sure.” Aether says with a chuckle. Y/N loved information and where capable Aether loved helping them fill in the gaps. 

“You said female ghouls have heats, right? Is it fair to assume males have ruts?” They asked. Had they not been high whilst asking this question they would have been a blushing mess, avoiding his eyes like the plague, and tugging at their sleeve, but there was no tinge of shame or embarrassment in their voice. 

“Yeah, once every moon cycle. Mine typically hits around the first quarter.”  Aether admits off-handedly. 

“Is that why you disappear for like 3 days each month?”  Surprises and amusement registers across their face. 

“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle.

“Holy shit,  I never would’ve guessed.” A hazy giggle from them makes Aether’s heart skip a beat. 

“What did you think I was doing?” He asks, leaning back on his elbows.

“I dunno, “ Y/N shrugs. “Whatever ghouls do I guess. 

“What do you think ghouls do, Birdie?” he asked, feigning incredulousness 

“Varying amount of fuck shit.” They said falling over, bursting into laughter. It was contagious and made his chest swell. Their smile was almost all teeth while their hair now gently splayed over their face, eyes screwed shut with amusement. Something about seeing them so unabashedly happy after days of misery made him sentimental. Aether couldn't find it in himself to look away even when their laughter came to an end. Y/N raised a brow at him questionably as they sat up again. Their eyes meeting his. 

“What's up?” They asked softly, a lingering amused smile still on their lips.

“It's just nice to see you feeling better.” He admitted. It was only a half truth and Y/N could see through it easily. 

“There's more to it than that. Fess up.” They said as they eyed him in playful suspicion. 

“Are you calling me a liar?” He asked as he placed his hand over his heart in feign hurt. 

“Lying is beneath you, Aeth, but I know you definitely aren't being entirely truthful.” They admit straightforwardly. He seemed to contemplate how to respond as his hand took their's. He let out a sigh before speaking again, 

”I love you, Birdie.“ He admitted softly before pressing a kiss into their palm. A wide smile cracks Y/N's face as they reach towards him to pull him close. Their faces are mere inches from his. 

”I love you too.“ They admit proudly before pressing a kiss to his lips that he almost instinctively reciprocates. The two only break apart when they find themselves out of breath. 

“Yanno you're the most sentimental ghoul I've ever met.” Y/N tells him as the smile returns to their lips, causing him to laugh. 

“I'll take that as a compliment.” 

”As you should.“ Y/N says. 

[deanstudies101]

4x01, Lazarus Rising

[Easily top 5 episodes. Possibly favourite episode <3] 

Critical theory: Faith. 3 acts, 3 colour pallets.

Discussion point/question(s): How does this rate as a character introduction? How can we see this relationship developing (using what you know, of course, but also try to think beyond that)? What do we think this “work” is going to be? Autistic readings go. 

Key quotes: All of it. Cas, “This is your problem, Dean. You have no faith.”; Cas, “What’s the matter? You don’t think you deserve to be saved.” 

Further reading:

No one can save you / He can [aka the post I genuinely cry about on a weekly basis] (@slaygentford)

3 acts, 3 colour pallets (@calamitysong)

Intimacy + lack of music (@tsurangaconundrum)

Wing, positive, no smoke [please do not underestimate the lengths I went to to find this post from 10 years ago <3] (@fairydustedtheory via @heavenandhellcastiel)

Discussion: 

Never considered that he was possessing someone. He’s not some human-looking thing. He’s a cosmic being possessing someone. Iga, but as far as I know, Cas dies like a bunch of times. What happens to the guy he’s possessing? Does he die? Need to know more about the guy he’s possessing. Is he aware? Awake? 

Kai, we’ve been talking about Dean’s faith in his dad, and wondering if that’s in a self-sabotage way. Because he knows how that goes, and because he can’t have faith that good things will happen. 

Oh boy he came out swinging. Thee strongest introduction a character has had, possibly ever. [Imagine not knowing. Imagine watching that live. Christ.] 

Re: intimacy. The contrast between the silence and the noise works so well. Because it’s silent, the noise hits. 

Re: acts [I commented when we began a new act]. Iga, act one white, act two neon and red, act three white, greyish-blue-white. It gives stuff-hell-stuff again. Kai, struggled to differentiate the colours, but there were vibes. One, Dean on his own, two Sam interlude, three back to Dean. [I showed them the post and talked about how this feels very elemental. Dean/earth (especially as we. Literally watch him crawl out of the earth), Sam/fire, Cas/air.] 

He keeps saying he’s forgotten hell, but we know he hasn’t. He’s not fine. He’s gonna have nightmares flashbacks etc. He remembers. Looking forward to that evolving.

Re; framing. Iga, so this episode was just a masterpiece. [Yes.]

Re: relationship development. Iga, Cas is quite soft and already sees Dean / understands him, and Dean will be shut off for a while, but eventually open up. Kai, Cas is so sincere right out of the gate, which is so opposite to what Dean is. And Dean can’t push that away, can’t lie about his feelings, because Cas is so earnest. Cas already sees Dean, sees his feelings. Everyone always dismisses Dean’s feelings, but Cas? Already no. 

Autistic readings. Earnestness. Sincerity. Jokey social stuff goes right over his head. No small talk. Only gripped you tight and raised you from perdition. [eye contact personal space kubrick stare volume control awkward movements tone of voice blunt statements etc] 

[Returning to meta, it’s worth noting that if a) Dean wasn’t supposed to go to hell, then b) Cas was not supposed to be in this story. Angels were not supposed to be in this story but Cas was not supposed to be in this story. Something we will be thinking about on and off throughout the remainder of the show is this; Cas, by simply existing, is questioning the authority of the narrative, the fabric of the narrative. Yes, queer and autistic readings are relevant here.] [That lil guy.] Iga, that lil guy is gay. Kai, and autistic. Iga, that lil guy is us. He’s gay, autistic, and wants to fuck Dean. 

Re: work. Iga, assumes it’s putting the demons back into hell, fighting evil things. That's what he’s good at, that’s what he does. God’s specialist little boy died and they needed to bring him back. Kai, he’s just Cas’ special little boy, and Cas brought him out to fall in love with him. Iga, Sam is hell’s special little boy, it would be hilarious if Dean is heaven’s special little boy. Would that make them enemies? Is it Dean’s job to look out for Sam [more than before] to stop him going evil? 

Notes: :) I’m happy :) 

[farore-or-less]

WIP Wednesday

Today’s Wednesday, right? 🫠 Anyways, here’s a snippet of the fic I hope to post on Friday!

“I don’t remember very much, only… that you were there for me when I needed someone the most.” Through those shaggy bangs, Vash glances at her before shyly looking away, blue eyes falling on the dashboard in front of them. “I never told anyone the things I can remember, not even Lina.” He looks at her again, and holds her gaze this time. “I never told anyone I remember the roots.” 

Meryl stares at him, stiff in the seat as the cigarette burns and the smoke fills the heavy silence. As much as it used to make her gag, how she once saw smoke as only a trail that led to rubble and burning and demolition, her view isn’t exactly so black and white anymore. Smoke is a way to purify, a chance to cleanse the air of stagnant nullity and give it meaning, breathing new air into barren spaces that need healing.

A slow breath is shared between them, and Meryl places her free hand on his thigh. It’s a comfort, an extension of compassion and understanding when the right words don’t come quick enough, and without hesitation, Vash extends the gratitude in return by placing his hand on top of hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. His eyes are cast down at their hands when he speaks again.

“I don’t know where we were or why there were roots coming out of me,” he shakes his head, strands of blonde hair shielding his face. “I thought it was a nightmare for the longest time, but I just… it clicked just now. It’s in my memories. I know it was real.”

She swallows. “Why do you think you remember now, all of a sudden?”

The eyes of a puppy, soft and pleading, rise up to look at her, says, “because I’ve been hearing your voice for two years.”

[dimigex]

hey just wondering if there’s a rough idea on the next instalment of healing hands 😍

Precious Anon, I was literally working on it when I got this message. I feel all the guilt that the new chapter isn't out because it's been ages. I will say that it started around a few thousand words and it's almost 14K now (oops). Since the wait has been so long, there's a sneak peak under the cut! <3 <3 <3

Ignoring the question, Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. “Tell me about the mission.” 

Kakashi raised one shoulder in a shrug. “It’s an S-ranked Anbu mission. You know I can’t give you the details.” 

“Well then, you also know I can’t clear him.” Sakura raised her chin to meet Kakashi’s dark, guarded gaze. As much as their friendship had developed over the past few months, he still managed to needle under her skin with little effort. Huffing out a frustrated breath, she continued. “How can you give me mission details when you send me the broken shinobi afterward, but not let me know what to expect? How does that make any sense?” 

The tense silence between them stretched for a moment as Kakashi formulated his response. Then, he sighed. “We have intel that a hideout belonging to Orochimaru is showing—” 

“You want to send him back to Orochimaru,” Sakura burst out, unable to contain her incredulity. “After everything he’s been through? How could you possibly think that’s a good idea?”

The lines across Kakashi’s forehead deepened, and Sakura realized that she might have revealed more about her relationship with Tenzo than she meant to. They wouldn’t have had much reason to talk about his past, especially since she had him on leave for medical reasons. But, as the Anbu medic, she had access to his file. Tenzo had admitted that much of what he’d told her was recorded inside. It wouldn’t have been unlikely that Sakura read it. 

Whatever conclusion Kakashi came to about the information, he kept his opinion to himself. “An abandoned research laboratory on the outskirts of the Land of Fire has been showing activity: disappearances, strange noises, and smoke. I need someone to secure the facility.” 

Refusing to be swayed, Sakura inclined her head. “And, you have dozens of Anbu who aren’t currently on leave. Send one of them.” 

The idea of sending Tenzo back to one of the facilities that he’d been trapped in as a child soured Sakura’s stomach. He would understandably be on edge and if something went wrong, it would set back weeks worth of hard work. Considering his slip with alcohol the night before, and the night terrors that came with it, Sakura couldn’t risk returning him to the field, not yet. He wasn’t ready. She had to find a way to protect him without damaging his trust again. 

“Sakura,” Kakashi chided, voice taking on the tone he’d used when trying to make her see reason as a genin. It hadn’t worked then either. “There are people disappearing, a couple of them were kids. If anyone knows how Orochimaru operates and how to capture him, it’s Yamato.” 

The plea tugged at Sakura’s heartstrings, but Tenzo needed just as much protection as those missing children did. If something went wrong, as it so often did on missions, she wasn’t sure how he’d react. His battered body in the hospital bed after his previous two missions flashed through Sakura’s mind. But, it gave her an idea. “I’ll grant his medical clearance on one condition.” 

The soft snort of disbelief from Kakashi didn’t match the ice in his gaze. “You do understand your input is a recommendation, right? I don’t have to follow your advice.”

“Yet, you keep asking for it,” Sakura countered, meeting Kakashi’s stare without flinching. There were only a few things that would make her stand up to her former sensei, and patient care was one of them. 

“What is your condition?” Kakashi shifted on the couch, a clear mark of discomfort. At least he was willing to entertain the idea. 

Sakura let out a measured breath to gather her courage. There was only way that she’d feel comfortable with Tenzo being back in the field. “Assign me to his team.” 

“Absolutely not.” Kakashi’s answer came almost as soon as the words left Sakura’s lips. “This mission has a high probability of failure, and you are not trained to handle these types of situations.”

Whose fault is that? Sakura managed to keep the question from leaving her lips, but only barely. Anger flooded her system at the implication that she was somehow less because she hadn’t received Anbu training. She had completed S-rank missions before, and her medical ninjutsu rivaled if not surpassed Tsunade’s. “If you’re worried about failure, I’m the best option to get your team out without casualties.” 

“This isn’t a game,” Kakashi growled, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “I know you’re a good medic, the best even, but Yamato’s team won’t cater to you if you can’t keep up.” 

“I don’t need anyone to cater to me.” Sakura gestured at her dirty clothes with one hand as if they explained everything. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I'm in the best physical shape that I’ve ever been.” 

Kakashi shook his head like the fact was of little consequence. “That may be so, but you aren’t Anbu. There won’t be an extraction team if something goes wrong.” 

“You think I don’t know that?” Sakura recalled the harsh reality that she’d witnessed at the hospital and Tenzo’s apartment since returning to the village. “I’m not a scared, untrained genin any longer, Kakashi-sensei.” 

The title melted the ice in Kakashi’s eyes, transforming it into something like pride. “I know, but that doesn’t make you ready for this type of situation.” 

Sakura blew out a tired breath, wondering how many times she’d need to prove herself before someone believed in her. “Because you don’t think I can do it?”  “Because I don’t want you to do it,” Kakashi corrected, leaning close enough for Sakura to see the pale flecks of silver in his eyes. It underscored the sincerity in his voice.

[dryams03]

▷Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 5

Chapter 4 — Chapter 5 — Chapter 6

With his arms chained and a mask covering his mouth and nose to help him breathe, Evil is escorted by four guards to the White Palace, the central hub of the Fangs kingdom and home of their king. The individuals escorting the pale man looked like Sasha when he first met her; instead of legs, they had long shark tails. However, their skin had a grayish hue, and they had gills in the neck area. As they advanced, more beings with human-like features emerged, glaring at the prisoner. Eventually they reached an area filled with enormous buildings, bright lights and several aquatic creatures swimming around. It was like a grand underwater civilization, which they easily traversed as the inhabitants feared the guards and made way for them. At this point, Evil began to understand what the young man had told him earlier about the shape-shifting creatures; many of these beings were more advanced than he had initially believed.

After passing through the city, they stood before a massive silver castle with several watchtowers, covered by a spherical force field. With their arrival an opening was created in the force field for Evil and his captors to enter. After a series of protocols, they arrived before King Dand, a Fang measuring about 3 meters with impressive musculature. He had white skin in the front and black skin in the back, a dorsal fin, dark eyes, a long hair floating over his shoulders, a mouth full of sharp teeth, a blue crown atop his head, and the characteristic gills of his species. He sat on his grand throne, which matched the castle's color, and to his left was a massive black lance with a blade resembling an axe head.

—Your majesty, we have the criminal who has been attacking our citizens —One of the guards reported, bowing before the king and referring to Evil.

—So, this is him, huh? He doesn't seem very threatening —King Dand remarked. Descending from his throne and swimming toward Evil, the Fang grabbed the angel by the hair. —He looks like a mere human to me. —A statement he was about to take back as soon as he noticed Evil's pupil-less eyes. —No, not just a human, something else...- Dand smirked, chuckled and returned to his throne. -Take him away, execute him, and...

—Is there something wrong, my lord? —A guard asked upon seeing his king in total silence while staring intently at the prisoner. The soldier did not know it, but the king was receiving a telepathic message from Evil.

—Believe me, I can be of use to you. As you can see, I'm not just any human; I have abilities. If you spare my life, you'll have a new resource for whatever you might need. —Evil transfered, the monarch seemed reflective about this offer. —Change of plans, take him to the cells and leave him there. Perhaps he'll be useful to us in the future.

They quickly took him to a remote area deep within the kingdom, a complex of high-tech prison structures ensuring that those who entered could not escape, an almost perfect system. When they reached a cell, Evil was left there and a massive metal door covered the entrance, completely trapping him between four walls. Moments later, a device removed the water from the area and took off Evil's chains and breathing mask. After a couple of stretches, he used his powers to create a thick smoke cover and teleported back home. Unfortunately, his house was in ruins; furniture, decorations, books, and various items were destroyed and worst of all, Sasha was nowhere to be found. Evil let out an scream full of wrath and, using his powers, reappeared back in his cell.

Now in the Fang Kingdom's prison, the angel enveloped his body with white light energy, with his supernatural strength, he broke the cell and used the energy to move as fast as a bullet, going towards the castle. When he arrived, he collided with the force field and subsequently separated all the water outside the castle, creating an opening to the surface. Using a water whirlwind, he rose into the skies, where he floated near some clouds, compressing them into rain clouds that began to shoot lightnings. At this point, Evil himself was struck by the energy of the lightning as he stood at the center of the clouds. In an instant, he dispelled the clouds and his body was surrounded by electricity, resembling a walking thunderstorm. His face reflected an incredible rage over Sasha's loss and his suspicion of the Fangs. He was determined to eliminate them mercilessly. He extended his arm toward the castle and released all the energy from the lightning that coursed through his body. Though he couldn't shatter the force field, he left it cracked. Evil dove at high speed and delivered a powerful kick to the weakened area, ultimately shattering the barrier. He then descended into the throne room, destroying roofs and towers along his path. The inhabitants, and even several guards, fled in terror to save their lives far from the area. Finding himself in the king's hall, he saw the king on the floor struggling to breath.

The angel restored the sea, returning the waters to its place. The pale man held his breath and grabbed Dand by the neck. —Where is she? —Interrogating with his mental powers, he searched for Sasha's location in the Fang's memories. Why here? Why them? Evil was convinced it was them, given Sasha's fear. He suspected that they had a past connection and he did not have any other leads.

—I don't know who you're talking about! —Dand replied, confused, visibly angered, and somehow powerless after witnessing such a display of power.

—Don't play dumb with me! —Evil shouted, causing the waters to move violently, knocking down walls. Then, he placed both hands on Dand's face and entered his mind, seeking information. Unfortunately, he found nothing about Sasha. Instead, he discovered the location of the second king, Fog. To buy some time, he shattered Dand's mind, leaving him unconscious.

He quickly shot out of the water and flew towards a vast land of jungles and forests. Controlling the air, he propels himself to glide silently over a palace amidst the jungle, devoid of any signs of a city or villages, unlike the Fangs realm. Stealthily, he descends and hides among the trees. From the shadows, he observes guards with green scales and tails, carrying various weapons like shields, swords, and spears. He then looks into the distance, identifying King Fog, a two meters tall individual in gray clothes and a long cape, with a large tail, white scales, and hair of the same color covering his body. He had slit pupils in his eyes and a crown that complemented his cape. Beside him are scantily clad women, one of them being Sasha. As he witnessed this, he lunges at one of the guards, biting his neck and tearing it off. The king is surprised and rises from his throne. Meanwhile, a dozen guards arrive, surrounding Evil. He slowly stood up, and black lines appear all over his body; his blood had turned this color, and his veins had swollen. This was Evil's regenerative ability. When his blood and veins returned to normal, his large black wings extended from his back. All the guards were stunned, and the king seemed nervous. Evil, with a maniacal smile, dissipates into shadows and swiftly appears behind each guard, decapitating them one by one by cutting their necks with the strength of his hands. Blood jets cover the ground, leaving no time for them to react, bones, heads and vomit of those who were seconds away from dying decorate this gross puddle. The monarch remained calm, knowing that one wrong move could lead to his death, but internally, he was terrified by the scene. With the same speed, Evil stands in front of the king. By now, all the women had seized the moment to escape, while Sasha was lying on the ground, looking at Evil with great fear for what was happening before her. Fog steps aside, allowing Evil to take Sasha. The angel walked towards the girl and delivers a surprising kick to Fog, sending him kilometers into the jungle. He crouches in front of Sasha, embracing her and covering her with his wings, saying a phrase:

—Now everything will be fine, my mermaid.

[chloe-skywalker]

Bruises - Billy Hargrove

Billy x Fem!reader

Warnings: mentions of abuse

Word count: 691

Summary: Seeing Billy’s bruises at school and not believing there from a fight.

Masterlist

Stranger Things Masterlist

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“What’s with the bruises?” Y/n asked as she approved Billy at his locker. He had a lot of new bruises on him like he has some other times. But these looked worse than normal.

“Got in a fight in gym.” Billy answered with a shrug although Y/n noticed the slight pain in his eyes as he did so.

Y/n shook her head knowing that he hadn’t got in a fight in the gym. She knew for many reasons but for her, it was easy to tell they weren’t bruises that just happened, they were from at the very least last night if not the night before. “No, you didn’t.”

“What makes you think that? Hmm?” Billy asked with a gruff tone even though he knew that wouldn’t intimidate her in the slightest. y/n noticed also how he stiffened at her statement.

“These are older. I’d say maybe Saturday night or Sunday. They're not from today.” Y/n stated softly with concerned eyes as she gently touched his wrist and Billy didn’t pull away from her kind touch. The truth was to him her touch calmed him. Made him feel safe.

“Not here.” Billy said quietly giving her a look that had vulnerability in his eyes. An emotion he only ever let her see.

Y/n nodded in understanding, rubbing his pulse with her thumb she asked. “Then where?”

“After school. I’ll drive you home. We can talk there.” Billy spoke as he shut his locker. He knew she understood him and was the only person who cared about him. He could trust her, he does in fact. But he couldn’t do it at school, not with listening ears present.

“Okay.” she nodded at him. With that set the two continued on with the school day, normally Billy would’ve suggested ditching but Y/n was pretty sure he wanted school as a distraction today which meant whatever happened might’ve been really bad.

After school Y/n and Billy met outside in the parking lot by his car, once Max got to the car and inside they took off. Billy dropped Max off at home before they headed off to Y/n’s for a quick stop.

They got out of the car and headed inside, once they made it inside the two went to the kitchen for drinks and snacks. They decided to take their drinks and snacks on the road, climbing back into Billy's Camaro they headed off to an empty field that overlooked some scenery Hawkins had to offer. Y/n and Billy got out of the car and sat on the hood. There was a bit of silence between the two as they sat so close they were touching. Billy smoked for a bit and y/n was waiting patiently for him to finish, not wanting to push him into talking about it right away.

“What happened Billy?” Y/n asked softly after he put out the cigarette.

“My dad.” he stated, those two words were all that needed to be said for her to understand. Billy looked down not wanting to look her in the eyes.

Y/n shook her head but her features remained soft. “Billy I told you-”

“I know, I know.” Billy nodded letting out a sigh, knowing she was right.

“Then why haven’t you come to me?” she was concerned why he hadn’t come to her sooner.

Billy shrugged looking down to where he was reaching for her hand. “I’m not used to someone caring.”

Y/n nudged him and squeezed his hand before stating with a smile. “Well get used to it.”

Billy smiled back at her returning the squeeze. “I guess I will.”

Billy leaned in and pulled her into a kiss, cupping her cheek with his free hand before moving his hand down to her nack. Y/n pulled back a little bit before getting off the hood so they could head back. “You are staying with me tonight, no arguments.”

“Yes ma’am.” Billy smiled jokingly giving her a salute before he to got off the hood of his car. He didn’t know what he’d do without her.

Tag:

@gruffle1

[phoeebsbuffay]

Imagine: Anakin is about to swift to the dark side but he is saved by you.

Warnings: fluff and a bit of smut; can we pretend that he did not kill the younglings?

***

You just landed, happy to be at your planet again, after a long mission spent fighting the forces of Darth Maul. You had finally defeated the last Mandalorians who had betrayed their nation in order to support the Death Star. Mandalore was back to the Senate again and you were chosen to be the Duchess. Good news to tell Anakin, you were thinking all the way! You promised the new Prime-Minister you’d think carefully for you were still a Jedi and the Council should be told first before any decision was made.

So there you are. Your relationship would not need to be concealed anymore and with Mandalore out of the Sith rule, things seemed to be positive again. You could not stop thinking about bringing Anakin with you to Mandalore so you two would finally be able to live the life you wanted. No secrecies, no rules…

But the joy in your mind is swept away when the chaos comes to your eyes. Smoke everywhere, signs of destructions. Pain. Hatred. You feel it and it blows away your good spirits.

No.

You fall on your knees, feeling unwell. The Jedi had fallen and you feel their deaths ripping in your chest. You are shocked and the Force seems to guide you to the ruins of it. You go with the flow, as if you have lost the control of your steps. You are baffled by how tragedy surrounds you, replacing the idyllic scenario you’ve been building since you left Mandalore.

But the Force does not let you stay there. It takes you right where Anakin is. He’s on his knees, dark cape half slipping of his body, his lightsaber on his side. You feel the hatred in his chest, his frustration, his angst. You should feel mortified for what he did, for his fall, but you understand him.

Yet you cannot move your feet away. He feels you too, he knows you’re there, perplexed, paralyzed. Anakin recovers his strength and stands. You see the pain in his eyes and it breaks your heart, even though you feel the good in him.

He’s conflicted.

“Y/N”, his voice is rusty, shaky. He does not dare to move closer. The distance between you two is small. “You came.”

He awaits for your reaction, seeing the tears in your eyes rolling freely down your cheeks. In other times Anakin would cuddle you and wipe the tears away. The memory makes you sob.

“You have no right to judge me”, says he upon your stunned silence.

“I…” you choke with words. “I would never.” It’s when you realize. “I understand you, Ani.”

He is caught off guard.

“What?”

You step forward, closing the gap distance in between you two. You put your hands around his face and give him a sad smile.

“I understand your pain, your hatred, your fear. I understand how often you suffocated your needs to put Galaxy’s first, how you were never rewarded for what you did as a Jedi. I understand how hurt you were when people criticized you.” You feel every word you say and so does he. Anakin sobs and drops in one knee. You slip in and hold him near. “You are not lost, you did not go to the dark side. You are hurt. Let me heal you, Ani. We don’t need the Jedi. We need us.”

When he looks up, his left eye remains yellow but his right one is blue. There is balance. He is, however, suffering. And when you pursue his lips in a tender kiss, he hesitates it. He expected to find disappointment in you, or even anger, words of how he broke your heart. But you were kind and good, the light in his world. Your empathy not only saves you, but him as well.

Anakin returns the kiss, little by little going reasonable again. What starts slow grows fervent. He is possessive again, having missed you an ache he could not heal. A sly smirk crosses his lips when he realizes this is not exactly what he is feeling, but you are. He knows you are burning for him in every aspect.

Your hunger for affection is to be finally fed. Anakin knows it and is as eager as you to give you love. You saved him and he wants to reward you for this. You don’t expect any of that, it’s just who you are, but all you need right now is him.

Right there he pulls you on the ground, having tossed away all the clothing. You groan as you scratch your nails against his chest. Desire rises as lust makes you unreasonable. You tangle your legs around his waist and you hope to be on top of him, but he’s dominating you.

His kisses are like the fire of the surroundings, and burns you like hell. Anakin holds your hands and pins your wrists above your head. He removes every piece of your cloth, teasing you with the Force.

But in the midst of such an intense explosion, where his budge is pressed against you, his eyes soften at your features.

“I do love you, Y/N.” He wishes he could profess his sentiments with better words, but you understand him. You always did and you proved him today.

“I am yours to command, Ani. There’s so much for us ahead..”

Although sad was the beginning that brought you together, you know that happier will be the future. But right now all you want is him in between your legs. And that coy smirk in his lips shows how well he knows your thinking. You’ve never been happier for having your mind read.

Anakin laughs as he teases you.

“You are mine indeed. Very much so”, says he, aware of how possessive he could be to you and how much you enjoy it. “Tell me, my love. I want to hear you beg.”

You comply with his wishes, enjoying to be underneath his well builded muscles. But he could tell also how hot you are, and all of your needs. Both of you are more linked and better connected than before. Such a strange situation to be in: the perfect embodiment of balance of the Force.

“I want you to make babies to me”, you hear yourself saying.

Anakin laughs at that as he begins to thrust in you, getting tired of only teasing. His thrusts are not gentle today but, Maker, you do not mind that at all.

“Do you really?”, he whispers hotly against your ear, smiling as you moan in response.

“Y-Yes, please.”

You arch your back, enjoying how he pursues you by giving you pleasure. Everything seems to burn and you are about to explode. Anakin enjoys to be in control, holding you dear to him as his touch gives you wonderfulness.

He smirks as you are the first to blow at long last. But he does not take longer either. He fills you with his seed, making sure you’d be the mother of his child.

“It is as you command me… Duchess.”

You blush upon the title he addresses you, another proof of the deep connection you share.

“I didn’t even tell you about that yet.”

Anakin smiles blissfully when seeing the pink painting your pale cheeks. And the sight of him being himself again is a sight that makes you beam.

“Why should that surprise you? We are bounded”, says he, nuzzling against your nose. “For life.”

You lean forward to kiss him with passion. A passion that even surprises him. Anakin is told by such a simple but meaningful gesture of how deep is the love you feel for him. And he melts in your touch and kindness.

And you make love again.

***

Epilogue.

As your consort, Anakin participates in the councils and the conduct of the ruling of Mandalore even though he hates politics. But he’s always there to support you, regardless.

In fact, now that there’s no reason to hide your relationship, he takes every opportunity, every reunion and occasion to show you off. Ahsoka, who got back together with you two, is always teasing him about it. You delight in having her around you guys and go as far as telling her she’s your adopted daughter.

“What?! But I’m not that young to be your daughter!” She protests.

“Please, Snips. Training you was like a preparation for fatherhood”, says Anakin.

In due time, your desire to be a mother comes true. You give birth to five beautiful children (one each year because that’s how Anakin rolls and you gladly follow him). These are their names: Leia, Savyne, Obi-Wan, GonJun and Luke. Two girls and three boys. Clearly Ahsoka takes most of her time training them despite your concerns.

In between the births and conceiving, Anakin and you finally find Obi-Wan. It happens when you find yourself pregnant of your third child and first son. The older Jedi is pleased with how everything ended, easily reconciling with his Padawan. The whole scene is very thrilling to you and you weep for witnessing this long-awaited reunion.

Anakin and Obi-Wan decide to revive the Order Jedi after peace is finally established throughout the Galaxy. But some rules (as not form attachments) are now banished. Obi-Wan also grants the title of Master to Anakin and accepts the invitation to be his namesake’s godfather. A new council of Jedis begins to form from Ahsoka’s generation.

As for you, your rule in Mandalore has been proven fruitful. Peace is now firmly established and there is little for you to concern yourself with.

That is what you contemplate when you leave bed early and begin to watch the sun rise from the windows of your bedchambers. Little Luke is sleeping in the bed with you, but you feel Anakin’s arms sneak behind you.

“Why up so early, duchess?”

You lift your head to meet his gaze and bring his face to yours. Anakin smiles as he reads your sentiments. You kiss him and pull him close. The balance is felt. And Anakin never felt in peace before as he is with you now.

[rafescoke]

Maybank ; Rafe Cameron

masterlist

Request: how about y/n is jj’s older sister and shes dating rafe but they keep it a secret bcs rafe is a dick he doesn’t want to be seen w a pogue. jj knows that his sister is dating rafe and he kinda hates rafe for keeping they relationship as a secret. then sarah threw a party n invited the pogues n they play truth or dare n a random kook dared rafe to sniff coke on some random girl’s belly n rafe accepted it without thinking abt what y/n thinks n they fight @rafeswh0ree

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x reader

Summary: Rafe would do anything to protect his title, even if it causes the girl he loves to stray away. 

Warnings: Pure angst, mentions of substance!

A/N: you know the drill. . . send requests! 

(Y/N) doesn’t want to remember the day her little brother found out about her relationship with a certain kook prince.

Being a year younger than (Y/N), it’s funny how he acts like a total older brother to her; always so protective, and not letting any boys touch her.

It was a Friday, and (Y/N) had sneaked out to meet Rafe by the beach. The night sky was almost perfect; the moon was illuminating them, and the waves were calming.

Rafe pressed a kiss against her lips, mumbling how much he loves her when the sound of a backpack hitting the soft sand startled them.

“What the fuck?”

(Y/N) scampered from Rafe, fixing her fallen top and running towards JJ who was already making his way back to his bike. His eyebrows were furrowed, his heart banging.

(Y/N) pulled his shoulder, “JJ, stop. It’s not what you think!”

“Wait, wait, what do you mean? Did he drown and you had to give him CPR?” He scoffed, prying his shoulders away and walking backward slowly. “This is so low of you, (Y/N). Fuck.”

JJ noticed that something was different with his sister a few months ago. The sneaky texts under the table, the sudden smile at her phone screen. . . he had thought of the actions as nothing more than (Y/N) contacting her friends.

And when he saw her in Figure 8 two weeks ago, in a fancy restaurant he works part-time in, she had told him that her new friend had brought her there.

As if she would ever have a kook friend.

Of course it wasn’t a kook friend. It was a kook boyfriend.

“JJ, please! Why are you like this?”

JJ turned his heels to look at (Y/N) properly. His nostrils were flaring, and his eyes were wild. Trying to contain his anger, “Your fucking boyfriend is a drug addict and I’m not letting you date someone who choked my friends before!”

He waited, and extended his hands. “It’s me or Rafe. Stay if you want to stay with him, and come with me if you want to come back home.”

“You’re crazy,” she whispered, letting a tear rolled down her cheeks. She thought of many scenarios where JJ will eventually find out about her and Rafe, but this wasn’t in her list.

“Me or Rafe.”

(Y/N) remembers exactly the way JJ walked away disappointedly, his head hanging low and his hands balled up in a fist.

It took her weeks to regain JJ’s trust and fix their relationship, and though JJ still hasn’t accepted Rafe, he’s okay. He’s quiet, sometimes seething at the boy, but he knows how much (Y/N) loves him.

“Hey,” Rafe smiles, placing a kiss directly on her cheeks. Her hot body from the scorching sun slowly tempers down, and she melts into his touch.

Pulling him close, she nestles into his chest. “Sarah’s having a party tonight.”

“Yeah? You’re coming?”

“We’re coming, Rafe,” she sighs. The sprinkling water from the fast motion of the boat hits her on her face, and she wipes them away before looking up to this handsome face.

She rubs her thumb against his cheeks, feeling him soften. “If I ask you something, can you not be mad?”

“Is this about letting everyone know about us?” He asks, his hands resting above her hips. He removes them and wraps his face, sighing.

(Y/N) bites her lips, already knowing the answer to her question. “Never mind.”

“We talked about this, (Y/N).”

“I know, so I’m not going to fight with you on this again,” she sits up straight, inching away from him. “I mean, after almost a year of dating, I think you’d—”

“You’re forcing this.”

“I’m not!” She stands up, groaning. “God, you’re starting a fight again!”

The silence between them grows again, both sulking and shouting in their heads. After a while, (Y/N) moves to the front deck of the boat and Rafe curses silently, knowing that the plan he had about strolling by the stream with the girl he loves is a failure.

But it’s not his fault, is it? He just can’t show her off. It’s bad enough that her brother’s aware of their relationship, and Rafe had to make sure that son of a bitch never opens his mouth to anyone.

“Hey, yo, JJ, got a minute?”

The blonde waiter grunted, eyeing Rafe with so much hatred before placing a cold mineral bottle on the table.

“Rafe, don’t cause any scene,” Topper warned, staring at the both of them. He could sense something was wrong, but he didn’t put this mind into it. He thought of it as nothing more than Rafe’s daily fights with the pogues.

JJ didn’t reply, not wanting to see his smug face what more to talk to him, but as he tried to return back to the kitchen, Rafe gripped his wrist tightly.

“Just a minute,” he smiled.

JJ quirked his head to the back of the kitchen where the workers usually smoke. Rafe nodded, letting go of his wrist, and whispered something to Topper.

“What do you want?” JJ asked once they were in the back alley, watching as Rafe lighted a cigarette and bringing the stick to his lips.

“How’s (Y/N)?”

“Isn’t that your problem?” The blonde boy scoffed, “Hey, man, look. I appreciate this family bonding activity you’re trying to have, but you’re no family. I care about (Y/N), and I’m in no way letting her be with you.”

What angered JJ more wasn’t the fact that he didn’t reply, but it was the superior look he plastered on his face. He felt the urge to slap and hurt him more than anything else.

“If there’s one thing we can agree on—” he said, blowing a puff of smoke. JJ inched backward, not wanting the smell of tobacco to linger on his uniform or he’ll be in trouble. “—is that we both care for her. I understand if you don’t want anyone else to know about me and (Y/N), and I hope it will stay that way.”

“You don’t want me to tell anyone else?”

“Yeah,” Rafe smiled. “It’s bad enough I have to pull you away in the middle of my lunch. Can’t afford to do that with more people.”

“Is it because you’re embarrassed to be seen with her?”

“Can you do that for me?” Rafe asked, ignoring his last question.

“Fuck you, Cameron.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Rafe laughed, patting his shoulder and watching as he flinched away. “I think I’ll see you around more than we both want to, Maybank.”

“Hey,” (Y/N) whispers, placing a hand against his shoulder. “What’s wrong? You’re in a daze.”

“You’re not mad at me anymore?” He asks, tilting his head up. That was quick, but he likes it. She can never be mad at him for more than 30 minutes.

She crosses her arms, “You want me to be mad at you?”

He shrugs and pulls her to his lap. “You’re hotter when you’re mad.”

. . .

If there’s one thing Rafe’s sure of, he hates parties when he will be the one to clean up the mess the next morning.

Ward and Rose are out for the weekend for their anniversary, and Wheezie is somewhere for a summer camp she has been begging Ward to go to.

Like always, Sarah Cameron takes this opportunity as a way to host the biggest party of the year, inviting all of her pogue friends and letting Rafe do the honor of inviting the kooks.

(Y/N) walks in with her best friend, having to pretend to not be so familiar with the whole house as if she’s not dating the son of Ward Cameron.

“Yo, this house is huge.”

“Yeah,” (Y/N) agrees, walking towards the drinks area and grabbing boozes for her and her friend. “Hey, I’m going to see someone, can you wait for me down here?”

Before she can walk away, Sarah Cameron appears excitedly and pulls her into a tight hug. “(Y/N)! What a surprise! JJ’s outside, if you’re looking for him.”

“Trust me, I’m not looking for him,” she laughs, “Have you seen Rafe? I, um, I called him up before for some stuff.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s on the porch,” she replies, and before (Y/N) can make a move, she holds her tightly. “Be careful. He’s got the heaviest stuff with him.”

As if she doesn’t know that.

She smiles, muttering her thanks before heading towards the porch. It’s hard to pretend to not know who Rafe is after spending her whole year with him.

Sure enough, Rafe is sitting by Topper’s side with his other friends surrounding them, his hair messily parted and his nose red. She sighs, knowing exactly what state he’s in.

“Yo, Maybank,” Topper laughs, pulling the empty seat beside him. “Come sit.”

Rafe looks up to the sound of her name, and before she can register the look on his face, he bows down again.

“Hey,” she greets, sitting beside Topper. “You’re okay?”

“This party’s the shit,” he answers, obviously in a drunken state, and pats Rafe’s back. “Yo, yo, you got the same ring as my boy right here.”

Topper grabs the gold ring hanging from (Y/N)’s necklace, bringing it closer under the light and taking Rafe’s hand. “Wow, are you guys soulmates?”

The boys around them laugh, and (Y/N) pulls her necklace away before anyone can guess anything. She watches as Rafe grunts, still so busy trying to separate the powder in lines.

“Wanna try a line?”

“She can’t, Topper.”

All eyes are on Rafe now, who’s rubbing his nose and licking his lips. Rafe never stops anyone from doing a line and even asked Wheezie if she wanted to try one before, so the words that came out of his mouth appear as a shock to all of them.

“Why?” (Y/N) asks, tilting her head to one side. If he doesn’t want to show her off to his friends, he might as well stop trying to control her life. She looks back to Topper, “I’ll try a line, Tops.”

Topper smiles, giving her a rolled-up 100 dollars bill and pushing his chair back to allow her in. (Y/N) takes the chance to brush her back against Rafe’s front, hearing his ragged breath all the sudden.

She bends down, giving Rafe the perfect view of her back, and snorts a line. She falls onto Rafe’s lap as he pulls her close, breathing into her sweet smell as she throws her head back from the sudden tingling in her stomach.

“Stand up,” he orders in her ears, “Stand up, (Y/N).”

Before Rafe can push her off, she stands up quickly and makes her way back to her previous seat. She only tried coke once, way before she met Rafe, and she had thought of it as nothing more but the last time she tried the substance. She prefers drinking to get her mind off since then.

“You’re joining the game later?” Topper asks, glancing down at her short skirt. (Y/N) mindlessly pulls her dress down, and throws her head back once again.

“What game?”

“Truth or dare,” he smiles.

“I don’t play children’s games,” she fakes yawn, “Are you playing?”

“I don’t think so,” he replies, licking his lips. “Like you said, I don’t play children’s games.”

Whatever Topper’s doing to get (Y/N)’s attention; it’s just not working. She’s way too head over heels for the boy beside him, who’s still red and flustered from the brief teasing she had for him a few moments ago.

“(Y/N), wanna grab a drink?”

Both (Y/N) and Topper look up to Rafe. He’s trying his hardest not to look at her again and busies himself with the powder. “You don’t look quite comfortable with Topper.”

“Oh, I’m fine,” she replies, watching as his head snaps back to her. She licks her lips, “We’re alright, aren’t we, Tops?”

Topper nods, more than ready to have a fling with the pretty girl beside him, pogue or not pogue.

“Okay,” Rafe replies, “Whatever you say.”

Whatever (Y/N)’s doing to grab his attention; she’s doing a great job at it. Rafe’s jaw tenses at the sound of her laughter, and he has to look the other way when Topper’s hands sneak their way to around her shoulders.

He’s almost glad when Sarah comes to tell them something about the game starting. He sneaks to beside (Y/N), giving her a soft touch on her back, and off he goes to sit on the opposite side of her.

His mind’s still woozy, and he’s struggling to even open his eyes. The booming music still thrums against his eardrums, and the drinks he had earlier keeps every muscle of his active and ready to do anything crazy.

“You’re playing?” Someone asks him from the right.

What else can happen from a silly game of truth or dare?

“Yeah.”

Rafe hopes (Y/N) isn’t playing, because he knows the stupid things his friends would ask her. Always being the topic of his friends’ conversations, he’s clear with their intentions towards (Y/N).

And he’s not making any of it a reality.

“Topper, truth or dare.”

“Truth,” he answers, and Rafe’s eyes snap back to (Y/N). Surprisingly, her eyes are already on him, her stare so pierced that Rafe has to shift his position to ignore the aching in the pits of his stomach.

Rafe doesn’t care enough to listen to whatever his best friend’s saying, and his eyes stay on (Y/N). The girl smiles at him, and his eyes trail down to her chest.

Of course she would wear something like a top that doesn’t cover half of her chest.

He looks away, biting his lips.

“(Y/N)! Truth or dare?”

(Y/N) groans at Topper, crossing her arms and yelling ‘I’m not playing’. Her friends moan at her, pressuring her to keep the game going, and after a few pleas and more groans, she sighs.

She’s so easy to manipulate.

Rafe stares at her again, licking his lips.

“Dare.”

The crowd cheer, but the volume is down to mute to Rafe, who’s too busy having her glued to his brain. She looks wonderful under the dim lights, and Rafe wants nothing more than to have her screaming under him.

“I dare you to make out with the hottest person in the room.”

“Change the game,” Rafe says to no one in particular, sitting up straighter. “Change the game.”

“Yo, what?” Kelce asks, “What’s wrong with you?”

Rafe ignores his friend, and stares at the girl.

(Y/N) stands up from her seat and walks towards Topper, and Rafe can feel his heart stopping. His fear is coming to reality, and she’s so close to Topper they’re practically kissing.

He lays his head against the cushion, his heart aching.

“Yo, Rafe, it’s your turn!”

Rafe sits up straighter, rubbing his eyes and looking around the group as everyone else stares at him. He groans, feeling so tired and not having a clue where he have gone to a few minutes ago.

It might the aftermath of the coke, but it doesn’t feel as good as always.

How long did he pass out?

“Truth or dare, Rafe.”

“I’m not playing,” he mumbles, rubbing his temple.

“If you’re backing out now, you’ll have to pay a hundred bucks.”

What the fuck?

“Since when?” He asks, looking up to the random girl he has seen around the country club a few times. “That’s not the rules.”

“It is now.”

“Fine. Dare.”

Anything to put an end to this game.

“I dare you to do a line on Jessie’s back.”

The room grows silent, and Rafe can feel all stares at him. He blinks, trying to register what he just heard, and laughs. “Just a line?”

(Y/N) bites her lips. He wouldn’t do it, would he?

Somehow, JJ finds his way behind the couch (Y/N) is sitting on. He places a hand comfortably on her shoulder and watches her jerk. “You’re okay?”

She doesn’t reply, but JJ knows the answer all too well.

Rafe’s friends clear the table off from drinks and Jessie lays her bare back against the glass table. Rafe doesn’t look up to her to ask for permission or to give her any reassurances, and it feels as if he wants to do it too.

JJ’s grip around her shoulder tightens, “You should go.”

She shakes her head, staring at the scene before her.

The intoxicating powder is poured by an excited Topper directly on Jessie’s stomach, and (Y/N) feels sick to her core. She feels like screaming, because why wouldn’t he say no?

It’s not like a hundred bucks would be too much for him to stop playing.

Rafe dips his head to the same level as Jessie’s head, and (Y/N) stares at the girl bites her lips the same way (Y/N) does when Rafe’s close to her.

Except he’s close to someone else.

The crowd erupts into a loud roar again as Rafe finally stands up from the lines, his head becoming more bumping and his respiratory rate increasing.

The kook prince doing a line on some hot girl in Figure 8. 

What a headline.

His eyes look up to the people around him, but (Y/N) is nowhere in sight.

“Where is she?” He asks Topper. His hands found themselves wrapped around Topper’s shoulders for balance.

“Where is who?”

“My girlfriend,” he answers, not thinking much. “I have to go.”

“What girlfriend, Rafe?” Topper laughs. “Man, you’re in too deep. The game’s not finished.”

“I’ll pay the hundred,” he replies and makes his way out of the party. His sight is becoming so blurry that he falls by the side of the pool a few times before he sees the sight of her climbing JJ’s bike.

“Hey, hey, where are you going?” He asks, standing in front of the bike and not letting JJ turn to the exit. “The party’s not finished!”

“Fuck off, Cameron,” JJ replies, blocking Rafe’s view of his girlfriend. (Y/N) stares down to her lap, not wanting to look him in the eyes, and Rafe’s breath hitches at the silence.

“What did I do?”

Before Rafe can hear any explanation, JJ pushes him down to the side road and he groans from the sudden impact. He looks up to the blonde and lunges for him, only for them to end up by the side of the road.

“Oh my god, stop!” (Y/N) yells, trying to pry her brother away from Rafe. “JJ, he’s not thinking straight. Let’s just go!”

“Don’t get near (Y/N) ever again!” JJ yells, his eyes flaring up in anger and his knuckles turning purple. “She deserves someone better than a cheating fuck like you!”

Out of all the responses Rafe can give to JJ, he lets out the coldest laugh, and the sound of his voice carries throughout the dark neighborhood.

“I’m cheating? She was cheating on me too!”

“What are you saying?” (Y/N) scoffs, “I wasn’t cheating, Rafe, I’m not you.”

“Yeah? The kiss with Topper?”

“That wasn’t a kiss! I gave him a peck on his cheeks!”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact you didn’t kiss me.”

“Is that why you’re acting like a dick? Because I didn’t kiss you when Tops asked me to kiss the hottest guy in the room?” She laughs. This whole thing seems funny all of a sudden after hearing Rafe’s side of the story. “I thought you want us to stay lowkey.”

“Whatever, can you get your fucking bodyguard off me?” Rafe replies, “And don’t call him Tops. It’s like you’re begging to get fucked by him.”

JJ makes a move again, but (Y/N) quickly pulls him away. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hands, and Rafe wishes he hadn’t said the words out loud.

JJ finally lets go of him and walks to his bike, feeling so tired but pumped at the same time from the brief fight with Rafe. He wanted more than anything for them to break up, but what just happened isn’t exactly what he had in mind. 

“So you’re going?”

“There’s no reason for me to stay, Rafe,” she replies. “You don’t even want to admit that we’re dating. Are you embarrassed of me?”

When he doesn’t reply, (Y/N) pushes his chest that he staggers backward, still so woozy and lightheaded he feels like fainting.

“Are. You. Embarrassed. Of. Me?”

Rafe stays silent, looking down to the ground and wishing the world would just swallow him up.

“Go to hell, Rafe,” she replies, and Rafe inches backward when her gold ring he had bought for her to match his own ring rolls down to his feet. He quickly looks up to her.

She’s not breaking up with him, is she?

If he felt like he has gone through hell before, this feeling is a lot worse. 

Part #2

 -

@okayshoto @joselyn001 @onceuponateenagetrash @dyingsleeping @iwannabeapogue @meaganjm @rafesobxs @flossy2929 @unfortunatekiwitrash @scottybitch @asimpwriter @amaya124 @tommy-tommo @thatshithurted8 @fallincindy @marvelwhor3 @rafeswh0ree @kookap @supernaturallydc-blog @blank-velvet @alaniskauany @kiiim8 @witchywrter @kaitlyn2907 @heyimflo @overcookedpastasause @tsukkiswifeey @spidey-d00d @anonymousobxfan @gotmeinloveagain @chicagoblackhawkslover96 @lexi-writes @classydragonthingknight @belongtoyou-u @badbussylol @savannah-elliott @angelreyesgirl100 @haterpenny @beehappyyy @alwaysclassyeagle @maybankslut @kayleea122 @clearbolts @lovelyxtom @christianaevans @jemimah-b99 @opierdalacz @dangerdolns @wildflowerliv @classygirlything21 @alwaysclassyeagle @rottenstyx @wxn-drlst

[suchastrangemess]

Meet Cute (wait, what the fuck do you mean it wasn’t?): Chapter 2

  Slow calm breathing

 The feeling of warm skin hugging me

 Slender fingers resting on my thighs

 Kisses being peppered on the back of my neck

 I turn around to kiss those soft lips

I wake up, cleaning the drool of my face. <I thought that only guys had to deal with this shit> I snuggle closer into the bed cover. I turn my pillow to the other side and prepare to sleep some more.

Someone knocks on my door. Should I… No, I prefer sleeping.

“Are you awake?” great, is my mother.

<At least I don’t have to think who that person in my dream was> I ignore her, closing my eyes.

I hear the door opening. Why am I not fucking surprised? She sits down on the end of my bed. I try my best to pretend to be asleep.

My mother sits close enough to lightly stroke my hair.

“Y/N, I know you are awake”

I audibly groan and lift my head out of the pillow.

“You have been doing this since you were 3” she ruffles my hair again. “After a while is a little bit predictable”

<I really have to find other methods to be left alone> I sit a little straighter.

“So… Why did you wake me up?” I know exactly why she is doing this, but in a situation like this; you just have to save some time.

“Because yesterday you cried and then you left” I can see the fury in her eyes as she speaks. “Without us knowing where you were”

“Mom, I…”

“AND not only that, but you returned at dinner, barely telling us anything”

The first out of many arguments that will happen in my new bedroom. Well, sooner or later it was meant to happen.

And oh, look at that! We just broke our record of how fast a fight can start between us.

“I explained you everything yesterday”

“You didn’t explain to me why you were crying”

In arguments with her, there is this weird moment when we both make eye contact and we can see into each other eyes, a painful fact that we know all too well: when this fight ends, is going to hurt for the both of us.

“Because you took everything that I have ever known away from me”

The eye contact is the worst part of all this, second to my mother’s ability to shatter my heart into a million pieces.

“Going to seedy bars, wasting away your musical talent and Nya: that’s everything that I took away from you?” she stands up. “That isn’t much”

I feel the burning sensation in my eyes, trying to calm myself down by controlling my breathing. How the fuck can she make me cry when I just woke up?

“It was everything to me” I see her blank stare.

“You can do better than that”

I instantly stand up.

“I don’t fricking care if I can or can’t do better than that” I lean closer to her. “And let me tell you something about Nya: she has always been there for me, unlike the both of you”

She leaves and slams the door shut.

<I win this fight> I think to myself, smiling through tears.

I continue crying while changing out of my pajamas. Not the first time, and definitely not the last.

I take a deep breath, clean my tears and leave my room to go to the bathroom.

After finishing with everything, I leave and head to the kitchen.

I stop, just before I enter. I hear my dad and my mother talking about me.

“I think that it was a bad idea to do all this” that’s my dad’s voice.

“Do you prefer that she hangs out with a drug addict instead” I roll my eyes at her comment.

She only heard rumors about Nya smoking weed ONCE, but I don’t think she cares about that.

“Wherever you want to admit or not, Y/N is right: Nya can understand her better than any of us”

I’m way too hungry and tired to listen to this shit. I enter and grab some orange juice.

They instantly fall silent as I calmly make myself an egg sandwich.

“Morning, honey” he says awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

“Good morning to both of you” I meet my mother’s gaze with a cynical smile.

Don’t laugh. Don’t fucking laugh. She is going to murder you.

“Were you talking about something?” life is too short to not bother your overbearing mother. “I could hear it from the bathroom”

My mother slowly drinks her coffee, while giving her killer gaze. Everything that is used in excess loses its touch after a while. She should know that by now.

We eat breakfast in silence. I was enjoying the quiet of everything, until I see that someone has send me a text. Is Hunter:

(Hunter)

 Hey

 When do you wanna jam?

                                                                                   (You)

                                                                                   Hi

                                                                                  As soon as possible

 Why so excited to see me?

                                                                                 You wish

                                                                                I had a fight with my mother

                                                                                I want to get out of here

 Oh shit

 You can come now

 If you want

                                                                                  Just one thing

                                                                                  Whats your address?

My mother fake coughs.

“No phones while we are in family, Y/N”

Right, the no cellphone rule. Forgot about that one.

“Don’t worry about the dishes, dad” I get up from the chair, picking up the plates. “I’m going to do them this time”

Not gonna lie, I love doing the dishes. I put music and I just focus on cleaning and drying them. What’s not to like about that?

I start the whole washing and drying. But a little thing comes to my mind.

Oh fuck. I can’t believe it. Nya was right:

“You would be the perfect 50s housewife, taking away 90% of your personality”

I hate it when she is right. The little shit.

“Y/N, I can hear your hellish music from my room!”

Luckily for me, I already finished. I turn off the music, grab everything that I need and leave this hellish house.

I check my phone, walking away. Hunter sent me his house address.

<Is not that far away. Like, 20 minutes by foot> I can deal with that. I have dealt with worse.

I take a deep breath, as I stand outside Hunter’s house.

I need to remember three basic rules:

1-Make eye contact, but not enough to freak him out.

2-If he asks you about what you like to do in your free time: DON’T SAY D&D. You are going to talk for hours about it, and he is going to think that you are weird.

3-THINK TWICE BEFORE MAKING ANY JOKE

Yeah, I think that’s all.

I ring the doorbell and wait for someone (hopefully Hunter) to let me in.

I don’t wait for too long, before a man in his 50s opens the door.

“Hi, honey. Sorry, but I’m in a real hurry right now. So, I can’t give you money for the...”

I cut him off.

“I’m Y/N L/N and I’m one of Hunter’s friends”

He stays quiet for a moment.

“You are a new one, right?”

I nod. I fucking hate small talk.

“So… Hunter called me to hang out…” how do I tell him this guy in a polite way to let me in? “Don’t worry about us, we are just going to be in the basement playing music”

He steps out of the way to let me in.

“I’m Dr James Sylvester and I’m Hunter’s dad” I enter as he introduces himself. “But you can call me Jim”

I can hear from below the riff of “The Call of Ktulu” …stopping out of nowhere?

“Did someone knock on the door?”

“Yes, your friend is here”

I’m about to go make my way down, when I see Hunter going up the stairs as fast as he can.

“Oh, he opened the door for you…”

Jim chuckles.

“Why the rush to come up, Hunter?”

“Uhm…Well… I just wanted to be a good host to my guest”

“I think that you should know better before going up the stairs as fast as you did”

I space out as they argue right in front of me.

“Y/N, let’s go” I return to reality when Hunter says my name.

We go to the basement, and I make a beeline to a backless black seat. The one that Emily was sitting the last time I was here.

“You can just grab one of the guitars hanging from the wall”

I stand there, trying to decide which one to pick: the red guitar in the form of a “V” or the black with a skull that has a pentagram in its forehead? It doesn’t really help that I suck at making decisions.

“Uhm… I’m sorry that you have to see that fight” I quickly grab the black guitar and connect it to the amp.

“Don’t worry, I’ve had worse fights with my mother” I reply.

After everything is set, I sit down… But Hunter is staring at me in silence.

“Wanna talk about that fight with your mom or….”

I interrupt his question with the riff of “Madhouse”, but I stop to ask him:

“Wanna talk about that fight with your dad or you wanna jam?”

He stays quiet.

“That’s fair”

Hunter plays the beginning of “Whiplash” and I follow his lead.

<Man, I really missed this> he grins at me, as he plays the solo.

His eyes are closed, his sleeveless T-shirt shows off his arms and his hands… No, I’m not gonna do this while playing guitar. I can mess it up and he is going to think that I’m such a fucking loser for getting it…

“Dude, you are awesome!”

“What? Oh, yeah… Right, thanks”

We stay quiet for a while. I look down, absent-mindedly playing some tunes

“Sorry for asking about your mom”

I look up to him.

“No, is ok… Sorry for asking about your dad”

He smiles at me.

“I almost forgot” Hunter tries to stand up and I quickly go to help him. “I have a gift for you”

“What did I do?” we go towards the stairs, “Have I been a good girl, Hunter?”

fuck. Fuck. FUCK. WHY THE FUCK DID I FORGOT RULE NUMBER 3?!?! WHY THE FUCK I AM A MESS?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, I FUCKING HATE EVERYTHING

He stops on his tracks.

“No! I mean yes. No, fuck! It was for buying the album” as he says this, I’m regretting being alive; but he continues saying. “Is in my room”

“Wait, what?”

How did I ended up in this situation? I’m not complaining that much, though.

“No! This isn’t some lame excuse to get you to my room” Hunter is blushing so hard right now, and he looks so adorable. “It doesn’t matter, just stay here and I’m going to…”

“No, I want to go with you”

He has this indescribable look on his face. Maybe he is just shocked or surprised?

“Come with me, then”

We go all the way up to his room, in a comfortable silence. Surprisingly, after everything that has happened in the past 10 minutes.

Hunter grabs my hand, and we step into the bedroom together.

“I hope you like your gift”

In the middle of the room, there is a Fender Stratocaster with a black bow.

I slowly go towards it and gently touch the strings with my fingertips.

“Y/N, the guitar doesn’t bite” he sits down on his bed.

The shock is still there, but there is a little something that draws my eye.

“You play Dungeons and Dragons?” I ask him, pointing to a half-orc barbarian miniature.

Right next to it, there are other figurines and the books from the fifth edition piled on top of each other.

“Yeah, no. Like… I used to play, but right now I’m focused on music”

“Oh, that’s a shame. I used to play with Nya, but now I don’t have a party” I grab the guitar and sit next to him.

“Really? Because if you want to play again…” Hunter gets excited, but he tones it down. “I know some dungeon masters”

I smile. Yeah, he is definitely my type.

We talk for a while about… Well, everything. First, it was D&D, then it was our music tastes; later, we were mocking each other for our music tastes. Finally, we were wrestling with one another in the bed.

I suddenly realize that I’m on his lap, grabbing his arms on top of his head.

“So… Wanna try your new guitar or stay like this?”

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

Geralt gets cursed to have a mini angel and devil on each of his shoulders that only he can see and one of them tries to convince him to make a move on Jaskier while the other thinks it would ruin things between them

oh now this... this is good shit, anon. yes! yesssss!

tw: Geralt has some anxiety

---

“To guilt and love I give a voice,

Don’t take too long to make your choice!”

And with that, the mage disappears in a cloud of dark, greenish smoke. Jaskier coughs, blinking back tears, his sleeve pulled down to cover his nose and mouth. “What the fuck was that about, do you think?”

Geralt shakes his head to clear it and stumbles back to his feet. “A curse, I think.”

“Well which one of us was it for?”

“Him!” Geralt hears Lambert’s voice from his left shoulder. He turns his head and finds a miniature version of his brother standing on his pauldron, grinning like mad. “Hello, big brother.”

“Hello!” chimes Eskel, who is sitting comfortably on his right shoulder. 

“Me,” Geralt groans. Jaskier raises an eyebrow. 

“I don’t see anything wrong with you. I wonder what she meant by to guilt and love I give a voice; what do you think, Geralt?”

“I have a sneaking suspicion that I won’t be getting much sleep tonight,” the Witcher grimaces. Jaskier shies away, moving toward Roach. 

“I’ll stay out of your way and be quiet, then.”

“Poor thing,” Eskel pipes up. “He cares for you so deeply; must you always snap at him like that?”

“He’s just along for the fame and fortune,” Lambert scoffs. “He’s using you for your reputation and adventures. He just wants to use you to make a name for himself.”

“Why would a Viscount need to make any more of a name for himself?” Eskel fights back, their bickering voices unusually soothing despite the topic of conversation, which is actually making Geralt’s skin crawl. He hates confronting his feelings for Jaskier. They’re annoyingly, overwhelmingly positive. “He could be taking a hot bath every night and sleeping on silk sheets, yet here he stands, silently waiting for our dumbass brother to get a move on.”

Geralt takes the prompt and stalks forward to swing himself up into Roach’s saddle. It hadn’t been a pleasant afternoon and he suspects that things aren’t going to get much better. Jaskier’s shoulders are slumped and his fingers toy nervously with the strap of his lute.

The Witcher mumbles, “You can hum, Jaskier. It’s... fine.”

“Oh,” the bard smiles up at him, blue eyes sparkling in the late afternoon light. “Thank you, Geralt. I’d like to try to work out this rather finicky new melody if you don’t mind.”

“Hmm.”

“You could... praise him?” Eskel offers. “You did so well just now, it was nearly a full compliment.”

“Psh, and reveal the secret he’s been hiding for damn near a decade? The bard would be crushed.”

Geralt bites the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming out loud. He’s frustrated already, and he suspects that until he confesses or swears to keep silent about his feelings forever, these two conjurations won’t be leaving any time soon.

---

“Kiss him,” Eskel urges, tugging a lock of Geralt’s hair. He’s established that Jaskier cannot see the tiny Wolf Witchers; the nature of the curse would be too obvious if he could. “He looks so lovely in the firelight, don’t you think? Actually I do know what you think. You think he looks lovely all the time, you just won’t admit it.”

“Why should he admit it? That would ruin a perfectly good friendship. Like you said, Eskel, Jaskier is a Viscount! He can’t stay on the Path with Geralt forever. Eventually he’ll need to return to Lettenhove to marry and settle down. He’s titled, and we can’t expect him to follow a monster around forever, much less fall in love with one.”

“He has never once thought of Geralt as a monster!”

Geralt wants to cry. He wants to rip out his hair and run, screaming with madness, into the dark embrace of the woods around them. Alas, the bard would be Wyvern-bait without him there for protection. 

And the curse would stay with him no matter how far he ran. 

He closes his eyes and kneels, but the quiet respite of meditation never comes. 

---

Geralt is fucking exhausted. His brothers never stop talking. Arguing. Debating. Pleading. 

He’s gone truly mad. Jaskier stirs in his sleep, four nights after the curse was cast, and Geralt flinches. His scent is otherworldly and the Witcher’s patience is thinner than tissue paper. Eskel has been very convincing as of late.

He smells like the damp earth after a summer rain, sweetened by something unnamable but floral. He smells like springtime. Youth. Beauty. Geralt whines unconsciously, the sound creeping out from somewhere high in his throat. Jaskier stirs again and blinks his sleepy eyes open. His cute pink tongue darts over his bottom lip and Geralt bites off the sound with a sudden gasp. 

“Sorry for waking you.”

“What’s wrong?” the deep concern in Jaskier’s sleep-soft voice stirs the love in Geralt’s heart violently. “You sound wounded. Are you alright?”

“I-” Geralt falters. Falls to his knees in the dirt next to Jaskier’s bedroll. Cups the bard’s face gently with one hand. Lambert begins to swear violently as Eskel cheers him, egging him on. “I love you, Jaskier.”

His brothers disappear. 

His ears ring with the sudden silence, the only ambiance coming from the crackling fire.

Jaskier balks up at him, a look of utter terror written plainly on his face. “Geralt? Is this... the curse? Why would you say that?”

“Do you- Are you angry with me, Jaskier? I understand if-”

“No, you fool,” Jaskier laughs, sitting up and leaning closer. “I- I love you, too. I didn’t think you’d ever- That you could ever- After Yennefer...”

Geralt kisses his bard with such sweetness that Jaskier melts against him, his hands braced against that familiar, broad chest. They kiss until sunrise, and then they kiss some more. There’s a lot of lost time to make up for, a lot of poor decisions to be rectified.

But they manage. They always do.

[taeescript]

29+1 (Part One)

𝔰𝔶𝔫𝔬𝔭𝔰𝔦𝔰: In which Seokjin is the Devil from The Devil Wears Prada, Taehyung is your work Jesus and Jimin is your handsome successful brother. 

𝔭𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰: seokjin x reader (taehyung x reader if you squint real hard) 

𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔯𝔢: slice of life; ceo!seokjin (diva!seokjin)

𝔴𝔠: 3.6k

𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰: heavy use of alcohol as a coping mechanism, a plethora of sarcasm (please don’t be offended) and a sprinkle of softness (is that a warning?). 

𝔞/𝔫: this sat in my unwritten folder since 2017 no lie. I wrote the premise and a singular paragraph at that time, then just gave up. I opened it a few days ago, got inspired again and this word vomit came out (heavily influenced by a midnight Zoom call with my friends). Ngl this was so much fun to write, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. This will probably be in three parts.  𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔯: I did not know that DailyHive is an actual online news source when writing. This work is purely fictional and has absolutely nothing to do with the real DailyHive. 

part two

Your friends have a saying: After 29, nobody shares their age until they’ve accomplished something. 

In the past, you didn’t understand it. What’s so bad about saying you’re 30 or you’re 32? That’s still a young age! Sure, you’re not exactly in your prime anymore but you’re not old, right?

So, you continue in your own wondrous world of naïveté until that fateful day at your class reunion. You had simply been walking around, minding your own business when you had been stopped by an old colleague.

“Hey, Y/N, right?” she waves you down. 

You smile kindly, not even bothering to try and remember her name (you sucked at names, what could you say). 

“Hey…you!” you chuckle lightly, “How have you been doing?” 

An everyday question leading to catastrophic effects. 

“Oh you know,” she says and rolls her eyes as if you truly did know, “I’ve just been out and about. Did I tell you though? I got married last year!” She holds out her hand in which a giant diamond adorns her finger. “Wow!” you gasp, feigning interest. It’s not that you aren’t happy for her, but you are reminded of just how single you are currently. When was the last time you felt another human’s touch? Does kissing come back as easily as riding a bicycle? “Hey!” she says suddenly, “I’m actually meeting with a couple of friends from our class. You should come join! I’m sure they’d be happy to see you again!” You want to wave her off, but against your better judgment, you find yourself following in her footsteps and listening to her speak about wedding venues and honeymoon destinations.

“Oh my god!” another female voice filters in.

The “couple of friends” this old classmate had mentioned is in fact a fairly impressive size of twenty. This is also the third time the wedding announcement has been made. 

“Last year?” the female continues, “Weren’t you young?”

Yes, you want to respond. Yes she was young. A full 365 days younger than she is now.

Your classmate, Sooyoung (or Kiko as she insists going by now) titters in front of you. “I mean, you can sort of say I’m a late bloomer. I got married when I was 31.”

Her words unintentionally cut into you. Here you are at 29 without a beau in sight. You take a fast swig of your beer and end up hitting the empty glass with a clink to your teeth. Nobody notices.

“Enough about me, however, how about you?”

“I started my own business actually. It’s been doing really well and it’s been a crazy mind. Imagine me, my own boss at only 33!”

You nervously join them when they suddenly laugh together.  

“Hi, can I get another pint please? Actually add a tequila shot to that,” you whisper the last part to the waitress you had just stopped.

And that was how the rest of the night went. People asking one another what they had accomplished. Any moment in time after 30 would not be mentioned until somebody travelled to Uganda to build houses at 31 or another gave birth at the same age. Below 30, anything would be attributed to luck or in your case…

“What are you doing currently?” somebody asks you, “The little baby of our class.”

Swallowing your third tequila shot of the night, you wonder for the umpteenth time how you had become a part of this giant sharing circle. You wonder if it’s a blessing or a curse that you had graduated a little early and thus was younger than most of your peers.

“Well,” you start, “I’m currently working at DailyHive.”

“Ohh!” a man gushes. You recognize him as the once-upon-a-time science partner you used to cheat notes off of. “I use DailyHive nearly as much as Instagram these days. You guys cover everything from news to sports to fashion.”

You shrug. “Yeah. It’s, uh… it’s a pretty big company!”

“What are you doing there?”

Kiko-ex-Sooyoung hits the man teasingly on the shoulder. “Y/N is probably the Director of Marketing or something. Remember how she used to spend all class doodling in her notebook?”

“Or sleeping!” someone quips.

You don’t join in when they all laugh.

“I’m…an intern,” you say with as much pride as you can in a group of established professionals ranging from dermatologists to that one guy who had flown around the world as a TedTalk guest speaker.

A hushed silence befalls everyone.

“That’s…cool!” the same man encourages you, “Interns are totally rad! Everyone wants an intern spot these days.”

His girlfriend pats your arm, almost empathetically. “Yeah. I know a bunch of people who first start off as interns and then they shoot up the ladder quick enough. As long as you’re no longer an intern at 30, you’re golden!”

Once again, the entire group laughs as if she has said the most hilarious of jokes.

She composes herself and says to you, “Because after that, you should have accomplished something.”

Her words still ring in your ears as you sit at your desk this morning.

Yeah…something. All you need to do is accomplish something in the next three months before you are officially, 29 + 1.

Your fingers tap against your thighs silently while you observe the current debate that is occurring in the conference room. You barely have time to sweep the falling hair back behind your ear as your fingers ferociously fly across the keyboard to keep in track with the meeting.

Fei is arguing that the implement of a new search word system would boost users while Daniel says that it is a waste of resources. Instead, everything should be put into updating the entire system as a whole. You have long since lost track of their words as neither pertain to what you do as an intern.

“Enough,” the CEO of DailyHive holds up a hand. His one word causes the entire room to hush over – truly, the words of a god.

And that might as well be what he is. With his hair swept back and a lone tendril curling perfectly above his brow, Kim Seokjin is legitimately a walking god. Off his broad shoulders hang an expensive white linen suit bought with his pocket change and your yearly salary. A pair of sunglasses hangs in the V of the collared shirt dipping low enough to blur the lines between being fashionably professional and just downright sexy.

The snap of his fingers brings you back to the present.

He dramatically rolls his eyes and accepts that you are an incompetent minute-taker.  

“I have to remember that the world just doesn’t move as fast as I do.”  

                                                            - Quote: Rolling Stones 2019 Kim Seokjin.

Now if only he’d remember he had once said that.

He points at each of them with one finger, then swipes to the left. “Both of you, solve this outside. I don’t want to hear your voices any longer. You two from the marketing team, Ungroomed Stache and Acne Chin, create me a report if we are to implement Ms. Song’s idea. The two of you from…” he takes a pause here clearly having forgotten who his employees are, “The two of you do the same thing but for Mr. Hwang.”

The pair from accounting open their mouth to protest that they are in charge of only numbers, but they are ignored.

“All of you out now. Except you,” he points his finger directly at you, “Stay.”

Nobody utters a single word until they have all left and you are left alone with him. Standing before him with your hands folded nicely in front of you, you blink and wait.

He stares right back at you, picks up his coffee mug and drops it. The clatter of ceramic smashing against the ground causes a pause in the loud buzz outside the room. You know everybody’s focus has been shifted into the room.

“Do you want to kill me?” he drawls.

You take a long inhale. “No,” you say.

“No?” he repeats the word, “Well I think you do. Did you check this coffee before you brought it to me? I tasted cinnamon in it. You know how I’m allergic to cinnamon. Get me a new cup. And this mess, get somebody to clean it. I don’t want the smell of coffee in this room when I have my next meeting here in twenty. I’m taking a smoke a break.”

He stands up and brushes past you without saying anything else.

Nobody can be allergic to cinnamon. Besides if he had actually tasted cinnamon and was that sensitive, he would be dead. And good riddance to that.

Of course, you say none of this and wordlessly begin to pick up the broken ceramic pieces of the dead mug. The bustling outside the meeting room has returned back to its normal state of chaos. Seeing the ugly stain of coffee on the once pristine carpet causes you to swear beneath your breath.

“Who the fuck is allergic to cinnamon?” a new voice says, sliding up beside you.  

The second god in DailyHive; the much nicer and evidently preferred Kim; Taehyung takes the mug pieces from you and drops it into the garbage bin.

Blessed with not only intelligence but devilishly model-like features, he is your desk buddy in the small space allotted for interns and your sole friend in the company.

“Tae,” you sigh with exasperation upon seeing your lifesaver, “What am I going to do about this stain? He’s going to return in fifteen and there’s no way I can get a coffee stain out of this expensive-ass carpet.”

Taehyung taps a long finger to his lips, leaves the room briefly, and returns with a roll of Bounty sheets and a can of Febreze. He promptly blots as much of the coffee off from the carpet then proceeds to pull the meeting table.

“C’mon, Y/N, don’t just stand there. Help me! Time is of the essence!”

You laugh and join him in moving the table so that one of the legs cover the stain 80% of the way. Once he is satisfied, he takes the Febreze and sprays until the whole room smells like “Hawaiian Aloha”.

“You’re welcome.” He gives an extravagant bow, the motion popping open the top button of his shirt to expose a surprisingly chiseled chest.

Fei returns back into the room holding a phone to her ear and a clipboard in her left hand. “What the hell? It smells like a Bath & Body Works in here. Intern, aren’t you supposed to be filing or something? Stop standing around and be useful.” She grips Taehyung’s arm and drags him out of the room. “Button up. This is a professional workplace.”

You give him a tiny wave as Taehyung is steered away by his girlfriend and back to the cubicles.

Taehyung may be your saviour at work, but outside, it cannot be denied that your brother is the true Fountain of Life.

A week has passed since the coffee incident (you suspect a cleaning personnel had found the stain and cleaned up after your improv as aforementioned stain can no longer be found), but Jimin still brings it up.

“I still can’t believe that he said he was allergic to cinnamon. I’ve never heard of such bullshit before,” your brother says over the phone. You can practically hear his eyeroll from across the world.

As a renowned ophthalmologist, you have not seen Jimin for close to a year as he has been initiating his new clinic, a flying eye hospital.

“You should hear his Starbucks order. I always feel like I’m ready to launch my next EP whenever I’m at the counter,” you say.

Jimin laughs. There is the muffled sounds of voices as his never-ending flow of patients have arrived for the day.

“I shouldn’t keep you,” you say upon hearing that, “You’re probably really busy.”

“No,” he says, “I’ve got a few minutes if you’ve got a few. I miss talking to my baby sister.”

“I’m not a baby anymore, Jiminie,” you say using the nickname he hated.

“Oh that’s right. Your birthday’s in a little under three months, right? My baby sister is turning the big three-oh.”

“God, don’t remind me.”

“Want me to come visit you?”

You contemplate the idea once, having not seen Jimin in quite a while.

“Only if you have time. But I feel like Mom and Dad would probably want to see you more. Speaking of which, um… How are Mom and Dad?”

“They’re good. I hear Dad is finally going to retire this year. He’s giving his practice to Kibum, you remember him? Mom will probably start pestering us about what to do for his retirement party.”

There is a pause.

“You know, it wouldn’t hurt to say hi to them once in a while.”

You sigh. “And say what? Hey, it’s me. The child that ran away from home at 18? Yeah, I’m not a doctor like everybody else in the family but a 29 year old intern at a popular app company. Whassuuup?”

“Y/N, that’s not what I – ”

“It’s okay, Jimin. I’ve come to accept that not everybody is cut out to be a doctor. I just wish Mom and Dad could realize that.”

Jimin sighs on your behalf. There is the sound of a crying child coming through the earphone. “Well, your contract expires a few weeks after your birthday, right? Who knows, you might be the next Mark Zuckerberg.”

He has never explicitly inquired about your life plan and you know this is as much as he is willing to push without asking, “What’s next after this intern hiccup?” At least he had the decency to compare you to a controversial Internet entrepreneur.

The child is crying much louder now.

“Again with my birthday. But I’ll let you know,” is the only reply you can come up with at the moment. “Okay, brother, go forth and heal the blind. I bless thee in the name of the Holy Spirit, Son and Ghost.”

There is true laughter that rings from Jimin as he ends the call. “It’s Father, Son and Holy Ghost you dweeb. I love you sis.”

“You too.” You hang up first before he can add anything else.

With that, you enter into the 7am Starbucks queue and prepare yourself in running the first single of your long overdue EP.

Seokjin leans back in his chair, watching you from inside his office. Today he has chosen a black turtleneck and a brazen maroon-nearly purple suit jacket to complete the outfit. For once, there is an empty mug of coffee beside him and his morning headache has been appeased.

He knew he had given you an impossible task.

“Compile all the troubleshooting errors we have received since the launch of DailyHive. Organize it in a manner that allows me to identify the most prominent problem. Run it through whomever you please before giving it to me. I don’t need to waste my time correcting your mistakes.”

There is an amused smile that bubbles beneath his otherwise stoic features. He cannot deny that there is, might he dare say, a cute quality about you as you manually scan through the received concerns on your laptop dating back to the initial beta tests – the ones that were lost in a data crash and only backed up with unintelligible scribblings of previous interns.

The moment you had been introduced as the new intern, you had caught his eye. You are exquisitely mundane, and perhaps the reason you had even caught him the first time was due to solely to the fact that you were older than most interns – himself even. Nevertheless, you continue to present him small surprises in your tenacity and capability to tackle challenges.

“Mr. Kim.”

His intercom comes alive with the voice of his secretary.

Seokjin’s eyes do not leave you as he answers.

“Mr. Hwang is on line two. Would you like me to defer him to a later time if you are currently busy?”

Seokjin cannot help but sigh. Hwang Junho, his co-founder, while a genius in international business is also a notorious chatterbox and gossip. There is seldom a reason for Junho to call him except to relay the cover titles of E!Magazine.

“Did he mention a reason for calling?” Seokjin inquires.

His secretary seems to be reading from a note. “He says it’s to do with the company. Something he read from Cosmopolitan this morning.”

So not E! but another sister celebrity gossip blog. He checks his watch and duly notes that he certainly has no meetings scheduled until later in the afternoon where your report would be needed to run a preliminary analysis.

“Sir?”

“Yes, put him through. But tell him I’ve got only five minutes, so he’s better give me the Cliffnotes version,” Seokjin sighs again.

Before he can be connected, Seokjin quickly says, “What’s the name of that intern again?”

“Who?” his secretary asks, “We’ve hired four since the beginning of the year.”

“The one who keeps wanting to poison me.”

“I’m sorry, Sir?” she sounds concerned.

“The one who keeps forgetting that I despise cinnamon.”

There is no response.

“The older one. Spilled coffee a while ago but still has enough coordination to pull together a decent report.”

“Ah,” she says.

He waits patiently as she searches through the database, eventually giving him your name. He gives a slight pause and then says, “Good. Now patch me with Junho.”

There is a momentary buzz as the call becomes connected in which Seokjin turns over the syllables of your name wordlessly.

“Mr. Kim. The man of the hour. How are you, my brother?” Junho’s baritone fills the office in a manner of seconds.

Despite the little annoying quirks, Seokjin cannot help but smile when hearing the voice of his best friend.

“You’ve got three minutes, Junho.”

Junho grumbles. “That’s not my fault. You were the one still on the line with your secretary. Is it still Yerin? ‘Cuz I won’t blame you if that’s the case. Did I catch you doing some naughty phone sex during office hours?”

“Two.”

“Holy hell. Fine. It’s always business with you. That’s why the tabloids are always writing you as an uptight asshole.”

This shifts Seokjin’s attention to the phone. His name is seldomly mentioned except for the features in business columns. He prefers to stay out of the limelight.

“What?”

“Put your name on Google.”

Seokjin does as he is told.

There are millions of results, but the first few pages share the same headline. He clicks on the first one with a grimace.

“Kim Seokjin. Mr. Worldwide Handsome as noted by his fans, has recently sparked Internet outrage.”

A quick skim of the otherwise trashy article brought to the surface a summary: his last dating scandal had ended badly and the repercussions of blowing off a famous celebrity’s daughter had finally caught up with him. The Internet was calling him arrogant, narrow-minded, and even greedy. “The young Chief Executive Officer of booming social media app DailyHive has been accused of using his relationship with actress XYZ to further his own business. Once he gained recognition from aforementioned relationship, he has cold-heartedly cast her away to pursue his next.” “You’re calling me for this bullshit?” Seokjin scoffs. Junho tuts his tongue loudly. “This is not bullshit. It’s affecting the image of your company. Do you think people want to download and support an app that is run by somebody who is being called cruel and dishonest? You’ve got to address this soon before it gets out of control. You’re lucky I have alerts set for these type of things. I caught it for you just in the nick of time.” Seokjin inhales deeply. “You’re also lucky that I’ve got the perfect solution in mind.” “That is?” “The Silver Gala,” Junho references the prestigious event. The Silver Gala is hosted annually and attended by the largest celebrities as well as other wealthy investors and guests. Those in the social circle shared between Seokjin and Junho often yearned for tickets to attend events such as this, as they serve as excellent networking opportunities. Besides the above, such events are circled by reporters and writers of gossip columns to get the exclusive scoop on any eyebrow-raising rumours. “The solution lies in such an event,” Junho continues, “You know how many people will be there. All you’ve got to do is show up with your average girl-next-door type and it’ll show how you’re actually really humble and down to earth. Kim Seokjin is perfectly capable of dating like any regular human being. He doesn’t use “love” or whatever to further his business. Love is the connection between two souls; two individuals who – ” “Beep. Your time has run out Junho. I’ve got another meeting scheduled right this moment,” Seokjin interrupts. “Dude, seriously. Think about it. You could bring Yerin. Everbody loves a good CEO and his secretary affair. And if that’s too juicy for you, I can introduce you to some girls. Or maybe we could go back to our university days and hit a bar, y’know?” Junho tries his best to persuade. “Fuck!” you swear beneath your breath right as you walk into Kim Seokjin’s office. His door had been open and, in your excitement to show your completed report, you had dropped all the loose papers on the ground. Four hours of organization gone, just like that. You hope that at least Seokjin hasn’t heard or noticed you as he had been engrossed in his phone call. Seokjin had in fact noticed you. He can’t help himself but follow the curvature of your bare shoulder as your bangs escape the hold of your scrunchie and sweep across your skin. “Don’t worry, Junho, I’ve just thought about it,” he says with a smile.

[comfortbucky]

Hey! Can i request a cold, lonely ex-hydra reader × bucky who falls in love with her. Adding some panic attacks and nightmares of the reader.

i love this idea!!! thank u for submitting🥰

𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲 ⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆ ｡˚ ☁︎ ˚｡⋆｡˚ ⋆

pairing: avenger!bucky x ex-HYDRA!fem!reader

tags: enemies(?) to lovers, angst (if u squint), soft!bucky

warnings: canon level violence, description of injuries, blood is mentioned, panic attacks, anxiety, nightmares

A/N: i just came up with a random name for the HYDRA leader the reader is after🤣 so just ,,, ignore // also!!!! i tried out a different writing style than what i’m used to! hope u don’t mind🥺 just been feeling like a lot of my writing is the same and wanted to try something new!!!

word count: 3.5k (this is so long LMAO sorry 😭 literally why am i like this)

my masterlist!

completed requests!

The suit that you once considered a second skin, now felt uncomfortable and constricting, like a python squeezing the life out of you. Although, it made sense since the very organization of the uniform you were wearing did exactly that.

HYDRA.

For so long you were just another mindless pawn to them, just doing without every actually thinking. Unlike your younger brother, Alex. They indoctrinated him as well, getting a hold of both of you from a young age, but he was there when Captain America took down S.H.I.E.L.D. and it changed his entire worldview. You found everything he said about “freedom” to be stupid, naive, and dangerous. And you would later prove yourself correct.

You pull yourself from your thoughts as a group of HYDRA soldiers walk past the shrubbery you hid behind. Quickly and quietly, you get up and join them as they march towards the HYDRA base. As soon as you get inside, you manage to slip away from the rest of the group to search for your target.

Since HYDRA took the possibility of you ever having a normal life away, as far as you were concerned, your only purpose in life was to kill the man who was at the center of it all, Viktor Cross. And after months of tracking him down, formulating the perfect plan, that’s exactly what you were going to do today.

You make your way towards one of the main lab facilities, gun in hand when you see several unconscious guards lying on the floor in front of you. Shifting your gaze up, you see that the door has been ripped open, grip marks on the sides.

This was not part of the plan.

As you squeeze through the open door and enter the lab, you come to a halt, frozen in shock. There’s your target, Viktor, shoved against the wall by none other than Captain America himself. You almost let out a chuckle in disbelief at the irony of the situation. Instead, you take a step forward, and the glass cracks beneath your feet, alerting the men of your presence.

Shit.

Immediately, both sets of eyes are on you. Viktor’s lips curve into a smirk as you make your way to them.

“Agent- Miss Y/N,” he corrects himself. “What a pleasant surprise.” You ignore him and look to address Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America.

“Let him go and give him to me,” you start, Steve eyeing you cautiously. “So I can kill him,” you snarl, quickly turning to Viktor to see that his smirk had been wiped off his face.

“Aren’t you HYDRA?” He questions, nodding to your suit and eliciting a cackle from Viktor.

“Not anymore,” you mumble, before lifting a leg to kick Steve in his side. You hit him across the face with the end of your gun for good measure. He stumbles over, giving you enough time to grab Viktor’s collar, before he falls to the floor, and slam him back against the wall. His eyes are full of desperation and you felt nothing but pure, burning rage. You shove the barrel of your gun under his chin and place your hand on the trigger.

“You were such a gifted agent, Y/N. Don’t throw away such potential, come back.”

“Go to hell.”

Before you could pull the trigger, a force propels you to the ground and you feel a sharp pain in your side. Silence and then ringing fills your eyes as you squint your eyes to try and visualize the situation. Your vision is blurry, but clear enough to clouds of smoke engulf Viktor’s figure as he escapes. A muffled voice from behind you speaks, but you can’t make out any of the words they’re saying. You look down to see red. Just crimson red, staining your abdomen. Hands land on your shoulders, shaking you gently as your vision fades to black.

Viktor is in front of you, the barrel of his gun directed right at your head. He smirks as he moves his hand to the trigger.

“Hail, HYDRA.”

A gunshot goes off, forcing you to shoot up in bed, gasping for air. As you start to regain your senses, you realize you’re surrounded by a group of strangers. Well, not complete strangers, the Avengers to be exact. Part of your job required you to study their files, learn everything about them. You could recite from memory where and when they were born, their greatest strengths and weaknesses. Suddenly, your side starts to burn with pain, and you carefully lean back in bed. There’s an array of wires and tubes connected to you and you hear the rhythmic beeping of various machines. You’re in a hospital, or some sort of medical facility.

“That, is exactly why I said we should use restraints.”

You’re staring at the ceiling when you hear Iron Man, AKA Tony Stark, speak.

“Tony, she lost a liter of blood, she’s not going anywhere.”

Steve appears in your view, looking down at you.

“Hey, you’re okay. You’re safe.”

You shift your gaze away from him. The last thing you expected to come out of this mission was to meet the Avengers, let alone them save you.

Steve sighs, “We’re not gonna hurt you. We wanna find Viktor too.”

There’s nothing he could say that could get you to speak. Your hatred for HYDRA didn’t mean you suddenly liked the Avengers. If anything, they were part of the problem too, so you stay silent.

“Told you, she’s not gonna talk,” Tony quips. From your research, you had come to learn that he was an arrogant man, and his statement only proved you right. “Maybe you should get Manchurian Candidate to come down, give her an ex-HYDRA buddy,” he says sarcastically.

Upon hearing “ex-HYDRA buddy,” you furrow your brows. Maybe it was the lack of blood in your body, but it took you a second to process his words and understand who he was referring to. Your eyes dart back to look at Steve’s but he’s gone.

“I’ll be back.” His voice trails off as he exits the room.

You’re still staring at the ceiling when you hear footsteps return and then several others departing.

There’s only one other person in the room beside you. Without even looking up, you already know who it is. His breathing was slow and steady until you started to shift in bed to reposition yourself. His breath hitched for a moment, before returning back to his normal breathing pattern.

“Killing him isn’t gonna make you feel better.” His comment makes you roll your eyes as you slowly sit up to look at him. There were no logical thoughts in your head, all you could feel was pain and fury. Anger swelled within you, your emotions boiling over.

“That’s rich, coming from the Fist of HYDRA,” you spat out. As soon as the words left your mouth, you felt your stomach drop. It was an unfamiliar feeling, one you hadn’t felt in a while. What was it? Regret?

Bucky’s face fell but he kept his eyes on you. It was a look that made you feel worse, worse than the searing pain in your side.

“I’m not a killer anymore,” he said in a tone so gentle, you felt another strange, new emotion but couldn’t quite label it. You quickly shift gears to avoid addressing the uncomfortable feelings swirling around in your stomach.

“Are you keeping me hostage to lure Viktor in? Because it's not going to work." Bucky shook his head.

"We want..." he trailed off, causing you to tilt your head in curiosity. “We need your help finding him.” You scoffed.

“What do I get out of it?” Bucky’s silence gave you your answer. Shaking your head, you start to disconnect yourself from the multitude of wires attached to you and get out of bed.

“You’re gonna hurt yourself,” he started, as you threw off your blanket and sat on the edge of the bed.

Standing up quickly, the blood from your head pooled in your legs, causing you to feel dizzy. Your head spun and your arms reached out for something, anything stable to grab onto. It was a metal hand. Despite it being cool to the touch, it ignited a heat to rise to your cheeks. You look down and mumble a thank you as Bucky helps you back into bed.

Letting out a sigh, you realize with the condition you’re in, you can’t leave. Definitely not well enough to go after Viktor alone. Shutting your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose, you curse under your breath.

“Fine,” you finally speak, keeping your eyes closed. Bucky nods, even though you don’t see, and you hear him walk off.

After a couple days of rest, you were cleared by Bruce to get discharged. Viktor had gone deep in hiding, making your job to find him a lot harder. Tony had so graciously given you an extra room in the tower, right next to Bucky’s. He was probably the one person you saw the most, purely due to location, and the fact that everyone else cautiously kept their distance from you. It made sense though, since you rarely spoke to anyone and spent most of your time in the lab looking for any clues of Viktor’s location. When you weren’t searching for him, you were training in the gym. Bucky was there a lot too, both of you waking up at ungodly hours of the morning. No words were ever exchanged between the two of you, and yet, there was some level of comfort you felt being around him. Must’ve been an ex-HYDRA thing.

“What’s on your mind?” You walk over to Alex and sit on the edge of the bed next to him. He sighs.

“What if,” he starts, furrowing his brows. “What if freedom is good?” He speaks quietly, fearful of HYDRA listening in on your conversation.

It feels like you’ve got the wind knocked out of you.

“Alex,” you grab him by the shoulders. “What the hell are you talking about?” You’re searching his eyes, trying to understand what’s gotten into him.

“Captain America.” The biggest threat to HYDRA’s existence. He looks down at his hands. “He was willing to risk his life for it. It has to be worth something right?” Alex looks back up to you with a look in his eyes that you haven’t seen since you were children. Uncertainty. You sigh and pull him into your chest, stroking his hair.

“I don’t know, kiddo. Maybe.”

You wake up in a cold sweat, panting. Hot tears fall from the corners of your eyes. It’s the same dream you’ve had for the last week. Although, you wouldn’t consider it a dream necessarily, but it wasn’t a nightmare either. Just a bittersweet memory.

Bucky could tell that something was up with you for the past week. Despite having gone through a bit of therapy, Steve’s idea, the nightmares still came to him. So Bucky was already wide awake when he heard your weeping on the other side of the wall. It didn’t help that he was also a light sleeper with super-soldier hearing. He didn’t know what was causing you to be so upset, but he didn’t want to intrude and ask. Neither of you had spoken to the other since you first arrived.

But this night was different from the rest. Usually, you would flip endlessly through channels on ur TV until you eventually fell asleep, but it wasn’t working this time. There’s a tight pain in your chest and suddenly, you’re suffocating. You rip off your covers and spring out of bed, tripping on your blankets along the way. At this point, you don’t even register the pain of slamming down, face-first on the ground. Panic has taken over your body, tears now streaming down your face. You squeeze your eyes shut, hoping for relief.

He wasn’t planning on doing anything until he heard a loud thud from your room. Immediately, Bucky gets up and arrives at your door. It’s rude to just barge into someone’s room, his mom taught him that from a young age, so he settles on knocking. You don’t hear it though, the only sound you hear is the sound of your rapid breathing as you hyperventilate. Bucky hears it too and ultimately decides on inviting himself into your room.

“Y/N?”

You’re lying on your side, curled up in a fetal position with your hands covering your face, when Bucky opens the door. He quickly arrives by your side, kneeling beside you, as he examines you for any injuries.

“Are you hurt?”

You manage to shake your head in response, anxiety still flowing through your veins. Unfortunately, Bucky’s familiar with panic attacks, having had them himself. But he also knows that everyone deals with them a bit differently. Guess he did manage to learn some useful things from therapy.

“Can you try breathing with me?”

He starts to take deep breaths in and out until he sees you start to follow along with him, your hands still covering your face. There’s a part of you that feels stupid for keeping them there, but they help ground you, so you continue to shield your face. After what feels like an hour, but was probably only 10 minutes, your panic subsides. That’s when a wave of embarrassment hits you, realizing that it had been Bucky with you during your panic attack.

Slowly removing your hands from your face, you’re greeted by piercing blue eyes. You blink a couple times, realizing that Bucky had taken a spot on the ground, lying on his side to face you, his hands pressed together under his head like a pillow. He smiles and you feel warm. It’s terrifying, the new feelings that Bucky has caused you to feel and yet, you don’t mind.

“You feelin’ better?” You nod and smile back, something you haven’t genuinely done in a while.

“Thank you, Bucky.”

You stare at each other in silence, lying side by side. There’s no physical touch involved but somehow, this moment, it feels intimate. Bucky breaks the silence.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He speaks in a voice so soft, it almost sounded like a whisper.

It might’ve been the fact that he just calmed you down from a panic attack, but as you looked into his eyes, you felt the walls you had built up for the last year slowly come crashing down.

“He killed my brother,” you reply, maintaining your eyes on Bucky. You searched his eyes for any fear or pity, but all you could find was a look of understanding. His eyes were starting to become a safe place for you.

“Alex was there when Steve took down S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA along with it. He wanted out, out of the organization.” Taking a deep breath, you continue. “Word got around about a “rat,” so I took the blame. Viktor was about to shoot me when Alex’s dumbass ran in front of me, sacrificing himself.” You let out a chuckle, your vision getting blurry as tears swelled in your eyes. “He was a goddamn idiot, but he also had a heart of gold.”

As you start to cry, Bucky hesitatingly extends an arm to hover over your body, trying to gauge your reaction. Physical touch was something he struggled with during the beginning of his recovery, and he didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. He’s reassured when you grab onto his shirt and pull yourself closer to him, and wraps an arm around you, his other hand softly stroking your head.

You hadn’t cried like this since Alex died, bottling up all of your emotions to focus on finding the man responsible for his death. But as you sobbed into Bucky’s chest, you realize that your love for Alex had transformed into an ugly, burning hatred for Viktor. He wouldn’t want this. You didn’t want it, at least, not anymore. The only thing you wanted was your brother back, and that was impossible.

Bucky held you in his arms until you fell asleep, listening to the sounds of your slow, rhythmic breathing, dozing off shortly after.

That night with Bucky had softened your cold, hard exterior that you initially presented yourself with. You would willingly spar with Nat in the training room and join the team for breakfast or dinner. Everyone noticed and, while at first thrown off by it, happily embraced it. Especially Bucky.

Initially, he got up to work out in the early hours of the morning as a habit. Now, he woke up to see you. His heart did flips in his chest every time he walked in the gym and saw you. Since that night, you started to acknowledge his presence, turning to smile and wave as he walked through the doors. It was something he looked forward to every day.

During the day, you were focused hard on tracking down Viktor and Bucky knew that. But he also knew he wanted to spend more time with you. He looked for reasons to enter the lab, whether it was offering snacks to you throughout the day or helping Bruce or, even Tony. Anything to see you again.

Bucky realized that there was a deeper, stronger emotion that he felt for you when he would wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. The first thing he thought about was you. Specifically, how you were the only thing that could possibly calm him down. Although he’d come in that night to help you with your panic attack, you ended up helping him as well. He hadn’t slept as soundly and peacefully as he did with you. And you hadn’t either. There were several nights when neither of you could sleep and ended up running into each other. It slowly became a routine that would begin in the kitchen, exchanging life stories, and end on the couch in the common area, entangled in each other’s arms.

Tonight you didn’t show up and Bucky panicked. He stared at the kitchen clock. It had been 20 minutes and you still hadn’t shown up. Bucky racked his brain for anything he could’ve done to scare you off, but came up with nothing. It wasn’t like you two had been officially together, Bucky had no idea what you were to each other. All he knew is that he wanted to be with you, always.

You were soundly asleep in bed, passing out as soon as your head hit the pillow. It was a particularly physically exhausting day for you, training with both Nat and Steve.

Bucky was so caught up with the thoughts racing through his head, he hadn’t noticed that his feet had taken him right to your door. He stands there for a moment, silently debating what to do. Grumbling under his breath, he musters up the courage to knock on your door. Right as he was about to turn away and shuffle off to his room, your door opens. You greet him with a yawn and a tired smile.

“Oh, hey Bucky.”

He looks at the bags under your eyes and feels instant regret wash over him, realizing that you weren’t avoiding him, but just getting some sleep.

“Sorry,” he looks down at his feet. You frown and place a hand on his cheek to lift his head up.

“Something wrong?” He avoids your gaze, partially because he’s embarrassed and partially because his cheeks were turning red because of your touch.

“No.” You cross your arms and let out a sigh.

“You’re a bad liar.” It’s his turn to sigh, as he scratches the back of his head.

“You didn’t come to the kitchen,” he lets out, in almost a whisper. It hits you. You were so tired, you had completely forgotten about your nightly tradition. “It’s stupid, sorry. I shouldn’t have woken you up," he mumbles. Bucky begins to walk off but you grab his hand. When he turns to look at you, his brows are raised at your touch.

As you start to speak, you pull him close, facing you. “It’s not stupid.” His hands move to hold your waist as yours move to wrap around his neck. You pause, an idea popping into your head. “I’m kind of tired from training today, wanna just come sleep with me?” He nods and you drag him to your bed, nestling into his arms as he holds you to his chest, his chin resting above your head. You tilt your head back to see him looking down at you. There’s a fluttering feeling in your chest and you smile.

“Just for future reference, you have an open invitation to cuddle with me, anytime.” Bucky chuckles at your offer.

“I’ll keep that in mind, doll.”

Bucky cups your face in his hand and you nuzzle your cheek in his palm. His eyes dart down to your lips before returning to your eyes.

Then, the most delicate, sweetest kiss you’ve ever received is on your lips.

You flutter your eyes open as you both pull apart. He quickly kisses your nose before pulling you back into his chest, speaking softly.

“And you have an open invitation to kiss me, anytime.”

[twiceinadream]

“Yeogi, yeogi, yeogi.”

Requested: Yup

Request: Momo is unable to escape her dorm on Valentine's Day so instead, y/n sneaks into the dorm

a/u: Hey, everyone! I didn’t realize it was already Friday I’ve been so busy this week, so sorry if this seems a little weird I wrote this over a month ago and just finished it today. I hope you still enjoy this Valentine’s prompt. I love you guys!

Category: NSFW and Fluff

Word Count: 2.7k

Momo sat in front of JYP with a scowl prominent on her face as he shook his head, “I’m sorry Momo-ssi, but I can’t have you going out and about with Y/N-ssi on Valentine’s.” The man pinched the bridge of his nose, “It’s just too easy for you and Y/N to be recognized and I don’t want the media swarming the two of you.” Jinyoung trailed off at the end, clearing his throat before frowning, “I’m sorry Momo, I really am.”

The Japanese girl ran a hand through her hair as she tried to play off her sadness, “It’s fine, I understand.” Her voice was sullen as she exited his office and left the building. Resisting the urge to cry in the van till she returned back to their dorm, just wanting to cuddle with Boo and Dobby before she told you she would have to cancel the plans you had made. Mentally preparing herself for the disappointment she would hear on the other end of the line when she broke the news to you, sometimes she hated being an idol.

It didn’t take long to get from the company back to Twice’s dorm as Momo stared at your contact, resisting the urge to call you until she got inside as she thanked the driver and headed up. Her head hit the wall of the elevator as she rode it to their floor, her heart sinking into her stomach as she entered the shared dorm to find Sana, Nayeon, and Tzuyu sitting in the living room. Expectant looks on their faces as Nayeon raised an eyebrow at her, noticing how Momo’s shoulders were slumped forward and she looked like someone had just told her she’d have to give up jokbal.

The eldest bit her lip as she made eye contact with the third oldest, “How’d it go?” The question was stupid, Nayeon knew that, but decided to ask anyway. And with the way Momo just stared at her for a second before leaving down the hall, she got all the answers she needed, “I guess that’s a, ‘No’.”

Tzuyu deadpanned the sole Korean, “You don’t say Unnie.”

The sound of bickering followed Momo down the hall as she opened the door to her, Sana, and Nayeon’s shared room. Boo and Dobby lounging on the bed as they got up the instant the door opened, happy yips coming from both of them as they saw their owner enter the room. Their tails wagging as Momo laid on the bed, a soft smile gracing her lips as they cuddled into her sides. A frown taking over her smile as she smiled heavily, cuddling the two dogs as she felt tears sping into the corner of her eyes.

The Japanese girl burried her head in their fur as she let a soft sob from her lips, ‘Why couldn’t she just see you like every other couple on Valentine’s?’ She continued to cry till she eventually fell asleep, sad looks on Sana and Nayeon’s face as they listened on the other side of the door. They hated seeing any of their members sad, Momo especially since she wasn’t really asking for much.

That was when Tzuyu came up behind them, “I have an idea.” The maknae said, scaring the two older girls as she made them jump.

Sana held her hand to her chest as she spun around to face the Taiwanese girl, “Jeez! And what would that be?”

Tzuyu smiled, her dimple showing, “I need to make a few calls and you’ll see.”

-

-The Next Morning-

The sound of loud voices in the kitchen is what roused Momo when she realized she fallen asleep crying, her eyes her puffy and dry as she dragged herself out of bed. Her head felt like it was pounding when she noticed that Boo and Dobby were gone but the door to the bedroom was open. But by the sound in the kitchen she figured that one of girls had taken them out of the room.

The Japaneee girl didn’t even bother to fix herself as she headed towards the kitchen, just wanting to get a strong cup of coffee before she had to call you. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of letting you down so early in the morning, but continued her trek down the hall when she spotted most of her members already dressed in the kitchen, “Are we going somewhere?”

At the sound of Momo’s voice the five other girls stopped what they were doing, staring at the main dancer. Before the front door suddenly opened: Sana, Nayeon, Tzuyu, and a hooded figure stumbled in, barely registering that the Japanese girl was there when the three turned the hooded figure around so that they were facing the door. A bright smile on Sana’s face as she looked at her best friend, “Momoring, you’re up! We have a surprise.”

The glee in the younger’s voice made her raise an eyebrow, “Do I need to change?” They stifled a laugh as Nayeon turned the hooded figure back around, and time seemed to slow in Momo’s eyes as the figure slowly lifted the hood to reveal, “Y/N?”

You smiled brightly at your girlfriend’s reaction, shooting her a wink, “The one and only.”

“How did you…?” Your girlfriend’s voice trailed off as she resisted the urge to cry, her body flooding with so many emotions when Boo and Dobby circled around her ankles.

You crossed the distance between the two of you as you wrapped her in a hug, “I got a call from Tzu last night saying that the company wouldn’t let you go out today. So Yoda, the snake, and a bunny snuck me in so I could be with you.”

Momo’s jaw dropped as she looked at her members who were putting on their shoes, “Wait, where are you guys going?”

Jihyo smiled as she motioned to the cabinets and fridge, “We put a little something together for the two of you, enjoy your day together and we’re all staying at Jeong’s sister’s place tonight, so use your time wisely.” The leader winked, making you and Momo blush a deep shade of red.

“Th...thank you.” The dancer said earnestly, going over to hug each of the members as they left.

“Of course Momo Unnie.” Tzuyu smiled, pushing her back towards you, “Now go have fun.” And with that: you, Momo, and the dogs were left alone.

-

It was had gotten late into the evening, with a day filled with rom-com marathons and snacks when you both started craving real food. Momo was leaning against you when she felt your stomach rumble, the sound making her laugh, “Aww, is my poor baby hungry?”

But before she could get another word in, her stomach began making the same noise as you stuck out your tongue, “I guess that makes two of us.”

Momo pouted as you both got off the couch, stumbling your way into the kitchen as you pulled open the fridge. Finding a few miscellaneous items, some chocolate covered strawberries (which you made a mental note of) before you saw a jar of half finished pasta sauce, you held it up to your girlfriend, “Spaghetti?”

The Japanese girl turned to look at you as she was rummaging through the cupboards, pulling out a box of pasta, “Perfect! And I think we might have meatballs in there.” You opened up one of the drawers to find the package she was talking about, only to find fuzz covered meat.

“Momoring, these are spoiled.” You cringed as you quickly threw it away, not wanting to look at it anymore, “Guess we’re back to just pasta and sauce.”

Your girlfriend shrugged, “At least we still have some food.” You nodded as you began taking out a few pots.

“True, and we haven’t burned anything yet.

-

-A Few Moments Later-

“Omg, Y/N! The pasta is burning!” The sound of the smoke detector going off didn’t help the fact you were now frantically running to the pot of burning water as you threw it in the sink.

“How did we burn water!?” You looked at your girlfriend in shock as a beat of silence passed between you two. You both held each other’s state for a second longer before you both burst out laughing, “I probably jinxed us earlier.”

Momo giggled as she went to hug you, knocking her fist against the wooden chopping board, “We forgot to ‘knock on wood’ Y/N-Chan.”

You nodded, “Without a doubt, but what are we gonna do now?” But before Momo could answer the sound of a knock sounded throughout the dorm, you cocked an eyebrow as you went to open the door. Not wanting the delivery person to know this was Twice’s dorm, “Can I help you?”

The man on the other side held up two plastic bags, “Food delivery for L/N Y/N.”

You raised an eyebrow in confusion, “That’s me.” He nodded as he handed you the bag.

“There you go, have a nice night.” You thanked him before closing the door, walking back to a sheepish looking Momo.

You looked between her and the bags when it suddenly clicked, “You knew the food was going to burn!”

The Japanese girl pursed her lips to prevent from laughing as she held her hands up in defense, “No, I just...um. Wanted to be prepared?”

You shook your head in disbelief as you placed the food in front of her, letting out an offended gasp, “Even my own girlfriend doesn’t trust my cooking skills.”

She deadpanned, “Y/N, you burned water.”

“Did not! The pasta caught fire!” You crossed your arms like a child as Momo began laughing, her eyes crinkling as you couldn’t help but smile too, “But, good call.”

—

You let out a content sigh as you finally bagged up the last of your guy’s dinner before you found a note left on the table, ‘Come and get your dessert -Momoring <3.

You quirked an eyebrow as you noticed the door to Momo’s room was cracked open and a small stream of light was peeking out into the hallway. A smile broke out onto your lips as you made your way to the partially opened door, hastily making your way in as the sight before you made your breath catch in your throat.

Your girlfriend was clad in an ensemble that left little to the imagination as she sat with her knees parted at against the headboard. You swallowed hard as you looked her up and down, your cheeks felt hot under her gaze, “Is this for me?”

Momo had a coy smirk on her face as she made a come hither motion with her finger, “Happy Valentine’s Y/N-ah, come and open your present.”

You wasted no time shoving off your pants as your shirt quickly followed, making a pile on the floor as you ounces onto the bed. Connecting your lips in a heated kiss as you ran a hand over your girlfriend’s exposed abs, loving the way the muscle tensed under your touch as you moved to cup her breast. A breath moan falling from her lips as you pulled away, nipping and sucking at her neck as you left marks deep enough to show.

Your hand snaked behind her back as you quickly unclasped her bra and let the garment fall to the floor, enjoying the newly exposed skin as you took a stiffened nipple between your index and thumb before pinching it slightly. A gasp catching in the Japanese woman’s throat as you took the other into your mouth, swirling the stiffened peak with your tongue before releasing back into the chilly air of the room. Repeating the process with the other as you inched down a little further till you were eye level with her crotch, “May I?”

Momo nodded her head earnestly as you took the elastic of her panties between your fingers, pulling the fabric down slightly so that her hip was exposed. You kissed along the skin that made your girlfriend’s grip on your shoulder tighten as you teased her further, a desperate whine sounding from above as you finally let up, “Needy.”

The dancer pouted as you pulled her underwear off completely, a few strands of wetness still clinging to the material as her opening pulsed with need. Her pussy was pink and puffy with arousal her clit peeking ever so slightly from its hood as you placed a kiss and lick to the junction where her leg and sex met. A surprised moan falling from her lips as you blew a steady stream of air onto her heated core, “Y/N, please.”

You rolled your eyes at your girlfriend’s impatience before leaving one last kiss to her inner thigh and diving straight in. Her body tensed as your tongue made its way into her opening, her juices hitting your lips as you ate her out. She tasted-ironically-a bit like peaches as you continued to lap up the essence that leaked out of her, you lifted two fingers to Momo’s mouth indicating for her to suck them as you worked on her lower half. Her tongue coating your digits in saliva before you pulled them away and repositioned them at her aching core. You teased her entrance with your middle finger before sinking in to the molten heat that was Hirai Momo’s sex, a releaved moan slipping from her lips when you added in another finger. Thrusting slowly as you felt for the rough patch of flesh against her frontal wall, resting it with an experimental tap to warm her before copying the come hither motion she had made before as your fingers lightly stroked her g-spot. A loud whine came out of the dancer as she fisted the bedsheets.

Satisfied with your fingers you used your free hand to lift the hood hiding your girlfriend’s swollen clit. The bud had a slight red hue from the neglect but it wouldn’t be like that for long as you left a lingering kiss against her clit, sliding your tongue along wet folds. Momo groaned happily as her hips canted against you, chasing your pliant mouth. With a throaty moan, she let go of the sheets to fondle her breasts, tweaking her nipples gently.

Momo groaned in delight, grinding against your face as you slowly fucked her with your fingers. Your chin was slick with her wetness and as she moaned, your hands drifting along her sides and belly.

You alternated between gentle suckles and broad strokes over her clit as she continued fondling her plump breasts, humming softly against her center as her walls clenched around your thrusting digits. She squealed in delight, grinding against your face, “Oh, yes...”

You couldn’t hold back your moan at the sound, you placed open-mouthed kisses along her slick folds. Before closing your lips around the fat swell of her clit, giving her a second to breath before sucking. Hard.

Momo let out a shriek as her hips jerked off your face, her orgasm gushing out of her in a sudden burst. Covering the lower half of your face with her release as her body shuddered with every wave of pleasure. A series of clipped pants was the only thing you heard before Momo finally came down from her high, carefully taking your fingers out of her as you moved to spoon her.

You smiled as your girlfriend’s bangs stuck to her sweaty forehead, a blissful smile on her face as you leaned down to kiss her, “How was it?”

“Amazing.” Her tone sounded breathless as she nuzzled into you, “What’s the damage?”

You smirked as you looked down at the dark bruises you left on her neck, using your index finger to point at them, “Let’s see, yeogi, yeogi, yeogi.” Momo scowled as you placed a kiss on her swollen lips, “Nea maeum.”

Your girlfriend looked at you for a second before pushing you off the bed, “No! You did not just use Chae’s song to describe my hickies!”

You laughed as you got up from the floor, “Well isn’t that what it’s about anyways?”

Momo rolled her eyes as she threw a pillow at you, “You’re sleeping on the couch.” You stuck your tongue out as you crawled back onto the bed.

“Admit it, you thought that was clever.” The dancer huffed as she turned away from you.

“Shut up.”

[erika-being-erika]

More levihan reccomendations!

Part 1

• One Last Time by PiercingThePage

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Summary:

Levi & Hanji have been dating for about 3 years in highschool. He starts to have feelings for one of the pretty girls names Petra Ral. After he starts cheating on Hanji with her, he decides he wants out of the relationship. Until the day he decides to tell her, ends up being the day she tells him that she's pregnant. Will they make it out well, or will Levi start to realize he is becoming his own dead beat dad

• Having My Baby by Countess_Dorkula

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Summary:

Another SNK Kink Meme fill. Follow Levi and Hanji as they go through the marvelous adventure towards parenthood.

• catch me if you can by fanmoose12

[Multi-chapter || on going]

Summary:

The Ackerman duo. Just the mention of this name filled Hange with so many feelings. Mostly, when she reread the files of their cases over and over, until her eyes watered, she felt pricking annoyance. Sometimes, when she stared at the dead bodies of those scarce unfortunates who stumbled upon their crimes, she was filled with hatred and a pushing need for revenge. Hange couldn't deny, however, there were times when she marveled at the impudence of their crimes. And, when she was investigating the Ackerman's cases and saw just how meticulously planned they all were, she couldn't help but feel something close to fascination.

No one knew who they were. No one had seen their faces, no one knew their true names. Almost everyone knew of their crimes.

Hange was determined to unravel every last one of their secrets. She will put an end to their crimes and then she will get the elusive Ackermans behind bars.

• Partners by fanmoose12

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

When Petra was promoted to a detective and partnered up with legendary Levi Ackerman, she felt like the happiest person in the world.

But, as she soon found out, detective Ackerman she used to admire so much was actually a far cry from the ideal policeman Petra thought he was. He was rude, harsh and easily annoyed.

And, in addition, he still hadn’t moved on from the death of his previous partner - detective Hange Zoe.

• can't keep my hands off you by fanmoose12

[Multi-chap || completed]

Summary:

Hange, Levi and their not so secret relationship.

• Looking for You by fanmoose12

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Summary:

Returning from a long mission, all Levi wanted was to spend sometime with Hange. But instead he got a message from Erwin, urging him to come to HQ. There he found out, that Hange was missing for over a week and that his new mission is to partner with Moblit, Hange's loyal assistant, and together find and bring Hange home.

• A Tale of Two Slaves by TundrainAfrica

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

"Soulmates don’t exist. Fate doesn't exist. Everything's a choice. And Levi could only watch as she made the choice for him."

Levi remembers everything from their past life. Hange doesn't.

• Free-Falling by djmarinizela

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Summary:

Skydiver and tea shop owner Levi Ackerman meets the town’s resident mad scientist and tries to convince himself that he's not falling for her.

• All of Me by MannaTea

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

By the time they reached the trees, Sylvia's sides were heaving, her flanks covered in sweat-foam, but they couldn't afford to stop; two titans had become more. Hange refused to look behind her, but she could tell by the way the ground shook that one of them was at least a 13-meter class.

And all she had with her was one blade and a horse who was about to drop dead of exhaustion.1

• Dreams May Not Come True by MannaTea

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

Levihan. Hange knows something is wrong when she goes down to breakfast one morning and the smell makes her stomach churn.

• Something Like Destiny by MannaTea

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Summary:

Reincarnation AU. Zoë doesn't have dreams; she just knows.

• A Dangerous Game by just_quintessentially_me

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Summary:

A snk 1920′s AU:

Sina is wild, crowded, bursting with industry. Home to jazz, fashion - and corruption. Crooked politicians, dirty police, and powerful gangs have turned the city into a cesspit of violence where the powerful rule. At the center of the chaos are the Ackermans - one of the most powerful gangs in the city, Mayor Fritz - who is as corrupt as he is wealthy, Erwin - a police commander determined to weed out the corruption in his own department, and Hanji - a journalist willing to risk everything to expose their city’s darkest secrets.

• A Simple Choice by just_quintessentially_me

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

The rain had started up again. Fat droplets drummed over her hood, drenching the fabric. Her horse’s reins were wet and cold; though her fingers, numbed from continued exposure to the elements, could hardly feel them.

Following the sound of the explosion, they’d arrived at a clearing. It was a mess of blackened, shattered wood, and the wagon, a skeleton, was little more than a smoking husk. Beyond the wreckage, a titan lay prostrate. Felled, its limp, hulking form was barely visible through the rain.

As soldiers shouted, pointing at the creature, one of the horses still tethered to the ruined wagon, writhed. When the beast screamed a broken, panicked wail, her own horse shifted, flanks twitching with unease.

Hanji barely noticed.

The soldiers' voices, the poor beast’s screams, even the heavy, even thrum of rain - had silenced as she looked to the river.

A body lay at the edge of the dark, white-capped water.

• License to Science (And Kill) by just_quintessentially_me

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

When International criminal organization, TITAN, successfully steals an arsenal of missiles along with their encrypted launch codes, Code Blue is initiated. It up to Agent Levi Ackerman, a spy in a class of his own, and Research scientist Hanji Zoe, the premiere authority on the organization, to halt a global catastrophe in its tracks.

She lowered her glasses, brown eyes blinking over the rims. “Does this mean I have a-” One brow lifted. “License to Science?”

“No. But I do have a License to Kill. Don’t tempt me to use it.”

• Aftermath by just_quintessentially_me

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

Levi rushes to the wall in the aftermath of the Armored and Colossal Titans' attack.

“Are you worried about your wife?”

The question shocked him out of his musings.

Levi looked up, “My what?”

But the pastor was already speaking, “You’re obviously beside yourself with stress – and it’s understandable. Not knowing if your wife has survived-”

Levi cut him off, “My what?”

The pastor hesitated, apparently realizing he’d made some mistake, but misunderstanding precisely what it was. “Your…wife? The woman we traveled with before? She’s ah – forceful. You two uh – have the same, er – strident personality. When we first met, she dangled me off the wall.”

• Terrible Things by someonestolemyshoes

[One-shot]

Summary:

The first time he tells her she’s pretty, Hange is all kinds of filthy - sweaty, dirty, twigs in her hair and mud on her shoes and a great big disgusting ball of everything Levi hates.

She is also crying.

It isn’t like he’s never seen her cry before - they’re nine and crying is just what kids do, especially kids like Hange who like to play with things they probably shouldn’t play with and like to climb trees even though they’re kind of clumsy and so the crying, in it’s self, isn’t all that weird.

What’s weird is that Hange - Hange, with her print-smudged glasses and ratty ponytail and clothes two sizes too big for her - is crying because a boy called her ugly.

• Acquiescence by 3LevisInATrenchcoat

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

On Judgement Day, the tide brought someone strange.

• My soulmate by a_golden_hearted_snk_fan

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

When your soulmate gets injured or hurt, their injuries show up on your skin with a slight sting then slowly fade. It was a rare thing to occur, but Levi and Hanji were the lucky ones.

• SOS by djmarinizela

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

Levi is a reclusive senior student who shares an apartment with Mike, Nanaba, and his best friend, Hange, who he's secretly in love with. Oddly enough, they also belong to the same secret club with a special operations squad. The 104th cohort is a bunch of freshmen misfits they've taken under their wing, Moblit is Hange's lab partner also vying for her affections, while Erwin’s the newest instructor who doesn’t know how to teach. And they say school is fun.

• the moon is dark by alteirkay

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

His face was wet.

“What the hell?” He murmured touching his face to see if he was mistaken. He was not. His hair was damp with sweat. There was an uneasiness invading his whole body. He was filled with it like he had drunk it straight from a bottle. His chest was heavy, his breaths were uneven, and his right eye was throbbing like a hammer was hitting at it continuously.

He was feeling like he had just lost someone.

• The Experiment by KakashiSensei

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

After a public brawl between them, Commander Erwin confines Captain Levi and Zoë Hange to barracks. When the Survey Corps next heads out, they are left behind as a punishment. Soon bored out of her mind, Hange turns her scientific curiosity towards the most interesting specimen within her reach: Levi. When his past reaches out to him to claim him back, she joins him on a dangerous journey. Do budding feelings have a chance in the most desolate of places?

• windmill by alteirkay

[One-shot]

Summary:

Here is the thing about Levi, his heart is a windmill in the middle of a wilderness where there was no wind to make it twirl, there was no wind to make it beat, pound and feel. Just feel.

Until one day he got hit by a storm so wild, so rare and so incredibly terrifying but in the most beautiful and breath-taking way that it left him defenceless, vulnerable and weak. Like a tiny little flower which had long passed its day of blossoming in a fierce, winter dawn yet it stood erect with its fragile body, challenging against the merciless winds and the brutal frost.

He fell in love.

• In Your Shoes by Neighborhood_Nori

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary

Levi, Paradis Studio's strict ballet instructor, can't stand the newly hired hip-hop instructor, Hanji. As a ballet dancer with his own complicated history with hip-hop, Levi only has respect for the more refined forms of dance. Can Hanji change his mind about her and her style of dance through determination, persistence, and her passion for dance?

• Distractions by Rookblonkorules

[One -shot]

Summary:

Hange’s love for pop culture interferes with her and Levi’s work.

It’s annoying.

• Leave You Whole. by zerothecreator

[One-shot]

Summary:

Levi spends his last moments in Hangë’s arms.

• Moments by Anonymous

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

Levihan Modern AU

She's a long-legged, sun-kissed beauty with tattoos in hidden places and multiple piercings.

Her leather jacket's on his bedroom floor, her ripped jeans too and she's pretty sure one of her heeled scarlet boots got left in the living room in their haste last night. At least her glasses are on top of the bedside drawer- they managed that, at least.

• more baby snacks by argethara

[One-shot]

Summary:

Levi tries to find out how and why boxes of Udo's biscuits are gone.

• Anniversary by EllePellano

[One-shot]

Summary:

AU One-shot: Erwin and Levi have a short conversation about the woman they both loved

• All We Are by TundrainAfrica

[One-shot]

Summary:

"We’re what’s left of the old survey corps Levi. We’re all alone.”

“We can’t be alone if there’s two of us.”

“So what do you suggest Captain Levi?”

“We stick together…” Levi answered. “We stick together, Commander Hange.”

During the time skip, Hange and Levi's relationship develops.

• Thin Ice by Xenobia

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

Takes place between events in chapter 90 of the manga. Hange, now commander of Survey Corps, commissions Captain Levi to scout territory in the mountains to search for a supply tower she believes may still be stocked. The scouts need all the supplies and currency they can get in order to carry on with their goals. Against his better judgment, Levi joins her on this excursion. The bitter, early winter makes their mission harder than expected, however. The pair find themselves relying on each other to survive, and they find it increasingly difficult to treat one another as comrades in arms and nothing more.

• Hidden Meanings by WhatHistoryForgets

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

Hange never thought a materialistic item could mean so much to her until she lost it.

• Of teacups and stale bread

[One-shot]

Summary:

Five times Hange prepared tea for Levi, and the one time that he did.

• Unintended Consequence(s) by Ella3982

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

Not all of the Anti-Personnel Control Squad died when the cavern collapsed. Some of them escaped through the tunnel Hange, Moblit, and Armin used. When the two parties meet, the Anti-Personnel Control Squad takes the three Survey Corps members hostage with the intent to force the Survey Corp's hand. However, when they find out that Kenny Ackerman has died, they become more desperate.

If the Uprising Arc had ended a bit differently, how would it alter the course of the story? What would change, and what would stay the same?

• A Fire in the Shadows by free_pancakes

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

LeviHan in an Avatar the Last Airbender AU - a side story occurring alongside the events of ATLA

Levi, the nephew of a fire nation captain, stumbles upon a ragtag group of 5 known as the Scouts, formidably known for foiling the plans of local fire nation control, living in the forests a few miles north of Ba Sing Se.

• Speak Your Dark Pleasures to Me by Lamia of the Dark (VisceraNight)

Summary:

A collection of drabbles and oneshots exploring a sexual relationship between Levi and Hanji.

• Tips & Tricks by Sleepyheadven

[One-shot]

Summary:

Eren’s brow was furrowed forward in confusion as he spoke. “I thought you said that staring at people isn’t nice?” He said after a few moments, gathering his thoughts. He seemed genuinely bewildered as to why she was intensely staring down a stranger when she had told him countless times before that it was impolite to do so.

Oh, lord, was her only thought as she quickly scrambled for an excuse. “I - Uh - well, sometimes people stare at other people because -” before she could even begin to form a proper sentence, Eren interjected. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or dismayed by his actions.

“Is it because you think he’s cute? My friend Ymir stares at my friend Krista that way all the time, she says it’s because she’s so pretty!” Eren babbled happily, oblivious to the way Hange’s grip around the handle of the cart tightened. Her brown eyes darted back and forth between the stranger and her son, hoping that he couldn’t overhear their conversation seeing as Eren wasn’t the softest of speakers.

• A drunk man always tells the truth by krissixh

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

Levi finds out that Hanji is engaged to a rich man. He gets drunk that night and confronts her his feelings. The two have to confront a lot of difficulties to be able to end as a couple.

• Relapses by Oreotragus

[Multi-chapt || completed]

Summary:

Despite having become a great asset to humankind, Captain Levi still has some trouble adjusting to his post-crime lifestyle, especially the social aspects of it. One extremely badly coordinated step out of his comfort zone creates a grand mess that he has to clean up.

• Weight of Survival by otterbeans

[One-shot]

Summary:

Hanji gives birth to Levi's unintentional child. She pretends to be surprised when he shows up for it.

• Don't drink the kool-aid by smallblip

[One-shot]

Summary:

Think of a number between one and ten. Because that's how you love in this world. First you toss out the word love. You tell it to its face that Commander Erwin Smith says “love is the ultimate cult of men... A sect... A dirty ploy by the whatever god is up there to make us all vulnerable..."

And then, everything falls into place.

• until another thursday evening by pinkweirdsunsets

[Multi-chapt || on going]

Summary:

and ever since they were only five, Levi had protected her, whether it was from the daily shenanigans she came up with or the criminal background he came from. She was his sunshine, messy and grinning, and he shielded her away from all terrible things.

until zeke yeager came along.

• Make It Make Sense! By cznpai

[Multi-chapt || completed]

I can't add the summary cause I've reached the limit. Welp i still have a lot of fics here so ill make a another post of reccomendations... HAHA bye!

[getlostsquidward]

Divine Intervention

Irina Spalko x fem!reader

A/N: For the anon that requested another Irina fic, here you go! <3

Warnings: violence, blood, nudity

Summary: The knowledge-seeking woman gets what she wants, and more.

gif from here

“Tell me everything you know.”

“I want to know everything! I want to know!”

An ominous sound can be heard in the Akator. Debris of rocks from the ceiling was starting to fall, the walls of the temple were rotating, and there was a very bright light coming from above. Akator was slowly deteriorating, but Irina didn’t falter; spellbound by the creatures who will give her the knowledge she always wanted to have. The people around her either got away in time or were sucked in by the spaceship. She stood ground in the middle of the thirteen crystal beings, graciously accepting their great gift.

“Tell me. I’m ready. I want to know!”

A smoke-like thing transferred from their skulls to Irina, passing her the wisdom she so desired.

“I can see. I can see!”

The crystal skeletons started to merge, incorporating to form a body. “Cover it! Cover it!”

Irina was overwhelmed by the knowledge she had gotten. It was too much for her, a human brain to handle; her eyes started to burn, her body disintegrated and turned into ash.

-

Irina was woken up by the blinding ray of the sun peeking in between the tall big trees, in the middle of the woods. She touched her face, her arms, to check for any burns or wounds, but she found none. She also found herself… stark naked. No clothes, no shoes, not even her trusty rapier. Blindly believing that she was alone in this vast forest, she roamed around to find clothes and shelter.

She was incredibly hungry and parched, having walked for hours now. Her feet had small cuts now, her arms with insect bites, due to the absence of garments to protect her body. Yet, she doesn’t plan to stop searching even if the sun is setting down.

It was now dark, but she can slightly see a faint flicker of lights not far ahead. She followed the light, determined to get what she needed even if she had to kill someone if they refused. It was a two-story cabin, inhabited, based on the fruits and vegetables growing outside. She looked around the house, searched for another entrance beside the front door and windows. Irina found a back door, but it was locked. She stared blankly at the doorknob, wishing she had something with her to open the damn door that wouldn’t alert whoever was inside.

The knob clicked. Thinking that someone had opened it from the inside, she shuffled for a fighting stance, ready to attack. When the door didn’t open, she pushed it and peeked inside. There was no sign of people, and the lights were off. She peered in the dark, searched for something she can eat. There was none lying around, and instead, she met was some new shiny appliances.

Her eyes caught the knives in the corner, so she took one, just in case it was needed. The sound of stomping feet from the wooden stairs alerted the Colonel-Doctor. She hid in the dark and waited if the person was threatening enough to kill.

-

You skipped the last two stairs, rushing to the fridge to get a tub of ice cream. You skimmed the items inside, looking for something to snack on while you watch your favourite show. It was rather empty aside from the half-full ice cream tub, and some leftovers. You really have to get groceries tomorrow. As you closed the door, a sharp object was pointed at your neck. You retreat away until your back hit the table. You can faintly see the woman hovering over you thanks to the dim light from the kitchen island.

You slowly raised your hands on your head, “Woah, lady. What do you want? You wanna rob my kitchen? Well, consider this your unlucky day because there’s barely anything ther-“ you stop blabbering as she pressed the knife into your skin.

“I need clothes and food. And tell me what this place is.” Her thick accent sent shivers on your spine.

“Okay. First, this is my house, and well, we’re in the middle of nowhere; and this middle of nowhere is in the Y/C. I will get you clothes, but I need to get upstairs to my room. For the food, there’s a leftover in the fridge. I’ll heat it for you if you want. Please, just please don’t kill me,” you pleaded.

She stepped back enough for you to stand, but her hand grabbed your shoulder as a precaution as if you can outmuscle her. You walked towards the fridge to get her food and put it in the oven. After setting the timer, you head to the stairs, the woman still behind you. Once you got to your room she closed the door abruptly and gave you space to rummage on your closet. You don’t know if your clothes will fit her so you settled on giving her an oversized shirt and one of your comfy shorts. “Here,” you turned around to give her when you finally noticed that she was naked. “What the fu…” your eyes trail down her Alabaster skin, but abruptly faced away when she cleared her throat. Blushing from being caught, you merely tossed the clothes to her.

Gathering your courage to speak, you asked, “Lady, who are you and why are you very nude in my house?” You’re insanely beautiful too, and I mean that with utter respect.

“Irina Spalko. I woke up in the middle of these woods earlier. You can turn around now.” Once you did, she continued, “And thank you.”

“Well, I don’t really mind the company, as long as you don’t kill me, please.”

“Insanely beautiful.”

You stared at her dumbly, "What?”

“You said I’m insanely beautiful,” she said smugly, her lips tugging upwards on a smirk.

Now, what the fuck did she just said? “I- I didn’t say anything like that. You must be hallucinating, Ms. Spalko. Your hunger makes you hear things.” You scurried off downstairs to get as far away from her, and your ice cream. It must have turned to a puddle now.

You set her food on the table and wait as she took her time before following you out. She must be so sure that you wouldn’t take off and call for help.

The princess had finally descended, you thought as you watch her sit at the table and eat silently. “Colonel-Doctor. Not a princess,” she declared. You opened your mouth to speak but remained in an O-shape as no coherent words were coming out. “H-how- what- I- I don’t understand. A-are you a mind reader or something? A witch?”

“Neither. Just… a chosen one.” After that, she paid you no mind and continued eating.

You walked out of the kitchen, fearing that she would hear your thoughts again. Instead, you whispered to yourself, “What have I gotten myself into? I'm like a hostage in my own house, okay. I feel like the main character that dies first in a horror movie.”

You sauntered back in the kitchen and asked the woman, “I take it you’re staying here for the meantime? So do you wanna sleep in the living room or the guest room?” you probed. “I don’t really have much of a choice, do I? If I want to stay alive?”

She only nodded. “Thought so; Uhm, so, where?”

“Guest room.”

“Got it. If you’re finished, just throw the plate into the trash. I’ll ready the room.”

You just finished placing some sheets into the bed when she arrived. “Okay, housemate. Bed’s ready. It’s been a long day for the both of us, and I really wanna sleep now, so let’s settle what we have to settle tomorrow, ‘kay? Good night,” you finished your speech and closed the door. You leaned onto it and breathed out a deep sigh. When did you become such a hospitable host that you just let a dangerous woman into your house?

-

Sleep didn’t come to Irina that night. She tried to remember what happened before she got here. Right. They had returned the skull to Akator; she requested knowledge and they gave it to her. Her brain was overloaded with too much information that she disintegrated. Irina still remembers the excruciating pain, the feeling that someone was drilling holes into her head, the feeling of being burned, but here she was, alive and well. In the middle of nowhere, with someone who looks very vulnerable. You proved to be of use to her, so she won’t harm you… as of now.

Her mind drifted to you. How was she able to read what was on your mind just by sparing you a glance? Before, she needed to be close to the person as possible before she can read them. Her psychic abilities had her family ostracized; the reason she sought knowledge and her purpose. How about the doorknob? Did she do it? Did the interdimensional beings amplified her abilities, and possibly gave her more?

How many days have passed since she was in Akator?

64 years.

At first, she couldn’t comprehend how time had passed, seeing as she didn’t age one bit. But since Irina had encountered aliens herself, nothing was odd for her anymore.

“So you’re saying you’re from the ’50s?”

“Yes.”

“How did that happen?” you curiously asked. “I mean, one day, you’re in a temple in the ’50s, then you woke up in the woods in 2021?” she nodded. “Actually, you know what, whatever. I believe you. The world is in shambles right now and I wouldn’t be surprised anymore if aliens were real,” you finished as you parked your car.

“Here’s the deal, Irina. You’re a woman out of time, and so much had changed since you… since then,” you paused, “And you’re a very physical woman. Like I think if someone bumped their cart onto you you’ll tackle them to the ground, and I don’t wanna cause a scene. So, stick with me, please.”

So far, so good. Irina wasn’t causing a scene yet, except when she snatches out the item you were holding. She was intently reading the label and then muttering about how it wasn’t good for the body and then putting it back on the shelf.

The cart was nearly full; mostly food, toiletries, and some tools. Irina didn’t add anything save for a toy sword. Okay.

She was mostly quiet, but you see that her eyes silently wander around the place, on the people around, frequently landing on you. You spent shopping in comfortable silence, letting her absorb the state of the world. She may be listing off her questions in her head and then ask about them later.

You look at your grocery list and cart simultaneously, checking if you’ve got everything you needed. As you confirm that you’ve had, you gasped as Irina took your hand into hers and laced your fingers together. You looked at your joined hands, feeling how warm and soft her hand is. You remembered that she can read minds, so you jokingly asked, ‘What hand cream do you use?’, testing her ability once again.

“There are two men following us since we got out of the car. I doubt you noticed, but good thing you take so long in every aisle, I was able to confirm that they were indeed following us,” she whispered, her hot breath tickling your ears. “They intend to steal from you.”

Fear taking over you, you stammered “Oh. Stealing in the light of day, okay, uh can’t you do anything to them? Any more abilities? Clearly, you can defend yourself based on how you introduced yourself last night.”

“I could, but you said you didn’t want to cause a scene. And I wasn’t certain until now.”

“Yeah, I take that back. Do what you have to. I trust you.”

Irina found this as an excuse to measure her abilities. You continued to act normal, proceeding to the counter to pay for your groceries. They have no idea that you and Irina have noticed them already. The men split up, keeping themselves at a distance, as one queued at the counter beside yours. The other had gone out of your sight.

She planned to lure them into the alley at the back of the shop. Once you arrived, she had noticed the other man nonchalantly leaning on the wall ahead, waiting for you. You continued to walk slowly until you felt the second man behind you, effectively trapping the both of you in the middle of the back alley. The moment they got near, the man behind spoke, “You, the one with the bags. Give me your money,” he hissed, referring to you. “Your phone and keys. And no one will get hurt.”

You would’ve run for the life of you if there wasn’t another man waiting on the other side, flipping a knife. Eyes locked on Irina, you patiently wait for her instruction, hoping she wouldn’t turn on you and leave you alone.

“I won’t,” she murmured, side-eyeing either man at your side.

The Ukrainian wasn’t sure if her hunch was right, but if she wasn’t, she could still take both men with bare hands. She stared at the knife and envisioned it impaling on his stomach. The man’s grunt had confirmed her hunch as red stained his clothes, and blood trickled to the ground. She then pulled the knife out and willed it to pierce through the other man’s thigh. Once he was down on his knees, Irina’s hand that never left yours yanked you to run to your car. She gave them a last glance and hurled their bodies to the wall for safe measure.

Afraid that someone might have seen what happened, you started the car immediately and drove out. None of you spoke until you’re sure that you are far enough from the store. “What the fuck?” you blurted, adrenaline still coursing through you. “Did you- did you do that? No, no don’t answer. You definitely did. Uh, telekinesis and mind-reading? Any additional powers you’re hiding?”

You glanced at her, her eyes straight on the road. “Because if you’re planning to stay in my house for God knows how long, you might wanna tell me about them.”

She was silent for a while, contemplating her answer. “I don’t know if there’s more.”

When you didn’t respond, she told you everything that had happened to her since she was a child. How they were exiled in their village when her psychic abilities had manifested, how her own mother feared her for her naïve innocence, which led her to flee the village and search for answers.

You listened attentively, though lost yourself when she mentioned that she was part of the Soviet Union. You only hear and see on the internet how these people were trained, and uneasiness was creeping up. Her intentions weren’t clear; she hadn’t yet thought about what she’s going to do now that she’s in a society she outgrew.

When she noticed that you trailed off, she spoke, “I don’t use a hand cream.”

It was a good thing that you’re not stepping on any pedal right now because you would have pressed the brakes heavily. You raised your brow at her, amused, and a chuckle coming out from you. Though her eyes were still cold and impassive, a genuine smile tugged from her lips.